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VOL, H
THE
INDIAN EMPIRE:
ITS HISIORY, TOPOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND STAPLE PRODUCTS.
WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE
MUf OY OF TEE MATI¥i! TKOOPS,
AND AN EXPOSITION OF THE
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE OF ONE HUNDRED MILLION SUBJECTS OF THE CRO\ra OF ENGUND.
BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN, ESQ.,
LATE TREASURER TO THE QUEEN AT HONG KONG, AND MEMBER OF HER MAJESIt's LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL IN CHINA.
Illustrated toitl Paps, portraits, fiftos, ^t., fiom #rtginal MMp.
NEW TOEK:
PUBLISHED BY S. D. BRAIN, 55, DEY STREET.
DEDICATED BY
HER MOST GRACIOUS
AUTHORITY TO
MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
THE
INDIAN EMPIRE:
HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, CLIMATE, POPtTLATlON, CHIEF CITIES AND PROVINCES ; TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED
STATES ; MILITARY POWER AND RESOURCES ; RELIGION, EDUCATION, CRIME ; LAND TENURES ;
STAPLE PRODUCTS ; GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, AND COMMERCE.
WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE
MtTTIinr OF THE BENGAL AEMT ; OF THE INSUEKECTION IN WESTEEN INDIA; AND AN EXPOSITIOIT
OF THE ALLEGED CAUSES.
BY R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN,
AUTHOR OF THB *' HI8T0&T OF THE BRITISH COLONIES," BTC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH MAPS, PORTRAITS, AND VIEWS.
VOL. I.
HISTORY, TOPOGRAPHY, POPULATION, GOVERNMENT, FINANCE, COMMERCE, AND STAPLE PRODUCTS.
THE LONDON PRINTING AND PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED:
97, 98, 99, ft 100, ST. JOHN STREET, LONDON; AND 55, DET STREET, NEW YORK.
I/./
INDEX
VOL. I. OF THE "INDIAN EMPIRE."
AbifaUig, or Dooranis, 173.
Abul Fazil, author of Aiher Namah,
and Ayeen Akhery, 91, 108; assassi-
nation, 114.
Adit Shah dynruty at Beejapoor — ori!?in,
96 ; war with Humayun, 130 ; extinc-
tion by Aurungzebe, 150.
Adminiiifration ofjujitice, 550, 551.
Afyhans, or Patans, 86.
Afyhan war — opinions thereon, 435.
Afghanistan, 11 ; reception of Moham-
medanism, 56 ; war with Aurunazebe.
147 , Shah Soojah restored by British
troops, 437 ; British beleaguered in
Cabool cantonments, 440 ; capitula-
tion and retreat, 442 ; massacre in the
Jugduliuck Pass, 443; British reoccu-
pation of Cabool, 445 ; proceedings of
" army of retribution" denounced by
Lord Brougham, 447 ; destruction of
Great Bazaar and Mosque, 448 ; evacu-
ation of the country, 448.
Agra occupied by Baber, 81; captured by
Lake, 396; topography, 481.
Ahalya Dye. (See Holcar Principality).
Aheer, or shepherd, 249.
.4hmedmiggur, 98; kingdom subjugated
by Shah Jehan, 130.
Ahmed Shah {Emperor), accession, 173;
deposition, 175.
Ahmed Shah Doorani, King of Afgha-
nistan, 3; invades India, 173; obtains
cession of the Punjab, 175; gains the
battle of Paniput, 179.
Ajmeer, 106.
Akber {Emperor), birth, 88 ; early perils,
91; accession, 107; Hindoo marriages,
110; conquests, 110; character, 115;
personal appeai-ance, 116; death, 116;
vast wealth, 119.
Akber Khan, the Wallace of Cabool, 440,
442, 445.
Alexander the Great, 21, 25; invades
India, 27; Indian marches, 29, 36;
departure and death, 35; cities or mili-
tary stations founded by him, 37 ; his
commercial policy, 37.
Ali Verdi Khan, or Mohabet Jung, vice-
roy of Bengal, 170, 243; death, 271.
Allahabad and Corah, sold by E. \. Com-
pany to Shuja Dowlah, 326.
Almora (see Kumaon), 413.
Alumgeer II. {Emperor), accession, 175;
assassination, 176,
Amber, or Jeypoor, 106; Rajah Jey Sing
II. builds Jeypoor, 162; condition of
principality in 1745, 249.
Amboyna; Dutch government torture and
execute English factors, 209.
Ameer Khan, Mohammedan adventurer,
392, 393, 408, 416.
Ameer-ool-Omra ; Ameer, Emir, or Mir,
75.
Ameers of Sinde, division of power, 449;
patriarchal administration, 450; con-
quered and deposed by British, 452 ;
case of Ali Morad, 452, 459.
Amercot, Rajpoot principality, 88, 106,
452.
Amrut Rao, 393, 394.
Anjengo settlement, 253.
Arcot, founded, 251; occupation and de-
fence by Clive, 264.
Aria {Kingdom of), 48.
Armegaun, station formed there, 211.
Army {Anglo-Indian), state in 1765.
304 ; increased to enforce collection of
taxes, 312 ; hired by Shuja Dowlah to
extirpate Rohillas, 329 ; arrears of pay,
352; sepoys faithful, though nearly
starving for want of pay, 361 ; arrears
in 1786, 365; state in 1798, 378;
European and native force join British
in Egypt, 388 ; dissatisfaction of Euro-
peans at Madras, 409; state in 1817,
416; military expenditure, 422; con-
dition before the mutiny of 1857, 553 —
555 ; tabular view of Europeans and
natives employed, 565.
Arracan, ceded to E. I. Company by King
of Ava, 425.
Artillery, early use in India, 96.
Aseerghur, ^04, 105; obtained possession
of by the first Nizam, 159; captm'ed
by the English, 398.
Asiatic Society of Bengal, 375.
Asoca, edicts of, 86.
Asiif Jah (see Cheen Kilich Khan), 150 ;
meaning of term, 160.
Attoci Fort, 113.
Auningzebe {Emperor), 6; character, 133 ;
usurpation, 135; imprisons his father,
135 ; procures the death of his brothers
and nephews, 135 — 139; illness, 140;
Hindoo insurrection, 147 ; rebellion of
his son. Prince Akber, 148 ; personal
ajjpearance, 151 ; his armies, 151 ; last
campaign in the Deccan, 152; death,
153; will, decreeing division of empire
among his sons, 153; peculiar direc-
tions for his funeral, 153; farewell
letters, 153; conduct to Hindoos and
to conquered enemies, 154; anecdote,
229.
Auto da Fe'at Goa, 193.
Ayeen AJcbery, 570.
Baber {Emperor), early history, 79 ;
invasion of India, 80 ; autobiogra-
phy, 80 — 82 ; foundation of Mogul
empire, 83 ; death, character, and
career, 84.
Bactria {Kingdom of), 48 — 50.
Bahadur Shah, or Alum Shah Bahadur,
Emperor (Prince Mauzim), 140; gene-
rous mediation O'l behalf of King of
Golconda, and seven years* imprison-
ment, 150; accession, 154; wars and
death, 155.
Bahadur Shah, King of Guzerat, opposes
Humayun, 84 ; killed by Portuguese,
85.
Bahair, or Behar (Magadha), 15, 18, 107.
Bahmani kings of the Deccan, origin of
dynasty, 93 ; good King Mahmood
Shah I., 93, 94 ; Humayun the Cruel,
94 ; extinction of dynasty, 96.
Baird {Sir David), 381, 382.
Bandu, Seik lewder, 155 ; capture and
execution, 157.
Banians, native bankers, 218,
Banks {Indian), 565,
Bappoo Gokla (Mahratta general), 417,
418,
Bareed Shah dynasty of Bedar, 101.
Barlow {Sir George), provisional admin-
istration, 406 ; breach of treaties, 406.
Batecala, defended by Ranee against
Portuguese, 191 ; massacre of English
for slaughter of a cow, 230.
Batta, extra pay, 304, 428.
Battles, Paniput (1526), 81; Paniput
(1556), 108; Huldighat (1592), 112;
Samaghur(1658), 134; Cujwa (1659),
137; Kurnaul (1738), 164; Paniput
(1759), 179; Plassy (1757), 278;
Buxar (1764), 299 ; Chercoolee (1771),
319; Barcilly (1774), 329; Porto
Novo (1781), 354; Poliloor (1781),
355; .\ssaye (1803), 395; near Delhi
(1803), 396; Laswaree (1803). 397;
Argaura (1803), 398 ; Kirkee (1817),
417; Corvgaum (1818), 418; Ashtoe
(1818), 419; Mahidpoor (1817), 420 ;
Tezecn (1818), 420; Meanee (1843),
451 ; Hyderabad (1843), 452 ; Maha-
rajpoor (1843), 452; Puniar (1843),
452 ; Moodkee and Ferozshah (1845),
454 ; Aliwal and Sobraon (1846), 455 ;
Chillianwallah (1849), 456; tabular
view of principal battles, 460 — 463.
Beechioa, Mahratta weapon, 143.
Beejanuggur, Hindoo kingdom, 95 ; ex-
tinction, 97.
Beejapoor, conquered by Aurungzebe, 150.
Beera. or pan, HI.
Benares, 17 ; Rajah Cheyte Sing deposed
by Warren Hastings ; resistance, de-
feat, and banishment ; annexation of
principality by E. I. Company, 360 —
362 ; natives resist a house-tax, 410.
Benfleld {Paul), intrigues in the Car-
natic, 347.
Bengal, 106; state of presidency in 1707,
234 ; in 1757, 271—282; revenue and
expenditure in 1760, 290; corruption
of officials, 294 ; general profligacy,
1760 to 1770, 307; civil service in
1772, 322 ; supreme council, 331.
Bentinck {Lord William), character given
by Jacquemont, 428 ; administration,
428—431.
Berar, or Nagpoor (see Bhonslay family),
invaded by Patans and Pindarries, 409,
414 ; subsidiary force established in
Berar, 414; annexation, 459.
Bemadotte, captured by British at Cud-
dalore, 358.
Bemier, Shah Jehan's French physician,
132.
Bhamalpoor {Khan of), rewarded by Lord
Ellenborough, 450.
Bheels, 141.
Bhonslay family establish principality in
Berar, 168; Pursojee, 168; Ragojee,
394 ; Cuttack and Balasore surren-
dered to E. I. Company, 399 ; Appa
a
u
INDEX. TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN KMPIRE.'
Sahib usurps the throne, *M ; joins
Peishwa against English, 418; defeat,
flight, and obscure death, -420.
Bhopal. 416.
BhOK (Mahratta term), 177.
Bkurtpoor {Jat /ortres* of), 249, 406,
42G.
BiJtmeer (Rajpoot slate of), 106.
Buhopa of Ca/cK//o— Middleton, 421 ;
Heber, 421 ; James, 421 ; Turner, 421.
Bombay, island ceded by Portugal, 216;
transferred by crown to E. I. Company,
217; population, 217; presidency,
315, 340—345 ; topography, 481.
Boodlium,\i,\<i; Alompra, 422; Shwe-
da-gon, or Boodhist temple, 424-
Bort, Macedonian galleys injured by
phenomenon. 34.
Boughton (Gabrifl), obtains trading pri-
vileges from Shah Jehan, 214.
Brakminism, 13, 15.
Brahmim, character of, by Abul Fazil,
117.
Brigffs (Colonel), translation of Ferishta*s
History of Mohammedan India, 55 ; and
of the Siyar ul Mutakherin, 156.
Brinjarriet, itinerant corn dealers, 370.
Brvce'i Annals of E.I. Company, 231.
Brydon (Dr.), survivor of Cabool mas-
sacre, 443.
Bullaee, Bullawa, or Dher, Hindoo func-
tionary, 572.
Bundelcund, 106, 395; annexation, 398.
Buonaparte, letters to Tippoo Sultan
and Zemaun Shah, 377.
Burman Empire, 423 ; migration of
Mughs, 423 ; first Burmese war, 423 ;
titles of kings of Ava, 423 ; English
invasion, 424 ; second Burmese war,
456.
Burnet (Sir Alexander), 438, 439.
Bwsy, Frencli commander-in-cjiief, 261,
263 ; captured by English, 285.
Byadhee, Hindoo functionary, 572.
Caaba, or Kaaba, at Mecca, 52.
Cabool, severed from Mogul empire by
Nadir Shah, 167 ; Zemaun Shah, 377,
388, 433 : Shah Soojah and Dost Mo-
hammed, 433. (See Afghanistan).
Cabot (Giovanni or John), 197.
Calcutta — settlement formed, and Fort
William built, 221 ; presidency created,
235; soil purchased in fee-simple, 240;
Mahratta ditch formed, 243 ; Fort
William besieged and taken by Surajah
Dowlah, 273 ; the " Black Hole," 273 ;
Fort William recaptured by Clive and
Watson, 274; supreme court in 1780,
337; topography, 481.
Cttli, consort of Siva, 253 ; human heads
offered at her shrine at Chittledroog,
348.
Calicut (Hindoo principality of), 182 ;
Portuguese defeated, 186.
Cananore (Hindoo principality of), 184.
Candahar, conquered by Baber, 80 ; lost
by Shah Jehan, 131 ; kingdom founded
by Ahmed Shah, an Afghan, 172;
Cashmere incorporated with Candahar,
219; city occupied by Shah Soojah
and the English, 436.
Canovj, anci;nt Hindoo city, 65.
Carcuont, or clerks, 141.
Cumatic, extent, 93 ; singular misnomer,
25 1 ; English and French support rival
nawaba, 263 ; history during the iSth
century, 270; renewal of hostilities,
283; oufferings of popuUtion, 315;
annexation, 387 ; Carnatic debt and
firm of Palmer and Co., 421.
Cathmere, 41 ; history of, 113; " aafiron
meads," 127 ; favourite retreat of suc-
cessive emperoro, 249; severance from
empire, 249.
Caste, 14 ; interference with, at Vellore,
407.
Cazi, or Mohammedan judge, 117.
Champaneer hill-fort, 102.
Chanderi, 106.
Chandemagore, French settlement, cap-
tured by English, 275 ; condition in
1757,275.
Chandragiri (Rayeel or RojaJit of), 213,
218, 250, 253.
Changi, standard of Mewar, 112.
Chamock (Job), 222.
Cheen Kilich Khan, 1 56 ; known as
Nizam-ool-Moolk, the Nizam, and
Asuf Jah — intrigues at Delhi, 158 ;
governor of Malwa, 158; founds an
independent power in the Deccan, 159;
becomes vizier, 160; called " the old
Deccani baboon," 160 ; quits Delhi in
disgust, 160; returns to the Deccan,
and establishes his government at Hy-
derabad, 160; courted back to Delhi,
162 ; character, 162, 167 ; death, 173.
Chelah, 118.
Child (John and Josiah), 220.
Cholera, or Black Death, traverses India
in 1817, 419.
Chout, levied by Sevajee, 146, 249.
Chowkeedar, Hindoo functionary, 572.
Christianity in India, 529 — 535.
Chunar fortress, captured by Humayun,
86.
Cities (principal Indian), 481 — 485.
Clavcring (General), 331 ; quarrel with
M'arren Hastings, 336 ; death, 337.
CTima/e, 486— 491.
Clive (Robert, Lord), birth and early
career, 258 ; attempts suicide, 258 ;
narrow escape at Arcot, 264 ; marriage,
268 ; obtains jaghire from Meer Jaffier,
and great wealth, 281, 287 ; created
Baron of Phissy. 301 ; subdues mutiny
of English officers, 305 ; traits of
character, 305 ; irregular gains, 306 ;
parliamentary inquiry, and suicide, 307.
Cochin, 184; rajahs ill-treated by the
Dutch, 244 ; tribute to English, 410.
Coins, 565 ; dihnar, 62 ; dirhem, 62, 69 ;
fanam, 75; gold fanam, 311; boon,
97 ; pagoda, 75, 235, 384 ; pice. 217 ;
rupee, 217; sicca rupee, 294; shah-
ruki, 81 ; tunklia, 570.
College of Fort William, 402.
Combermerc (Viscount), at Bhurtpoor,
426.
Commanders-in-chief — Coote, 355, 357,
35.S — (see Comwallis and Harris) ; El-
phinstone — captivity, 439 ; dnath, 445 ;
Gough, 415.
Commerce (Indian), 560, 562.
Conolly, three brothers, 441; John, 441;
Arthur martyred at Bokhara, 447.
Coolcumy, hereditary village accountant,
98.
Coolies (Hill), 141.
Coorg, 253; captured by Hyder AH, 348;
insurrections under Tippoo Sultan,
367 ; Rajah Veer Rajundra supplies
the English with grain in the invasion
of Mysoor, 379 ; annexation, 430 ;
ex-rajah in England, 430 ; daughter
god-child to Queen Victoria, 430 ;
question regarding rajah's funded pro-
perty, 430 ; landed tenure in, 569.
Comwallis (Lord), governor-general and
commander-in-chief, 366 ; establishes a
fixed land rent throughout Bengal,
366 ; zemindar settlement, 573 ; judi-
cial system and foreign policy, 367 —
373 ; second administration, 405 ;
death, 406.
Covenanted and uncovenanted services,
549.
Crime, statistics of, 542 — 544.
Crishna, or Krishna, 17,253.
Crishna Kumari, Princess of Oodipoor,
408.
Cunjee, or rice-water, 265.
Currency, insufficient, 31 1.
Cutwal, or magistrate, 101.
Dacoits, or Deceits, 330.
Dalhousie (Marquis of), review of ad-
ministration, 459.
Danish E. I. Company, 205 ; settlement!!
in the 18th century, 234, 245.
Debt (Indian), 365, 374, 422.
Deccan, sufferings of inhabitants during
wars of Aurungzebe, 152.
Dehra Doon annexed by E.I. Company,
413.
Delhi, 41 ; slave kings of, 72 ; sacked by
Timur, 78 ; captured by Br.l)er, 81 ;
new city built by Shah Jehan, 135;
earthquake, 159; seized by Nadir Shah
— massacre of citizens, 165; captured
by Mahrattas, 178 ; Seized by Rohillas,
emperor blinded, and his family tor-
tured, 373 ; taken by Lake, 397.
Dellon (French physician), imprisoned by
Inquisition at Goa, 19,3.
Dennie (Colonel), 436. 444.
Deo, a good spirit, 175.
Desmookhs, 141 ; meaning of word, 15/.
Devicotta, capture of, 258 ; occupation
by English, 259.
Deu'annec, 300 ; of Bengal, Bahar, and
Orissa, obtained from Shah Alum. 303.
Dhar (Puars of). 161, 320.
Dhungurs of Maharashtra, 249.
Dhitrna, species of dunning, 169.
Diamonds, and other precious stones, 497.
Diseases (Indian), 491.
Diu occupied by Portuguese, 190.
Doet Mohammed, 433, 436, 437. 448.
Duelling prohibited by E. I. Company, on
penalty of dismissal, 366.
Duff's (Captain Grant), History of the
Maliratlas, 149.
Duleep Sing (Maharcfjak), 454.
Dupleix, French governor-general, 248 ;
political intrigues of Madame Dupleix,
259 ; brilliant success, 263 ; reverses,
268; supersession and death, 269.
Durrahs, or camps, 239.
Dnstucks, or passports, 416.
Dutch power, rise of, 195; Cornelius
Houtman, 195 ; E. I. Companies, 196 ;
dividends, 206; position in the ISth
century, 233 ; lucrative trade, 245 ;
hostilities with English, 288 ; decreased
importance, 317; cession of settlements
to English, 421, 427.
Dyt, an evil spirit, 175.
East Indiamen, 227.
Education, 537, 538.
Edwardes (Major Herbert), 455.
Ellenburough (Earl of), orders evacua-
tion of Afghanistan, 445; ** song of
triumph,' 448 ; recall, 453.
Elphinstone (Mountstuart), British resi-
dent at I'oona, 416; embassy to A -
ghanistan, 434.
English E. I. Companies, origin, 5, 6,
197; first company, 196; chartered
and protected by Elizabeth, 200 ; terms
of charter, 201 ; first fleet, 202 ; in-
crease of navy, 204, 227 ; commence-
ment of trade with Bengal, 212; par-
liamentary discussions, 212 ; statistics,
INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRK.
lU
212, 213; dividends, 213; hostilities
with Aurungzebe, 221 ; convoy pilgrim
vessels to Mecca, 227 ; hostility of
rival companies, 228 ; rival agencies at
Mogul court, 229 ; large importation of
piece goods, 229 ; union of companies,
233 ; war with French, 254 ; bribery
and corruption, 301 ; parliamentary
interference, 309 ; company on verge
of bankruptcy, 312 ; " regulating act"
of parliament, 312 ; breach of faith with
the emperor, 324 ; renewal of charter
(1793), and financial position, 374;
finances, 422, 428 ; renewal of charter
(1833), 431.
English Rtissian Company, chartered by
Queen Elizabeth, 198.
Knglish Turkey Company, 199.
Etal Rao, faithful Mahratta leader, 314.
Eunuchs, 120.
Eusofzie Afghans, 113.
Execution by blowing from guns, prac-
tised by Lally, 283 ; by Munro, 299. '
Famine in 1661, 139; in Bengal, 1769-
'70, 310 ; in the Carnatic, 35C ; in the
Deccan, 400.
Fedeyan, zealots of Almowut, 72.
Feizi, brother of Abnl Fazil, 115.
Fei-dousi, author of Shah Namah; death,
66.
Ferishta, Mohammedan historian, 55 ; his
works, 102 ; definition of Christian
doctrines, 232.
Feroksheer (Emperor), 156; accession,
and free use of the bow-string, 156 ;
war with Sciks, 157; murdered by
Seyed brothers, 158.
Fish (Mogul Order of the), 262.
JFoujdar, or military governor, 117.
Francis (Sir Philip), 331 ; reputed author
of Junius' Letters; wounded in duel
with governor-general, 339 ; resigns,
and returas to England, 339.
French East India Companies, 7, 205 ;
company formed by Colbert, 218 ; un-
successful as traders, 227 ; position in
India in the IBtli century, 235 ; Dumas
governor-general, 246 ; war with Eng-
lish, 251 ; proceedings in the Carnatic,
261; power at its height, 263; no
military post left, 286 ; extinction of
company, 287.
French oncers in native service — Per-
ron, 390 ; Ventura, Court, and Allard,
454.
French possessions in India, 319, 350
(see Buonaparte); republic negotiate
with Tippoo .Sultan, 379 ; Pondicherry
seized by British, 389.
Gadi, or Hindoo throne, 162.
Galloicay (Generat), 427.
Ganges, steam navigation, 430; source,
Icngtli, &c., 480.
Geography of India, extent and bounda-
ries, 464, 4G5 ; aspect of provinces and
districts. 510, 511.
Geology, 492—494.
Ghaut (Bala and Payeen), 251.
Ghazis, or Ghazees, 94, 96, 108, 436.
Gheria captured from the Angria family,
271.
Ghor (House of), 71.
Ghuznee (House of), 59; population, 66 —
69 ; termination of dynasty, 70 ; city
taken by English, 436; sandal-wood
gates, 445 ; destruction of fortress, 447.
Gillespie (Hollo), 411.
Goa captvired by Portuguese, 97, 187 ;
Inquisition established, 193.
Gohnd (Rana of), ill-treated by E. I.
I Company, 405 ; Lord Lake's appeal on
I his behalf, 405.
j Golconda, last independent Mohamme-
dan state destroyed by Aurungzebe,150.
Gomastahs, or native agents, 295.
Gombroon, 203.
Gonedulees, 174.
Goorkas, spread over Nepaul, 410;
origin of dynasty, 411 ; infantry, 445.
Gosaen, Hindoo religious mendicant,
146.
Government (Anglo-Indian), 545—548.
Governors - general — Warren Hastings,
331 — 365 ; Marquis Cornwallis, 366 —
374 ; Sir John Shore (afterwards Lord
Teignmonth), 374, 375 ; Earl of Morn-
ington (afterwards Marquis Wellesley),
376 — 404 ; Marquis Cornwallis, 405 —
406 ; Sir George Barlow (provisional),
406, 407; Earl of Minto, 408—410;
Lord Moira (afterwards Marquis of
Hastings), 410; John Adam (provi-
sional), 422; Earl Amherst, 422—
428 ; Butterworth Bayley (provisional),
428; Lord William Bentinck, 428—
431 ; Sir Charles Metcalfe (provi-
sional), 431 ; Lord Auckland, 431 —
433 ; Earl of Ellenborough, 44.3—452 ;
Sir Henry (afterwards Lord) Hardinge,
453 — 455; Earl (afterwards Marquis)
of Dalhousie, 456—459.
Great Moguls, Emperors, or Padshahs,
of the House of Timur. (See Timur,
Baber, Humayun, Akber, Shah Jehan,
Shah Alum, Aurungzebe, Bahadur
Shah, Jehander Shah, Feroksheer,
Mohammed Shah, Ahmed Shah, Alnm-
geer //.) Enormous wealth of (jreat
Moguls, 119; crown and throne, 120;
peacock throne, 135 ; seized by Nadir
Shah, 166.
Grunth, Seik scriptures, 155.*
Gunpoicder (alleged use in India, a.d,
1008), 64.
Guru, 155 ; Guru Govind, 1^5.
Guzerat, kings of, 101 ; Mahmood Be-
garra, 103; Bahadur Shah, 85, 103;
conquered by Akber, Ilfl ; chout and
surdeshmooki granted to l^Iahratta^,
161, 249.
Gwalior, 106; Gwalior fortress, a state
prison, 120, 128 ; Bastille of Hindoo-
stan, 136 ; taken by Rana of Gohnd,
344 ; permanent occupation by Sindia
—standing camp established, and city
founded, 416.
Hafiz, poet of Shiraz, 94.
Halhed's Digest of Hindoo Laws, 323.
Hamilton's (Captain), New Account of
the East Indies, 211.
Hamilton (Surgeon), cures Feroksheer,
and obtains privileges for E. I. Com-
pany, 239.
Hanway (Jonas), 172.
Harauti, Rajpoot principality, 106.
Harbours (Principal), 512, 513.
Harris (Lord), commander-in-chief, 398 ;
governor of Madras, 582.
Hastings (Marquis of), character of his
administration, 421; death, 422 ; his
wife, the Countess of Loudon, 422.
Hastings (Warren), 296; advocates na-
tive ' rights, 299; early history, 321 ;
made governor of Bengal, 322 ; sells
children of robbers as slaves, 330 ;
appointed governor-general, 331 ; per-
son and (character, 331 ; charges of
peculation, 332 ; contest with Nunco-
mar, 335 ; repudiates resignation ten-
dered by his agent 336 ; marries
Baroness Imhoff, 337 ; duel with Fran-
cis, 339 ; conduct to Rajah of Benares,
360 ; flies by night from Benares, 361 ;
extorts money from Begums of Oude,
363 ; tortures their aged servants, 363 ;
private purse of Mrs. Hastings, 364 ;
return to England, 365 ; impeachment,
365 ; acquittal, poverty, and death,
366.
Heber, Bishop of Calcutta, 421.
Hedaya, Mohammedan law code, 323.
Herat, seized by Dost Mohammed, 433.
Heroic, or vanguard, 122.
Hetkurees, Concan mountaineers, 151.
Hindoo authors, 153.
Hindoo. Koosh, 25, 26, 466.
Hindoos, character of, by Abul Fazil, 117.
Hindoostan, 13.
Holcar, or Indore Principality, origin of
family, 161; Mulhar Rao, 161 ; suc-
cessful administration of the good prin-
cess Ahalya Bye ; person, character,
and administration, 390—392, 580 ;
Jeswunt Rao, 392 ; sack of Indore by
the Pindarries, 393 ; predatory war with
the English, 399 ; idiocy and death,
408 ; Jeswunt Rao's concubine, Toolsae
Bye, 419 ; her career and death, 420.
Hooghly taken by Shah Jehan from Por-
tuguese, 130; made the royal port of
Bengal, 131 ; trading post established
by English, 213.
Humayun (Emperor), 84 ; memoirs, 85 ;
exile, 87 ; restoration, 92 ; death and
character, 92.
Hyderabad, capital of the Deccan, his-
tory during tlie 18th century, 270.
Hyder Ali, of Mysoor — early career, 285 ;
agreement with Lally, 285 ; seizes Bed-
nore and Malabar, 310; detects con-
spiracy for his assassination, 317 ; op-
• posed by Peishwa, 319; quarrels with
Tippoo, 31 9 ; extortion and economy,
345; confidence in Swartz, 350; French
officers in his service, 353 ; avoidance
of pitched battles, 354 ; flight from
Polliloor, 355; death, 356; treatment
of English prisoners, 359 ; tyrannical
assessment, 571.
Imad Shah dynasty ofBerar, 101.
Imaum Hussyn and family murdered, S8 ;
fate of Imaum Hassan, 265.
Impey (Sir Elijah), 331 ; condemnation
of Nuncomar, 334 ; recall, 338.
Imports and Exports, 563.
India, 113; Arrian's account, 36; Me-
gasthenes' account, 38 ; edicts of Asoca,
38 ; early divisions, 40 — 44 ; social
condition, 43 ; laws, 44 ; position of
women, 44 ; astronomy, trigonometry,
geometry, decimal notation, chrono-
logy, 45 ; geography, medicine, litera-
ture, 46 ; music, painting, sculpture,
architecture, fetes, police system, dress,
currency, 47 ; condition when Akber
began to reign, 93 — 107 ; commercial
intercourse with Europe, 181 ; condi-
tion in the middle of the 18th century,
219, 253, 308 ; state at the close of
Lord Dalhousie's administration, 459.
Indo -Mohammedan dynasties (table of),
180.
Indus river, crossed by Alexander, 228.
Inquisition in Portuguese settlements, 193.
Interest (legal rate), 313.
Interlopers, 203 ; favoured by Cromwell,
216; Skinner's case, 217; treated a.s
pirates, 225.
Invasion of India — Serairamis, Sesostris,
Hercules, and Cyrus, 19; Alexander
theGreat. 26; Seleucus,3"; Arahinv:'.-
sion of Western India, 56 ; Mahmood
IV
INUEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.
of Ghuznee, 62 — 6S ; Shaliab-oo-Deen,
of Ghor, 71; Moguls from Tran-
Boxiana, 73 ; Timur Beg, or Tamerlane,
77 ; Baber, 80 ; Persians under Nadir
Shah, 162 ; Afghans under Ahmed
Shah Doorani, 175, 176 j thieatened by
Zemaun Shah, 317.
Investment (mercantile) of E. I. Com-
pany, 237; Bengal investment of 1771,
311.
blanii on the coast of India, 511.
Jaghire, origin and conditions, 306.
Jain religion, 16.
Jami, or JAansie, 162, 459.
Jats, Jits, or Juts, C8 ; rise under Au-
rungzebe, 152, 249; agriculturists, 177;
progress, 249.
Jebbum, magical incantation said to have
killed Lord Pigot and Hyder AH, 357 ;
performed by order of Tippoo Sultan,
' 3«0.
Jee, Mahratta adjunct, 141.
Jehander Shah {Emperor), accession,
155; violent death, 15C.
Jehangeer {Emperor), Prince Selim, 114;
autobiography, 119; accession, 120;
habits of intoxication, 190; edict against
use of tobacco, 121 ; captivity and
rescue, 126 ; death and character, 127.
Jellttlabad (see Sieges), destruction of for-
tress, 447.
Jengis, or Ghengis Khan, 72.
Jessulmer, Rajpoot principaJity, 106.
Jeypoor (see Amber), 106.
Jezail, Afghan rifle, 443.
Jezia, or capitation-tax on infidels, abo-
lished by Akbcr, 118; reimposed by
Aurungzebe, 147.
.fhalor, Rajpoot principality, 106.
Jhetum, or Hydaspes river, crossed by
Alexander, 29.
Johur, Hindoo self-immolation. 111.
Jojies {Sir Harford), Persian embassy,
409.
Jones {Sir William), 165 ; death, 375.
Jooitaree, coarse grain, 161.
Juanpoor {Kingdom of), 107.
Jugdulluek Pass, massacre of English,
443.
Jummoo {Lords of), 453.
Kumaon, taken from Goorkas ; annex-
ation, 413.
Kur7wul, Patau chief of, 253, 261 ;
annexation of principality, 443.
Kurpa, Patau chief of, 253 ; captured
by Hyder Ali, 349.
Kurrachee, annexation, 450.
La Sourdonnais, governor of the Mau-
ritius, 247; able administration, 247;
capture of Madras, 255 ; imprisonment
and death, 255.
Lahore, capital of Punjab (Sangala), 31,
41; occupied by Mahmood, l>7; royal
residence transferred from Ghuznee to
Lahore, 70 : burnt by Baber, 80. (See
Runjeet Sing).
Lake {Lord), noble conduct at Liis-
waree, 397 ; intervention on behalf of
native princes, 405 ; resignation on ac-
count of breach of treaties, 406; death,
406.
Lallg {Count), 282; surrender to Eng-
lish, 286 ; return to France ; death by
the guillotine, 286.
Lambert's {Commodore) proceedings at
Rangoon, 457.
Land, tenure of, 323 ; Warren Hastings'
method of raising revenue, 323 ; Lord
Cornwallis' perpetual settlement in
Bengal, 366, 307 ; Munro's ryotwar
assessment, 421 ; general account of
land tenures, 567 — 582.
Land-revenue in each presidency, 566.
Land-tax in each presidency, 581.
Languages of India, 503 ; Pali or Ma-
gadhi, 38, 39 ; Tamul, Canarese, Mah-
ratta, and Urya, 41; Persian, 124;
Hindoostani, 124; Mahratta, 250.
Latter {Major), success in war with Ne-
paul, 4H.
Latter {Captain), assassinated at Prome,
458.
Law {John), Scottish adventurer — E. L
Company, and other projects, 246.
Laws — Digests of Hindoo and Moham-
medan codes, 323.
Lodi {House qf), 79.
Lucknow, capital of Oude, 276.
Luhburs, plundering expeditions, 416.
Lushkur, or Leskar, Indian camp, 124.
Kalloras, Persian adventurers, 449.
Kanhojee, or Canojee Angria, of Kolaba,
168 ; piracies of his sons, 243.
Katiwar, or Surashtra peninsula, 101.
Khaji Khan, the Mohammedan historian,
135 ; true name and position, 139 ;
negotiations with English at Bombay,
227.
Khan Jehan Lodi, and his sons, 129.
Khans of Candeish, 105.
Khilji {House of), 73 ; Khiljies, 437, 442.
Khillut, or Khelal, 168; form of recog-
nition necessary to legal succession,
426.
Kholbah, 93, 107.
Khgber Pass, 444.
Kidd {Captain), executed for piracy, 227.
Kidnapping of native children by Euro-
peans, 330.
Koh-i-Noor diamond, 433, 434, 435.
Kolapoor {Rajah of), 174; principality,
253.
Koord-Cabool Pass, massacre of English,
442.
Kootb Shah dynasty at Oolconda — origin,
99 ; extinction by Aurungzebe, 150.
Koran, 53.
Kotah Principality, 400; Regent Zalim
Sing, 400, 401.
Kudapa {Nabob of), 261, 262.
Maajun, intoxicating confection, 116.
Macartney {Lord), governor of Madras,
355 ; probity, 366 ; duels, 366.
Macherri (treaty with rajah), 406.
Macnaghten {Sir W.), 437 ; Lady Mac.
nagliten, captivity and rescue, 446.
Madras, founded, 213; raised to a presi-
dency, 213 ; formed into a corporation,
221; first English church erected by
Streynsham Masters, 232 ; state of
presidency at beginning of 18th 'cen-
tury, 234, 235; salaries of officials,
236 ; captured by French, 255 ; re-
stored, 257; history, 1701 to 1774,
315 — 320; incursions of Hyder Ali,
318; money transactions of English
officials with Mohammed Ali, 345;
dealings with Hyder Ali, 351 ; his
second invasion, 352 ; Colonel Baillie's
detachment cut off by Hyder, 353,
topography, 481.
Maha Bharat, or Great War, 17.
Maha Rajah, 325.
Maharashtra, 140, 250.
Mahi, or Order of the Fish, 262.
Mahmood of Ghuznee, person and cha-
racter, 61 ; thirteen expeditions to
India, 62—68 ; death, 69.
Mahratta stale, rise of, 140; reign of
Rajah Sevajec, 145 — 149 ; Rajah Sum-
bajee, 149 — 151; national flag, 151;
mode of fighting, 152 ; Rajah Shao,
155; chout levied in the Deccan, 155,
157; power at its zenith, 177; condi-
tion in 1772, 321; in 1800, 3b'9; mili-
tary force in 1816, 415.
Mahrattas, 140; characteristics, 370.
Malabar- — Portuguese proceedings, 184 ;
Syrian Christians persecuted by Portu-
guese, 193.
Malcolm {Sir John), life of Clivc, 305 ;
Persian embassy, 388, 409 ; political
agent at Poona, 416.
Malwa, kings of, 104 ; Mandu founded,
104 ; conquered by Akber, 109 ; revolt
of governor Cheen Kilich Khan, 158.
Maritime stations {British), 513.
Maruar, Rahtore principality, 106.
Massulah boats, 235.
Mauritius, or Isle of France, 247 ; French
governor assists Tippoo against the
English, 377 ; takeu by English, 409.
MaU'Ulees, 141,151. i
Mecr add, Mohammedan judge, 117.
Meeran (the Chuta Nabob), career, cha-
racter, and death, 281 — 289.
Meer Cossim Khan made Nabob of Ben-
gal, 290 ; able administration, 292 ;
deposition, 297 ; war with English,
298 ; defeated at Buxar, 299.'
Meer Jafper Khan conspires with English
against Surajah Dowlah, 275 ; made
Nawab of Bengal, 280 ; deposed, 290 ;
replaced on the musuud, 297 ; death,
300.
Menu {Institutes or Code of), 14, 669.
Merut, or Meerut, 100.
Metealfe {Sir Charles, afterwards Lord),
421, 573.
Mewar, Rajpoot principality, 106, 249.
Mildenhall {John), embassy to Jehangeer,
200.
Military contingents of Amative states, 525.
Military resources of India, before the
mutiny, 525.
Military stations {British), 513.
Mineralogy, 495.
Mir Gholam Hussein, Mussulman his-
torian, 150.
Miras, form of landed tenure, 572.
Missions {Christian), 529 — 535.
Missionaiies {American) — Price and Jud-
son negotiate with the King of Ava,
425.
Missionaries {Danish) — Swartz, the only
ambassador Hyder Ali would receive,
350.
Missionaries {Lvtch) — Baldieus, 231.
{French) — Zavier, 191.
Mogul Empire at the death of the Em-
peror Akber, 117.
Moguls, as distinguished from Turks and
Tartars, 81, 82.
Mohammed — birth, person, character,
career, 52 ; Hejira, or flight, 53 ;
death, 54.
Mohammedanism — rise in Arabia, pro.
pagation in Africa and Europe, 54, 55
in India, 56.
Mohammed Ali, Nawab of Carnatic, 266 ;
maladministration, 315; puts Moham-
med Esoof to death, 316 ; a worse ruler
than Hyder Ali, 345.
Mohammed Shah {Emperor), accession,
158; politic mother, 159; triumphs
over Seyed brothers, 159 ; just and
merciful, 166; his death, 173.
Mohun Lai {Moonshee), 438, 447.
Monetary system, 559.
Monsoon, 487.
Moollah, Mohammedan priest, 104.
Moorsaun {Rajah of), in Alighur, 580.
INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE
Moorshed Kooli Khan, viceroy of Bengal,
character and conduct, 240 j death, 243.
Moptah, or Manilla, 317.
Morari Rao, leader of Mahratta mer-
cenuries. 204; establishes himself at
Giioty, 2fi7; surrender to Hyder Ali,
and death 348.
MouHan, or MooUan, 77, 107, 4.')6.
Mountains — extent, position, elevation,
and geology, 466- — 470,
Mountain passes, 471.-
Munro (Sir Hector), at PoIIiloor, 355.
Muuro {Sir Thomas), governor of Ma-
dras— exorbitant land assessment, 421 ;
death, 422 ; description of ancient vil-
lage system, 573.
Murtsrubdars, 118,
Mvesulman authors, 153.
Mutiny of English soldiers at Bombay.
220; of sepoys under Munro, 298 ; of
English officers under Clive, 305 ;
sepoys at Vellore, 407 ; sepoys at
Barrackpoor, 424.
Mvitra, 65 ; capture by Ahmed Shah
Doorani, and massacre, 175,
Mynpoorie {Rajah of)- 580,
Mysoor, origin of state and name, 253 ;
historical summary, 270 ; restoration
of Hindoo dynasty, 383; revenue in
1799, 384 ; Poornea, good and able
Hindoo minister, 384,
Nal/ob, or Nawab, 221,
Nadir Shah, of Persia, 3 ; early career,
163; invasion of India, 165; immense
plunder obtained in Delhi, 166; re-
turns to Persia, 167 ; character, ap-
pearance, and strong voice, 167; crimes
and assassination, 172,
Kagyour. (See Berar).
Nagai. or Snake yods, 113.
Kaik. 169.
Naik Sulahdar, 156,
Nairs of Malabar, 183.
Nm^a Pumavese, 390,
Nanuk, first Guru of the Seiks, 155.
Napier {Sir Charles), proceedings in
Sinde, and controversy with Outram;
449.
Narwar {Principality of), 106,
Navy {Indian). 555.
Nearchus, Alexander's admiral, 32 ;
voyage from the Indus to Persian
gulf, 35.
Nemud, religious impostor. 159.
Nepaul, wai with Goorkai:. or Nepaulese,
411,412.
Nizam-ool-Moolk. (See Cheen Kilich
Khan).
Nizam Shah dynasty at Ahmednuygur,
origin, 98 ; regency of Cband Beeby,
99; extinction of kingdom, 139.
Nizams of the Veccan, or Hyderabad —
declaration of independence, 158 ;
French corps of Nizam Ali disbanded
by Marquis Wellesley, 378; military
strength in 1816, 415.
Nizamut Suddur Adawlut, 324.
Northern Circars, 209.
North-Westem Provinces — ^land revenue,
area, and population, 514, 515; land
tenure, 579.
Nour Mahal (afterwards Empress Nour
Jehan), birth, early life, 121 ; her jewels,
122; rescues the emperor, 120 ; widow-
hood and death. 127.
Nuknra, or state drum, 120.
Nwicomar — history, 313, 335; heard in
council against governor-general, 333 ;
trial and execution, 335.
Nviceree battalions, 413,
Nuzur, ur Nuzzur, 168,
Ochterlony {General Sir David), 409,
411,413; death, 421, 426.
Omichnnd procures release of survivors of
Black Hole, 274, 277; intrigues with
English, 276,277; deceived by forged
treaty, 279 ; discovery of deceit, insanity,
and death, 280.
Oorcha, in Bundelcund, 106.
Opium monopoly, 365 ; growth or use of
opium prohibited by Tippoo Sultan,
377; not used by Ameers of Sinde, 450.
Ormuz {Island of), 208.
Orry, his Indian policy, 246, 254.
Ostend E. I. Company, 241.
Oude, or Ayodhya, 15, 17; Sadut Khan,
viceroy, 164; his death, 166; Shuja
Dowlah, nawab-vizier, 314 ; obtain-
ment of Rohilcund, 329 ; death, 330 ;
Asuf-ad-Dowlah — character, 362; Be-
gums of Oude ill-treated by Hastings,
363 ; tribute reduced by Cornwallis.
367 ; disputed succession, 375 ; Sadut
Ali chosen, 375 ; Vizier Ali causes
death of British resident — escapes, is
captured, and imprisoned for life, 386 ;
Ghazi-oo-deen lends money to E. I.
Company, 4 13 ; is suffered to assume title
of king, 421 ; financial transactions,
422 ; annexation, 459.
Oudipoor, or Oodipoor, capital of Mewar,
founded, HI; Rana Pertap, 111 ; Rana
Umra, 123 ; Rana Raj Sing rescues the
intended bride of Aurungzebe, 148 ;
restoration of territory by Bahadur
Shah, 155 ; condition in 1745, 249 ; in
1772, 320; excellent minister, Umra
Chund, 320 ; sacrifice of Prince.?s
Chrisna, 408.
Ousety {Sir Gore), Persian embas-sy, 409.
Outram {Sir James), controversy with
Napier, 449.
Overland Route, 430.
Palibothra, King Chandra Gupta, 38.
Pan. HI.
Panna, in Bundelcund, 106.
Parker {Chouans of), 106.
Paropamisus. 25.
Parthia (Kinydom of), 48, 50.
Patels, Hindoo village functionaries, 141.
Peyu, annexation of, 458.
Peons, native police, 221.
Pepper, sale of, 200 ; demand for, 208 ;
stock of E. I. Company seized by
Charles I., 213 ; Malabar pepper, 232 ;
Ranee of Garsopa, '' the pepper queen,''
253 ; Company agree with Hyder Ali
for monopoly of purchase, 319.
Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, 43.
Perron, 395, 396.
Peshawer, or Peshawur, 65.
Peshwaa, or Peishwas, 98 ; Brahmin
dynasty at Poona founded by Balajee
"W'ihwanath, 160; Bajee Rao, character
and person, 161; defies Nadir Shah,
169; desith, 169; Balajee Bajee, cha-
racter and death, 1 79 ; summary, 270 ;
Mahdoo Rao opposes Hyder Ali, 317,
319; death, 320; Narrain Rao (Peishwa)
murdered, 340 ; traits of character,
341 ; Ragoba supported as Peishwa by
English, 341; Anundee Bye, wife of
Ragoba, 340, 390 ; Bajee Rao (the last
Peishwa), 390 ; faithlessness and un-
popularity, 394 ; concessions to E. I.
Company, 415; hostility — defeat at
Kirkee, 417; flight from Poona, 418;
surrender, and residence at Beithoor,
or Bithoor, as a British stipendiary,
419.
Pellah, native town, 33.
Piyot (Lord), governor of Madras, 347;
attempt to bribe, 347; arrest, and death
in prison, 347,
Pindarries, 319, 390; etymology, 414;
suppression by Lord Hastings, 415 —
420; fate of leaders, Heeroo and Bur-
run, 416; Kureem Khan, Wasil Mo-
hammed, and Cheetoo, 420.
Pitt diamond, 238,
Polyyars, 571,
Pondicherry, capital of French posses-
sions, founded, 247; wise government
of M. Martin, 246; surrendered by
Lally to Coote, 280.
Poona, 141; made Mahratta capital by
Peishwa Balajee Bajee, 174, 250, 270 ;
annexation, 419.
Poj02(/o«ow, 498— 503; 514—525.
Portuguese dominion, rise, 182; Vasco
de Gama, 182; Alvarez Cabral, 183;
Duaite Pacheco, 185; conquest of
Malacca, 187; bigotry and corruption,
194 ; position at the end of the 1 6th
century, 194; position in the 18th
century, 233.
Portuguese viceroys, or governors-general ■
— Almeida, 185; Albuquerque, 186;
Soarez, 188 ; Vasco de Gama, 189 ;
De Sousa, 190.
Poms, 29 ; defeated by Alexander, 30,
Potail, or Patel, 141, 572,
Pottinger {Eldred), 434, 446,
Pottinger {Sir Henry), 449, 450, 458.
/■ows/a, deadly drink, 139.
Press — deportation of Silk Buckingham,
422 ; restrictions, 428 ; restrictions re-
moved, 431 ; English and Native, 539.
Prester {John), 192.
Prithee nidhee, meaning of term, 161.
prize-money obtained at Gheria (1750),
271; ill efl'ects, 298; Benares (1?81),
362 ; Seringapatam (1 799), 382 ; Agra
(1803), 396; Bhurtpoor (1826), 427;
Sinde (1843), 449—451.
Puar {Udojee), origin of principality of
Dhar, 161, 320.
Puggee, Hindoo village detective, 572.
Punchayet, Hindoo village jury, 324.
Punjab, invaded by Alexander, 29 ; divi-
sions, 41 ; invaded from Ghuznee, 63 ;
Mahrattas expel Dooranis, 177; pos-
sessed by Seiks, 321 ; annexation, 450.
Puranas, H indoo sacred writings, 1 6.
Purdhans, ministers of state, 161.
Pursaee, Hindoo village functionary, 572,
Putuarree, village registrar, 572.
Railways, 505. •
Rajast'han, or Rajpootana, 106 ; condition
in 1772,320,
Rajpoots, 42; character, 71, 122, 170.
Ramayana, Hindoo epic poem, 10,
Ranwosies, mountain tribe, 141.
Rampoor (Fyzoolla Khan, chief of), 330.
Ram Shastree, Mahratta judge, 341.
Rangoon, capital of Pegu, 422.
Ranies, or Ranees, of Malabar and
Canara, 97.
Religion, 527, 535.
Revenue and Expenditure, 556 — 558.
Rf:venuesystem^.iol^)\.eA byAkber,117,570.
Rivers of India, 472 — 477.
Rivers of Afghanistan, and the north-
west frontier, 478.
Roe {Sir Thomas), 120, 123; mission to
Jehangeer, 205 ; advice to E. I. Com-
pany regarding official salaries, 302.
Rohilcund and the Rehillas, 171; founder,
249 ; Nujeeb-oo-Dowlah, 313 ; pos-
sessions of various chiefs, 327 ! English
troops hired by Shuja Dowlah, to ex-
tirpate Rohillas and conquer country,
329 ; Hafiz Rehmet slain, 329.
VI
INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.
Sohtat Fort, in Behnr, 85.
SoAtat Fort, near the Indus, 88.
Sousienia, a religious sect, 113.
Jiumbold {Sir Thomas), governor of Ma-
dras, 348 ; favoured by Lord Hastings,
421; connexion with the house of
Palmer and Co., 421.
Runjeet Sinff,o/ La/iore,i09,iM ; undue
concessions made by Lord Auckland,
435 ; death 436, 453.
Kunn of Cutch, 68.
Ryotwar settlemeiit in Madras, 573.
Sadhs, or Satfiamis, 147.
Sadras, Dutch settlement. 268.
Salaries of E. I. Company's servants,
222,313.
Sale (Sir Robert), 424; Lady Sale
wounded in the Koord-Cabool Pass,
442 ; her captivity and rescue, 446.
Sal forest, bordering Nepaul, 413.
Salt monopoly, established by Clive, 306,
310; profits, 365.
Sanitaria, at hill-stations, 513.
iSfl//flra, capital of Mahratta rajahs. 161,
174, 251; administration of Rajah
Pertab Sein, 431 ; deposition of rajah,
432 ; annexation of principality, 459.
Savanoor, Patan chief of, 253, 261.
Seiis, or Sikhs, revolt during reign of
Aurungzebe, 152 ; origin and early pro-
ceedings; doctrines; Gurus or chiefs —
Nanuk, Guru Govind. and Bandu; 15.i ;
number and position, 321.
Seinnghur, portion of Delhi citadel, 136.
Senapnttee, commander-in-chief, 161.
Senassiet, religious mendicants, 330.
Sepah sillah, Mohammedan viceroy, 117.
Sepoys, 235; gallantry at A root, 264 ; at
Je'llalabad, 444.
Seringapatam,hov populated, 349 ; situa-
tion, 371 ; state when captured by
Lord Harris, 382.
Sevajee, birth, parentage, and education,
141; daring boyhood, 142; rebels
against Beejapoor government, 142 ;
assassinates Afzool Khan, 143; wars
with Aurungzebe, 144 ; surprises Mogul
camp, 144; plunders Surat, 144; es-
tablishes seat of government at Raighur,
144; assumes title of rajah, 145; en-
thronement, and costly gifts to Brahmins,
219; treacherously captured by Au-
rungzebe, 145 ; escapes from Delhi in a
basket, 145; first levies chout, 146;
civil policy, 146; conquers territory
from Beejapoor, 148 ; sudden death,
148 ; character, 148, 149.
Seyeds, lineal descendants of Mohammed,
156 ; Seyed rulers of Delhi, 78.
Seyed brothers — Abdullah Khan and
Hussein Ali ; political career, 156, 158 ;
their death, 159.
Shah Alum {Emperor), 176, 289; ar-
rangement with E. I. Company, 293,
303 ; enters Delhi under Mahratta pro-
tection, 315; blinded by Rohillas, 273 ;
taken under British protection, 396.
Shahamet Ali, author of Sikhs and Af-
ghans, 447.
Shah Jehan {Emperor), or Prince Khoo-
rum, 119; rebels against his father,
125; refuge in Oudipoor, 125; ac-
cession, 128 ; murders his brothers,
128; revenue survey, 131 ; his children,
132; deposition, 135; review of his
reign, 135; miserable captivity, 139;
death, 146.
Shah Soojah, of Cabool, 433 — 445.
Shajttroji, Hindoo scriptures, 414.
Sheer Shah, Afghan usurper, 88.
Sheiaht, followera of Ah, 62, 98, 133;
denounced by Nadir Shah, 164; strife
with Sonuites or Sunnis, in Delhi, 175.
Sheik-til-Jubbxil, or Old Man of the
Mountain, 72.
Shipping (India built), 402.
Shroffs, native bankers, 218.
Sicca, royal right of stamping coin, 93.
Siddee, or Seedee, of Jinjeera, 220.
Sici/es— Chittore (1568), HI; Hooghly
(1632), 131; Raighur (1690), 151;
Devicotta (1748), 259; Arcot (1751),
264; Pondicherry (1760), 280; Rock
of Amboor, 318; Wandewash (1781),
354; Cuddalore (1784), 359; Mangalore
(1784), 359; Savendroog (1791), 370;
Seringapatam (1792), 371; Seringa-
patam (1799), 380; Alighur (1803),
395; Agra (1803). 396; Aseerghur
(1803), 398; Gawilghur (1803), 398;
Delhi (1804), 401; Bhurtpoor (1804),
401 ; Kalunga, or Nalapanee (l814)i
411 i Deothul (1814), 412; Almora
(1816), 413; Maloun (1816), 413;
Aseerghur (1818), 420; Malligaum
(1819), 421 ; Bhurtpoor (1825-'6), 426;
Herat (1838), 434; Khelat-i-Nuseer
(1839), 447 ; Ghuznee (1842), 444 ;
Candahar (1842) 444; Jellalabad
(1842), 444; Mooltan (1849), 456;
Rangoon (1852), 458. (For statistics
of Sieges, see 460 — 463).
Simla first resorted to by Lord Amherst,
427.
Sinde., Arab conquest of, 57, 58 ; its rulers,
106 ; taken possession of by Nadir
Shah, 167; Tatta pillaged by Portu-
guese, 193 ; rule of the Ameers, 434 ;
exactions of E. I. Company, 435 ; an-
nexation, 449 — 452.
Sindia, or Gicalior Principality, origin of
family, 101 ; Jeiapa Sindia, 171; Ma-
hadajee Sindia's force disciplined by
European officers, 373 ; De Boigne,
373, 390 ; arrogance of Mahadajee,
374 ; Dowlut Rao, 374, 390, 392 ; war
with Holcar, 393 ; Oojeen and otlier
places captured and rifled by Holcar,
393 ; troops commanded by M. Perron,
(see Perron), 395 ; subsidiary force
stationed at Gwalior, 399 ; Dowlut
Rao's character, 416 ; supports Pindar-
rics, 416; death, 427; his favourite
wife, Baiza Bye, adopts a son and as-
sumes the regency, 427; death of
adoptee, prince, and new adoption, 432 ;
war with English — Gwalior captured ;
fortress permanently occupied by Eng-
lish, 452,
Slavery in India, 117, 1 18, 349, 507.
Somnanth {Temple of), 67 ; sandal-wood
gates taken by Mahmood to Ghuznee,
67; restored by order of Lord EUeu-
borough, 445.
St. Helena occupied by English, 216.
St. Thomas, or Mcliapoor (near Madras),
occupied by Englisli, 257.
Stuart (General), treacherous arrest of
Lord Pigot, 347 ; misconduct at Cudda-
lore, 358 ; arrested and sent to England
by Lord Macartney, 359 ; duel with
Lord Macartney, 366.
Subsidiary forces (British) — Nizam, 371 ;
Peisliwa, 373 ; general view, 526.
Suddur Deuiannee Adawlut, 324.
Svmroo, German adventurer, 297 ; Begum
Sumroo faithi'ul to Shah Alum, 373.
Sirjee, or Shirzee Rao (Jhatkay, 393, 400.
Sirohi, Rajpoot state, 106.
Sirpa, dress of honour, 163.
Siyar-ul'Mutakherin, 156; translations
by General Briggs, and a Frenchman,
170. I
Smith (Sir Harry), at Aliwal, 455.
Sonnites or Sunnis, traditionists, 62 ;
strife with Shciahs, 99.
Sonthal insurrection, 459.
Stoddart (Colonel), cruel death at Bok-
hara, 446.
Subahdar, native officer, 117.
Sumbajee, rajah of the Mahrattas, son of
Sevajee, 149; capture and execution, 151.
Sunnud, edict, 287.
Surajah Dowlah, viceroy of Bengal — cha-
racter, 271,275; deceivedby Clive, 276;
betrayed by Meer .Taffier at Plassy,
278 ; defeat, flight, capture, and assas-
sination, 282 ; fate of conspirators, 335.
Suraj Mul, chief of the Jats, 177.
Sural, 103; fort burned by Portuguese,
189; visited by Dutch, 208; annexed
by English, 387.
Surdeshmooki — Aurungzebe negotiates its
payment to the Mahrattas, 153; ex-
planation of term, 157.
Suttee or Sati, of Muchta Bye. 391 ;
self-immolation prohibited, 428.
Swedish E. I. Company, 242.
Tabular view of Anglo-Indian army, 5G5.
Battles and sieges, 460 — •
463.
' East India banks, 565.
Importsand exports, 563,
564.
Indo-Mohamraedan dy-
nasties, 180.
• Land revenue of each
presidency, 566, 582.
■ Land revenue, area, and
population, 5 1 4 — .'i 1 8.
Mountains, 466 — 4 70.
Mountain passes, 471.
■ Population, 500, 501,
Rivers in India, 472 —
477.
Rivers in Afghanistan.
and on the north-vrest
frontier, 478.
Table-lands of Briti.sh
India, 479.
• Table-lands of Afghanis-
tan and Beloouhistan,
480.
Tributary and protected
states, 519—524.
Toj Mahal, erection of the, 130.
Talookdars, 571.
Talpoors of Sinde, 449.
Tajijore, 252 ; native troops disciplined by
Flemish officer, 253 ; English interfere
in a case of disputed sovereignty, 258.
259 ; historical summary, 270 ; capture
and restoration by E. I. Company,
347 ; Rajah Serfojee, the a<!complislied
pupil of Swartz, 387 ; annexation, 3»7.
Tara Bye, Mahratta princess, 153; cha-
racter, 175 ; death, 179.
Tariff, 505.
Tatla, 34.
Taxila, 26.
Taailes, 26, 29.
Tea, first importation into England, 217.
Tegnapafam, or Fort St. David, fouudcJ,
223 ; progress, 236.
Tenasserim ceded by King of Ava, 423.
Thorne (Robert), 197.
Thornton's (Edward) History of India,
431.
Thugs, or Phansigars, 429.
Tilac, the accursed number. 111.
T'imnr Beg, or Tamerlane, 76 ; auto,
biography, 77; capture of Delhi, 78;
person and character, 77, 78 ; House of
Tiraur. 81.
INDEX TO VOL. I. OF THE " INDIAN EMPIRE.
Til
Jlppoo Sultan menaces Madras, 318;
character, 357 ; cruelty to English
prisoners, 359 ; persecutes the '• Portu-
guese Nazarenes," 367 ; circular hunt,
367 ; forcible conversions, 367 ; his
work, T/ie King of Histories, 367;
intrigues with French republic, 377 ;
killed in defending his capital, 380 ;
person and government, 382 ; liberal
provision made by Lord Wellesley for
Tippoo's family, 383.
Tod's {Colonel) Annals of Rajast'han,
106,122.
Todar Mul (Raja/i),'ilmdLOO financier, 570.
Toghlak {Home of), 74 ; cruelties of Mo-
hammed Toghlak, 75 ; circular hunt,
75.
Tomb of Humayun at Delhi, general re-
ceptacle for murdered princes of the
House of Timur— Emperor Feroksheer
buried there, 158.
Topasses, 235.
Torture Commission, Madras, 577.
iravancore, sovereignty inherited by
Tamburetties, or princesses of Attinga,
253 ; historical summary, 270 ; appeal
to E. I. Company against Tippoo
Sultan, 368 ; annexation, 410.
JVea^es— English and French (1754), 269.
E. I. Company with Surajah Dowlah,
(1757), 274 ; " Red Treaty" with Omi-
chund (1757)7 280 ; with Meer Jaffier
(1757), 280 ; of Allahabad, with the
emperor (1765), 326; with Hyder Ali
(1769), 319; of Benares, with Nawab-
vizierof Oude(I773),327; of Poorunder,
with the Mahrattas(1776), 342; conven-
tion of \Vurg!mm(1779), 343; of Salbve
with Sindia, (1782), 356; with Tippoo
Sultan (1784), 359; of Chuuar with
Oude (1781), 363; Tippoo Sultan
(1792), 372; of Bassein with Peisliwa
(1802), 393 ; of Deogaum with Ragojee
Bhonslay (1803), 398; Surjee Anjen-
gaum with Sindia (1803), 399; with
Jeypoor, Joudpoor, Boondi, Macherry,
Bhurtpoor, and Rana of Gohud (1803),
399; with Runjeet Sing (1810); Se-
goulee with Nepaul (1816), 413 ; Poona
with the Peishwa (1816), 415 ; with
Burmah (1826), 425; with Ameers of
Sinde (1838), 435, 449, 450; with
Runjeet Sing and Shah Soojah (1838),
434 ; with the Nizam (1853), 459.
Tributary and protected States before the
Mutiny — area, population, revenue,
amount of subsidy or tribute, and
military resources, 519 — 524.
Trichinopoly, 251 ; historical summary,
270.
Tuquazu, species of dunning, 169.
Turaee or Terai {Plain of), 410, 413.
Uma, " the august bird," 382.
XJngool, annexation of, 459.
Uzbeks, 80.
Vakeel-i-Mootlui, 60, 95.
Vedas, Hindoo scriptures, 13, 498 ; Sama
Veda, 14 ; Rig Veda, 497.
Vellore fortress, residence of Tippoo
Sultan's family, 383 ; and of Vizier
Ali, 383 ; mutiny at, 407.
Vicramaditya, King of Malwa, 40.
Village system {Hindoo), 571.
Vyasa, alleged compiler of the Vedas, 12.
Wadeyar (lord of thirty-three villages),
253.
Wagnuci, Mabratta weapon, 143.
Watson {Admiral), refuses to sign a fcUa
treaty, 277 ; signature forged by order
of Clive, 277 ; death, 279.
Wave-offering, 159.
Weights and Measures, 565.
Wellesley {Marquis), birth and early life
as Lord Mornington, 376 ; person and
character, 377; subsidiary system, 385 ;
protects Rajpoot principalities against
Mahratta aggressions, 399 ; eradicates
French influence in India, 402 ; recall,
and character of administration, 403,
407; attacked by PauU ; grantof money
by E. I. Company ; death, 404 ; views
on land-tenure, 578.
Wellesley {Colonel), afterwards Duke of
Wellington, 382 ; military command in
Mysoor, 383 ; pursuit and death of
Dhoondea Waugh, 383 ; war with
Mahrattas, 394 ; Assaye, 395.
Willoughby {Sir Hugh), voyages, 197 ;
death, 198.
Wulsa, immigration in war-time, 315.
Wutun, inheritance, 160.
Yogees, Hindoo ascetics, 28.
Zamorins of Calient, or Tamnri rajahs,
182 ; wars with the Dutch, 243 ; Maan
Veeram Raj driven to suicide by Hyder
Ali, 318 ; secret name of the Zamorins,
423.
Zavier {Francois), comes to India, 191.
Zemaun Shah, projected invasion of India,
377, 388; deposed and blinded, 433;
vicissitudes of fortune, 433, 448.
Zemindar, 107, 571.
Zemindar system, established in Bengal,
and Bahar. 573.
Zinar, Brahminical cord. 111.
ERRATA.— VOL. I.
Page 388, heading : for Anglo-Indian army join
British in India., read Egypt.
,, 396, „ for hattte of Alighur — gallant de-
fence, of Delhi— 1803, read gal-
lant defence of Alighur — battle
near Delhi — 1803.
,, 401, ,, iov ulcge of Bhurfpoor — defence of
Delhi, read defence of Delhi —
siege of Bhurtpoor.
,, 413, co\. \, Vine II, (or Maroun, read Maloun.
)) 426, „ 1, line 6, dele words nothing but.
„ 489, huRiWng: for decrement, reml diminutimi.
,, 489, col. 2, line 52, for congelation, read coiv-
gelatlon.
„ 492, „ 1, line 19, for rerepresentatives, read
representatives.
Page 503, Table : alter heading from resume of
censuses to population returns,
and dele tnales and females.
„ 506, col. 2, line 3, for Southals, read Son-
thals.
» 507, „ 2, line 16, for homogenety, read
homoyeneiti/.
Pages 550, 55], headings : nXlurmodes of administer.
i»(/ justice in India, and i/iode
of administering justice in
India, to administration of jus-
tice in India.
Page 552, heading : for codification, read code.
„ 553, note, col. 2, line 4 (of note), for a honour,
read an honour.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACljSrG THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. I.
Trontispi*ce—ljord Palmerston.
riyw^-Wr— Encampment on the Sutlej,
Map of British India - - To face page
View of the Palace of Agra from the
River - . - - Tofacepage 112
View of Bombay, showing the Fort - - 217
View of Madras - - - Tofacepage hi
Table of Distances to be placed at end of Vol.
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACING THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. II.
Trontispxect—lMtd Clyde.
Vignette — Death of General Neil.
Lord Viscount Canning - Tofacepage
The Kind's Palace at Delhi - - - - 116
Map of Northern India - - - -125
Mutinous Sepoys dividing- Spoil - - - 215
Ceneral Sir Henrj' Havclock, K.C.B. - - 276
The Nana Sahib leaving Luckuow - - 346
The Palace at Agra - - To face page ^o^
Capture of the Guns by the Highlanders - 377
Portrait of Kooer Sing _ _ _ - 400
The Relief of Lucknow by General Have-
lock 420
Blowing up of the Cashmere Gate at Delhi - 442
Capture of the King of Delhi by Captain
Hodson ------- 447
Seik Troops dividing the Spoil taken from
Mutineers - . - - Tofacepage 479
Times' Correspondent looking on at the
Sacking of the KaLserbagh - - - 479
Death of Brigadier. Adrian Hope - - - 493
Mahomed Suraj-oo-deen Shah Ghazee - 159
Zeenat Mahal, Begum or Queen of Delhi • 453
DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER FOR PLACING THE ENGRAVINGS.— VOL. III.
JVon(i>^i>cf— Hindoo and Mohammedan
Buildings.
Vignette— 'Acene near ChillahTarah Ghaut,
Bundelcund.
Troops encamped at the Entrance of the
Keree Pass. - - . To face page 1
The Ganges entering the Plains near I lurd war 2
Hurdwar, a place of Hindoo Pilgrimage - 3
Assemblage of Pilgrims near Hurdwar - 4
Hurdwar, the Gate of Ilari, or Vishnoo - 5
MuBsooree and the Dhoon, from Landour - 6
The Abbey and Hills from near Mussooree - 8
Snowy Range from Landour . - - 9
Snowy Range from TjTiee - - - - 11
Village of Naree ------ 12
Bridge at Bhurkote - - - - - 13
View near Kursalee ----- 14
Knrsalee, a Village in the neighbourhood
of Simla - - - - - - -15
View on the River Jumna - - - - IG
FalUnearthosourceofthc Jumna, above Delhi 18
Fugitive Sepoys taking refuge in a Mountain
Fastness, near Jumnootrcc, on the Jumna 18
Snowv Mountains, Northern Bengal j source
of the Jumna ------ 19
Fugitive Sepoys crossing the River Tonse
by Rope Bridge ----- 20
Gongootree, the sacred source of the Ganges 21
The Village of Khandoo, Himalaya Moun-
tains 23
Village of Roghera and Deodar Forest - 24
The Choor Mountains ----- 25
Jerdair, a Hill Village ; Ghurwal - - 26
Grasa-ropc Bridge at Teree, Ghurwal - - 27
View near Jubberah, Northtrn Bengal - 28
View at Deobun, near Umballah - - - 29
Mohima, near Deobun ----- 30
Valley of the Dhoon, Himalaya Mountains • 31
The Fortress of Nahun, in the dominion of
Oude ----- Tofacepage 32
Fortress of Bowrie, in Rajpootana - - 33
The Pass of Makundra - - - - 34
Scene in Kattea war— Travellers and Escort 36
Zanghera, or the Fakeer's Rock, on the
Ganges -------37
Colgong, on the Ganges - - - - 38
Seik Irregular Cavalry - - - - 39
Tomb of Shere Shah, Sasserain - - - 41
City of Benares ------ 43
Benares --,--.-44
Hindoo Temple, Benares - - - - 46
Saniat, a Boodh Monument, near Benares - 47
View of Cawnpoor from the River - - 48
Agra, the scene of the late insurrectionary
outbreak -------50
Taj Mahal, Agra 51
Jumma Musjid, Agra - - - - - 52
Agra— from the Jahara Bang - - - 53
Akber's Tomb, Secundra - - - - 54
Futtehpoor Sikri ------ 55
An old Fort at Muttra - - - - 57
Delhi, showing the entrance to the Palace - 58
Cootub Minar, Delhi ----- 59
Tomb of Humayun, Delhi - - - - 60
A ruin on the banks of the Jimma, above Delhi 61
Ruins, old Delhi 62
Ruins, south side of old Delhi - - - 63
Calcutta from the Esplanade. No. 1 - - 64
Ditto Ditto No. 2 - - 66
Fort George, Madras ----- 70
Bombay Harbour in the Monsoon - - 74
Simla, near Belaspoor ----- 76
Fortress of Shuhur, Jeypoor, Rajpootana - 80
Hindoo Temple at Chandgoan - - - 81
Perawa, Malwa ------ 82
King's Fort, Boorhanpoor - - - - 83
Jumma Musjid, Mandoo - To face page 84
The Water Palace, Mandoo. - - - 58
The Fortress of Dowlutabad - - - 86
Aurungzebe's Tomb, Rozah - - - 87
View of Sassoor, in the Deccan - - - 88
Tombs of the Kings, Golconda - - - 89
The British Residency at Hyderabad - - 91
Bej apoor -------92
Sultan Mahomed Shah's Tomb, Bejapoor - 94
Seven-storied Palace, Bejapoor - - - 96
Palace of the Seven Stories, Bejapoor - - 97
Mosque of Mustapha Khan, Bejapoor - - 98
Tomb of Ibrahim Padshah, Bejapoor - - 99
Taj Bowlee, Bejapoor ----- 101
Asser Mahal, Bejapoor - - _ - io2
Singham Mahal, Torway, Bejapoor - - 104
Hindoo Temples and Palace, Madura - - 105
Entrance to the Cave of Elephanta - - 106
Triad Figure, interior of Elephanta - - 107
Cave of Karli - - - - - -111
Front View of Kylas, Caves of Ellora - - 112
Excavated Temple of Kylas, Caves of
Ellora 113
Dus Outar, Ellora 115
Rameswur, Caves of Ellora - - - - 115
Skeleton Group in the Rameswur, Caves of
Ellora 116
Interior of Dhcr Warra, Ellora - - - 117
Sutteeism on the banks of the Ganges - - 119
View of Allahabad, showing the Fort - - 122
View of Lucknow ----- 124
Dewan Khass, or Hall of Audience, Palace of
Delhi 128
Agra — View of the Principal Street - - 130
Tomb of Elmad-ud-Dowlah, Agra - - 132
The Residency, Lucknow - - - - 134
The Hill Fortress of Gwalior - - - 140
View of Delhi, from the Palace Gate - - 143
INTRODUCTION.
The Anglo-Indian Empire ! what do these words represent in the minds of the
people of Britain ?
They speak of dominion over a far-distant sunny land, rich in barbaric gold,
precious stones, and architectural beauty, occupying upwards of a million square
miles of the most varied, fertile, and interesting portion of this globe, and
inhabited by more than one hundred million of the human race.
The early history of this wonderful country lies hid in deep obscurity. Not
the obscurity that naturally attends insignificance, but, far otherwise, caused by
the dense veil which Time drew around Ancient India, in thickening folds, during
centuries of deterioration; leaving the ruins of magnificent cities, and widely-
scattered records graven in mysterious characters on almost imperishable
materials, to attest the existence of civilised races — regarding whom even
tradition is silent — at a date long prior to the Christian era.
Whence India was peopled, is quite unknown ; but thirty different lan-
guages, and an equal diversity of appearance and character, dress, manners,
and customs, seem to indicate long-continued immigration from various quarters.
The Alexandrine era (b.c. 330) throws light on little beyond the Macedonian
invasion of the north-western frontier ; the Ai-ab incursions (a.d. 709) afford
only a few glimpses of the borders of the Indus ; and the thirteen expeditions of
Mahmood the Ghuznivede (a.d. 1000 to 1025), give little beyond a vague and
general idea of the wealth of the country and the dense population of the
Western Coast, whose idolatry Mahmood was empowered to scourge with the
strong arm of an Iconoclast; though he himself was but an instrument in the
hands of Providence ; and in battering down guardian fortresses and destroying
temples and shrines dedicated to false gods, had evidently no higher motive
than that of pillaging the dedicated treasures, and carrying away the worshippers
into slavery.
From this period we can faintly trace the progress of Mohammedan con-
quest in India, to the establishment of the dynasty known as the Slave Kings
of Delhi (a.d. 1208.) Its founder, Kootb-oo-deen, originally a Turki slave,
established the centre of Moslem dominion in the grand old Hindoo capital,
chiefly by reason of the disunion which had arisen among the leading Rajpoot
princes upon the failure of a direct heir, and the consequent jealousies and
disputes regarding the succession.
INTEODUCTIOjST.
Then the jiage of history becomes more and more legible until it records
the invasion of Timur or Tamerlane (a.d. 1398), the terrible details of the siege
of Delhi, and the general massacre in which it terminated ; and all the horrors
enacted before "the apostle of desolation " took his departure, carrying off men
and women of all ranks and ages into slavery, and leaving the devoted city
without a government, and almost without inhabitants.
The succeeding Indian annals, though confused, are tolerably full to the
commencement of that important epoch which comprises the reigns of the
Great Moguls. This brings us within the pale of modern history : we can note
the growth and decay of Mogul dominion, and trace, at least in measure, the
operating causes of its extension and decline. Viewed as a mere series of
biographies, the lives of the Great Moguls attract by incidents, which the
pen of fiction, fettered by attention to probability, would hardly venture to
trace. The members of this dynasty had a decidedly literary turn, and several
of them have left records not only of the public events in which they played a
leading part, but also of the domestic scenes in which they figured as sons,
husbands, or fathers.
The value of these memoirs in elucidating or corroborating the histories of
the period, is, of course, very great, and their authenticity rests on solid grounds,
apart from the strong internal evidence they afford of having been actually
written by the persons whose names they bear.
Nothing can be more characteristic than the intense self-adulation with
which Timur, or Tamerlane, narrates his perfidious and sanguinary career,
except perhaps the peculiar power of observation and analysis brought to bear
on new scenes which mark the autobiography of his descendant Baber, who,
following in his footsteps, invaded India from Cabool, and, after a fierce struggle
on the plains of Paniput (a.d. 1526), gained easy possession of Delhi and Agra,
and succeeded in laying the foundation of an extensive empire.
Humayun (a.d. 1530), Akber (a.d. 1556), Jehangeer (a.d. 1605), Shah Jehan
(a.d. 1628), all encountered vicissitudes of the most singular and varied character;
and the Mogul history increases in interest until it culminates in the long reign of
Aurungzebe (a.d. 1658), the ablest and most powerful, but the most ambitious and
bigoted of his race. During his sway the predatory hordes of Maharashtra were
formed by the Hindoo adventurer, Sevajee, into a powerful state ; the hated and
despised Mahrattas grew strong upon the spoil of independent kingdoms demolished
by the haughty emperor ; and finally, his troops, worn by incessant toil, became
mutinous for want of pay and provisions, and suffered their aged leader to be
hunted even to the death by foes he had been accustomed to treat as utterly
contemptible. The decay of the empire, which commenced several years before
INTEODrCTION.
the death of Aurungzebe (a.d. 1707), then became rapid; usurping viceroys,
rebelling against their government and warring with the rulers of neighbouring
states or provinces, aggravated the internal disorganisation. Nor were external
foes wanting to complete the work of destruction : adventurers of all creeds and
complexions fought fiercely over the ruins; while, distancing meaner com-
petitors. Nadir Shah (a.d. 1739) and Ahmed Shah (a.d. 1759), the robber
kings of Persia and AfFghanistan, swooped down like vultures to secure
their share of the carcass ; and the chief cities of India, especially Delhi,
repeatedly witnessed the most sanguinary enormities, and continued to do so
until, one by one, they became gradually included in the widening circle of
British supremacy.
And why dwell thus on the past at such a crisis as this, when the mag'ic
circle of our power has been rudely broken — when Delhi, filled to overflowing-
with all the munitions of war, has been treacherously snatched from our
unsuspecting- hands — and when the Crescent, raised ag-ain in deadly strife
against the Cross, has been reared aloft as if in testimony that the Moslems
who came into India proclaiming- war to the death against idolatry, have
quite abandoned their claim to a Divine mission, and are affecting- to make
common cause with the Hindoos, whose creed and practice they formerly
declaimed against with so much horror and disgust? Now Mohammedans
and Hindoos unite in committing crimes of a character so deep and deadly,
so foul and loathsome^ that we find no parallel for them ; not in the relentless,
inventive vengeance of the Red Indians ; not even in that crisis of civilised
infidelity, that fierce paroxysm of the French Revolution, still shudderingly
called the " Reig-n of Terror." The Red Republicans made public avowal of
atheism; and awful was the depravity into which they sank, world-wide the
shame they incurred : but recantation soon followed. These treacherous
Sepoys, who have so suddenly risen in a body, violating every oath of fidelity,
every tie of feeling- and association — they, too, have their watchword : it is
not " There is no God ;" it is " Death to the Christians !"
As in France, no religious persecution, but' rather a state of conventional
apathy, leavened by the poison of Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, and their
clique, preceded the atheistical and sang-uinary outburst ; even so has it
been with India. Efforts for the extension of Christianity have been wholly
exceptional; the rule has been tolerance, amounting to indifference, in all
religious matters. Few who have been in the habit of reading Indian
periodicals, much less of mixing in Indian society, will deny that, however
manifest the desire for the diffusion of the Gospel might be in individuals, the
government had remained markedly neutral.
INTEODUOTION.
The Mussulmans, let it be repeated, subjug-ated and governed India in
the character of anti-idolaters. They tolerated— and barely tolerated — the
heathenism around them, to which their aversion was, for the most part,
quite undisguised; and they were always eager for individual conversions.
Their open assertion of the superiority of their faith was viewed as natural
by the Hindoos; nor does any angry feeling appear to have been excited, save
in exceptional cases of actual persecution. Aurungzebe certainly alienated a
large portion of his subjects by reviving a long-abandoned capitation-tax on
infidels; and Avhether he did this from a desire to refill the treasury emptied
by incessant warfare, or from sheer bigotry, the result was the same. Many
causes (among which may be named, not as the avowed ones, but certainly
not as the least poAverful — sloth and sensuality, fostered by an enervating
climate) have concurred in rendering the Indian followers of Mohammed
comparatively regardless of that integral portion of their creed which
enjoins its extension by all and every means. But no earnest believer in
the Koran can be tolerant of idolatry ; and therefore, when we hear of
Moslem and Hindoo linked together in a most unprovoked crusade against
Christians, it is manifest that the pretext is altogether false, and that the
Mussulman, who is taught by the book he deems inspired never to name our
Blessed Lord without reverence, or idols without abhorrence, cannot now be
actuated by an}'' religious motive, however perverted or fanatical, in violating
the first principles of his faith and by affected sympathy with the professors
of a creed heretofore declared utterly polluted and debasing, using them
as dupes and tools in carrying out an incendiary plot, the planned details
of which only Devil-worshippers, possessed by unclean spirits, could have
been supposed capable of conceiving and executing. The conspiracy, be3'ond
a doubt, has originated in the desire of the Mohammedans to recover their
lost supremacy in India. Its immediate and secondary causes are involved
in temporary obscurity ; but the primum mobile must be sought for in the
pages of history. It is true the flame has spread like wildfire : but the
important question for those who are capable of grapjjling" with the com-
plicated bearings of this all-eng-rossing subject, is not — what hand applied
the match 1 but how came such vast masses of combustibles to be so widely
spread, so ready for ignition ?
To understand this in any satisfactory degree, the inquirer must be
content to begin at the beginning, by carefully weighing the fragmentary
records we possess of the history and character of the Hindoos as a distinct
people, noting the causes which led to their gradual subjugation by the
Moslems ; next, those which paved the way for the introduction of European
INTEODtrCTION.
Powers ; and, lastly, the establishment and operation of British supremacy
throug-hout India.
The indifference which the British nation and its rulers have so
long- evinced to the study of Asiatic historj', has been most unfortunate.
Wrapped in fancied security, we have been too ig'norant to be anxious, too
indolent to be watchful ; and the few Avho have felt it an imperative duty to
speak words of warning' by bring-ing the experience of the past to bear upon
the signs of the present, have found themselves set down as alarmists on this
point at least, whatever their general character for ability and sound judg-
ment. Yet the fact is certain, that almost every leading authority from the
date of our earliest assumption of territorial power, has dwelt forcibly on the
necessity for unsleeping vigilance in the administration of Indian affairs.
This conviction has been the invariable result of extensive acquaintance with
the natives, and it is abundantly corroboi*ated by the recorded antecedents
of both Hindoos and Mohammedans.
The history of India, whether in early times or during the Mohammedan
epoch, is — as the brief outline sketched in preceding pages was designed to
indicate — no less interesting- as a narrative than important in its bearing on
the leading events of the present epoch, which, in fact, cannot, without it, be
rendered intelligible. The strug-gles of European Powers for Asiatic ascen-
dancy, form leading features in the annals of each of tbese states. Portugal
was first in the field, and long- and fierce Avas the combat she waged to
maintain exclusive possession of the rich monopoly of Oriental commerce.
The Dutch (then known as the Netherlanders) enjoyed a share of the
profits in the capacity of carriers between the Portuguese factories and the
northern nations of Europe ; but when, in 1579, they formed themselves into a
separate government in defiance of the power of Philip of Spain, that
monarch, who then governed with an iron sceptre the united kingdoms
of Spain and Portugal, forbade the employment of the Dutch as inter-
mediaries— a prohibition which led to their trafficking on their own account,
forming various trading settlements in the East in the commencement of
the seventeenth century, and supplanting their former employers.
The first attempts of England were made, at the same period, by a
company of London merchants, warmly encouraged by the Queen, who
signed a charter on their behalf on the last day of the sixteenth century.
During the following century the English continued to be simply traders,
with no cravings for political or territorial aggrandisement — absorbed in the
business of buying and selling, and anxious only for the safety of their fleet,
which rapidly became more formidable and extensive in proportion to the rich
c
INTEODUCTION.
freight' it was destined to bear throug-h seas infested with pirates, and fre-
quently preoccupied by hostile European squadrons.
The eighteenth century opened upon an entirely new phase of Indian
annals. The decay of Mogul power, which had, as has been stated, com-
menced before the death of Aurungzebe in 1707, was g;reatly accelerated by
that event, and by the war of succession which followed, as a natural con-
sequence, the death of a Mog-ul emperor. The will of the deceased ruler
decreed the division of his dominions among his sons ; and had they consented
to this arrangement, and cordially united in carrying it out, their allotted
portions might possibly have been consolidated into distinct kingdoms. But
brotherly love rarely flourishes under the shadow of a despotic throne ; and
the House of Timur formed no exception to this rule, having evinced a
remarkable tendency to fratricide throughout the entire period of its Indian
career. The younger sons of Aurungzebe went to war with their elder
brother, each on his own account, and died the death they had provoked,
leaving the survivor, Bahadur Shah, to rule as best he might the scattered
territories styled the Empire. Anything more devoid of organisation — of any
approach to unity — than the so-called Empire, cannot well be conceived. When
Aurungzebe snatched the sceptre from the hands of his father, Shah Jehan,
and condemned him to life-long captivity, the dominions he usurped were
comparatively well governed, and might, under the sway of a ruler of such
unquestionable ability, such indomitable perseverance, have been consolidated
into a comparatively homogeneous mass But the unhallowed ambition at
whose shrine he had sacrificed the liberty of his father and the lives of his
brothers, still hurried him on, rendering him reckless of the internal deca}^
which was manifestly at work in the very heart of his kingdom, while
he was lavishing his resources in spreading desolation and ruin, famine and
the sword, through every independent kingdom within his reach — extending
his own only in name, throwing down governments and ancient land-marks^
yet erecting none in their stead ; becoming terrible as a destro3-er, when he
might have been great as a statesman and a consolidator.
A right view of the character of Aurungzebe, and a patient investigation
of his career, is absolutely necessary to the obtainment of a clear insight into
the state of India at the period when the English East India Company began
to exchange their position of traders on sufferance for that of territorial lords.
The first steps of this strange transformation can hardly be said to have been
voluntary. The English merchants were still essentially traders. An exami-
nation of the East India House records (and no attempt has ever been made
to garble or hide them away from friend or foe), will prove to the most pre-
INTEODTJCTION.
judiced observer, that, as a body, they persistently opposed the acquisition of
dominion. Nothing short of complete indifference can account for the exces-
sive ig-norance of Indian politics manifested in their official correspondence.
It may, indeed, be urged that English factors in a foreign land, in addition to
their characteristic reserve, are naturally much engrossed by the duties and
cares of their calling, and, apart from prejudice, may well be excused for a
degree of preoccupation which prevents them from making any very vigorous
effort to penetrate the barriers of language and creed, manners and customs,
which separate them from the people with whom they come to traffic. A
^ime arrived, however, when the English could no longer be blind to the
alarming political and social state of India. Every year, much more every
decade, the disorganisation increased. Certain native Hindoo states, such as
Mysoor, Travancore, the little mountainous principality of Coorg, and a few
others, had been exempted, by their position or their insignificance, from
Moslem usurpation. With these exceptions^ strife and anarchy spread over
the length and breadth of India. It was no organised struggle of race or
creed J for Mussulman fought against Mussulman, Hindoo against Hindoo,
and each against the other j Affghan warred with Mogul, Mogul with
Rajpoot; Mahratta with all. The hand of every man was raised against his
neighbour : the peasant went armed to the plough — the shepherd stood ready
to defend his flock with his life ; the energy and determination of local
authorities kept up some degree of order in their immediate districts ; but,
in general, the absence of a government strong- enough to protect its
innocent subjects from internal vice or external aggression, was manifested
in the fearful audacity with which the Pindarry, Dacoity, and Thug, the
trained marauder, thief, and assassin, pursued their murderous avocations,
in the blaze of noon as in the darkness of midnight.
The Hindoos fell back upon the ancient village system, which the
usurping- Mohammedans had vainly striven to destroy; and the internal
organisation of the^ ^ little municipalities, each possessing its own Potail
or Mayor, enabled them to parry, or at least rally from, attacks from
without.
The English laboured for the effectual fortification of the various factories
gradually established in different parts of India, and included, according to
their situation, in the three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.
Armed neutrality, however, Avould have been barely practicable, even so far
as the numerous warring native powers were concerned. The conduct of
their European rivals rendered such a position quite untenable. The French
East India Company had, so far as trade was concerned, proved a decided
INTEODTJCTION.
failure: its employes were very inferior to the Eng-lish as factors; but as
political ag-ents, they possessed diplomatic instincts peculiar to themselves.
Dumas, Dupleix, and the gifted La Bourdonnais, saw clearly the oppor-
tunity afforded for the territorial establishment of their nation, and they
eao-erly took part in the quarrels around them, making- offensive and defensive
alliances with the neig-hbouring- states, interfering- in cases of disputed
succession, and taking-, with bold and unfaltering- steps, the apparent road to
political power. None of the English functionaries approached their rivals
in ability; but they could not be blind to the increasing danger of their
situation ; and the example set by the French, of drilling native troops and
organising them as far as possible in accordance with European notions, was
followed throughout the British settlements. Then came the inevitable
struggle between the two powers whose unsleeping rivalry had so often
evidenced itself in strife and bloodshed at the very ends of the earth. At
first they met in indirect hostility as the auxiliaries of native princes ; but the
first indications of European war were eagerly seized on as a cause for direct
opposition, and a fierce struggle ensued, which eventually left the English
complete masters of the field. While the Carnatic, in which Madras is
situated, was the scene of this contest, the English in Bengal were sub-
jected to the most oppressive exactions by the usurping Mohammedan
governor, Surajah Dovvlah, whose seizure and pillage of Calcutta in June,
1756, was marked by the horrible massacre of the "Black Hole" — a deed
which, up to that period, even Mohammedan annals can hardly equal in
atrocity ; but to Avhich, after the lapse of a hundred j^ears, many terrible
pai-allels have been furnished.
The tidings spread like wildfire through the British settlements, and the
conviction became deep and g-eneral, that it would be madness to trust to the
faith or humanity of such men as the depraved Surajah Dovvlah and his
Moslem compeers. The Mogul Empire had become an empty name so far
as the distant provinces were concerned, and there waf. absolutely no native
state either strong enough to protect the English settlements, or just enough
to be trusted. Never was the indomitable resolve of Britons in a foreign
land more sternly tested, or more triumphantly evinced, than when their
fortunes seemed at the lowest ebb — when the French and the Mohammedans,
in different quarters, menaced their overthrow and extinction. " To drive
these dogs into the sea !" was then, as now, the fervent aspiration of eveiy
Moslem regarding every European. But they wished to squeeze the
orange before they threw away the rind. They were themselves divided, and
had nlans of individual ao-o-randizement to carry out against each other, and
INTEODTJCTION.
g-enerally over the Hindoos ; and they well knew the value of European
co-operation and instruction in the art of war.
The recapture of Calcutta was speedily eiFected by a force of 900
European troops and 1,500 Sepoys, commanded by a ci-devant writer, who
had turned soldier, and risen to distinction in the Carnatic war.
Kobert Clive — for it was he — looked round and saw the opportunity offered
for exchang-ing; the precarious footing then occupied by his countrymen for
one of far greater importance and security. The Hindoos were daily becoming-
more impatient of the Mohammedan yoke, and the haug-hty Mussulmans
were themselves divided regarding- their ruler, whose reckless proflig-acy and
violent temper had given many of them provocation of a description which
excites, in an Oriental, feelings of the fiercest and most enduring revenge.
The English Avatched the coursie of affairs with deep anxiety, and soon
ascertained that, in violation of a treaty entered into after the reconquest of
Calcutta, Surajah Dowlah was plotting- with the French for theii- destruction.
Unquestionabl}', this procedure justified them in adopting hostile measures
against their treacherous foe ; though it does not even palliate some of the
piinor details, in which the crooked policy of Clive appfears in painful contrast
to his bravery as a soldier and his skill as a general. The result was the
battle of Plassy (a.d. 1757), rapidly followed by the permanent establishment
of British dominion in Beng'al.
After this, the tide of success flowed on fast and full. If the reader will
patiently peruse the pages of this history, he will see that our power has
increased with marvellously little effort on our own part. As, when a stone
is flung into a river, the first small circle expands and multiplies beyond
calculation — so, in India, have we gone on extending- our limits, as from the
action of some inevitable necessity ] less from our own will, than because we
could not stand still without hazarding- the position already gained. True,
there have been most distressing- instances of injustice and aggression; but
these are the few and comparatively unimportant exceptions. So far as the
general obtainment of political ascendancy in India is concerned, we may
quote the apt comparison used by an old Rajpoot prince to Colonel Tod, in
1804, as conveying a perfectly correct idea of our process of appropriation.
Alluding to a sort of melon which bursts asunder when fully matured, Zalim
Sing said, " You stepped in at a lucky time ; the pyoot was ripe, and you had
only to take it bit by bit."*
The manner in which we have acquired power in India, is one thing ; the
use we have made of it, is another and more complicated question. For my
• Annals of Hajast'han, Vol. I., p. 766.
10 INTEODUCTION.
own part, I have long- watched the Ang-lo-Indian g-overnment with feelings
of deep anxiety, and have laboured to the utmost of my ability to awaken the
British nation to a sense of the responsible and critical situation they had
been led to occupy. It is now close upon twenty 3'ears since I was permitted,
by the East India Company, to edit the official records of a survey made by
Dr. Buchanan in Eastern India; and the impression on my mind was so
forcible, that I could not refrain from prefacing- the selections with a declara-
tion that the handwriting was on the mall, and nothing- but a complete and
radical alteration of our system of g-overnment, could avert the punishment
justly merited by our misuse of the g-reat charg-e committed to us.
The primar}'^ reason of this misuse I believe to be the false and wicked
assertion, that "we won India by the sword, and must keep it by the
sword." There is another aphorism, much older and of much higher authority,
which we should do well to think on — " They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword." We did not conquer India by violence : we came as peaceful
traders, and spent long' years in that capacity ; and during- that time we
succeeded in impressing' on the minds of the natives a livel}"- conviction of
our energ-y, ability, and integ-rity. When the crisis came — as come it did,
without our knowledge and g-reatly to our discomfiture — counting--houses were
turned into barracks, bales of piece-goods helped to make barricades, clerks
and writers were metamorphosed into military leaders, and, Avhile themselves
but learners, drilled the natives round them into a state of discipline before
unknown.
Thus was formed the nucleus of that army on which we have leaned as
if that, and that alone, had been the means of our obtaining- dominion in
India. For the perfect org-anisation of that mig-hty force, which lately
numbered 300,000 men, we laboured with unwearied patience; and to this
g-rand object we sacrificed every other. So long- as the Sepoys were duly
cared for, the condition of the mass of the people was a matter of com-
parative indifference. It was not the Great Ruler of the Universe, whose
inscrutable decrees had placed this vast tract of heathendom in the hands
of a people who professed to serve Him and Him onl}-^; rejecting- every
tradition of men ; relying- only on the mediation of His Sou ; resting- for
g'uidance only on His Avritten word ; asking- only the interpretation of His
Holy Spirit ; — not so ! The Anglo-Indian dominion had nothing whatever to
do with any such religious speculations. We were not bound to set before the
people the example of the faith which we affect to believe the very leaven of
the earth. Until the last few years we did not view it even as a case of
stewardship. We were not even called upon to exert our energy for developing
INTKODUCTION. 11
the physical resources of the country, and ameliorating' the condition of the
mass of the people. And why? Because free Britons, in the middle of the
nineteenth centur}', have seen fit to assume the position of military despots,
drowning- the conviction that India was a God-g-iven trust, in the vao"ue
notion of its heing- " an empire of opinion ;" and then sinking", by an easy
transition, from rationalism into the more popular notion of sheer force — " an
empire of the sword," held by the might of our own strong arm.
Scepticism and cowardice lie at the root of our present disasters : delibe-
rately have we chosen the fear of man, which blinds and enervates, rather
than the fear of God, which enlightens and streng-thens. With infatuated
credulity we have nursed in our bosom the serpent that has stung' us to
the quick. Tolerance is, indeed, an essentially Christian quality; but who
shall dare assume that praise for the Christianity which was made in the
persons of high Protestant (?) officials, to bow its head before the licentious
profligacy of the Mussulmans, and the heathen abominations and disg'usting'
impurities of the modern Brahminical priesthood, and to witness, in silence,
the spiritual enslavement and physical degradation of the mass ?
We thought, perhaps, both Mussulmans and Brahmins too enervated by
their respective orgies to be dangerous as enemies. This but proves our
utter ignoiance of the Oriental character, especially as developed in the
Mohammedans. Let the reader glance over the history of their founder
(and I have striven to sketch it in a subsequent pag'e, in faithfulness, and not
with the pen of a caricaturist), he will see in the False Prophet the type of
sensuality, bigotry, ambition, g-rounded and rooted in the fiercest fanaticism ;
and that type has been perpetuall}^ reproduced, and will continue to be so
until Mohammedanism shall be swept from the face of the earth.
How soon that may be, none can prophesy ; but the general I'ising now
taking place among the Mussulmans in Africa and Syria, as well as in India,
are pointed at by many observers as preceding and indicating the death-throes
of this once powerful, but already deeply sunken race. j
For us, if we would hope to conquer, it must be by turning to the Lord
of Hosts, as a nation, in deep repentance and humility: then only may we
Justly look for present help, and anticipate for the future that gift in which
we have been so 'amentably deficient — " a right judgment in all things.'' '■
Thus favoured, we shall not shrink from the responsibilities of an evangelized
nation ; but shall understand, that there is no surer way of obtaining
respect in the eyes of the quick-witted Hindoos, than by a consistent
adherence to our religious professions. The means commend themselves to
every unprejudiced person really versed in Indian aff'airs; and, assuredly, none
12 INTEODUCTIOISr.
Other will be blessed of God. We cannot hope to pass off indifference for
tolerance : the Mohammedans see through the flimsy disguise, and bid the
heathen throw off the ig-nominious yoke of Kafirs (infidels.) Christianity
the}- reverence, and dread to see us manifest any tokens of it. Well they may;
for nothing- else will cover our head in the day of battle. That day has come.
May we now have g-race to control the fearful passions provoked by the most
horrible outrog-es ; and may the memory of our own shortcoming's towards
God, enable us, if He g-ives the victory, to use it mercifully. Let us not
forg-et, that the innocent blood spilt in the last few weeks, cannot blot out the
memory of the debt which Eng-land owes to India.* The Parliament of
Britain now must dictate the course to be followed in a matter of vital
importance to the nation Avhose opinions it represents. The portion of the
British public impressed with sound and practical relig-ious views, is, happily,
larg-er and more influential than would appear to superficial observers. The
fact is indicated in the increase of missionary enterprise, the extension of
education, and, indirectly, in the progress of public improvements, and the
initiation of reformatory measures. The faulty judicial system, the partial
and vexatious land-tenui-e, the defective monetary circulation of India, have
come under discussion ; and if, as God in mercy g^rant, Britain is permitted
to retain the brightest jewel in her crown — the most valuable of hei
transmarine possessions — it is fervently to be desired that we may apply
ourselves diligently to remedy all deficiencies, to repair, as far as possible,
past neglects, and provide against future emerg'encies.
The details of the present terrible episode will be g'iven fully in subsequent
pages ; day by day that close seems approaching, with the record of which
the Author hopes to be enabled to terminate this Work.
* The pecuniary debt is wholly on the side of England. The cost, alike of civil and military government, including
the payment of the royal troops, hius been entirely defrayed from the Indian revenues : so, if we succeed, must be the
expenses of the present insurrection. The money remittances to England from the three Presidencies average five
million sterling for the last sixty years. There is scarcely a country in the United Kingdom but has had the value of
its landed property enhanced by the investments of fortunes, the fruit of civil or military services or of commercial
success in Hindoostan. Again, how many British statesmen and commanders have had their genius elicited and
educated in India. A noble field has been annually opened for the youth of Britain, and an expansive tone given to
society by the constant discussion of great subjects.
The merchant and the manufa<turer can best estimate the importance of a large, increasing, and lucrative market,
free from high or hostile tariffs ; and the advantage of an almost unlimited command of commodities, the regular obtain-
ment of which is essential to the steady employment of their operations. Nor must it be forgotten, that Indian
ImporU and Exports to the amount of thirty million sterling, now furnish profitable employment to the best class of
mercantile shipping.
i^ g-
li
tfl (n U
u^gt,
ftbnrfs of Ifet pwing.
The first mutiny (al Berh«mpore),....Feb. 26
Mutiny »nd mmssore at Meerut, May 10
Kevolt and massacre at Delhi, 11
The Mogul empire proclaimed, ■ 12
Mutiuv and massapre at Lucltnow, 31
Cawnpore invested by Nana gahib,...June 8
Surrender of the garrison... " 26
M The first massacre, 27
The seomd • July 18
. Relieved by Gen. Havelock, » 17
«i
P
% ^
? S! K
t « « « « <
StSI
It 3 3 "^ fe *
N^ a S tS S o
4>
cy
THE
INDIAN EMPIRE,
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY, MYTHOLOGICAL AND TRADITIONAL— PERSIAN AND OTHER INVA-
SIONS—GREEK EXPEDITION AND CONQUESTS OF ALEXANDER— PLUNDERING
INCURSIONS OF MAHMOOD THE GHUZNIVEDE— MOHAMMEDAN CONQUESTS,
DOMINION, AND DOWNFALL— RISE AND PROGRESS OF BRITISH POWER AND
SUPREMACY.
Ancient History, to the time of Alex-
ander.— India or Hindoostan, with its noble
rivers, diversified cliraate, productive soil,
and extensive coast-line, offered advantages
for colonization, which were availed of at a
very early period in the history of the
human race. Of its first inhabitants we know
little, beyond their being, as it is generally
believed, still represented by various bar-
barous tribes who yet inhabit the mountains
and forests, and follow rude religious prac-
tices that are no part of the primitive Hin-
doo system. By whom or at what time
these were subdued or expelled there is no
ground to rest anything more than a sur-
mise ; and of the many that have been, or
might be, hazarded on this diflScult but in-
teresting subject, perhaps not the least rea-
sonable is the supposition based on the varied
craniological development, and distinct lan-
guages of the existing Hindoo race — that
they were originally composed of numerous
migrating hordes who, at intervals, poured
in from the wild Mongolian steppes and
Turkomanian ranges, from the forests of
Scythia, the arid shores of the Caspian, and
the sunburnt plains of Mesopotamia ; from
the plateaux of Persia, the deserts of Arabia,
and even from the fertile valley of the Nile,
allured by the extraordinary fertility of this
most favoured portion of the Asiatic con-
tinent, or driven from their native land by
tyranny or want. Time and circumstances
gradually fused the heterogeneous mass into
something like homogeneity; the first step to
which was probably made by the introduc-
tion, in a rude form, of that village system
which so markedly characterises India when
viewed as a whole, and which, under the
scourge of sanguinary wars, and the heavy
exactions of native or foreign rulers, has
ever been the mainstay of the people. The
invaders, if such they were, probably brought
with them the elements of civilisation; and
the peaceful pursuits of pastoral and agri-
cultural life would necessitate a certain
amount of concentration, as no single man
or family could dwell alone in a country
whose dense jungle required combined la-
bour, both to clear it for use and guard it
from wild beasts. All this, however, relates
to a period concerning which we possess no
historical record whatever — in which must
have originated what may be termed Brah-
minical Hindooism, whose rise and early
progress is shrouded in dense obscurity.
From the internal evidence afforded by the
system itself, so far as we are acquainted
with it during its early purity, it would seem
to have been framed by a small confederacy
of persons, whose knowledge, both religious
and secular, being far in advance of their
age, had enabled them to draw up rules for
the guidance of their countrymen, both as
regarded their duty to God and their fel-
lows. Fully aware, as it would appeal, of
the great fact, that human institutions have
strength and permanence only when based
on a religious principle, they set forth their
own scheme as the direct ordination of the
" Self- Existent One," the " Great First
Cause," whose attributes they described in a
tone of solemn grandeur not unbefitting their
high theme ; and to enforce their precepts
and heighten their influence, made much use
of the rude lyrics extant among the people,
to which they added others. These were com- .
piled under the name of the Vedas (a word
derived from a Sanscrit root, signifying to
ktiow), by one Vyasa, who lived in the four-
14
CODE OF MENU— NINTH CENTURY, B.C.
teenth century before the Christian era.
In describing the religious creed of the
Hindoos, and commenting on the opinions
entertained respecting the comparative an-
tiquity of Brahminisra and Boodhism, the
most ancient sacred writings of each of
these great sects will be noticed ; but here
it is only necessary to remark, that the
Vedas bear incontestable evidence of having
been written at diffeient periods, some being
in very rugged Sanscrit, others, though an-
tiquated, coming within the pale of that
language in the polished form in which Sir
William Jones found it, when he dechired it
to be " of a wonderful structure, more per-
fect than the Greek, more copious than the
Latin, and more exquisitely refined than
either."* One only of the Vedas, the Soma
Veda, has yet been translated into English.
The translator. Dr. Stephenson, of Bombay,
leans to the opinion of its having been com-
posed out of India, but brought there l)y the
Brahmins from some northern country at
a very remote period. Another authority,
after a careful examination of the same book,
lias arrived at a directly opposite conclusion. f
He this as it may, there are expressions in
the Vedas which prove that the majority of
the detached pieces of different kinds of
poetic composition which they comprise,
were written in a country where maritime
commerce was highly esteemed, where a sa-
crificial ritual had already been fixed, and
mythological legends abounded. The fre-
quent reference to war and to chariots in-
dicate, moreover, the previous estal)lishment
of separate states, and the cultivation of
military art.
The first comprehensive view of the state
of society among the Hindoos is afi'orded by
the code of laws which bears the name of
Menti, and is supposed, but not on very
convincing data, to have been compiled in
or about the nintli century, B.C. J Whe-
ther Menu himself were a real person-
age or no is an open question, and one of
little importance, since his appearance is
merely dramatic, like that of the speakers
* Asiatic Researches, vol. i.. p. 422.
T Artlinr's Missiim to the 3Ii/sore, p. 441.
t Sir W. Jones supposed the Code to have been
compiled about 300 years after the Vedas (As. Ji.,
vol. vii., p. 283); but Elphinstone fixes the date at
some time about half-way between Alexander, in the
fourth century, B.C., and the Vedas in the four-
teenth. (Vol. i,, p. 430.)
§ Cast, the common word, is not Indian, but Eng-
lish ; and is given in Johnson's JUictionary as derived
from the Spanish or Portuguese, casta, a breed. In
in the dialogues of Plato or of Cicero. No
hint is given as to the real compiler, nor is
there any clue to the ancient commentator
Calluca, whose endeavours to gloss over and
explain away some doctrines of Menu, seems
to indicate that opinion had already begun
to change, even in his day; while many suc-
ceeding commentators, and some of very
ancient date, S|)eak of the rules of Blenu as
applicable to the good ages only, and not
extending to their time.
The chief feature in the code is its di-
vision of the people into four classes or
casts ;§ namely, the Brahmins or sacer-
dotal; the Cshatriya or military; the Vai-
syas or industrial ; and the Soodia)s|| or ser-
vile. The three first classes were termed the
" twice-born," their youths being admitted,
at certain ages, by a solemn ceremony, to
participate in the religious and social privi-
leges of their elders ; but the fourth and low-
est cast was rigidly excluded from all these.
The degradation of the Soodras has given
rise to the idea of their being the people
whom the superior classes had conquered ;
and similar inferences may be drawn from
the fact that, while the "twice-born" were all
strictly forbidden, under any circumstances,
to leave, what, for want of a better term,
may be styled Hindoostan Proper; the
Soodra, distressed for the means of sub-
sistence, might go where he would. It ap-
pears, however, from the code, that there
were still cities governed by Soodra kings,
in which Brahmins were advised not to re-
side. From this it seems probable that the
independent Soodra towns were situated in
such of the small territories into which
Hindoostan was divided as yet retained their
freedom, while the whole of the tracts south
of the Vindya mountains remained un-
touched by the invaders, and unpenetrated
by their religion. On the other iiand, it is
remarkable that neither the code of Menu,
nor the more ancient Vedas, so far as we
are at present acqtiaintcd with their con-
tents, ever allude to any prior residence, or
to a knowledge of more than the name of
Sir W. Jones' Translation of Menu, the word em-
ployed is "class:" the Brahmins constantly use the
Sanscrit term as signifying a species.
11 There are few things more perplexing in the
study of Indian history than the various modes of
spelling jiroper names and otiier words, which have
resulted from the difficulty of representing them in
the characters of our alphabet. In the present work,
the author has deemed it advisable to adopt that
best known and most easily read, in preference to
what might have been more critically correct.
HINDOO CHRONOLOGY. SOLAR AND LUNAR DYNASTIES.
15
any country out of India. Even mytho-
logy goes no farther than the Himalaya
mountains for the location of the gods.
With regard to the condition of the Soodras,
it appears to have been in many points
similar, but in some decidedly preferable,
to that of the helot, the slave, or the serf of
the Greek, the Roman, and the feudal sys-
tems, excepting only its stern prohibition of
any share in the ordinances of religion. But
this might have originated in the probable
circumstance of the conquered people having
a distinct creed of their own, to prevent the
spreading of which among their disciples,
the Brahmins* (in whom, Elphinstone has
well said, the common interests of their class,
mingled, probably, with much pure zeal for
their monotheistic faith, was deeply rooted)
united religion and rank so closely in their
able scheme, that to break through, or even
in minor observances to deviate from the
strict rules of duty laid down for the guidance
of the several regenerate classes, was to forfeit
position, and literally to incur the penalty of
a civ'il death, far passing excommunication
in severity, and to place themselves under a
ban which wearisome penance could alone
remove. One passion — and it would seem
only one — was strong enough to break down
the barriers of cast. A mixed race sprang up,
who were gradually formed into classes, and
divided and subdivided, until the result is
now seen in an almost countless number of
small communities. In subsequent sections,
in describing manners, customs, laws, and
government, it will be necessary to show
what these were in the days of Menu, and
the changes which gradually took place up
to the period of English dominion ; but at
present we are more immediately concerned
with that difficult subject, the chronological
succession of events in Hindoo history.
Oriental research has, as yet, revealed to
us but one Hindoo work tliat can be strictly
considered historical, the Annals of Cash-
mere, ably translated by Professor Wilson,
which refers chiefly to a limited territory on
the extreme northern frontier of India, and
contains little more than incidental men-
tion of Hindoostan and the Deccan. There
is, besides, an evident and not unnatural
desire on the part of the native writer to
aggrandize the rulers of Cashmere at the
• Elphinstone suggests a doubt " whether the
conquerors were a foreign peop'.e or a local tribe,
like the Dorians in Greece ; or whether, indeed, they
were not merely a portion of one of the native stales
{&. religious sect, for instance,) which had outstripped
expense of the neighbouring princes, which
gives an impression of one-sidedness to a
production possessed, notwithstanding, of
much value and interest. The student is,
therefore, compelled to fall back upon the
wide field, as yet but very partially explored,
presented in the sacred books, the legislative
records, and the two great epic poems. The
knowledge obtainable from these sources is,
in too many cases, rendered comparatively
useless, by the misleading chronology taught
by the Brahmins, apparently as a means of
sustaining the claim of their nation to a fa-
bulous antiquity. The periods employed in
the computation of time are equally strange
and unsatisfactory, and are rendered pe-
culiarly puzzling by the astronomical data
on which they are partially founded. A
complete revolution of the nodes and ap-
sides, which they suppose to be performed
in 4,320,000,000 years, forms a calpa, or
day of Brahma. In this are included four-
teen manwantaras, or periods, each contain-
ing seventy-one maha yugas, or great ages,
which again comprise, respectively, four
yugas, or ages, of unequal length. These
last bear some resemblance to the golden,
silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Greeks,
and are alone considered by the Brahmins
as marking the periods of human history
since the creation of the existing worhl,
which they believe to have occurred about
four million years ago. The first, or satya
yuga, lasted 1,728,000 years, through the
whole of which a king named Satyavrata,
otherwise called Vaivaswata, lived and
reigned. This monarch is described as
having escaped with his family from an uni-
versal deluge, which destroyed the rest of
the world: From him descended two royal
lines, one of which, under the designation
of Soorya, the children of the sun, reigned
at Ayodhya orOude; the other, Chandra,
or the children of the moon, at Pratisht'hana
or Vitora, in the tract between the Jumna
and Ganges, through the 1,296,000 years of
the second, or treta yuga; the 8(54,000 years
of the third, or dwapar yuga j and the' first
1,000 years of the present, or call yuga, at
which time both the solar and lunar races
became extinct ; as also a distinct cotempo-
rary race, the descendants of Jarasandha,who
began to reign in Magadha or Behar, at the
their fellow citizens in knowledge, and appropriated
all the advantages of the society to themselves."—
Histnry of India, vol. i., p. 96.
t It is evident that in the time of Menu there were
no slaves attached to the soil.
16 RESIDENCE OF EARLY HINDOO PRINCES AND BRAHMINS.
commeacement of the call yuga. I'he last
reiguing prince of the Jarasandha family was
slain by his prime minister, who placed his
own son, Pradyota, on the throne. Fifteen
of the usurping race enjoyed the sovereignty
to the time of Nanda, who, in extreme old
age (after a reign, it is said, of 100 years),
was murdered by a Brahman, by whom a
man of the Maurya race, named Chandra-
Gupta, was placed on the vacant throne.*
The genealogies of the two parallel lines
of the sun and moon are derived from the
sacred writings called the Puranas.f Sir
"William Jones framed his list from the Bha-
gavat Purana; Captain Wilford subsequently
collated his genealogical table of the great
Hindoo dynasties from the Vishnu and
other PuranasjJ and, if critical research
should eventually succeed in enabling us to
correct the errors of Indian chronology,
much information may be obtained by
means of those lists respecting the early
rulers. Wanting this clue, the student will
find abundant material for theory, but the
historian little that he dares make his own ;
for the narratives given in the Piiranas
abound in discrepancies regarding time and
place, and are so blended with myths and
allegories, that it is next to impossible, at
present, to separate truth from fiction, until
theperiod oftheMaha Bharat or Great War.§
The scene of the adventures of the first
princes, and the residence of the most fa-
mous sages, appears to be uniformly placed,
both in the Puranas, and the far older in-
* According to Mill (vol. i., p. 160) ; but Elphin-
stone states Chandra Gupta to have been ninth in
succession from Nanda. — Vol. i., p. 261.
t There are eighteen Puranas, which are considered
to have been composed between the eighth and six-
teenth centuries, A.D. ; but several of the authors
appear to have made use of much more ancient MS.
histories to interweave among their own.
X The lines of the Sun and Moon, and the Magadha
dynasty, are given at length by Colonel Tod, in the
first volume of his valuable and voluminous work
the Annals of Ra/asthan. They were extracted
from the Puranas by a body of pundits, and (Uffer
more or less in various parts from those published
by Sir W. Jones, Mr. Bentley, and Colonel Wilford.
Tod's view of the vexed question of early Hindoo
records may be understood from his careful enume-
ration of various traditions which all "appear to
point to one spot, and to one individual, in the early
history of mankind, when the Hindoo and Greek ap-
proach a common focus, for there is little doubt that
Adnath, Adiswara, Osiris, Baghes, Bacchus, Menu,
Menes, designate the patriarch of mankind, Noah"
(vol. i., p. 22). The solar and lunar lines he con-
fciders to have been established 2,256 years, B.C.,
about a century and a half after the flood, the former
bv Ichswaca the son of Vaivaswatoo Menu, the latter
stitutes of Menu, in a tract called Bramha-
verta, because of its sanctity, situated be-
tween the rivers Seraswati (Sersooty) and
Drishad wati (Caggar), 100 miles to the north-
west of Delhi ; and about 65 miles long by 20
to 40 broad. || Probably the next territory ac-
quired lay between that above-mentioned
and the Jumna, and included North Behar,
this country being mentioned in the second
place under the honoured name of Brahmar-
shi, while Brahmins born within its boun-
daries were pronounced suitable teachers of
the several usages of men.^ At Oude, in
the centre of Brahmarshi, the Puranas, (in
which the preceding early stages are not
noticed,) fix the origin of the solar and lunar
races, from one or other of which all the
royal families of ancient India were de-
scended. Some fifty to seventy generations
of the solar race, who, in the absence of re-
liable information, appear little better than
myths, bring down the Purana narrative to
Rama, the ruler of a powerful kingdom in
Hindoostan, and the hero of the oldest Hindu
epic — the Ramayana. The chief incident is
the carrying oflf of Sita, the queen of Rama,
by Ravana, the king of the island of Lanka,
or Ceylon. Rama leads an army into the
Deccan, penetrates to Ceylon, and, with the
assistance of a strange people allegorized as
an army of monkeys, led by Hooniman, their
king, gains a complete victory over the ra-
visher, and recovers his wife, who vindicates
her fidelity by successfully passing the or-
deal of fire. According to the system of
by Boodha, who married Ichswatoo's sister Ella,
asserted to be the earth personified — Boodha him-
self being " the parent and first emigrant of the
Indu [Sanscrit for the moon] race, from Saca Bwipa
or Scythia to Hindust'han" (p. 45). In another
place Tod describes Boodha as the great progenitor
of the Tartars, Chinese, and Hindus, " Boodha
(Mercury), the son of Indu (the moon), [a male
deity] became the patriarchal and siiiritual leader,
as Fo in China ; AVoden and Teutates of the tribes
migrating to Europe. Hence it follows that the
religion of Boodha must be coeval with the existence
of these nations ; that it was brought into India
Proper by them, and guided them until the schism
of Crishna and the Sooryas, worshippers of Bal, in
time depressed them, when the Boodha religion was
modified into the present mild form, the Jain"
(p. 58).
§ See Prinsep's Useful Tables, Professor Wilson's
edition of the Vishnu Purana, Sir W. Jones and
Colonel Wilford's articles in Asiatic Researches,
vols. ii. and v., and l)r. H. Buchanan's Hindoo
Oenealoflies.
l| Menu, book ii., v. 17, 18: Wilson, preface to
Vishnu Purana, p.lxvii.
^ Menu, bookii., v. 19, 20; Elphinstone, vol. i.,
p. 388.
NATIVE PRINCES MENTIONED IN THE RAMAYANA.
17
deifying great men after their decease, which
gradually crept into Brahrninism, Rama,
upon his death, was honoured as a god, and
his image worshipped, his natural form being
declared to have been an incarnation (the
seventh) of Vishnu, one of the three persons,
or principles, of the Hindoo Trinity.
A remarkable passage occurs in the Rama-
yana, in which mention is made of certain
foreign princeSjWho were invited by Dasaratha
(the father of Rama) to be present at the As-
wamedha* or solemn sacrifice of a horse about
to be offered up by the aged monarch, to
procure from the gods the blessing of male
posterity. The names mentioned are the
" sovereign of Kasi or Benares, the rajahs
of Magadha or Behar, of Sindu and Su-
rashta (Sinde aud Surat), of Unga and
Savira (of which one is conjectured to mean
Ava, the other some district situated on the
Persian frontier), and, i a fine, the princes of
the south or the Deccan. Heeren, who
cites the above passage from the Ramayana,
adds — " they are represented as the friends,
and some of them also as the relations of
Dasaratha, by no means however as his
vassals. It is therefore evident that the
author of the most ancient Hindoo epic
poem considered India to be divided into a
number of separate and independent princi-
palities."t This opinion, however, is not
founded on indisputable grounds, for many
of his auxiliaries appear to have stood to
Dasaratha in the relation of viceroys, or at
least inferior chieftains. The antiquity of
the poem is unquestioned ; the author, Val-
miki, is said to have been cotemporary
with the event he has so ably commemo-
rated,J but we have no means of fixing the
date of either poem or poet except as some-
where between that of the Vedas and the
Maha Bharat, since king Dasaratha is de-
scribed as deeply versed in the precepts of
• Aswa is thought to be the etymon of Asia,
medha signifies " to isill."
t Heeren's Historical Researches, Oxford Transla-
tion; 1833: vol. iii., p. 291.
\ " Kama preceded Crishna : but as their histo-
rians, Valmika and Vyasa, who wrote the events
they witnessed [this point is, however, questioned],
were cotemporaries, it could not have been by many
years." — (Tod's Atinals of Mnjasthan, vol. i., p. 457.
§ The origin of the Pandon family is involved in
fable, invented, evidently, to cover some great dis-
grace.' According to tradition, Pandoo, whose capi-
tal was at Hastinapoora, being childless, his queen,
by a charm, enticed the deities from their spheres,
and became the mother of Yoodishtra, IJhima, Ar-
joona (the famous archer), Nycula, and Sideva. On
the death of Pandoo, Yoodishtra, with the aid of
the priesthood, was declared king, although the ille-
the Vedas and Vedangas, while on the
other hand an epitome of the Ramayana is
given in the Maha Bharat. After llama,
sixty princes of his race ruled in succession
over his dominions, but as no more mention
is made of Ayodha (Oude) it is possible that
the kingdom (which was at one time called
Cosliala) may have merged in another ; and
that the capital was transferred from Oude
to Canouj. The heroic poem, entitled the
" Maha Bharat" or Great War, affords an
account of many historical events, in the
details of a contest between the lines of
Pandoo§ and of Curoo, two branches of
the reigning lunar race for the territory of
Hastinapoora, supposed to be a place on
the Ganges, north-east of Delhi, which still
bears the ancient name.[| The rivals are
supported by numerous allies, and some
from very remote parts. The enumeration
of them appears to afford evidence similar
to that deducible from the above cited pas-
sage of the Ramayana, that there were many
distinct states in India among which a con-
siderable degree of intercourse and connec-
tion was maintained. Not only are princes
from the Deccan and the Indus mentioned,
as taking part in the struggle, but auxilia-
ries are likewise included belonging to na-
tions beyond the Indus, especially the
Yavans, a name which most orientalists
consider to apply exclusively to the Greeks.^
The Pandoos are eventually conquerors, but
are represented as having paid so dearly for
their victory, in the loss of their friends and
the destruction of their armies, that the
chief survivors quitted their country, and
are supposed to have perished among the
snows of the Himalaya.** The hero of the
poem is Crishna, tlie great ally of the Pan-
doos, who was deified after his death as
having been an incarnation of Vishnu, or
even Vishnu himself. He was born of the
gitimaey of himself and his brothers was asserted by
Duryodhanu, the nephew of the deceased sovereign,
who, as the representative of the elder branch, re-
tained his title as head of the Curoos. For the whole
story of the Maha Bharat, and it is a very interesting
one, see the Asiatic Researches, and the comments
of Tod in the early part of his Annals of Rajasthan.
II Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 390.
^ The Greeks, or lonians, are descended from
Javan, or Yavan, the seventh from Japhet. — (Tod's
Rajasthan, vol. i., p. 51.
** Tod surmises that they did not perish thus, but
migrated into the Peloponnesus, and founded the
colony of the Hcraclidoe, stated by Volney to have
been formed there 1078 years, B.C. See the reason
for this conjecture, based chiefly on the supposition
of the Pandoos being the descendants of the Indian
Hercules, pp. 48, 51.
18 MAGA.DHA KINGS TO CHANDRA GUPTA, OR SANDRACOTTUS.
royal family of Mattra on the Jumna, but
brought up by a herdsman in the neigh-
bourhood, who concealed him from the tyrant
who sought to slay him. This phase of his
life is a very favourite one with the Hindoos,
and he is worshipped in an infant form by
au extensive sect, as also under the figure
of a beautiful youth, in commemoration of
the time he spent among the " gopis" or
milkmaids, dancing, sporting, playing on
the pipe, and captivating the hearts alike of
rural maidens and princesses. Among the
numerous exploits of his more mature age
was the recovery of his usurped inheritance,
whence, being driven by foreign foes, he
removed to Dwarika, in Guzcrat, where he
founded a principality. He soon however
became again involved in civil discord, and,
according to Tod, was slain by one of the
aboriginal tribes of Bheels. The Maha
Bharat describes the sons of Crishna as
finally returning to the neighbourhood of
the Jumna. The war is supposed to have
taken place in the fourteenth century, b.c,
about 200 years before the siege of Troy,
and the famous and lengthy poem in which
it is commemorated is, as before stated, attri-
buted to Vyasa, the collector of the Vedas.
The princes who succeeded the Pandoos,
are variously stated at from twenty-nine to
sixty-four in number ; they appear to have
transferred the seat of their government to
Delhi ; but little beyond a name is recorded
of any of them. The kings of Magadha
or Behar (the line mentioned as cotem-
porary with the latter portion of the dy-
nasties of the sun and moon), play a more
conspicuous part in the Purana records;
they afford a connected chain from the war
of the Maha Bharat to the fifth century after
Christ, and present an appearance of proba-
bility, besides receiving striking confirma-
tions from various quarters. They are fre-
quently referred to in inscriptions sculptured
on stone, or engraved on copper plates,
conveying grants of land, or charters of
privileges and immunities, which arc very
numerous, and not only contain the date
of the grant, and the name of the prince
by whom they were conferred, but in most
cases enumerate, also, certain of his pre-
■decessors.
The first of the Magadha kings, Jara-
sandha, is mentioned in the Maha Bharat
as the head of a immber of petty princes.
The ruling monarch at the conclusion of
the war was Sahadeva ; the thirty-fifth in suc-
cession from him was Ajata Sutru; and in
his reign, according to high authority,*
Sakya, or Gotama, the founder of the
Boodha religion flourished, and died about
550, B.C. This date, if reliable, does good
service by fixing the era of Satru ; but
other eminent writers consider Boodhism
of much earlier origin ; and some as coeval
with, or even older than Brahminism.f
The sixth in succession from Satru was
Nanda, who, unlike his long line of regal
ancestors of the Cshatriya, or military class,
was born of a Soodra mother ; his ninth suc-
cessor, who bore his name, was murdered
by Chandra Gupta,J a man of low birth
who usurped the throne. This Chaudra
Gupta has been, after much research, identi-
fied with Sandraeottus, the cotemporary
of Alexander the Great, and thus a link had
been obtained wherewith to connect India
with European history, and also with that
of other Asiatic nations. The foregoing
particulars have been given on strictly In-
dian authority, for although much extrane-
ous information may be obtained from early
foreign writers it is difficult to ascertain
how to separate truth from fiction. § Ac-
cording to Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and
Cicero, the first Indian conqueror was \
Bacchus or Dionysus, afterwards deified,
who led an army out of Greece, subdued
India, taught the inhabitants the use of
wine, and built tlie city of Nysa. The Egyp-
tians, who spared no pains to fortify their
claim to the highest antiquity and earliest
civilization, and never scrupled to appro-
priate the great deeds of the heroes of
other countries, as having been performed by
their own rulers, maintained that Osiris,
their conqueror, having first added Ethi-
opia to his dominions, marched thence to
India through Arabia, taught the use of
wine, and built the city of Nysa. Both
these stories evidently refer to the same
person ; namely, the Indian prince Vaisva-
wata Menu; whom Tod, the pains-taking
but wildly theoretical Maurice, and other
writers affirm to have been no other than
the patriarch Noah. Be this as it may,
one of the most valuable of ancient writers,
Diodorus the Sicilian, declares, on the
authority of Indian tradition, that Bacchus
(Vaisvawata Menu) belonged to their own
nation, was a lawgiver, built many stately
* Elpliinstone, vol. i., pp. 209,261.
t See note to page 14.
X Chandra Gupta signifies "protected by the moon."
§ .Tustin stales that the fecythians conquered a
great part of Asia, and penetrated to I''.,gypt 1,500'
years before Niiins, first kinji; of Assyria.
INDIAN INVASIONS.— SEMIRAMIS, SESOSTRIS, HERCULES, & CYRUS. 19
cities, instituted divine worship, and erected
everywhere courts of justice. •
The alleged invasions of Semiramis,* Se-
sostris,t Hercules, f and Cyrus, are all denied
by Arrian, except that attributed to Her-
cules. Strabo disputes even that, adding that
the Persians hired mercenaries from India
but never invaded it.§ The whole question
respecting the nature of the alleged con-
nection existing between India and Persia,
^is one which scarcely admits a satisfactory
.explanation. Before the time of Cyrus the
Great (the son of King Cambyses, the con-
queror of Babylon and the Shepherd whose
coming to perform the pleasure of the om-
nipotent God of the Hebrews, was foretold
by Isaiah) II, Persia was no more than an
• The Assvrian invasion, according to the clirono-
logy of Capellus, took place about 1970, a.m. It was
planned by Serairamis, the widow of Ninus, who,
after consolidating her husband's Bactrian conquests,
resolved to attempt the subjugation of India, being
led thereto by the reported fruitfulness of the soil
and the riches of its inhabitants. She spent three
years in assembling an immense army, drawn from
all the provinces of her extensive empire, and caused
the shipwrights of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cyprus, to
send to the frontier 2,000 ships or large barks, in
jiieces, so that they might be carried thence to the
Indus, and there put in array against the naval force
of the Indians. All things being ready, Semiramis
marched from ISactria (Balk) with an army, which it
has been well .said, " the Greek historians have, by
their relations, rendered less wonderful than incre-
dible ;" for they describe it as having consisted of
3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horse, 100,000 war chariots,
and 100,000 camels, a portion of the latter being
made to resemble elephants — by means of a frame-
work being covered with the skins of oxen ; this
device being employed to delude the Indians into
the belief of the invaders being superior to them
even in this respect. Stabrobates, the king of the
countries bordering the Indus, on receiving intelli-
gence of the intended invasion, assembled his troops,
augmented the number of his elephants, caused
4,000 boats to be built of cane (which is not subject to
rot, or to be eaten by worms, evils known to be very
prevalent at the present day), to occupy the Indus ;
and headed his army on the eastern bank, in readi-
ness to support them. The attacking fleet being
victorious, Stabrobates abandoned his position, leav-
ing the enemy a free pas.sage; and Semiramis, mak-
ing a bridge of boats, crossed over with her whole
force. Tlie counterfeit elephants, which play an
important part in the narrative, were marched in
front, and at first created great alarm ; but the
deception being revealed by some deserters from the
camp, the Indians recovered their spirits. A fierce
contest ensued, in which the Assyrians had at first
the advantage, but were eventually totally over-
thrown, and Semiramis fled, accompanied by a very
slender retinue, and escaped with great difiiculty to
her own dominions. Such is the tale related by
Diodorus Siculus ; and, however little to be relied on
In many respects, it may at least be cited in testi-
mony of the reputation for wealth and civilization
inconsiderable kingdom, afterwards compre-
hended in a single province, retaining the
ancient name of Fars ; but the conquests of
the youthful general, on behalf of his uncle
and father-in-law, Cyaxares, King of Media,
whom he succeeded, enabled him to unite
the thrones of Persia and Media, as well as
to sway neighbouring and distant states, to
an extent which it is at present not easy to
define, though it was amply sufficient to
form what was termed the Persian empire,
557, B. c. His eastern frontier certainly
touched the verge of India; but whether it
encroached yet farther, is a matter of doubt,
and has been so for centuries. Nor is it
even an established point where India itself
terminated; for although Elphinstone and
enjoyed by India at a very early period. With regard
to Semii-amis, recent discoveries of ruins and de-
ciphering of inscriptions have placed hei existence
as an historical personage beyond a doubt.
t The invasion of Sesostris, king of Egypt, A.M.
3023, is alleged to have been as successful as that of
Semiramis had proved disastrous. Desiring to render
his subjects a commercial people, he fitted out a fleet
of 400 ships in the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea (being
the inventor, it is alleged, of ships of war), by means
of which all the countries stretching along the Ery-
throan or Arabian Sea to India Were subjugated. Mean-
while he led his army through Asia, and being every-
where victorious, crossed the Ganges and advanced
to the Indian Ocean. He spent nine years in this
expedition, but exacted no other tokens of submis-
sion from the conquered nations than the sending
annually of presents to Egypt. Perhaps this story,
recorded by Diodorus Siculus, and quoted by Harris
and by Robertson (who discredits it), in his Histo-
rical Disquisition concerning Ancient India, p. 6, ;
may have Originated in the efforts of Sesostris for the j
extension of comm.erce ; but the success of his plans, J
whether pursued by warlike or peaceful means, could (
have been at best but short-lived, since, after his
death the Egyptians relapsed into their previous
anti-maritime habits ; and centuries elapsed before
their direct trade with India became of importance.
\ The Greek accounts of Hercules having been in
India is thought to have arisen from the fact of
there having been a native prince of that name, who,
according to the Hindoo traditions cited by Diodorus
Siculus (who wrote 44, B.C.), was after his death
honoured as a god, having in life excelled all mere
men in strength and courage; cleared both the sea
and land of monsters and wild beasts; founded many
cities, the most famous of which was Palibothia,
where he built a stately palace strongly fortified, and
rendered impregnable by being surrounded by deep
trenches, into which he let an adjacent river. When
his numerous sons were grown up, he divided India
equally among them ; and they reigned long and
liiil)iiily, but never engaged in any foreign expe-
ditions, or sent forth colonies into distant countries,
being content with the resourofs of tlieir own fertile
domains.
§ Arrian 's Indica: Strabo, lib. xv. ; Elphinstone,
vol. i., p. 440.
• Isaiah ; chap, xliv., v. 28.
20 DARIUS CODOMANUS OP PERSIA PHILIP OF MACEDON— b.c. 337.
other writers follow Strabo in declaring the
Indus, from the mountains to the sea, to
have formed its western limit, other autho-
rities consider the territory of the Hindoos
to have stretched far beyond. Colonel Wil-
ford adduces a verse in their Sacred Writ-
ings, which prohibits the three upper, or
" twice-born" classes, from crossing the In-
dus, but says that they were at liberty to
pass to the other side, by going round its
source.* Amid so many difficulties and con-
tradictory slaterhents, it is only possible to
note the points which seem most reasonable
and best authenticated.
Darius, the son of HystaSpes, was raised
to the throne of Persia, b.c. 521, by the
seven nobles who conspired against Gomates,
the Magian, by whom it had been usurped
after the death of Cambyses, the son and
successor of Cyrus, whose daughter Atossa
he afterwards married. Desiring to know
the termination, of the Indus, and the state
of the adjacent countries, with a vieW to
their conquest, Darius built a fleet at Cas-
patyrus, in the territory of Pactyica on that
river, which he entrusted to a skilful Greek
mariner named Scylax, who fulfilled his in-
structions by sailing down the whole length
of the Indus, thence coasting to the straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb, and ascending the Arabian
gulf to the port at its northern extremity.
The account given by Scylaic of the fertility,
high cultivation, and dense population of
the country through which his route lay,
incited Darius at once to attempt its acquisi-
tion. By the aid of the Tyrians, who were
intimately acquainted with the navigation,
he brought a numerous force on the coast,
while he himself headed a land attack.
According to Dr. Robertson, he subjugated
" the districts watered by the Indus ;'t while
Colonel Chesney speaks of his conquests as
limited to the " Indian territory westward
of the Indus. t" Both appear to rely exclu-
sively on the testimony of Herodotus, who
states that " the Indians" consented to pay
an annual tribute of 360 Euboean talents of
* Asiatic Researches, vol. vi., p. 583.
t Dr. Robertson's Historical Disquisition, p. 12.
\ Colonel Chesney's Surrey of the Kivers Tigris
and Euphrates. London: 1850; vol. ii., p. 180.
§ Herodotus, lib. iii. and iv.
II During the reign of Artaxerxes, the third son of
Xerxes (the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther), Ctesias,
the king's physician, and the author of a voluminous
history of the Assyrian, Labylonian, and Persian
empires, wrote a book on India, founded upon the
accounts he obtained from the Persians. His works
are not now extant, though various extracts are to be
gold, or a talent a day — the Persian year
being then considered to comprise only 360
days. The sum would appear to be over-
stated; for a single talent, at the lowest
computation, was equal to £3,000 English
money ; and even, though India may have
then deserved its high reputation as a gold-
producing region, this tax would have been
very onerous. It is, however, certain, that
at this time the force of Persian gold was
known and feared by neighbouring states,
and had a powerful share in enabling the
successors of Darius to keep together the
chief part of the widely-scattered dominions,
which he displayed great ability in even par-
tially consolidating and dividing into satra-
pies, or governments ; of these his Indian
possessions formed the twentieth and last.§
Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius,
had a body of Indian troops in his service ;
but he discouraged maritime intercourse,
considering traffic by land more desirable ;
and indeed he and his successors are said to
have adopted the Babylonian policy of pre-
venting invasions by sea, by blocking up the
navigation of some of the chief rivers, in-
stead of guarding the coast with an efficient
naval force.
We find but few traces of India || during
the remaining reigns of the Persian mo-
narchs, until the time of their last ruler,
Darius Codomanus, who succeeded to the
sway of a disorganized territory, consisting
of numerous provinces, or rather kingdoms,
differing in religion, languages, laws, cus-
toms, and interests ; and bound together by
no tie of a permanent character. A power-
ful enemy was at hand, in the neighbouring
kingdom of Macedon, which had sprung into
importance almost as rapidly as Persia, and
in a similar manner, having been raised by
the talents of a single individual. Philip had
acceded to the government of an ordinary
state, weakened by war and dissension ; but
taking full advantage of the commanding
geographical position of the country, and
the warlike spirit of its hardy sons, he reu-
found in different authors. They are all unfavour-
ably commented on, especially that on India, by se-
veral Greek writers, who pronounce them fabulous.
Plutarch, Aristotle, and even Strabo, notwithstand-
ing their severe censures, have, however, not scrupled
to borrow from the pages of Ctesias such statements
as appeared to them probable; and Diodorus, as
well as Herodotus and Athena;us, are said to have
drawn largely from the same source. Xenophon,
who was personally acquainted with Ctesias, speaks
of him with great respect, though differing from many
of his opinions.
ALEXANDER CROSSES THE HELLESPONT TO INVADE ASIA. 21
dered it the centre of arts and civilization,
second only to Persia in power, and supe-
rior even to Persia in influence, on account
of the state of corruption and excessive
luxury into which that empire had fallen.
The free Grecian republics, weakened by
strife and division, became for the most part
subject to Macedonia, whose ancient consti-
tution— a limited monarchy, which it was
the interest of the community at large to
maintain — ^proved a source of strength alike
in offensive and defensive warfare. Still
Macedonia appears to have been in some
sort tributary to Persia; and it was pos-
sibly a dispute on this point which had led
Philip to form the hostile intentions he was
preparing to carry out, and which Arses,
King of Persia, was occupied in endeavour-
ing to prevent, when both were suddenly
arrested in the midst of their schemes;
Philip, who had escaped so many dangers
in the battle-field, being stabbed in his own
palace during the bridal festivities of his
daughter Cleopatra, by Pausanias,* a Mace-
donian youth of rank ; and Arses was poi-
soned about the same time.
The tender age of Alexander was for-
gotten in the enthusiasm raised by his
manly and powerful eloquence. He assured
the assembled Macedonians, previous to the
funeral obsequies of his father, that though
the name was changed they would find the
king remained; — and he kept his word,
elevating none of his personal friends, but
continuing the able statesmen and generals
in the positions in which he found them.
By extraordinary address, this youth (for
• The motive of Pausanias is variously stated as
having been the instigation of the Persian monarch
(in which light Alexander chose to view it) ; a desire
to revenge a personal insult ; or otherwise, from un-
governable passion for Olympias, the mother of Alex-
ander.— Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia, vol.
i., p. 54. Justin attributes the deed to the incitement
of the vindictive Olympias, who, immediately after
her husband's assassination, caused his youngest
wife and child to be put to a cruel death.
t Historians agree in describing Darius as amiable
and equitable. The tale related by the Persian au-
thor, Zeenut-ul-Tuarikh, concerning his message to
Alexander, is therefore inconsistent with his cha-
racter. According to this writer, Philip had agreed
to furnish an annual subsidy of 1,000 eggs of pure
gold. The Persian envoy, sent to demand the tri-
bute from his successor, received the jeering reply
that " the birds that laid the eggs had flown to the
other world." Darius thereupon despatched an am-
bassador, with a bat and ball, as a fit amusement for
the youthful monarch, and a bag of very small seed,
called gunjud, as an emblem of the innumerable
Persian army. Alexander taking the bat, said —
" This is my power with which I will strike your
he was but twenty years old (succeeded in
stifling the disturbances which followed the
catastrophe at home, and in establishing his
ascendancy as chief, by the free choice of the
majority of the Grecian republics, notwith-
standing the unremitting exertions of De-
mosthenes and his party.
Once firmly seated on the throne, having
brought the Illyrian war to a rapid and suc-
cessful conclusion and captured Thebes,
Alexander made ready for a hazardous con-
test with his powerful compeer Darius, the
successor of Arses ; who, previous to his ac-
cession to the throne of Persia, had been
distinguished for the judicious government
of a large tract of country of which he
had been satrap (viceroy) . Although averse
to war,t he had nevertheless distinguished
himself in the conduct of military pro-
ceedings with hostile nations ; and he lost
no time in preparing for the threatened
invasion. In the spring of the year 334,
B.C., Alexander, with very limited resources
in his possession, but with the riches of the
East in prospect, crossed the Hellespont at
the head of a confederated J army, variously
estimated at 30,000 to 43,000 infantry, and
5,000 cavalry ; and after a severe contest,
defeated a Persian army 110,000 strong,
who disputed with him the passage of the
river Granicus, near Zelia, in Bithynia.
In eastern warfare the first victory is of
incalculable importance — for the satraps and
inferior governors are ever ready to transfer
their allegiance to the conqueror, consider-
ing that he could be such only by the will
of God, to which they are bound to submit.
sovereign's dominion ; and this fowl," pointing to
one which had been hi ought at his command, and
rapidly devoured the grain, " shows what a mere
morsel his aniiy will prove to mine." Then, giving
the ambassador a wild melon, he desired him to tell
Darius what he had heard and seen, and to give him
that fruit, the taste of which might indicate the
bitter lot that awaited him. — Malcolm's Persia,
vol. i., p. 55.
\ The Grecian republics, excepting Lacedemonia,
were favourable to Alexander's proposition of an
Asiatic expedition ; and his own hopes of success
rested upon the jealousy and dissension which he
knew existed among the numerous satraps or vice-
roys of Damascus, over whom the supreme authority
of " the king of kings," as the Persian monarch was
grandiloquently styled, sat lightly enough. The zeal
of his officers, to whom rewards, almost princely,
were held out in the event of success, and the admir-
able discipline of his troops, would, he trusted, pre-
vail over the opposing force, and probably cause the
defection of the bands of Greek mercenaries employed
against him, as well as gain the suffrages of the Greek
settlements in Asia, whose release from Persian rule
was one of his avowed objects.
22
BATTLE OF ISSUS, IN CILICIA— b.c. 333.
The consequence of this brilliant opening
must have exceeded the hopes even of the
Macedonian, who conducted himself with
singular moderation — treating the people
everywhere as subjects, not enemies ; exact-
ing from them no additional tribute to that
previously claimed by Darius ; and strictly
forbidding pillage or massacre. Having ob-
tained the " sinews of war" in the treasury
of the Persian monarchs at Sardis, through
the treachery of Mithrenes, the governor,
Alexander proceeded on his brilliant career,
until he became master of the whole of
Lesser Asia. The possession of Cilicia was
the next point necessary to his purpose, as
it comprised the most practicable route be-
tween Greater and Lesser Asia, as well as
the communication with Syria by land and
with Greece by sea. The province was
gained without difficulty; and Alexander
(when recovered from a dangerous fever,
which for a time checked his impetuous
career) employed himself in securing his
position, while Darius was straining every
nerve to form an army, which should deci-
sively defeat his adversary and re-establish
the tottering fabric of the Persian empire.
According to Arrian, he increased his Greek
mercenaries to 30,000, to whom were joined
about 60,000 Asiatics, called Cardacs, trained
like the Greeks for close fight, and the
middle and light-armed made up a total
(including the followers) of 600,000, of
whom perhaps 150,000 to 200,000 were
fighting men. Darius crossed the Euphrates,
and with his immense force covered the
plains of Cilicia.
After a fierce struggle between the Mace-
donian phalanx* and the Persian-Greeks,
the powerful monarchs met face to face :
Darius, in the centre of the line, in a strik-
ing costume, and seated on a splendid
chariot drawn by four horses abreast, had
been from the first a special object of attack :
Sabaces, the satrap of Egypt, and many
illustrious Persians, perished by his side,
* The famous Macedonian or quadruple |)halanx,
as it was sometimes called, to mark its division into
four parts, consisted of a body of 18,000 men, each
defended by helmet, breast-plate, greaves, and th"
large shield called the aspis, and armed with a long
sword and with the famous sarissa, a spear measur-
ing four-and-twenty feet. The ordinary depth of
the phalanx was sixteen ranks, the best soldiers
being placed in the foremost and hindmost ranks,
which formed as it were the framework of an engine
whose efficiency depended on its compactness and
uniformity of movement. — llev. Connop (now Bishop)
Thirlwall»G/-«ec«, voLvi., p. 147.
until his wounded horses became so un-
governable among the heaps of slain by
which they were hemmed in, that the mo-
narch was with difficulty rescued from the
melee, by the valour of his brother Oxathres,
and placed in another chariot, in which he
fled, hotly but unsuccessfully pursued by
Alexander, who had himself been slightly
injured in the thigh. f
The loss of the Persians is stated Ijy
Arrian at 100,000, including 10,000 horse;
the most valuable part of the baggage had
been conveyed to Damascus, but was soon
after captured by Parmenio, Alexander's
ablest general, through the treachery of its
governor. J Meanwhile the family of Da-
rius— his mother, wife,§ and children — fell
into the hands of the conqueror, who showed
them much personal kindness ; but when
earnestly solicited to release them at the
price of any ransom he might name, haugh-
tily replied, that he would listen' to that
request only if asked in person, and on con-
dition of being addressed as king of Asia,
and lord of all once possessed by Darius.
The insulted monarch had no resource but
once more to prepare for war, which he had
still ample opportunities of doing with a fair
prospect of success, for the troops of the
eastern satrapies, including some of the most
warlike in his dominions, were on their way
towards Babylon, and a few months might
again see him at the head of a more nu-
merous and more powerful host than that
defeated at Issus, and Alexander might yet
meet the fate of the younger Cyrus. Nearly
two years elapsed before the kingly rivals
again met. Meanwhile the conqueror
pursued his meteor-like course, astonishing
the world by his unequalled daring, yet
consolidating his successes as he proceeded,
by the consummate and thoroughly con-
sistent policy with which he used all things
as instruments of his great designs ; dili-
gently and ably promoting the material wel-
fare of subjects (made such by the sword),
t Arrian, lib. ii., cap. xii. j
t A loyal subject, movedVith indignation, slew
the traitor, and laid his head at the foot of his injured
master.
§ Statira, the beautiful and beloved wife of Darius,
died soon afterwards in childbirth, and Alexander
caused her to be interred with every mark of honour;
his conduct towards her throughout, so different
from the usual licentious cruelty of Asiatic con-
querors, excited a feeling of lively gratitude in the
breast of her ill-fated husband, who never forgot
this one redeeming feature in the conduct of his un
relenting opponent.
TYRE, JERUSALEM AND EGYPT SUBDUED, b.c. 332-1.
humouring prejudice, flattering national
vanity, rewarding individual service with
unbounded munificence, but at the same
time violating in every action the recog-
nised rights of men, and showing himself
throughout utterly unscrupulous as to the
amount of suffering he inflicted, whether in
subduing patriots to his will, or inflicting
signal vengeance on those who, from the
purest motives, ventured to oppose him.
The island-city of Tyre, after a seven months'
siege, was conquered by him, through the
unconscious fulfilment of a scripture pro-
phecy, in joining the island to the main, by
a causeway 800 yards in length. The Ty-
rians defended themselves to the last with
unfaltering determination ; and, probably to
check all thoughts of capitulation, executed
their Macedonian prisoners and cast them
into the sea in the sight of the besiegers,
who, when their hour of triumph arrived,
made this cruel act the excuse for the most
unmitigated ferocity. With the exception
of the king and some of the principal people,
all were involved in a fearful doom ; 8,000
perished in the first slaughter, 2,000 pri-
soners were crucified by order of Alex-
ander, and 30,000 (including a number of
foreign residents) were sold into slavery.*
Gaza was next subdued : the citizens, to
the last man, died in its defence, and their
women and children were sold as slaves.
Alexander then marched upon Jerusalem,
whose high priest Jaddua, had excited his
wrath by refusing to violate the fidelity due
to the Persian monarch in furnishing the
invader with a supply of troops and pro-
visions during the siege of Tyre. The
Chaldeans and Phoenicians — ancient ene-
mies of the Jews — accompanied the con-
queror, buoyed up with the hope of sharing
in the anticipated plunder, but they were
witnesses of a very different result. When
the army approached the Holy City, the
High Priest, attended by the priests and
Levites in their sacerdotal vestments, fol-
lowed by a multitude of the inhabitants,
decked in white feast-day robes, came out
to meet Alexander, who, recognising, as he
afterwards declared, in Jaddua, a figure
shown to him in a dream at Dios, struck
with pious awe, went up to the temple as a
worshipper, and sacrificed according to the
' Arrian. Curfius, however, states that 15,000
persons were rescued by the Sidonians.
t They probably showed him Daniel, chaps. 7 & 8.
X Whiston's Josephus, book xi., chap. viii.
§ The approach to the harbour of Alexandria was
Jewish ritual. The priests informed him of
his position as the fulfiller of the prophecy
of Daniel,t than which nothing could be
more gratifying, either to the ambitious
designs or superstitious tendencies of Alex-
ander, who took his departure, after making
munificent offerings, and bestowing extra-
ordinary privileges on the Jewish nation. J
In January, 331, the Greeks penetrated
into Egypt; and the people, whose reli-
gious prejudices had been cruelly insulted
by their Persian masters, welcomed the
approach of the conciliating conqueror,
whose late worship of the God of Israel did
not hinder him from sacrificing to their
monstrous idols — even to Apis. Sailing
down the western or Canobie arm of the
Nile, he proceeded to found the greatest of
the many noble cities which bore his name,
on a site§ which he saw would render it an
emporium for the commerce of the eastern
and western world ; it was colonised with a
mixed population of Greeks and Romans —
the abolition of the alienating prejudices of
race being a marked feature in his mighty
plan for the establishment of an universal
empire.
After imitating the exploits attributed by
Greek legends to his famous predecessors,
Hercules and Perseus, braving the bare rocks
and burning sands of the Libyan desert, and
questioning the oracle of the temple of
Ammon, erected in its famed Oasis, he re-
turned to Memphis, completed the arrange-
ments needful for the peaceable government
of Egypt, and proceeded to Tyre, the ap-
pointed rendezvous of his fleet and army, to
prepare for a final contest with Darius. In
the autumn of the same year (331) he
crossed the Euphrates, advanced at full
speed towards the Tigris, where he had
expected to meet the hostile force, but
being disappointed, rested a few days on
the left bank, and then, continuing his
march, came up with Darius, whom he
found encamped in one of the wide plains
between the Tigris and the mountains of
Kurdistan, at a village named Gaugamela
(the camel's or dromedary's house), about
twenty miles from the town of Arbela,
which gave its name to the battle. To the
last, Darius had endeavoured to make peace
with Alexander, offering him the hand ot
dangerous ; for this reason the famous beacon tower,
reckoned among the seven wonders of the world, was
built by the first Ptolemy, on a rock near the eastern
point of the island of Pharos, and threw a light to n
distance, it is said, of nsarly forty miles.
24
BATTLE OF ARBELA, 331, b.c— DEATH OF DARIUS.
his daughter, with a dower of 30,000 talents
in gold, and intimating even willingness to
divide the empire; indeed it was probably
the hope of some such compromise being
efiFected that induced him to allow the
Greeks to cross the Euphrates and Tigris
unmolested. The numbers of the respective
armies would seem to have warranted him
in the expectation of being able to dictate
rather than solicit peace ; but his munificent
terms were not the less unhesitatingly re-
jected by the invader, though Parmenio and
the Council urged their acceptance. Accord-
ing to Arrian, Alexander's force amounted
to no more than 40,000 foot, and 7,000
horse ; but this is evidently exclusive of the
Asiatic levies, which there is reason to be-
lieve he had raised. The Persian army has
been variously stated by Curtius, Diodorus
Siculus, and others, at from 200,000 to
-«00,000 infantry, and from 40,000 to 200,000
horse, besides the Indian contingent of 200
war chariots and fifteen elephants, ranged in
the centre of the mighty host, near the per-
son of the monarch. During the weary night
preceding the combat, Darius passed along
the line by torch-light, cheering his soldiers,
all of whom were, by a mistaken policy,
kept continuously under arms, from momen-
tary fear of a surprise. The dreaded attempt
is said to have been actually suggested by
Parmenio to his sovereign after the latter
had retired to his tent, but rejected on the
ground that it would be alike ignoble and
impolitic to steal a victory, instead of gain-
ing it by a fair trial of strength. In the
morning the battle commenced, and was
long and stoutly contested; the Indo-Scy-
thian troops being, we are expressly told by
Arrian, among the flower of the Persian
army, and fighting valiantly to the death.
The strife became very intricate, hostile
bodies intermingled with each other in fierce
combat, and the issue seemed to promise
little short of annihilation to both parties,
when a circumstance, slight in itself, turned
the scale. A dart flung by Alexander, who
was on horseback, killed the charioteer of
Darius; and the confusion thus occasioned
gave rise to the general belief that the king
himself was slain. A complete panic en-
sued ; the Persians fled in irremediable con-
fusion, followed by Alexander — who was,
however, obliged to renounce the pursuit
and return to rescue Parmenio, who com-
manded his left wing, from the critical
position in which he had been placed by the
resistless onset of the Massagetian horse.
There is no credible statement of the amount
of life sacrificed on this eventful day; for
that of Arrian, which records the loss of the
Persians at 40,000, and the Greeks at 100,
can scarcely be entertained. This contest
sealed the downfall of one powerful empire,
and crowned the conqueror with the fallen
diadem, althoitgh the escape of Darius was
still felt as aSbrding serious cause for anxiety.
After allowing his army a brief revel
among the luxuries of Babylon, and drain-
ing the treasury of Susa of its vast stores of
unwrought ingots and golden darics, Alex-
ander proceeded to Persepolis, and though
he met with no resistance, suffered the
stately city to be plundered hj his soldiers,
excepting only its magnificent palace, (which
he afterwards set on fire with his own hand,)*
and the citadel, which ancient writers
agree in stating to have contained the pro-
digious sura of 120,000 talents, or more than
£27,000,000 sterling.f Four months elapsed
before he resumed the pursuit of Darius,
who had meanwhile gathered together a
small force, and intended to take refuge in
the Bactrian satrapy of Bessus ; but this dis-
loyal servant, considering his master's for-
tunes desperate, conspired with the satraps
of Arachosia and Aria either to kill or to
deliver him to the Greeks, according as
might best serve their private purpose — the
securing independent possession of their
satrapies. Alexander, after marching rapidly
through Media, had reached a mountain
pass called the Caspian Gates, before intelli-
gence arrived of the plot; he exclaimed bitterly
against the treachery to which his own am-
bition had subjected the royal fugitive, and
pressed eagerly onwards to his rescue. The
conspirators fled before him, and Darius re-
solutely refusing to accompany them, was
left mortally wounded in his chariot, where
his lifeless body was found by Alexander, who
buried it with regal honours, provided for
the maintenance of Sisygambis (his mother) ,
married his daughter Statira, took charge of
the education of his other children, and
declared his determination of punishing the
assassins. Artabazus, the faithful and long-
tried adherent of Darius, then ninety-five
years of age, he took into his own service,
and evinced his respect for his fidelity by
unremitting kindness to him and to his sons.
* At the suggestion, it is said, of Thais, an Athe-
nian courtesan, made to him when heated with wine.
Both Phitarch and Arrian record bis immediate and
undisguised regret for the deed.
t Quintus Curtius, lib. v., cap. 5 ; Diodorus Sicu-
lus, lib. xvii., cap. 18 ; Tustin, lib. xi., cap. 14.
GREEKS CROSS THE PAROPAMISUS, AND CAPTURE BACTRIA, 320, b.c. 25
Bessus finding himself disappointed in his
hopes now braved the worst, by boldly as-
suming the tiara, and the title of Artaxerxes
King of Asia, in defiance of the pretensions
of Alexander, who wished to be considered
as the avenger and rightful successor rather
than the conqueror of Darius, and to receive
even from his Macedonian subjects the spe-
cies of adoration oft'ered by the Persians to
their king, as a preliminary to the divine
honours, to which an oracle had declared
him entitled. The Macedonians viewed
these pretensions with undisguised aver-
sion, and several of his bravest subjects,
including Philotas and his father Parmenio,
the beloved general of Philip,* became,
under difierent pretences, victims to tVieir
opposition to this glaring impiety. f Bar-
zaentes, one of the confederates of Bessus,
took refuge among the Indians on the bor-
der of his eastern satrapy of Arachosia, but
was delivered up by them to Alexander, who
caused him to be put to death ; Sartabar-
zanes, another of the traitors (and a double-
dyed one, for he had voluntarily sworn alle-
giance to the conqueror), was slain in
battle, and the arch conspirator Bessus
alone remained. He had consulted his
personal safety by fleeing across the vast
mountain barrier of India, a part of which
is there called the Paropamisus,J trust-
ing that the natural difficulties of the coun-
try would greatly impede, if not entirely
block up, the pursuit of a hostUe force. He
probably little knew the zeal with which,
from very childhood, Alexander had striven
for accurate geographical knowledge, eagerly
questioning the ambassadors of his father's
court as to the routes they had traversed, or
heard of, so as to give the wisest of them
some partial insight into the schemes even
then passing through his brain. On arriving
at the root of the chain, he was probably
well acquainted with its general direction,
as well as the defiles by which it might be
traversed, especially since, during his so-
journ in Phoenicia, he had had abundant
opportunity of ascertaining the nature of
* It is recorded by Plutarch, that Philip once said
the Athenians were lucky to be able to find ten gen-
erals every year ; he, in the course of many years,
had only found one, Parmenio.
f The famous guarrel in which, during a carousal,
Alexander slew his tried friend Cleitas, who had pre-
served his life in battle at the risk of his own, arose
from the same cause; as did also the execution of
Callisthenes, though on the avowed charge of having
incited a conspiracy among the royal pages.
X This range (according to Masson) is distinct
from the true Indian Caucasus, or Hindoo Koosh; —
the trade with India, and the means by
which it was carried on, by land as well as by
sea. At the foot of the pass by which he
intended crossing, Alexander founded an-
other Alexandria (ad Caucasum), where he
planted a colony of Macedonian veterans;
then, undeterred by the severity of the yet
unexpired winter, he avoided the dangerous
period of the melting snows, by commenc-
ing his mountain march, which lasted fifteen
days, and was rendered arduous and haras-
sing, not only from the natural causes of
cold and fatigue, but also by scarcity of pro-
visions. Bessus had laid waste the whole
country between the lower valleys on the
northern side, and the left bank of the
Oxus, before he passed over with his troops,
after which he burned the boats which had
conveyed them. Alexander having captured
the town and fortress of Aorni, and Bactra
the chief city of Bactria (supposed to be the
modern Balk), committed the charge of the
newly-acquired territory to the venerable
Artabazus; then dismissing some of the
more infirm, or least willing, of the Mace-
donian troops and Thessalian volunteers, he
proceeded across a strip of the great desert,
which stretches from the Caspian to the
high table-land, containing the sources of
the Oxus and Jaxartes. On arriving at the
former river, no boats or building materials
could be procured, and the breadth was little
less than 800 yards ; but even this obstacle
was overcome, and the whole of the troops
transported safely over on skins stuffed with
straw. The passage being accomplished
after six days' labour, the Greeks pushed
across the desert in a northerly direction,
but were met by envoys from two of the
chief followers of Bessus, who fell a victim
to the same treachery he had practised to-
wards Darius; and being delivered up by
his followers, Spitamenes and others, suffered
a cruel and ignominious death. § The ob-
tainment of the avowed object of the expe-
dition did not put a stop to Alexander's
progress. According to Plutarch it was
about this period that he first entertained
the name is derived from " par" and " pam," signify-
ing hill and fiat — the region around consisting of
flat-topped hills.
§ He was publicly stripped and scourged, his nose
and ears were cut off, and (according to Curtius and
Uiodorus) he was eventually surrendered to Oxa-
thres and other kinsmen of Darius to be executed ;
but by some accounts he is represented as having
been, by order of Alexander himself, torn limb from
limb, by means of two trees, to which he was bound,
being first bent and then suflered to spring back. — See
Lan ghome's Plutarch, Life of A lexander, vol. i v., p. 1 86.
2G COUNTRY OF TAXILAS, AND SITE OF ITS ANCIENT CAPITAL.
the idea of following up his conquests by
that of India. He had now reached a de-
lightful region of great beauty and exuberant
fertility, whose pastures afforded him fresh
horses to supply the loss sustained in march-
ing through mountains and deserts ; thence
he advanced to the capital of Sogdiana,
called Maracanda, since known as Samar-
cand, in whose citadel he placed a Greek
garrison. Still proceeding northwards, he
founded another Alexandria on the Jaxartes,
and was involved in some sharp contests
with the Asiatic Scythians, in one of which
a body of Macedonian horse were surprised
and slain, and in another he was himself
wounded. After repressing disturbances
among the Sogdians, on whom he wreaked
a cruel vengeance for what he thought fit to
call rebellion t9 his self-constituted autho-
rity, he proceeded at the close of 339 to
take up his winter quarters at Bactria or
Zariaspa. For the next twelve months he
found ample employment in stifling the
efforts for independence of the Scythians,
Sogdians, and the Bactrians, incited by
Spitamenes, the most active and determined
enemy he had yet encountered in Asia.
This chief's motive appears to have been
dissatisfaction at receiving less reward than
he had expected for the surrender of Bessus.
By a remarkable retribution he was in turn
betrayed by his own troops, who, desirous
• Taxila must have been a large and splendid
city, but its site is still a matter of dispute. Schlosser
places it at Attock, and Rennell at or near the same
place. On the route leading thence to Lahore, are
the ruins of a very ancient town of unknown name
and origin, which is also supposed to have been
Taxila. Abundance of Greek and Bactrian coins
have been found in the numerous ruins and cupolas
or topes which are scattered over the plain on which
the present small village of Manikyala stands. One
of these topes or tumuli (examined in 1833-34, by
Mons. Court, an engineer officer then in the service
of Runjeet Sing) was 80 feet high, with a circum-
ference of 320 feet, solidly built of well-dressed
quarried stones, some of huge size, cemented with
lime i while a range of small columns, the capitals
ornamented with rams' heads, surrounded the base.
The Hindoos resort to the spot to offer up the first
cuttings of the hair of their male children, a custom
said to have been prevalent in ancient Greece. There
are about fifteen smaller topes near the principal
one ; and, indeed, similar tumuli abound in different
parts of Affghanistan, at Cabool, Jellalabad, in the
khyber hiUs, &c. They are generally constructed
of sandstone, and of a nummulitio limestone (full of
shell impressions), such as is found in the Egyptian
pyramids. In one of the topes, which had a height
of sixty or seventy feet, a cell was discovered at ten
feet from the ground-level, whose four sides corre-
sponded with the cardinal points ; it was constructed
Jn a iolid manner, and covered with a massive slab
of conciliating their powerful foe, cut off the
head of their leader, and offered it as their
own propitiation. Several of his confede-
rates still lived and took refuge in the
mountainous region about the upper valleys
of the Oxus, with other chiefs who perse-
vered in the struggle for liberty. They
were not, however, of sufficient importance
to detain Alexander any longer in the coun-
tries where he had already spent nearly two
years, and which had been subdued only with
much difficulty and large expenditure of
blood and treasure, as well as by diplomacy ;
for example, by his marriage with Roxana,
the daughter of Oxyartes, an influential
Bactrian chief, he converted a dangerous
enemy to a firm friend.
Greek Invasio.v of India.^ — In the spring
of 327, Alexander prepared to attempt the
conquest of the almost unknown countries
bordering and beyond the Indus. The pres-
tige of his success, and the generosity with
which he treated all who submitted to his
sway, induced a native ruler to send a friendly
embassy before the army quitted Sogdiana.
The name of this prince was recorded by
the Greeks (who are unfortunately prover-
bial for the manner in which they distorted
foreign words to suit their own pronuncia-
tion) as Omphis, or Mophis; but he was
commonly called Taxiles, from Taxila,* the
capital of his country, which lay between
containing inscriptions, some resembling the writings
of the Rajpoots of the Himalaya, others the Etliio-
pian character. In the centre was a copper urn or
cylinder, encircled by eight copper medals, (some
apparently of the Winged-cap Sassanian dynasty,)
with a wrapper of white linen tightly adhering to the
surface, which fell into shreds on being exposed to
the air. The copper enclosed a silver urn, the in-
tervening space being filled with a moist paste,
devoid of smell, of the colour of raw umber, in which
lay a thread of cotton gathered up into a knot. The
silver, from age, had become quite brittle, and crum-
bled into bits between the fingers, as the metals found
at Nineveh have since done. Within the silver ves-
sel was a much smaller golden one, and seven silver
medals with Latin characters. The gold cylinder
contained four small, worn, golden coins of the
Gra;co-Scythian, or Gr®co-Indian type, but of a far
inferior fabrication to the silver ones ; there were
also two precious stones and four perforated pearls
(which had been pendants of ear-rings), fragments
of a vitreous nature, and small transparent yellow
substances, with decayed organic matter. The country
around, as proved by the quantity of ruins of old
houses, must have once been very populous. Whether
these topes or mounds served for royal mausolea, or
Boodhistical shrines, or both, is doubtful : they were
possibly the consecrated tombs of kings or of per-
sons of distinction. Some curious coincidences are
observable between the ancient monuments and the
sepulchral tumuli or harrows discovered in Essex
ALEXANDER'S CAMPAIGN IN AFFGHANISTAN, 327, b.c.
27
the upper Indus and the Hydaspes (Behut
or Jhelum), the westermost of the five great
tributaries, from which the whole eastern
basiu of the Indus, down to their confluence,
is called the Punjaub (five rivers).
From Bactria and Sogdiana, as also from
the neighbouring Scythian hordes, auxil-
iaries were raised to the amount of 70,000
persons, of whom 30,000 were youths, levied
to serve at once as hostages and soldiers.
Altogether the Greek force (exclusive of a
corps of 10,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry
left in Bactria, under the command of the
satrap Amyntas) consisted of 120,000 foot
and 15,000 horse. After crossing the Para-
pamisan chain, in ten days, (apparently by a
different route to that which had been taken
in the winter of 329,) through a pass de-
scribed by Arrian as "high, narrow, and
short," the troops reached Alexandria ad
Caucasum, and from thence proceeded to a
town named Nysa,* which would appear to
have been the same city alleged to have been
founded by the Indian Bacchus, or Dionysus.
The inhabitants are said to have dexterously
turned Alexander's claim to be considered
as a son of Jupiter to advantage by entreat-
ing him to spare and protect the city
founded by his " celestial brother •" and as
an evidence of the truth of their statement,
they pointed to the abundance of vines, wild
and uncultivated, growing in their valleys,
and to the ivy and laurel first planted by
the hand of Bacchus, of which the Mace-
donians had, until then, seen none since they
left Greece. Alexander offered sacrifices in
honour of his divine predecessor, and per-
mitted Nysa, which is described as an aris-
tocratical republic under a discreet ruler
named Acuphis, to retain its liberty and
laws.f On proceeding to the banks of the
river Cophenes, he was met at his own re-
quest by Taxiles, and several chiefs from the
and other parts of England, which contained, like
those of the Punjaub, various bronze urns, enclosing
fragments of burnt bones, coins, glass, and even a
similar brown or light yellov/ liquid or paste. Virgil,
also, in the uSneid (vi., 215), describes the Roman
custom of burning the dead j milk, wine, blood, and
other munera, supposed to be grateful to the de-
ceased, were poured on or mingled with the ashes,
and money was usually added to defray the fee of
Charon for ferrying the departed spirit across the Styx.
* The locality of the different towns and rivers
mentioned by Alexander's historians, is much con-
tested by modern geographers. The site of Nysa is
pointed out by M. Court, at Ashnagur (whose sub-
urbs are scattered over with vast ruins of unknown
date) ; that of Alexandria ad Caucasum is variously
placed at Ghuznee and at a place called Siggan ;
while the Cophenei is supposed to denote either the
region west of the Indus ; they brought him
presents, and promised to gratify his desire
for trained elephants, by the gift of all they
possessed, which, however, amounted only
to five-and-twenty. The army was then
divided ; one portion, under Hephsestion and
Perdiccas, took the direct road to the Indus,
with orders there to prepare a bridge of
boats for the passage of the main body,
which Alexander conducted by a more nor-
thern route over difiicult mountain paths,
to meet the hardy and warlike tribes, men-
tioned by Arrian under the names of the
Aspii, the Thrysei, and the Arssei. In a
contest with the inhabitants of one of the
towns, he was wounded, and the Greeks in
their rage (having carried the double walls,)
gave no quarter, but slaughtered aU without
distinction, and reduced the place to ashes.
The whole of this campaign in the high
lands of Affghanistan was marked by de-
termined bravery on the part of the moun-
taineers, and sanguinary cruelty on that of
the invader, who had no other plan for sub-
duing a people, who desired — not generosity
but justice, not to be well governed after
his fashion, but to remain independent after
their own. In the country of the unoffend-
ing AssacenesJ he behaved with especial
barbarity. Having encamped before their
capital, Mazagu, he made three determined
attacks with battering-engines on different
days, during which he was wounded in the
leg and arm ; the result of a fourth assault
was yet doubtful, when the Affghan chief
was slain, and the garrison were suffered to
capitulate on the condition that 7,000 mer-
cenaries from the Punjaub, who had been
engaged in the service of the deceased
leader, should join the Greek army. They
accordingly marched out and encamped on
a hill for the night, but evinced so much
reluctance at the thought of fighting against
river formed by the confluence of the Cabool with the
Pendjsher, or else the eastern branch of the Ifel-
mund, now known as the Tarnuck. The reader
desirous of understanding the grounds upon which
these and other opposite opinions rest, will find them
fully discussed by the highest Indian authorities,
in the pages of the various Asiatic journals, and in
the works of Rennell, Vincent, Elphinstone, Vigne,
Burnes, Chesney, Masson, Long, &c.
t Recorded by Arrian, Quintug Curtius, and Plu-
tarch in his Life of Alexander.
X Arrian says they had been subject to the Assy-
rians, then to the Medes, and subsequently to the
Persians. The Orita are described by the same
authority, as a nation whose country extended along
the sea-coast for about 150 miles ; and who wore the
dress and arms of the other Indians, but difl'ered
from theDi in language and manners.
28
AORNUS CAPTURED— THE INDUS CROSSED.
their countrymen, that Alexander, suspect-
ing them of an intention to desert, caused
them to be suddenly surrounded and cut to
pieces. He then set at nought the capitu-
lation by storming the defenceless city.
The strongholds of Ora and Bazira were
next reduced, the inhabitants of the latter
place fled to a hill-fort on the right bank of
the Indus, whose name seems to have been
lost by the Greeks in that of Aornus,* a
term indicative of its extraordinary height,
above the flight of a bird. Here Hercules
was said to have been defeated, and Alex-
ander, desirous of excelling the exploits of
even fabled heroes, and of proving himself
not to be deterred by natural difiBculties, pro-
ceeded to the attack; passing, it would ap-
pear, through the district of Peucelaotis,
and taking possession of the chief city,
Peucela, whose ruler, Astes, had fallen in
the thirty days' siege of the force under
Hephsestion and Perdiccas on their march
eastward. Aornus he captured by forming
a mound across a hollow of no great depth,
but of considerable width, which separated
a neighbouring hill from the pyramidical
rock itself; thus a vantage-ground was gained
to the surprise and terror of the besieged,
• Aornus was probably a general name for a
stockaded mountain, such as that already mentioned
in Bactria, and most likely Hellenized from the
Sanscrit Awara, or Awarana, an enclosure. Its
position is considered by some authorities to have
been a little distance above Attock, while others con-
sider it to be found at Peshawer, in front of the
Khyber Pass, and reconcile this opinion with the
statement of Arrian and Strabo, that the Indus flowed
at the base of Aornus, by declaring that these writers
evidently deemed the Cabool river the true Indus.
T It seems to have been during his stay at Taxila
that Alexander had first the opportunity of gratifying
his curiosity respecting the doctrine and practice of
the Hindoo ascetics called gymnosophists by the
Greeks. At Corinth, struck by the imperturbable
stoicism of a man, who had nothing to ask, but that
he should stand from betwixt him and the sun, he is
reported to have exclaimed, that were he not Alex-
ander he would wish to be Diogenes. In India he
must have witnessed a far more interesting spectacle.
The Greek philosopher had no higher object in his
dogged abstinence from the comforts of civilized life
than to place himself beyond the reach of what, in
his blindness, he called chance or fortune ; but the
Brahmins sought, by self-inflicted tortures, and un-
ceasing exposure to the severe influences of their
burning sky, to win by slow degrees a release from
mortality, and absorption into the Divine essence.
Alexander was utilitarian in all his views ; it might
therefore be supposed he could have little sympathy
with men whom he might have considered as visionary
enthusiasts,buthewas alsoextremely superstitious: his
great intellect groped in darkness, unenlightened by
any ray of revealed truth, which could show him tho
fundamental error of striving to found a univer-
la), or at least an Asiatic empire, by means of un-
who endeavoured to escape at night-fall,
but were pursued with great slaughter into
the plains beneath. The accounts given by
Arrian of the next steps of Alexander's pro-
gress are scarcely reconcileable with those of
Diodorus and Curtius ; but it appears that
he was compelled to return to the moun-'
tains to suppress insurrection, and that the
people fled before him. He despatched his
generals, Nearchus and Antiochus, to scour
the country towards the north-west, while
he himself opened a road, which no army
had ever before trodden, to the banks of the
Indus, and on his way captured some of the
fugitives, who, among other information,
told him that their elephants had been left
in the thickets on the west side of the river.
These animals having been obtained by the
aid of native hunters, vessels were con-
structed, in which the force dropped down
the stream to the bridge prepared for them
by Hephaestion and Perdiccas, with the
assistance of Taxiles, who came out with his
army and elephants to meet Alexander on
his arrival at the eastern shore of the Indus,
and conducted him with much pomp to his
capital.-f- Taxiles appears to have been very
desirous to obtain the assistance of the
limited conquests, gained at a terrible cost of blood,
tears, and moral degradation. Still he was no mere
conqueror ; it was not simply a selfish ambition that
prompted him — far less any brutal, or rather demonia-
cal, love of fighting. He ever strove to conciliate
strange nations, by respecting their religious obser-
vances, as the best means of retaining permanent
dominion over them; and it was probably a high
political motive which rendered him solicitous to
converse with the Brahmins (or rather Yogees),
fifteen of whom were congregated in a grove near
the city. The eldest and most honoured, called by
the Greeks, Dandamis, refused either to visit or
write to Alexander, declared (according to Strabo)
to a total disbelief of his alleged Divine origin,
and expressed equal indiff'erence to persuasions or
threats ; gifts he needed not, and he added,
alluding to the Hindoo doctrine of metemp-
sychosis— " If he should put me to death, he will
only release my soul from this old decrepit body,
which will then pass into a freer and purer state ; so
that I shall suffer nothing by the change." One of
the Yogees, named Sphines, called Calanus by the
Greeks was, however, prevailed upon to go to Alex-
ander, who, being much pleased with his discourse,
carried him with him throughout his expedition, and
even back to Persia. Calanus was there attacked
with illness ; and considering it as a summons from
above, being then seventy-three years of age, pre-
pared to terminate his life. Alexander having vamly
laboured to dissuade him, caused a magnificent
funeral pile to be raised, which Calanus, though
weak with pain and illness, ascended with unfalter-
ing resolution, singing hymns of prayer and praise.
He then calmly composed his limbs, and without
moving, was consumed in the sight of the king and the
whole army. — ( Vide Arrian, Strabo, and Plutarch.)
PROGRESS FROM THE INDUS TO THE KYDASPES OR JHELUM. 29
Greeks in carrying on war with a neighbour-
ing and powerful prince, whose proper name
has not descended to us, but only that of
his family, Porus.* Alexander sent a pe-
remptory summons, requiring tribute and
allegiance, to which the Indian prince replied
that he would come to the borders of his
kingdom to meet the invader, but it should
be in arms. His kinsman, a neighbouring
ruler of the same name, whether from
jealousy or induced by the munificent pre-
sents made to Taxiles, despatched an em-
bassy with offers of submission. It is
probable that Taxiles received an enlarge-
ment of his territory by the annexation of
some of the newly-conquered districts on
the west of the Indus ; but the price paid by
him was nothing less than the loss of liberty,
since a Greek satrap was appointed for this
part of India, and a Greek garrison stationed
in his chief city. "With forces strengthened
by 5,000 Indian recruits, led by Taxiles,
Alexander resumed his march in the middle
of the year 326 ; for so it would appear from
the statement of Aristobulus, that he expe-
rienced the commencement of the summer
rains, which are not known to fall in the
Punjaub before June or July. On his road
to the Hydaspes he was iiitcmjpted, in a
defile through which his road lay, by a
nephew of Porus named Spittacus, or Spi-
taces, with a body of troops. These he soon
dispersed, and arrived without further oppo-
sition on the right bank of the river, where
he beheld the hostile army drawn up on the
opposite side, the intervening stream being
deep, rapid, and, at the time he reached it,
probably little less than a mile broad. Al-
though well provided with boats, rafts, and
floats, Alexander was too prudent to attempt
forcing a passage in the face of an equal if
not superior enemy, and had therefore re-
course to stratagem to disarm the vigilance
of his antagonist. After making excursions
in various directions, as if uncertain where
to attempt crossing, he ordered magazines
of provisions to be formed, as if for a long
• Tod says that Porus was a corruption of Pooru,
the patronymic of a branch of the royal Lunar race
(liajast'lian, vol. i.) ; and Itennell states that the pre-
decessor of the prince in question reigned in Canoge
or Canouj, on the Ganges, which, according to Fe-
rishta, was then the capital of all Hindoostan {Me-
moir (if a Map of Hindoostan, p. 54).
t The precise spots at which the army encamped
upon the Hydaspes, and crossed it, are not ascer-
tained. Strabo points out that Alexander marched
as near as possible fo tlie mountains, and this useful
indication is considered by Masson to establish
his having followed the high road frora Attock to
sojourn, and gave out that he intended
awaiting the termination of the monsoon,
which it is probable he would have really
done but for intelligence that auxiliaries
were on their way to strengthen the enemy.
Night after night, bodies of cavalry rode
noisily up or down the right bank, and
Porus repeatedly drew up his elephants and
proceeded towards the quarter whence the
clamour arose ; until, wearied by false alarms,
he paid no attention to the movements
upon the opposite shore. Alexander having
selected a spot a day's march distance above
the camp,t where the river made a westerly
bend, and a thickly-wooded island divided
the stream, left a strong division at the first
station with orders to remain there until the
elephants should be withdrawn from their
menacing position, in which case they were to
attempt the passage forthwith. The same
command was given at the series of posts
(horse and foot), stationed between the
camp and the place of embarkation. Here
preparations wer6 made, under cover of the
wood which clothed the projecting bank of
the river, the din of axes and hammers,
which might otherwise have attracted atten-
tion, (notwithstanding the feints previously
resorted to) being overpowered by pealing
thunder and torrents of rain, that lasted
tlirough the night hours, but ceased at daj'-
break. Alexander set out, accompanied by
Perdiccas, Lysimachus, and Seleucus, with
the flower of the Macedonian cavalry, and
the Bactrian, Sogdian, and Scythian aux-
iliaries. In passing the wooded island before
mentioned, they were first seen by the In-
dians, who immediately gave the alarm.
The invaders landed, on what they thought
to be the river bank, but really on another
island, separated from the main by a channel
swollen by floods into a formidable stream,
which however proved fordable, and the
whole division was, after some delay, landed,
and drawn up in order of battle. The cav-
alry numbered about 5,000, the infantry
probably nearly 20,000. Porus, perceiving
Jhelum, which probably was then as now the most
northerly of the Punjaub routes, and the one almost
exclusively practicable during the monsoons. Con-
sequently Porus took up his position on the eastern
bank of the Jhelum at the point to which he knew
Alexander must come, that is near the present vil-
lage of that name, in whose locality, the sites of
NicajZi and Bucephala, (though on different sides of
the river) must be sought for. llennell places the
encampment opposite where the fortress of Rotas
afterwards stood; and Vincent (who supposes the
wooded island passed by Alexander to liave ^een
Jamad) about twenty-eight miles below Rotas.
30 BATTLE BETWEEN ALEXANDER AND THE INDIAN KING PORUS.
that Alexander's tent remained in its place,
and that the main body were apparently
still at the encampment, regarded liis actual
approach as a stratagem to tempt him
from an advantageous position, and merely
sent forward his son or brother Hages with
2,000 horse and 120 war chariots, whom
Alexander charged fiercely, with the whole
of his cavalry. Hages and some 400 of his
followers were slain, and the chariots, which
had been with great difficulty brought over
ground turned into a swamp by the rains,
were all captured. Porus, on learning this
disastrous commencement, left a part of his
elephants to contest the passage of the
Greeks stationed under Craterus at the en-
campment, and advanced to the decisive con-
flict, with a force (according to Arrian) of
30,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and 300 cha-
riots. Beyond the swampy ground, near the
river, lay an open sandy tract, affording firm
footing, and here he awaited Alexander's
approach ; his 200 elephants, bearing huge
wooden towers, filled with armed men, being
drawn up in front of the line, at intervals of
a hundred feet, occupied with infantry ; while
one-half of the cavahy was posted at each
flank, and the chariots (each containing
six armed men) in front of them. After
a long and quick march, Alexander arrived
in sight with his cavalry, and halted to allow
time for the foot to join him. Observing
the disposition of the enemy, he instantly
apprehended the necessity of depriving Porus
of the advantage he must obtain from the
almost invincible strength of the elephants
and chariots when brought to bear in a
direct attack, as well as the superior num-
bers of the opposing infantry, by a skilful use
of the mounted troops, in which his strength
lay. An attack on the enemy's left wing,
would, he foresaw, draw the cavalry into
action for its protection. Therefore, ordering
the horse-bowmen to advance, he followed
up the slight disorder caused by their arrows,
by charging with the rest of the cavalry ;
while the Indian horse from the right being
brought up, as foreseen, Ccenus, in accord-
ance with previous orders, charged them in
the rear, and the Macedonian phalanx ad-
vanced to take advantage of the confusion
that ensued. The engagement became very
complex ; the elephants hemmed in and
maddened by wounds, turned their fury in-
discriminately against friend and foe, until
many were killed, and the rest, spent with
pain and toil, ceased to be formidable.
Another general charge of horse and foot
was made by the Greeks ; the troops of
Porus were completely routed, and fled, pur-
sued by Craterus and the division from the
right bank, who, having by this time effected
their passage, engaged with ardour in the san-
guinary chase. As is usual with Alexander's
historians,* his loss is stated at an extremely
small, and that of the enemy, at a proportion-
ably large amount. The more moderate
statement of Diodorus Siculus, gives the
number of the slain on the side of Porus, at
12,000, including two of his sons and great
part of his chief officers, besides 9,000
taken prisoners. The loss of the Macedo-
nians is given at less than 1,000. Porus
himself, mounted on an elephant, to the last
directed the movements of his forces ; and,
although wounded in the shoulder, (his body
was defended by a corslet of curious work-
manship which was proof against all mis-
siles,) would not retire until his troops were
hopelessly dispersed ; then he turned his
elephant for flight, but, being a conspicuous
object, was speedily captured, and carried,
while senseless from loss of blood, into the
conqueror's presence. Alexander, who had
observed his gallant bearing during a con-
flict of seven or eight hours' duration, asked
him how he desired to be treated, but could
obtain no other answer than "as a king;"
and, on observing that " this a king must
do for his own sake," Porus replied that,
" nevertheless in that all was included." The
quick perception of character, which was one
of Alexander's distinguishing and most ser-
viceable qualities, taught him that Porus
might prove a valuable and trustworthy
auxiliary. He reinstated him in royal dignity,
added considerably to his dominions, and
brought about a reconciliation, in form at
least, with Taxiles. On the Ilydaspes or
Jhelum, the conqueror founded two cities ;
one near the field of battle, named Nica;a,
and another near his landing-place, named
Bucephala, in honour of his famous horse,
which, having accompanied him thus far,
sank from fatigue, wounds, and old age,
in the hour of victory. Craterus was left to
superintend the building of these cities ; and
the main body were allowed a month's rest,
probably chiefly on account of the continu-
ance of the heavy rains. Alexander himself,
with a select division of horse and foot, pur-
sued his aggressive march through the rich
and populous valleys on the north of the
* The details recorded by Arrian, Diodorus Sicu-
lus, Quintus Curtius, and Plutarch, vary conside-
rably, but the general tenor is the same.
REFUSAL OP GREEK ARMY TO MARCH TO THE GANGES.
31
territory of Porus, to the river Acesines or
(Chenab,)* receiving, according to the Greek
historians, the submission of thirty-seven
cities — none containing less than 5,000 in-
habitants,— all of which he annexed to the
kingdom of Porus. The younger Porus,
called the coward, fled from his dominions,
from the fear that the favour shown to his
kinsman portended his ruin, and took re-
fuge at the court of Nanda, the reigning
monarch of the Prachii or Prasii — who
swayed nearly the whole of Eastern India.
Ambisarcs, the king or chief of a tribe of
mountaineers, and Doxareus, another native
rajah or prince are mentioned by Arrian, as
tendering their allegiance ; the former sent
a present of forty elephants. After crossing
the Ilydmotes {Ravee), Alexander traversed
the country of the Cathaeans to attack San-
gala, a city of great strength and impor-
tance, which seems to have occupied nearly
the same site as the modern capital of the
Sikh monarchy, Lahore, on a branch of the
Ravee, near the edge of a small lake.f The
Cathaeans or Catheri, (supposed, by Sanscrit
scholars, to be a corruption of Cshatra, a
mixed race, sprung from females of the
warrior class, and men of inferior cast,) { had
confederated with the Malli and Sudraca;,
or Oxydracse, that is, the people of Moultan
and Outch. On approacliing Sangala, the
Greeks found the Cathaeans entrenched on
an isolated hill, behind a triple barrier of
waggons. Alexander, at the head of the
phalanx, forced the three lines, and car-
ried the place by storm ; but with the loss
of 1,200 killed and wounded. This vigorous
resistance was revenged by sanguinary car-
nage— 17,000 of the Cathasans were slain,
70,000 made prisoners, and Sangala razed
to the ground. Despatching Porus {who had
ari'ived during the siege with about 5,000
men) to place garrisons in the Cathsean
t6wns, Alexander continued to advance to
the south-east, received the submission of
two princes, called by the Greeks Sopithes§
and Phegelus, and arrived at the banks of
the Hyphasis [Bey ah), just above its junc-
tion with the Hesudrus [Sutlej). The limit
of his eastern progress was at length
reached, for, even under his leadership,
the weary and home-sick army would pro-
ceed no farther. He could have given
• Alexander called it Acesines ; the ancient native
name was Chandrabagha — the moon's gift.
t Burnes, vol. i., p. 156. — Masson does not con-
sider the Sangala of Arrian to have denoted the
Indian city of Sagala, -whose site is now indicated by
that of Lahore, but places it at Harecpah.
them, at best, but unsatisfactory grounds of
encouragement to continue their course.
The narrow boundaries assigned by the geo-
graphers of the day to India, and the eastern
side of the earth, were manifestly incorrect ;
the ocean which he had been taught to be-
lieve was separated by no very vast distanc'e
from the banks of the Indus, had receded,
as he advanced to an immeasurable dis-
tance ; and he had learned that beyond the
Hydaspes a desert, more extensive than any
yet encountered, parted the plains of the
Punjaub from the region watered by the
tributaries of the Ganges — a river superior
to the Indus, having on its banks the capi-
tal of a great monarchy, that of the Prasii
and Gangarida;, whose king could bring
into the field 200,000 foot, 20,000 horse,
and several thousand elephants. The king
himself is however represented to have been
looked upon as an upstart and a usurper ;
and Alexander might probably have hoped
to be enabled to carry out his object, by
similar divisions among the natives to those
which had materially aided him in his par-
tial conquest of the Punjaub. The very
dangers and difficulties of the attempt were
but incitements to one whose object was
universal empire — to be attained at the
hazard of life itself, which he unhesitatingly
imperilled in every battle. With passionate
eloquence he reminded the Macedonians
that the Hydraotes had already become the
limit of their empire, which extended west-
ward to the ^Egean Sea, and northward to
the river Jaxartes ; and he urged them to
cross the Hyphasis ; then, having added the
rest of Asia to their empire, to descend the
Ganges, and sail round Africa to the pillars
of Hercules. — (Arrian, lib. v., cap. 25.)
Finding this appeal without effect, or at
least overborne by the recollection of the
fatigues and privations undergone during
the preceding campaign in the rainy season,
Alexander angrily declared that he should
proceed, attended only by those who de-
sired to accompany him; the rest might
return home, and say that they had forsa-
ken their king in the midst of enemies.
The silence and deep gloom which pervaded
the camp at length convinced Alexander
that no considerable portion of the army
could be prevailed upon to cross the Hy-
X Masson dissents, believing them to have been
the Catti, a nomadic Scythian tribe.
§ According to Arrian, Sopithes submitted in the
descent of the fleet from Bucephala, whence three
days' journey brought Alexander to the territory of
this prince, where Strabo says there were famous salt
32
DESCENT OF THE INDUS COMMENCED BY ALEXANDER.
phasis. He found either a pretext or a
reason for yielding to the general wish, in
the unfavourable auspices which attended
the sacrifices offered for the purpose of con-
sulting the gods respecting his future ad-
vance; and, after erecting twelve colossal
towers or altars, in token of his gratitude
for having been brought thus far safe and
victorious, and reviving, by horse-races and
gymnastic exercises, the drooping spirits of
his troops, he conferred on Porus the gov-
ernment of the country towards the Hypha-
sis,* and commenced retracing his steps.
At the Accsines he found the city which
Hephaestion had been ordered to build, ready
to receive a colony, and there he left the
disabled mercenaries, and as many natives
of the neighbouring districts, as were willing
to join them. At the Hydaspes, he re-
paired the injuries caused by floods to
Nicffia and Bucephala, and was reinforced
from Greece by 6,000 horse and 7,000 in-
fantry .t The fleet, (comprising 2,000 ves-
sels of various kiiids, whereof eighty were
war galleys, which part of the army had
been employed all the summer in construct-
ing, while the rest, wanted for transport and
provisions, had probably been seized from
the people of the country,) was completed
and manned, and the command entrusted
to Nearchus. Having divided his army into
four corps, of which the main body, with
about 200 elephants, were to advance along
the eastern l3ank, Alexander himself em-
barked, and proceeded mthout impediment
to the confluence of the Hydaspes and
Acesines, where, owing to the narrow chan-
nel and high banks between which the
united rivers were then pent up, rapid and
strong eddies were formed, which so asto-
nished the sailors as to deprive them of the
self-command necessary to fulfil the instruc-
tions previously given by the Indian pilots.
Several of the long galleys were much shat-
tered, two sank with the greater part of
their crews, but the shorter and rounder
vessels sustained no injury. J A headland
on the right bank aflbrded shelter to the fleet,
which Alexander left to undergo the neces-
sary repairs, while he proceeded on an inland
expedition to the westward against the Scevi
or Saivas, a people evidently thus named
from their worship of the second member of
mines ; — this seems to refer to the Salt range of
Pindi Waden Khan.
* According to Arrian (lib. vi., cap. 2), by the
final arrangement of the affairs of the nortliern Pun-
jaub, Porus gained a fresh addition of territory,
the Brahminical Triad, whose symbol they
marked upon their cattle. Then, crossing
the river, he marched eastward against the
Malli and Sudracje, the latter of v/hom ap-
pear from their designation to have been
derived from the Soodra caste, while among
the former the Brahmins decidedly pre.^
dominated. They did not intermarry, and
had little or no friendly intercourse. The
sudden danger which threatened their inde-
pendence had driven them to a partial jiuic-
tion, and their aggregate forces are stated
at the lowest at 80,000 foot, 10,000 horse,
and 700 chariots, but want of unanimity iu
the choice of a leader had prevented their
combination. The MaUi especially seem to
have relied confidently on the strength of
their fortified towns, and on the natural
advantages of their peninsula, which was
protected to the north by a desert of con-
siderable extent. As it was on this side
that they might be expected to feel most
secure, Alexander struck across the desert
into the heart of the country with a division
of light troops, while two separate corps, un-
der Hcphajstion and Ptolemy, traversed it in
other directions to intercept the fugitives he
might drive before him. By marching day
and night, with a very short intermission,
he appeared early on the second morning
before one of the strongholds, in which, as
likely to be last attacked, many of the
natives had taken refuge. A great number
were surprised unarmed without the walls,
many were put to the sword, the rest fled
into the town, which, notwithstanding a
gallant defence, was speedily stormed, and
the people massacred without distinction.
The inhabitants of the neighbouring villages
forsook them, and some fled to the Hy-
draotes, pursued in a forced night march by
Alexander, who, on coming up to the ford,
made considerable slaughter among those
who had not yet crossed, and then, plunging
in the stream, pursued the fugitives on the
opposite side. Many took refuge in an-
other fortified town, which is described by
the Greeks as if inhabited by Brahmins
only, and these are mentioned as a different
race from the Malli, who fled to them for
shelter. Here the most determined resis-
tance was oflered ; when the besieged could
no longer defend their walls against the
and became lord of (in all) seven nations and 2,000
cities.
t Quintus Ciirtius, lib. ix., cap. 3.
X The chief obstructions appear to have been worn
away, for the passage is no longer formidable.
^
CONTESTS AVITH THE MALLI— ALEXANDER WOUNDED.
33
superior skill of the assailants, they re-
treated to the citadel, and this being
stormed, set fire to their houses ; and almost
I all, to the number of 5,000, perished fight-
ing, or in the flames. The last memorable
contest with the Malli, occurred in the
taking of their capital, which Burnes con-
siders to be represented by Moultan, but
Rennell supposes to have been at Tolumba,
nearer the Hydraotes. Having dispersed the
hostile army drawn up on the high and
steep banks of this river, Alexander en-
circled the town with his cavalry, and the
next morning commenced the attack on two
sides. The besieged retreated to the citadel,
and the king and his troops, cutting their
Way with the hatchet through a postern,
arrived at the foot of the wall. Here
Alexander eagerly called for scaling lad-
ders, but these, from the supposition that
all resistance was over, had been mostly left
behind. Two or three were however
brought; seizing the first, Alexander fixed it
himself, mounted and gained the top of the
wall, which it seems was narrow and with-
out battlements. The soldiers, alarmed for
his safety, crowded after him with such im-
patience that the ladders bi'oke with their
weight, and Alexander, in his splendid
armour, with but three companions, stood a
mark for the enemy's missiles from the
nearest towers and the adjacent parts of the
fortress. Tlie Macedonians beneath, en-
treated him to throw himself into their
arms. He hesitated a moment, but to turn
his back upon his foes, even under such cir-
cumstances as these, was a step he could
not bring himself to take; and, probably
remembering that his guards would dare a
thousand deaths for his rescue, he leapt
down into the citadel, and alighting on his
feet, took his stand against the wall, shel-
tered also by the trunk and spreading
boughs of a tree. Here he defended him-
self, until joined by his three associates, one
of whom (Abreas) speedily received a mortal
wound from an arrow, in the face. Almost
immediately afterwards another arrow
pierced Alexander's corslet, lodging deep in
the right breast ; and, after a short struggle,
fainting through loss of blood, he sank upon
his shield. His remaining companions,
Peucestes and Leonnatus, though both
wounded, stood over him until they were
• It must be remembered that cities, so called, are
very easily founded in the cast. For this purpose
a fort or castle, and walls of brick or mud, marking
out the limits of " the Pettah " or town suffice for a
joined by their friends, who, by various ex-
pedients, (such as driving pegs into the clay
walls,) had climbed the top, and forced a
gate from the inside, through which num-
bers poured in, carried off their king, and
in their fury slaughtered every man, woman,
and child without exception. For some
time the conqueror lay in his tent, reduced
to the last extremity by the great loss of
blood which followed the extraction of the
barbed steel, while deep anxiety prevailed
in the camp — inspired partly by true affec-
tion, and partly by fear for themselves, in
the event of the death of the only man they
believed capable of leading them back safely
through the strange lands they had traversed
as victors. At length Alexander rallied;
during his tedious convalescence, such of
the Malli and Sudracae as had remained in
arms, tendered submission. The envoys
consisted of above 100 of their chief men ;
they were persons of lofty stature and bear-
ing, all rode in chariots, were clad in linen
robes embroidered with purple and gold,
and bore magnificent presents. According
to Curtius, a tribute of the same amount as
they had previously paid the Araehosians
was imposed upon them ; and a thousand of
their bravest warriors were demanded as
hostages, or, if they were willing, to serve
in the Greek army. These were immedi-
ately sent, together with 500 chariots as a
free gift, and, among other rarities, several
tamed lions and tigers. Alexander, pleased
with their i-cadiness, accepted the chariots
and sent back the hostages. At tlie con-
fluence of the Acesines with the Indus, he
ordered a city,* with docks and arsenals, to
be constructed ; and sailed down the latter
river to the chief place of a people, called,
by the Greeks, Sudracic or Sogdi. Here
he planted a colony; changed the name to
Alexandria, built an arsenal, refitted a part
of his fleet, and, proceeding southward, en-
tered the rich and fertile territories of a
powerful ruler, whose real name has been
apparently perverted into that of Musi-
canus. This prince proffered allegiance,
which Alexander accepted, but ordered a
fortress to be built in his capital, which was
occupied by a Macedonian garrison ; thence,
marching to the westward, he advanced
against a chief, spoken of under the name
of Oxycanus, or Porticanus, who was con-
commencement, and population soon follows, brought
either by coni])ulsion or attracted by the natural ad-
vantages of the site, to erect there the mud hovels
which form their ordinary dwellings.
34
EXPLORATION OP THE MOUTH OF THE INDUS— n.c. 325.
sidered to have held himself suspiciously
aloof, and stormed two of his cities — in one
of which, Oxycanus was himself taken or
slain; upon this all the other towns sub-
mitted without resistance. In the adjacent
high-lands, a chief, called Sambus, whose
territory is now known as Sindc, fled from
his capital (according to Arrian) at the ap-
proach of the invader ; who took possession
of his elephants and treasure, and proceeded
to capture a town which ventured to oppose
him, at the instigation of some Brahmins,
whom he slew. The same influence, during
Alexander's absence, had been exerted in
the court of Musicanus, and he revolted, in
an evil hour, for himself and his country :
Being taken prisoner he was crucified
with the leading Brahmins, and the chief
towns razed to the ground, or subjected to
the stern surveillance of foreign garrisons.
The submission of the king of Pattala,
named or entitled Moeris, whose rule ex-
tended over the J>elta of the Indus, com-
pleted Alexander's command of that river.
At Pattala, (thought to be now represented
cither by Tatta or Allore,) he immediately
prepared to fortify a citadel, form a harbour,
and build docks sufficient for a large fleet,
and likewise to dig wells in the neighbouring
districts, where there was great scarcity of
water, to render the country habitable, and
suitable for the passage of troops or tra-
vellers. According to a modern writer,
(Droysen,) Alexander's object in so doing
was nothing less than to facilitate the com-
munication between Pattala and the east of
India, and to open it for caravans from the
countries on the Ganges and from the Dec-
can; but even supposing him to have obtained
sufficient geographical knowledge for the
formation of this plan, he had no present
means of executing it, and must have con-
tented himself meanwhile in surveying the
mouths and delta of the Indus, and taking
measures for the establishment of com-
mercial intercourse with the West. With a
squadron of fast sailing galleys he prepared
to explore the western branch of the river
to the sea ; but the voyage proved disastrous,
the native pilots brought from Pattala made
their escape, and on the second day a
violent gale meeting a rapid current of the
Indus, caused a swell in which most of the
galleys were severely injured and many
went to pieces. While the shipwrights were
engaged in repairing this misfortune a few
light troops were sent up the coimtry in
search of pilots, who being obtained, con-
ducted Alexander safely almost to the mouth,
when the wind blew so hard from the sea,
that he took refuge in a canal [nullah) pointed
out by them. Here the Macedonians, first
beheld the phenomenon called the " Bore,"
and witnessed with extreme consternation
the sudden rush of a vast volume of water
from the ocean up the river-channel, with
such violence as to shatter the galleys not
previously firmly imbedded in the mud.
After again refitting, the fleet was moored
at an island named Cilluta, but Alexander,
with the best sailors, proceeded to another
isle, which lay beyond in the ocean. Here
he offered sacrifices to various deities ; then,
putting out in the open sea, to satisfy him-
self that no land lay within view to the
southward, he celebrated different rites in
honour of the sea-god Neptune, whose pro-
per realm he had now entered. The victims,
and the golden vessels in which the libations
had been offered, having been thrown into
the deep, he rejoined the squadron, and re-
turned by the same arm of the Indus to
Pattala.
The navigation of the rivers had employed
about nine months ; and nearly four appear
to have been spent in and near Pattala. It
was toward the end of August 325 b.c.,*
wlren the preparations were completed for
the departure of the fleet and army from
the Indus ; the former, under Nearchus the
Cretan, being destined to undertake a voy-
age of discovery to the Persian Gulf; the
latter, under Alexander, to march along the
coast — an enterprise of little less danger, in
which, according to tradition, the armies of
Semiramis and Cyrus had perished almost
to a man. Of the real difficulties of the
route Alexander had probably but a vague
conception, but he was incited to encounter
them, by a desire to provide for the exigen-
cies of the fleet, and to explore and consoli-
date a portion of the empire which he had
hitherto at most but nominally subjected.
The force of either armament is nbt re-
corded. On invading India it would ap-
pear the army had consisted of 120,000
men, and while there had received rein-
forcements ; allowing therefore for the
numbers lost or left behind in garrisons
and colonies, and for the division previously
sent from Pattala under Craterus, (through
Arachosia to Carmania,) probably, at least
* Dr. Vincent in his Voyage of Nearchus, vol.
i. p. 180, fixes tlie time of departure at a year
earlier, but 1 have preferred following Thirlwall's
reading or rather correction of Arrian's chronology.
HOMEWARD ROUTES OF ALEXANDER AND NEARCHUS.
35
50,000 remained under the immediate com-
mand of the king. Respecting the squadron
under Nearchus, we have no other guide
than the list of the tliirty-three galleys be-
fore referred to as equipped on the Hydas-
pes ; many of these were fitted cut by in-
dividuals at their own cost, for it would
appear that at that period the finances of
their leader were at a very low ebb, pro-
bably owing to the unbounded munificence
with which he lavished upon his friends
what he had acquired by the sword. Some
weeks had yet to elapse before the trade-
winds would set in from the north-east, and
so become favourable to the voyage. The
departure of the army was not however de-
layed on this account, and Alexander set
out on his return to the West, leaving the
admiral and fleet to follow at leisure. His
route need be here but briefly noticed.
Crossing the chain of mountains which
descends west of the Indus from the Paro-
pamisus to the sea, he entered a region sur-
rounded on three sides by lofty ranges, tra-
versed by a river called the Arubius, [Foor-
allee or river of Somneany ,) which separated
the territory of two independent tribes — the
Arabitae and Oritaj, the former of whom
fled to the adjacent desert, but the latter,
who were more civilised and their lands
better cultivated, ofifered a formidable resist-
ance, fighting desperately with poisoned
arrows. Their country was however overrun
by the cavalry ; and, in what seems to have
been the largest of the villages in which
they lived, named Rambacia, Alexander
planted a colony. Thence advancing
through a difficult pass in the western
naoun tains, he arrived at about the begin-
ning of October in the wild barren region
of Gedrosia, the southern Mekran ; the
whole coast of which as far as Cape Jask,
is called by the Greeks, the land of the
Ichthyophagi or Fish-eaters. The heat,
though beginning to subside, was still ex-
cessive ; the troops generally moved during
the night, but often at daybreak were
obliged to prolong their weary inarch
under a burning sun, until they should
reach the next watering-place. Yet their
road seems to have seldom diverged more
than two or three days' journey from the sea
— being frequently within sight of it — with-
out crossing any part of the Great Sandy
Desert, bounded by the mountains of
southern Mekran ; except perhaps for a
short distance near the confines of Gedrosia
and Carman ia (Kerman). In the latter
fruitful* and well-watered province, Alex-
ander was soon after his arrival joined by
Craterus and his division, and all anxiety
respecting Nearchus was subsequently dis-
pelled by tidings that the admiral had
landed on the coast within five days' march
of the camp. He had been compelled by
the liostility of the natives at Pattala, to
start before the proper season had arrived ;
and, though he waited four-aud-twenty days
on the Arabite coast, three of his vessels
were afterwards lost in the adverse monsoon.
On the coast of the Oritief he met Leouuatus,
who had been left in Rambacia to furnish
him with a ^en days' supply of corn, and
who had been meanwhile engaged in a
sharp conflict with the natives. Nearchus
does not appear to have lighted on any of
the magazines stored at various points by
Alexander for his use ; but, after manifold
hardships and perils from the dangers of
an unknown sea, the barrenness of the
coast, the hostility of the people, and the
despondency of his own crews, he at length
with the aid of a Gedrosian pilot reached
the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and
eventually landed near the mouth of the
river Anamis {Ibrahim), not far to the west
of the island of Ormuz. These happy events
were celebrated by a solemn festival and
triumphal procession — enlivened, as usual,
by gymnastic games, musical and poetical
contests, which probably gave rise to the
idea of the march through Carmania having
been one continued Bacchanalian revel.
The king urged Nearchus to allow some
other officer to conduct the fleet to the
mouth of the Tigris and not expose himself
to further danger and fatigue ; but he would
not consent to let another complete his glo-
rious expedition, and rejoined the squadron
with orders to meet Alexander at Susa. As
it was winter the main body of the army
proceeded thither along the Persian Gulf
where the climate was mild, and Alexander
with some light troops and cavalry took the
upper road through Persepolis. At Susa
we take leave of this great man ; his career
so far as India was concerned was quite
ended, indeed life itself was fast ebbing
away. In the spring of 323 B.C., in the
second year after his return to Babylon,
while planning a fresh capital for his Asiatic
empire, he caught a fever in the Mesopo-
tamian marshes, and this disorder being in-
creased by one of the drinking matches
• Strabo says the grapes hung in clusters three
feet long. f See note to page 27.
36
DEATH OF ALEXANDER, b.c 323.— STATE OF THE HINDOOS.
which disgraced his court, abruptly termi-
nated au eventful career at thirty-two years
of age, the solace of his last days being to
hear Nearchus relate "the story of his
voyage, and all that was most observa-
ble with respect to the ocean."* The long
and sanguinary contests which ensued
among his generals, — commencing while his
body lay uuembalmed and ending not until
the majority of those disputants themselves,
as well as all of his kin, (including his half-
brother and successor Arridasus, his wives
Statira and Roxana, his posthumous son
Alexander, and his beloved though wicked
and intriguing mother Olympias,) had fallen
victims to the treacherous plots formed by
the majority of them against each other —
have no place in these pages. The history
and triumphs of Alexander have been nar-
rated at some length, for the sake of show-
ing the manner in which he was led on,
first by the pursuit of Darius, and after-
wards of Bessus, to Bactria and to the
verge of India. His progress is no mere
matter of antiquarian rcsearch,t but exer-
cises an important bearing on the political
question of the present time, respecting the
possible advance of an European army
through central Asia to the Indus, or via
Syria, the Euphrates, and the Persian Gulf,
to the shores of the Indian Ocean; a sub-
ject which will be discussed when examining
the motives of the British incursions into
Afghanistan, in 1839-40.
In the history of the civilized world, the
epoch of Alexander would ever be memora-
ble were it only for his exploits in India,
• Langhorne's Translation of Plutarch's Life of
Alexander, p. 218.
t It may be liere well to observe, that in the fore-
going brief sketch of Alexander's march, written for
general readers, no attempt has been made to enter
upon the discussion of the disputed localities at
which he conquered or founded cities. One such
point would involve as much space as can here be
devoted to the whole march — at least, if the varying
opinions of the several authorities ancient and
modern, were to be fairly and fully stated. I have,
therefore (with some slight exceptions), merely given
the probable sites, leaving the reader to prosecute
further inquiries in the pages of the oriental scholars
already repeatedly named. It is greatly to be re-
gretted that the works of none of the primary his-
torians have descended to us, save some fragments
preserved by their .successors. Of these last, Arrian,
who wrote in tlie early part of the second century
B.C., is recognized as the most trustworthy, though
his bald outline contrasts forcibly with the more
highly-coloured pictures of Qumtus Curtius, who
8cem« to have followed Alexander's campaigns with
much diligence. Strabo also is a most valuable
authority on this as on other geographical questions.
since by them this great country was first
placed as it were within reach, and some
firm ground afforded to European geogra-
phers whereon to set foot in future investi-
gations. The Greek historians though often
contradictory, and censurable in many re-
spects, have yet recorded much valuable
information respecting the Indians (as they /
term the Hindoos), the accuracy of which is '
attested by the ancient records revealed to
us by the labours of oriental students, and
further by the striking resemblance which
their descriptions bear, even after the lapse
of two thousand years, to the existing cha-
racteristics of the inhabitants of the coun-
tries then visited. Thus Arrian, whose
account of Ancient India is unquestionably
the most to be relied on of any now extant,
notices among other points the slender
form of the Hindoos, the classes or sects
into which they were divided, and the pro-
hibition of intermarriage, widow burning,^
perpetuation of trades in families, vegetable
diet, faces streaked with colours, men weary-
ing earrings, veils covering the head and
shoulders, parti-coloured shoes, umbrellas
carried only over principal personages, cot-
ton manufactures of great fineness and
whiteness, two-handed swords, and other
matters. The people appear to have been
extraordinarily numerous, and to have made
considerable progress in the arts of civilised
life. Their bravery was strikingly manifest ;
and it is remarkable, that notwithstanding
the numbers recorded as having fallen in
their engagement with Alexander, arc as
usual incredibly greater on their side than
Yet the loss of the writings of Bseton or Biton the
authorised recorder of the marches, is irreparable,
(especially when we consider the importance attached
by Alexander to accurate geographical information)
as also those of the first Ptolemy, and of Apol-
lodorus the famed historian of Bactria. No conclu-
sive opinion can be formed regarding the knowledge
possessed by the Hindoos of this invasion, until we
are better acquainted with the records still stored up
and hidden from us in various places. Thus, the
literary treasures of the libraries of Patau (a city in
llajpootana) of Jessulmer (a town north-west ot
Joudpore) Cambay, and the Thibetian monasteries
remain to be explored, as also many other valuable
MS. collections, including those of the travelling
Jain and Boodhist bishops. According to Tod and
other writers, Alexander is known in India under
the name of Escander Dhulcarnein (two-horned), in
allusion to his dominions in what they considered
the eastern and western extremities of the earth.
The rajahs of Chittoor are also said to boast of de-
scent from the sovereign termed Porus who opposed
the Macedonian conqueror.
X In the country of Taxiles, but only however as
an exceptional instance.
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN SELEUCUS AND CHANDRA GUPTA. 37
his ; yet he lost a larger proportion of troops
in battle with tliem than had previously
fallen in the Persian war. The office of the
husbandman was invariably held sacred
among the Hindoos, he was never dis-
turbed in his labours, and to root up or
wilfully injure growing crops was a breach
of a recognised natural law no native prince
would have ventured to commit. On the
whole the impression of the Indian charac-
ter left on the mind of the Greeks was de-
cidedly favourable; the people were described
as sober, moderate, peaceable, singularly
truthful, averse to slavery in any form, and
attached to liberal municipal institutions.
The productions of India had by tedious
routes (which it will be necessary to point
out in a subsequent section, when depicting
the present state of their commerce), long
found a ready market in Europe. The de-
sire for them now increased tenfold. The
foresight of Alexander was fully vindicated
by the rapidity with which the Egyptian
Alexandria began, under the first Ptolemy,
to receive and pour forth its full tide of
wealth; and Babylon also became a great
emporium. His characteristic policy* in
freeing the Euphrates and Tigris from the
physical impediments to navigation placed
by a weak restrictive government, shattered
the fetters which had long bound the enter-
prising spirit of trade in these countries,
and enabled it to find vent in the passage
opened up with India, both by sea and land.
The cities or military stations placed
near the Indus soon languished, for the
Europeans left there by the king, on hear-
ing of his death hastened to escape from
what they had from the first considered no
better than hopeless exile. But commerce
had received a powerful stimulus, and cotton
and silk manufactures, ivory, gems richly
set, costly gums, pepper and cinnamon,
dyes and drugs, were poured rapidly into
Europe in return for the precious metals,t
which entered India in coins of many forms
(now vainly sought for by antiquarians), and
were there melted down to be shaped into
idols, or to deck unhallowed shrines, and be
thus stored up to an incalculable extent, to
gorge eventually the avarice of the ruthless
Mussulmans of a later age.
• Alexander's conquests were intended, as has
been repeatedly stated, as a means of carrying out
his vast commercial schemes. He hoped out of war
to bring peace ; and one of his favourite plans to
promote this ultimate object was, the founding of
several new cities in Asia and in Europe, the former
to be peopled with Europeans, and the latter with
a
Thk Greek to the Mohammedan Inva-
sions.— The king of the Prasii (as the
Greeks termed the Prachi or East) at the
time of Alexander's campaign in the Pun-
jaub, was the last Nanda, who, as has been
shown, both Greek and Hindoo writers agree
in describing as of low birth. He was slain
by his successor, Chandra Gupta, or San-
dracottus, about 310, b.c, who appears to
have spent a short time when a youth in the
Macedonian camp, whence he fled to avoid
the wrath of Alexander, which he had roused
in some unexplained manner. Chandra
Gupta was king when Seleucus, to whom
in the division of power Syria and the
Bactrian and Indian satrapries had fallen,
proceeded to claim the sovereignty, though
at first under the name of the governorship of
these territories. He marched in person to
reduce the local authorities to obedience,
and flushed with victory proceeded at the
head of a considerable force to India, b.c.
303. The brief and conflicting accounts of
his progress which have descended to us,
indicate that he advanced even to the
Ganges, but was deterred from warlike pro-
ceedings, either by the necessity of turning
back with his strength unimpaired to defend
another portion of his dominions attacked
by Antigonus, or else by the formidable
array drawn out against him by Chandra
Gupta, who had previously greatly extended
and consolidated his kingdom. The result
appears to have been that Seleucus made
over to the Hindoo sovereign, not only all the
country conquered by Alexander eastward
of the Indus, but also that to the westward
as far as the river Arabius ; while Chandra
Gupta on his part acknowledged this con-
cession by a present of 500 war chariots.
How far Porus and Taxiles, or their succes-
sors, were consulted in this proceeding, or
how they acted, is not stated ; but in their
conduct immediately after the king's death,
they showed themselves faithful and much at-
tached to the Greeks. A family connection is
alleged to have been formed between Seleucus
and Chandra Gupta, by the marriage of a
daughter of the former with the latter, (who
being a Soodra might marry as he pleased ;)
and it is certain that friendly intercourse ex-
isted between them, an ambassador named
Asiatics, so that " by intermarriages and exchange of
good offices the inhabitants of those two great con-
tinents might be gradually moulded into a similarity
of sentiments, and become attached to each other
with mutual affection." — (Diod. Sic, lib. xviii., c. 4.)
t Pliny, writing in the first century of the Chris-
tian era, complains that Rome was exhausted by a
38
RECENTLY DECIPHERED EDICTS OF ASOCA.
Megastheiics liaving been sent to Palibothra,
the capital of the Prasii, where he resided
many years. It is further stated that the
Hindoo monarch had Greek mercenaries in
his service, and placed Greek governors in
some of his provinces ; that during his reigu
the foreigners were much respected, but
afterwards brought general odium upon
their nation throughout Western India by
their treacherous and cruel rapacity. Their
language must have spread and taken root in
the land — for according to Masson, one of our
best authorities on this head, " there is suf-
ficient testimony that the Greek language
was studied and well known by the fashion-
able and higher classes during the first and
second centuries of the Christian Era."
The embassy of Dimachus to the son and
successor of Chandra Gupta (called AUitro-
chidas by the Greek writers), is the last
transaction recorded between Syrian and
Indian monarchs, until the lapse of about
80 years, when Antiochus the Great, after
the close of his war with the revolted pro-
vinces of Bactria and Parthia, entered India,
and made peace with a king named Sophra-
gasenus (supposed to be Asoca), after exact-
ing from him elephants and money.
' The descriptions given by Megasthenes,*
who had the best means of judging correctly
on the subjects of which he wrote, are cal-
culated to convey a high opinion of the
wealth and power of the kingdom generally,
but especially of Palibothra.f Yet, ac-
cording to this writer, India comprised no
less than 118 independent states; but ithis
however he only gives on hearsay, and, sup-
posing the number to be unexaggerated, we
cannot tell how small the territories may have
been which this emmieratioa included.
drain equal to £400,000 per annum, required for the
purchase of luxuries — the produce of India, Seres,
and Arabia ; and Robertson, writing in 1791, says —
" India, from the age of Pliny to the present time,
has been always considered and execrated as a gulf
which swallows up the wealth of every other country,
that flows incessantly towards it, and from which it
never returns." — (^Historical Disquisition, p. 203.)
Since the commencement of the present century, the
golden current has changed its course, and flowed
with increasing volume from Hindoostan to Britain,
not, however, by the channel of commerce merely,
but of compulsory tribute, to an extent and in a
manner which will be subsequently shown.
* Megasthenes wrote many works, of which only
scattered fragments have been preserved. His dis-
position to exaggerate, and undue love of the mar-
vellous, were urged as reasons for this neglect ; but
it is to be doubted whether the critics were always
competent judges of what they rejected. As it is,
enough remains to testify, in connection with exist-
The Soodra successors of Chandra Gupta
certainly exceeded him in power — and in the
hyperbolical language of the Puranas, are
said to have brought the " whole earth under
one umbrella."! Asoca, the greatest of that
line, exercised command over the states
to the north of the Nerbudda river; and
the edicts § graven on columns at remote
points prove not merely the extent of his
dominions but also the civilized character
of his government, since they include orders
for the establishment of hospitals and dis-
pensaries throughout his empire, as well as
for planting trees and digging wells along
the public highways. And this too was
to be done, not only in Asoca's own pro-
vinces, but also in others occupied by " the
faithful," (meaning the Boodhists, of whom
this king was the great patron), "even
as far as Tambapanni ; (Taprobane, or
Ceylon,)" and "moreover within the do-
minions of Antiochus the Greek [Antiochia
Yona Raja] of which Autiochus's generals
are the rulers." An edict found on a rock,
and from its shattered state only partially
legible, expresses exultation at the ex-
tension of the doctrines of Asoca (?)
Pryadarsi (especially with regard to sparing
the life of animals, which however is not a
Boodhist tenet) in foreign countries; and
contains a fragment translated thus : — ■
" and the Greek king besides, by whom the
chapta (?) kings Turamayo, Gongakena, and
Maga."|| Turamayo was considered by the
late Mr. James Prinsep to denote Ptolemy
Philadelphus, who had a brother named
Magas, married to a daughter of Antiochus
I., which would establish that the Antiochus
referred to in the edict previously quoted,
was either the first or the second of that
ing Hindoo records, ruins, and inscriptions, that the
writer was a keen observer, and a valuable witness,
although occasionally led into the narration of
fables, or at least gross exaggerations.
+ Palibothra was described by Megasthenes as
being eight miles long, and one and-a-half broad,
defended by a deep ditch, and a high rampart, with
570 towers and 64 gates. Its site is placed by Ren-
nell at Patna, by D'Anville at Allahabad, and by
Wilford at Raj-mehal.
X Wilson's Hindoo Theatre, vol. iii., p. 14.
§ Similar mandates are inscribed on a rock on
Girnar, a mountain in Guzerat; and on a rock at
Uhauli in Cuttack on the opposite side of India.
They were deciphered by Mr. Prinsep, and are writ-
ten in Pali, the dialect in which the sacred books
of the Boodhists are composed.
II At Kapur di Ghari, the entire edict exists in
the Arian language, the word translated by Prinsep
" Chapta" is there " chatare,"/o«r, Gongakena reads
Antakana and Maga, Maka. — Masson.
INTERCOURSE BETWEEN INDIA AND CHINA— FIFTH CENTURY. 39
name ; that is, either the son or grandson
of Seleucus. It is remarkable that Asoca,
in his youth, was governor of Oojein or
Malwa, which must tlierefore have been
possessed by his father. The reigning
family was succeeded by three other Soodra
dynasties, the last of which, the Andras,
acceded to power about the beginning of
our era: and, according to two Puranas,
terminated in Pulimat or Pulomarchish,
A.D. 436. By a curious coincidence, the
Chinese annals* translated by De Guignes,
notice in a.d. 408, the amval of ambassa-
dors from the Indian prince, Yue-gnai, King
of Kia-pi-li, evidently Capili (the birth-place
of Boodha or, according to Colonel Sykes,
the seventh Boodha, Sakya-muni), which
the Chinese have put for all Magadha.
Yue-gnai again bears some resemblance to
Yaj-nasri, or Yajna, the king actually on
the throne of the Andras at the period re-
ferred to. A confused enumeration of
dynasties succeed, with little attempt at
historical order, from which a foreign in-
vasion, followed by a long period of disorder,
has been inferred, though perhaps not on
sufficient grounds. At length, after an
interval of several centuries, Magadha is
spoken of as subject to the Gupta kings of
Canouj, and from that period is no more
distinctly noticed; but its fame has been
preserved, from its having been, as before
mentioned, the birth-place of Boodha, and
from its language (Magadhi, or Pali) being
• Chi-fa-Hian, a Chinese Boodhist priest, visited
India at the beginning of the fifth century, on a pil-
grimage to the chief seats of the religion of Boodha,
where he spent six years. His travels have been
translated from the Chinese by M. Remusat. The
Boodhistical religion, according to his account, had
then suflered a serious and irreparable decline at
Mathura and in the eastern districts of Hindoostan ;
and the Brahminical faith was in the ascendant.
Temples and towers of past ages still existed, but
the population had disappeared, and the country was
in many such places a wilderness. Rajagriha, the
abode of Jarasaudha, the first of the Magadha kings,
and the ancient capital, then exhibited the ruins of
a large city, of which traces were still visible to Dr.
Buchanan, in 1807-1814. The palace of Asoca, or
A-yu, at Patali-pootra, or ICusuma-pura, built of stone,
was entire when seen by Fa-Hian, and presented
such superior specimens of sculpture and engraving,
that they were ascribed to superhuman architects —
genii, who laboured for the patron of Fo. The
city of Ni-li, built in the neighbourhood by Asoca,
was embellished by a handsome column, surmounted
by a lion. Other columns, with lion capitals, were
seen in different places. Central India is spoken of
as under the government of one king ; the cities and
towns large, the people rich, charitable, and just in
their actions, but given to discussion. In the month
of May (the birth-day of Sakya-muni) four-wheeled
employed in the writings of that extensively
diffused religion, as well as in those of the
Jains. The claim of universal monarchy in
India, is found advanced in records and
inscriptions, not only by princes of the
Magadha dynasty, but also by those of
Cashmere, of Delhi, Canouj, Bengal, Malwa,
Guzerat, and other places ; but the evidence
cited in favour of their respective claims, is
pretty generally deemed insufficient, and is
frequently contradictory. To attempt re-
ducing the histories of these kingdoms and
their pretensions into form, would be a
long and tedious task; which, even if suc-
cessfully accomplished, could have little
interest for the general reader, for at best,
it would be but like arranging the scattered
fragments of a child's puzzle, of which the
chief pieces are wanting. At a future but
perhaps not distant day, the patient and able
research already so successfully directed to
the study of oriental literature, may enable
us to decide upon many points now involved
in numberless difficulties and to draw a
correct picture of India, without the dan-
ger, at present inevitable, of giving undue
prominence to events of minor interest,
and omitting altogether many important
features. Before passing entirely from the
subject of the condition of India between
the time of Alexander and the Mohammedan
era, it is, however, necessary to add a few
remarks on the chief kingdoms of Hindoostan
and the Deccan, so as to afford the reader
cars were drawn about the streets ; they had each
a building of five stages which looked like a tower,
were ornamented with gold, silver, coloured glass,
and embroidery, and hung with carpets and white
felt, adorned with painted figures of the celestial
divinities ; on the summits were a figure of Boodha.
This was a season of great festivity, the streets were
filled with people who flocked in from the neigh-
bouring country; there were theatrical representa-
tions, feats of the athletoe, concerts of music and
nightly illuminations ; hospitals were opened for the
sick, cripples, and orphans, who were solaced and
relieved by the representatives of the different
chiefs. At Magadha the priest sat himself down in
a monastery for three years to study the sacred lan-
guage and copy the MSS. Bengal then carried on
extensive maritime traffic with the south-west regions
and other places. Fa Hian took a passage in a large
trading ship to Ceylon, which he reached (during tlie
north-west rnonsoon) in fourteen days; thence he
sailed for Java in a Hindoo ship, with 200 people,
provisioned for ninety days. Altogether the travels
of this intelligent Chinese abound in curious infor-
mation ; they corroborate the accounts of cities, and
of the manners and customs of their inhabitants,
given by native writers, and prove the Hindoos were
then merchants, and even navigators on a consider-
able scale.— (Abstracted horn, notes on Ancient India.
By Colonel Sykes. London, 1841 ; p. 6 to 76.)
40
KINGDOMS OF INDIA DURING THE DARK AGES.
some sliglit clue to their relative impor-
tance, antiquity, and position.*
That of Bengal is mentioned in the
Maha Bharat, and the Ayeen Akbery con-
tinues the succession through five dynasties
up to the Mohammedan conquest. These
lists are to some extent supported by the
inscriptions found in various places, which
among other matters refer to a series of
princes with names ending in Pala, who
reigned apparently from the ninth to the
latter part of the eleventh century, and are
asserted to have ruled all India from the
Himalaya to Cape Comoriu, and from the
Brahmapootra to and even beyond the
Indus. They are also asserted to have sub-
dued Tibet. The dynasty of Pala was suc-
ceeded by one whose names ended in Sena,
and this last was subverted by the Moham-
medans about A.D. 1203.
The kingdom of Malwa is far less ancient
than those already mentioned. Its famous
monarch, Vicramaditya, is the Haroun al
Raschid of Hindoo tales, of which a great
number have been collated by the inde-
fatigable zeal of Colonel WiHbrd. He is
said to have passed the early part of his life
among holy men in austere seclusion, and
even when arrived at regal power, to have
eschewed all pomp, using utensils of earth
rather than of gold, and sleeping on a mat
instead of a bed. There is reason to believe
that this hero of romance was really a pow-
erful monarch and conqueror, who ruled a
civilised and prosperous country, extended his
sway over the Deccan and even over Cabool,
and was a distinguished patron of literature.
Oojeiu became populous on account of the
great image of Maha-Cali, or Time, which
he erected there ; but he himself worshipped
only one invisible God. He was slain, 56 b.c .,
in old age, in battle with Salivahana, aprinceof
the Deccan, who will be subsequently referred
to; and his death formed the commencement
of an era, which is still current among the
• The authorities mainly relied on being the valu-
able summary contained in Elphinstone's India, vol. i.,
pp. 388 to 425 ; the Ayeen Akbery ; Brigg's transla-
tion of Ferishta ; Todd's Rajast'han ; and Grant
Duff's History of the Mahrattas.
■j- Vincent's translation of the PeripUs, p. 111.
X Malcolm's Persia, vol. i., p. 112. — " 'fhe coun-
tries beyond the Oxus, as far as Ferghana, all those
to the Indus, some provinces of India, and the finest
districts of Arabia, acknowledged the sway of the
mighty monarch of Persia." Sir John adds that
the emperors of China and India sent presents, the
description of which reads more like a chapter from
the Arabian Nights than the page of even a Persian
historian. Among the gifts of the first potentate
countries northward of the Nerbudda. It
is of Vicramaditya that the traditions of uni-
versal empire are most common in India. A
long period of anarchy ensued in Malwa
upon this abrupt conclusion of his able gov-
ernment. The next epoch is that of the re-
nowned Rajah Bhoja; whose reign of forty
years terminated about the end of the
eleventh century. His grandson was taken
prisoner, and his country conquered by the
Rajah of Guzerat ; but Malwa soon reco-
vered its independence, which was finally
destroyed by the Mohammedans, a.d. 1231.
In Guzerat, from its having been the re-
sidence of Crishna, and other circumstances,
an early principality would appear to have
existed ; and the whole is spoken of as un-
der one dominion, by a Greek writer of the
second century.f Colonel Tod mentions
another principality, founded at Ballabi, in
the peninsula of Guzerat, in the middle of the
second century, b.c, by an emigrant of the
Solar race, which reigned in Oude. This
dynasty was expelled in 524, by an army of
barbarians, variously conjectured to have
been Parthians, Persians of the Sassanian
dynasty, and Indo-Bactrians. The second
supposition is probably correct, as Sir John
Malcolm asserts on the authority of various
Persian writers, that Nousheerwan, who.
reigned at or about this period, carried his
victorious arms into India ; but that the tri-
bute, which was the fruit of his conquest,
was after his death no longer paid to his
degenerate son and successor. { Another
Rajpoot tribe, called the Chauras, succeeded
to the rule of Guzerat, and finally estab-
lished their capital in a.d. 746, at Anhal-
wara, now Pattan. Failing Chaura, in a.d.
931, through the death of the last rajah
without male issue, the succession devolved
on his son-in-law, a prince of the Rajpoot
tribe of Salonka ; whose family were chiefs
of Callian, in the Deccan, above the Ghauts.
The kingdom was absorbed by the Mussul-
was the image of a panther, the body covered with
pearls, and the eyes formed of rubies ; a wonderful
robe, the border of which was of celestial blue, while
the centre was occupied by a representation of the
king himself, clothed in his royal robes, and sur-
rounded by his attendants ; and lastly, enclosed in
the same golden box as the robe was a female
figure, the beauty of the face veiled by long tresses,
and " overpowering as a flash of day during a dark
night." The Indian oflferings were a thousand
pounds' weight of aloe-wood, a vase filled with pearls,
and formed of one precious stone, on which was
engraven the figures of a maiden seven hands in
height, and of a lion ; and a carpet made of a ser-
pent's skin, delicately fine and exguisilely tinted.
CANOUJ, CASHMERE, DELHI, BENAKES, SINDE, THE PUNJAUB. 41
man conquests of 1297. Canovj, in early
times, was called Panchala, and seems to
have been a long but narrow territory, ex-
tending on the east of Nepaul (which it in-
cluded) ; and on the west, along the Chum-
bul and Bunnass as far as Ajmeer. Notwith-
standing the notice it has attracted as one
of the most ancient, wealthy, and magnifi-
cent places in India, its early history is very
little known.* Its wars with the neighbour-
ing state of Delhi contributed to accelerate
the ruin of Hindoo independence ; and it
was conquered by the Mussulmans in 1193.
Cashmere is asserted, by its historians, to have
existed 2,600 years b.c. Its last monarch
was subdued by Mahmood, a.d. 1015. Its an-
nals, as before stated, have been written care-
fully and at length ; and placed within reach
of the British public by Professor Wilson.
Delhi is first named in the Maha Bharat;
it was governed by a Rajpoot line, whose
last prince was dethroned, a.d. 1050, by an
ancestor of the Prithwi Rajah, conquered
by the Mussulmans, a.d. 1192.
The earliest mention of Benares is found
in the same poem ; and its independence
terminated contemporaneously with that of
Delhi. Mithili existed in Rama's time, and
was the capital of his father-in-law, Sita.
It was famous for a school of law, and gave
its name to one of the chief Indian lan-
guages. Gour, named in the Maha Bharat,
seems to have lasted up to about a.d. 1231.
Sinde, referred to in the same record, was
independent in the time of Alexander (325
B.C.); and was finally conquered by the Mo-
hammedans. Mewar, Jessulmer, and Jeipur,
founded respectively in a.d. 720, 731, and
967, still exist as distinct states. Ajmeer is
traced back by Tod, for seven generations
I before a.d. 695 ; it fell at the same time as
I Delhi. The Puvjaub can hardly be spoken
' of as a distinct kingdom, since it appears to
i have been generally broken up into various
small states ; but from a very remote time
j a great city is thought to have existed near
Lahore,t though under a different name.
Our insight into the history of the Deccan
commences, for the most part, at a much
later date than that of Hindoostan. The
five distinct languages — Tamul, Canarese,
Telugn, Mahratta, and Urya, are considered
to denote an equal number of early na-
tional divisions, the first-mentioned indicating
• The Pala dynasty at Canouj are thought to have
displaced as paramount rulers in India, the Gupta
dynasty of I'rayaga and Delhi. Prayaga or Allaha-
bad, the ancient Gupta capital, contains a column
the most ancient, viz., the country of Dravira,
which occupied the extreme south of the
peninsula ; the earliest colonists from Hin-
doostan having traversed the bleak plateaux
of the upper Deccan, and settled down on the
fruitful plains of the Carnatic and Tanjore.
The kingdom of Pandya was formed about
the fifth century. In the time of the " Pe-
riplus" it comprehended a part of the
Malabar coast ; but it was usually oounded
by the Ghauts to the westward, and occupied
only the territory now known as the dis-
tricts of Madura and Tinivelly. The seat of
government was at Madura, in Ptolemy's
time, and remained there until about a cen-
tury ago. The last prince was conquered by
the nabob of Arcot, in 1736. The neighbour-
ing kingdom of Chola was at one time of
considerable extent, its princes having, it is
supposed, about the middle of the eighth
century, possessed large portions of Carnata
and Telingana. Their sway was greatly
diminished in the twelfth century, being re-
duced to the limits of the Dravira country.
Chola lost its separate existence about the
end of the seventeenth century. The capital
was, for the most part, at Conjeveram, west
of Madras. Chera comprehended Travan-
core, part of Malabar, and Coimbatore, and
seems to have existed about the commeuce-
mencement of our era. It was subverted in
the tenth century, and its lands portioned
among the surrounding states.
Kerala included Malabar and Carnara.
About the first or second century of the
Christian era a colony of Brahmins from
Hindoostan settled here, divided the country
into sixty-four districts, and governed it by
means of a general assembly of their cast ;
renting allotments to men of the inferior
classes. The executive government was
held by a Brahmin elected every three years,
and assisted by a council of four of the same
tribe ; but in the course of time, a chief of
the military class was appointed. The
northern division appears to have been
ruled by a dynasty of its own till the twelfth
century, when it was overturned by the Be-
lala rajahs; and subsequently became sub-
ject to the rajahs of Vijayanagar.
The Concan, in early times, was a wild
forest tract (as great part of it still remains),
thinly inhabited by Mahrattas.
Carnata seems to have been originally
with an inscription of Samadras Gupta's, which has
been translated by Mr. Prinsep.
t When the Pala princes held Canouj, members
of the family ruled at Lahore, and thence extended
43 ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF THE DECCAN, CARNATA, ORISSA, &c.
divided between the Pandya and Chera
princes and those of Carnara (the northern
half of Kerala). It was afterwards par-
titioned among many petty princes, until
the middle of the 11th century, when one
considerable dynasty arose — the family of
Belala — who were, or pretended to be, Raj-
poots* of the Yadoo branch, and whose
power at one time extended over the whole
of Carnata, together with Malabar, the
Taniul country, and part of Telingana.
They were subverted by the Mussulmans
about A.D. 1310. ■ The eastern part of Te-
lingana appears to have been, from the be-
ginning of the ninth to nearly the end of the
eleventh century, in the hands of an obscure
dynasty known by the name of Yadava. A
Rajpoot family of the Chalukya tribe reigned
at Callian, on the borders of Carnata and
Maharashta. They are traced by inscrip-
tions, from the tenth to the end of the twelfth
century ; are supposed to have possessed the
whole of Maharashta to the Nerbudda,t
and even to have been superior lords of the
west of Telingana.J The last king was
deposed by his minister, who was in turn
assassinated by some fanatics of the Lingayct
sect, which was then rising into notice, and
the kingdom fell into the hands of the Ya-
doos of Deogiri (Doulatabad). Another
branch of the Clialukya tribe ruled over
Calinga, the eastern portion of Telingana,
which extends along the sea from Dravira
to Orissa. The dynasty perhaps began
about the tenth century, and certainly lasted
through the whole of the twelfth and thir-
teenth; it was greatly reduced by the Gana-
pati kings of Andra, and finally subverted
by the rajahs of Cuttack.
Andra is the name of all the inland part
of the Telingana country, the capital being
at Varangul, about eighty miles north-east
of Hyderabad. Its kings, Vicrama and Sali-
valiana, alleged to have been connected with
the Andra race in Magadha, are among
the earliest mentioned. After them, ac-
cording to local records, the Chola rajahs
succeeded ; then a race called Yavans,§ who
reigned from 515, a.d., till 953 ; next came
the family of Ganapati, who attained great
their sway to Cabool, where they remained up to the
time of Sultan Mahmood, the then rajah being named
Jaya Pala. — Masson.
* " Some of the Hindoos assert that the tribes of
Brahmin and Kshelry [Cshatriya] existed from time
immemorial, but that the Rajpoots are a modern
tribe, only known since the beginning of the Kulyoog
fCali Yuga, a.m. 3215.] The rajahs, not satisfied
with their married wives, had frequently children by
power about the end of the thirteenth cen-
tury, and are even afiftrmed to have possessed
the whole of the peninsula south of the
Godavery. In 1332 the capital was taken
by a Mohammedan army from Delhi, and
the state merged at length in the Mussul-
man kingdom of Goleonda.
The history of Orissa, like all others in
the Deccan, begins with princes mentioned
in the Maha Bharat, describes in a very eon-
fused manner the successive occupation of
the country by Vicramaditya and Sali-
vahana, and the repeated invasions of Ya-
vans from Delhi, from a country called Babul
(supposed to mean Persia), from Cashmere
and from Sinde, between the sixth century
before, and the fourth after, Christ. The
last invasion was from the sea, and in it the
Yavans were successful, and kept possession
of Orissa for 146 years, being expelled, a.d.
473, by Yayati Kesari. This point is thought
to be the first established, for the traditions
regardiug the Yavans cannot be satisfactorily
explained. The natives suppose them to
have been Mussulmans, but the first Arab
invasion was not till the seventh century
after Christ. Others apply the story to
Seleucus, or to the Bactrian Greeks; while
Masson suggests the possibility of the people
of Yava or Java being meant. The Kesari
family lasted till a.d. 1131, when their
capital was taken by a prince of the house
of Ganga Vansa ; his heirs were supplanted
by a Rajpoot dynasty, of the Sun or Surya
race. The government having fallen into
confusion about 1550, was seized on by a
Telingu cliief, and ultimately annexed to the
Mogul empire by Akber, in 1578. The
greatest internal prosperity and improve-
ment seems to have been enjoyed towards
the end of the twelfth century ; but during
several years before and after that date, the
people of Orissa claim to have made exten-
sive conquests, especially to the south. In
the middle of the fifteenth century the gov-
ernment of Orissa sent armies as far as
Conjeveram, near Madras; and about the
same time their rajah advanced to the neigh-
bourhood of Bidr to assist the Hindoo princes
of those parts against the Mohammedans.
their female slaves, who, although not legitimate
successors to the throne, were styled Rajpoots, or
the children of the rajahs." — (Briggs' I'ranslation
of Ferishta. — Introduction, p. Ixiii.).
t Vide Mr. Walter Elliot's contributions to Jour-
nal of the Royal Asiatic Societt/, vol. iv., p. 1.
t Wilson, Introd. to Mackenzie papers, p. cxxix.
§ The country north of Peshawer was anciently
called Yava, perhaps these Yavans came thence.
ANCIENT STATE OF MAHARASHTA OR MAHRATTA COUNTRY. 43
Maharaslda or the Mahratta country,
though situated on the frontier of the
Deccan, and of great size, if we may judge
from the wide extent over which the lan-
guage bearing that name is spoken, is only
vaguely noticed in early records. After the
legends regarding Rama, whose retreat was
near the source of the Godavery, the first
fact mentioned is the existence of Tagara,
which was frequented by Egyptian mer-
chants 250 years b.c. It is alluded to in
inscriptions, as a celebrated place in the
twelfth century, and is still well known by
name. It is mentioned by the author of
the " Periplus,"* but in such a manner as to
certify little more respecting its site than
that it lay about 100 miles to the eastward
of Paitan, on the Godavery. Grant Duff
supposes it to have been somewhat to the
north-east of the modern town of Bheer.f
It is said to have been a very great city, and
one of the two principal marts of Dachana-
bades, a country so called from Dachan,
which in the " Periplus" is stated to be the
native word for south. The other mart was
namedPlithana.J Tagara, wherever situated,
became the capital of a line of kings of the
Rajpoot family of Silar. The reign of their
most famous monarch, Salivahana, gave rise
to a new era, commencing a.d. 77. He is
stated to have been the son of a potter, and
to have headed an insurrection which over-
turned the existing government (whatever
it might have been), and removed the capital
to Prutesthan or Paitan, on the Godavery.
From this period nothing is known of the
history of Maharashta (except by the in-
scriptions of the petty princes of Callian
and Pernala) till the beginning of the twelfth
century : a family of Yadoos then became
rajahs of Deogiri, and continued to reign
until 1317, when the country, which had been
previously invaded by the Mohammedans
from Delhi, was finally subjugated. About
this time the Mussulman writers begin to
mention the Mahrattas by name ; before
they had been noticed only as inhabitants
of the Deccan. Our information regard-
• The " Periplus [description] of the Erythrean
Sea," is the title of a Greelt work, issued in 1533,
from the printing-press of Frobcn, at Basle. It con-
tains the best account extant of the commerce car-
ried on from the Erythrean or Red Sea and the coast
of Africa, to the East Indies, during the time that
Egypt was a Eoman province. Dr. Vincent, the
learned Dean o'' Westminster, who, in 1800, wrote
an elaborate treatise, in two vols., 4to., to elucidate
a translation of the " Periplus," says — " I have never
been able to discover from what manuscript the
work was first edited;" neither could he ascertain
ing their early attainments so utterly fails
to elucidate the testimony which the famous
cave temples of Ellora and elsewhere, bear to
the capabilities and numbers of the people
by whom such mighty works were planned
and executed, that, notwithstanding the use-
ful labours of their historian (Grant Duff), we
may believe there is yet much to be learned
respecting them, probably a very interesting
portion of their existence as a nation. Re-
cently they have played a pronuneut but deso-
lating and destructive part, which has drawn
from the pen of a modern writer a denunci-
ation of "those southern Goths, the Mah-
rattas."— (Tod's Rajast' han. Introduction.)
Concerning the social condition of the
inhabitants of Hindoostan and the Deccan
during these dark middle ages, we have
certainly not sufficient data on which to
found any general conclusions, except those
which may be deduced from the edicts of
such exemplary monarchs as Asoca — unhap-
pily rare in all countries — and other col-
lateral evidence. Our present information
divides itself into two classes ; and comes
either through the channel of poetry, that
is, of history travestied into fable; or else
through the medium of Brahmin or Bood-
hist priests : it must consequently be well
searched and sifted before it can be relied
on as unbiassed by political motive or sec-
tarian prejudice. But search and sift as
we may, little light is thrown on the condi-
tion of the people, nor probably ever will be,
at least in the sense given to that phrase in
the present era of European and American
civilization. The states noticed in the fore-
going sketch would each one of them afford
matter for a volume, full of wars, usurpa-
tions, change of dynasty, and, above all, ex-
tension of dominion ; all this resting on local
records, and reading on smoothly enough;
but much of it entirely incompatible with
the equally cherished traditions of neigh-
bouring states. The code of Menu is per-
haps an exception to this censure, but the
uncertainty attached to the epoch at which
it was written, and the extent to which its
the name of the author, generally supposed to be
Arrian the historian, but who, in his opinion, must
have lived a century before. There is internal evi-
dence, according to the Dean, that the writer was a
Greek, a merchant of Alexandria, and that he ac-
tually made a voyage on board the fleet from Egypt
as far as the Gulf of Cambay, if not to Ceylon.—
{See Vincent, vol. ii.)
t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 25.
X Elphinstone conjectures Plithana to be a mis-
take of the Greek copyist for Paithana or Paitan.
The word occurs but once in the " Periplus."
41 EARLY CIVILIZATION, RELIGION AND LAWS OP THE HINDOOS.
institutes were ever observed, greatly im-
pairs its value. The first objection applies
also to the Ramayana and Malia Bharat.
Thus much perhaps may be reasonably
inferred, from the concurrent testimony of
Hindoo and foreign records, of inscriptions,
and much incidental evidence of various
kinds — that, at a period long antecedent to
the Christian era, and while the natives of
Britain were nude, nomadic savages, the
people of India had attained a high position
in arts, science, literature, and commerce,
and lived under the hereditary rule of their
own kings or rajahs ; the evils attendant on
the otherwise irresponsible power of a patri-
archal and despotic ruler being probably
counterbalanced by the respective rights of
the chiefs of the sacred, and of the warrior
casts, but still more by the municipal insti-
tutions which seem to have been general
throughout the country. In many smaller
states the government appears to have been
a sort of oligarchical republic. The manners
and customs of the Hindoos, the influence
of cast, and the changes gradually brought
about by Mussulman and British conquerors,
will, if space permit, be specially though
briefly narrated in another section. Between
the time of Menu and the Mohammedan
epoch, the religious and social habits of the
people had sadly deteriorated. Their belief
in an omnipresent or " all-pervasive" God
had gradually been warped by perverted but
plausible reasoning, into a belief that be-
cause God was in everything, therefore any-
thing might be worshipped, not simply as His
representative, but actually as Himself. Be-
ginning probably with those glorious natural
objects of the Sabsean heresy, the sun, moon,
and stars, they had at length become so de-
graded as to fall down before images of wood
and stone, and had lost sight almost wholly
of their original doctrine of an indivisible
triad, by ignoring Brahma (the creating prin-
ciple) and according to Vishnu (the preserv-
ing) or Saiva (the destroying),* a paramount
place in the pantheon of hero-gods, sacred
animals, and grotesque, or often (to Euro-
pean eyes) immodest figures, which gradually
arose, and swallowed up in the darkness
of heathenism the rays of light which pos-
sibly shone upon the earliest of the Hindoo
race in the patriarchal age. Their religious
observances involved a tedious and almost
• These are mythologically represented as having
wives, namely, Seraswati or Devi, Lakshmi or Bha-
vani, and Parvati or Durga, considered metaphysi-
cally as the active powers^ which develop the prin-
ciple represented by each member of the triad-
impracticable ritual, with abstinence from
many things which in the christian dispen-
sations are treated as harmless — but the
character of Brahmin and also of Boodhist
teaching, generally distinct, was alike in
being, with some great and glaring excep-
tions, merciful and even comparatively moral.
The laws of the Hindoos, especially for
civil judicature, have been eulogized by Sir
W. Jones, Munro, and other authorities,
though severely criticised by Mill, who on
this subject was prejudiced, and iu fact pos-
sessed but a small part of the information
since revealed. The equal partitionment of
property, and the consequent disability of
willing away land or money, has been much
canvassed as to its eSect in preventing the
accumulation or improvement of possessions.
It undoubtedly stimulated the dedication of
large sums to religious, charitable, or public
purposes; to the building of temples, of
' choultries or houses of refreshment for tra-
vellers,' and to the formation of tanks and
canals — most necessary works in a land where
such means, under Providence, can alone
prevent hundreds, nay thousands, not only of
cattle, but of human beings, from perishing
by the maddening pangs of thirst, or in the
more prolonged agonies of hunger, when the
parched earth, gaping in deep chasms, plainly
bids man, if he would be sustained by her
increase, use the energy and ability with
which God has blessed him, to supply as
best he can, the want of kindly dew and
rain, to renew her strength and fertility.
The position of women was decidedly supe-
rior to that of the weaker sex in almost any
other ancient "nation, with regard to the
hereditary laws of property : they were, if
unmarried, to receive portions out of their
brothers' allotments. Menu ordains that
whoever accosts a woman shall do so by the
title of " sister," and that way must be
made for her, even as for the aged, for a
priest, for a prince, or a bridegroom ; and in
his text on the laws of hospitality he enjoins
that " pregnant women, brides and damsels,
shall have food before all the other guests."
The seclusion and ignorance to which females
are now subjected had their origin in the
like Mohammedan custom. Formerly they
were taught to read and write, they were
the ornament and delight of the social circle ;
and historic or traditionary annals abound in
records of their virtuous anJ noble deeds.
Suttee or widow-burning ; infanticide ; the
carrying out of the sick, when deemed past
recovery ; suicide under the same or different
ASTRONOMY, GEOMETRY, ALGEBRA, AND CHRONOLOGY. 45
circumstances, including immolation be-
neath the car of Juggernaut and self-
inflicted tortures are almost entirely inno-
vations which gradually crept in : Jugger-
naut especially — being of quite modern date.
The extent of scientific knowledge acquired
by the Hindoos and the date of its attain-
ment, is a source of endless discussion ; yet
the subject is too important to be wholly
passed over, even in this intermediate stage
of their history.
In astronomy, much merit is assigned them
by Cassini, Bailly, and Playfair, who assert
that a considerable degree of progress
had been made 3,000 years before the
Christian era, as evidenced by observa-
tions still extant. La Place, De Lam-
bre, and others dispute the authenticity
of these observations, but all agree in ad-
mitting a great antiquity. Mr. Bentley, who
has examined the calculations very minutely,
and is one of the most strenuous opponents
of the claims of the Hindoos, pronounces
their division of the Ecliptic into twenty-
seven lunar mansions, to have been made
B.C. 1443. Mr. Elphinstone is of opinion
that the Indian observations could not have
commenced at a later period than the fif-
teenth century, B.C., or one or two centuries
before the first mention of astronomy in
Greece. In the fifth century the Brahmins
discussed the diurnal revolution of the
earth on its axis, and they were more cor-
rect than Ptolemy in their notions regard-
ing the precession of the Equinoxes.
In an Indian work (the Surya Sidhanta)
to which the date of the fifth or sixth century
is generally assigned, a system of trigono-
metry is laid down which involves theorems
that were not known in Europe until the
sixteenth century. Geometry was probably
studied long previous to the date of the above
book, as exemplified in the demonstrations
of various properties of triangles, the pro-
* " Mr. Colebrooke has fully established that
algebra had attained the highest pei-fection it ever
reached in India before it was known to the
Arabians, and, indeed, before the first dawn of the
culture of the sciences among that people." — (El-
phinstone, vol. i., p. 250).
t The Samaritan is the most ancient of the orien-
tal versions of the Scriptures, but its exact age is
unascertained; it contains only the Pentateuch.
J The anonymous writer of a Key to the Chrono-
toyy of the Hindoos, whose opinions are set forth in
2 Tols. 8vo., printed at Cambridge in 1820; under-
takes to convince his readers that " the Hindoo
dates correspond with the Hebrew texts of our
Scriptures, and that they date the Lotus or creation
6,817 years from the present time, which is only six
portion of the radius to the circumferences
of the circle, and other problems. The in-
vention of decimal notation is ascribed to
the Hindoos, who, even in algebra, so earlv
as the sixth century,* under a celebrated
teacher, (Brahma Gupta,) excelled all their
cotemporaries, not merely in propounding
problems, but in its application to astrono-
mical investigations and geometrical demon-
strations. Their chronology has long been a
stumbling-block (see p. 15), but it is never-
theless considered by several critical in-
quirers to admit of satisfactory explanation
by means of astronomical and arithmetical
calculations. Megasthenes expressly tieclares
that the Indians and the Jews were the only
nations possessed of a rational chronology,
and that they agreed. Mr. Masson remarks,
on this statement, — "when I look at the
enormous sums given of millions of years
elapsed during the three first yugas, and
ask how can they be reconciled with the
dictum of Megasthenes, I call to mind a
verse somewhere in Menu, which tells us
that a year of a mortal is but a day with
the gods, and conceit that these large num-
bers have been calculated on some such
base as there suggested — just as in the
Hebrew Prophets, Daniel, &c., periods are ex-
pressed by days, weeks, &c. — only in these,
multiplication is needful, and with the Hin-
doos division." In the private letter from
which I have ventured to quote the preced-
ing passage, Mr. Masson adds, that by the
use of the multiple 360 and the divisor
nine (the sacred number of the Tartars and
other nations), the Hindoo statement can
be made to agree with that found in one
(? the Samaritanf version) of the Scriptures
within a single year. J And he considers
that the system of Indian chronology was
framed in some manner intelligible to the
initiated, § by whom the sacred writings were
solely, or at least particularly, intended tc
years from the true period, according to the best
calculations we have, and only two years according
to the vulgar era of Christ, a.m. 4004." In an
elaborate disquisition he contends that the com-
mencement of the fourth historical age. Call yurja,
"is correctly placed at B.C. 3182;" the three pre-
vious ages " contain a period of 900 years only ;'
and by adding 900 years to the current year of the
fourth, or Call age, we get the true epoch of creation,
according to all oriental chronology." The year oj
the xcorld is computed by the Greek cb'irch at B.C.
5509 ; by the Aby.ssinian church, 5492 ; by the Jews,
3760. The Bible chronology givei it as 4004 B.C.
^ It is stated in the " Key " that some European
suggested to Sir W. .Tones an explanation by cutting
the ciphers off the numerals.
4G GEOGRAPHY, MEDICINE, LANGUAGES, AND LITERATURE.
he read, the Brahmins in this respect differ-
ing essentially from the Boodhists.
In geography they had, as a nation, made
little progress, and though unquestionably
engaged in traffic more or less direct with
the nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa, pro-
bably entered, at the utmost, only as indivi-
duals on the carrying trade beyond their
own coast, and gave little thought to the
position or affairs of other countries; and
this accords with, the metaphysical, rather
than practical, turn of their minds. There
is, however, a passage in Menu which
shows that marine insurance was practised
his time ; and various writings, poems, plays,
and tales written during different periods
from the first to the twelfth century, detail
adventures at sea, in which Indian sailors
and ships are immediately concerned.
That the Hindoos established colonies in
Java and other places there is reason to
believe, though we cannot tell at what time,
or under what circumstances. Bryant, who
contends that Cluddea was the parent coun-
try of the Hindoos, asserts, in his Analysis of
Ancient Mythology , that these people were
found in Colchis, in Mesopotamia, and even
in Thrace. Recently they have been met with
in Arabia, Armenia, and Astracan.
In medicine they had not merely studied
the virtues of simples, but had also attained
considerable skill in chemistry, and knew
how to prepare (for the most part in modes
peculiar to themselves) sulphuric, nitric, and
muriatic acid ; oxides of copper, iron, lead
(of which they had both the red oxide and
litharge) tin, and zinc; the sulphurets of
copper, zinc, and iron, and carbonates of
lead and iron. They employed minerals
internally, giving both mercury, arsenic, and
arsenious acid ; cinnabar was used for fumi-
gations, to produce safe and speedy saliva-
tion. They also practised inoculation for
small-pox. Their surgery is still more re-
markable, from their ignorance of anatomy —
dissection or even the touch of dead bodies,
being deemed the extreme of pollution — yet
they cut for the stone, couched for cataract,
and performed other delicate operations;*
and their early works enumerate no less
than 127 sorts of surgical instruments, which,
however, were probably always rude.
Of the languages and literature of India,
it would be impossible to convey any idea
in few words, without appearing to assume
a dogmatic attitude on the many difficult
• Vide Dr. Royle's Essay on the Antiquity of the
Indian Materia Medico.
questions involved therein. The transla-
tions of Sir William Jones from the Sanscrit,
of Sacontala, a pastoral drama of great anti-
quity, and other poems, together with the
Hindoo Theatre of Professor Wilson, enable
English readers to form their own opinions
of the degree of dramatic excellence very
early attained in India. Portions of the
Ramayana, of the Maha Bharat, and the
whole of the Sama Veda have also been
translated; the fourth, or Antharva Veda,
(whose authenticity is disputed), being still
sedulously withheld by the Brahmins, and
denounced as a " Black Book," teaching as-
trology and witchcraft. The six Augras
or Shastras, are supposed to have been
written by inspiration to elucidate the sub-
lime mysteries contained in the Vedas. They
treat of theology and ritual observances ; of
grammar, metre, astronomy, logic, law,
the art of government, medicine, archery,
the use of arms, music, dancing, and the
drama. With the eighteen Puranas we are
not immediately concerned, for two reasons.
They must be subsequently referred to as ex-
planatory of the present (would to God that
we could say the past) idolatrous polytheism
of the Hindoos ; and moreover in the opinion
of Professor Wilson, none of them assumed
their existing state until the time of Sankara
Acharya, the great Saiva reformer, who
flourished about the eighth or ninth cen-
tury, and consequently, subsequent to the
period of which we are now treating: Wilson
traces several of them to the twelfth, four-
teenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries of
our era. The Puranas have been already
frequently quoted, because they comprise
the genealogies of various dynasties, especi-
ally of the solar and lunar races ; which
are valuable, although sometimes misleading,
being evidently a compilation of fragments
obtained from family records. Many
historical documents probably yet remain
uninjured, hidden away from the desolating
torch of the soldiers of the Crescent, who
generally did their utmost to destroy the
writings of an idolatrous people, at least
any that might appear connected with
their creed, which all were more or less.
Doubtless much valuable data has thus ut-
terly perished; and the loss is now irreparable.
The remark made by the people of Rajast'han
to Colonel Tod, when he complamed of
the numerous deficiencies in their annals,
was sufficient explanation and apology.
"When our princes," said they, "were in
exile, driven from hold to hold, and com-
ARCHITECTURE, FETES, POLICE SYSTEM, AND COINAGE. 4,7
pelled to dwell in the clefts of the moun-
tains, often doubtful whether they would
not be obliged to abandon the very meal
preparing for them — was that a time to
think of historical records ?"*
In the lighter department of literature
they excel ; and, indeed, in tales and fables
appear to have set the example to the rest
of mankind, since to them may be traced
the subjects of the most popular Oriental
and even European fictions. f
Their music is said to have been syste-
matic and refined, but it has since greatly de-
teriorated : painting was probably always at a
low ebb, unless beautifully illustrated manu-
scripts may form an exception — in which,
however, the figures are the worst executed
portion of the ornaments. Their ancient
sculpture often presents spirited and some-
times exceedingly graceful groups; but is
generally rendered unpleasing, not only by
the grotesque and many-limbed forms of the
gods and goddesses, but also by their igno-
rance of anatomy, and inattention, even as
copyists, to the symmetrical arrangement of
the limbs and muscles, and to the mainte-
nance of proportion between different figures.
Architecture early became a favourite and
practical study, J butvaried greatly in different
parts of India {vide section on topography).
It is said that the arch was not understood
before the Mussulman era, but this seems to
be contradicted by the age of some speci-
mens which still exist. Tanks or reservoirs
for irrigation or for bathing were made on a
scale of great extent and magnificence, and
also wells of considerable depth and breadth,
the more ancient of which were square and
surrounded by galleries, with a broad flight of
steps from top to bottom. Their triumphal
columns and massive gateways and pagodas
take rank among the finest specimens of
the architecture of any nation.
Their manufactures and commerce have
been noticed sufficiently for the present
purpose : their mode of agriculture was so
nearly what it is at present, that that sub-
ject, together with their rights in the land
and the revenue system generally, may be best
deferred for examination to a future chapter.
Chariots were drawn in war by horses,
but on a march by oxen and sometimes by
camels. Elephant chariots were also kept as
a piece of extraordinary magnificence, used
* Rajast'han, vol. i. p. ix.
■)• Vide Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,
Tol. i. p. 166, on the Indian origin of European
fables.
in their famous festivals, when well appointed
troops marched in procession; and thrones,
tables, goblets, lavcrs, set with precious stones,
and robes of exquisite colours richly em-
broidered with gold,were borne along in state.
Tame lions and panthers formed part of the
show which birds, remarkable for gorgeous
plumage or sweet song, were made to enliven;
being conveyed on trees transported on large
waggons. In short, a Hindoo fete in the
ancient days, was a thing that even a Parisian
of the time of the second Buonaparte might
sigh for — always excepting fireworks, for it
does not appear that they had any knowledge
of gunpowder, although in war they are said
to have used arrows tipped with some com-
bustible or explosive compound.
The police system Megasthenes declared
to be excellent; royal roads are spoken of by
Strabo, in one place, and mile-stones in ano-
ther. § The dress, as described by Arrian,||
was precisely the two wrappers of cotton
cloth, still worn by the people of Bengal and
by strict Brahmins everywhere.
It is asserted that no Indian coinage
existed prior to the introduction of that of
the Greeks or Baetrians. This, if proved,
would be no criterion of barbarism : the
Chinese, at the present day, have no gold or
silver pieces — their only coin being a small
alloyed copper "cash," of which about a
thousand are equal to one Spanish dollar.
All sales have for ages been regulated by
bars or blocks of the precious metals, with a
stamped attestation of their respective purity;
and it is possible that in ancient times a
similar course was pursued in India. There
are however passages in a Sanscrit play
and in the penal code of the Hindoos which
refer, not only to the standard, but to the
fabric and stamp of coin, and to the punish-
ments due to the fabricators and falsifiers of
the public monies. Small flat pieces of silver,
square, round, or oblong, weighing from forty-
eight to fifty grains, with a rude punch, symbo-
lical of a sun, moon, or star, or a nondescript
figure, of an unknown age, have been found
in considerable quantities in various localities.
Hindoo gc.'d and silver coins, tolerably
well executed, have been discovered at
Beghram, Cutch, Benares, and other places
appertaining to the Balhara dynasty ; which
is thought to have ruled the country from
Oojein to thelndus, 375years posterior to the
\ Essay on Hindoo Architecture by Eim R4z,
published by the Oriental Translation Fund.
§ Strabo, lib. xv., pp. 474—494, ed. 1587.
i| Indica, cap. xri.
48
KINGDOMS OF BACTRIA, ARIA, AND PARTHIA.
I Vicramaditya era. Coins of the Chandra
Gupta dynasty have been collected from the
ruins of Behat near the Doab Canal, and at
Canouj ; others, of a Jain or Boodhistical
type, have been procured at Rajast'han and
at Ilurdwar on the Ganges.
Recent investigations* have brought to
light no inconsiderable quantity of Indo-
Scythian and Sassanian coins, which gradu-
ally mixed with and at length merged into
a distinct Hindoo type. This, with modifi-
cations, lasted to the time of the Moham-
medan conquerors. A very curious Eng-
lish collection of Hindoo silver monies con-
nects two dynasties ; indeed, there are not
many links wanting to form an entire series
of Greek, Bactrian, Nys8ean,t Sassanian,
Indo-Scythian, and HindooJ (Guzerat, Raj-
poot, Canouj, or Rah tore, &c.) coins, from
the time of Alexander to that of the Moslems
in the eleventh century. The Roman coins
discovered in India extend in antiquity
through a period of more than 1,000 years,
from the Augustan age down to the decline
of the Lower empire ; those generally found
are of the smaller denominations, consisting
of the common currency of the eastern parts
of the empire : many of the copper coins
are of Egyptian fabrication.
Bactria, Aria, and Parthia. — The two
first-named countries, comprising the terri-
tory lying on either side of the Hindoo
Koosh, between the Oxus and Indus Rivers,
are on the high road of Asiatic conquest,
and have been the battle-field of every tribe
and nation that has risen to dominion in the
East. Parthia has been always intimately
connected with them, and the three have
iointly and severally exercised an influence
in India, the extent and nature of which is
still but imperfectly understood.
Recent discoveries of coins (above re-
ferred to) have confii'med and augmented
the information bequeathed by ancient
• See Ariana Antiqua, a dascriptive account of
the antiquities and coins of Afglianistan, with a
memoir of the buildings, called topes, by C. Masson,
Esq. Edited by Prof. Wilson, 4to, 1841. Also the
expositions of J. Prinsep in the Journal of the Jienyal
Asiatic Socictij ; and H. T. Prinsep's Jlist. Mesults.
t The features of the sovereigns of the various
dynasties stamped on these coins are quite distinct,
and they are generally well executed. The Nysiean
have a fillet or diadem round the head; reverse, a
horseman ; the Indo-Scythian an. erect figure of Her-
cules resting on his club : the Sassanian, a fire altar
on the reverse. The legends are generally in Greek,
or in Pehlevi, a language w-hich was contemporary
with the Parsi (of Persia), and the Zend (of Media),
five or six hundred years, B.C. It was used in
authors, and thrown a new light on the
connection which existed with the kingdom
of Bactria — that is, of the country watered
by the Oxus and its tributaries, and sepa-
rated from Hindoostan by the range of
mountains whence the Oxus and Indus
derive their respective sources. It has been
already stated, that after the first contest for
the partition of the vast empire of Alexander,
all his eastern conquests, including Hyrca-
nia, Parthia, Bactria, Aria,§ &c., were ap-
propriated by Seleucus. Bactria remained
subject to his descendants, until civil wars
and the impending revolt of the Parthians
induced Diodotus, or Theodotus, the satrap
or governor of the province, to assert his
independence and become the first king,
about 250, or, according to Bayer, 255, B.C.
Parthia also successfully revolted from the
sway of the Seleucidse, under Arsaces, || who,
according to Strabo, was by birth a Bac-
trian, but is called by other writers a Da-
hiaii, that is, a native of Sogdiana :% who-
ever lie was, he appears to have used Greek
only on, his coins and in his public letters
and correspondence.
Bactria itself, however, cannot be sup-
posed to have been colonised by any great
body of Greeks, but probably received many
of the partially-disciplined recruits raised
by Alexander during the later part of his
progress. Even the Greeks, by intermar-
riage with Persian, and doubtless with In-
dian wives, would soon lose their distinctive
character; and after the establishment of
Parthian power, the immigration of adven-
turers from Greece, and, indeed, all commu-
nication with that country would cease. This
accounts for the total silence of Greek
authors respecting the termination of the
Bactrian kingdom. Its limits, during the
most flourishing period, included some parts
of India. Strabo quotes an ancient author,
who asserts that the Bactrians possessel
the region round Assyria, and probably in Assyria
itself, — but together with the Zend has been a dead
language for more than two thousand years.
I The ancient Hindoo coins have various devices —
a horseman, a horse, an elephant, a lion, a bull, an
antelope, a goat, the Sankh, or sacred shell, or the
hieroglyphic called Swastika.
§ Aria is the territory of which Herat is, the
capital. Ariana (Eeran) is the general name for the
country east of Persia and Media to the Indus.
II Sogdiana designates the mountains which feed
the Jaxartes and divide that river from the Oxus.
5[ Arsaces was the title of Parthian princes. The
Parthians were the Saca; of Asia, and Saca-dwipa
(the country of the Saca;) lay about the fountains of
of the Oxus. — Conder's Modern Traveller. {India.)
BACTRIA OVERRUN BY SCYTHIAN HORDES.— b.c. 125.
49
" the most conspicuous part of Ariana ^'
(Khorasan), and conquered more nations in
; India than even Alexander. In this last
achievement the principal actors were Me-
nander, Appollodotus, and Demetrius, who
are mentioned together by Strabo; but their
j date and the limits of their sway are not
• clearly stated. Demetrius is a puzzle, or
rather the site of his kingdom, for he once
had one, and was a conqueror besides. Two
i or three of his coins have been found in
I Cabool, not sufficient to establish the fact of
I his rule there, but rather the reverse; two
or three others — of silver — have been
brought from Bokhara. Appollodotus and
Menander* certainly ruled over Cabool,
their copper coins being found in such
numbers, and so constantly, as to prove
they were once a currency there ; but then,
as regards Appollodotus, Cabool is held to
have been merely a province, his capital
j being established elsewhere, to be looked
for, perhaps, where his copper money was
circular instead of square, as at Cabool, and
\ such circular coins arc discovered more
eastward in the Punjaub, and even at
Muttra (the old Methora), on the Jumna.
Masson strongly suspects the kingdom of
Appollodotus and Menander to have been
rather Indian than Bactrian ; and Professor
Lassen supposes three kingdoms to have
existed besides that of Bactria, of which the
eastern, under Menander and Appollodotus,
I comprehended the Punjaub and the valley
' of the Indus, with Cabool and Arachosia, or
Candahar, added in times of prosperity. The
western kingdom, he places conjecturally at
Heerat and in Seestan, and the third would
include the Paropamisan region, which,
however, Prinsep inclines to attribute to
Bactria.f Unfortunately, no information
has been obtained to prove how far north
or west of Cabool the currencies of the
aforesaid kings spread, otherwise the limits
of their rule might have been partially
traced in those directions. The Greeks,
under Menander, made extensive conquests,
; subduing the Seres and Shauni to the north
and north-east of India ; crossing the Hy-
I panis (Hyphasis,orBeyah), and proceeding as
' far as the Isamus to the south-eastward ; and
I * Whether Appollodotus succeeded or preceded
I Menander is uncertain, but an opinion may be raised
that although always mentioned first, he really fol-
lowed Menander, because his circular coins so closely
resemble in style and fabric those of Azcs (in Bac-
tro-Pali, Aya) that it is evident the one currency
i followed the other, in the Punjaub and to the cast,
I hut not in Cabool, where that of Hermias prevailed.
on the south-westward reducing Pattalcne,
that is, the country about Tatta, forming
the Delta of the Indus. All the interme-
diate territory appears, from the statement
of Strabo, to have been vanquished ; and we
might form a tolerably satisfactory conclu-
sion as to its extent, but for doubts suggested
of the meaning of the word Isamus. This
is by some considered to denote the Jumna
River, by others the Himalaya Mountains
(sometimes called Imaus), and, thirdly, with
perhaps better reason, the Isamutti River,
which falls into the Hooghly, a western
branch of the Ganges.
Bactria Proper, as established by Diodotus,
appears to have continued through his suc-
cessors Diodotus II., Euthydemus, Eucra-
tides, and his successor (supposed by De
Guignes and Bayer to have been his son
and murderer, Eucratides II., but by Mas-
son, Heliocles), until about 125 years b.c,
when, (according to Chinese records, quoted
by De Guignes) a great movement which
took place in Central or Eastern Tartary
impelled across the Jaxartes (Sir) an irre-
sistible torrent of Scythian hordes. This
statement is corroborated by the testimony
of Strabo, who gives the names of the four
principal tribes by whom the overthrow of
the Greek kingdom was effected. From
these names they would appear to have been
composed of a mixture of Gette or Goths,
Dahi or Dacians, Sakarauli or Sakas, and
Tochari, perhaps, but not certainly, Turks.
All seized portions of Bactria; and after
some time the Getse subdued the others,
and advanced upon India. Crossing the
Hindoo Koosh, they dispossessed the suc-
cessor of Hermias, if not the old king him-
self ; and their presence is very clearly
indicated by those coins bearing the name
of that king, with the prefix Su. Soon after
the coinage was varied ; busts probably in-
tended to represent their own kings or chiefs
were introduced, and Bactro-Pali legends on
the reverse, much differing from the Greek
ones encircling the busts — the latter, indeed,
becoming unintelligible. The Getse, more-
over, we are assured, retained power in the
countries bordering on the Indus for four
centuries — liable, necessai'ily, to vicissitudes.
For this remark, as well as other information inter-
woven in the text conveying a brief sketch of Bac-
trian affairs, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr.
Charles Masson.
t Because of the bilingual as well as pure Gh-eek
coins of Heliocles and .\ntimachu5, kings of Bactria.
—Historical Results dedudhle from recent discoveriet
in Afghanistan, by H. Prinsep. Esq., p. 66.
50 PERSIA AND CENTRAL INDIA SUBDUED BY THE CALIPHS.
but still maiutuining themselves until finally
overcome by the Huns. The Parthians
benefited by the occasion of attacking Eu-
cratidcs, and deprived him of two satrapies ;
but although certain coins bearing a national
tinge, with an attempted imitation of the
names and titles of Heliocles are fouxid
in Cabool, there is little other evidence
of Parthian rule there — while in the Pun-
jaub, immediately on the banks of the
Indus, there is inore. It is not impro-
bable, that they contested the possession of
Cabool with the Getse, but were unsuccess-
ful, and directed their attention rather to
Sinde, and thence ascended the Indus ; but
it may be doubted if these Parthians were
those established in Persia — although of the
same or kindred race — they may have been
Dahse. Though weakened and disorgan-
ised, Bactria cannot have been entirely
overwhelmed by Scythian or Parthian in-
cursions, that is not in the time of Eucra-
tides or Heliocles, since Horace, 120 years
later, deemed it of sufficient importance to
engage the attention of Augustus. Its final
disruption by Parthian agency must have
been of considerably later date.
. The fortunes of Parthia likewise under-
went considerable vicissitudes. Arsaces pos-
sessed only Parthia and Hyrcania, the
nucleus of his sovereignty being the colo-
nies planted by Alexander eighty years be-
fore. His immediate successors were brave
and valiant, and their empire at one time ex-
tended from the Euphrates to the Jaxartes ;
but whether it included or received tribute
from the ancient soil of the Hindoos is little
better than matter of conjecture.* The
sceptre of Persia continued to be wielded by
this line until a.d. 235, when Ardeshur
Babakun, or Artaxerxes, a distinguished
officer of the Parthian army — having been
slighted by the reigning monarch, Arsaces-
Artabanus — revolted, and after three severe
battles, conquered and slew Artabanus, and
* Milhridates II., who reigned in the early part
of the century before the Christian era, and whose
death was followed by an interregnum of civil war,
or doubtful sovereignty, in Parthia, was the first of
the Arsacidce who adopted the title of " Great King of
Kings," which is believed to be of Indian origin, and
was probably assumed after the acquisition of coun-
tries bordering on India. — Prinsep's Historical Re-
tulU, p. 67.
t Vide Prinsep's Jlitlorical Ilesults, for much in-
teresting discussion regarding Baclrian coins, espe-
cially the opinions of Wilson, Masson, and Lassen ;
also regarding the newly-deciphered language gene-
rally used in writing, when Greek became quite
extinct, called Arian, Arianian, Bactrian, and Ca-
establislied his own dynasty, the Sassanian,
being crowned at Balkh, where his last vic-
tory was gained. Thus closed the Greco-
Parthian dominion in central Asia, after a
continuance of very nearly 500 years ; and
the same date marks the end of the tran-
sition of Parthia back from Hellenism to an
entirely Asiatic sovereignty and condition of
society. The system of government had
been always purely Asiatic ; that is, by sub-
ordinate satraps or viceroys invested with
full and absolute authority over the person
and property of the people committed to their
charge. Alexander had experienced the evils
of thus forming an Imperium in imperio
in every province, in the misconduct of
several satraps during his absence in the
Indian campaign ; and, had he lived, would
probably have introduced a sounder system;
but his successors had neither the ability to
plan, nor perhaps opportunity to execute,
any such radical change in their respective
governments. They lacked, moreover, the
prestige of their great master's name and
character, which had alone enabled him to
cheek the ambition or rapacity of his vice-
gerents, by the exercise of an arbitrary power
of removal. After his death, the method
generally adopted of controlling, removing,
or punishing a military satrap, was to turn
against him the arms of a rival neighbour.
The result was, of course, the origin of a
number of irresponsible despots. Keeping
this in mind, it is the less surprising that
Parthian coins should be found, asserting
independence and bearing arrogant titles,
in Afghanistan, since these may indicate
nothing but the temporary successes or pre-
tensions of various petty satraps. t The
most celebrated of the later Sassanian kings
was Chosroes, who reigned from 531 to 571 ;
his grandson was deposed in 628, and after a
few years of tumult and distraction, Persia
fell under the power of the Caliphs, by whom
it has ever since been ruled.
boolian, according to the supposed locality of its
native use. Mr. James Prinsep, (whose laborious
investigations had before been mainly instrumental
in restoring the language of the ancient Indian kings
who made treaties with Antiochus and Seleucus,)
while examining coins with bilingual inscriptions,
used the names given in Greek on one side, tc find
out those of tlie unknown language on the other. He
thus obtained a key to the alphabet, and deciphered
words which proved to be Pracrit (the vernacular '
form of Sanscrit), written semitically from right to
left. There are still, however, some inscriptions in i
the Arian characters upon rocks and on the relics
of topes and tumuli, remaining to reward further
research.
RISE OF MOHAMMEDANISM IN ARABIA— SEVENTH CENTURY. 51
Mohammedan to British Epoch. — In the
beginning of the seventh century, when the
Christian church was torn by dissensions and
perplexed by heresies, and when the greater
part of the inhabitants of Asia and of Africa
were sunk in barbarism, enfeebled by sen-
suality, or enslaved by idolatry, there arose
on the shores of the Red Sea, a Power, at
once religious and militant, which rapidly
attained and has since continued to exercise
an extraordinary influence on the condition
of one-third of the human race.
Arabia is considered by oriental writers
to have been originally colonised by the pos-
terity of Shem and Ham, the former having
follovved pastoral, the latter agricultural pur-
suits; to these were subsequently added a
mixed race — the descendants of Abraham,
through Ishmael, the son of Hagar the bond-
woman.* The posterity of Ham, through
Cush and Nimrod, his son and grandson,
brought with them from Mesopotamia one
of the most ancient languages (supposed to
be the Himyaritic, still spoken in parts of
the country), and the creed of the Patriarchs,
or at least a portion of it ; that is, the exist-
ence of one God, the Creator and Governor
of the world, and the doctrine of the resur-
rection of the dead, of future rewards and
punishments. A sense of sin and unwor-
thiness probably induced " the adoration of
heavenly spirits as mediators between man
and one immutable Holy Being; and to
these they raised temples and altars for
sacrifices and supplications, to which were
subsequently added fastings. "f The sun
and moon next became the objects of wor-
ship, at first probably as symbols ; next
followed the seven planets, the twelve signs
of the zodiac, and the twenty-four constella-
tions. Almost every tribe had its peculiar
idol, dead men were worshipped, and also
angels or genii ; some even denied all kinds
of revelation, having sunk into the lowest
depths of idolatry ; but the descendants of
Shem passed from pure Theism into Sabae-
isra, or a belief in the peopling of the
heavenly bodies with superior intelligences,
by whom the lives and actions of men were
resrulated. The immigration of a few Jewish
and Christian tribes had introduced among
the more thoughtful, purer notions both of
faith and practice ; but these had made
little progress among the mass of the people,
• Ishmael is said to have married the daughter of
Mozauz or Modhaugh, the sovereign of Hijaz. — (See
tabular genealogies of these three tribes in Colonel
Chesney's work on the Euphrates and Tigris, vol. i.)
who, as regarded their political and social
state, were still, as they had been for ages,
to a great extent isolated by poverty and
by geographical position, from the rest of
the world. Their country, consisting of
some mountain tracts and rich oases, sepa-
rated or surrounded by a sandy desert, has
been aptly compared to the coasts and
islands of a sea. J The desert was thinly
scattered with small camps of predatory
horsemen, who pitched their tents wherever
a well of water could be found; and aided
by the much-enduring camel, overspread ex-
tensive regions, to the great peril and anx-
iety of peaceful travellers. The settled in-
habitants, though more civilized, were
scarcely less simple in their habits; the
various tribes formed distinct communities,
between whom there could be little commu-
nication except by rapid journeys on horse-
back or tedious marches, in the present
caravanseray fashion. Each tribe acknow-
ledged as its chief the representative of their
common ancestor ; but probably little cheek
was ever imposed upon the liberty of indi-
viduals, save in rare cases, when the general
interest imperatively demanded such inter-
ference. The physical features of the land
and its scanty agricultural resources helped
to foster the hardy and self-reliant character
of its sons, who, unconnected by the strong
ties of religious or commercial fellowship,
and never compelled to unite against a
foreign foe, found vent in the innumerable
feuds which constantly spring up between
independent tribes and families, for the
warlike and roving instincts which seem so
inseparably bound up with the wiry, lithe-
some, supple frame, and the fiery, yet ima-
ginative and sensuous temperament, of the
Arab.
Such a people, united for a common pur-
pose under a common leader, miglit, it was
evident, accomplish extraordinary results;
and purpose and leader were presented to
them in the person of a man, whose fame as
a subjugator may be mentioned in the same
page with that of Alexander the Great, and
who, as a lawgiver, takes much higher rank — •
higher, that is, in the sense of having used
and abused powers never entrusted to the
Macedonian. Mohammed the False Pro-
phet, was, beyond all doubt, intimately
acquainted with both the Jewish and Chris-
The sons of Ham, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan
peopled parts of Western Asia, as well as Africa.
t Ecchellensis, Chrnn. Otien., App., c. 6, p. 148.
I Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 488.
52
MOHAMMED, THE FALSE PROPHET.
tian scriptures, he recognised the mighty
truths they contained, and the sharp wea-
pons those trutlis would afford, wielded
against idolatry. Incited by strangely-
blended motives of ambition and fanaticism,
he boldly defied the curse pronounced on
those most impious of all deceivers, who
shall dare to add unto, or take away from, the
revealed word of God. {Revelation, ch. xxii.
V. 18, 19.)
It is necessary to know something of his
private life, before we can understand the
steps by which an unknown enthusiast sprang
suddenly into importance; and, gathering
together with marvellous skill and energy
the scattered tribes, formed them into a
nation, prohibited retaliation without the
previous sanction of a trial and a sentence,
and in short, induced them to abandon intes-
tine strife and combine in a religious crusade.
Mohammed was born a.d. 569, at Mecca, one
of the oldest cities in the world, and belonged
to the head family of the tribe of Koreish,
who were the hereditary guardians of the
great temple of Caaba, which is built round
a well, supposed to be that miraculously
pointed out to Hagar to save the life of
Ishmael. Tradition declares the temple
itself, or at least the first temple which
existed on this site, to have been vouchsafed
in answer to the prayer of Adam, who im-
plored that he might be permitted to have a
sanctuary like that in which he had wor-
shipped ii). Eden. The prayer was granted,
and in curtains of light a model of the para-
disaical tcmplewas let down, precisely beneath
the spot where the original had stood. On
this model Seth built a temple, which was
swept away by the deluge, but rebuilt by
Abraham and Isaac. The worship ofl'ered in
the Caaba was at the beginning of the sixth
century idolatrous, the chief objects being
Abraham and Ishmael, to whose images,
each holding a bunch of arrows, such as the
Arabs use for divining, regular worship was
offered. Thus Abraham, the divinely-com-
missioned witness against idolatry, became
in process of time the object of the very
crime he had so zealously condemned. With
him and his son there appear to have been
in all 360 gods, the number having pro-
bably reference to the days of the Persian
year.
The chief command of the Caaba and of
the city were vested in the same person, and
to this double office of priest and chief Mo-
hammed was presumptive heir, when the
death of his father Abdallah before liis
grandfather, cut him off from the succession,
and threw him a destitute orphan on the care
of his uncle, Abu Taleb, who taught him the
business of a merchant, and carried him on
long trading journeys into Syria, thus giving
him early insight into foreign countries and
creeds. When but fourteen, Mohammed
entered into a rancorous war that had broken
out among the tribes, and greatly dis-
tinguished himself for courage and ability.
Till twenty-five he remained in the service
of his uncle, and then married Kadijah, the
richly-endowed widow of a merchant of
Mecca. Thus raised to independence, he
was enabled to pursue the objects most con-
genial to his own mind; but the nature of
his occupations for many years is unknown.
Some suppose him to have employed that
long interval in the study of various manu-
scripts, although throughout his life he con-
stantly affirmed himself unable to read or
write* a single word. It is very possible that,
by the aid of a retentive memory, he might
have obtained orally a great part, or even the
whole, of the information he possessed, espe-
cially with regard to the unity of God, by
intercourse with a cousin of his wife's, named
Warka ben Naufel, who was skilled in Jewish
learning, and is said to have translated the
Scriptures from Hebrew into Arabic. He
withdrew himself at length from all society,
and spent long periods in complete solitude
in the cave of Hara, near his native city,
giving free scope to meditations, which
brought him to the verge if not actually into
the abyss of insanity, and opened a door for
fancied visions and every species of mental
delusion. At length, when about forty years
of age, he declared his alleged mission to his
wife, and afterwards to a few of his family;
and, some three or four years after, publicly
announced himself as " the last and greatest
of the pi'ophets." He is represented as having
been a man of middle size, singularly mus-
cular, with a very large head, prominent
forehead, eyebrows nearly meeting, but di-
vided by a vein, which in times of excite-
ment throbbed violently, black flashing eyes,
aquiline nose, full and florid cheeks, large
mouth, and small teeth of the most exquisite
whiteness ; glossy black hair fell over his
shoulders, and a full beard flowed down upon
his chest. His countenance is alleged to
have been beautiful in the extreme, and to
• Perhaps the strongest presumption against the
truth of this assertion, is the circumstance of his
calling for a pen that he might write, while delirious,
during his last illness. The request was refused.
THE HEJIRA OR FLIGHT FROM MECCA— a.d. 622.
53
have added not a little to the effect produced
by his insinuatiug address and consummate
eloquence upon the impressionable natures
of his countrymen.* The creed he first taught
was simply this : — " There is no God but
God, and Mohammed is his prophet ; " and
aU who received and repeated this compre-
hensive formula were styled "true believers."
The Koran he declared to be a perfect book,
already written in heaven, but communicated
to him in portions only, through the medium
of the angel Gabriel. This provision enabled
him to disseminate his doctrines gradually, to
observe the manner in which they were
received, and to modify and even change
them at successive periods ; but, at the same
time, the very facility of obviating imme-
diate difficulties, led to many discrepancies
and contradictions in his pretended revela-
tions. In spite, however, of much extrava-
gance, of the wildest dreams related as if
sober realities, and, worse than all, of the
glaring impiety of pleading the Divine com-
mand as a reason for intolerance and immo-
rality, many chapters of the Koran are still
remarkable as compositions. f They stamp
their author as far superior to any existing
writer of his country, and even exhibit him
in the light of a reformer — for his religion
was founded on the subhme theology of the
Old Testament, and his morality, faulty
indeed in comparison with the Christian
code, was yet far purer than that then
general in Arabia, for it must be remem-
bered that Mohammed represented himself
as privileged to break through at pleasure
the very rules he most strenuously enforced
on others. The Koran abounds in ad-
monitions to spiritual and moral excellence,
enunciates the necessary laws and directions
for the guidance of Mohammedans, and
especially enjoins the worship and reverence
of the only true God, and resignation to his
will. In the course of its 114 chapters,
Adam, Noah, Moses, Joseph, David, Solo-
mon, and other patriarchs, prophets, and
kings, are referred to by name, the facts
being evidently derived from the Jewish
Scriptures, the fictions in which they are
enveloped, from tradition, or more fre-
quently from the teeming brain of the im-
* For a graphic and condensed account of tlie im-
postor and his early proceedings, see a puhlished
lecture on Mohammedanism, by the Rev. W. Arthur.
Major Price's comj)endious Mahommedan History is
an excellent book of reference, as well as of agree-
able reading.
t " The style of the Koran," says its able trans-
lator, Mr. Sale, "is generally beautiful and fluent,
postor. It seems almost profanation to
mention the sacred name of the Great
Redeemer in connection with the lying
tales of the False Prophet. Suffice it to
say that His divine mission is recognised in
the Koran, but His divinity denied.
For ten years after the first public an-
nouncement of his alleged calHng, Moham-
med continued to play the part of a zealous
and enduring missionary, suffering himself
" to be abused, to be spit upon, to have
dust thrown upon him, and to be dragged
out of the temple by his own turban fastened
to his neek.^j Persecution had its usual
effect of drawing its object into notice ; his
doctrines gradually took root, until, upon the
death of his uncle and protector, Abu Taleb,
the rulers of Mecca determined on his
destruction. He lost his faithful wife and
earliest convert, Kadijah, about the same
time, and a complete change came over him.
At Medina, 270 miles from Mecca, his
doctrines had been favourably received, and
a deputation from that city invited him
to become its governor. He gladly fled
thither, escaping, by stratagem, from a con-
spiracy formed in Mecca, leaving his young
cousin Ali lying on his bed, covered with his
well-known green robe. The Hejira or flight
forms the era from which Mohammedans
date ; it occurred a.d. 622. On his an-ival
at Medina, whither all his converts followed
him, he was immediately made governor.
Many Jews and Christians then resided
there, the latter he rather favoured, but the
former as a nation incurred his bitter enmity,
by indignantly rejecting his overtures to
become proselytes, or to aid in making
Jerusalem the head-quarters of the new
creed. Once established at Medina he built
a mosque, threw off his submissive attitude,
and declared his intention of having recourse
to arms in his own defence, and also for
the conversion or extermination of infidels.
He strengthened his cause by several mar-
riages, and subsequently added to the num-
ber, as policy or inclination prompted, until
he had fifteen, or as some say, twenty-
one so-called legitimate wives — other men
being allowed four at the utmost. The true
secret of his success probably lay in the
especially where it imitates the prophetic manner
and scripture phrases : it is concise and often obscure,
adorned with bold figures after the Eastern taste,
and in many places, especially where the majesty
and attributes of God are described, sublime and
magnificent." — {Preliminary/ Discourse, p. 44.)
:j; Turikhi Tabari ; quoted by Col. Kennedy, in
the Bombcn/ Literary I'ransactiona, vol. iii.
S4
DEATH OF MOHAMMED, a.d. 732.— HIS SUCCESSORS.
force of his grand doctrine of tlie unity and
omnipotence of God, as contrasted with
idolatry. This he declared was to be in-
sisted upon everywhere, at the cost of life
itself, which it was meritorious to lavish
freely, whether that of believers in spreading
the right faith, or of infidels to lessen their
number. The enthusiastic Arabs were
easily induced to unite as fellow-workers
in an enterprize they believed enjoined by
the direct command of (iod, and eagerly
dared the fiercest contest in the battle-field,
intoxicated by the lying words which as-
serted that " the sword is the key of heaven
and of hell; a drop of blood shed in the
cause of God, or a night spent under arms,
is of more avail than two months of fasting
or prayer. Whoever falls in battle, his sins
are forgiven at the day of judgment ; his
wounds shall be resplendent as vermillion
and odoriferous as musk ; the loss of his
limbs shall be supplied by the wings of
angels and cherubims."*
The first contest, which took place at Beder
between 300 of the Mohammedans and 900
of the Koreish tribe, terminated in favour
of the new sect, and laid the foundation of
a great military empire, of such rapid
growth, that when in the tenth year of the
Hejira, and the sixty-third of his age,
Mohammed lay writhing in the last strug-
gles of the long agony of four years'
duration, which followed the eating of the
poisoned dish prepared by the persecuted
Jews of Chaibar — not only was all Arabia
united under his sway, but the king of Persia,
the emperor of Rome, and the king of
Ethiopia had be.en called upon to acknow-
ledge his divine mission and receive the
Koran : the dominions of the emperor (Hera-
clius) had indeed been actually invaded by a
successful expedition into Syria. Yet this
was but the nucleus of the singular power
exercised by his successors, for instead of
falling to pieces like a snow-ball in the
contest for its possession, as might have
been expected, since Mohammed, like Alex-
ander, left no undoubted heir, the reins of
government were placed by his followers in
the hand of Abubekir, one of the earliest of
the so-called " true believers," in spite of
the opposition of Ali, the cousin and son-in-
law of Mohammed, who had expected to be
* The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
contains a detailed account of the rise and progress
of the Moslem empire, written with all the power
and caustic irony peculiar to Gibbon.
t That is, civil and spiritual ruler, or high-pontiff.
chosen caliph and imaum.f Abubekir,
fearing the revival of the domestic feuds of
tribes or clans, forthwith proclaimed anew
throughout the Arabian peninsula the
favourite and convenient doctrine of the
False Prophet, that fighting for religion
was the most acceptable service which man
could render to his Maker, and declared his
intention of sending an army for the com-
plete subjugation of Syria. The life and
rule of Abubekir terminated in two years.
In accordance with his desire, Omar, a
noble citizen of Mecca, acceded to the
supreme authority, with the title of
" commander of the faithful." Under his
vigorous rule the Arabs invaded Persia and
utterly destroyed the second or Parthian
empire, gained complete possession of Syria,
after defeating 40,000 Greeks in a severe
contest on the Ye7-muk, a river running
into the lake of Tiberias, and, as a crowning
triumph, compelled the surrender of Jerusa-
lem, for which, as the " city of the pro-
phets," Mohammed had always professed
high veneration.
Egypt was over-run by Khaled, a general
whose victories had procured from Moham-
med the title of " the sword of God," and
Alexandria was speedily added to the bril-
liant roll of Mussulman conquests. The
great abilities, united to extreme simplicity
and purity of life, which distinguished
Omar, doubtless contributed to the spread
of the doctrines and temporal sway of the
people he governed. At the expiration of
ten years he was slain while praying in the
mosque, by a Persian, whose rage was ex-
cited by being obliged to pay two pieces of
silver daily, as a penalty for refusing to
abjure his faith — the alternatives offered by
the Mohammedans, being "the Koran,
tribute, or the sword." The large majority
of the conquered chose the first, especially
in Persia, where a lifeless form of govern-
ment and a fantastic and superstitious creed,
needed but a slight shock to hasten the pro-
gress of decay, and crumble into dust, to be
moulded anew and receive vital energy, in
greater or less degree, according to the will
and ability of the first dominant power
which might be brought to bear upon it.
The doctrine of the unity and omnipotence
of God was received by the Persians as a
mighty truth, divinely revealed to man, as
it really was, notwithstanding the false and
distorted medium through which it reached
them, and it must have peculiarly commended
itself to all who had seriously considered the
FORTUNES OP THE AEAB EMPIRE— a.d. 644 to 1258.
55
subject of religion, by freeing them from
the enthralment of a cowardly and degrading
system, which taught men to seek the aid
or deprecate the wrath of beings who added
to superhuman influence the worst vices of
fallen creatures.
Othman succeeded Omar, but quickly
displeased his generals, and at the close of
a turbulent reign of twelve years, was
besieged in his own house, and after a long
defence, murdered with the Koran on his
knee. Ali was at length elected caliph, not-
withstanding the rivalry of Mauwiyah, the
lieutenant of Syria, but assassinated within
five years in Persia, while entering a mosque
for evening worship. His son and successor
Hassan, was defeated by Mauwiyah and
abdicated in his favour. The new caliph,
the founder of the dynasty of the Ommiades,
extended the dominion of the Arabs to the
Atlantic, having subjugated all Roman or
Northern Africa.
In A.D. 713, Spain was subdued, and the
Mussulmans continued to advance until
they had reached the heart of France, but
were met on the Loire, in 732, between
Poitiers and Tours, by Charles Martel, and
utterly routed.
The last caliph of the dynasty of' the
Ommiades (Merwan) was slain in a sedition
raised by the descendants of Abbas, Moham-
med's uncle. The second prince of this
dynasty built the city of Bagdad and re-
moved the seat of j^overnment thither ; the
fifth was the famous Haroun al Raschid.
Under the Abbassides learning flourished and
the original simplicity of the court gave way
to luxury and magnificence, but the coherent
strength of the now vast empire was on the
decline, and a gradual but sure progress of
dismemberment commenced. In Spain, a
branch of the Ommiades maintained an
independent sway; Khorassan and Trans-
oxiana became virtually independent, and in
Egypt, descenaants of Fatima, (daughter of
Mohammed and wife to Ali,) established a
distinct caHphate. The fortunes of these
new powers wiU be noticed when connected
with India, as also those of the Seljuk tribe,
whose barbarities at Jerusalem (under the
• Islam, derived from an Arabic root, signifies "the
true faith," Moslem or Mussulman a believer therein.
t Mohammed Kasim, surnamed Ferishta, resided
at the court of Ibrahim Adil Shah II., at Beejapoor,
about the close of the sixteenth century, and, sus-
tained by royal patronage and assistance in collecting
authorities, wrote a history of the rise of the Moham-
medan power in India till the year 1612, which has
been ably translated from the original Persian by
dreaded name of Saracens) provoked the
nations of Christendom to attempt the rescue
of the Holy Land; but the struggle carried on
there for nearly three centuries, never imme-
diately aff'ected the centre of the Moham-
medan empire, which continued at Bagdad
for about 500 years. Mustassem was caliph
when Hulaku, a descendant of the cele-
brated Jengis Khan, besieged and captured
Bagdad. The cruel victor, after mocking
his wretched prisoner with vain hopes until
he had obtained his hidden treasures, ex-
posed him for seme days to the lingering
torments of starvation, and then, under the
pretence of unwillingness to shed his blood,
caused him to be wrapped in coarse camlet,
and rolled about on the ground until he
expired. Thus perished the last of the
Abbassides, a.d. 1258. In the city alone,
800,000 persons, or according to some au-
thorities, a much greater number were slain,
so that the Tigris was dyed with gore.
Indo-Arabic Conquests. — In a.d. 664, a
large force marched from Meru to Cabool,
and made converts of upwards of 12,000
persons. At the same time, Mohalib, (after-
wards an eminent commander in Persia and
Arabia,) proceeded thence with a detach-
ment in the direction of India, penetrated to
Moultan, and having plundered the country,
triumphantly rejoined the army at Khoras-
san, bringing with him many captives, who
were compelled to declare themselves converts
to the Moslem*creed. No further attempt is
recorded as having been made on the north
of India during the continuance of the Arab
rule, but the prince of Cabool appears to
have been rendered tributary, if not subject
to the caliphs, since his revolt is mentioned
by Ferishta,t as the occasion of a new in-
vasion of his territories eighteen years later.
The Arabs at this period met with an unex-
pected check : they were drawn into a de-
file, defeated, and compelled to surrender,
and to purchase their freedom by an ample
ransom. One old contemporary of Moham-
med is said to have disdained all compro-
mise, and to have fallen by the swords of
the infidels. This disgrace was immediately
revenged by the Arab governor of Seestan,
Colonel Briggs. A considerable portion of it had
been previously rendered into English by Colonel
Dow, but the value of his work is lessened by mis-
translations, and also by being largely interspersed
with reflections and facts collated from other sources,
which, though often interesting and important in
themselves, are so closely interwoven with the text
as to leave the reader in doubt regarding the portion
which actually rests on the testimony of Ferishta.
56
AUAB INVASIONS OF WESTERN INDIA— a.d. 699 to 710.
and yet more completely by Abdurehman,
governor of Khorassan, who in a.d. 699, led
a powerful army in person against the city,
and reduced the greater part of the country
to subjection. A quarrel with Hejaj, the
governor of Bassora, led Abdurehman into
rebellion against the reigning caliph (Abdel-
melek, one of the Ommiades), whereupon
he formed an alliance with his former
enemy, the prince of Cabool, in whose
dominions he was compelled to take re-
fuge, and at length, to avoid being given up
to his enemies, committed suicide.*
The nation to which this prince of Cabool
belonged is rendered doubtful by the posi-
tion of his capital at a corner where the
countries of the Paropamisan Indians, the
Afghans, the Persians, and the Tartars are
closely adjoining each other. Elphiiistoue
supposes him to have been a Persian, and
considers it very improbable that he could
have been an Afghan, as Cabool is never
known to have been possessed by a tribe of
that nation.
At this period the northern portion of
the tract included in the branches of the
Hindoo Coosh, and now inhabited by
the Eimaks and Hazarehs, was known by
the name of the mountains of Ghor, and
probably occupied by Afghans, as also the
middle part, all of which seems to have been
included in the mountains of Soliman.f The
southern portion,' known by the name of the
mountains of Mekran, were inhabited by
Beloochecs as at present ; and the other
ridges connected with the same range as
those of Ghor, but situated to the east of the
range of Imaus and Soliman, were probably
tenanted by Indians, descendants of the
ParopamisadiB. Ferishta seems to have been
led by their traditions to believe the Af-
ghansj to have been converted to Moham-
medanism in the life-time of its originator,
and represents them as invading the terri-
tory of the Hindoos as early as a.h. 63, and
* Klwlaaat al A/Mar, and the Tarikhi Tdbari,
quoted by Price (vol. i., pp. 455 — 463).
t Elphinstone, vol. i., 496. I am informed by Mr.
Masson, on the authority of Mirza Sami, the minister
of Dost Mohammed, who corrected the mistake made
by Sir A. Burnes on the subject in his presence, that
the term Hindoo Coosh is especially given to the high
peak of the range to which it belongs, immediately
overhanging Ghosband, although it is applied, in
ordinary parlance, to some extent of the range
stretching east or north-east.
X Ferishta records, on the anthority of the Mutla-
ool-Anwar, a work supposed to be no longer extant,
but which he describes as written by a respectable
author, tliat the Afghans are Copts of the race of the
as afterwards continually eng.aged in hos-
tiUtics with the Rajah of Lahore, until, in
conjunction with the Gukkurs (a people on
the hills east of the Indus), they obtained
from him a cession of territory, secretly
engaging in return to protect him from the
attacks of other Mussulmans. It was owing •
to this compact that the princes of the house
of Samani never invaded the north of India,
but confined their predatory incursions to
Sinde. Ferishta further mentions that the
Afghans gave an asylum to the remains of
the Arabs who were driven out of Sinde in
the second century of the Hejira. §
This account is on the whole sufficiently
probable. The Afghans may have willingly
received the Koran |1 long before their subju-
gation by Sultan Mahmood. On the sub-
ject of their early religion, Mohammedan
historians afford no light, owing to their not
distinguishing denominations of infidels.
Arab descents on Sinde by sea are men-
tioned as early as the caliphate of Omar, but
they were probably piratical expeditions,
undertaken for the purpose of carrying off
the women of the country, whose beauty
seems to have been much esteemed in Ara-
bia. Several detachments were also sent
through the south of Mekran (the Gedrosia
of Alexander) , during the reigns of the early
caliphs, but all failed owing to the impracti-
cable character of this barren region.
At length, in the reign of the canph
Walid, an Arab ship laden with slave-girls
and rarities from Sinde having been seized
at Dival or Dewal, a sea-port connected
with Sinde (supposed to be the site of the
modern Kurrachee), the rajah, named Dahir
by the Mussulmans, was called on for resti-
tution. The capital of this prince was at
Alor, near Bukkur, and he possessed Moul-
tan and all Sinde, with, perhaps, the adjoin-
ing plain of the Indus, as far as the moun-
tains at Calabagh. His territory was por-
tioned out among his relations, probably
Pharaohs, many of whom, after the overthrow of the
infidel monarch and his host in the Ked Sea, became
converts to the true faith; but others, stubborn and
self-willed, continued obstinate, and, leaving their
country, came to India and settled in the Soliman
Mountains under the name of Afghans. (Briggs'
Ferishta, vol. i., p. 6.) The people themselves claim
descent from Afghaun, grandson ofSaul, king of Israel.
§ A quarter of the Balla Hissar, or citadel of Ca-
bool, retains the name of Arabah, and its occupants
are of Arabic descent.
II The Tartar nations, China, the Malay country
and the Asiatic islands, afford evidence of the propa-
gation of the religion of the Mussulmans, inde-
pendent of their arms.
'5^
2>
CAPTUllE OF THE FORT OF ALOR BY CASIM— a.d. 711.
57
en the feudal tenure still common among
the Rajpoots. Dahir refused compliance
with the demand of Walid, on the ground
that Dewal was not subject to his authority ;
the excuse was deemed unsatisfactory, and
a body of 1,000 infantry and oOO horse
were despatched to Sinde ; but this inade-
quate force perished like its predecessors
on the road. Hejaj, the before-mentioned
governor of Bassora, prepared a regular army
of 6,000 men at Shiraz, and entrusted the
command to his son-in-law, Mohammed
Casim, then only twenty years of age. By
him the troops were safely conducted to the
walls of Dewal, a. h. 92 (a.d. 711). Casim,
being provided with catapultas and other
engines, commenced operations by attacking
a celebrated pagoda without the city, sur-
rounded by a high enclosure of hewn stoae,
and occupied, in addition to the numerous
Brahmin inhabitants, by a strong garrison
of Rajpoots. The Arab leader having
learned that the safety of the place was
believed to be connected with that of the
sacred standard displayed on the tower of
the temple, directed his engines against this
object, and having succeeded in bringing it to
the ground, the dismay of the besieged soon
terminated in surrender. The town was like-
wise taken, and a rich booty obtained. The
Brahmins rejected the proposed test of con-
version— circumcision : all above the age of
seventeen were put to death, and the re-
mainder, with the women, reduced to slavery.
Brahmanabad, NeronKow (now Hyderabad),
Sehwan, and Salem* were in turn reduced,
and Casim, strengthened by a reinforcement
of 2,000 horse from Persia, continued to
advance, notwithstanding the opposition of
a powerful force under the rajah's eldest
son, until he reached the neighbourhood of
Alor or Abhor, where he was confronted by
the rajah himself, at the head of 40,000 men.
The disproportion of numbers rendered
retreat or advance equally hazardous for the
invader,' who prudently ensconced his small
force t in a strong position, and awaited the
attack of the Hindoos, anxiously watching
for any error or disaster which might create
* The site of Brahmanabad is supposed by Burnes
to be marked by the ruins close to the modern town
I of Tatta (Travels, vol. iii., p. 31), but Captain
M'Murdo {R. A. S. Journal, No. I., p. 28), thinks it
must have been situated on the other side of the pre-
sent course of the Indus, much farther to the north-
east. Sehwan still retains its ancir<it name. ^The
site of Salem is doubtful.
t It is stated in a work, abstracted from the family
annals of Nawab Bahav.al Khan, and translated and
disorder among their unwieldy ranks. Such
a circumstance occurred at an early period
of the engagement. A naptha fire-ball
struck the rajah's elephant, and the terrified
animal becoming absolutely ungovernable,
rushed from the field of battle and plunged
into the adjacent river Indus. Dahir, al-
though severely wounded by an arrow,
mounted his war-horse and returned imme-
diately to the scene of action, but the dis-
appearance of the leader had produced its
usual effect on an Asiatic army; the fortune
of the day was already decided ; and the
brave rajah, after vainly attempting to rally
his panic-stricken forces, plunged into the
midst of the Arab cavalry, and, with a small
hand of trusty followers, fell covered with
wounds. His son fled to Brahmanabad, but
his widow collected the remains of the
routed army and successfully defended the
city, until famine within the walls proved a
more powerful enemy than the sword with-
out. Inflamed by her example, a body of Raj-
poots resolved to devote themselves and their
families to death, after the manner of their
tribe. When all hope of deliverance had fled,
they bathed, and with other ceremonies took
leave of each other and the world; the women
and children were then sacrificed on a fune-
real pile, and the men, headed by the widow
of Dahir, flung open the gates of the for-
tress, and all perished in an attack on the
Mohammedan camp. The city was then car-
ried by storm, those who remained in arms
were slaughtered, and their families reduced
to bondage.
A last desperate stand was made at Ash-
candra, after which Moultan seems to have
fallen without resistance, and every part of
the dominions of the ill-fated DahirJ was
gradually subjected. Each city was called
upon to embrace the religion of Mohammed
or to pay tribute; in default of both, an
assault was commenced, and unless saved by
timely capitulation, the fighting men were
put to death and their families sold for
slaves. Four cities held out to the last
extremity ; and in two of them the number
of soldiers who were refused quarter is esti-
published by Shahamet AH (a native gentleman in
the service of the British government), under the
title of the History of Bahawnlpur (London, 1848),
that a Brahmin of great abilitv forsook his master,
the rajah, previous to the final conflict, and afforded
great assistance ,to Casim ; if so, he was probably
accompanied by other deserters. i
\ In the history of Sinde, translated by the late
Captain Postans, it is asserted that Dahir ruled
Cabool, as well as Sinde, and coins have been found
.1
58
EXTINCTION OF ARAB POWER IN INDIA.
mated at 6,000 each. The merchants, arti-
zans, and such like were exempt from moles-
tation, beyond what must have been insepa-
rably connected with the storming of a town.
"When the payment of tribute was agreed
to, the sovereign retained his territory, sim-
nly becoming amenable to the usual rela-
tions of a tributary prince, and the people
retained all their former privileges, including
the free exercise of their religion.
Casim himself, notwithstanding his ex-
treme youth, seems to have united to mili-
tary talents of the first order, discretion and
ability to keep by conciliatory measures what
he had gained by violence.* Several Hindoo
princes were induced to join him during the
Avar, and at its conclusion he re-appointed
the Hindoo prime minister of Dahir to his
previous office, on the express ground that
he was best qualified to protect old rights,
and maintain established institutions.
The conquest and occupation of Sinde
being completed, the victor organised an
army on a large scale, f By some writers
he is alleged to have accomplished a trium-
phant march to Canouj on the Ganges, estab-
lishing a Mohammedan garrison in every
large town on his route, when a sudden blow
from a most unexpected source terminated at
once his projects and his life. Among the
females captured at Sinde were the two
daughters of the ill-fated rajah, who, from
their beauty and high rank, were deemed
worthy to grace the seraglio of the Com-
mander of the Faithful. There they re-
mained until the year of the Hejira 96
(a.d. 714), when Walid became enamoured
of the elder sister, who vehemently declared
herself unworthy of his notice, having been
dishonoured by Casim before being sent
from her own country. The enraged caliph,
in the first headlong impulse of passion,
wrote with his own hand an order to Casim,
that he should cause himself to be sewn up
in a raw hide and thus embrace the fate
which he deserved. The faithful subject
literally obeyed this tyrannical mandate,
and his body was sent to Damascus. The
caliph showed it to the princess, as evidence
of the fate which attended those who dared
insult the "deputy of the prophet," upon
which she exultingly declared that his ill-
fated servant was wholly innocent of the
crime attributed to him, and had fallen a
I with Nagari legends, which Mr. Masson reads us refer-
ring to Sri Dahir, but Professor Wilson, to Sri Mahe.
* A Persian MS., the Tarikhi Hind o Sind, pre-
served in the India House, is the source whence most
victim to her successful stratagem, planned
to revenge the death of her father, mother,
brother, and countrymen. This strange and
romantic incident is recorded with little
variation by Mohammedan historians, and
it is perfectly consistent with the determined
character of the Hindoo women, where the
objects of their afiections are concerned, and
also with the pure and unhesitating self-
devotion repeatedly evinced by the servants
of the caliphs, f
The conquests of Casim were made over
to his successor Temim, whose family pos-
sessed them for about thirty-six years, that
is, until the downfall of the house of Ommia,
A.D. 750, when the Mussulmans were ej*-
pelled by the Rajpoot tribe of Sumera, and
their territories restored to the Hindoos,
who retained possession for nearly 500 years.
Part of the expelled Arabs found refuge,
(as before stated) among the Afghans.
Such is the account given by Elphinstone,
on the authority of Ferishta and the Ayeen
Akbery — but in the History of Bahawalpw,
since published, it is asserted that on the ex-
pulsion of the Ommia dynasty and the ac-
cession of Abul Abbas, governors were sent
out by him to Sinde and the Punjaub. But
little resistance was made, and the Abbas
house continued in the enjoyment of their
Indian acquisitions without molestation,
until the caliphate of Kader-Bellah, that is,
for a period of 286 lunar years, at the ex-
piration of which the formidable enemy of
Hindoo independence, Mahmood of Ghuz-
nee, appeared on the stage.
These statements are quite contradictory;
but whatever degree of influence or authority
the Arabs may have retained after the check
given by the death of their leader, Casim,
it is certain that neither their power nor
their creed spread, but rather diminished
from that moment. The passive courage of
the Hindoos generally, as well as the more
active bravery of the Rajpoots, associated
especially with a devoted ' attachment to a
religion closely interwoven with their laws
and customs — opposed great obstacles to in-
vaders, even more desirous of converting
than of conquering them. Besides this,
the great change which took place in the
spirit of the Mohammedan rulers, rendered
their antagonism far less dangerous. The
rude soldiers of Arabia, who had raised the
accounts of Casim's military transactions are derived.
t About 50,000 Mohammedans are said to have
collected around his standard on this occasion.
X Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 410.
RISE OF THE KINGDOM OF GHUZNEE.
59
wild war cry of Islam, passed away ; succeed-
ing generations filled their place, reared less
hardily, while their chiefs in an absorbing
desire for luxury and magnificence at
home, cared little for the dear-bought
triumphs of victory and the glory of their
standard abroad. Omar set out to join his
army at Jerusalem, (in compliance with the
stipulation of the Christians that he should
personally receive the surrender of the holy
place), with his arms and provisions on the
same camel with himself; and Othman ex-
tinguished his lamp, when he had finished
the necessary labours of the day, that the
public oil might not be expended on his
enjoyments. Al Mahdi, within a century
from the last-named ruler, loaded 500
camels with ice and snow ; and the profusion
of one day of the Abbassides would have de-
frayed all the expenses of the four first
caliphs. Thus it was left to other Mus-
sulman nations, and to dynasties formed
during the gradual dismemberment of the
great Arab empire, to establish permanent
dominion in India.
House of Ghuznee.* — To understand the
origin of this powerful family, it is necessary
to retrace our steps, and briefly notice the
country from whence they came.
After the conquest of Persia, the Oxus
became the northern Arab frontier : on the
opposite side lay a tract of country (bounded
on the north by the Jaxartes, on the west
by the Caspian Sea, and on the east by
Mount Imaus,) to which they gave the
name of Mawer ul Nahr, literally Beyond
the River, but commonly translated Traus-
oxania. It comprised much desert ground,
intermingled with tracts of remarkable fer-
tility, and was occupied partly by settled in-
habitants, who were chiefly Persians, and
partly by nomadic and pastoral tribes, com-
prehended under the vague and general
name of Tartars. f To which of the three
great nations, commonly included in Euro-
pean writings under this head, the people of
Transoxania belonged at this period, whether
Turks, Moguls, or Manchoos, is still unde-
termined ; but the first-named people are
generally supposed to have formed the bulk
of the wandering and also a section of the
• Ghuznee, otherwise spelt Ghizni and Ghazni.
t Tod, referring to Be Guignes, says — the Heong-
nou and the Ou-houn, the Turks and Moguls, were
called "Tatar," from Tatan, the name of the country
from the banks of the Irtish, along the mountains of
Altai, to the shores of the Yellow Sea. De Guignes
invariably maintains Hcong-nou to be but another
name for the Turks, among whom he places Attila
permanent population. It was more than
half a century after the subjugation of
Persia and five years before the occupation of
Sinde, that the Arabs crossed the Oxus
under Catiba, governor of Khorassan, and
after eight years spent in a contest, with
varying success, Transoxiana was subjected
to the sway of the caliphs, a.d. 713. In
806, a revolt occurred, which the son and
successor of Haroun al Raschid, Mamoon,
was enabled to quell, and afterwards by
residing in Khorassan, to retain authority
over that province. But on the removal of
the court to Bagdad, Taher, who had been
the principal instrument of Mamoon's eleva-
tion to the caliphate, to the detriment of
his brother Ameen,- established indepen-
dent authority in Khorassan and Trans-
oxiana, which were never again united to
the rapidly decaying empire.
The family of Taher were deposed after
about fifty years' rule, by the Sofarides,
whose founder Yacub ben Leith, a brazier
of Seestan, commenced by raising a revolt
in his native province, afterwards over-
ran Persia,! and died while marching to
attack the caliph in Bagdad. At the ex-
piration of forty years, the Samanis, a family
of distinction, whose members had held gov-
ernments under Mamoon while he resided in
Khorassan, and afterwards under the Taher-
ites, superseded the Sofarides and took pos-
session of their territory, nominally in behalf
of the caliph, but really without any refer-
ence to his authority. It was in the reign
of Abdelmelek, the fifth prince of this
dynasty, that Aluptugeen, the founder of
the kingdom of Gliuzuee, rose into impor-
tance. He was of Turkish descent, and had
been a slave, but his royal master recognising
his ability, had appointed him to various
offices of trust, and at length to the govern-
ment of Khorassan. On the death of his
patron, a deputation was sent to consult
Aluptugeen respecting the choice of a suc-
cessor from the royal family, and having
given his suff'rage against Mansoor the
presumptive heir, on account of his extreme
youth, he incurred the ill-will of this prince,
(whohad meantime been raised to thetlirone,)
was deprived of his office, and but for the
and the majority of his army, whose hideous physi-
ognomy and savage manners lent a fearful prestige
to their desolating marches. Another division of the
same branch of the Heong-nou had previously settled
among the Persians in Transoxiana, and acquired
the name of the White Huns, from their changed
complexion. — (Histoire generale des Iliins.)
J He likewise subjugated Cabool. — {Mr. Thomas.)
60
DEFEAT OF JEIPAL, RAJAH OF LAHORE— a.d. 978.
fidelity of a trusty band of adherents, aided
by his own military skill, would have lost
liberty, if not life. At Ghuznee, in the
heart of the Soliman mountains, the fugi-
tive found safety, accompanied by 3,000 dis-
ciplined slaves [Mameluks). Here he was
probably joined by soldiers who had served
under him, as well as by the hill Afghans,
who, even though they might not acknow-
ledge his authority, Avould be readily in-
duced by wages to enter his service. In his
flight Aluptugeen was attended by a faith-
ful slave named Subuktugeen, brought by a
merchant from Turkistan to Bokhara.*
Following the example of his early bene-
factor, he had fostered the abilities of the
youth until, on the establishment of a king-
dom in Ghuznee, he rewarded the service
of his adherent, both as a counsellor and
general, by the titles of Ameer-ool-Omra
(chief of the nobles) and Vakeel-i-Mootluk
(representative). He is even said to have
named him as hia successor, but authorities
differ on this point, some stating that Subuk-
tugeen acceded immediately to the throne
on the demise of Aluptugeen, a.d. 975;
others, that he was chosen, on the death of
that monarch's son and successor, two years
later, by general consent of the chiefs, and
then married the daughter of his patron.
Having been recognised by the caliph Man-
soor as governor of Ghuznee, he had, con-
sequently, nothing to dread from that quar-
ter, but was speedily called upon to make
preparations against Jeipal {Jaya Pala),
rajah of Lahore, who, alarmed by the
growing power of a Mohammedan ruler
so near his frontier, and already harassed by
frequent incursions, determined in turn to
become the assailant. At the head of a
large army he crossed the Indus, marched
to Laghman at the mouth of the valley
which extends from Peshawer to Cabool,
and was there met by Subuktugeen. Some
skirmishes ensued, but a general engage-
ment was prevented by a terrible tempest of
thunder, wind, and hail, in which some
thousands of both armies were said to have
perished. This disaster was attributed to
supernatural causes ;t and the Hindoos,
less accustomed than their hardy foes to the
• He is alleged to have been lineally descended
from Yezdijerd, the last of the Persian monarchs,
who when flying from his enemies during the cali-
phate of Othman, was murdered while sleeping at
a water-mill near the town of Meru. His family
being left in Turkistan formed connections among
the people, and his descendants became Turks.
t Prince Mahmood learning that in the camp of
extreme vicissitudes of climate, and probably
more superstitious, proposed terms of peace,
to which Subuktugeen, notwithstanding the
opposition of his warlike son Mahmood,
then a mere boy, at length consented, on
representation being made to him of the
determined courage of the Hindoos, espe-
cially the Rajpoots, when driven to the last
extremity. Jeipal surrendered fifty ele-
phants, and engaged to pay a large sum of
money, but on regaining the shelter of his
own dominions, fear gave way to resent-
ment, and, forfeiting his pledge, he impri-
soned the messengers sent to demand its
redemption. Hostilities re-commenced ; the
rajahs of Delhi, Ajmeer, Calinjar, and
Ganouj,J made common cause with their
countrymen; and when the rival forces
again met in Laghman, the Ghuznee sove-
reign, having ascended a height to ascertain
the disposition of the enemy, beheld the
whole plain covered with an almost count-
less host, comprising 100,000 horse and a
prodigious number of foot soldiers. Un-
daunted by the prospect, and considering
himself " as a wolf about to attack a flock of
sheep," Subuktugeen divided his troops
into squadrons of 500 men each, and di-
rected them to attack successively one par-
ticular point of the dense line of the enemy,
which would thus be continually compelled
to encounter fresh troops. The mancEuvre
succeeded in occasioning some disorder,
which was the signal for a general assault ;
the Hindoos gave way, and were driven with
dreadful slaughter beyond the Indus, up to
which point Subuktugeen at once took pos-
session, levied heavy contributions in addi-
tion to the plunder found in the camp, and
left an officer, supported by 10,000 horse, as
governor of Peshawer. The Afghans and
Khiljis (a distinct Tartar tribe) tendered
allegiance, and furnished useful recruits.
He then employed himself in consolidating
his own dominions, which now extended on
the west beyond Candahar, until an appeal
for help from his nominal sovereign Noah
(the seventh of the Samanis) against the
inroads of the Hoeike Tartars, who then
possessed all Tarlary as far east as China,
induced him again to have recourse to arms.
Jeipal was a spring, into which, if a mixture of or-
dure were thrown, a fearful storm would arise,
caused this to be done and the predicted result im-
mediately followed. — {Ferishla.) The fact of there
being near Laghman, a spot subject to tempests of
extraordinary severity, renders this tale interesting.
X These princes were all of the Pala family, and
consequently related to the rajah of Lahore.
ACCESSION OF MAHMOOD OF GHUZNEE— a.d. 998.
61
So efficient was the assistance rendered, that
Noah, reinstated in his authority, recognised
the right of Subuktugeen over all his acqui-
sitions, and conferred the government of
Khorassan on Mahmood, with the title of
Syf-ood-Dowla (Sword of the State). This
arrangement was almost immediately dis-
turbed by the death of the two chief parties,
and the changes and dissensions which arose
in their dominions.
Mahmood, being absent at the time of his
father's demise, was supplanted in his claim
to the succession by his brother Ismael,
whom, after defeating in a pitched battle,
he captured and imprisoned for the rest of
his life, mitigating however the severity of
the sentence by every indulgence consistent
with such a situation. During the seven
months spent in establishing himself in
Ghuznee, events occurred in Bokhara very
detrimental to his interests. The new king,
Mansoor II., fell into the power of the old
enemies of his family, and by the influence
of Elik Khan the Tartar sovereign, was
compelled to receive Faik, one of his most
turbulent and rebellious nobles, as his
prime minister or rather master. The ap-
plication of Mahmood to be continued in
the government of Khorassan was abruptly
rejected, and soon afterwards some court
intrigues led to the unhappy Mansoor's
being dethroned and blinded, whereupon
Abdulmelek was elected his successor as the
instrument of Faik, a.d. 999. On this,
Mahmood ordered the name of the Samanis
to be omitted in the public prayers; took
possession of Khorassan in his own behalf;
and having received an investiture from the
reigning caliph (the dispenser of powers
which he himself no longer enjoyed) pro-
claimed the independence of his sway. He
is henceforth commonly termed Sultan, an
old Arabic word signifying king, but this
title is not found upon his coins.* He next
made peace with, and married the daughter
of Elik Khan, who had secured his share in
the spoil of a falling dynasty by seizing on
Transoxiana, and had thus put an end to
the dominion of the Samanis after it had
lasted 120 years. Mahmood was now little
more than thirty years of age. The vigour
and ambition of his mind were in accord-
ance with his athletic and well-proportioned
• Sultan, first stamped by the Seljuk, Toghral Beg,
was assumed in Ghuznee some fifteen years later
by Ibrahim, A.D. lOCO. (Thomas, on Ghuziii Coins.)
t Alexander was reproached by his mother for
placbg his friends on a level with princes, by his
frame, but, greedy of personal distinction
of every kind, he considered the mens sana
in corpore sano insuiiieient compensation
for an ordinary stature, and features dis-
figured with the small pox in a manner,
which at least in his youth, he bitterly re-
gretted, as calculated to mar the effect of
the splendid pageants in which he delighted
to form the chief object. For Mahmood,
famous warrior as he afterwards and had
indeed already proved himself, could not as
a legislator bear comparison with his vaunted
teacher Mohammed, and was very far from
uniting the comprehensive ability of the
statesman to the sword of the conqueror,
like his mighty predecessor in India, Alex-
ander; who, heedless of the externals of
royalty, lavished gold and jewels upon his
followers until his own coffers were empty,t
and — superior to the vanity which led his
successors to stamp their resemblance on
coins and images, cared so little for this
species of notoriety, that of his kingly form
no popular notion remains, save that con-
nected with the keen intelligence of the
eye, and the peculiar carriage of the head,
dwelt on by cotemporaries as his peculiar
characteristics.
The vice of covetousness, in the indul-
gence of which Mahmood's intense selfish-
ness found constant gratification, gradually
swallowed up the higher qualities of his
intellect, as well as the better feelings of his
heart. It had probably been early stimu-
lated by the rich booty captured during his
father's war with Jeipal, and by reports of
the immense stores of wealth heaped around
idolatrous slirines, which it was the duty of
every " true believer" to pillage and destroy.
The unsettled state of the surrounding na-
tions ofi'ered a wide scope for his ambition,
but Indian conquest appears to have been
his paramount desire. Having therefore, as
before stated, entered into a friendly alli-
ance with Elik Khan and made arrange-
ments for the government of his own domi-
nions, he proceeded with 10,000 chosen
horse to invade India, a.d. 1001. Near
Peshawer he was met by his father's old
antagonist, the rajah of Lahore, whom, after
totally defeating, he made prisoner. From
thence the conqueror pursued his victorious
march beyond the Sutlej, to the fort of Ba-
unbounded generosity. Mahmood when dying or-
dered his treasures to be spread out bel'ore him, and
shed bitter tears at the thought of parting with
them, but distributed no portion among the faithlul
adherents who had assisted him in their acquisition.
62 MAHMOOD'S EARLY EXPEDITIONS TO INDIA— a.d. 1001—1005.
tinda,* which he stormed, and thp»i returned
to Ghuznee with the rich spoils of the camp
and country, iuchiding sixteen necklaces, one
of which, belonging to Jeipal, was valued at
180,000 dihnars,t or £81,000.
In the ensuing spring the Hindoo pri-
soners were released on payment of a heavy
ransom, but the Afghan chiefs who had
joined them were put to death. Jeipal him-
self returned to his kingdom, and having
made over his aiithority to his son Aiiung
Pill, bravely met the fate a mistaken creed
assigned as a duty to a sovereign twice con-
quered by a foreign foe; and mounting a
pyre which he had caused to be prepared,
set it on fire and perished in the flames.
Anung Pal (Ananda FalaJ appears to have
at first endeavoured to fulfil his father's
engagement, but the rajah of Bhatia,J a
dependency of Lahore, on the eastern side
of Moultan, refused to furnish his quota of
the stipulated tribute, upon which the sultan
'proceeded in person to enforce it (a.u. 1004),
and drove the offending rajah, first from a
well-defended intrenchment, and then from
a strong fortress, until the fugitive, in des-
pair, finding himself pursued even among the
thickets of the Indus, where he had hoped
for refuge, and being at the point of cap-
ture, turned his sword against his own
breast : the majority of his remaining ad-
herents perished in vainly endeavouring to
avenge his death.
After annexing Bhatia and its dependen-
cies the conqueror departed, bearing away
as usual much booty of various kinds, in-
cluding 280 elephants and many captives.
A third expedition, into India was soon
• Situated in an almost inaccessible tract inhab-
ited by the Bhattis or Shepherds. Thoujjh sur-
rounded by a sort of desert, the rajah resided here,
alternately with his capital Lahore, probably as a
measure of security. Bird's IlUtory of Gvjurat,
from tlie Persian of AH Mohammed Khan.
f Valuing the dihnar at nine shillings.
j Site disputed, generally considered to be the
present Bhulneer.
§ Brigg's Ferishta, vol. i. p. 40. This expression
probably alludes to a supposed fallin"^ into hetero-
doxy rather than paganism. Sects and dissensions
had early arisen among the Mohammedans, and in-
creased until they amounted to seventy-three, the
number said to have been foretold by Mohammed.
These may be classed under two heads. The be-
lievers, generally deemed orthodox, are included
under the term Sonnites (or traditionists), because they
acknowledge the authority of the Sonna, a collection
of moral traditions of the sayings and actions of their
founder, which is a sort of supplement tn the Koran,
answering in name and design to tlie Mishna of the
Jews. The Sonnites regard the Koran as uncreated
and eternal, in opposition to the Motazalites (or sepa-
undertaken against the Afghan ruler ot
Moultan, Abul Futteh Lodi, the grandson
of the chief who had joined Subuktugeen
after his first victory over the Hindoos.
Abul, although educated as a jMassulman,
had " abandoned the tenets of the faitiiful,"§
and what Mahmood considered of more im-
portance, thrown off" his political allegiance,
and entered into a close alliance with Anung
Pal, who, on learning the approach of their
joint foe, advanced to intercept him, but
was defeated near Peshawer, pursued to
Sodra (near Vizirabad) on the Chenab, and
compelled to take refuge in Cashmere.
Moukan was then besieged, but at the end
of seven days a compromise was effected, the
revolting chief promising implicit obedi-
ence for the future and the payment of an
annual tribute of 20,000 golden dirhems;||
terms which Mahmood was only too glad to
grant, having received intelligence of a for-
midable invasion of his dominions by the
armies of Elik Khan. The ties of relation-
ship had not sufficed to prevent the en-
croaching Tartar from endeavouring to take
advantage of the unprotected state in which
his son-in-law had left his home possessions,
while intent on aggressive incursions abroad.
Hoping to acquire Khorassan without diffi-
culty, he despatched one force to Herat
and another to Balkh to take possession.
But he had formed too low an estimate of
the energy of the opponent he had wantonly
provoked. Committing the charge of his
acquisitions on the Indus to Sewuk Pal, a
Hindoo who had embraced Mohammedanism,
jNIahmood immediately proceeded by long
and rapid marches to Ghuznee, and thence to
ratists) and others, who maintain such an assertion
to be rank infidelity ; and some caliphs of the Abbas
fanaly (Motassem and Wathek) endeavoured to sup-
press it Ijy punishing its advocates with whipping, im-
prisonment, and even death. An account of the
numerous false ])rophets who sprang u]), in in;itation
of the arch-deceiver himself, is ably given in the in-
trrduction to Sale's Koran ; among them figures
Mokanna, the veiled prophet, ihe hero of Moore's
most popular production. The Sheiahs, a term sig
nifying sectaries or adherents in general, is pecu-
liarly applied to the followers of Ah, who hold him
to have been the rightful Caliph and Imaum, or high
])ontiff, (by virtue of his birth, of his marringe with
Fatima, and of his having been the first independent
person who recognised the missionof Mohamnud.)and
consider the sujjreme authority both temporal and spi-
ritual inalienably vested in his descendants. The Per-
sians are mostly Sheiahs J the Turks generally come un-
derthehead of Sonnites, and these, like many less con-
spicuous sects, are in direct opposition to each other.
II 'J'he value of the silver dirhem is about five-
pence ; that of the golden one, Colonel Briggs states,
is not estimated in any work be has examined.
HOSTILITIES IN MOULTAN AND THE PUNJAUB— a.d. 1008.
63
Balkh, whence the intruders fled, as did the
troops at Herat, before the force detached
for tlieir expulsion.
Elik Khan, alarmed at the turn of affairs,
applied for assistance to Kadr Khan of
Klioten, who marched to join him with
50,000 men. Thus strengthened he crossed
the Oxus and was met near Balkh by Mah-
mood, who had employed even more than
wonted skill in the arrangement of his re-
sources. Not the least of these was a body
of 500 elephants, captured at various times
from the Hindoos, the mere sight of which
would, he rightly conjectured, check the
fury of the Tartar charge, and probably suc-
ceed in breaking their line : but being well
aware that failing in this, these timid and
unwieldy, though sagacious and gentle crea-
tures, would, as he had often witnessed,
, becoming alarmed and injured, rush back
furiously on their masters, he stationed them
at intervals among the troops, leaving free
way for their retreat in the event of a re-
pulse. This forethought, however, proved
needless. Both armies advanced with im-
petuosity to the charge, and Elik Khan,
attended by his guards, attacked the centre
of the army of Mahmood, who, perceiving
his intention, leaped from his horse, and
after (as was his wont, on the eve of any
great struggle) prostrating himself on the
ground and invoking the aid of the Al-
mighty,— mounted an elephant and ad-
vanced to meet his assailant. The well-
trained animal seizing the standard-bearer
of the enemy in his trunk, tossed him aloft,
to the dismay of his companions. The
Ghuznevides urged on the other elephants
and pressed forward themselves to support
tlieir leader ; tlie Tartars were driven off
the field with prodigious slaughter, and Elik
Khan escaped across the Oxus with a few
attendants, having received a severe lesson
not again to meddle with the dominions of
his warlike relative. But for the incle-
* On the third night of the pursuit a violent storin
of wind and snow occurred. The army remained
unsheltered, but the royal tents had with much
ditficulty been pitched and heated by stoves, so that
many of the courtiers began to throw off their upper
garments. One of them came in sliivering with cold,
which Mahmood perceiving, addressed him with —
" Go, Dilchuk, and tell Winter that he may burst
his cheeks with blustering — here we defy his power."
Dilchuk went out, and returning, declared that he
had delivered his message, and the surly season
replied, that though he might fail to touch royalty
or its immediate retainers, yet he would so evince
his power over the army that in the morning the
sultan might be compelled to saddle his own horse.
meney of the season, it being the winter of
1006, he might have fared still worse; for
Mahmood, after two days' pursuit, was
not without great reluctance compelled to
return to his capital by the intense cold,
from which some hundreds of his men and
horses perished.*
Meanwhile Sewuk Pal, the renegade
Hindoo governor, had relapsed into ido-
latry and expelled all the officers appointed
by Mahmood, who, marching to India, de-
tached a body of cavalry in advance, by
whom the offender was surprised and cap-
tured. His sentence was a heavy fine and
imprisonment for life.f
In the spring of 1008, the Sultan as-
sembled a large army and set out on his
fourth Indian expedition, on the plea of
revenging the opposition he had received
during the hostilities in Moultan from
Anung Pal, who, on becoming aware of his
danger, sent ambassadors to the Hindoo
princes on all sides, urging them to unite
for the protection of their religion and in-
dependence. The appeal was successful ;
the rajahs of Oojein, Gwalior, Calinjar,
Canouj, Delhi, and Ajmeer entered into a
confederacy, and collecting their forces, ad-
vanced into the Punjaub with an army,
whose magnitude so astonished Mahmood,
that instead of displaying his usual alacrity
to meet danger, he halted in the presence
of the enemy, took up a position near
Peshawer, and remained forty days in a de-
fensive attitude. It must have seemed to
him as if the whole male population of
Hindoostan had come, en masse, to obstruct
his progress, and to die, if necessary, in the
attempt. Their numbers and enthusiasm
daily increased, contributions constantly
arrived from the women of distant parts,
who sold their jewels and melted down their
ornaments to provide ample resources for the
defence of their country, and the Gukkurs
and other warlike troops rallying round the
AVith all his faults, Mahmood seems to have been
neither irascible nor tyrannical in his bearing to-
wards those about him. The reproof thus wittily
conveyed is said to have induced him to renounce
the idea of further advance, but the distressing
scenes of death and suffering manifested by the dawn
of the following day must have sufficed to afford
reason for retreat. — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. i., p. 44.)
t In the text I have followed the example of
Elphinstone in adopting the statement of Ferishta ;
but Mr. Bird asserts, on the authority of older Per-
sian writers, that there was no such person as Sewuk
Pal, and that the mistake arose from placing the
expedition to Moultan before, instead of after, the
war with Elik Khan. — {^History of Gujarat, p. 23.)
64 DEFEAT OF CONFEDERATED HINDOO KAJAHS— a.d. 1008— '10.
popular standard, encompassed the Moham-
medans, who were compelled to intrench
their camp. Mahmood perceiving the in-
creasing danger, strove to profit by the
strength of his defences, and sent out a
body of 6,000 archers to provoke an attack.
The success of this stratagem had well nigh
proved fatal to the schemer, for the hardy
Gukkurs having repulsed the archers, pur-
sued them so closely, that in spite of the
sultan's personal efforts, a numerous body
of these mountaineers, bare-headed and
bare-footed, variously and strangely armed,
passed the entrenchments on both flanks,
and throwing themselves among the cavalry
with irresistible fury, proceeded to cut
down and maim both horse and rider, until
in a very short space of time between 3,000
and 4,000 Mohammedans were slain. The
assailants however, after the first onset,
were checked and cut off as they advanced,
till, on a sudden the elephant on which the
Hindoo leader rode becoming unruly *
turned and fled, and his followers thinking
themselves deserted, gave way, and were
easily routed. Mahmood immediately de-
spatched 10,000 men in pursuit of the re-
treating army, of whom nearly twice as many
were slain before they could reach a place
of safety. Then, without allowing the scat-
tered hosts time to reassemble, he followed
them into the Punjaub, and on their effectual
dispersion, found himself at liberty to give
free scope to his plundering propensities in
the rifling of the fort of Bheem (now Nagar-
cot), a fortified temple on a steep mountain
connected with the lower range of the
Himalaya. This edifice was considered to
derive peculiar sanctity from a burning foun-
tain or natural flame, which issued from the
ground within its precincts, and was en-
riched by princely offerings, besides being
the depository of the wealth of the neigh-
bourhood ; so that, according to Ferishta,
such an amount of treasure was never col-
lected by any prince on earth. It would seem
incredible that a place of the first import-
ance should be left unguarded, but its
* In various copies of Ferishta, the cause of the
elephant's alarm is ascribed to guns and muskets.
As no Persian or Arabic history speaks of gunpowder
before the time assigned to its European invention,
A.D. 1317, Briggs, by a slight change of the diacrital
points in the manuscripts, renders it — " naptha balls
and arrows." Elphinstone deems the expression
an anachronism of the author ; but as there is every
reason to believe that this explosive material was
then used in China, it seems just possible that it
might have been obtained from thence.
garrison having been drawn off" during the
late effort to free Hindoostan from her per-
secutor, the rapidity of his movements had
cut off" any chance of reinforcement ; and
when, after having laid waste the surround-
ing country with fire and sword, he ap-
proached the walls, no opposition was at-
tempted by the defenceless priests, who glad-
ly capitulated on the condition of their lives
being spared. Entering the temple with
the chief officers of his court and household,
Mahmood gazed in delighted amazement at
the vast stores garnered up therein. Gold
and silver, wrought and nnwrought, in dih-
nars, plate and ingots; pearls, corals, dia-
monds, rubies and various other jewels,t
accumulated since the time of llajah
Bheema, in the heroic ages, became the
prize of the royal marauder, who returned
with his booty to Ghuznee, and in a
triumphal festival held during three days
on a spacious plain, displayed on golden
thrones and tables manufactured from his
Indian spoils, the richest and rarest of his
acquisitions. Sumptuous banquets were
provided for the spectators, alms liberally
distributed among the poor, and magnificent
presents bestowed on persons of distinction ;
all this display being at once very gratifying to
the sultan's love of magnificence, and well
calculated to contribute to his popularity,
and the maintenance of internal tranquillity
during his frequent absence.
In A.D. 1010, Mahmood proceeded against
the strong country of Ghov, in the moun-
tains east of Herat. The inhabitants were
Afghans, and had been converted and sub-
dued by the caliphs in the commencement
of the second century of the Hejira. Their
chief, Mohammed Soor, strongly posted, and
at the head of 10,000 men, repelled the
attacks of his assailant from early morning
till noon, but was eventually tempted from
his secure position, by the pretended dis-
orderly retreat of the Ghuznevides, in pur-
suit of whom the Ghorians sallied forth, but
were speedily made aware of the trap into
which they had fallen, by the sudden halt
t There are said to have been 700,000 golden
dihnars, 700 mauns of gold and silver plate, 200
mauns of ])ure gold in ingots, 2,000 mauns of un-
wrought silver, and 20 mauns of jewels. There are
several kinds of maun ; the smallest, that of Arabia,
is two pounds; the most common, that of Tabriz,
eleven pounds ; and that of India, eighty pounds.
Taking the smallest weight, we have 1,4001b. of
gold and silver plate, 4001b. of golden ingots,
4,0001b. of silver bullion, and 401b. weight ol
jewels. — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. i., p. 48.)
I
SURRENDER OF CANOUJ— DEVASTATION OP MUTTRA— a.d. 1017. 65
and fierce onset of the foe, by whom they
were competely defeated. Their chief being
taken prisoner, swallowed some poison,
which he always kept about him in a ring,
and died in a few hours. His country was
annexed to the dominions of Ghuznee, but
it is worthy of note that by his descendants
the conquering dynasty was at length utterly
overthrown.
Two years afterwards, the mountainous
country of Jurjistan,* adjoining Ghor, was
reduced, and another attack made upon
Moultan, which had revolted. In the words
of Ferishta, who, as a Mussulman historian,
chooses very gentle phrases in which to ex-
press the sanguinary deeds of fellow-believers,
" a number of the infidel inhabitants were
cut off," and Abul Futtch Lodi brought
to Ghuznee as a captive, and doomed to
languish in the gloomy fort of Ghooruk for
life. In the following year, 1011, Mahmood
undertook an expedition of unusual length
to Tanesur (thirty miles west of Delhi). He
was met by the urgent entreaties of the Hin-
doos that he would spare the temple, which
they held in great veneration, and accept a
ransom, but he replied, " the Koran declared
that the extent to which the followers of
the prophet exerted themselves for the sub-
version of idolatry would be the measure of
their reward in heaven, — it therefore be-
hoved him, by Divine assistance, to root out
the worship of idols from the face of all
India." Proceeding forthwith to Tanesur,
before its defenders had time to assemble,
he plundered the temple, destroyed the
idols, sacked the town, and carried away
200,000 captives and much treasure, so that
throughout the camp "no soldier was with-
out wealth or many slaves. "t
Two predatory incursions into Cashmere
were next attempted, the second of which
proved disastrous from the difficulties of a
march commenced when the season was too
far advanced. J A brief interval of repose
for India followed, during which Mahmood
took advantage of the disturbed state of the
affairs of Elik Khan's successor in Tartary
to acquire possession of Transoxiana, and
extend his dominion to the Caspian Sea,
From this period his Indian exploits were
on a grander scale, and he seems to have
united a much stronger desire for the per-
• Mistaken by D'Herbelot and others for Georgia.
t Briggs' Terishta, vol. i. p. 53.
X Stewart's History of Bemjal, pp. 10. 11.
§ Mahmood writing to Ghuznee declared that
Muttra contained a thousand edifices "as firm as the
manent possession of conquered territories,
to his zeal for the destruction of idols, and
the appropriation of their spoils. Assem-
bling an army of 100,000 horse and 20,000
foot, drawn more especially from his newly-
acquired dominions, he made judicious ar-
rangements for the home government dur-
ing his absence, placed his two sons in
important governments aided by trusty
counsellors, and then commenced carrying
out the plans which, after much careful in-
vestigation, he had devised for the prosecu-
tion of a three months' march to the Ganges,
across seven great rivers, in an unexplored
country. Leaving Peshawer in the spring
of 1017, he passed near the confines of
Cashmere, and being joined by the prince
whom he had established there, proceeded
on his way, keeping close to the mountains
until he had ci'ossed the Jumna. Then
turning south, and driving all opposition
before them, the Mussulmans presented
themselves unexpectedly before the walls of
Canouj ; a city, says Ferishta, "which raised
its head to the skies, and, in strength and
beauty, might boast of being unrivalled."
The rajah, taken by surprise, made no
attempt at defence, but came out with his
family and surrendered himself to Mah-
mood, who, on this occasion, (either from a
motive of policy, or possibly actuated by
one of the kindly impulses in which his
nature, though warped by bigotry and ava-
rice, was by no means deficient,) showed
unusual clemency, and after three days'
tarry, left the stately city uninjured.
Other places and their rulers were less
fortunate — many were bravely defended. At
Mahawan, near Muttra, terms had been
entered into, when an accidental quarrel
among the troops led to the massacre of the
Hindoos, whose leader, conceiving himself
betrayed, destroyed his wife and family, and
then committed suicide. Muttra§ itself, the
famous seat of the Hindoo religion, was
completely devastated by the excesses of the
troops during a twenty days' halt, the hor-
rors of a conflagration being added to the
ordinary sufferings of the people of a sacked
city. Idols of gold and silver, with eyes of
rubies, and adorned with sapphires and pre-
cious stones, were demolished, melted down,
and packed on camels; destined perhaps to
faith of the faithful," mostly of marble, besides in-
numerable temples, and considered that many mil-
lions of dihnars must have been expended on the
city, the fellow to which could not be constructed
under two centuries. — {Ferishta, vol. i. p. 58.)
66
MAHMOOD AND FERDOUSI, THE PERSIAN POET.
excite scarcely less censurable feelings in
the breasts of their new possessors, than
fonnerlj' as the unhallowed mediums, or too
often the actual objects, of Hindoo worship.
The temples were however left standing,
either on account of the excessive, and, in
cue sense at least, unprofitable labour ne-
cessary to their destruction, or else for the
sake of their extraordinary beauty. The fort
of Munj was taken after a siege of twenty-
five days, its Rajpoot defenders at length
ending the long struggle by rushing through
the breaches on the enemy, springing from
the works, or meeting death in the flames
of their own houses, with their wives and
children; so that not one remained to be
enslaved.
Various other towns were reduced and
much country laid waste, before the vic-
torious army leaving the beautiful plains of
ill-fated, because idolatrous, Hindoostan
steeped in blood and tears, returned to their
homes in triumph, carrying with them many
prisoners.* New tastes had been acquired to-
gether with the means for their gratification,
and incited by the recollection of the stately
structures they had ruthlessly despoiled,
the rough soldiers so lately accustomed to
make the saddle their seat by day, their
pillow by night, now, following the example
of their king, employed the wealth, labour,
and talents of their wretched captives, in
rearing palaces for their private abodes as
well as public buildings for the adornment
of the capital, which soon became orna-
mented with mosques, porches, fountains,
aqueducts and reservoirs beyond any city
then existing. Malimood himself erected a
magnificent mosque of marble and granite,
called " the Celestial Bride," which was in
that age the wonder of the East; and founded
a university, supplied with an extensive and
valuable library, and a museum of natural
curiosities. To the maintenance of this
establishment he appropriated a large sum
of money, and formed a permanent fund for
the support of the students and the salaries
of qualified instructors. He also set aside
a sum nearly equal to £10,000 a-ycar, for
pensions to learned men — and through this
munificence his court became as celebrated
through Asia for its brilliant literary circle,
as was afterwards that of the Medici in
* Ferishta's confused account of their route is dis-
cussed in Bird's Jlistury of Gujarat, p. 31.
t The ruling dynasty was Turkish, but Malimood
was the illegitimate son of a Persian mother, and in
language and manners identified with that nation.
Europe. The liberality thus evinced con-
trasted strongly with his usual parsimony,
and it was well directed, for it did much to
secure for him the present and posthumous
fame which he ardently desired. Large re-
wards were offered for the production of an
historical poem which should embody the
achievements of ancient Persianf heroes ;
and the author who commenced the work
(Dakiki) having been assassinated when he
had finished about a thousand couplets, the
continuation was entrusted to the celebrated
Ferdousi, who performed his task with such
ability that, although so obsolete as to re-
quire a glossary, it is still the most popular
of all books among his countrymen. J The
sultan was delighted with the poem; but
when, after thirty years' labour, it was at
length concluded, his characteristic failing
prevailed over justice, and the proffered
reward was so disproportioned to the expec-
tations held out, that the disappointed Fer-
dousi indignantly rejected it, and withdrew
to his native city of Tus, whence he launched
a bitter satire at Mahmood, who on mature
reflection evinced no ordinary amount of
magnanimity by passing over the satire
(which is still extant), and remitting for the
epic, what eveu its author must have con-
sidered, a princely remuneration. But it
came too late ; the treasure entered one
door of Ferdousi's house as his bier was
borne out of another. His daughter proudly
rejected the untimely gift, but was eventu-
ally prevailed upon by Mahmood to accept
it, as a means of procuring an abundant
supply of water for the city where her
father had been born, and to which he
had been always much attached.
In 1022, the sultan was roused from the
unusual quiet in which he had remained for
five years, by advices from India that a con-
federacy had been formed against the rajah
of Canouj by the neighbouring princes to
avenge his alliance witli the enemj' of his
country. Mahmood immediately marched
to his relief, but on arriving found that the
unfortunate prince had been defeated and
slain by the rajah of Calinjar, against whom
the Mohammedan arms were directed, but
without any remarkable result. § This cam-
paign is however memorable as marking the
establishment of the first permanent garri-
X The Shah Namah or Book of Kinrja.
§ In the kingdom of Ghuziiee at this time, many
soldiers and magistrates were Arabs by descent, but a
great portion of the court and army were Turks, and
the rest, with almost all the people, were Persians.
LAHORE OCCUPIED BY MAHMOOD— SOMNAUTH TAKEN— a.d. 10.24, 67
son oa the east of the Indus ; for the new
rajah of Lahore (Anung Pal's successor)
having ventured to oppose the invader, was
driven from his country, Viihich was despoiled
and annexed to Ghuziiee. In 1024, Mah-
niood performed, if not the greatest, at
least tlie most famous of his Indian exploits.
At the head of an immense army, swollen
by a crowd of volunteers from beyond the
Oxus, and attended by 20,000 camels bear-
ing supplies, he set oft', nerved to encounter
a long march, partly through hostile terri-
tories and partly through a desert 350
miles broad, of loose sand or hard clay,
almost entirely without water or forage.
Having overcome these obstacles he sud-
denly appeared before Ajmeer to the con-
sternation of the rajah and inhabitants, who
fled, leaving the Mussulmans to ravage the
country and pursue their desolating course,
to Anhalwara, the capital of GKizerat, whose
r.ijah, also taken by surprise, was con-
strained to abandon it precipitately, and
leave the way clear for the invaders to the
great object of their hopes, the famous
temple of Somnauth, the richest and most
frequented place of worship in the country.*
It stood at the southern extremity of Guze-
rat, on a peninsula connected with the
main land by a fortified isthmus, the battle-
ments of which were guarded at every point
by armed men ; who, on witnessing the ap-
proach of the Moslems, loudly asserted, in
the name of their object of worship, that this
great force had been drawn together only to
be utterly destroyed as a retribution for the
desecrated shrines of India.
Nothing deterred, Mahmood brought for-
ward his arcliers, who commenced mounting
the walls with their accustomed war-cry,
"Alia hu Akbur!" (God is supreme !), but
the Piajpoots having prostrated themselves
before the idol, hurried to the defence and
drove back the enemy with heavy loss.
The next day brought a more signal repulse,
and on the third the neighbouring princes
presented themselves in order of battle. In
the furious conflict which ensued victory
was doubtful, when the arrival of the rajah
of Anhalwara with a strong reinforcement
• For its maintenancp, the revenues of 2,000 vil-
lages had heen granted by different princes ; 2,000
priests, 500 dancing.women, and 300 musicians offi-
ciated in its ceremonies, atwhicli 200,000 to 300,000
votaries used to attend during the eclipses. Tlie
chain supporting a bell ".vhich the worshippers struck
during prayer weighed 200 mauns of gold, and the
idol itself was ''ally washed with water brought from
the Ganges, a di>tance of 1,000 miles.
brought the invaders to the verge of de-
feat. Mahmood, leaping from his horse,
prostrated himself, invoking Divine aid ;
then, remounting and taking a Circas-
sian general by the hand, he advanced
against the foe, loudly cheering the troops
who had so often fought and conquered with
him, and who now, excited to renewed exer-
tion, rushed forward with unlooked-for im-
petuosity, broke through the opposing line,
aiul in a single charge laid 5,000 Hindoos
dead or dying at their feet. The rout be-
came general; the garrison of Somnauth
beheld it with dismay, and renouncing all
hopes of further defence broke up, and, to
the number of 4,000, made their way to
their boats, some of which were intercepted
and sunk by the enemy.
Mahmood then entered the temple, ac-
companied by his sons and chief nobles, and
gazed with astonishment on the stately
edifice. The spacious roof was supported by
fifty-six pillars, curiously carved and set
with precious stones, and illuminated (the
light of heaven being excluded) by a lamp
suspended by a golden chain, whose flame, re-
flected from the numerous gems, shed bright
gleams around. The idol itself stood in the
centre, and was of stone, five yards in height,
two of which were sunk in the ground. Ac-
cording to Ferishta, it is a well authenti-
cated fact that Mahmood was entreated by
a crowd of Brahmins to accept a costly
ransom and spare the object of their venera-
tion, but after some hesitation, he exclaimed
that were he to consent, his name would go
down to posterity as an idol-seller instead of
destroyer, he therefore struck the face of
the image with his mace, and his example
being followed by his companions, the figure,
which was hollow, burst open and exposed
to view a store of diamonds and other
jewels, far surpassing in value the sum
offered for its preservation. t Altogether,
the treasure taken is said to have exceeded
that acquired on any former occasion,
Mahmood next captured Gundaba, a fort
supposed to be protected by the sea, by en-
tering the water at the head of his troops
during a low tide. He appears to have passed
t Besides this idol, we are told there were some
thousands of smaller ones, wrought in gold and
silver, and of various shapes and dimensions ; but no
description is given of the especial object of worsliip,
a simple cylinder of stone, the well-known embli m
of Saiva or Siva, from whose designation Sania Na-
tlia, Lord I if the Moon, the temple derives its name.
The famous sandal-wood gates carried by Mahmood
to Ghuznee will be subsequentlv alluded to.
68 MAHMOOD'S THIRTEENTH EXPEDITION TO INDIA— a.d. 1025.
the rainy season at Anhalwara, with whose
mild climate, beauty, and fertility he was so
much delighted, as to entertain thoughts of
transferring the seat of government thither,
at least for some years, and making it a
point of departure for further conquests.
Among his projects, was that of the forma-
tion of ^ fleet for maritime invasions ; the
pearls of Ceylon and the gold mines of the
Malayan peninsula offering cogent reasons
for the subjugation of these countries.
These schenies his counsellors earnestly
and successfully opposed, and as the rajah
of Anhalwara still kept aloof and refused
submission, INIahmood selected a new ruler,
a man of royal descent, who, though living
the life of an anchorite, was not proof
against the attractions of a throne, though
clogged with the humiliating conditions of
subjection and tribute to a foreign foe.*
The homeward route of the Mussulmans
was fraught with toil and suffering — the
way by which they had come ■\vas occupied
by a strong force under the rajah of Ajmeer
and the rightful, though fugitive prince
of Anhalwara. Mahmood, with an array
already wasted by the casualities of war
and climate, did not care to risk a conflict,
the efi'ect of which, even though successful,
would still further thin the ranks and di-
minish the energy of those who had after-
wards a long and weary march to encounter,
besides risking the rich booty with which
they were encumbered. He therefore avoided
further hostilities, by returning a different
road, through the sands to the east of Sinde.
The hot season was advanced when the
troops started, and their sufferings for want
of water and forage increased, until they
* The conclusion of the new rajah's history affords
a remarkable instance of retributiv* justice, even
allowing for oriental embellishment. Fearing the
rivalry of a relation, he prayed Mahmood to deliver
him into his custody, promising to spare his life,
and kept his ])ledge by causing a cell to be dug under
his own throne, in which his victim was to linger out
the remainder of his existence. A sudden revolution
occurred, wliich is said to have been occasioned by a
vulture having flown upon the rajah while lying
asleep under a tree with his face covered with a red
handkerchief, and totally blinded him by fixing its
talons into his eyes ; thus rendering him, by the laws
of his country, incapable of reigning. The position
of the parties was immediately reversed, the cruel
schemer being forthwith removed to the dun-
geon which he had himself ])repared j thus, says
Ferislita, fulfilling the Scripture, in which it is
written — " He who digs a pit for his brother, shall
himself fall therein."— (Briggs, vol. i., p. 80.)
t It is surprising that the passage along tlie Indus
should not have been chosen by Mahmood, wlio
must have been accjuaiiited witli it, both frcmi tlie
reached a climax in three days of in-
tense agony, during which they wandered
through the worst part of the desert, wil-
fully misled, it is said, by their guides, who
after severe torture, were brought to confess
themselves disguised priests of Somnauth.
Many of the soldiers perished miserably,
some died raving mad, and when at length
they came upon a pool of water,itwas received
with inexpressible transport as a miraculous
interposition of Providence in their favour.
Eventually they reached Moultan, and
from thence proceeded to (Thuznee,t but
before the expiration of the year, their rest-
less leader was once more in arras to avenge
the molestation offered by a body of Juts,J
in the Jund mountains, to his forces during
their march to Somnauth. Foreseeing the
expedient to which the Juts would have re-
course, he was provided with an extensive
flotilla ; and when they took refuge in the
islands of the Indus, hoping to elude pur-
suit by repeatedly shifting their position, he
pursued them so pertinaciously that_ though
not without a desperate defence, the men
were mostly destroyed and the women and
children enslaved.
Thus terminated Mahmood's thirteenth
and last expedition to India. Hostilities
were then directed against the Turki tribe
of Seljuk,§ whose growing power he had
incautiously favoured, until they became too
unruly to be restrained by his local repre-
sentatives ; nor were they without difficulty
compelled to respect his immediate autho-
rity. The next act was the seizure of
Persian Irak (extending from the frontier
of Khorassan, westward to the mountains
of Koordistan, beyond Hamadan). This he
account of Mohammed Casim's proceedings and
from tlie neighbourhood of the Afghans. Klphin-
stone, in commenting upon this circumstance, sug-
gests the existence of physical obstacles now re-
moved, adding, that the Sunn of Ciitc/i, now a hard
desert in the dry season, and a salt marsh in the
rains, was, doubtless, formerly a part of the sea ; and
remarks, that the changes which have taken place
under our own eyes pre|iare us to believe that still
greater may have occurred in the 800 years that ba\e
elapsed since the fall of Somnauth. (Vol. i., p. 558.)
I Probably a Tartar horde of the Geta; stock,
widely disseminated over India, and, according to
Tod, called by their ancient mxme of Jits in the Pnn-
jaul), Jats on the Jumna and Ganges, and. Juts oi\ the
Indus and in Saurashira.
§ The tribe is supposed to have originated in a
chief who held a high station under one of the gr.'jat
Tartar princes, but having incurred the displeasure .
of his sovereign was driven into exile, and his sons
and adherents became subject to Malimood in Trans-
oxiana, frequently however, carrying on wars and
incursions on their own account.
DEATH OP MAHMOOD— A.D. 1030— HIS SUCCESSORS.
69
eccomplished by taking advantage of tlie
disturbances which occurred in the reign of
one of the representatives of a branch of the
family of Buya, called also the Deilemites ;
the person of the prince being treacherously
seized in the Moslem camp. The resistance
of the people of Ispahan and Cazvin was
cruelly revenged by the massacre of several
thousands in each city.
The ordinary excuse of zeal for the glory
of Islam — that is to say, the bigotry which
has sometimes really prompted cruel aggres-
sions, but has far more frequently been
assumed as a mask to cover ambition or
rapacity, cannot in this case be urged in
palliation of these grasping and sanguinary
transactions, probably the worst, as they
were the last, of the life of Mahmood. Re-
turning triumphant to Ghuznee, he was
attacked by a disease which soon completely
prostrated his extraordinary physical and
mental energies, and of which he died, after
a reign of thirty-three years. During pa-
roxysms of excruciating agony, he might well
have envied even the wretched slaves whom
his marauding incursions had made so cheap
that purchasers could not be found for them
at ten dirhems (about 4s. 7d.) a head. At
such moments his hundred measures of
jewels * could afford but poor consolation ;
even the delusive doctrine of the Koran con-
demned alike the means by which they had
been acquired, and the master-passion whose
strength was never manifested more forcibly
than in the closing scenes of his eventful
career. When taking a sorrowful leave of
his Teat possessions, the dying Sultan per-
haps thought bitterly of a sentiment some of
the numerous poets of his court might have
rhymed, though scarcely so sweetly as our
own Southey :
" In heaven ambition cannot dwell,
Nor avarice in the vaults of hell — "
He had ample reason to regret leaving a
world in which he had — with reverence for
the sacred text be it spoken, " laid up much
treasure for many years ;" nor is it probable
that he could look for reward or even pardon
in another, on the ground of faithful service
to the cause of Islam.
Notwithstanding his character for bigotry,
and frequent and public invocations of Divine
assistance, a careful review of Mahmood's
• Hearing of the wealth of the Samani princes,
who had accumulated jewels enough to fill seven
measures, he exclaimed exultingly, that he possessed
sufficient to fill an hundred.
t On this point, sec Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 569.
L
actions renders it more than doubtful whe-
ther all these were not hollow pretences to
raise the enthusiasm of his more truthful
followers who, it must be borne in mind,
had been accustomed from the earliest
times to prayer before battle, and thanks-
giving in the hour of victory. If he were
really a scepticf regarding the creed which
he made tlie pretext for destroying or en-
slaving unoffending multitudes, his condition
was wretched indeed ; but if he did actually
believe it an imperative duty to increase
the numbers of "the faithful," at all costs,
then at least his conduct, with the exception
of some few memorable instances, was very
unaccountable ; for, besides his apathy in
not endeavouring to establish Moslem colo-
nies in India, schools, or other means of
instruction, it appears that he never hesi-
tated to exercise perfect tolerance whenever
it suited his views. The rajah of Canouj,
for instance (his only ally), was an uncon-
verted Hindoo; he appointed a strict de-
votee to the throne of Guzerat ; employed a
large body of native cavalry, without regard
to their religion, and contrary to orthodox
Mohammedanism — circumstances which
would testify liberality of feeling, but for
their manifest inconsistency with other
parts of his conduct, for which excessive
zeal is urged in apology.
The house of Ghuznee reached its culmi-
nating point in the person of Mahmood's
turbulent son, Masaud, who, having deposed
and blinded his brother Mohammed, after
five months' rule, mounted the throne, and
completed the remaining conquest of Persia,
except the province of Pars. He made
three expeditions into India, during which
he captured Sersooty on the Sutlej, quelled
a rebellion at Lahore^ and stationed a garri-
son in Sonpat, near Delhi. In the mean-
while the Seljuks completely defeated his
general, and compelled Masaud, on his
return, to march against them in person.
After two years of indecisive operations a
battle took place near Meru, in which the
Ghuznevides were totally routed. The sul-
tan returned to Ghuznee, but finding it
hopeless to restore order there, determined
to withdraw to India. All respect for his
authority was however destroyed, and soon
after crossing the Indus, the remnant of his
forces mutinied against him, and placed the
injured Mohammed on the throne, a.d.
1040. This prince being rendered incapa-
ble by blindness of conducting the govern-
ment, transferred the administration to hia
70
TERMINATION OF THE HOUSE OF GHUZNEE— a.d. 1]60.
son Ahmed, one of whose first acts was to
put his uncle the deposed king to death.
But the sins of this family, committed on
the plea of just retaliation, did not end here.
Modood, the son of Masaud, on hearing of
his father's murder, quitted Balkh, where
he had been engaged in watching the pro-
ceedings of the Seljuks, and with a small
body of troops made his way from Ghuznee
to Lahore. At Futtehabad, in the valley of
Laghman, he was met by Mohammed with
Ahmed and other relatives, who after a
fierce contest were defeated, taken prisoners,
and all put to death by the conqueror, with
the exception of Prince Abdool, a son of Mo-
hammed's, who was spared for the sake of
kindness shown to Masaud during his capti-
vity. Modood had not yet removed all domes-
tic foes — the opposition of his own brother,
Madood, was still to be overcome, and it
threatened to be troublesome, this prince
liaving obtained possession of Lahore ana
its dependencies. The armies of the rival
brothers were marshalled for action when
the dispute for superiority was suddenly
terminated by the death of Madood and his
vizier (prime minister) apparently by poison.
The forces then coalesced under Modood,
who contrived not onlj' to occupy Ghuznee,
but to recover Transoxiana, which he was
perhaps enabled to do the more readily from
having espoused the daughter of a Seljuk
chief. But while thus successful in the
west, the rajah of Delhi recovered the terri-
tory seized by Masaud beyond the Sutlej ;
and elated by this first success, pushed his
forces to the very gates of Nagarcot. Volun-
teers crowded into thePunjaub, and entered
with such ardour into the enterprise that
the temple-fortress, despite its strong posi-
tion and garrison, became again their own.
The Moslems driven thence took refuge in
Lahore, and after a seven months' siege,
during which no succour arrived from Ghuz-
nee, were well nigh reduced to despair, when
swearing to stand by each other to the last
they rushed out upon the enemy, and by
one determined effort induced the Hindoos
to disperse, and raise the siege. Modood
died A.D. 1049, one of his last acts of trea-
chery being to render Ghor tributary and
in some sort dependent on himself, by per-
fidiously mui'dering the prince whom he bad
promised to assist in recovering possession
of the throne. The speedy decline of the
house of Ghuznee from this period would be
of little interest but for its important bear-
ing on the fortunes of Hindoostan, nor does
it seem necessary to follow in detail the
tedious and distasteful accounts of con-
spiracies and assassinations which too gene-
rally form the staple of oriental historians,
the progress and condition of the people
being rarely even alluded to. Suffice it to
say, that the second successor of Modood .
succeeded in recovering Nagarcot from the
Hindoos, but being compelled to oppose the
sedition of a chief named Toghral in Seestan,
marched to attack the rebels, leaving the
bulk of his army in India. His force proved
unequal to the task, and he was compelled
to shut himself up in Ghuznee, where he
was seized and put to death with nine princes
of the blood-royal. Toghral seized upon the
vacant throne, but was assassinated within
forty days; and the army, having by this
time returned from India, resolved upon
continuing the crown in the family of the
founder of the kingdom. Three princes of
his lineage wei-e discovered imprisoned in a
distant fort, and their claims being nearly
equal were decided by lot. The chance fell
on Farokhzad, whose brother and successor
Ibrahim, celebrated for sanctity, captured
several cities on the Sutlej. In the follow-
ing reign (that of Masaud II.) the royal
residence began to be transferred to Lahore
(about A.D. 1100.)
Behram, a prince of great literary renown,
acceded to the throne in 1118, but after
thirty years of peace and prosperity, com-
mitted an act of cruel injustice, which led to
his own ruin and the extinction of his dynasty.
Having had a difiference with his son-in-
law, the prince of Ghor, he caused him to
be put to death ; and after a long contest
with the brother of his victim, succeeded in
defeating and slaying him also, under cir-
cumstances of aggravated barbarity. Ala-
oo-deen Soor, indignant at the fate of his
murdered brothers, entered the territories
of their destroyer at the head of a small but
determined force, compelled him to fly for
his life, and seizing on Ghuznee, devoted
the magnificent city, and its miserable in-
habitants, for three (or some say nine days)
to the desolating effects of flame, slaughter,
and pillage. The superb monuments of its
kings were utterly demolished, except those
of Mahmood, Masaud, and Ibrahim. Beh-
ram strove to take refuge in India, but died
on his way, worn out by fatigue and disap-
pointment. His son Khosru continued the
retreat to Lahore, and there established
himself, a.d. 1152. The next king, Khosru
Malik, the last of the race of Subuktugeeu
INDIAN CONQUESTS OF THE HOUSE OF GHOR— a.d. 1202.
71
reigned in tranquillity for twenty-seven
years, and was then defeated and taken
prisoner, with his family, and eventually
slain by the Ghor princes, from whom his
house thus received the final blow, in return
for a long series of injuries and aggressions.
House of Ghor. — Shahab-oo-deen, the
conqueror of Malik, on taking possession of
Lahore, was supported by an army drawn
from all the warlike provinces between the
Indus and Oxus, and accustomed to contend
with the Seljuks and the northern hordes of
Tartary. Being at liberty to direct his ex-
clusive attention to India, he probably ex-
pected to subjugate extensive territories
with ease and rapidity, owing to the peace-
ful character of the people, the more so as
their chief rulers were at variance with one
another. Of the existing kingdoms the
greatest were those of Delhi, held by the
clan of Tomaraj Ajmeer, by that of Chou-
han; Canouj by the Rahtores, and Guzerat
by the Baghilas, who had supplanted the
Chalukas. The Tomara chief dying with-
out male issue, adopted his grandson
Prithwi rajah of Ajmeer, who thus acceded
to the double authority, greatly to the mor-
tification of the rajah of Canouj, another
grandson of the deceased ruler's.
These internal differences did not how-
ever prevent very determined resistance
being offered to a foreign foe, though it
probably marred the effect which might
have resulted from a more united plan of
defence. None of the Hindoo principalities
fell without a severe struggle, and some
were never entirely subdued, owing chiefly
to the essentially warlike habits, and pecu-
liar social position of the Rajpoots, whose
almost feudal system of government, led
them to contest the ground, not so much in
a single great action, as inch by inch, each
man fighting for his own chief, and his own
hearth and home. The origin of this still
powerful and interesting class has been
alluded to (see p. 42), and will be more par-
ticularly mentioned in commenting on the
characteristics of the Hindoo population.
Here it may be observed, that had their prac-
tical ability and energy in time of peace kept
pace with their chivalrous enthusiasm and
unswerving resolution under the stimulus of
war, India might have spurned the hateful
yoke of the Moslems. But the constant
use of pernicious drugs, seconding only too
effectually the enervating tendencies of an
eastern clime, brought indolence and sen-
suality in their train, and while rendering
their victims daily more infatuated with the
varied forms of idolatry, which rapidly multi-
plied, to the extinction of more spiritual
aspirations — induced also inertion and list-
lessness with regard to material dangers,
until the hour for preparation was passed, and
no alternatives remained save death, slavery,
or apostacy. Then indeed they kept the
foe at bay with the courage of the lion,
and braved their fate with more than Spar-
tan fortitude. Thus Shahab-oo-deen and
his successors found their task long and
tedious, and repeatedly contested the pos-
session of the same ground. The first
attack was directed against Prithwi rajah,
and took place at Tirouri, between Tanesur
and Kurnaul, on the great plain where most
of the conflicts for paramount power in India,
have been decided. The Hindoos succeeded
in outflanking and completely routing the
Mussulmans, who charged after their usual
method with successive bodies of cavalry.
Shahab himself was dangerously wounded,
and after a pursuit of forty miles escaped
with difficulty to Lahore, where, having col-
lected the wreck of his army, he crossed the
Indus, and after visiting his brother at Ghor,
settled at Ghuznee.
Two years later (1193) having recruited a
fresh force he again encountered Prithwi
rajah, whom he overcame by the dangerous
stratagem, so frequently recorded in Moham-
medan annals, of a pretended flight. The
immense Hindoo army followed in headlong
pursuit, when a body of Afghan horse
12,000 strong, suddenly wheeled round and
charged upon them with terrible effect;
the viceroy of Delhi and many chiefs were
slain on the field, and the brave rajah him-
self being captured, was put to death in cold
blood by his merciless opponent, who soon
afterwards, having taken Ajmeer, massacred
some thousands of its inhabitants, reserving
the rest for slavery. In 1194, Jaya Chan-
dra, the rajah of Canouj, was defeated and
slain on the Jumna;* Canouj and Benares
were taken by Shahab, whose power was
thus extended into Behar. In the follow-
ing year Gwalior, in Bundelcund, and several
other strong positions there, as also in Ro-
hilcund, were successively seized, and the
invader pursued his conquering career until
the death of his brother placed him on the
throne of Ghor, a.d. 1202. His four years*
* The body was recognised by the false teeth, or
according to other writers, by the golden studs re-
quired to fix the natural ones into their sockets, on.
account of extreme age.
SLAVE-KINGS OF DELHI— 1206 to 1288.
reign was full of \'icissitudes. A report of
his death during a war with the king of
Kharizra,* occasioned the defection of seve-
ral of his western tributaries, and the wild
tribe of the Gnkkurs issued from their
mountains in the north of the Punjaub,
took Lahore, and devastated the whole pro-
vince. Kootb-oo-deen, originally a Turki
slave, but raised by Shahab to the govern-
ment of his Indian possessions, remained
faithful to his patron, aided him in recover-
ing the Punjaub, and induced the Gnkkurs
to embrace Islamism. Shahab was, however,
slain in his camp on the Indus by a band of
these mountaineers, who, stimulated by the
desire of revenge, having lost relations in the
late war, swam across the river at midnight,
and entered the royal eamp unopposed. f
He left no son; and, although his nephew
Mahmood was proclaimed throughout the
whole of his uncle's dominions, yet these
broke up without a struggle into separate
states. The deceased monarch had care-
fully trained several Turki slaves, of whom
three were in possession of extensive govern-
ments at the time of his death. The most
noted, Kootb-oo-deen, was invested by Mah-
mood with the insignia of royalty, a.d. 1206,
and thus commenced the line, named from
the seat of government, the Slave-kings of
Delhi. The whole of Hindoostan Proper
(of course excluding the Deccan), except
Malwa and some contiguous districts, had
now been subjugated in a greater or less
degree; Sinde and Bengal were in rapid
course of reduction, but in Guzerat little
dominion had been acquired beyond that
connected with the possession of the capital,
which was for a short time retained. Thus
an Indian empire was established, of which
the Indus formed the western boundary,
though before this epoch there seems reason
to believe that "India," in the common accp-
tation of the term, had a far wider extent.
Altamsh acceded in 1211 ; he was of a
noble family, but had been sold as a slave by
his envious brothers. During his reign the
whole face of Asia was changed by a terrible
scourge. Jcngis Khan, originally a petty
chief among the Moguls, having subdued
the three nations of Tartary and swelled
• Kharizm, the Chorasmia of the ancients, a city
which gives its name to tiie province, became in-
dependent under Atziz, the revolting governor of a
Seljuk Sultan, by the aid of the Khitans, a Tartar
tribe. The Kharizm kings conquered Ghor, and
were overthrown by Jengis Khan.
t By another account, the death of Shahab is at-
tributed to one of the Fedeyan or zealots of Almo-
his bands with their united hordes, swept
like a desolating torrent over the Moham-
medan kingdoms. Altamsh, by politic con-
duct, succeeded in shielding most of his ter-
ritories from the fury of Jengis and his
myriads ; but Sinde and Moultan, under the
dominion of a refractory Moslem governor,
did not escape so easily. In the former place,
10,000 prisoners were massacred on account
of a scarcity of provisions in the Mogul camp.
Altamsh employed the last six years of
his life in completing the conquest of Hin-
doostan Proper, that is, in bringing the
principalities into partial dependence, in
which state they continued during the
whole period of Tartar and subsequently of
Mogul supremacy, the degree of subjection
varying greatly with the character of the
reigning prince, and being occasionally in-
terrupted by isolated attempts at freedom
on the part of native rulers. The caliph of
Bagdad formally recognized the new king-
dom, in which, during the general subver-
sion of Mohammedan governments, no less
than fifteen sovereign princes (of Ghor, Kha-
rizm, Bagdad, &c.,) took refuge at one time,
during the reign of Bulbun or Balin (1266
to 1286). The only monarch of this line
claiming especial notice is the Sultana
Rezia, who, Ferishta writes, " was endowed
with every princely virtue, and those who
scrutinise her actions most severely will find
in her no fault but that she was a woman."
So great was the confidence of her father
Altamsh in her practical ability, that during
his campaigns he left Rezia in charge of the
home authority in preference to his sons.
Her administration when raised to the
throne (after the deposition of her brother,
a weak and incompetent prince) is repre-
sented as unexceptionable; but the faction by
whom her accession had been opposed raised
a rebellion, on the pretext of the undue
partiality evinced to an Abyssinian slave
who had been elevated to the rank of Ameer-
ul-omra. The sultana marched for its sup-
pression, but the army mutinied and delivered
up their sovereign to the hostile leader, a
Turki chief, who, becoming enamoured of his
captive, married her and proceeded to assert
her rights against his former confederates.
wut (Eagle's nest), a famous fortress in the Kohistan,
tenanted by a cruel and powerful set of fanatics, who
for more than a century and-a-half were the dread of
orthodox Mohammedans; the caliph on his throne
and the dervise in his cell, alike falling victims to the
knives of these midnight assassins, who were at length
extirpated by Hulaku Khan. Their chief was termed
the Sheikh-ul-Jubbul, or Old Man of the Mountain.
HOUSE OP KHILJI— A.D. 1288.— ALA-00-DEEN.
After two severe conflicts, both Rezia and
her husband were taken and put to death
in cold blood, a.d. 1239. The short reigns
of the two succeeding kings both ended in
deposition and murder : that of the latter is
memorable for a Mogul incursion through
Tibet into Bengal, the only one recorded
from that quarter during the period of
authentic history ; on the north-western
frontier they were frequent and destructive.
The assassination of Kei Kobad (a cruel and
dissolute monarch) in 1288, paved the way
for a new dynasty.
House of Khilji. — Jelal-oo-deen was placed
on the throne by his tribe, the (Khilji*)
when seventy years of age, in spite of his
own reluctance. At the end of his reign
the Deccan was invaded by his nephew,
Ala-oo-deen, who, diverting the attention
of the Hindoo princes by a pretence of
having quarrelled with his uncle and being
about to join the Hindoo ruler of Raja-
mundri, succeeded in marching at the head
of a chosen body of 8,000 horse to
Deogiri (Doulatabad), a distance of 700
miles, great part of it through the moun-
tains and forests of the Vindya range.
Deogiri, the capital of Ramdeo, rajah of
Maharashta, once reached was taken with-
out difficulty, as Ramdeo, utterly unpre-
pared for an assault, had no means of de-
fending it, but retired to a hill-fort with a
body of 3,000 or 4,000 citizens and domes-
tics. The town was pillaged and the mer-
chants tortured to make them surrender
their treasures. The fortress might have
held out successfully, but that in the hurry
of victualling the garrison sacks of salt had
been taken in mistake for grain. The rajah
was consequently obliged to make the best
terms he could, which involved the payment
of gold and jewels to an immense amount,
and the cession of Elikpoor and its depen-
dencies. Ala-oo-deen returned in triumph
through Candeish into Malwa, but his am-
bition, stimulated by the success of his late
unjust proceedings, prompted the seizure of
the throne of India. For this end, he
scrupled not at the commission of a crime,
heinous in itself to the highest degree, and
aggravated, if possible, by the circumstances
under which it was perpetrated.
The counsellors of the aged monarch had
emphatically warned him of the crafty and
unscrupulous character of his nephew, but
* A tribe of Tartar descent long settled among
the Afghans, with whom their name is almost in-
variably found associated.
could not shake his faith in one whom he
had reared from infancy. He therefore
crossed the Ganges with very few attendants
to meet and welcome the conqueror; whom he
was fondly embracing at the moment when
the heartless ingrate, by a preconcerted sig-
nal, summoned the assassins posted for the
purpose, who, coming forward, stabbed the
king to the heart, and fastening his head
upon a spear, carried it through the city.
The two sons of the rajah he inveigled into
his power, and caused to be put to death.
He then strove, by lavish gifts and profusion
in shows and festivals, to reconcile the people
to his usurpation. Public granaries were
constructed, prices fixed for all commodities,
importation encouraged by loans to mer-
chants, and exportation prohibited ; the
origin of these measures being a desire to
reduce the pay of the troops and the con-
sequent necessity of diminishing the expence
of living. Although, during his prolonged
administration, Ala-oo-deen showed himself
ignorant and capricious, as well as cruel
and arbitrary; though his arrogance and
covetousness constantly increased, yet his
twenty years' reign left the country in a far
better condition than it had been under the
sway of his kind but weak predecessor : so
true it is that in despotic governments, one
vigorous tyrant, whose will is the law of all,
generally occasions less suffering than the
feeble though gentle sovereign, who, inca-
pable of swaying an undivided sceptre, shares
his power with a crowd of petty despots, by
whose harassing exactions the strength and
wealth of the nation is gradually frittered
away. Several Mogul invasions from Trans-
oxiana (the last for many years) were re-
pelled by Ala; the most serious occurred
A.D. 1299, and was attended with great suf-
fering to the people of Delhi. A fierce con-
test took place between armies of extraordi-
nary magnitude, and was gained chiefly by
the valour of the Moslem general, Zafar
Khan, who, having become an oV)ject of
jealousy to his treacherous master, was pur-
posely left unsupported. Perceiving his
situation, the flying foe turned back and
cut him and his small detachment to pieces,
after a resistance worthy of his character.
The Mogul chiefs taken at this and other
times were trampled to death by elephants,
and the men butchered in cold blood, to the
number of 9,000 in a single instance. Fear-
ing, perhaps, the spirit of vengeance to which
such ferocity might give rise, Ala suddenly
discharged the whole of the Mogul converts
74
HOUSE OF TOGHLAK— A.D. 1321.
from his service, a violent and imprudent
measure, for which, though habitually tur-
bulent, they appear to have given no imme-
diate cause. Driven to despair, some of them
entered into a conspiracy to assassinate the
king, who, detecting the plot, caused the
whole, to the number of 15,000, to be mas-
sacred, and their families sold into slavery.
Very extensive conquests were made in
the Deccan by the Moslems under the
leadership of Cafur, a slave and eunuch,
taken in the capture of Guzerat, but pro-
moted by Ala to high command. Maha-
rashta and Carnata were subjugated, the
princes who still retained their dominions
being compelled to pay tribute, while the suc-
cessor of Ramdeo (the rajah of Deogiri, pre-
viously conquered) having refused to do so,
was put to death. The spirit of the Hin-
doos was however yet far from being com-
pletely bowed under the Mussulman yoke.
Guzerat revolted; Chittore (a celebrated hill-
fort in Mewar) was recovered by Rana
(prince) Hamir ; and Harpal or Hari Pala
(son-in-law to Ramdeo) raised an extensive
insurrection in the Deccan, and expelled
many of the foreign garrisons.
These ill-tidings coming one upon an-
other, produced in the mind of Ala-oo-deen
transports of rage, which a constitution
weakened by habitual intemperance and un-
ceasing anxiety could ill bear. Conspiracies
and insurrections, real and imaginary, em-
bittered every hour of his life ; and the well-
nigh successful attempt of his nephew
prince Soliman, to seize the throne by a plot
similar in its perfidy to his own, inspired
constant suspicions of domestic treachery.
The only being in whom he trusted, Cafur,
his victorious general, proved to be a hypo-
crite, designing and ambitious as himself;
who, after alienating from his master the
chief nobility, induced him, by innumerable
artifices, to imprison the unoffending queen
and her children, and then hastened his
decease by poison.
Under the alleged authority of a forged
will, (by which Ala bequeathed the throne to
an infant son, and appointed Cafur regent,)
the traitor assumed the reins of government,
caused the eyes of the captive princes to be
put out, and sent assassins to dispatch a
third named Mobarik. The plot failed ;
Cafur was himself murdered by the royal
guard ; and Mobarik succeeded to the throne,
A.D. 1317, after blinding his infant brother,
who was immured in a hill-fort for life.
Under a government where the extirpation
of possible rivals was deemed a matter of
expediency (that lying word so often used in
diplomacy to make wrong seem right, or at
least disguise its full wickedness), even such
barbarity as this might create little aversion,
but to provide against any such feeling,
while yet unsettled on the throne, Mobarik
set free all prisoners, to the amount of
17,000, restored the lands confiscated by his
father, removed his oppressive taxes, and abo-
lished all restrictions on trade and property.
He then marched to the Deccan and captured
Harpal, who was inhumanly sentenced to
be flayed alive. A converted Hindoo slave,
styled Khosru Khan, was made vizier ; by
him Malabar was conquered, and this service
so won upon Mobarik, that confiding the
whole administration to his favourite, he
commenced a course of the most odious and
degrading debauchery. A continual suc-
cession of disturbances and rebellions fol-
lowed, attended with all the pernicious ex-
citement of cruel tortures and executions ;
but the king, like his wretched father, was
doomed to receive his death-blow, not at
the hands of his indignant and cruelly in-
jured subjects, but from the serpent whom
he had cherished in his bosom. Khosru
occupied the palace with his creatures, filled
the capital with Hindoo troops of his own
caste, and then, the web being woven,
murdered his infatuated victim and seized
the vacant throne. After completely extir-
pating the house of Lodi, the usurper strove
to gain over the ameers or nobles, and
some of them consented to take ofBce under
him. Others refused, and joined Toghlak,
governor of the Punjaub, who marched to
Delhi, and after the defeat and death of
Khosru, was proclaimed king, a.d. 1321.
House of Toghlak. — The new ruler (the
son of a Turki slave by an Indian mother)
proved a blessing to the people by whom
he had been chosen. Order was restored
to the internal administration, and the
threatened invasion of the Moguls on the
north-west checked by a line of defences
formed along the Afghan frontier; Telingana
was conquered, as also Dacca ; Tirhoot (for-
merly Mithila) reduced, and the rajah taken
prisoner by Toghlak, who, when returning
victorious to his capital, a.d. 1325, was
crushed to death, with five other persons, by
the faU of a wooden pavilion, erected to re-
ceive him by his son and successor, to whom a
treacherous design is attributed. Moham-
med Toghlak, on whose reputation the
stigma of parricide is thus affixed, was rs-
TYRANNICAL AND DESOLATING RULE OP MOHAMMED TOGHLAK. 75
markable for great talents, often wickedly,
and sometimes so wildly used, as to render
his sanity a doubtful question. In languages,
logic, Greek philosophy, mathematics and
iDedicine, his attainments were extraordi-
nary ; in war he was brave and active ; in
domestic life devout, abstinent and moral.
Notwithstanding all this, he proved one of
the worst kings underwhose scourgelndia has
ever bled and suffered. When released from
the fear of invasion on the part of the Moguls,
whose absence was obtained by an enormous
bribe — he completed the reduction of the
Deccan ; and then gave the rein to his
ambitious but ill-digested schemes, by as-
sembling an army (comprising, according to
Ferishta, 370,000 horse), intended for the
conquest of Persia, but which, after it had
consumed his treasures, broke up for want
of pay, carrying pillage and disorganization
m every quarter. Next followed an at-
tempt upon China. For this 100,000 men
were sent through the Himalaya Mountains,
and having with loss and difiiculty effected
a passage, were met on the enemy's frontier
by a powerful force, with whom fatigue and
want of provisions rendered the invaders
unable to cope. The approach of the wet
season compelled a speedy retreat, which
the pursuit of the Chinese, the difficulties of
the route, famine and heavy rains, made so
disastrous, that at the end of fifteen days,
scarcely a man survived to tell the tale, and
many of those left behind in garrisons during
the advance of the ill-fated force, were put
to death by the unreasoning rage of the
disappointed king. An endeavour to fill the
royal treasury, by substituting paper, for
copper, tokens,* utterly failed in its object,
from the known insolvency of the govern-
ment, and it seriously injured trade and
impoverished the people; who, no longer
able to endure the increasing pressure of
taxation, deserted the towns and fled to the
woods, in some places maintaining them-
selves by rapine. The infuriated despot
ordered out his army, as if for a great hunt,
surrounded an extensive tract of country, as
is usual in an Indian chase, and then com-
manded the circle to close and slaughter all
within it (mostly inoffensive peasants), like
wild beasts. More than once was this hor-
rible performance repeated ; and on a sub-
* With regard to coinage, it may be remarked that
at the time of Cafur's invasion, there was, according
to Ferishta, no silver coinage in the Carnatic ; and
colonel Briggs remarks that the same was true, to a
certain extent, till very lately, the common coin
sequent occasion, its atrocities were paral-
leled by a general massacre of the inhabi-
tants of the great city of Canouj. Famine,
induced by cruelty and misgovernment,
brought to a climax the miseries of the nation,
and various attempts were made to break
the fetters of such unbearable oppression.
Mohammed's own nephew took up arms in
Malwa, but was defeated and flayed alive ;
the governor of the Punjaub next rebelled,
and he also was subdued and slain.
Bengal, and soon afterwards the Carnatic,
revolted under Moslem governors, and were
never again subdued ; Carnata and Telin-
gana combined succesfully under native
rajahs for the recovery of their indepen-
dence ; and lesser struggles took place in
every quarter. The Ameerf Judeeda, or
new nobles (the name given to the Mogul
chiefs and their descendants, who, having
invaded India, had embraced Islamism and
the service of the kings of Delhi at the same
time), became seditious in the Deccan; and
in Malwa, seventy of them were treacherously
massacred by the new governor, a man of
low origin, desirous to show his zeal — upon
which the ofiBcers of the same nation in
Guzerat, prevailed on the rest of the troops
to join them in insurrection. Mohammed
in person advanced for its suppression, and
ravaged his own province as if it had been
that of an enemy, devoting the rich towns
of Cambay a7id Surat to plunder. With
equal vigour he proceeded to quell a general
rebellion in the Deccan ; but no sooner was
seeming quiet restored in one place by a
costly effusion of blood, than new distur-
bances broke out in another. The king,
wearied out with marching and counter-
marching, fell a victim to a fever, caused, it
is said, by a surfeit of fish, but more proi
bably by political anxiety, added to the
habitual tumult of his own ungovernable
passions. He died at Tatta, whither he had
proceeded in pursuit of some fugitives from
Guzerat, who had taken refuge with the
Rajpoot princes of Sinde. The only marvel
is, that he should have been permitted to
reign twenty-seven years, and yet escape the
common fate of Asiatic tyrants — poison or
the sword. Few could ever have provoked
such an end more pertinaciously than
Mohammed Toghlak, who, in spite of his
being the pagoda ; there was also another gold coin
called Sifanam, in value about equal to a sixnence.
t Ameer, Emir or Mir alike signify noble, com-
mander, chief. Thus, Amoer-ool-omra, means head
of the Do'bles, or commander-in-chief.
76 FEROZE TOGHLAK AND HIS SUCCESSORS— a.d. 1331 to 1394.
intellectual gifts and personal bravery,
alternately excited emotions of horror and
contempt in the breasts of his subjects,
evincing alike in his extensive projects or
less disastrous follies, the same utter reck-
lessness with regard to their lives and pro-
perties. Thus — desiring to transfer the
capital from the magnificent city of Delhi
to Deogiri, as being a more central position,
he proceeded to attempt the execution of this
design, by ordering all the inhabitants of the
former, to remove at once to the latter place,
to which he gave the name of Doulatabad,
and there built the massive fort still existing.
After this the people were twice permitted to
return to Delhi, and twice compelled, on pain
of death, to leave it : these movements being
all, more or less, attended with the horrors
of famine, occasioning the death of thou-
sands, and ruin and distress to many more.
As an instance of his minor freaks, may be
noticed that of having a stately mausoleum
erected over a carious tooth, extracted dur-
ing his campaign in the Carnatic, and this
too at a time when his troops, ravaged by
pestilence and decimated by civil war, found
full employment in heaping a little earth
over their fallen comrades. In the early
part of this reign, the Mohammedan em-
pire east of the Indus, was more extensive
than at any other period ; but the provinces
lost during its continuance were not all
regained till the time of Aurungzebe, and
the royal authority received a shock which
the iron grasp of the Mogul dynasty alone
sufficed to counterbalance.
Feroze Toghlak succeeded to the throne,
in the absence of direct heirs, chiefly by the
influence of the Hindoo chiefs, and after
some disturbances raised by the Mogul
mercenaries. His reign stands out in
pleasing contrast, not only to that of his
predecessor, but to despotic rulers in general.
Rejecting the pursuit of what is commonly
called glory, he recognised the independence
of Bengal and the Deccaii, and without
seeking to extend the empire by the
sword, employed himself in its consolidation
and improvement. The diminution of capi-
tal punishments, the abolition of torture and
mutilation, the removal of numerous vexa-
tious taxes, alterations in the collection
of the revenue, the abrogation of fluctuating
and precarious imposts — all spoke the earnest
solicitude of the ruler for the welfare of the
people. Reservoirs and canals for irrigation,
mosques, colleges, caravanserais, hospitals,
public baths, bridges, and many other edifices
were erected, and the revenues of certain
lands assigned for their maintenance. The
chief of these works still remains a noble
monument to the memory of its founder —
viz., a canal extending from the point
where the Jumna leaves the mountains by
Kurnaul to Hansi and Hissar. It reaches
to the river Gagar, and was formerly con-
nected with the Sutlej. A portion, extend-
ing about 200 miles, has been restored by
the British government, and will be described
in the topographical section.
Feroze long retained his energies ; but in
his eighty-seventh year, increasing infirmities
compelled him to abdicate in favour of his
eldest son, Nasir-oo-deen, a.d. 1385. This
prince was displaced in little more than a
year by two of his cousins, who having
secured the person of the old king, proclaimed
his grandson, Gheias-oo-deen, sovereign ;
soon after which event, Feroze died, aged
ninety. Gheias, in five months, was de-
posed and murdered by the kinsmen who
had placed him on the throne. His suc-
cessor, Abu-bekir, was displaced by the pre-
viously exiled monarch, Nasir-oo-deen, after
a long and severe contest, during which
Delhi repeatedly changed hands. The
Hindoos took an active part in the struggle,
and the household troops, who were all
foreigners, having shown particular hostility
to the conqueror, were banished the city,
none being permitted to remain if incapable
of pronouncing a certain letter peeubar to
the languages of Hindoostan, The rule
of Nasir was weak and inefficient, and
that of his son, Mahmood, who acceded to
power in 1394, while yet a minor, em-
barrassed yet more the public aS'airs.
Mozuffer Khan, the governor of Guzerat
began to act as an irresponsible ruler;
while Malwa and the little province of Can-
deish permanently threw oif the yoke, and
remained independent principalities until
the time of Akber. The vizier of Mahmood,
with peculiar disloyalty, seized on the pro-
vince of Juanpoor and founded a kingdom.
The remaining territories were torn with the
dissensions of jarring factions, and each party
was occupied with its own quarrels, when the
fierce onslaught of a foreign foe involved all
in a common calamity.
Ameer Timur, better known as Timur Beg
(chief or commander) or as Tamerlane, has
been designated " the fire-brand of the uni-
verse," "the apostle of desolation," and by
various otheropprobrious epithets, all of which
his own autobiography,if its authenticity may
INVASION OF INDIA BY TIMUR OR TAMERLANE— a.d. 1398. 77
be trusted, proves to tave been fully merited.*
He claimed a remote descent from the same
stock as Jengis Khan, whom he in many
points resembled; for, though born near
Samarcand, in a comparatively civilized
country, and a zealous Mussulman by pro-
fession, Timur was as barbarous in his war-
fare, and as short-sighted (though more
treacherous and wily) in his policy as the
ferocious Mogul, lioth. were unprincipled
marauders, who overran countries and
slaughtered unoffending myriads, for plun-
der ; but the latter, while everywhere carry-
ing anarchy, famine, and pestilence in his
train, and sparing neither nation nor creed,
invariably asserted zeal for Islam as the
main spring of his actions, and by a strange
mixture of superstition and egotism, seems
to have succeeded in deceiving himself at
least, as to the true character and conse-
quences of his career. The Seyeds or legi-
timate descendants of "his holiness the
prophet" (through Ali and Fatima), were
the exclusive objects of his protection, and
their exemption from a personal share in the
horrors of war, he considered, or pretended
to consider, a certain means of absolution for
a life spent in unceasing aggression on the
indi^ndual and collective rights of the rest of
mankind. Having united the hordes of
Tartary in the same manner, though not to
the same extent as Jengis had done, Timur,
after conquering Persia and Transoxiana,
ravaged Tartary, Georgia, and Mesopotamia,
with parts of Russia and Siberia. Candahar,
Ghuznee, and Cabool, to the frontiers of
Hindoostan, were also subjugated and placed
under the government of Peir Mohammed,
the grandson of Timur, who endeavoured to
extend his dominions to the south-east by
an attack on the Afghans in the Soliman
mountains; which proving successful, the
invader eventually proceeded to cross the
Indus and occupy the city of Ouch, whence
he marched to invest Moultan. The place
was bravely defended, and Peir lay for six
months before its walls. Meanwhile Timur,
learning the doubtful state of affairs, re-
nounced his intention of invading the more
distant provinces of the Chinese empire, and
conducted his forces to India, a.d. 1398,
• Vide Mulfuzat Timuri (printed at the cost of
the Oriental Translation Fund). Originally written
in Turki, a language as distinct from the modern
Turkish as Saxon from English ; translated into Per-
sian by Abu Talib Hussyny, and thence into our
tongue by Major Stewart. These memoirs afford
•trong internal evidence of having been actually die-
being, he alleged, stimulated thereto by
accounts of the gross idolatry still suffered
to extend its influence throughout the
countries swayed by Moslem rulers. Fol-
lowing the usual route to Cabool, he marched
by Haryub and Bunnoo to Dinkot, a place
on the Indus to the south of the Salt range,
whose exact position is not known. After
crossing the river, by a bridge of rafts and
reeds, he advanced to the Hydaspes, and
marched down its banks, ravaging the
country as he passed, as far as Toolumba,
where a heavy contribution proved insuffi-
cient to save the city from pillage, or the
people from massacre.
Moultan had by this time been taken bv
blockade, famine having conquered where
external force had utterly failed ; and Peir,
leaving a garrison there, joined his grand-
father on the Sutlej. At the head of a detach-
ment of 11,000 chosen horse, Timur took
possession of Adjudin, where the few remain-
ing inhabitants threw themselves upon his
mercy, and being chiefly Seyeds, were spared
and shielded from, the excesses of the sol-
diery— a very rare case, for although the
promise of similar forbearance was often
obtained from the fierce invader, it was
almost invariably violated ; whether from
inability or disinclination to restrain his tur-
bulent associates matters little, since it
scarcely affects the degree of guilt involved
in giving, or rather selling an immunity
which, from one cause or another, he well
knew, would not be preserved. His deso-
lating career in Hindoostan may be briefly
told ; for the terrible details of pillage and
slaughter recur again and again, until the
mind, sickening with an unbroken chain of
similar scenes, has the sense of their atrocity
almost dulled by the monotonous repetition.
At Bhutneer, the country people who had
taken refuge under the walls were mas-
sacred ; in spite of their capitulation, the
inhabitants shared the same fate, and the
town was burned. Thence Timur's detach-
ment marched to join the main force,
slaying the people of every place traversed,
as far as Samana, where the towns being
absolutely deserted, the swords of these mur-
derers had some rest, but only suflScient to
tated by Timur; to quote the words of an able critic,
any doubt on the subject " would be removed by
the unconscious simplicity with which he [Timur]
relates his own intrigues and perfidy ; taking credit
for an excess of goodness and sincerity which the
boldest flatterer would not have ventured to ascribe,
to him." — (Elphinstone's India, vol. ii., p. 79.)
78 CRUELTIES OF TIMUR— GOVERNMENT OF THE SEYEDS— a.d. 1412.
prepare them for renewed exertion, since, on
reaching Delhi, all prisoners above fifteen
years of age were put to death, from the
fear of their taking part with their country-
men. The number was doubtless very great,
even after making large deductions from the
accounts of Mussulman writers, who state it
at 100,000. Upon the defeat of the Indian
army, the reigning prince of Delhi, Mahmood
Toghlak, fled to Guzerat, and the city was
surrendered uiider a solemn assurance of
protection. Tamerlane was proclaimed em-
peror of India, and while engaged in cele-
brating a triumphal feast, his ferocious
hordes, laughing to scorn the dearly-bought
promise of their leader, commenced their
usual course of rapine and plunder, upon
which the Hindoos, driven to desperation
by witnessing the disgrace of their wives
and daughters, shut the gates, sacrificed the
women and children, and rushed out to
slay and be slain. The whole Mogul army
poured into the town, and a general massacre
followed, until several streets were rendered
impassable by heaps of slain. At length the
wretched inhabitants, stupified by the over-
powering number and barbarity of the foe,
flung down their arms, and " submitted
themselves like sheep to slaughter ; in some
instances permitting one man to drive a
hundred of them prisoners before him."
Delhi yielded an enormous booty in gold,
silver, and jewels, especially rubies and dia-
monds ; the historian * above quoted, de-
clares that the amount stated by his autho-
rities so far exceeds belief, that he refrains
from the mention — neither does he give the
number of men and women, of all ranks,
dragged into slavery ; but it must have been
immense. Among them were many masons
and other artificers, competent to the con-
struction of a mosque, similar to the noble
edifice of white marble built by Feroze, on
the Jumna : in which the sanguinary Timur,
on the eve of departure from the blasted city,
had the audacity to ofler up public thauks
for tlie wrongs he had been permitted to
inflict.
Merut next fell beneath the same terrible
• Briggs' Ferishta, -vol. i., p. 494. For the career
of Timur, see Elphinstone's able summary — India,
vol. i., pp. 75 to 80 ; Price's Mohammedan History,
vol. iii., pp. 233, 243 ; and Rennell's Memoir of a
Map of Hindoostnn, pp. 116, 121.
t In Catrou's Mogul Empire, (a work published in
1709, and alleged to be founded on data collected by
a Venetian named Manouchi, who acted-as physician
to Aurungzebe,) the troops of Timur are represented
as commenting severely on the person of their leader,
scourge : the walls were thrown down by
mines, and every soul put to the sword.
The invaders then crossed the Ganges, and
proceeded up its banks to near Hurdwar,
where the river leaves the mountains.
Several minor contests took place with bodies
of the Hii^doos in the skirts of the hUls,
in which Timur, although suffering from
illness, and burdened with the weight of
more than seventy years, took his full share
of danger and fatigue, never scrupling to
hazard his own personf equally with that of
the meanest individual of his force. From
Jammu or Jummoo, north of Lahore, he
turned south, and reverting to the route by
which he had entered India, took his final
departure, having occasioned, during the
short space of five months, an almost in-
credible amount of ruin and bloodshed.
For many weeks DeUii remained un-
governed and nearly uninhabited. A chief
named Ecbal at length obtained possession^
but being slain on an expedition to Moultan,
the authority reverted to Mahmood, who,
having returned from Guzerat, had taken
refuge at Canouj, then held by the king of
Juanpoor. Mahmood died, a.d. 1412, His
successor, Doulat Khan Lodi, at the expi-
ration of fifteen months, was expelled by
Khizer Khan, the governor of the Punjaub.
The Seyeds. — The new ruler, though born
in India, was descended from Mohammed,
and for this cause found favour with Timur,
to whom he complained of having had the
governorship of a portion of the Punjaub
unjustly taken from him, and was thereupon
appointed to the undivided rule of the
whole. He afiected to recognize his patron
as emperor, and did not assume the title or
style of royalty on taking possession of the
government, which now comprised Uttle be-
yond Delhi and the adjacent territory. The
Punjaub was temporarily re-annexed by
him, but the eastern portion, with the coun-
try about Sirhind, revolted and severed
itself from Delhi, despite the opposition of
Khizer, who made spirited efforts to main-
tain and extend his authority. Tribute was
levied from the Rahtores in Rohilcimd, and
incited by a strong dread of Rana (the title signify-
ing prince being mistaken for the name), whose do-
minions are described as " almost situate in the midst
of Hindoostan," and whose Rajpoot soldiers had the
reputation of being invincible. " Have we not," said
they [the Tartars], one to another, " served this hair-
brained cripple long enough, who, to the loss of a leg,
has now, in this last battle, added the loss of an
arm." They are, however, induced to perseverei,
and complete victory is the result, (p. 16.)
HOUSE OF LODI TO THE INVASION OF BABER— a.d. 1450—1524. 79
from other Hindoos near Gwalior, but tlie
war with the king of Guzerat, though dili-
gently prosecuted, had no important result,
and that state retained its independence, as
did also the permanent monarchies in the
Deccan, together with Malwa, Bengal, Juan-
poor (comprehending Oude and Canouj),
and the governments of Samana, Biana, and
Calpee (in Bundelcund). Khizer died in
1421 — his three Seyed successors were en-
gaged in struggles, first, with the Mogul
ruler of Cabool (Shah Rokh, the son of
Timor), who occasionally took part with
the Gukkurs in ravaging the Punjaub; and
afterwards with the kings of Juanpoor and
Malwa. Under the sway of the last Seyed
ruler, Ala-oo-deen, the territory appertain-
ing to Delhi had become so reduced as in
one direction to extend for only ■ twelve
miles from the capital, and in another
scarcely a mile. Moultan, among other
places, had become independent, but Bada-
yoon beyond the Ganges being still pos-
sessed by Ala, he removed to that place,
and having abdicated in favour of Behlol
Khan Lodi, who forthwith assumed the
title of king, a.d. 1450, he was suffered to
remain unmolested in Badayoon for the
remaining twenty-eight years of his Hfe.
House of Lodi. — The grandfather of Beh-
lol Lodi had Ven governor of Moultan
under Feroze • oghlak, the great patron of
the Afghans, and his father and uncles held
commands under the Seyeds. Their wealth
and power as military chieftains, together
with the calumnies of a disaffected relation,
at length excited the jealousy of the then
sultan (Mohammed Seyed), by whom the
Lodis were driven into the hills, where they
successfully resisted his authority. Behlol
found means to occupy, first Sirhind, then
the whole of the Punjaub, and eventually (by
a treacherous use of the influence of
Hameed the vizier or prime minister of his
predecessor Ala), gained possession of Delhi,
to which the Punjaub became thus re-an-
nexed, as also Juanpoor, after a contest
carried on with little intermission for
twenty-seven years. By this last acquisi-
tion, together with others of less import-
ance, the dominions of Behlol were extended,
until, at his death in 1488, they reached
from the Jumna to the Himalaya moiuitains
as far east as Benares, besides a tract on
the west of the Jumna stretching to Bun-
delcund. The next king, Secander Lodi,
regained Behar as far as the frontiers of
Bengal, and increased his territories in the
direction of Bundelcund. Secander was a
just and merciful prince, a poet, and a
munificent patron of letters. The single
reproach on his character, one rarely brought
forward against the Moslem sovereigns of
India, is that of bigotry, evinced in the de-
struction of idolatrous temples in the towns
and forts captured from the Hindoos, and
in the prohibition of pilgrimages and cere-
monial bathings on certain festivals at places
situate on the sacred streams within his
dominions. His conduct in this respect was
at least in accordance with the teaching of
the Koran, and greater tolerance would have
been contrary to his views of duty. The
zeal of Secander is once, and only once, al-
leged to have prompted an act of cruelty,
namely, the execution of a Brahmin who
had sedulously propagated the doctrine that
" all religions, if sincerely practised, were
equally acceptable to God." Ibrahim Lodi,
the son and successor of Secander, early
offended his family and clansmen, by de-
claring that a king should acknowledge no
such relationship, but should place all the
subjects of the state on the same footing.
The Afghan chiefs whom his father and
grandfather had suffered to sit in their pre-
sence, were henceforth commanded to stand
in front of the throne with folded arms.
The proud Lodi tribe enraged by the
contumelious treatment they received, re-
solved to leave Ibrahim in possession of
Delhi, and to raise his brother Julal Khan
to the throne of Juanpoor. After a twelve-
month''s contest, Julal was taken prisoner
and put to death by Ibrahim, who impri-
soned the remainder of his brothers, and
endeavoured by violence and treachery, to
keep under the disaffected and rebellious
spirit which his arrogance and distrust per-
petually excited among his nobles. At
length the whole of the eastern part of his
dominions was formed into a separate state
under Deria Khan Lohani, whose son after-
wards took the title of king. Doulat Khan
Lodi, the governor of the Punjaub, dreading
the fate of other viceroys, revolted and in-
voked the aid of a neighbouring potentate
who had already evinced his desire to take
advantage of the distracted state of India by
marauding incursions into the Punjaub.
The celebrated Baber — sixth in descent
through his paternal ancestors from Timur
the Tartar or rather Turk, and connected
through his mother with Jengis Khan the
Mogul — acceded, at twelve years of age, by
the death of his father to the throne of Far-
80
BABER— HIS EARLY HISTORY AND INDIAN INVASION.
ghana,* (a.d. 1494), which, nothwithstand-
ing his extreme youth, he struggled long
and ably to retain, against his own relatives,
and the Uzbeks,t who were then founding
the dominion which they still possess in
Transoxiana.
In the defence of his rightful inheritance
Baber appears to have been at first success-
ful, but the death of his uncle, the king of
Samarcand, and the confusion which ensued,
induced him to attempt the conquest of
that city, and after more than one failure,
this boy of fifteen became master of the
famous capital of Timur. He had however
bartered the substance of power for the
shadow. The resources of Samarcand,
already drained by war, afforded little as-
sistance in the payment of the army, dis-
affection ensued, which spread to the troops
left in Ferghana, and Baber prostrated for
a time by dangerous sickness, arose stripped
alike of the territory to which he had rightfully
succeeded, and that acquired by the sword.
After various attempts, both on Samarcand
and Ferghana, Baber succeeded in regain-
ing his native kingdom, but being again
induced to leave it by the hope of securing
the former place also, he finally lost both,
and after several years of trial and vicissi-
tude, was betrayed by some Uzbeks whom
he had tempted to forsake their ally Tambol
(his own rebel general), into the hands of
this powerful enemy. Escaping from cap-
tivity, Baber, accompanied by his mother,
bade a last farewell to Ferghana, with all
the bitter feelings of an exile, aggravated by
his own peculiar trials, and carrying with
him fond recollections of that beautiful land
which were never obliterated by the excite-
ment of the brilliant career that awaited him
beyond the range of the Hindoo Koosh.J
The princely adventurer was well received in
Bactria, and the Moguls flocked round his
standard, until his small force of 200 or 300
men (many of them only armed with clubs)
had become the nucleus of a regular and
well-equipped army. At this time the des-
cendants of Timur had been expelled from
Cabool, which was occupied by the Mogul or
Turki family of Arghoon, who had been for
some time in possession of Candahar. Baber
invaded Cabool, and found little difficulty in
• A small but rich and beautiful country situated
on the upper course of the river Sirr or Jaxartes.
t The Uzbeks (so called from one of their khans
or sovereigns) were what the geologists would call
" a conglomerate " of tribes of Turki, Mogul, and pro-
bably of Fennio origin, the former greatly prepon-
securing the sceptre, which he swayed for
twenty-two years before his conquest of
India, and then bequeathed to heirs of his
own lineage, by whom it was enjoyed until
the end of the seventeenth century. His
long reign was spent in contests with in-
ternal and external foes. The rebellion of
his brother, Jehangeer, and the attempts of
two of his cousins to regain the sovereignty
for this branch of the family of Timur, were
with difficulty subdued. The victor freely
forgave his brother, and spared the lives of
his other relatives, thus evincing a clemency
very unusual in an oriental despot, and the
more to be admired since his power, and even
existence, were repeatedly in jeopardy, and
only rescued from destruction by the great
skill and courage with which he never failed
to govern and animate his troops. The
conquest of Candahar and expeditions into
the mountains of the Afghans and Hazarehs,
occupied the first years of his sway in Cabool.
In all these journeyings great perils and
hardships were endured, and once he nearly
perished in the snow during a winter march
to Herat, undertaken to secure the co-opera-
tion of the members of the Timur house
then ruling there, against the Uzbeks. With
these old and determined enemies, Baber
had many severe contests, until, happily for
him, their leader Sheibani Khan, went to
war with Shah Ismael Safiavi, king of Persia,
and was defeated and slain in 1510. By
this event the tide of Tartar conquest was
turned, and Baber, aided by the Persian
monarch, occupied Bactria and made im-
portant conquests in Transoxiana, but these
were wrested back again by the Uzbeks, by
whom his army was completely routed, a.d.
1514.
Baber now turned his attention to India,
and after an invasion of the Punjaub, already
alluded to, but attended with no important
result, gladly accepted the invitation of its
rebellious governor, Doulat Khan Lodi, to
return under the pretext of claiming this
part of the inheritance of Timur. Some of
the Afghan chiefs remained loyal, drove out
Doulat Khan, and opposed the assumption
of the foreign usurper, but were totally
overpowered, and Lahore itself reduced to
ashes. Debalpoor was next stormed, and
derating. They had before been settled on the
Jaik, and had possessed a large tract in Siberia.
X Vide Memoirs of Baber, written by himself in
Turki, translated by Dr. Leyden and Mr. Erskine ;
see also Mr. Caldecott's Ltje of Baber; Price, and
the Ferishtas' of both Briggs and Dow.
BASER GAINS THE BATTLE OF PANIPUT— a.d. 1526.
81
the garrison put to the sword. Baber pur-
sued his conquering course to Sirhind, when
a quarrel with Doulat Khan, who fled to the
I hills, obliged him to retrace his steps, leaving
Debalpoor in chargeofAla-oo-deen,a brother
of king Ibrahim, who, having escaped from
captivity, had joined the invader. Doulat
Khan was checked by one of Baber's generals,
but Baber himself, fully occupied in defend-
ing Balkh (the capital of Bactria) against the
Uzbeks, deputed to Ala-oo-deen the charge
of advancing upon Delhi, which he did, and
the insurgents being increased to 40,000
by the disaffection prevalent among the
king's troops, defeated the latter in an
engagement under the walls of the city. To-
wards the close of the year 1525, Baber,
having settled Balkh, and finally subdued
Doulat Khan who was compelled to sur-
render his hill fort and library of valuable
books — rather a singular possession for an
Afghan chief of the sixteenth century —
proceeded from Ropur on the Sutlej, above
Lodiana, and from thence nearly by the
direct road to Delhi. At Paniput, he learned
the advance of Ibrahim at the head of an
army, which, by his own account, numbered
100,000 men, with 1,000 elephants. One
quarter that amount, under an able and
popular leader, might have sufl[iced to in-
spire the opposing force, of but 12,000 men,
with despondency ; but even if the numbers
are correctly stated, the characters of the
respective leaders render the result easy to
be conjectured. Baber took up a position,
linked his guns together with ropes of twisted
leather, and lined them with infantry,
strengthening his flanks by field-works of
earth and fascines. Ibrahim, on first ap-
proaching the enemy, seemed inclined to
stand on the defensive likewise ; but, chang-
ing his mind, after a few days' skirmishing,
led out his army to a general engagement.
* This coin is only about tenpence or elevenpence
in value, yet the total sum must have been very great.
t The terms Turk, Tartar, and Mogul afford in-
exhaustible food for controversy to scholars versed
in oriental learning ; and to convey in few words
anything like a clear idea of the different meanings
severally attached to them, is utterly impracticable.
For the sake of readers unversed in such discus-
sions, it may however be useful to remark that Tar-
tary is the general term now applied by Europeans
to the extensive but little-known country whence,
under the name of Scythia, barbarian hordes have
from very early times issued forth to desolate the
fairest portions of Asia and even Europe. Of these
a passing mention has been made in noticing the
events of the second century of our era (p. 49);
the Tochari, named by Strabo as one of the four chief
tribes by whom the Greek kingdom of Bactria was
While attempting to storm the hostile front,
the flanks and rear of the assailants were at-
tacked by the right and left wings of Baber,
whose advance, showering flights of arrows,
was seconded by an occasional discharge of
cannon. After a protracted struggle, Baber,
perceiving the success of his counter-move-
ment, ordered his centre forward, and com-
pleted the rout of the Indian army. Ibrahim
was killed, and his force having been nearly
surrounded in the contest, which lasted from
sunrise till noon, suffered prodigious loss,
15,000 being left dead on the field, of whom
a third part lay in one spot around their
king, while their total loss in the battle and
pursuit was reported at 40,000. Baber
mentions especially that his guns were dis-
charged many times with efficiency, these
engines of destruction having at this period
(1526) attained neither in Asia or Europe
their present terrible pre-eminence among
the weapons of war. Delhi surrendered,
and Baber advanced to occupy Agra, the
late royal residence, where his first act was
to distribute the spoil among his adherents,
in a manner which procured for him the
nick-name of " the Calender," in allusion to
a religious order whose rules forbade them
to make provision for the morrow. To his
son Humayun was given a diamond of ines-
timable value, and a shahrukri* to every
man, woman, and child in the country of
Cabool.
House of Timur. — The conqueror assumed
the supreme authority in India, and became
the founder of what is universally called the
Mogul empire. Yet Baber, although con-
nected through his mother with the royal
race of the "Moguls, never names that people
in his writings but with undisguised aver-
sion, and always makes mention of himself
as a Turk,t and the representative of Timur,
whose barbarous massacres he too frequently
overthrown, being supposed to signify the Turks.
Timur, in his Memoirs (p. 27,) and a Persian author
quoted by Price in his Mohammedan History, ascribe
the origin of the Khans or sovereigns of the wide-
spread Tartar nations to Turk, the son of Japhet,
the son ofNoah. The great grandson of Turk, Alonjah
Khan (during whose reign the people forsook the
worship of the living God and became idolators),
had twin sons named Tartar or Tatar, and Mogul or
Mongol, and the quarrels of their immediate de-
scendants gave rise to the inextinguishable animosi-
ties which have ever since prevailed among their
respective tribes. Mogul is said to be derived from
Mungawul, signifying abject or simple-hearted.
Tartar, according to the traveller Carpini, a.d. 1246,
was the term applied to the Su or Water Mongols,
one of four chief tribes then inhabiting Ceuial Tar-
tary, from the name of a river which ran through
82 CHARACTER OP BARER, FOUNDER OF THE MOGUL EMPIRE.
imitated wherever the slightest resistance
was offered ; probably desiring by this fero-
city to inspire a degree of terror not war-
ranted by his limited force. Yet Baber was
in domestic life kind and affectionate; his
Memoirs offer repeated evidence of feelings
unchilled by ambition and grandeur, of sen-
sibility to the beauties of nature and art
retaining its freshness amid the declining
years of pampered royalty, and of a temper
whose sweetness remained to the last un-
marred, even by the thorny pillow of an
usurper, or the excesses into which his
socijJ. temperament helped to draw him.
" It is a relief," says Mr. Erskine, " in the
midst of the pompous coldness of Asiatic
history, to find a king who can weep for
days, and tell us that he wept for the com-
panion of his boyhood." And Mr. Elphin-
stone, when citing this remark, adds — " He
[Baber] speaks with as much interest of his
mother and female relations as if he had
never quitted their fire-side, and his friends
make almost as great a figure in the per-
sonal part of his narrative as he does him-
self. He repeats their sayings, records their
accidents and illnesses, and sometimes jokes
on their eccentricities." Yet this same indi-
vidual, in many points so estimable, never-
theless deserved the degrading surname of
Baber {the Tiger), which has superseded his
more flattering designations,* for in his cha-
racterofconquerorevenhe couldseldom afford
to be merciful and still more rarely to be just.
To return to the narrative — the occupa-
tion of Agra was far from carrying with it
the conquest of the kingdom, and before
that could be accomplished Baber had three
their territory (Hakluyt, vol. i., p. .30), while Graelin
( Decouvertes Jiusses, vol. iii., p. 209) gives the deriva-
tion of the word from tatanoi, to collect, used in a
reproachful sense to denote robbery, and declares
that the Moguls and Calmuoks, who are doubtless
closely allied, have not the shadow of a tradition
which favours the idea of their having ever composed
one nation with the Tartars (meaning Turks). De
Guignes, on the contrary, recognizes only the Eastern
and Western Tartars — the first the Manchoos, the se-
cond Turks and Moguls, whom he looked upon as one
race, the latter descended from the former. His
authority, though usually of much weight, is in this
respect diminished by the mistakes committed in
confounding distinct races, and likewise in the indis-
tinct geography of Tartary — defects scarcely to be
avoided even by writers of the present day on this
dark and difficult subject. The tribes now inhabiting
Tartary are very numerous and various: language is
the chief, if not the only guide by which Europeans
have been enabled to cla,ss them under the heads of
— lit, Manchoos, who extend over the region called
Mantchouria, stretching from the Eastern Ocean
along the north of China, and whose infli;ence is
distinct obstacles to overcome ; namely, the
opposition offered by the Moslem viceroys,
who had revolted in the time of Ibrahim,
as well as by Afghan and Fermuli chiefs, at-
tached to the late government; secondly, the
deep aversion of the Hindoos, evinced by
the abandonment of the villages near the spot
where the army was encamped, and the con-
sequent difiiculty of procuring grain or
forage. In the third place, the troops them-
selves became disaffected, and the weather
being unusually sultry and oppressive, so
aggravated the sufferings necessarily expe-
rienced by natives of cold countries during
an Indian summer, that at length all ranks
united in demanding to be led back to
Cabool. Baber declared his unalterable
determination of remaining in India, but
gave to all who chose permission to return.
The majority decided to stay and share his
fortunes, but a part persisting in their former
desire, were dismissed with honour under
the authority of Khaja Khilan, who was ap-
pointed to a government beyond the Indus
This arrangement produced a change of feel
ing throughout the kingdom, and dissipated
the general idea that Baber would depart
as Timur had done. Some governors vo-
luntarily tendered submission, detachments
were sent to reduce others, and in the course
of four months, not only had the country
held by Sultan Ibrahim been secured, but
all the revolted provinces ever possessed by
the house of Lodi, including the former
kingdom of Juanpoor, were conquered by
Prince Humayun. The supremacy of Baber
being thus established over the Moslems, his
arms were next directed against the Hindoos.
confined chiefly to that country, where at the present
moment (1853) a severe struggle is taking place for
their extirpation ; 2nd, Mogids, who occupy the cen-
tral portion (Mongolia) between the other two ; 3rd,
Tartars or Turks, (of Toorkistan,) whose boundary is
the MuzTagh (ice mountains), the BelutTagh (dark or
cloudy mountains), Hindoo Koosh, &c. The Turki
is the language of the Tartars as distinguished from
that of the Moguls, but whether these two differ
essentially or only as very different dialects of the
same tongue is perhaps yet to be decided (Erskine's
Saber, p. xxi.) Whatever may be the barrier be-
tween the Turks and Moguls, it is certainly a great
one and of ancient origin. In appearance the con-
trast is most striking between the short, square, and
atliletic though disproportioned body, bullet-shaped
head, small angular eyes, scanty beard and eyebrows,
high cheek-bones, flat nose, and large ears of a
Mogul or Calmuck, and the comely form of a Turk,
whose well-known Caucasian features and flowing
beard in many points resemble those of a European,
the exception being the contraction of the eyes.
* His original name was Zehir-oo-deen (protector
of the faith) Mohammed (greatly praised).-
STRUGGLES OF HINDOO PRINCES FOR INDEPENDENCE.
83
Sanga, the Rajpoot prince of Mewar
(sixth in succession from Hameer Sing, the
recoverer of Cheetore or Chittoor in 1316),
had immediately before the arrival of Baber
been engaged in hostilities with Mahmood,
king of Malwa, whom he had defeated and
taken prisoner. The king of Delhi was
likewise the enemy of Sanga, who opened
a friendly communication with Baber while
marching against Ibrahim, but on finding
him established on the vacated throne,
transferred his enmity to the new ruler, and
proceeded to combine against him with
the Lodi chiefs (previously defeated by Hu-
mayun) and Hasan Khan, rajah of Mewat,
a hilly tract extending towards the river
Chumbul, from within twenty-five miles of
Delhi, and including the petty state now
called Macheri or Aiwa. The first move-
ments of the Hindoos were successful; the
garrison of Biana (within fifty miles of Agra)
were driven with loss into their fort, and
communication cut off between them and
the capital. Baber marched forward with
all his forces, and at Sikri, about twenty
miles from Agra, found himself in the vici-
nity of the enemy, by whom his advanced
guard was immediately attacked, and though
supported by the main body, was defeated
with heavy loss. The assailants, instead of
following up the victory, withdrew to their
encampments, and thus gave Baber time to
fortify his position, and revive, by his own
indomitable energy, the drooping spirits of
the troops. This was no easy task ; for the
Indian auxiliaries began to desert or give
way to hopeless despondency, and the feel-
ing spread throughout all ranks, being deep-
ened by the unlucky arrival of a celebrated
astrologer from Cabool, who announced,
from the aspect of Mars, the inevitable de-
' feat of the Moslem army, which was drawn
up in an opposite direction to that planet.
Baber cared httle for soothsaying, but fully
' recognised the perils of his position, and,
by his own account, repented of his sins,
] forswore wine, gave away his gold and silver
drinking-vessels to the poor, and remitted
[ the stamp -tax on all Moslems (that is, the re-
' venue collected by means of a stamp or mark
^ affixed on all imported articles). Assembhng
j all the officers, from the highest to the lowest,
he addressed them in glowing terms — not,
however, in the usual inflated style regard-
ing the rewards, temporal and eternal,
awaiting the champions of Islam, but ap-
pealing almost exclusively to their sense of
honour, and setting the chance of military
glory, in plain terms, against the risk of
death. With one accord they swore on the
Koran to conquer or to die, and Baber de-
termined to bring matters to an immediate
crisis, a step rendered the more expedient
by the daily accounts of fresh disturbances
in the provinces. A desperate battle en-
sued; rajah Sanga was defeated, and escaped
with difficulty; Hasan Khan and many
other chiefs were slain. The mistaken astro-
loger ventured to congratulate Baber upon
his victory, but received in return a sharp
lecture for perversity, conceit, and mischief-
making, with a command to quit the royal
dominions, accompanied, however, by a libe-
ral present in acknowledgment of long ser-
vice, faithful though not discreet.
Mewat was next reduced and settled.
In the beginning of the following year
(1528) Chanderi, 'on the borders of Bun-
delcund and Malwa, was attacked. It was
held by Medni Rai, a Rajpoot chief, who
had escaped from the late battle, and des-
perately but vainly defended by the Raj-
poots, who, on perceiving the troops of
Baber mounting their works, slew their
women, rushed forth naked, drove the enemy
before them, leaped from the ramparts, and
continued to fight with unabated fury until
all had found the death they sought : 200 or
300 had remained to defend Medni Rai's
house, who for the most part slew one
another sooner than fall into the hands of the
enemy. An Afghan insurrection occurred
simultaneously with this siege. The latter
was no sooner ended than Baber marched
to the Ganges, where the Afghans were
drawn up, threw a bridge over the river
under cover of artillery, and compelled the
insurgents to disperse and take refuge in
the dominions of the king of Bengal. It
was probably on this occasion that he re-
duced South Behar, which was subsequently
seized by the Lodi prince. Sultan Mahmood,
who being once more forced to fly, all that
country south of the Ganges reverted to
Baber; but North Behar remained in
the possession of the king of Bengal,
with whom a treaty of peace was formed.
The health of Baber now began to fail,
and its decline was hastened by circum-
stances connected with the dangerous ill-
ness of Humayun. The physicians had
declared the condition of that prince to be
beyond the help of their art, upon which
the fond father resolved to devote his own
Ufe to the preservation of his son's, in con-
formity with a superstition still prevalent in
84
REMAEKABLE DEATH OF BABER— a.d. 1530.— HUMAYUN.
the Ea,st. His friends, who do not seem to
nave in the least doubted the efficacy of the
measure, entreated him to forbear for the
sake of the millions whom he ruled, but
without effect. After the customary for-
mula of walking three times round the
couch of the prince, Baber spent some
moments in earnest prayer to God, and
then, impressed with a conviction of the
fulfilment of the desired sacrifice, exclaimed,
" I have borne it away ! I have borne it
away !" All historians agree that Huma-
yun began from that time to recover, and
Baber to sink rapidly, which latter result
may be readily believed. Calling together
his sons and ministers, he enjoined con-
cord among them all, and affection among
his children, and soon afterwards expired
at Agra, a.d. 1530, and was buried in
Cabool, at a spot selected by himself, and
still marked by a small mosque of marble,
above which rises a hill, from whence a
noble prospect is obtained. Though he
did not attain to the age of fifty years,
Baber had, in one sense, lived many lives,
from the incessant activity of both mind
and body.* On his last journey, when his
constitution was evidently giving way, he
rode in two days from Calpee to Agra
(160 miles), without any particular motive
for despatch, and swam twice across the
Ganges, as he mentions having done every
other river he traversed. Besides the neces-
sary business of the kingdom, the intervals
of peace were occupied by planning aque-
ducts, reservoirs, and other improvements,
and in the introduction of new fruits and
other productions of remote countries. Yet
he found time to indite many elegant
Persian poems, and compositions in Turki,
which entitled him to distinction among
the writers of his age and country. His
contemporaries were, in England, Henry
VII. and VIII. ; in France, Charles VIII.,
Louis XII., and Francis I.; in Germany,
Maximilian and Charles V. ; in Spain, Fer-
dinand and Isabella, and Charles. Thus
the career of Baber formed part of a me-
morable epoch, of which the great events
were^ — the discovery of America by Co-
lumbus ; of the passage to India, via the
Cape of Good Hope, by Vasco di Gama;
• Towards the close of his life, Baber observed that
since his eleventh year he had never kept the annual
fast of the Ilamzan twice in any one place — a strong
proof of the roving, warlike disposition which brought
him to India. And it should be remembered that, in
spite of many attractive qualities, Baber comes under
the same condemnation, for lawless usurpation and
the increase of the power of France by the
annexation of the great fiefs to the crown,
and of Spain by the union of its kingdoms
under Charles; the destruction of the em-
pire of Constantinople ; the influence of the
art of printing ; and the rise and progress of
the Protestant reformation. (Luther and'
Baber were born in the same year.)
Baber left three sons besides Humayun,
but as he made no declaration in their
favour he probably intended the empire to
descend undivided to the child for whose life
he had evinced such tender solicitude. Of the
three younger brothers, one named Kamran
was governor of Cabool and Candahar, and
being firmly seated there, appeared disposed
to maintain his position if necessary by a
degree of force with which Humayun could
ill cope, since to assemble an army for action
in Cabool would necessitate the evacuation
of the lately-acquired and disaffected pro-
vinces. Kamran was therefore recognized as
the independent ruler of his previous govern-
ment, to which was added the Punjaub and
the country on the Indus. The other
brothers, named Hindal and Askeri, were
appointed to the sway of Sambal and Mewat.
By the cession to Kamran, Humayun was
deprived of the trusty and warlike retainers
who had long been the hereditary subjects
of his family, and left to govern new con-
quests, unsupported by the resources which
had materially contributed to their acquisi-
tion. At first, by the aid of the veteran
army of his father, he succeeded in putting
down the Afghan insurrections, which were
among the early disturbances of his reign,
and came to terms with his future rival.
Sheer Khan (an influential Afghan, claiming
descent from the kings of Ghor), who sub-
mitted on condition of being suflpered to
retain the hill-fort of Chunar, near Benares.
His next struggles were with Bahadur Shah,
king of Guzerat, one of the most powerful
of the states formed out of the fragments of
the empire of Delhi, and which had been
recently increased in size and influence by
the annexation of Malwa, and the vassalship
or fiefdom promised by the princes of Can-
deish, Berar, and Ahmednugger. Bahadur
had taken under his protection Ala-oo-deen,
the brother of Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who had
bloodshed, as his ferocious ancestors, Jengis ana
Timur. Nor is his private character free from heavy
reproach. Drinking he eventually renounced, but
continued to use intoxicating confections ; and this,
with other practices yet more degrading, he refers to
with as little regret as to the " erection of minarets of
human heads," and other common incidents of war.
PORTUGUESE ASSIST BAHADUR AGAINST HUMAYUN.
85
played so conspicuous a part during that
monarch's disastrous reign, and he assisted
him with troops and money to assemble a
force for the attack of Agra, a.d. 1534.
The attempt failed, for the army was as
speedily dispersed as it had been collected,
and Tatar Khan, the son of Ala, fell bravely
fighting at the head of a division which had
remained faithful amid the general deser-
tion. Humayun proceeded against Bahadur,
who was engaged in besieging Chittoor or
Cheetore, then held by the Rana of Mewar,
but was induced, (by the remonstrances of
Bahadur against the impiety of molesting a
Mussulman prince while engaged in war
with infidels, or else by his own dilatory
habits), to retard his march until the place
was taken, and the besieger prepared to
receive him in an intrenched camp at
Mandesor, rendered formidable by artillery,
commanded by a Constantinopolitan Turk,
and partly served by Portuguese prisoners.*
These advantages were however wholly neu-
tralized by the enemy's success in cutting off
the supplies, and thus making the position
untenable, upon which Bahadur blew up his
guns, and, leaving the army to disperse as
they chose, fled by night almost unattended
to the sea-port of Cambay, whither he was
followed by Humayun, who reached that
town on the evening of the day on which the
fugitive had departed for a more secure place
• In the Memoirs of Humayun, written by Jouher
the ewer-bearer, (a faithful servant who attended that
monarch during his adversity, and was eventually re-
warded by a treasurership in Lahore) and translated
by Major Stewart, it is asserted that Bahadur had
entered into a treaty with the Portuguese, (estab-
lished at Surat some time before), and had by their
assistance raised a force of 6,000 Abyssinians or
negroes. Price, on the authority of Abu Fazil, states,
that Bahadur had sent a deputation to Diu to
solicit the aid of the Portuguese viceroy, or captain-
general of the possessions of that nation on the
western side of India, requesting his assistance in
waging war against the house of Timur. The Por-
tuguese commander accordingly assembled at Diu a
considerable body of troops, and a powerful naval
armament, in readiness to meet Bahadur, en whose
arrival, it is said, some cause of suspicion, not satis-
factorily explained, induced the European chief, in-
stead of coming to meet his ally, to remain on board
ship on pretence of illness. Bahadur, with a degree
of confidence which seems to indicate the whole
affair to have originated, not in a misunderstanding,
but in systematic treachery on the part of the Por-
tuguese, put himself on board a galley to visit the
alleged invalid ; but had no sooner reached the
admiral's vessel, than, perceiving the deceit practised
upon him, he endeavoured to return to the shore.
The Portuguese had however resolved on first ob-
taining from him the cession of certain ports at
Guzerat, and endeavoured to detain him by fair |
N
of refuge at Diu, in the remotest part of
the peninsula of Guzerat. While the pur-
suers were encamped at Cambay, a night
attack was made by the Coolis, a forest-tribe,
still famous for similar exploits in this part
of India, with such silence and wariness, that
the royal tent itself was plundered, and the
baggage and books carried ofi' — among the
latter was a copy of the History of Timur,
illustrated with paintings. Humayun, in un-
just retaliation for the conduct of these
mountaineers, gave up the town to plunder,
and then quitting the peninsula, proceeded
to occupy the settled part of Guzerat. The
hill fort of Champaneir, he surprised by a
stratagem, having, with 300 chosen men,
scaled the walls in the night by means of
iron spikes, fixed in an almost perpendicular
rock ; the daring besiegers, including the
king, ascending separately during an attack
made on one of the gates by the army.f
Shortly after this success, and before suf-
ficient time could elapse for the consolidation
of his new conquests, Humayun was re-
called to Agra by intelligence of the pro-
ceedings of Sheer Khan, who had made
himself master of Behar, including the strong
fortress of Rohtas,J and was successfully pro-
secuting the invasion of Bengal. The mea-
sures of this usurper had been laid with
much skill and circumspection, his hope
being, by the union of the Afghans, to
words, entreating a moment's delay while they
brought a present in token of profound respect ; but
Bahadur desired that the present might be sent
after him and persisted in making for the ship's
side. The Portuguese Cazi (probably the fiscal) now
interposed and forbade his departure, upon which
the Sultan in a paroxysm of indignation drew his
scimitar, clove him in twain, and succeeded in gain-
ing his own galley, which was speedily hemmed in
by the enemy's fleet. An unequal conflict ensued,
and Bahadur, perceiving the inevitable result, sprang
into the sea, and is generally supposed to have been
drowned. The date of this event, A.D. 1537, is pre-
served in the Persian characters comprised in the
sentence, " Feringuian Bahadur Kosh," — Portuguese
butchers of the hero. — (Price, vol iii. p. 751).
f After its capture the stronghold was vainly
searched for the treasure it was believed to contain ;
one oflScer alone knew the secret, which it was pro-
posed to draw from him by torture, but to this
Humayun refused to consent, and directed that wine
and good cheer should be tried instead. The ex-
pedient proved successful, and the officer willingly
revealed the existence of a large amount of gold and
silver at the bottom of the reservoir, which was at
once apparent on the water being drawn off.
J Rohtas was taken by treachery from a Hindoo
rajah. Sheer Khan, having besought an asylum for
his family, introduced two armed soldiers in each of
the covered litters supposed to contain women, and
then easily overcame the unsuspecting garrison.
86
SHEER KHAN AND AFGHANS ATTEMPT TO EXPEL MOGULS.
drive the Moguls out of the country, and
re-establish a Patan dynasty.* To retard
the advance of Humayun he had strongly
garrisoned the famous fortress of Chunar,
which stands on a rock close to the Ganges,
on what may be termed a detached portion
of the Vindya mountains. As Humayun
marched along the river, and conveyed his
guns and stores by its waters, he was com-
pelled to commence hostilities with the siege
of this fort. By a cruel stratagemf infor-
mation was acquired regarding the state of
the defences, and attempts were made to
mine the accessible portions of the walls on
the land side, and by floating batteries to
bear upon the face fronting the river. — These
failed, but the garrison, after several months'
resistance, were starved into sui'render, and
the right hands of all the gunners, to the
number of 300, cut off, without the consent
of Humayun, by his chief engineer Rumi
Khan, who soon afterwards, through the
malice of rival courtiers, perished by jwison.
At the defile of Sicragali, a detachment of
the imperial army, sent to take possession,
were attacked and repulsed with con-
siderable loss by the son of Sheer Khan,
who then rejoined his father in the hills,
leaving the pass unobstructed, having fol-
lowed out the well-devised policy of im-
peding Humayun as far as possible without
hazarding any decisive conflict. During the
protracted siege of Chunar, Mahmood had
been defeated and Gour reduced by Sheer
Khan, who having removed the captured trea-
sures to the before-mentioned fort of Rohtas,
whither he had previously assembled his
family, now left Gour undefended. Hu-
mayun took possession, but gained little ad-
vantage thereby, for the rains had attained
their climax, the Delta of the Ganges was
one vast sheet of water, and in the country
beyond the reach of inundation every brook
and channel had become an impassable flood.
It was impossible to carry on operations in
Bengal, and extremely difficult to commu-
nicate with upper India. Several months
of forced inactivity elapsed, rendered doubly
wearisome by the moist and sultry climate.
The sickly season that followed the heavy
rains thinned the ranks of the soldiers, and
depressed their spirits so greatly that when
* According to Ferishta, the proper country of the
Afghans is called Roh, and extends along the
Indus ; but, subsequent to the introduction of Islam,
having settled at Patna on the Ganges, they gra-
dually acquired the appellation of Patans.
t Kumi Khan (originally a Turki slave named
Soghrauk, but promoted for his ability, and thus
the roads became again traversible they
began to desert in numbers — Prince Hindal,
who had been left in North Behar, setting
the example. Meanwhile Sheer Khan issued
from his retreat, seized Behar and Benares,
recovered Chunar, laid siege to Juanpoor,
and pushed his forces up the Ganges as far
as Canouj. Humayun once more found his
communication with the capital intercepted,
and leaving a detachment which he could
but ill spare to guard Gour, he reluctantly
set out to return to Agra with the remainder
of his diminished army, but was intercepted
between Patna and Benares by Sheer, who
had raised the siege of Juanpoor and ad-
vanced by forced marches for this purpose.
Instead of at once attacking the troops of
his rival while suffering from fatigue, Hu-
mayun suffered many valuable hours to
elapse, and the next morning found Sheer
(who had now assumed the title of Shah or
king) so skilfully intrenched that he could
neither be passed nor attacked with any
prospect of success. Humayun therefore, in
turn, fortified his position and began to col-
lect boats, with a view of forming a bridge
across the Ganges, and then pursuing his
way along the opposite bank. Sheer Shah
suffered this work to proceed for two months,
but when it approached completion, he at-
tacked Humayun about day-break in three
colums, and completely surprised the camp.
Humayun attempted to rally his troops, but
with little effect, and after receiving a wound
in the arm was prevailed on by three of his
favourite officers to seek safety in flight, and
plunge at once into the Ganges. J Here his
career had nearly terminated, for before
reaching the opposite bank his horse sunk
from exhaustion, but the royal rider was saved
by the exertions of a poor man opportunely
crossing at the time with a leathern bag or
water-skin inflated like a bladder. Thus
rescued, Humayun, accompanied by a very
small retinue, fled to Calpee, and thence to
Agra, (a.d. 1539.) Almost the whole army
had been slain or drowned, and the queen,
who having been early surrounded it had
been the object of his last exertion to re-
lease, remained in the hands of the enemy,
but was treated with great delicacy and con-
sideration. By some accounts, Sheer Shah
entitled by the Guzerat princes), severely flogged a
nagro slave, and sent him to play the part of a deserter
in the fort. The Afghans received him kindly, and
suffered him to examine their works, which having
done, he returned to his intriguing master.
\ The three officers returned to the battle and
nobly perished in attempting to rescue the queen.
WANDERINGS IN THE DESERT OF THE EXILED HUMAYUN. 87
is said to have gained this important victory
by treachery, having broken an armistice,
which from his character is very probable —
but by others it is asserted that he never
promised to suspend hostilities, but only
contrived to delude his adversary into so
doing by delusive negotiations and other
pretexts, which war is too generally supposed
to justify and even necessitate. On reach-
ing Agra, Humayun found Hindal in open
rebellion, and Kamran preparing to take
a similar course, but his sudden arrival
forced them to come to terms, and the three
brothers, after spending eight or nine months
in preparation, assembled a fresh army to
attack Sheer Shah. Kamran remained to
guard Agra while Humayun crossed the
Ganges near Canouj by means of a bridge
of boats, at the head of 90,000 cavalry, with
kettle-drums beating and trumpets sounding.
A general action ensued (a.d. 1540), the
imperial troops were again utterly routed
and driven into the Ganges, and Humayun
himself escaped with extreme difficulty.
After exchanging his wounded horse for
an elephant, he crossed the stream, and was
drawn up the steep bank by two fugitive
soldiers, who having reached the shore in
safety, twisted their turbans together, and
threw the ends to his assistance. After this
discomfiture, Humayun, with Hindal and
Askeri, took refuge in Lahore, where Kam-
ran had previously retreated, but this prince,
having made peace with the conqueror by
the cession of the Punjaub, retired to Cabool,
leaving his unfortunate brother to provide
as best he could for his own safety. The
succeeding adventures of the royal wanderer
would form a fitting pendant to those of the
EugHsh Stuarts, from the instances of un-
wavering loyalty, connected with his hair-
breadth escapes — while his character as a
Mussulman, though far from faultless, will
yet well bear comparison with that of the pro-
fessedly Christian but licentious Charles, or
even of the " bonnie Prince," for whom Scot-
tish chivalry and misfortune have combined
to win a place in the page of history, which
would probably have been very differently
filled had the Young Pretender been des-
• These names, like almost all Eastern appellations,
have each a distinct signification. Thus, Humayun,
means auspicious : Kamran, successful ; Hindal, In-
dian, and Askeri, born in the camp.
t At one time they are stated to have travelled
twenty-seven hours without finding water, and at
the expiration of that time, having at length come
vpon a well and rivulet, Humayun alighted, and
after prostrating himself in gratitude to the AI-
tined to become a crowned king instead of
dying in exile.
After the desertion of Kamran, which
was followed by that of Hindal and Askeri,
Humayun* sought to obtain the recognition
of his authority in Sinde, tlien ruled by
Hussyn,the head of the Arghoon family — but
after a year and-a-half wasted in alternate
negotiations and hostilities, he found his
funds exhausted, and the adventurers who
had rallied round his standard dispersed,
just as Hussy n approached to venture a de-
cisive conflict. During the previous inter-
val, Humayun, then about three-and-thirty
years of age, had married a beautiful girl of
fourteen, with whom he had become ena-
moured at an entertainment prepared for
him in the apartments of the mother of
Prince Hindal. Carrying with him his
young bride Hameida, he fled to Ouch, and
thence proceeded to ask the protection of
Maldeo, rajah of Marwar, but on reaching
Joudpoor, after a toilsome journey over the
desert, during which he lost many of his
followers from thirst and fatigue,t a new
disappointment awaited him in the discovery
of the unfriendly disposition of the rajah.
The royal fugitive, again driven to seek com-
parative safety amid the dreary sands, now
led his little band towards Amercot, a fort
in the desert, not far from the Indus. In
this route they experienced yet greater trials
than during the one previously taken. Be-
fore quitting the inhabited country, the vil-
lagers repelled all approaches to their wells,
which were to them precious possessions,
and it was not without a conflict and blood-
shed that the travellers were enabled to
slake their burning thirst. After leaving
behind the last traces of human culture, their
obstacles and difficulties increased ten-fold
until, one morning, when faint and weary
with a long night march, Humayun, who
had remained behind with the females and
servants, while the few chiefs marched on at
some distance in front, perceived the ap-
proach of a considerable body of horse,
under the command of the son of Maldeo,
and prepared to meet a fate similar to that
of the Imaum Hussyn and his ill-fated com-
mighty, ordered all the water-bags to be filled, and
sent back on his own horses for the use of those
who had fallen exhausted by the way, adding at the
same time a melancholy but needful command, for
the burial of " all the persons who had died from
thirst." A very unpleasing anecdote is however re-
lated by Jouher, of Humayun's having taken ad-
vantage of the thirst of a Mogul mercliant who had
lent him money, to oblige him to cancel the debt.
SB
REIGN OF SHEER SHAH THE AFGHAN— a.d. 1540 to 1544-
panions* The valour of Sheikh Ali Beg,
one of Humayun's bravest and most faith-
ful followers, appears to have warded off the
immediate danger, and soon afterwards the
Hindoo leader, bearing in his hand a white
flag, approached the party, and having re-
presented that they had wilfully done wrong
in killing kine in a Hindoo country, and
likewise in entering his father's territory
without leave, supplied them with water for
their immediate relief, and then permitted
them to proceed without further molestation.
Several weary marches, with intense suffer-
ing from thirst, further diminished the small
but faithful band, before Humayun with
seven mounted horsemen reached Amercot,
where the Ranaf (Pursaud) welcomed the
dethroned monarch with most courteous
and generous hospitality. The remainder of
the fugitives found refuge within the walls of
the fortress on the same day, and thankful
indeed must Hameida have been to quit
her horse, and find at length an interval of
rest. Pursaud offered to assist Humayun
in a fresh endeavour to establish himself in
Sinde, placing at his service 2,000 horsemen
of his own tribe (Rajpoots), and 5,000 cav-
alry belonging to his allies. These auxili-
. aries, or a portion of them, were gladly
accepted, and Humayun, accompanied by
the Rana, with about 100 Moguls, whom
he had himself succeeded in assembling,
marched towards Tatta. Hameida remained
at Amercot, and on the following day gave
birth to the celebrated Akber (a.d. 1542).
The joyful intelligence was immediately for-
warded to Humayun, who unable to practise
the munificence customary in the East on
these occasions, called for " a china plate,"
and breaking a pod of musk, distributed it
among the chiefs who came to offer their
congratulations, saying — " this is all the
present I can afford to make you on the
birth of my son, whose fame will I trust be
one day expanded all over the world, as the
perfume of the musk now fills this apart-
ment." Joon or Jiun (a place not marked
on the maps, but supposed to have been
situated on a branch of the Indus, half-way
between Tatta and Amercot, was captured
* In the desert of Kerbela, a.d. 680, Hussyn, the
son of Ali and Fatima, with seventy-three persons of
his family, including his infant child, were cruelly
massacred. Several heroic youths, his sons and ne-
phews, perished singly in defending the venerated
person of the Imaum ; who after a protracted defence
at length sunk, mutilated of an arm and covered
with wounds, of which thirty-six were counted on
his dead body, before it was finally crushed by
after an action with the officer in charge,
and though harassed by the troops of the
Arghoons, Humayun's party held their
ground, and were strengthened by the neigh-
bouring princes until they amounted to
about 15,000 horse. Hameida and the in-
fant prince (by this time about six weeks
old) joined the camp, and all seemed pros-
pering, when Rana Pursaud received an
affront from a Mogul, and was so dissatis-
fied by Humayun's conduct in the matter,
that he indignantly quitted Joon, with all
his followers and friends. Humayun, thus
rendered too weak to contest with Hussyn
Arghoon, proceeded to Candahar, but was
compelled by his turbulent brothers to
escape to Seestan with Hameida, and thence
to seek refuge in Persia, the infant Akber
falling into the hands of his uncle Mirza
Askeri, who showed more kindness on the
occasion than might have been expected.
Afghan tribe of Soor. — Sheer Shah| as-
sumed, as has been shov/n, the title of king in
1540, and took possession of all Humayun's
territories. After commencing the famous
fort of Rohtas on the Hydaspes, on which he
expended an enormous sum of money, and
named after that in Behar, he returned to
Agra, and there found employment in sub-
duing the revolt of his own governor of
Bengal. He conquered Malwa in the course
of the year 1542, and soon afterwards re-
duced the fort of Raiseen, held by a Hindoo
chief. The garrison surrendered on terms,
but after they had left the fort, the capitula-
tion was declared void on some quibbling
legal pretext, and the Hindoos were attacked
and cut to pieces after a brave resistance.
Barbarous as the Mohammedans too often
showed themselves in India, yet treachery
such as this can hardly be paralleled, save in
the career of Timur. In 1544, Sheer marched
into Marwar, which was desperately defended
by rajah Maldeo, who, though able to collect
only 50,000 men wherewith to oppose his
adversary's powerful army, estimated at
80,000, and probably well-provided with
artillery, appears to have at first succeeded
in overawing the invader, aided by the na-
tural obstacles offered by the sterility of his
twenty horsemen, and then left to be devoured by
wild beasts. The unfortunate females were thrown
across the backs of camels and afterwards stripped
and publicly exposed — all these atrocities being com-
mitted by Mohammedans. (Price, vol. i. p. 410.)
+ The patronymic of the princes of Mewar.
X His name was changed from Pureed, to Sheer
Khan, or Lion-knight, from his slaying a wild beast
while hunting with the king of Berar.
SHEER SHAH KILLED, a.d. 1545— SELIM SHAH, a.d. 1553.
89
territory and the want of water in many
parts of it. At length Sheer Shah, always
a cunning schemer, contrived to sow divi-
sion in the hostile camp by the common
expedient of letters written on purpose to be
intercepted. The rajah's suspicions were
raised against some of his chiefs, and he
commenced a retreat. One of the suspected
leaders, indignant at the imputation, deter-
mined, in the true Rajpoot spirit, to give
incontestable proof of its injustice, and quit-
ting the army at the head of his own tribe
fell with such impetuousity on the enemy,
that Sheer Shah with difficulty and severe
loss succeeded in repelling the assailants.
He was, however, eventually victor here, as
also at Chittore ; but at Calinjer, to which
he laid siege, a striking retribution awaited
him. The rajah, warned by the breach of
faith committed at Raiseen, refused to enter
into any terms with his perfidious foe, and
Sheer, while superintending the batteries,
was so scorched by the explosion of a maga-
zine struck by the rebound of a shell, that
he expired in a few hours, but continued to
direct the operations of the siege during his
mortal agonies, his last words being an ex-
clamation of pleasure at learning that the
place was taken.
This ambitious, cruel, and vindictive man,
nevertheless evinced considerable ability in
civil government, and, happily for the sub-
jects of his usurped authority, seems to
have recognised the promotion of their wel-
fare as his best means of security. He
caused a high road to be constructed, ex-
tending from Bengal to the western Rohtas,
near the Indus, a distance of about 3,000
miles, with caravanserais at every stage, all
furnished with provisions for the poor, and
attendance of proper casts for Hindoos as
well as Mussulmans. An Imaum (priest)
and Muezzin (crier to call to prayers) were
placed at the numerous mosques erected on
the route ; wells were dug at distances of a
mile and-a-half, and the whole way planted
with fruit-trees for refreshment and shade.
Sheer Shah was buried in a stately mausoleum
still standing at Sahseram, placed in the
centre of an artificial piece of water, a mile
in circumference, which is faced by walls of
cut stone, with flights of steps descending to
the water. Previous to his death, his eldest
son had been the recognised heir to the
throne, but being a prince of feeble charac-
ter was supplanted by his brother, who
reigned for nine years, under the title of
SeUm Shah. On his decease, a.d. 1553,
his son, a boy of twelve years old, was mur-
dered by his uncle, who seized the throne
under the name of Mohammed Adili,* but
was prevented from using the powers of a
ruler by natural incapacity, increased by
habits of the most odious debauchery. His
extravagance speedily emptied the royal cof-
fers, upon which he resumed the governments
and jaghiresf of the nobles and bestowed
them on the lowest of his creatures. The
proud Afghans, stung even more by the in-
sulting bearing of their unworthy ruler than
by the injuries they suffered at his hand, fled
in numbers, and raised the standard of revolt
at Chunar. Meanwhile, the person of the
king was protected and his authority upheld
by the exertions of Hemu, his chief minis-
ter, a Hindoo of mean appearance and low
origin, who had formerly belonged to the
very lowest class of small shopkeepers, as a
retailer of salt, but who had been gradually
raised to power by the late king, and now
displayed a degree of zeal and ability,
which would have honoured a better cause.
From some weakness or physical defect
Hemu was unable to sit on horseback, but
he directed all military operations, and
fought with unfailing intrepidity from his
litter mounted on an elephant. Not the
least extraordinary part of his history is the
manner in which he succeeded in recon-
ciling such of the haughty Afghans and un-
ruly Moguls as still remained with Adili, to
his authority; this he appears to have done
chiefly by the munificence with which he
distributed whatever treasure or revenue
came into his hands — for his objects and
motives, though scarcely indicated in the
contemptuous and calumnious mention made
of "this swarthy upstart" by Mussulman
historians, unquestionably soared far above
the mere accumulation of wealth. Delhi
and Agra were seized on by Ibrahim Soor,
a member of the reigning family, who at-
tempted to assume the supreme authority
under the name of Ibrahim III., but was
opposed by Hemu, and also by Secander
Soor, another relative of Adili' s, who caused
himself to be proclaimed king in the Pun-
jaub. Ibrahim was defeated first by Secan-
der and then by Hemu. The adventurous
minister next marched towards Bengal, to
• This wretch, known before his usurpation as
Moobariz Khan, is alleged to have dragged the
prince from his mother's arms, that mother being his
own sister and tried friend. {Ferishta, vol. ii. p. 142.)
t The revenues of certain lands granted by the
king, sometimes in perpetuity but generally revo-
cable at pleasure, and on military tenure.
90 HUMAYUN AND SHAH TAHMASP, KING OP PERSIA— a.d. 1545.
oppose the governor, Mohammed Soor, who
had assumed the rank of an independent
ruler. Hemu was again victorious, this
new adversary being defeated and slain ; but
struggles in other quarters still continued,
and a more formidable foe than any yet
dealt with, arose in the person of the de-
throned Humayun, who had gradually re-
established himself in the Punjaub, where
Secander, who had occupied Agra and Delhi
on the defeat of Ibrahim, now marched for
his expulsion. Before narrating the success
of Humayun and Akber, and the fate of
Ibrahim and of Hemu and Adili, it is neces-
sary to revert to previous events and sketch
the chain of circumstances which ended in
the restoration of the exiled monarch.
House of Timur restored. — Humayun en-
tered Persia in much uncertainty regarding
the reception he should receive from Shah
Tahmasp, the son and successor of Shah
Ismael, the first of the Saffavi or Sophi
kings. Though both were zealous Moham-
medans, they belonged to distinct sects,
characterised by a degree of mutual ani-
mosity, for which the difference of opinion
existing between them on doctrinal points
far less than those which divide the churches
of England and Rome, is quite insufficient
to account. — [See note to p. 62). Shah
Tahmasp was a strenuous advocate of the
Sheiah doctrine, which had been widely
disseminated through Persia by the instru-
mentality of his ancestors, dervises much
famed for sanctity, while Humayun was a
Sonnite, and this was doubtless one cause
i of the want of cordiality which marked the
; private intercourse of the two monarchs,
■ whose connexion was really, on both sides,
i an interested one. At first Humayun seems
; to have been inclined to put in practice his
j cherished desire of ceasing, at least for a
; time, the weary struggle for power, in which
he had been so long engaged, and proceeding
, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, but his faithful
I followers urgently dissuaded him from this
■ project, pleading the disastrous results it
would have on the fortunes of Akber. The
1 reception met with in Persia successfully
, seconded their arguments — the governors of
j each province received him with regal hon-
[ ours, the people came out to bid him wel-
I come, and palaces were prepared for his
I • The cap which Humayun so reluctantly assumed
was that called Taji Hyder, in honour of Hyder, the
father of Shah Ismael, by whom it was first adopted.
It consisted of a tiara of crimson silk, richly or-
namented with gold and jewels, of a high conical
accommodation at Cazvin and elsewhere, j
But the splendour with which the Persian :
despot thought proper to gild the fallen
majesty of his unfortunate compeer, was un-
accompanied by a single ray of true sym-
pathy ; for many months Humayun was
not suffered to appear before the Shah, and
his brave-hearted envoy, Behram Beg, was'
harshly treated for refusing to wear the
peculiar-shaped cap,* from which the Per-
sians have acquired the title of Kuzilbash
{Red-heads), in allusion to its colour, and
which was expressly designed for a sectarian
symbol. Behram urged that he was the
servant of another prince, and not at liberty
to act without orders. He persisted in de-
clining to assume this badge, unawed by
the displeasure of Tahmasp, who strove to
intimidate the refractory ambassador, by
the summary execution of some prisoners
brought before him for the purpose. This
incident was a sufficiently significant prelude
to the long-delayed interview, during which
Tahmasp affected to receive Humayun as
his equal, but in reality took ungenerous
advantage of his defenceless position, by
compelling him, by means of threats affect-
ing life itself, to assume the obnoxious
cap. Nor even after this concession could
Tahmasp resist taunting his guest with
having, during his prosperity, when prac-
tising the favourite Arabian form of divina-
tion by arrows, to discover the destiny of
reigning princes, placed the name of the
king of Persia in a rank inferior to his own.
Humayun frankly acknowledged that he
had done so, and gently urged in justifica-
tion his hereditary rank as Padshahf or
Emperor of India, whereupon Tahmasp
broke out into violent and unjust invective
against the arrogance which had rendered
him a fugitive, and thrown his female rela-
tives and infant heir into the hands of his
enemies.
Notwithstanding the humiliations suffered
in private from what he justly termed "the
meanness of this Persian monarch," Hu-
mayun continued to receive every outward
mark of unbounded munificence in the fes-
tivals prepared in his honour, especially the
military diversion of great circular hunts, so
famous in the annals of Timur. All the
expenses thus incurred are however said to
shape and divided into twelve segments, in honour
of the twelve Imaums, from whom the reigning family
claimed descent.
t This title was exclusively assumed by the dy-
nasty of the Great Mogul.
HUMAYUN CONQUERS CABOOL AND CANDAHAR.
91
have been repaid two-fold by the gift of a
few rich gems, which the exiled monarch had
brought with him from Hindoostan. One
of these was a diamond, which the jewellers
of Tahmasp declared to be above all price,
it was perhaps that obtained at Agra, and
there estimated in a somewhat indefinite
manner as equal in value " to the purchase
of a day's subsistence for one-half the in-
habitants of the terrestrial globe." Behram
Beg, the bearer of this costly ofiering, was
dignified by the title of Khan, and another
officer •with that of Sultan, but it was not
without far heavier sacrifices that the as-
sistance, from the first promised to their
sovereign, was at length afibrded. He was
compelled to sign a paper, the contents of
which, though not precisely stated, involved
a pledge, in the event of success in regaining
the sceptre of Baber, to cede to Persia the
province or kingdom of Candahar, and like-
wise to introduce among the Mussulmans of
India the profession of the Sheiahs in oppo-
sition to that of the Sonnites. Orders were
then given for the assemblage of 14,000
horse in Seestan, under the command of
Murad Mirza, the son of Tahmasp, and after
some more bickering the monarchs parted,
and Humayun proceeded again to try his
fortune in war, his private forces amounting
only to about 700 men. At this period
(1545) Sheer Shah was still alive, Kamran
swayed Cabool, and his younger brothers,
after the settlement of their private quar-
rels, received appointments under him ;
Hindal being governor of Ghuznee, and
Askeri of Candahar, which latter place was
attacked by Humayun and captured after a
siege of five months. Askeri was taken and
kept in close captivity for the next three
years. The fort and treasures were made
over to the Persians, on which the greater
]>art of them returned home, leaving a gar-
rison under Murad Mirza. According to
Abul Fazil* the conduct of the Persians to
the inhabitants was so cruelly oppressive as
to justify Humayun, on the sudden death of
Murad, in treacherously seizing the fortress ;
his troops obtaining entrance thereto on the
• Abul Fazil, the famous minister of Akber, re-
corded the leading events of the reigns of this
sovereign and his father in an heroic poem com-
prising 110,000 couplets, from which Ferishta has
borrowed largely. Although a man of extraordinary
ability, he wa-s, unfortunately for the students of his-
tory, an accomplished courtier and professed rheto-
rician, delighting in the cumbrous and inflated style
still in vo"ue in India. His account of important
events is therefore often unsatisfactory, and, unless
plausible pretext of placing Askeri in charge
of the Persian governor. Some of the gar-
rison offered resistance on discovering what
was really intended, but their opposition
was soon silenced in death, and the re-
mainder were suffered to return to Persia.
From Candahar, Humayun marched to
Cabool, of which he took possession without
a struggle, for Kamran, finding himself de-
serted by Hindal and many other chiefs
who had gone over to the now successful
brother, had sought refuge in Sinde. With
Cabool, Humayun recovered Akber, then
between two and three years of age, but
both the city and the young prince were
subsequently re-captured by Kamran, who
long held his ground against all attempts
for his expulsion. Prisoners taken during
this siege were slain in cold blood by the
assailants, and treated with yet greater bar-
barity by Kamran, who threatened, if the
firing were not discontinued, to expose
Akber on the walls. Eventually, being un-
able to continue the contest, he escaped by
night, and by the aid of the Uzbeks again
made head against his brother for about
eighteen months, but was, at the expira-
tion of that time, compelled to surrender.
Humayun behaved on this occasion very
nobly, treated Kamran with great kindness,
released Askeri, and, accompanied by Hindal,
sat down with them at a feast. The four
brothers having eaten saltf together, seemed
for the time entirely reconciled, but during
Humayun's subsequent absence in Trans-
oxiana, the conquest of which he had resolved
on attempting, Kamran once more rebelled,
and after many vicissitudes, (during which
Cabool and the young prince were again
lost and won, and Hindal fell in the cause
of Humayun,) was finally betrayed by the
sultan of the Gukkurs, with whom he had
taken refuge, into the hands of his much-
injured brother. Some chiefs, whose wives
and children had been savagely disgraced and
murdered by order of Kamran during the
siege of Cabool in 1547, now loudly urged
that his life should pay the forfeit of his
crimes. This Humayun steadfastly refused,
carefully vpeighed, misleading j but, notwithstanding
their defects, his works (the Akber Nainah and
At/een Akhery) afford information not to be ob-
tained elsewhere.
t In the east it is regarded as peculiarly infa-
mous for either the giver or receiver of the lowest
description of hospitality, to practice hostility against
one another. Thus, salt, which forms an ingredient
of the most sumptuous or humble m il has become
a type and pledge of good faith.
93
CHARACTER AND DEATH OF HUMAYUN— a.d. 1555.
but consented to allow him to be blinded,
the barbarous method commonly resorted
to in the East, to crush ambitious pretenders
to that uneasy seat — the throne of a despot.
The cruel operation was usually performed
by means of a searing instrument, called a
fire-pencil, held against the visual nerve
until it was annihilated, or by means of an-
timony ; but in this case, perhaps from the
fact of several state prisoners condemned
in late reigns to a similar fate having
escaped its completion — a lancet was em-
ployed, and after many wounds had been
inflicted, without drawing a groan, lemon-
juice and salt were at last squeezed into the
sightless orbs of the wretched sufferer, who
then exclaimed in uncontrollable agony — " O
Lord my God ! whatever sins I have com-
mitted have been amply punished in this
world, have compassion on me in the next."
Humayun shortly afterwards went to visit
his unhappy brother, and wept long and
bitterly while Kamran confessed the justice
of his punishment, and asked leave to per-
form a pilgrimage to Mecca. This he was
suffered to do, and died in that place in
1557. Askeri, who had likewise returned to
the course of rebellion after having repeat-
edly abjured it, had been previously cap-
tured, but was only punished by imprison-
ment, from which he also was released, for
the purpose of proceeding to Mecca, and
died on his way thither. Thus delivered
from the difHculties in which the turbulence
and disunion of his brothers had involved
him during so long a period, Humayun
began to take advantage of the unsettled
state in which the death of Selim Shah and
the misgovernment of his successor had
involved the territories conquered by Baber,
which had gradually, as has been shown,
been parted by various usurpations into five
distinct states, whose rulers were at variance
with one another. In January, 1555, he
started from Cabool with 15,000 horse,
obtained possession of Lahore, and sub-
sequently engaged Secander, who being
defeated fled to the mountains near the
Himalaya, leaving Humayun to occupy
Delhi and Agra. The portion of his original
dominions thus at length regained, after
sixteen years of strife and banishment, had
been enjoyed by Humayun less than six
months, when an accident occurred which
produced fatal results. The monarch had
ascended the terrace at the top of his library
to enjoy the cool evening air, and give orders
respecting the attendance of astronomers to
note the rising of Venus, which was to be
the signal for the announcement of a general
promotion among the nobility and oflicers.
While preparing to descend the steep and
highly-polished stairs, protected only by au
ornamental parapet a foot high, a muezzin
or crier announced the hour of prayer from,
the minarets of the adjoining mosque, where
the people being assembled had just offered
the monarch the usual koi-nesh or Saluta-
tion. Humayun, intending to repeat the
customary formula, attempted to seat him-
self on the spot, but his foot becoming en-
tangled in the folds of his robe, he fell head-
long down the steps, receiving a contusion
on the right temple, of which he died, aged
somewhat less than forty-nine years.
Historians agree in according him high
rank as a benevolent, forgiving, and munifi-
cent prince, intrepid in the hour of danger,
patient in adversity, moderate in prosper-
ity, and skilled in literature, mathematics,
geography, astronomy, and the mechanical
sciences. These varied gifts, united to a
naturally easy temper, pleasing person, and
courteous demeanour, rendered his society
so delightful that Baber used often to de-
clare Humayun to be without an equal as a
companion. Procrastination and indecision
were his characteristic failings ; these may be
easily traced to the frequent and intoxicat-
ing use of opium, a vice whose degrading
influences were heightened by the peculiar
defects of his religious creed. Perhaps no
single character, when carefully weighed
would afford an inquirer into the effects of
Mohammedanism on individuals more strik-
ing evidence than that of Humayun. His
conduct repeatedly affords evidence of the
want of a steady principle of action, direct-
ing even the passing thoughts of the mind,
and marking with a broad line the differ-
ence between right and wrong. Notwith-
standing the false notions of expediency
which led him to commit, or at least sanc-
tion, crimes from which a naturally gentle
and easy disposition must have revolted,
col. Dow has said that " had he been a
vvorse man he would have been a greater
monarch." The remark sounds strangely,
but it is to be hoped that young students of
history will not forget that all Christendom
concurs in invoking the same just, mer-
ciful and omnipotent Ruler to give wisdom
to senators and prosperity to nations — there-
fore any description of greatness, inconsis-
tent with the goodness inculcated in the
Gospel, ought simply to excite abhorrence
BAHMANI KINGDOM OP THE DECCAN— FOUNDED ad. 1347. 93
and reprobation. Most assuredly the man
■who, in an unrighteous cause, has made mo-
thers childless, and widowed happy wives, de-
solated cultivated lands and spread famine and
pestilence in his train, has attained in the
sight of his Creator a pre-eminence in crime
little in accordance with the idea commonly
attached to the word greatness. Some ray of
light, breaking through the dense clouds in
I which the teaching of the False Prophet had
! involved the purposes and results of war,
I beamed on the mind of Humayun, when not
j many days before his death he prayed, "Lord,
I ennoble me with the knowledge of thy truth;"
! and described himself as " sorely afflicted by
; the perplexities of a troubled mind." The
I faith of Islam and its innumerable obser-
j vances had thus utterly failed to enlighten
I or sustain even a follower, so diligent in
I their observance, that a sentiment of deep
! reverence had all his life long preserved him
from so much as uttering the name of his
Creator with unwashen hands.*
I A new epoch is formed by the reign of
I Akber, since by him India was consolidated
; into one formidable empire, by the absorp-
i tion of the various small kingdoms which
j had sprung up during the reign of Moham-
I med Toghlak, as also by the annexation of
numerous Hindoo principalities, which Ak-
j ber obtained far less by force than by the
I favours and distinctions which he invariably
I bestowed on the native rulers so soon as
I they consented to recognize his supremacy,
I without regard to their religious opinions.
; Before proceeding further, the origin and
j condition of these states must be shown, as
the reader may probably need this know-
ledge for subsequent reference.
The Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan was
founded by Hussun, an Afghan, born in a
low condition at Delhi, and servant to a
Brahmin astrologer, named Gungoo, much
favoured by Mohammed Toghlak. In con-
sideration of his gooa conouct, Gungoo gave
Hussun a pair of oxen, and permitted him
\ to till a piece of land for his own sustenance.
I While ploughing, Hussun discovered a cop-
per casket filled with ancient gold coins,
which he carried to his master, who, in re-
turn, used his utmost influence at court, and
* Price, from Ahtl Fazil, vol. iii., p. 944.
t The Khothah is the public prayer for the reign-
ing king ; Sicca the royal right of stamping coin.
X By the (lamatio is here meant the country where
the Canarese language prevails, south of a line drawn
between Colapoor and Beder. It must be remem-
bered that this tract continued, up to the time of
O
succeeded in rewarding the honesty of Hus-
sun by obtaining for him an appointment
and jaghire in the Deccan, under the gov-
ernor of Doulatabad. Some time after-
wards, the officers of the Deccan, by refusing
to surrender some fugitive chiefs from
Guzerat, incurred the displeasure of Mo-
hammed Toghlak, and fearing to fall into
the hands of this cruel despot, broke into
open rebellion. On the establishment of
their independence Hussun was chosen as
king, A.D. 1347, and the capital fixed at Cul-
barga, whence it was subsequently removed
to Beder or Bidr. Hussun, on assuming
the regal honours of the mosque and mint,t
took the name of Ala-oo-deen, adding
thereto Gungoo Bahmani (Brahmin), in
honour of his early benefactor, whom he
sent for and made treasurer; and the suc-
ceeding princes of the Deccan followed this
example by generally committing to Brah-
mins the charge of the revenues. Notwith-
standing the close connection between the
first Bahmani king and his Hindoo patron,
his son and successor, Mohammed I., proved
a sanguinary foe to that people. "It is
computed," says Ferishta, "that in his
reign [of seventeen years] nearly 500,000
unbelievers fell by the swords of Islam, by
which the population of the Carnatic was so
reduced that it did not recover for several
ages." I This destruction was accomplished
by indiscriminate slaughter, without regard
to sex or age, a proceeding at length stopped
by the remonstrances of the Hindoo ambas-
sadors, who urged that since the princes of
the Deccan and of the Carnatic might long
remain neighbours, it was advisable that a
treaty should be made, binding both parties
to refrain from taking the life of the help-
less and unarmed. From this time, it is
asserted, that the conquered were no longer
slain in cold blood during the hostilities
carried on by the Bahmanis against the
neighbouring states, and especially the new
monarchy of Beejanuggur, throughout the
whole period of their existence, excepting the
reign of Mahmood Shah I., who, for nearly
twenty years (a.d. 1378 to 1397), by rectitude
and discretion, preserved his subjects alike
from foreign and domestic strife. § Although
in these conflicts many thousand Moham-
the Mohammedan writer to be devastated by almost
incessant wars.
§ The proceedings of Mahmood Shah I. occupy but
a few pages in Ferishta's history, far less than are
often given to the details of a single campaign, but
quite enough is said to make the reader solicitous to
learn more respecting this truly great and gifted mo-
94
MAHMOOD SHAH I. AND HAFIZ, THE POET OP SHIRAZ.
medans, in the fantastic and fanatical lan-
guage of their historians, " tasted the sher-
bet of martyrdom," they were on the whole
gainers. In 1421, Ahmed Shah took per-
manent possession of Warangol, and com-
pelled the rajah of Telingana to relinquish
his ancient capital. In 1471, Mohammed II.
concluded a struggle of more than forty
years' duration, in which much life and trea-
sure had been wasted, by the partial con-
quest of the Concan,* and in 1477 completed
the subjugation of Rajahmundry and Masu-
lipatam. Notwithstanding these successes,
Mohammed was rendered infamous, even in
the eyes of his fellow-believers, by the
slaughter of some Brahmins whom he
found officiating in an idolatrous temple at
Condapilli, and to this ungrateful outrage
on the Order, by whom his ancestor had
been first brought to notice, was popularly
attributed the downfall of the Bahmani
dynasty. Soon after this, the king, while
flushed with wine, was induced, by a forged
letter, to sanction the immediate execution
of his faithful minister, Mahmood Gawan,
then in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
narch. We are told that he was " naturally of a
disposition wise, merciful, and just, and his judg-
ment in all affairs of state was usually correct."
* • • " During his reign no disturbances occurred
jn the kingdom, nor did any relaxation take place in
the energy of the government." The praise is coldly
given, but in the present day the character of a
ruler in whom firmness and mildness were so ad-
mirably balanced will be regarded in a very different
light to that in which it was likely to be viewed by
s Mohammedan, who regarded the title of Ghazi (the
holy warrior), bestowed _on the blood-thirsty Mo-
hammed, as the most desirable of distinctions. In-
deed the virtues of Mahmood Shah I. savoured little
of the morality of the Koran. He had but one wife,
wore plain white robes, and was equally simple and
unpretending in all his habits. As a youth he is said
to have delighted in gaudy attire, but on acceding
to the throne he declared that he looked upon kings
as only trustees of the state, and thenceforth ob-
served in his personal expenses remarkable modera-
tion. A famine occurring during his reign, he
employed 10,000 bullocks, at his private expense, in
going to and from Mahva and Guzerat for grain,
which was distributed to the people at a cheap rate.
He established orphan schools at the cities of Cul-
barga, Beder, Cand'har, Elikpoor, Doulatabad, and in
several other great towns, with ample foundations
for their support, apportioned stipends to the ex-
pounders of the Scriptures, and gave monthly charity
to the blind throughout his dominions. The fame of
his learning and munificence is said to have reached
the ears of Hafiz, the poet of Shiraz, who resolved to
Tisit the Deccan. An assurance of an honourable
reception was sent by the king, accompanied by a
present, which, according to Ferishta, the poet dis-
tributed among his relations and creditors, and then
Eut himself on board one of the royal vessels which
ad arrived at Ormua. but the anchor was scarcely
By so doing, he sealed the fate of his house,
whose power was speedily absorbed in the
whirlpool of strife raised by the two factions
into which the troops had become divided.
The first consisted of Mogul converts, to
whom were gradually added Persians and
Turks, Georgians, Circassians, Calmucks,
and other Tartars, who were for the most
part of the Sheiah sect ; the second, or native
troops, called Deccanies, were Sonnites, and
were always joined by the Abyssinian mer-
cenaries, who came in numbers by the sea-
ports on the western coast.f
The late minister was a Sonnite, and
although just and kind to both sects, this
circumstance afforded a pretext to Nizam-
ul-Moolk Behri, the son of a converted
Hindoo, and the leader of the opposite
party, for gratifying his ambition. Having
succeeded in procuring the death of Gawan,
he obtained also his much-coveted office,
through the fears of the king, who, on learn-
ing the base plot by which he had been de-
ceived, openly bewailed his rash credulity,
but made no attempt to bring the con-
spirators to justice. A low fever, brought
weighed before a heavy gale arose, and the ship was
compelled to return to port. Hafiz had suffered so
much during the storm that he insisted on being put
ashore, sending to Mahmood Shah a copy of verses,
in which he frankly confessed the reason of his
change of mind —
" The glare of gems confused my sight,
The ocean's roar I ne'er had heard."
Unhappily, the line of Bahmani presents an instance
of a monarch exactly opposite to Mahmood Shah I.
Humayun the Cruel was one of those monstera who
seem possessed by a demoniac desire to cause and
witness suffering. His own brother he ordered to be
devoured by a tiger, before his eyes ; and the tor-
tures inflicted by his command, and in his presence,
were often too shocking to be narrated. On one
occasion, after an unsuccessful rebellion, 7,000 per-
sons, including unoffending females and servants,
perished by such agonizing deaths as hewing to
pieces with hatchets, and flaying in cauldrons of
scalding oil or boiling water. After reigning three
years this tyrant, during a fit of intoxication, was
assassinated by his own servants. — Briggs' Ferishta.
* The sufferings of the Moslems in the Concan
are very graphically told by Ferishta, who describes
their " wandering through gloomy defiles, where the
very grass was tough and sharp as the fangs of ser-
pents, and the air fetid as the breath of dragons.
Death dwelt in the waters, poison impregnated the
breeze." On one occasion, having halted at night, in
a spot so rugged as to prevent two tents being pitched
side by side, no less than 7,000 of the invaders were
surprised and put to death by the Hindoos, the fierce
gusts of wind rushing through the trees, preventing
the cries of the first sufferers being heard by their
companions. — Briggs' Ferishta, vol. ii., p. 430.
t The influx of Araliians a])pears to have been verv
small, but it is difficult to conjecture the reason.
EXTINCTION OF BAHMANI KINGS OF THE DECCAN— a.d. 1549. 95
ftn by grief and remorse, was aggravated by
intoxication, and he expired in strong con-
vulsions, crying out that Gawan was tearing
him to pieces. The date of his death,
A.D. 1482, is recorded in the Persian charac-
ters (applied numerically) which express "the
ruin of the Deccan." Mahmood Shah II.
next ascended the throne. Being but tvi^elve
years old and of limited ability, he naturally
became a mere puppet in the hands of the
grasping nobles, who, though for a time
disposed to co-operate for their own advan-
tage, soon broke out into new hostilities.
Behri, for some years, maintained his as-
cendancy over the young king, and Yusuf
Adil Shah, the leader of the foreign party,
withdrew to his government of Beejapoor,
which he formed into an independent
state. Behri, when old and defenceless,
was strangled at the instigation of the king,
who then gave himself up to every species
of excess, leaving the public affairs in the
hands of the leaders of the foreign party.
The Deccanies and Abyssinians conspired
for his destruction, and having surprised
the palace during one of the ordinary scenes
of midnight revelry, would have succeeded
in their object, but for the loyalty of some
half-dozen of his body-guard, who, though
unarmed, threw themselves between him
and the assassins, and by the sacrifice of
their own lives, enabled the king to escape
to the terrace of the royal tower, where he
was joined by the foreign troops. Mahmood,
mounting his throne at sunrise on the fol-
lowing day, gave orders that the houses of
the Deccanies should be broken open, the
inhabitants slain without distinction, and
their property seized by the triumphant
Moguls,* who gladly gave vent to the savage
fury which they had nursed for years ; and
all the horrors of a successful siege, height-
ened by the envenomed bitterness of intes-
tine broils, raged for three days through
the stately city of Beder. Strife and cruelty
naturally brought licentiousness and dis-
order in their train. " The people, follow-
ing the example of their prince, attended to
nothing but dissipation : reverend sages
pawned their very garments at the wine-
cellars, and holy teachers, quitting their
colleges, retfred to taverns and presided
over the wine-flask."t The governors of
frontier provinces took advantage of this
• This term must be here understood in the loose
sense in which it was thon used, as synonymous with
the whole foreign or Sheiah party.
t Briggs' Feriehta, vol. ii., p. 535.
state of affairs, each one to claim as his
own the territories entrusted to his charge.
Ahmednuggur, Golconda and Berar became
distinct principalities, until at length there
remained to the nominal king of the Deccan
no more than the province of Telingana and
the districts adjacent to Beder. Even there
he had no real sway, being wholly in the
hands of Kasim Bareed, who had assumed
the reins of government after the failure
of the Deccani plot, and in revenge for
Mahmood's attempts to get rid of him, as
he had previously done of Behri, by the hand
of an assassin, ruled him so tyrannically, as
to forbid him " even to satisfy his thirst,
without permission." On the death of
Kasim, his son. Ameer Bareed, succeeded him
in the office of Vakeel, J and after regaining
the person of the king, who had in vain
endeavoured to assert his rights, confined him
closely, until his death, in 1518, terminated
a nominal reign of thirty-seven years. The
two years' equally nominal sw sy of Ahmed^
the son and successor of Mahmood, being
ended by his decease. Ameer Bareed raised
to the throne a prince entitled Ala-oo-
deen II., who, rejecting all allurements to
the excesses by which the energies of his
predecessors had been destroyed, attempted
to out-manoeuvre the wary minister, but
having failed in an attempt to seize his per-
son, was himself made prisoner and put to
death. His successor, also a son of Mah-
mood Shah II., met with a similar fate ; for
Ameer Bareed having conceived a passion
for his wife, caused him to be poisoned,
married the queen, and bestowed the empty
title of Shah on another Bahmani prince,
who, having subsequently incurred his dis-
pleasure, by making a private and unsucces-
ful appeal to Baber, the new emperor of
India, then fully engaged in hostilities with
the kings of Malwa and Guzerat, was so
harshly treated, that, escaping from his
palace-prison, he took refuge at Ahmed-
nuggur, and there resided till his death.
Thus ended the Bahmani line. Bareed
Shah ascended the throne of Beder, and
founded a dynasty, which reigned over the
fifth of the kingdoms (Beejapoor, Ahmed-
nuggur, Golconda, and Berar), formed from
that called the Deccan, but not with geo-
graphical accuracy, since Hindoo states, in-
dependent and even antagonistic, existed in
I The Vakeel or Representative was then the first
person in the kingdom, his business being to issue all
orders from the royal closet to the vizier and other
executive officers. — (Dow's Jfindoostan, vol. i. p. 202.)
96
ADIL SHAH DYNASTY AT BEEJAPOOR— a.d. 1489.
various parts of the territory commonly
comprehended in that term. During the
above period* of two centuries, relations of
a domestic character had gradually arisen be-
tween the Moslems and Hindoos. Feroze
Shah, who began to reign in 1397, made
it an article of a peace with the rajah of
Leejanuggur, that he should give him his
daughter in marriage. This stipulation
perhaps contributed to the blending of the
two people, though it originated in the
ungoverned passions of a king, who re-
ceived into his harem 300 females in one
\ day, being convinced, by the reasoning of
the Sheiahs, that this proceeding was in
perfect accordance with the spirit of the
Koran, against whose doctrines his sole
offences are said to have been an addiction
to wine and music. These foibles would
weigh lightly enough in the judgment of a
Mussulman against a king who earned the
coveted name of Ghazi, by the unbounded
zeal for Islam evinced during " four and
twenty glorious campaigns, by the success of
which he greatly enlarged his dominions."
In reality, the religious feelings of both
Moslems and Hindoos had deteriorated, and
the conscientious scruples of the former
people became frequently little better than
a superstitious regard to certain forms.
Thus the very men, who, for the sake
of gain, entered the service of the rajah of
Beejanuggur, to fight against their fellow-
believers, cavilled at the idea of making the
obeisance required as a pledge of fealty to
an idolater, but gladly availed themselves of
the miserable pretext of having a Koran
placed before the throne and bending there-
to, it being understood that the rajah would
appropriate the homage as offered to his per-
son, and in return, assign lands for the sup-
port of his new auxiliaries, and build a mos-
que at his capital for their encouragement.
The early Bahmani kings lived in great
pomp. Mohammed Shah I. had 3,000
elephants, a favourite evidence of regal
splendour. t He obtained from the rajah of
Telingana a throne six cubits long by two
broad, of ebony, covered with plates of pure
gold and inlaid with gems, to which ad-
ditions were made in successive reigns, until
the whole attained the value of a crore of
• Ferishta makes some remarkable statements re-
specting the use of artillery in the Deccan. For in-
stance, he asserts, that in 1368, (22 years after their
alleged employment by Edward ill. at Crcssy) 300
gun carriages were among the spoil captured from the
Kajah of Beejanuggur; and the Moslems, by the aid
of Turks and Europeans, are said to have used artil-
hoons (£4,000,000 sterling), when it was
broken up by Mahmood Shah II., who
took it to pieces to make vases and goblets.
Some terrible famines are recorded at inter-
vals, occasioned, according to Ferishta, by
the absence of the periodical rains, but
more likely by the slaughter and oppressive
exactions of the Mohammedans. During-
one of these visitations, about a.d. 1474, no
grain was sown in Telingana, Maharashtra,
and throughout the Bahmani dominions for
two years, and on the third, scarcely any
farmers remained to cultivate the land,
having for the most part perished or emi-
grated to Malwa and Guzerat.
Adil Shah dynasty at Beejapoor. — The first
king of this line, Yusuf Adil Shah, reigned
from A.D. 1489 to 1510. A romantic story
is related of his royal descent. He is said to
have been a son of the Ottoman emperor
Amurath, at whose death he escaped destruc-
tion by the contrivance of his mother, who
had him conveyed to Persia, from whence,
at the age of sixteen, he was compelled to
fly, by the suspicions entertained regarding
his birth, was captured, and sold at the
Bahmani court as a Georgian slave. He
rose, according to the course of Mameluk
adventurers, until he became the governor of
Beejapoor, and then, by one of the acts of
flagrant disloyalty so common at the period,
took the first opportunity of declaring him-
self an irresponsible prince. From that time
he was occupied in hostilities with Kasim
Bareed of Beder, and other neighbouring
chiefs, who were also endeavouring to form
independent principalities; but his most
formidable foe was the Hindoo rajah of Bee-
januggur. With the new rulers of Ahmed-
nuggur and Berar, Yusuf entered into a
sort of partition treaty, by which he recog-
nised them in their unlawful seizures, and
they him in the possession of the country
bounded by the Beema and Kishua rivers
on the east, the Tumbuddra river on the
south, the sea from near Goa to near Bom-
bay on the west, and perhaps the Neera
river on the north.
Ibrahim Adil Shah, the fourth king, a.d.
1535, formed an alliance with Bhoj Tirmul,
(who had obtained the throne of Beejanuggur
by the murder of its young occupant, his
lery for the first time in the following campaign.
There can be little doubt that guns were common in
India before the arrival of the Portuguese in H98.
t The king in return signed a treaty pledging his
successors to forbear further encroachment on the
territory of the Telingana rajahs, which, as might be
expected, did not prevent its entire seizure.
EXTINCTION OF HINDOO MONARCHY OF BEEJANUGGUR— a.d. 1565. 97
own nephew), against RamaRajah, the regent
and brother-in-law of the late sovereign.
Ibrahim sent an army to the assistance of
Bhoj Tirmul, who, in return, paid down
fifty lacks of boons* (£2,000,000 sterling),
and promised to acknowledge himself tribu-
tary. No sooner had the foreign troops
quitted Beejapoor, than Rama Rajah, break-
ing, it is alleged, a promise of allegiance
which had been extorted from him, surprised
the city. Bhoj Tirmul, mad with rage and
despair, shut himself up in the palace,
blinded all the royal elephants and horses,
collected together, in one glittering heap,
the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and
other gems, amassed during many ages, and
caused them to be crushed to powder be-
tween mill-stones ; then, fixing a sword-blade
into a pillar of his apartment, rushed upon
it just as the palace- gates were opened to
his enemies. Rama Rajah became the un-
disputed master of Beejanuggur, and Ibra-
him, after having received from his prede-
cessor so large a bribe to take the field
against him, now stooped to the humiliation
of soliciting, with a costly present, the aid
of Rama against a brave chief. Self Ein-
ool-Moolk, driven into rebellion by his own
suspicious tyranny. The required assistance
was sent under the guidance of Venkatadri,
the Rajah's brother. Ibrahim died soon
after, of a complication of disorders brought
on by the most abandoned conduct, having
first caused several physicians to be be-
headed or trodden to death by elephants
for failing to cure him, upon which the rest
fled for their lives, leaving him to perish
unheeded. His successor, Ali,t entered
into a new alliance with Rama Rajah, and
the two monarchs having, at the request of
the former, united their forces, jointly in-
vaded the territory of Nizam Shah, and,
says Ferishta, " laid it waste so thoroughly,
that from Purenda to Joonere, and from
Ahmednuggur to Doulatabad, not a vestige
of population was left." Ali at length be-
came " scandalised by the behaviour of his
Hindoo allies," and alarmed at the growing
strength and haughtiness of Rama ; there-
fore, after receiving the full benefit of his
power, while continuing every outward
i • The hoon varies in value from 3j to 4 rupees —
eight shillings sterling may be taken as the average,
t This monarch (whose death by the hand of a
eunuch shamefully insulted by him, has rendered his
name infamous) greatly improved the capital by con-
structing the city wall and the aqueducts which stili
I convey water through every street. Mention is
j made of his receiving tribute from several petty
mark of friendship, he made a secret league
with his late enemy, Nizam Shah, and with
the kings of Beder and Golcouda, " to crush
the common enemy of Islam." A decisive
battle took place on the Kishna, near Tali-
cot, the Hindoos commencing the attack by
vast flights of rockets and rapid discharges
of artillery. A general engagement fol-
lowed, in which, after great numbers had
been slain on both sides, the Moslems were
victorious, aided by the treachery of two
Mohammedan chiefs in the pay of the rajah.
Eama, although seventy years of age, gave
orders from his elephant throughout, but
was at last captured, and brought into the
presence of Nizam Shah, by whose orders
his bead was struck ofl" and stuck upon a
pole. It is no small proof, either of the
barbarity of the conquerors or the dread
which their victim must have inspired, that
the head of the brave old man should have
been annually exhibited at Ahmednuggur
for more than two centuries and a half,
covered with oil and red pigment, by the
descendants of his executioners, while a sculp-
tured representation of it was made to serve
as the opening of one of the sewers of
the citadel of Beejapoor.
Thus ended the monarchy of Beejanuggur,
which at that time comprehended the greater
part of the south of India. The city of that
name was destroyed, and is now uninhabited;
the country fell into the hands of the tri-
butary chiefs and officers, since so ] well
known as zemindars or poligars; but the
confederate kings were prevented by their
mutual jealousies from gaining any great
addition of territory, the balance of power
being pretty evenly maintained among them,
until all were overwhelmed by Akber. Ven-
katadri, the brother of the late rajah, re-
moved his residence further east, and finally
settled at Chandragiri, seventy miles north-'
west of Madras, at which last place his
descendant first granted a settlement to the
Enghsh, A.D. 1640. The wars between the
Adil Shah dynasty and the Portuguese set-
tlers are very slightly mentioned by the
native historians ; they state little more than
that Goa was lost under Yusuf, retaken by
that king, lost again under his son Ismael
principalities, the government of which was heredi-
tarily vested in females, who ruled with the title of
Rallies, their husbands having no power in the state.
Co'-^nel Briggs remarks upon this statement of Fe-
rishta, that " the gynecocracy of the Ranies of Mala-
bar and Canara seems to have suffered no alteration
from the period alluded to, to the present day." — Note
to Ferishta, vol. iii. p. 140.
98 NIZAM SHAH DYNASTY AT AHMEDNUGGUR— FOUNDED a.d. 1493.
(alluding to the second capture by Albu-
querque, in 1510), and attacked simulta-
neously with Ghoul, in 1570, by the kings
of Beejapoor and Ahmednuggur, who were
both repulsed.
The reigns of the early Beejapoor kings
weie marked by fierce sectarian strife, for
Y'usuf had imbibed in Persia a strong at-
tachment to the Sheiah doctrines and cere-
monial, which he endeavoured to introduce
in his dominions, but was compelled to re-
nounce the attempt by the displeasure of
his subjects and the combination formed
against him by all the other Mohammedan
sovereigns. The same division prevailed
among the troops as that previously de-
scribed as existing under the Bahmani
dynasty, and according to the opinion of
the king or his chief ministers, the Dec-
canies (including Hindoos), or the foreigners,
were uppermost. After the extinction of
their native rulers, the Hindoos formed the
chief part of the infantry of most of the
Moslem governments, and appear to have
been well paid* and entirely relied upon.
Yusuf is said to have given a command of
12,000 infantry to a Mahratta chief,t and
Ismael raised " a vast number" of Mahratta
cavalry, under the name of Bergies, who,
for an annual subsidy, engaged to appear
fully equipped whenever their services were
required. Ibrahim, the fourth king, caused
the public accounts to be kept in the Mah-
ratta language instead of the Persian, a very
politic and almost necessary measure, since
the village accountants and the revenue and
finance officers were for the most part Hin-
doos. Ibrahim II., who acceded to the throne
of Beejapoor, a.d. 1579, was cotemporary
with Akber, and will be again mentioned.
Nizam Shah dynasty at Ahmednuggur. —
Ahmed, the first of these kings, began to
reign a.d. 1490, having, as before stated,
on the assassination of his father, Nizam-ool-
Moolk Behri, assumed the title of Shah, and
made Ahmednuggur his capital. Not only
tolerance, but great favour was shown to the
Hindoos by this monarch and his successor,
Boorhan, who appointed a Brahmin, named
Kawar Sein, Peshwa or prime minister, and
had every reason to rejoice in the selection.
• Brigcs gives a table (vol. ii. p. 504) showing
how much more liberally Indian troops were paid by
Mohammedan sovereigns in 1470 than by the British
in 1823 (the date at which he wrote).
•f Duffs History of the Mahrattas,yo\. i. p. 84 ,
\ The chivalrous Rajpoot probably intended to
Traive the performance of this galling act, for when
Hassun entered his tent, he rose and took him by
In fact, these kings appear to have been
proud of their Brahmiuical descent, and
frequent wars took place between them and
the Berar sovereigns, for the possession of
t he village of Patree, situate just within the
Berar territory, where the ancestors of the
Nizam Shah family had held the office of
coolcurny or hereditary village accountant.
It was, however, by the orders of Hussun,
the third king of this dynasty, that Rama
Rajah was beheaded, in revenge for the
humiliations previously suflPered from his
brave foe, to whom he had been compelled to
sue for peace, by paying the Hindoo a visit,
and receiving a p&n (aromatic leaf) from
his hand, which, thus given, implies the
superiority of the donor, and is equivalent
to the English custom of kissing hands ; but,
when presented in a silver or gold box,
or on a salver, denotes equality. J Hussun
died shortly after, from the consequences
of unbounded dissipation. His successor,
Murtezza, appears to have become insane,
and growing suspicious of his son, Meeran
Hussun, the heir apparent, endeavoured to
destroy him, by setting fire to the couch on
which he lay sleeping. Meeran escaped, suc-
cessfully rebelled, and seized the person of
his father, whom, although ill of a mortal
disease, he confined in a bath-room, and suf-
focated with hot air. Ferishta, who was r.t
the time on guard at the palace, relates th>is
horrible tale, adding, as the reason of his own
life being spared amid the general massacre
of the few who remained faithful to the king,
'■ the Prince fortunately knew me, and re-
flecting that we had been school-fellows, and
brought up together, ordered my life to
be spared."§ Meeran Hussun retained the
throne less than a year, but during that period
he inflicted great misery, frequently riding
through the streets in fits of intoxication, ac- [
companied by a party of abandoned courtiers,
and putting to death persons guilty of no j
crime. Fifteen princes of the royal family were
massacred in one day, in order to establish
an authority obtained by parricide, at the [
instigation of the vizier, Mirza Khan, who,
at length terrified by the menaces of the
king during his drunken revels, deposed and
slew him. A speedy retribution attended
the hand, but the insolent Mussulman called for a
basin and ewer as if polluted by the touch of Rama,
who exclaimed in his own language, " If he were not |
my guest, I would cut off his hands and hang them
round his neek." After this interview the rajah and
his troops are accused of treating their Mohamme-
dan foes and even friends with great indignity.
§ Briggs' Ftrishta vol. iii. p. 269.
CHAND BEEBY, HEROINE OF AHMEDNUGGUR, MURDERED, a.d. 1599. 99
this wretch, for in the struggle which en-
sued between the Deccanies and the Moguls,
he was hewn to pieces by the former,
and his limbs affixed on diflferent public
buildings. In the space of seven days,
nearly 1,000 foreigners were slain, and their
effects confiscated ; some few escaped with
their lives, through the protection of Deccani
or Abyssinian officers, and these, among
whom was Ferishta, for the most part, ob-
tained service under the king of Beejapoor.
The remaining reigns of this line present
uo very striking features, excepting the gal-
lant struggles made by Chand Beeby [the
Lady Chand) as regent on behalf of her
infant nephew, after the death of her
brother, Ibrahim, slain in battle with the
king of Beejapoor. An attempt was made
to seize the throne in the name of a boy
called Ahmed, under a shallow pretence of his
being a son of the late king. Chand Beeby
evinced equal valour and discretion during
this trjring period,* and her efforts were
temporarily successful. Ahmed, the young
pretender, was confessed to be not lineally
descended from the royal family, and was
provided with an estate by Ibrahim Adil
Shah, at Beejapoor, while Bahadur was pro-
claimed king, his aunt continuing regent
until the siege of Ahmednuggur by the son
of Akber. Then, hopeless of offering a suc-
cessful defence, in consequence of the fac-
tions which divided the troops, she called a
council of war, and proposed to negotiate, on
favourable terms, the evacuation of the fort.
The ungrateful Deccanies, to whom her sug-
gestion had been purposely misrepresented
by an intriguing eunuch, rushed into her
apartments and put her to death. The place
was shortly after taken by storm, and little
or no quarter given. The unfortunate king
was sent to Akber, who confined him in the
fortress of Gwalior, a.d. 1599, but was pre-
vented from gaining possession of his do-
minions by the determination of an Abys-
sinian officer, Malek Amber, (who founded
the city afterwards called Aurungabad,) to
• On one occasion when closely besieged, after
having succeeded in destroying two out of five mines
carried under the bastions at Ahmednuggur, by her-
self labouring all night at the head of the garrison,
a third was sprung at day-break, which killed many
of the counter-miners, and threw down several yards
of the waH. The principal officers concluding all
now lost, prepared for flight, but Chand Beeby, clad
in armour, with a veil on her face and a naked sword
in her hand rushed to defend the breach, and while
the Mogul storming-party waited the explosion of
the other mines, found time to bring guns to bear
retain the sovereignty on behalf ot his newly-
elected nominal master , and the Adil Shah
dynasty was not extinguished until the time
of Jehangeer. At its greatest extent the king-
dom of Ahmednuggur comprehended all that
is now called the Subah of Aurungabad, and
the west of that of Berar, with a portion of
the sea-coast of the Concan. It must have
been a formidable power, for it appears that
in one campaign upwards of 600 of its guns
were seized by the rival state of Beejapoor,
including the cannon still preserved at the
latter place, and famous as one of the
largest pieces of brass ordnance in the
world.f Duelling (an infrequent crime
in Asia) was introduced in the reign of
Ahmed, who, being himself an expert swords-
man, encouraged the assemblage of young
men at the palace for the purpose of dis-
playing their skill, till at length a day sel-
dom passed without one or two persons
being killed. The king then endeavoured
to discourage the practice, but it spread far
and wide among the Mohammedans of the
Deccan. Even learned divines and philoso-
phers shared the infatuation, and Ferishta
records an instance which he witnessed in
the streets of Beejapoor, of a dispute
arising regarding some trifling matter, and
terminating in a few minutes in the death
or mortal injury of sis persons of high
standing, of whom five were grey-headed
men. The spread of this destructive and
contagious vice was, of course, fostered by
the rancorous sectarian- spirit between the
Sonnites and Sheiahs — the native and fo-
reign factions.
The Koolb Shah dynasty at Golconda was
founded, about a.d. 1512, by a Turcoman
soldier, named Kooli Kootb, who came from
Hamadan, in Persia, in quest of military
service, entered the guards of the Bahmani
king, was promoted, and, on the dissolution
of the monarchy, held sway over Telin-
gana, which he retained, making Golconda
his capital. He was a zealous Sheiah, and
introduced this profession into his dominions.
upon it, so that on the enemy's advance they were re-
ceived with repeated volleys, until, when compelled to
renounce the attack by the darkness of night, " the
ditch was nearly filled with dead carcases." During
the succeeding hours Chand Beeby (on whom the
name of Chand Sultana was now bestowed) super-
intended unceasingly the repairs of the breach, which
by the morning's dawn was built up to the height oi
seven or eight feet. At length, reinforcements being
on their way, the siege was raised.
t Weighs 40 tons, is 4 ft. 8 in. in diameter at the
muzzle, and only 15 ft. long. Calibre, 2 ft. 4 in.
100 KOOTB SHAH DYNASTY AT GOLCONDA— ESTABLISHED a.d. 1512.
At the close of a long reign he left a terri-
toiy extending from the Godavery river to
beyond that of the Kishna, and from the
sea (Bay of Bengal) to a line drawn west of
Hyderabad, about 78° E. long. The chief
part of his dominions were wrested from the
Warangol family, and other Hindoo chiefs
of Telingana, over whom, together with the
Rajah of Orissa, he gained a great victory at
Condapilli.
It has been stated in a previous page, on
the authority of Ferishta, that the Bahmani
line abided by the oath of Mohammed
Shah I., not to slay prisoners or the un-
armed in cold blood, but if this dynasty
really redeemed its pledge, the rulers of
the subsequent Deccani kingdoms reverted
to the barbarities which their predecessors
had abjured, and were far more treacherous
and sanguinary. Thus Sultan Kooli Kootb
Shahhaving repeatedly, but invain,attempted
to storm the strong hill-fort of Nulgonda,
at length sent a flag of truce to the com-
mandant. Rajah Hari Chandra, promising
to withdraw the troops if he would consent
to become tributary to Golconda, but threat-
ening, in the event of refusal, to procure
reinforcements, destroy the neighbouring
towns, devastate the country, and thus
reduce the place by cutting ofi' its supphes,
in which case he would not spare the life
even of an infant in the garrison. The
Rajah having consented, the king remarked
that as Nulgonda was the only hill-fort
which had successfully resisted him, he
should like to see it, and therefore desired
to be allowed to enter with a few attendants.
The request being granted, Kooli, having
instructed his body-guard, (whom, to disarm
suspicion, he had left in the town below,)
how to act ascended the hill with four
chosen soldiers in complete armour. On
entering the gate-way he drew his sword
and cut down one sentinel, while his com-
panions, attacking the others, held posses-
sion until their comrades came rushing to
their assistance, and the whole army soon
poured into the fortress. " Neither man,
woman, or child was spared on this occa-
sion. The Rajah, on being made prisoner,
was confined in an iron cage, and eventually
put to death." Such are the words in which
the Mohammedan historian concludes the
account of this abominable transaction.*
* See Briggfs' Appendix to History of Kings of
Golconda, translated fron the Persian of a contem-
porary of Ferishta's, vol iii. p. 374. t Idem, p. 431.
t Thfi Hindoos still call it Bhagnuggur.
The author of it was eventually the victim
of domestic treachery, being assassinated in
his ninetieth year, a.d. 1543, at the insti-
gation of his son, Jamsheed, who, hav-
ing put out the eyes of his elder brother,
the heir apparent, ascended the throne.
Wars were carried on with their Jloslem
rivals in a spirit less perfidious perhaps, but
scarcely less ferocious. Thus it is recorded
that Ibrahim Kootb Shah, when at war
with AU Adil Shah, detached a force of
4,000 horse and 10,000 foot to make nightly
attacks on the enemy. " The Munewar
infantry were eminently successful in all
directions, and at all hours, bringing nightly
between 300 and 400 noses and ears from
the enemy's lines; and they received for
each nose a boon, and for each ear a purtab
[star pagoda.] Meanwhile, the king, by
whose orders these atrocities were being
committed, " had ordered pavilions to be
pitched on the bastions [of Golconda], and
adorned them with rich brocades and silks
from China, and with velvets of European
manufacture, giving himself up to the grati-
fication of listening to the enchanting
vocal and instrumental music of heart-al-
luring damsels and fairy-faced virgins."-)-
Truly it is as reasonable to expect the shrill
cry of human suffering to pierce " the dull
cold ear of death," as to touch a heart turned
into stone by sensuality.
Mohammed Kooli, the fifth of the Kootb
Shah kings, began to reign a.d. 1580. He
removed the seat of government to a neigh-
bouring site, where he built a magnificent
city called Bhagnuggur, J in honour of Bhag-
muttee, his favourite mistress, a public
singer, for whom 1,000 cavalry were assigned
as an escort. After her death the name was
changed to Hyderabad. In this reign fierce
struggles took place between the Deccanies
and the Moguls, as the foreigners of what-
ever denomination came to be called. The
disorderly conduct of some of the latter
caused the issuing of a proclamation com-
manding all aliens, whether Patans, Per-
sians, Arabs, Tartars or others, who had no
fixed employment, to quit Hyderabad. The
Deccanies construing this order into a per-
mission to plunder their old foes at pleasure,
deserted their occupations and hastened to
rifle the warehouses of the wealthy merchants,
of whom many were killed in defending
their property. The riots grew to an alarm-
ing height, but the king was sleeping, and
none of the servants dared disturb the royal
slumbers, until one of the ministers had
INDEPENDENT STATES OF BERAR, BEDER, AND GUZERAT. 101
the courage to break open the door, and hav-
ing with great difficulty aroused the monarch,
bade him observe from the palace-windows
the state of the city. The measures adopted
were in the true spirit of oriental despotism.
The cutwal (chief magistrate) through whose
representations the sentence of banishment
had been procured, was directed to put an
immediate stop to the disturbances, on peril
of being trodden to death by elephants.
Many of the rioters were executed, " and by
way of satisfying the minds of the people,
several minor police-officers, who had been
most active, were beheaded or hanged, or
flayed alive, while others were maimed by
the loss of limbs, and exhibited through the
city in this mutilated state as examples."*
The Imad Shah dynasty of Berar was
founded about 1484, by the descendant of a
Hindoo of Canara, captured when a child,
and educated as a Mussulman, by the gover-
nor of Berar. This small kingdom extended
from the Injadri hills to the Godavery, and
bordered Ahmednuggur and Candeish on
the west. Very little is known of its his-
tory, except from its wars with neighbouring
states. Boorhan, the fourth and last of his
line, ascended the throne while yet a child,
about the year 1560. The regent, Tufal
Khan, imprisoned the young king and
seized the crown, relying upon the protec-
tion of Murtezza Nizam Shah of Ahmed-
nuggur, who, false to both parties, having
obtained possession of Boorhan and his
rebellious minister, caused them to be put
to death, and annexed Berar to his own
dominions, a.d. 1572.
The Bareed Shah Dynasty at Beder, com-
menced in 1498. The territories of these
kings were smaU and ill-defined, and the
period of their extinction uncertain. Ameer
II. was reigning in 1609, when Ferishta
closed that part of his history. Having
thus shown the fate of the five Mohammedan
principalities formed from the ruins of the
Bahmani kingdom, it becomes necessary to
sketch the leading characteristics of the other
states which succeeded in establishing their
independence of Delhi during the feeble
reign of Mahmood Toghlak, of which the
chief were Guzerat, Malwa and Candeish.
The kings of Guzerat ruled the territory
still called by this name; bounded on the
north and north-east by a hilly tract con-
necting the AravuUi mountains with the
Vindya chain, and on the south by the sea,
which nearly surrounds a part of it, forming
• Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iii., p. 478.
P
a peninsula then termed Surashtra, now
Katiwar. The founder of the dynasty was
Mozuffer, the son of a Rajpoot, who had
embraced Islamism, and become conspi-
cuous for his enmity to all who still held the
creed which he had renounced. The king
of Delhi having been informed that the
existing governor of Guzerat was endea-
vouring to establish himself as an indepen-
dent ruler by gaining the affections of the
Hindoos, sent Mozuff'er Khan to supersede
him; which, after some opposition on the
part of the Hindoos, he succeeded in doing,
and by the permission of the Delhi monarch
assumed the white umbrella or canopy, and
the scarlet pavilion, considered as exclusive
appurtenances of royalty. When he took the
title of Shah does not appear, but his reign
really commenced with his government,
A.D. 1391. At first his sway extended over
only a portion of the fertile plain, about sixty
miles in depth, which stretches along the
sea. On the north-west were the indepen-
dent rajahs of Jhalor and Sirohi, from
whom he occasionally levied tribute, as also
from the Rajpoot prince of Idur, in the
western part of the hills, while the rugged
forest tracts were generally retained by
the mountain tribes of Bheels and Coolies;
among whom some Rajpoot chiefs, mostly
connected with Mewar, had also founded
petty principalities. The peninsula was in
the hands of nine or ten Hindoo tribes, who
probably paid tribute so long as a power
existed capable of its enforcement. All these
small states preserved their existence under
the kings of Guzerat, the Mogul emperors,
and during many years of British ascen-
dancy. Of the plain which formed the Guze-
rat kingdom at the accession of Mozuffer, the
eastern portion belonged to an independent
rajah, who resided in the hill-fort of Cham-
paneer, and their dominions stretched along
the sea to the south-east, so as to include
the city of Surat, and some further country
in the same direction.
It would occupy space which could be ill-
spared to narrate in detail the varying for-
tunes of this dynasty in their wars with
Malwa, their Hindoo neighbours, and the
Rajpoot kingdom of Mewar, from the acces-
sion of Mozufi"er I. to that of the puppet
set up by a faction under the title of Mo-
zuffer III., in A.D. 1561, when the kingdom
was partitioned among the conspirators.
One striking characteristic in their incessant
strife with the Hindoos, was the cruel bigotry
which marked their conduct, far exceed-
102 MOSLEM KINGS OP GUZERAT— WARS WITH THE HINDOOS.
ing that displayed by the Delhi usurpers.
It may be perhaps that the proceedings of
the latter sovereigns are purposely placed
in the least unfavourable light, but this
scarcely accounts for the difference, since,
iu both cases, the annals are furnished solely
by Mohammedan pens. Ferishta, although his
history bears internal evidence of the honesty
and ability of the writer, was yet compelled
to depend in great measure on the compila-
tions of his fellow-believers ; and his igno-
rance of the language of the Hindoos would
greatly hinder his obtaining information
from whatever records they might possess,
even if the inveterate prejudices of his creed
had not taught him to shun with contempt
and aversion the thought of gaining infor-
mation from so defiled a source.
In 1402 the port of Diu was seized by
MozufFer I. from the Rajah of Idur, who
had been driven from his capital, and forced
to take refuge there. We are told that " it
opened its gates without offering any resis-
tance. The garrison was, however, nearly
all cut to pieces, while the Ray, with the
rest of the members of the court, were trod
to death by elephants." The next king,
Ahmed Shah, a.d. 1412, though a zealous
•Bird's Giyardt,p. 191.
t Signifying, in the Guzerat language, two forts.
X According to Ferishta nearly 1,900 years had
elapsed since this fortress had come into the pos-
session of the rajah, who held it when Mahmood
first marched against it in 1469 ; and whose title,
Mandulik, here used by Ferishta for the first time,
implies petty chieftain, a term originally applied to
officers of some greater state, but often retained by
rulers who had acquired or inherited an independent
sway. A body of Rajpoots occupying an important
defile were surprised by Mahmood. The troops then
passed on unopposed, till on reaching the foot of the
hill they were met by the rajah, who, being defeated
and severely wounded, sooner than sustain a siege
purchased a cessation of hostilities by the payment
of a large amount in jewels and in specie. In the
following year, " the king, who only wanted some
excuse to invade Girnar a second time, urged as a
complaint against the rajah, his habit of assuming
the ensigns of royalty." On this plea, in itself a gross
insult to the high-born Hindoo, forty thousand horse
were sent to exact from him a heavy fine, which
having obtained, Mahmood distributed in one night,
amongst a set of female dancers ; and at the latter
end of the same year appeared in person before
Girnar. "The rajah declared his willingness to pay
any sum of money he could produce, to protect his
subjects from the oppression and horrors of war."
Mahmood would enter into no terms, but sat down
before the place, starved the garrison into sub-
jection, and succeeded in acquiring possession. The
expelled rajah, it is said, from conviction, but more
probably to save his life, embraced Islamism, a faith
against which the covetousness and fraud practised
towards him by its professors were sufficient to have
Mussulman very diligent in destroying
temples and building mosqaes, yet showed
more favour to the natives than his prede-
cessor had done, and Hindoo names appear
among those of the government officers
and nobility — an innovation which had
long been opposed. Ahmed built the forti-.
fied town of Ahmednuggur, as a check on
the Rajah of Idur (the successor of the
prince slain by MozufFer), and founded
Ahmedabad, thenceforth his capital, and
still one of the principal cities in India.
This king introduced the practice of paying
the soldiers one-half in money, and the
other by a grant of land, with a view of
inducing them to take an interest in the
cultivation and protection of the province.*
Mahmood Shah I. reigned for fifty-two years
(1459 to 1511), and warred alike with
Moslems and with the Indian and European
idolaters, the latter term being used to
designate the Portuguese. He obtained the
surname of Begarra,t by the reduction of
Girnar or JunagharJ and of Champaneer —
two hill-forts, situated the one on the west,
and the other on the east, of his dominions,
and both until that time deemed impreg-
nable. § His maritime exploits were re-
inspired a deep-rooted prejudice. — (Briggs' Ferishta,
vol. iv. p. 55.)
§ Champaneer was not captured till 1483. The
rajah, Beni Ray, sent ambassadors offering two ele-
phant-loads of gold to procure the departure of
Mahmood, who had arrived at the head of a power-
ful force ; but, finding all endeavours at conciliation
useless, he sallied forth, and after many attempts
succeeded in compelling the invader to raise the
siege, and then led his troops to attack him. In the
sanguinary battle which followed, the flower of the
Hindoo force was slain, but a compact body of
12,000 men retreated in order to the fort. Mahmood
continued to construct trenches and mines, and
caused a mosque to be built in the lines, in order to
convince his troops of his determination not to be
wearied out by the prolonged defence, but no de-
cided advantage was gained until it was discovered
that the Rajpoots left the place every morning
through a sally-port to perform their ' ablutions.
Watching their opportunity, a chosen band waited
close to the walls at day-break, and succeeded in
rushing into the place, while another party, under
Malek Eiaz, (the famous admiral who engaged the
Portuguese fleet, off Choul,) escaladed the western
wall, where a breach had been newly made, and got
possession of the main gate. The Rajpoots finding
the king rejected all terms of surrender, burned their
wives and children on a funeral pile, together with
their costliest effects, and then, having bathed,
perished on the swords of their cruel foes, who like-
wise suffered severely. Beni Ray and his prime
minister, crippled by wounds, were captured, and
brouglit into the presence of Mahmood, who, on
asking the former why he had held out so long
I against an overwhelming force, was reminded of the
MAHMOOD BEGARRA OF GUZERAT— BAHADUR GHAH.
103
markable. He took the islands of Jegat and
Beet, then, as now, nests of pirates ; des-
patched a sea and land force against Bombay;
and sent a large fleet of vessels, mounting
guns, under Eiaz, to co-operate with the
twelve ships equipped by the Mameluk
Sultan of Egypt, for the purpose of attacking
the Portuguese squadron in the harbour of
Choul, south of Bombay. In the first action
the combined forces were successful, but
were subsequently defeated near Diu, and
the Mameluk portion annihilated. Fleets
were, however, still despatched by the
Mameluks to the Indian seas, and the
Turks, after their conquest of Egypt, con-
tinued the practice, with a view to open the
navigation of the Red Sea and the Persian
Gulf, but apparently without entertaining
any idea of forming settlements in India.
Mahmood Begarra attained an unenviable
European celebrity by the marvellous ac-
counts of travellers, who described his per-
sonal appearance as terrific; and declared his
system to have been so impregnated with the
mortal poisons, on which he habitually fed,
that although he had by some means or
other contrived to neutralize their effect on
his own vital powers, he had only, after
chewing betel, to breathe upon any courtier
who had ofl'ended him, and death infallibly
ensued. If a fly settled on him, it instantly
dropped lifeless.*
Bahadur Shah, a. d. 1526, (before men-
tioned as the opponent of Humayun,) with
the aid of Rana Rattan Sing, made war
upon Mahmood, king of Malwa, who had
intrigued against them both. Mahmood
was captured and put to death, and Malwa
hereditary right by which the territory had been
held, and the long line of noble ancestors through
which his name with honour had descended. This
fearless reply for the moment raised a feeling of ad-
miration in the selfish victor, and he ordered Beni
Ray and his faithful companion to be treated with
respect and attention. On recovering from their
wounds, they both persisted in refusing to abjure
their religion, and were therefore confined separately,
and treated harshly, which, as might have been fore-
seen, only served to confirm their previous determi-
nation. " At length the king, at the instigation of
some holy men about his person, ordered them to be
put to death." — (Briggs' Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 70.)
* Bartema and Barbnsa (Ramusio, vol. i., pp.
147 — 296.) Mahmood Begarra is the original of
Butler's Prince of Camhay, whose —
" ■ daily food
Is asp, and basilisk and toad."
t The king feared to storm the fort, knowing that
in the seraglio were many Mohammedan females,
who would, in the event of his success, be burnt
annexed to Guzerat. Raiseen, a strong hill-
fort, Bhilsa and other places in the west of
Malwa together with Oojein, remained in
the possession of Silhuddi; a Rajpoot who
had risen under Mahmood to power, but
whose son, Bopat Rai, was in the service of
Bahadur, by whose invitation Silhuddi came
to visit the royal camp. He was treacher-
ously seized, and Oojein taken by surprise.
Raiseen held out under his brother Lokmun,
but was at length reduced, both Silhuddi
and Lokmun being slain at its capture.f
In his dealings with the Portuguese, Ba-
hadur was less fortunate. Having entered
into negotiations with them for their aid,
and among other things conceded in return
permission for the erection of a factory at
Surat, he found them surrounding the
building with a wall and, in efiect, render-
ing it a strong fortification. This seems to
have first roused suspicions, and treachery is
alleged to have been meditated by both
parties. The result has been already stated,
Bahadur perished in an afi^ray which arose
on his visiting the ship where Nuno de
Cunha, the Portuguese viceroy, had allured
him on tlie plea of sickness, a.d. 1537. J
The fort of Surat is said by Ferishta to
have been completed during the reign of
Mahmood III. (1538 to 1553), but the Per-
sian characters inserted over the old gate —
" Against the bosom and lives, the ambition
and rapacity of the Portuguese,be this fabric an
effectual bulwark," when numerically viewed,
give 1530 as the date of its erection. § This
king was assassinated by his chaplain, named
Boorhan, whose revenge he had excited, by
sentencing him, for some offence not re-
alive with their Rajpoot companions, for whom, of
course, as infidels, no compassion could possibly be
entertained. Silhuddi consented to abjure his creed,
and was sent to escort the females of his family from
the fort, but on arriving there, his wife (the daughter
of Rana Sanga) bitterly reproached him and his
brother for their conduct, and, setting fire to a pile
with which she had caused the apartments of the
females to be surrounded, sprang into the flames,
and all, to the number of 700, perished. Silhuddi
and Lokmun, with a hundred of their blood-relations,
rushed out,and met death on the Moslem swords.
\ One account of this transaction has been given
at p. 85. I have since read the Portuguese and
Mussulman statements, collated by General Briggs
{Ferishta, vol. iv., p. 132), in which each party
endeavours to throw the blame upon the other, but
there is little difference in the leading facts of the
case, except that Bahadur, after jumping into the
sea, is asserted to have been first stunned by a blow
with an oar, and then dispatched with a halbert.
5 Price would place it six years earlier.^il/ulc.
medan History, vol. iii., p. 726.
104
KINGS OF MALWA— A.D. 1401 to 1512.
corded, to be built up in a mud wall with
his head exposed, and left to starve. Life
was nearly extinct when Mahmood passed
the spot, and noticing the attempt of the
wretched captive to bend his head in saluta-
tion, inspired with compassion, had him
released and attended by the royal phy-
sician until he recovered. But soon after
this Boorhau again fell into disgrace, and,
fearing, perhaps, to be re-immured, or stimu-
lated by ambition to attempt to seize the
throne, persuaded his nephew, Dowlut, to
take the opportunity afforded by his office
of fumigating the long hair of the king, to
assassinate him while he slept. This being
done, Boorhan, by the aid of a corps called,
from their qualification for enlistment, " the
tiger-killers," succeeded in destroying seve-
ral of the leading nobility by sending for them
separately, but was at length, when intoxi-
cated with success, slain by the vengeful
swords of the survivors. A supposititious
child* was next set up by a party under the
name of Ahmed II., but assassinated a.d.
1561. The last and merely nominal king
abdicated in favour of Akber, a.d. 1572.
Kings of Malwa. — This state became in-
dependent in 1401, under Dilawur Ghori,
whose successor founded the capital, Mandu,
on a rich table-land, thirty-seven miles in
circumference. Wars with Mohammedan
kingdoms, especially the neighbouring one
of Guzerat, with the Hindoo rajahs of Chit-
tore or Mewar, and several minor principali-
ties, together with the usual instance* of
treachery and intrigue in the court and
camp, and besotted sensuality in the harem,
form the staple of the history of this dynasty.
Mohammed Ghori, the third king, was poi-
soned at the instigation of his minister and
brother-in-law, who ascended the throne in
1435, by the name of Sultan Mahmood
Khilji. He reigned thirty-six years, of
which scarcely one was suffered to pass
without a campaign, " so that his tent be-
came his home, and his resting-place the
field of battle."t A famous fort in Kum-
ulnere was taken by storm after a severe
struggle, and its defenders compelled to
chew the calcined parts of a large marble
idol, J representing, according to Ferishta, a
ram (? a bull), as they were in the habit of
doing chunam or lime between betel leaves,
* Mahmood left no lineal heir ; fearing to risk the
chance of rebellious children, of which frequent in-
stances occur in Mohammedan history, he avoided
the commission of infanticide by the perpetration of
a yet more heinous crime.
that they might be said to have eaten their
gods. Many Rajpoots were slain, probably
in consequence of their refusal to obey this
command of their imperious conqueror.
Some years after, Mahmood received a sig-
nal defeat from Koombho Sing, the rajah of
Chittore, who erected, in commemoration of
his victory, a superb column, still in ex-
istence, which Tod states to have cost nearly
a million sterling. § Mahmood unsuccess-
fully besieged Delhi and Beder. His in-
ternal administration would seem to have
been more gentle than could have been ex-
pected, for we are told that his subjects,
Hindoos as well as Moslems, " were happy,
and maintained a friendly intercourse with
one another." He took vigorous measures
for the suppression of robbery, and further
promoted the safety of travellers, and indeed
of the people generally, by obliging the
governors of the different districts to send
out parties for the destruction of wild beasts,
proclaiming that if after a period of two
years a human being should be seized by
them, he would hold the governor responsi-
ble. For many years after his death wild
beasts were scarce throughout the kingdom.
Now the vicinity of the once famous city of
Mandu, overgrown by forest trees, has again
become the favourite haunt of tigers, who,
in some instances, within the memory of the
present generation, have been known to carry
off troopers riding in the ranks of their
regiments. The next king, Gheias-oo-deen
Khilji, A.D. 1482, was only remarkable for
the extent of his seraglio, which contained
15,000 women, including 500 Turki females
who stood clad in men's clothes, with bows
and arrows, on his right hand; while 500
Abyssinian females kept guard with fire-arms
on his left. He reigned thirty-three years,
and became at last idiotic; his two sons
meanwhile quarrelled about the succession,
until the elder gaining the ascendancy slew
the younger with all his family, and having,
it is alleged, accelerated his father's death
by poison, mounted the vacant throne a.d.
1500. This wretch died of a fever brought
on by his own excesses, having first driven
his sons into rebellion by suspicious and ty-
rannical conduct. One of these, Mahmood
Khilji II., established himself on the throne,
A.D. 1512, mainly through the assistance
t FerisJda, vol. iv., p. 234.
X The temple was filled with wood, and being set
on fire, nold water was thrown on the images, causing
them to break.
§ Annals of Uajasfhan, vol. ii., p. 762.
MAHMOOD IT. LAST KING OF MALWA, KILLED a.d. 1531— CANDEISH. 105
of Medni Ray, a Eajpoot chief, who joined
him at the commencement of the struggle
with a considerable body of his tribe, and
whose zealous and able services rendered
him so popular with the king, as to excite
the hatred and jealousy of the Mussulmans.
Conspiracies were formed, and after repeated
failures Mahmood was at length inspired
with sufficient distrust to consent to dis-
charge all the Rajpoots holding offices at
court, excepting only the obnoxious minister,
and to declare that no Hindoo could be
permitted to retain Mohammedan females
in his seraglio. Medni Ray pleaded ear-
nestly the tried services of his countrymen,
but the weak and ungrateful king, though
soothed for the time, was subsequently in-
duced to sanction an attempt on the part of
his Moslem body-guard of 200 men to way-
lay and murder Medni Ray, and a brave
Rajpoot officer, called Salivahan, who had
evinced much anger at the late unjust and
humiliating proceedings. The latter was
slain; the former, though covered with
wounds, escaped to his own house, while a
body of Rajpoots rushed to the palace, but
being repulsed by the king in person, re-
turned to the house of the minister, and
entreated him to be their head. Medni
Ray refused, persuaded them to disperse
peaceably, and sent word to the king that if
he thought his life necessary to the good of
the state, he was ready to lose it, sooner
than lead an army against his acknowledged
sovereign. Mahmood was little affected by
a degree of magnanimity quite beyond his
comprehension, and fearing some treachery
similar to that of which he had given the
example, fled by night from the fort of
Mandu, accompanied by his favourite mis-
tress and the master of the horse, and did
not draw rein till he reached the frontier of
Guzerat. Though frequently at war with
one another, the Moslem intruders were
always ready to coalesce against a Hindoo
foe; the king of Guzerat, therefore, sup-
ported Mahmood, and accompanied him at
the head of a large army to Mandu, which
was taken by assault after a close siege of
several months, and 19,000 Rajpoots slain.
Medni Ray was, however, not among them,
having previously joined Rana Sanga at
* General Briggs here takes occasion to note the
contrast between the generosity usually evinced by
the Hindoos to the Moslems, and " the sordid, cruel,
and bigotted conduct of the latter. It seldom hap-
pened that a Hindoo prince, taken in battle, was not
mstantly beheaded ; and life was never spared but
with the sacrifice of a daughter delivered up to a
Chittore, from whence he retired to Chan-
deri, of which place he was probably here-
ditary chief. Mahmood proceeded thither,
and found that Rana Sanga had previously
marched with his whole force to the support
of Medni Ray. In the conflict which ensued,
Mahmood was defeated, and after evincing,
in an extraordinary manner, the physical
daring that invariably distinguished him in
battle, contrasting strangely with his exces-
sive moral cowardice in time of peace, was
unhorsed and taken prisoner, weltering in
his blood. Rana Sanga caused him to be
brought to his own tent, dressed his wounds,
attended on him personally, and, after his
recovery, sent him back to Mandu with an
escort of 1,000 horse.* This chivalrous
proceeding was returned by the most glar-
ing ingratitude, for its object did not scruple
to take advantage of the confusion which
ensued on the death of his benefactor, to
attack his son. Rattan Sing, the new ruler
of Chittore. Rattan Sing applied for aid to
Bahadur Shah, of Guzerat, who had also had
reason to complain of the selfish rapacity of
the king of Malwa. Mahmood, unable to
withstand their combination, was defeated
in his capital and captured by Bahadur
Shah, who caused him to be confined in the
fortress of Champanee.r, where he was put
to death, with his seven sons, and Malwa
annexed to Guzerat, a.d. 1531.
Khans of Candeish. — This small princi-
pality, separated by forests from Guzerat,
comprised merely the lower part of the
valley of the Taptee, the upper being in-
cluded in Berar. Its first ruler, Malek
Raj ah, t claimed descent from the Caliph
Omar, and died a.d. 1399. His son, Malek
Naseer, received from the king of Guzerat
the title of khan, and founded the city of
Boorhanpoor, near the strong hill-fort of
Aseer,J which he had obtained by treachery
from its rightful occupant, a Hindoo, of
peaceable disposition, from whom he had
received many personal favours. He gained
possession by the same artifice used in the
capture of Rohtas, viz., by entreating the
unsuspecting chief to receive and shelter
the inmates of his harem during a war in
which he pretended to be about engaging,
and then introducing soldiers in the doolies
sort of honourable prostitution, or by the payment of
vast sums of money and jewels." — (Vol. iv., p. 264.)
t Why he was named Rajah does not appear.
X This hill-fort, like many others in India, seems
to bear witness to the pastoral pursuits of its early
possessor, Aseer being considered to be a co'jruptioii
of Asa Aheer, or Asa the cow-herd. — {Idem, p. 286.)
106 RAJPOOT STATES, MEWAR, MARWAR, BIKANEER, JESSULMER, &c.
or palanquins, who sprang out and mur-
dered Asa, with his whole family.
Numerous stone embankments for irriga-
tion and other works now in ruins and
buried in woods, indicate that Candeish
mnst have once attained a high state of
prosperity, but many of these are probably
referrible to the previous period of Hindoo
independence. Aseer or Aseerghur was
taken by Akber, and Candeish re-annexed
to Delhi in 1599.
The Rajpoot States. — Of these a very
cursory notice must sufiBce, because our
present information concerning them, al-
though voluminous,* is too fragmentary to
afford materials for the condensed chrono-
logical summary which can be framed with
comparative ease and satisfaction from the
more precise statements of Mohammedan
writers respecting their own kingdoms. At
the time of the invasion of Mahmood of
Ghuznee, the Rajpoots were in possession of
all the governments of India, nor did they
resign their power without long and fierce
struggles ; indeed some have never been
entirely subjugated, but up to the present
time hold the position of feudatory chiefs
(see pp. 7, 8). The table-land in the centre
of Hindoostan, and the sandy tract stretch-
ing west from it to the Indus, formed the
nucleus of Rajpoot independence; and the
more broken and inaccessible the counti-y,
the better was it suited for the partly feudal,
partly clannish, mode of government and
warfare, adopted by its sous, from whom,
though subsidies might be exacted, and
forts captured by the Delhi monarchy during
strong and aggressive reigns, tribute would
be refused and positions regained the first
opportunity. Thus Rintumbor, Gwalior, and
Calinjer, were constantly changing hands ;
while Ajmeer and Malwa were early captured
and easily retained, from their situation on the
open part of the table-land, terminating in a
slope of broken ground towards the Jumna.
At the time of the accession of Akber
the chief Rajpoot state was that of Mewar,
held by the descendant of the brave Rana
Sanga of Oudipoor, whose family and tribe
are said to have been descended from Rama,
and consequently to have derived their
origin from Oude, whence they removed to
Guzerat, and ultimately settled at Chittore,
about the eighth century of our era. There
they maintained themselves, notwithstand-
ing the accessible nature of the country — a
• Vide the late Colonel Tod's extensive and valu-
able work on Rajast'hati.
sure retreat being ever, in case of defeat,
aflforded by the AravuUi mountains and the
hills and forests connected with them, which
form the northern boundary of Guzerat
Marwar, the next state in importance, was
possessed by that portion of the Rahtores,
who at the taking of Canouj, a.d. 1194, had
quitted the neigbourhood of the Ganges,
and, under two grandsons of their last king,
established themselves in the desert in-
termingled with fertile tracts, between the
table-land and the Indus. They soon be-
came paramount over the old inhabitants of
the race of Jats, and over some small Raj-
poot tribes who had preceded them as
colonists; and formed an extensive and
powerful principality. A younger branch of
the Canouj family founded the separate state
of Bikaneer, on another part of the same
desert, a.d. 1459, while the western portion
was occupied by the Bhattees, under the rajah
of Jessulmer. The rajahs of Amber or Jey-
poor were ancient feudatories of Ajmeer,
and probably remained in submission to the
Mohammedans after the conquest of that
kingdom. The rajahs of the tribe of Hara,
who give their name to Harauti, were, in
some sort, feudatories of the ranas of
Oudipoor, and shortly before the accession
of Akber, captured the famous fort of Rin-
tumbor from the governor, who had held it
for the Afghan kings. There were besides
several petty states, such as the Chouhans
of Parker, the Sodras of Amercot and
others, situated in the extreme west of the
desert, beyond the reach of Mussulman in-
vaders; and those of Sirohi, Jhalor, &o.,
which, lying in the fertile tract beneath the
AravuUi mountains, and on one road from
Ajmeer to Guzerat, were liable to constant
exactions. On the eastern slope of the
table-land, Merut, Gwalior, Narwar, Panna,
Oorcha, Chanderi, and other places in Bun-
delcund, were mostly held by old Rajpoot
families, tributary to Delhi at the time of the
death of Humayun.
Bengal was separated from Delhi, a.d.
1338, by the exertions of a soldier, who,
having risen from the ranks, at length slew
his master (the governor appointed by Mo-
hammed Toghlak), and proclaimed himself
an independent sovereign, but was in less
than three years displaced by another
usurper as ambitious as himself, who, within
two years more, was in turn assassinated.
Frequent changes of dynasty, with few im-
portant events, occupy the remaining period
to the accession of the last king, Daood
ACCESSION OF AKBER— a.d. 1556.
107
(David), in 1573; among the most interest-
ing is the forcible occupation of the throne
by Rajah Kans, a Hindoo zemindar,* whose
son and successor voluntarily embraced the
Mohammedan faith, declaring, however, his
willingness to withdraw his pretensions in
I'avour of his brother, if the chiefs desired it.
At one time Bengal seems to have compre-
hended North Behar. It included Sunder-
gong (Dacca). Jugnuggur (Tipperah) was
tributary; Assam occasionally plundered.
Cuttack and the adjoining parts were cap-
tured just before the extinction of the state.
Bengal was then, as now, remarkable for
the luxury of its inhabitants, whose wealthy
citizens vied with one another in their dis-
play of gold plate. Sheer Shah conquered
Bengal in 1539 : after his death it was
seized by the Afghan successors of the gov-
ernor appointed from Delhi.
Juanpoor stretched along the Ganges
from Canouj, on the north-west, to the
frontier between Bengal and South Behar
on the south-east. Khaja Jehan, the vizier
at the time of Mahmood Toghlak's acces-
sion, occupied this government during the
king's minority, and proclaimed its inde-
pendence, A.D. 1394, which he and his suc-
cessors maintained until its re-annexation
to Delhi, in 1476. It was again separated
after the death of Sheer Shah, and eventually
conquered by Akber early in his reign.
Sinde. — Little is known of the history of
this principality beyond that which has been
already incidentally mentioned (p. 58). The
ruling Rajpoot family appear to have become
converts to Islam about 1365. They were
displaced by the Arghoous, who held it at
the period at which we have now arrived.
Moultan revolted during the confusion
which followed the invasion of Timur, and
was ruled by an Afghan dynasty named
Langa, until the early part of the sixteenth
century, when the Arghoons of Sinde gained
possession ; but were, in their turn, expelled
by Prince Kamran, and Moultan was thence-
forth attached to Delhi. The other pro-
vinces which had become independent at
the same time (with the exception of the
Punjaub, to which Secander Soor maintained
his claim), were all in the hands of adherents
of the Afghan government. The petty states
under the Himalaya Mountains, from Cash-
* This term was originally applied to the heredi-
tary Hindoo chiefs who had become more or less
subject to Moslem rule — it was sometimes extended
by the proud invaders to independent princes, like
those of Oudipoor and Joudpoor, whom they affected
to treat as subordinate to their government ; but it
mere inclusive, to the Bay of Bengal, were
independent under sovereigns of their own ;
there were besides many mountain and
forest tribes throughout India whose almost
inaccessible retreats had preserved them
from subjugation to the Moslem yoke.f
Reign of Akber. — "When the death of
Humayun took place, Akber was absent
in the Punjaub with Behram Khan, and
the fear of attempts being made to seize
the throne before the heir apparent could
have time to repair to the metropolis, in-
duced such of the ministers as were on the
spot, to conceal the fatal event from the
public, by causing one of the Mullahs, or
religious attendants of the court, to imper-
sonate the deceased monarch, and receive
from that part of the palace which over-
looked the river Jumna, the salutations of
the populace. At length, however, the truth
transpired, but the consternation which en-
sued was temporarily calmed by the exer-
tions of the nobles, one of whom read the
Khotbah in the name of Akber — a proceed-
ing equivalent to proclaiming him Hng.
Akber was little more than thirteen years
of age, and by his own desire, as well as in
accordance with the wishes of his best ad-
visers, Behram Khan continued to hold
the same position to his now crowned pupil
as that in which Humayun had previously
placed him — being dignified with the appel-
lation of Khan Baba (the king's father), and
invested with irresponsible sway. It was a
critical epoch for the House of Timur. Se-
veral eager competitors watched an oppor-
tunity to snatch the sceptre from the youthful
descendant of the foreign usurper, but in
vain, for the stern and skilful soldier who
had helped the father to regain it remained
to guard it for the son, and that son had
repeatedly evinced a degree of discretion
beyond his years, and was learning to curb
his own daring spirit and passion for glory,
and to take large and statesmanlike views
of the duties of civil government, which
made some amends for his rapacity as a
conqueror, and enabled him to consolidate
by policy what he won by the sword.
The first contest for supremacy was waged
with Hemu, who headed an army in the
name of Sultan Adili, for the double pur-
ls only in comparatively modern times that it has
been used to denote persons holding assignments of
the government revenue, as well as district and vil-
lage officers.
t Elphinstone, vol. ii. pp. 166 — 251; Price's Mo-
hammedan History, vol. iii., p. 947.
108
BATTLE OP PANIPUT AND DEATH OF HEMU— a.d. 1556.
pose of expelling the Moguls and reducing
Seeander Soor, who, though driven to take
refuge in the vicinity of the northern moun-
tains, still maintained his pretensions to be
king of Delhi and the Punjaub, in which
latter place Akber and Behram Khan re-
mained after their late victory, occupied in
arranging the new government. Mean-
while, Hemu, having captured both Delhi
and Agra, prepared to march to Lahore,
where the tidings of his successes and ap-
proach created so much alarm that the
general opinion in the camp was in favour
of a retreat to Cabool, but Behram Khan's
determination prevailed over more timid
counsels, and the rival forces met at Pani-
put, where, after a desperate battle, the
Moguls triumphed. The elephants, on
whose number Hemu placed great depend-
ence, became ungovernable and threw their
own ranks into confusion, but Hemu, from
his howdah, at the head of 4,000 horse,
continued the action, until an arrow pierced
his eye, and he sank back for the moment
in extreme agony. His troops believing
the wound mortal, gave way, but raising
himself again, and plucking out the barbed
weapon, together with the eye itself, Hemu
endeavoured to force a path through the
enemy's ranks, but was captured through the
treachery of his elephant-driver, and brought
before Akber, who was desired by Behram
Khan to slay the infidel and thus earn the
title of Ghazi.* Akber so far complied as
to touch with his sword the head of his
brave and almost expiring foe, and then
burst into tears, upon which Behram Khan,
in whose stern breast no sentiment akin to
Rajpoot chivalry ever found place, drew his
own sabre and beheaded him with a stroke.
With Hemu, Adili lost all hope of recover-
ing his dominions, but he continued to reign
* This epithet, variously translated as " Holy War-
rior," " Champion of the Faith," or "Victorious in a
Holy War," is one of those expressions which can
scarcely be faithfully rendered in another tongue to
readers imperfectly acquainted with the circum-
stances of its origin and use. From it arose the
word Gazette — first employed to designate the official
announcement in eastern Europe of victory, in what
the combatants called religious warfare; but since
applied to governmental publications of all kinds.
With regard to translations of Persian, Sanscrit or
other terms, and their orthography, I would again
deprecate the criticism of oriental scholars, and plead
the difficulty of presenting them, with any chance of
correct pronunciation, without adopting a system of
accentuation, which might possibly deter readers
of the very class, whose sympathies I am most de-
sirous of enlisting, the young and the unlearned.
I have followed Tod, Dow, and others in avoiding
some time longer until he was killed in a
battle with a new pretender in Bengal.
Akber took possession of Delhi and Agra;
succeeded in effecting the pacification of the
Punjaub ; acquired Ajmeer without a battle j
and early in the fourth year of his reign
had driven the Afghans out of Lucknow
and the country on the Ganges as far east
as Juanpoor. Notwithstanding these tri-
umphs, the happiness of the victor was em-
bittered by the harsh and arbitrary conduct
of the Khan Baba, who attempted to en-
force in a luxurious and refined court the
same rigid discipline by which he had main-
tained subordination in an army of adven-
turers. The nobles were offended by his
haughty and distrustful conduct, and even
Akber had grave reasons for considering
himself treated in a manner, which his
position as king, together with his deep
and lively interest in all state affairs, ren-
dered unwarrantable. Thus, Behram took
advantage of Akber's absence on a hawk-
ing party, to put to death Tardi Beg, an
old noble, who had been one of Saber's
favourite companions, had accompanied
Humayun in all his wanderings, and had
first read the Khotbah in the name of his
successor. The ostensible reason,t was the
hasty evacuation of Delhi, where Tardi Beg
was governor, before the troops of Hemuj
an offence that in the eyes of the warlike
and inflexible minister, would have fully
justified the sentence, which he might
have desired to spare his young sovereign
the pain of pronouncing. However this
may have been, Behram is accusedj of hav-
ing, on subsequent occasions, behaved very
tyrannically to all who seemed inclined to
seek power and influence, except through
the channel of his favour. One nobleman
of high standing, having incurred his dis-
the wearisome repetition of the long titles assumed
by Mohammedan sovereigns, by occasionally giving,
in the event of oft-recurring mention, only the first
word, thus — Ala-oo-deen (glory of the faith) is some-
times adverted to as Ala only. An able and kindlv
critic, lieutenant-general Briggs, has pointed out the
erroneous impression this practice may produce ;
and it therefore seems best to state at once the de-
sire for brevity by which it was prompted.
t Jealousyfof his influence was the supposed cause.
X The chief authority on this portion, and indeed
regarding nearly the whole of Akber's reign, is
Abul Fazil, whose evident unfairness and prejudice
in all matters involving the character of his royal
master, (to whose revision all his writings were sub-
ject), renders it difficult to form a satisfactory judg-
ment of the circumstances which led to the rupture
between Akber and Behram Khan, and the disgrace
and death of the latter.
BEHRAM KHAN ASSASSINATED.— MALWA CONQUERED— a.d. 1560. 109
pleasure, was put to death on some slight
charge, and Peir Mohammed Khan, the
king's private tutor, to whom he was much
attached, narrowly escaped the same fate.
Akber, before he was eighteen, resolved to
reign without control, and having concerted
a plan with those about him, took occasion,
when on a hunting party, to make an un-
expected journey to Delhi, whence he issued
a proclamation, forbidding obedience to any
orders not sanctioned by his authority.
Behrara sent two envoys of distinction, with
assurances of submission, but Akber refused
to see them, and ordered their imprison-
ment. After this, the disgraced minister
seems to have had some intention of attempt-
ing to establish an independent principality
in Malwa, but subsequently set off for Gu-
zerat with the professed object of embarking
from thence for Mecca. As he lingered
long, a formal notice of dismissal arrived from
Agra, commanding him to proceed oq his
pilgrimage forthwith. Having resigned his
standards, kettle-drums, and other ensigns
of authority, Behram continued his route in
a private character, until, irritated by some
further proceedings of Akber, he changed
his mind, and attempted an invasion of the
Punjaub. There, as elsewhere, the people
were disposed to rally round the young
king; Behram was defeated, and eventually
driven to a surrender. Akber received him
with much kindness, seated him on his
right hand, and offered him the alternatives
of an important government, a high position
at court, or an honourable dismissal to
Mecca. This last proposition seems to
indicate that the foregoing ones were
merely complimentary, and Behram pro-
bably so understood them, since he chose
the pilgrimage, for which he had previously
• Among these was Asuf Khan, an officer who ob-
tained permission from Akber, a.d. 1565, to invade
a small independent kingdom called Gurra Mundela,
then under the government of a regent or queen-moth er
named Durgavati, equally celebrated for her beauty
and good sense. On the approach of the Moham-
medans she led her forces in person against them
mounted on an elephant, but after a sharp contest
being disabled by an arrow-wound in the eye, her
troops disheartened, gave way, upon which, fear-
ing to fall into the hands of the victors, she snatched
a dagger from the girdle of the elephant-driver and
stabbed herself. The chief place was then taken by
storm, and the Infant rajah trodden to death in the
confusion. One thousand elephants, 100 jars of gold
coins, numerous jewels, and images of gold and
silver were seized by Asuf Khan, who sent to Akber
only a very small portion of the spoil, and then went
into rebellion, but was afterwards compelled to sue
for pardon. The whole transaction was aggression,
evinced little inclination, and proceeded to
Guzerat, where, while preparing for em-
barkation, he was assassinated (a.d. 1561),
by an Afghan, whose father he had killed
in battle during the reign of Humayun,
Akber, now left to his own resources,
soon found that other officers were likely to
prove less overbearing perhaps than his old
governor, but more inclined to take advan-
tage of his youth for their own advancement.*
Always abundantly self-reliant, he checked
such attempts with a firm hand. Adam
Khan, an Uzbek officer, having defeated
Baz Bahadur,t the Afghan ruler of Malwa,
showed some disposition to retain the pro-
vince for himself, upon which Akber marched
immediately to the camp, and conferred the
government on his old tutor, Peir Moham-
med Khan, whose conduct in this position,
went far to vindicate the previous harshness
displayed towards him by Behram. After
massacring the inhabitants of two cities, of
which he had obtained possession, he was at
length defeated and drowned. Baz Bahadur
recovered Malwa, of which he was again
deprived by the victorious Mogul, whose
service he subsequently entered.
The successive steps of Akber's career
can only be briefly sketched. The seven years
following the disgrace of Behram were
mainly employed in a severe struggle with
the military aristocracy, and in repelling
the pretensions advanced on behalf of the
young prince Hakim, who, although an in-
fant at the time of his father, Humayun's
death, had been left in the nominal govern-
ment of Cabool; but, being expelled thence
by his relation, Mirza Soliman, of Badak-
shan, attempted to invade the Punjaub,
but was driven out Q566), and subsequently
returned to Cabool, of which country he
robbery, and murder from first to last, and the guilt
rests as much on the head of Akber, who sanctioned
the crime and shared the booty, as upon Asuf Khan,
the actual perpetrator. (Briggs'i^em/iia.vol.ii.p. 128.)
f The Hindoo mistress of Baz Bahadur, cele-
brated equally for her beauty and poetic talent, fell
into the hands of Adam Khan, and unable to strive
against his importunity and threatened violence, ap-
pointed an hour to receive him, and then arrayed in
costly robes, fragrant with the sweetest perfumes,
lay down on a couch covered with a mantle. On
the Khan's approach her attendants strove to rouse
her, but she had taken poison and was already dead.
(Khafi Khan, quoted by Elphinstone, vol. ii. p. 263.)
Her persecutor did not long survive her, for having
quarrelled with the vizier of Akber he stabbed him
while at prayers, and was, by order of the king, (who
was sleeping in an inner room, and rushed in,
awakened by the uproar) immediately thrown from
a lofty terrace-parapet, where he had sought refuge.
no GUZERAT ANNEXED— A.D. 1572.— AKBER'S HINDOO MARRIAGES,
long retained undisturbed possession. The
Mirzas, (namely, the four sons and three
nephews of Sultan Mirza, a prince of the
house of Tamerlane, who had come to India
with Baber, but rebelled against Humayun,
who pardoned and gave him the govern-
ment of Sambal) revolted, and were com-
pelled to fly to Guzerat, where they endea-
voured to take advantage of the disturbed
state of affairs, but were strenuously opposed
by Etimad Khan, the Hindoo minister, or
rather master, of the pageant king, Mozuffer
III. Sooner than suffer the sceptre to be
seized by the Mirzas, Etimad prompted its
formal surrender to Akber, a.d. 1572, who
having personally received it, proceeded to
besiege Surat, where these princes had taken
refuge. Before the place could be invested
they departed with a light detachment, in-
tending to join their main body in the north
of Guzerat. Akber ordered 1,000 men to
follow him, and set out in pursuit with
such rash haste, that he found himself in
front of the enemy with a party which,
after waiting to allow some stragglers to
come up, numbered only 150 men. He
nevertheless commenced the attack, but
being repulsed, took shelter in a lane formed
by strong hedges of cactus, where not more
than three horsemen could advance abreast.
Here he was hard pressed and separated
from his men, but saved by the gallantry of
Rajah Bhagwandas of Amber, and his ne-
phew and adopted son. Rajah Maun Sing,
both officers of high rank in the imperial
army. Soorjun Ray, Rajah of Rintumbor,
is also mentioned as having evinced great
bravery; and the fact of the king's being
immediately surrounded by Hindoo chiefs
on such an occasion, sufficiently proves the
degree to which he had conciliated, and the
trust which he reposed in them. The
Mirzas succeeded in effecting the junction
which Akber had risked so much to pre-
vent, but were afterwards dispersed, and
met with various adventures, terminating
in violent deaths by the hands of Delhi
officers. Though eager to put down any
infringement of his own real or assumed
rights, Akber utterly disregarded those of
others; the establishment of unquestioned
supremacy over all India being the object
which he proposed from the beginning.
With this view he never scrupled to fo-
ment strife, watching craftily an opportu-
nity of turning to his own advantage the
dissensions which rendered weak and effete
the various independent governments, both
foreign and native. Under his banner, Hin-
doo fought against Hindoo — Moslem against
Moslem ; and each against the other. Over
the fiery Rajpoots his personal influence
became unbounded. Skilfully availing him-
self of their foibles, and studious needlessly
to avoid clashing with their feudal obser-
vances and associations, he won from them
voluntary concessions which force had long
failed to extort. As early as 1651 he had
sent a strong force against Maldeo, Rajah of
Marwar, actuated perhaps by the recollec-
tion of the sufferings of his parents when
refused protection shortly before his birth
(p. 87), and captured the strong fortress
of Meerta. Nagore was also taken ; and
both these strong-holds were . conferred by
Akber on the representative of the younger
branch of the family, Ray Sing of Bika-
neer. In 1569, Rao Maldeo succumbed to
necessity ; and, in conformity with the times,
sent 'his second son with gifts to Akber,
then at Ajmeer, which had become an in-
tegral part of the monarchy; but the dis-
dainful bearing of " the desert king" so
displeased Akber, that he presented Ray
Sing with a firmdn (imperial mandate) for
the possession of Joudpoor itself, and the
old Rao had to stand a siege in his capital,
and after brave but fruitless resistance, was
compelled to yield homage. His son and
successor, well known as Moota (the fat)
Rajah, gave a princess of his family in mar-
riage to Akber (a great concession, not to
say degradation, in the sight of a Rajpoot,
even though the issue of this union would
take equal rank with other princes of
the imperial house) and, in return, re-
ceived all the possessions previously wrested
from Marwai', except Ajmeer, besides seve-
ral rich districts in Malwa.* Rajah Bhar-
mul, of Amber, likewise gave the king a
daughter to wife,t and enrolled himself and
his son, Bhagwandas, among the royal vas-
sals, holding his country as a fief of the
empire; and he also received honours and
emoluments, in the shape most agreeable to
a Rajpoot — increase of territory. In fact,
every chief who submitted to Akber, fouwl
his personal possessions increased in conse-
quence. One state, however, still main-
tained its independence, and could neither
be flattered, bribed, or forced into alliance
with the foreigner; it even dared to re-
• Tod says four provinces (Godwar, Oojein, De-
balpoor, and Budnawar) yielding £200,000 of annua)
revenue were given for the hand of Jod Eae.
t Mother to Selim, Akbers successor.
AKBER CONQUERS AND DESPOILS CHITTORE— a.u. 1568.
Ill
nounce intermarriage with every house by
which such disgrace had been sustained.
Against Mewar, Akber therefore turned his
arms, so soon as the disaffection of the
Usbek nobles and other rebellions nearer
Delhi had been put down. The Rana, Oodi
Sing, unlike his brave father, Sanga, was a
man of feeble character, quite unfit to head
the gallant chiefs who rallied round him.
On learning the approach of his formidable
foe, he retreated from Chittore to the hilly
and woody country north of Guzerat, leav-
ing a strong garrison under Jei Mai, a
chief of great courage and ability. The
place, though previously twice taken, was
still regarded by the Rajpoots of Mewar as
a sort of sanctuary of their monarchy. The
operations of the siege were conducted with
great care, and seem to have closely resem-
bled those adopted in modern Europe. Two
mines were sunk, and fire set to the train ;
one of them exploded, and the storming
party crowded up the breach, but while so
doing, the second explosion occurred, and
destroyed many of the assailants, upon
which the rest fled in confusion. The pre-
vious labours were re-commenced ; con-
siderable advantage had been gained, and
the northern defences destroyed, when Ak-
ber, one night, in visiting the trenches, per-
ceived Jei Mai on the works, superintending
some repairs by torch-light. Taking delibe-
rate aim, he shot him through the head, and
the garrison, appalled by the death of their
able leader, abandoned the breaches, aud
withdrew to the interior of the fort. There
they assumed the saffron-coloured robes, ate
the last " beera" or p^n together, and per-
formed the other ceremonies incidental to
their intended self-sacrifice. After witness-
ing the terrible rite of the Johur, in which
the women, gathering round the body of
Jei Mai, found refuge in the flames from
• Akber's conduct on this occasion has also left an
indelible stain on his character as a patron of the
arts, for the stately temples and palaces of Chittore
were defaced and despoiled with the most ruthless
barbarity. He showed, however, his sense of the
bravery of his fallen foes by erecting at one of the
chief gates of Delhi two great elephants of stone,
(described by Bernier in 1663), each with their rider,
one representing Jei Mai, the other Putta. The
latter, the youthful head of the Jugawut clan,
perished in the defence of the city, following the
example of his widowed mother, who, arming her
son's young bride with a lance, with her descended
the rock and both fell fighting side by side. The
2mar», (Brahmanical cords taken from the necks of the
Rajpoots), are said to have amounted to seventy-four
ro&n's and a-half ; and still, in memory of this tenible
destruction, the bankers of Rajasthan mark this
pollution or captivity ; the men, to the num-
ber of 8,000, ran to the ramparts, and were
there slain by the Moslems who had mounted
unopposed. " Akber entered Chittore, when,"
says Tod, "30,000 of its inhabitants be-
came victims to the ambitious thirst of con-
quest of this guardian of mankind." *
Notwithstanding the loss of his capital
and many of his bravest warriors, the Rana
remained independent in his fastnesses in
the Aravulli; raised a small palace, around
which edifices soon clustered, and formed
the nucleus of the city of Oudipoor, which
eventually became the capital of Mewar.
He died shortly afterwards, a.d. 1572. His
successor, Pertap, was in all respects his
opposite. Brave, persevering, and devoted
to the cause of Rajpoot independence, the
recovery of Chittore was his watchword.
Till this should be accomplished, he inter-
dicted to himself and his successors every
article of luxury — exchanged golden dishes
for vessels made of leaves, and soft couches
for straw pallets ; and, in sign of mourning,
commanded all his followers to leave their
beards unshaven.f Such an adversary was
not likely to be undervalued by the politic
Akber, who succeeded in arraying against
the patriot his kindred in faith as well as in
blood, including even his own brother, Sa-
gurji, who received, as the price of his trea-
chery, the ancient capital of his race. The
odds against Pertap were fearful ; driven
from his strongholds of Komulmeer and
Gogunda, he nevertheless withstood, for
more than a quarter of a century, the com-
bined efforts of the empire, often flying
from rock to rock, feeding his wife and
family from the fruits of his native hills,
and rearing, amid the haunts of savage
beasts, his young son, Umra, the heir to
his prowess and his struggles. J In 1576,
a desperate battle occurred at the pass or
tilde, or accursed number on their seals, thereby in-
voking " the sin of the slaughter of Chittore" on any
one who should dare to violate this mysterious but re-
vered safeguard. (^Annals qf'RaJast'han, vol. i. p. 327.
t The descendants of Pertap, though unfaithful
to the spirit of this vow, still adhere to the letter,
by placing leaves under their gold or silver plate,
and straw beneath their couches, while their beards
remain unshorn. (Idem, p. 333).
X Colonel Tod's narrative of the life of this noble
Rajpoot is full of incidents of thrilling interest. So
hot was the pursuit of the Mogul myrmidons that
" five meals liave been prepared and abandoned for
want of the opportunity to eat them," and his family
were repeatedly on the eve of capture. On one of
these occasions they were saved by the faithful
Bheels of Cavah, who carried them in baskets and con-
, cealed them in the tin mines of Jawura, where they
112
WAR WITH PERTAP.— SETTLEMENT OF BENGAL— 1592.
plain of Huldighat, where Pertap had taken
up a strong position with 22,000 Rajpoots,
while above, on the neighbouring cliffs and
pinnacles, his trusty auxiliaries, the abori-
giual Bheels, stood posted, armed with
bows and arrows, and huge stones ready to
roll upon the enemy. But all efforts proved
vain against the overpowering Mogul force,
headed by Selim, the heir of Akber, with its
numerous field-artillery and a dromedary
corps mounting swivels. Of the stalwart
Rajpoots who rallied round the royal in-
signia,* ever seen in the hottest part of the
action, 8,000 only survived it. Pertap him-
self, after receiving several severe wounds,
was saved with difficulty, by a noble act of
self-devotion. One of his chiefs (Marah),
seizing the " golden sun," made his way to an
intricate position, and thus drew upon him-
self and his vassals the brunt of the battle,
while his prince, forced from the field, lived
to renew the struggle, and to honour the
memory of his brave deliverer by conferring
on his descendants distinctions whose value
a Rajpoot alone could fully appreciate. t
Another generous sacrifice eventually en-
abled the Mewar prince, when almost driven
into the abandonment of his native kingdom,
to cope successfully with the Mogul force.
Bhama Sah, his minister, whose ancestors
had for ages held this ofiSce, placed at his dis-
posal their accumulated resources ; and thus
furnished with the sinews of war, Pertap
renewed the contest. The chivalrous cle-
mency which habitually distinguishes the
Rajpoot was, for once, merged in a sense of
the desperate nature of his position. Komul-
meer and thirty-two posts were taken by
surprise, and the troops slain without mercy.
To use the words of the native annalist,
" Pertap made a desert of Mewar ; he made
an offering to the sword of whatever dwelt
in the plains :"J and in one campaign, re-
covered his hereditary dominions, except
Chittore, Ajmeer, and Mandelgurh.
Akber, occupied by new fields of con-
quest, suffered Pertap to retain his territory
unmolested; but the mind of the Hindoo
prince could know no rest while, from the
summit of the pass to Oudipoor (where, in
accordance with his vow, he inliabited a
lowly hut) might be seen the stately battle-
guarded and fed them. Bolts and bars are still pre-
served in the trees about Jawura to which the cradles
of the royal children of Mewar were suspended.
• The cAan^!, or chief insignia of royalty in Mewar,
is a sun of gold in the centere of a disc of black
ostrich feathers or felt, about three feet in diameter.
* Such as bearing the title of Kaj (royal), the pri-
ments of Chittore, whose re-capture, he
felt, was not for him. A spirit ill at ease,
accelerated the decay of a frame scarred by
repeated wounds, and worn out with hard-
ships and fatigue. His sun went down at
noon ; but he died (a.d. 1597) as he had lived,
an unflinching patriot, enjoining on Umra
and his subjects to eschew luxury, and seek,
first and last, the independence of Mewar.
The manner in which this dying com-
mand was fulfilled belongs to the succeeding
reign. We now return to the proceedings
of Akber, who, in 1575, headed an army for
the subjugation of Bengal. The Afghan
ruler, Daood Khan, a weak, dissipated
prince, retired before the imperial forces
from Behar to Bengal Proper, upon which
Akber returned to Agra, leaving his lieute-
nants to pursue the conquest, which proved
a more difficult task than was expected.
The chief commanders were Rajah Todar
Mai, the celebrated minister of finance, and
Rajah Maun Sing, and their efforts were at
length successful. Daood was defeated and
slain ; and the mutinous attempts of various
Mogul officers to seize the jaghires of the
conquered chiefs for their private benefit,
were, after many struggles, put down. The
last endeavour of any importance, on the
part of the Afghans, to recover the pro-
vince, terminated in defeat in 1592, and
being followed up by concessions of terri-
tory to the leading chiefs, the final settle-
ment of Bengal was concluded, after fifteen
years of strife and misery. While his gene-
rals were thus engaged, Akber was himself
occupied in renewed hostilities with Mirza
Hakim, who, after having remained long
undisturbed in Cabool, again invaded the
Punjaub, and assaulted the governor, Maun
Sing, in Lahore. The king having raised
the siege, drove his brother to the moun-
tains and occupied Cabool; but that gov-
ernment was restored on the submission of
the prince, who retained it until his death
in 1585. The vicinity of Abdullah, Khan
of the Uzbeks, who had recently seized
Badakshan from Mirza Soliman, probably
induced Akber, on learning the demise of
Hakim, to proceed immediately to the strong
fort of Attock, which he had previously
erected on the principal ferry of the Indus.
vilege of enjoying " the right hand of the Mewar
princes," &c., to which territorial advantages were
also added by the grateful Pertap.
I All his loyal subjects had previously followed
him to the mountains, destroying whatever property
they could neither conceal nor carry away. {Annalt
of Rajasl'han, vol. i. p. 347.)
2?^
CAPTURE OF CASHMERE, SINDE AND CANDAHAR— a.d. 1586 to 1594. 113
Although Badakshan had been the ancient
possession of his family, Akber was far too
politic to stir up a quarrel with so formidable
a foe as its present occupant, while, in an-
other quarter, opportunity invited the exer-
cise of more profitable and less dangerous,
though utterly unprovoked aggression. Near
at hand, nestled in the very centre of the
Himalaya, above the heated plains, below
the snowy heights, lay the lovely valley of
Cashmere, verdant with perpetual spring.
From the age of fable till the beginning of
the fourteenth century, this small kingdom
had been ruled by a succession of Hindoo
princes, interrupted, it would appear, by a
Tartar dynasty.* It then fell into the hands
of a Mohammedan adventurer, and was
held by princes of that religion until 1586,
when the distractions prevailing among the
reigning family induced Akber to brave
the difficult and dangerous passes by which
alone this terrestrial paradise could be ap-
proached, and send an army, under Shah
E,okh Mirza, son of Mirza Soliraan (who
had entered his service when driven out of
Badakshan), and Bhagwandas, of Jeypoor,
for its conquest. These chiefs, with diffi-
culty, penetrated through the snow by an
unguarded pass^ but their supplies being
exhausted, were glad to enter into a treaty
with the king, Yusuf Shah, by which the su-
premacy of the emperor was acknowledged,
but his practical interference with the pro-
vince forbidden. Yusuf, relying on the good
faith and generosity of Akber, accompanied
the troops on their return to the court of
that monarch, who, considering the pledge
given on his behalf an inconvenient one, de-
tained his guest, and dispatched a fresh force
for the occupation of Cashmere. Yacub,
the son of the captive, assembled the troops,
and prepared to defend the pass; but the
prevailing dissensions had extended so
widely among the soldiery, that part went
over to the invaders, and the prince deemed
it best to fall back with the rest on Seri-
nuggur, where strife and rebellion were also
at work. Driven thence to the hills, he con-
tinued the struggle for two years, but was
at last captured and sent to Delhi, where
both he and his father were induced by
* Professor H. H. Wilson considers it to have ex-
isted either under* the name of Caspapyrus or Abi-
sarus as early as the days of Herodotus and Alex-
ander.— Essuy on the Raj Taringi, or Hindoo Ilis-
•^ry of Cashmere — Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p.
82. This work was executed by four different per-
sons, the first of whom wrote in 1148, but frequent
and precise references are made to earlier writers.
Akber to enter his service, and accept
large jaghires in Behar. From this time.
Cashmere became the favourite summer re-
treat of the Mogul rulers.
The imperial arms were next directed
against the Eusofzeis and other Afghan
tribes inhabiting the hilly countries round
the plain of Pesliawer, among whom a pow-
erful party had been established by Bayezeed,
a false prophet, who founded a sect, self-
styled Roushenia, or the enlightened, and
declared his followers justified in seizing on
the lands and property of all who refused
to believe in his divine mission. The im-
postor was defeated and slain, but his sons
bore about his bones in an ark, and the
youngest, Jelala, became formidable from
his energy and ambition, and succeeded in
gaining repeated advantages over the Delhi
troops, many of whom perished, including
Rajah Beer Bal, one of Akber's favourite
generals. In IGOO, Jelala obtained posses-
sion of the city of Ghuznee, but was even-
tually expelled and slain. The religious
war was continued by his successors during
the two next reigns (those of Jehangeer and
Shah Jehan) ; and when the errors of the
Roushenias became exploded, the Eusofzeis,
who had long renounced their doctrines,
continued to maintain hostilities with the
house of Timur, and afterwards with the
kings of Persia and Cabool, preserving
throughout their turbulent independence
undiminished.
Sinde was captured in 1592, its ruler, on
submission, being, according to the policy of
Akber, enrolled among the nobles of the
empire; and Candahar, which had been
seized by Shah Tahmasp soon after the
death of Humayun, was recovered without a
blow, in 1594, owing to the disorders which
marked the early part of the reign of his
successor. Shah Abbas. By this last acqui-
sition, Akber completed the possession of
his hereditary kingdom beyond the Indus
(the war with the Afghans being confined
to the mountains) at nearly the same period
at which he concluded the conquest of Hin-
doostan Proper. Excepting only Oudipoor
and its gallant rana, with his immediate re-
tainers, the other Rajpoot states of any im-
The facts and dates become consistent as they approach
A.B. 600, and from that period to the termination of
the history, with the conquest of the kingdom by
Akber, the chronology is accurate. Much interest-
ing matter occurs incidentally, regarding Buddhism
and Brahminism, (the former having been very early
introduced into Cashmere), and also respecting the
ancient worship of the Nagas or Snake Gods.
114 DECCAN INVADED— 1596.— CxYNDEISH AND AHMEDNUGGUR TAKEN.
portance all acknowledged Mogul supre-
macy, and their chiefs had become changed
from jealous tributaries to active auxiliaries.
The Deccan now became the theatre for
Akber's aggression, to which its perturbed
condition offered every facility. After two
years spent there by his sou Morad, and
other generals, during which time Ahmed-
nuggur being besieged was nobly defended
by the Sultana Chand, Akber proceeded in
person to the scene of action, where Berar
had already been surrendered on behalf of
the king of Ahmednuggur. The conquest
of Candeish was completed by the reduction
of the strong fortress of Aseerghur,* in
1599, and Prince Danial made viceroy of
the new provinces, with Mirza Khan (the
son of Behram, who had received the title of
Khan Khanan, formerly bestowed by Hu-
mayun on his ill-fated father) as his confi-
dential adviser. Prince Danial took to wife
the daughter of Ibrahim II., of Beejapoor,
who, like the neighbouring king of Gol-
conda, had deprecated, by presents and
embassies, the anger of the powerful Mogul
for having sided against his generals in the
contest with Ahmednuggur.f These endea-
vours would probably have proved fruitless,
as many similar ones had done, but for the
hurried and compulsory return of Akber to
Hindoostan, owing to the misconduct of
his eldest son and acknowledged heir.
Selim was now above thirty years of age,
and not deficient in natural ability ; but his
intellect had been impaired and his heart
depraved by the excessive use of wine and
opium. Taking possession of Allahabad, he
made himself master of Oude and Behar,
seized upon treasure amounting to thirty
lacs of rupees (£300,000), and assumed
the title of king. These pretensions were
speedily withdrawn on the appearance of Ak-
ber, who behaved with extreme moderation ;
but his ungrateful son, while expressing sub-
mission and fidelity, took an opportunity of
revenging his own supposed injuries, and
inflicting a severe blow on the feelings of his
father, by instigating the assassination of
Abul Fazil, whom he both feared and hated.
An ambuscade was laid near Gwalior by
* With this fortress, ten years' provisions and count-
less treasures fell into the hands of the conqueror,
who was supposed to have employed magical arts.
t The chief of Sinde is said to have employed Por-
tuguese officers in his defence against Akber, and to
hare had 200 natives dressed as Europeans, who
were consequently the earliest sepoys. He had also
a fort defended by an Arab garrison, " the first in-
stance," says Mr. Elphinstone, "in which I have
Nursing Deo Rajah of Oorcha, and Abul
Fazil, after a brave defence, was slain with
most of his attendants, a.d. 1603. Akber was
greatly distressed by the loss of his friend and
counsellor. He spent two days without food
or sleep, and sent a force against Nursing
Deo, with orders to seize his innocent family,
ravage his country, and exercise other un-
warrantable severities; but the intended vic-
tim succeeded in eluding pursuit, and was
subsequently raised to high honour on the
accession of Selim to the throne.
Akber would not publicly recognise his
son's share in the crime; J but, on the con-
trary, conferred on him the privilege of
using the royal ornaments, and other marks
of the highest distinction. But all in vain.
Selim became daily more brutal and de-
bauched, until at last, the public quarrels
between him and his son, Khosru (himself
a violeut-telnpered youth) grew to such a
height, that Khosru's mother (the sister of
Maun Sing), in a moment of grief and
despair, swallowed poison ; after which, her
husband became so cruel and irascible, that
Akber thought it necessary to place him
under temporary restraint. He was no
sooner released than his jealousy of his son
(who he believed, and probably not Avithout
reason, desired to supplant him in the suc-
cession to the throne) occasioned new scenes
of disorder. Meanwhile Khosru himself
was, beyond measure, envious of his younger
brother, Khoorum (Shah Jehan), who was
equally a favourite with both his father and
grandfather. While affairs at home were
in this unsatisfactory state intelligence ar-
rived of the decease of prince Danial.
Morad had died some years before; now this
other son, Selim's only remaining brother,
was taken from Akber, under circumstances
calculated to embitter the bereavement. In-
temperance had laid fast hold on its victim,
and though so surrounded by the faithful
servants of his father as to be unable openly
to gratify its solicitations, he found means
to have liquor secretly conveyed to him in
the barrel of a fowling-piece, and by unre-
strained indulgence soon terminated his
existence at the age of thirty (April 1605.)
observed any mention of that description of merce-
naries afterwards so much esteemed." Vol. ii. p. 297.)
1 Selim, in his Memoirs, openly acknowledges the
crime and vindicates it on the plea of Abul Pazil's
having induced his father to disbelieve in the Koran.
For this reason, he says, " 1 employed the man who
killed Abul Fazil and brought his head to me; and
for this It was Inat 1 in- urred my fatlier's deep dis-
pleasure."— Price's Memoirs of Jahanyueir, p. 33.
CHARACTER AND RELIGIOUS OPINIONS OP AKBER.
115
Alas for Akber ! he was now about sixty-
three, and had probably anticipated that an
old age of peace and honour might crown a
youth of vicissitude and daring adventure,
and a manhood of brilliant success. His
foes were either silent in the grave, or had
been won by politic liberality to a cheerful
acknowledgment of his supremacy ; and the
able system of civil government framed by
the aid of the gifted brothers, Abul Fazil
and Feizi,* and founded on a careful con-
sideration of the customs and opinions of
the Hindoos, had won from the mass of the
people a degree of cordial and grateful sup-
• Their father, a learned man, named Mobarik,
was expelled from his situation as college-tutor at
Agra for latitudinarian if not atheistical opinions,
which his sons, though professing Moslems, evidently
shared. Feizi diligently applied himself to the
study of Sanscrit, as did several of the most distin-
guished men of Akber's court, through which a taste
for literature was widely diffused. Feizi was pre-
sented to Akber in the twelfth year of his reign, and
introduced Abul Fazil six years later, and they
jointly became the intimate friends and confidants of
! their sovereign, who survived them both. An ac-
[ count of the death of Feizi has been recorded by a
j personal friend but a zealous Mussulman (Abdul
I Xader), and therefore it may be highly coloured,
' but, according to him, this celebrated scholar died
i blaspheming, with distorted features and blackened
j lips, but of what malady does not appear. — (Elphin-
, stone, vol. ii., p. 320.)
j t " The religion of Akber," says Mr. Elphinstone,
' (who, by the aid of a manuscript translation of the
Akbemameh, has obtained information otherwise
accessible only to oriental scholars,) " was pure
; deism. • * * His fundamental doctrine was, that
I there were no prophets ; his appeal on all occasions
I was to human reason." — (Vol. ii., p. 322.) This
free-thinking did not however interfere with his
alleged right as " head of the church, [? what
church] to decide all disputes among its members,"
nor prevent him from introducing a new confession
of faith, declaring that " there was no God but God,
and Akber was his caliph." — (p. 324.) The practices
of spiritual instructors of different denominations he
did not scruple to adopt, and Abul Fazil, who wrote
under his immediate supervision, makes repeated
mention of the supernatural endowments which he
habitually and publicly exercised, and of the " nu-
merous miracles which he performed." Among the
many superstitious modes used in seeking " success
in business, restoration of health, birth of a son,"
&c., 'a favourite method adopted " by men of all
nations and ranks," was to " invocate his majesty,"
to whom, on the obtainment of their wishes, they
brought the offerings which they had vowed. " Not
a day passes," says Abul Fazil, " but people bring
cups of water to the palace, beseeching him to
breathe upon them. He who is privy to the secrets
of heaven reads the decrees of fate, and if tidings of
hope are received, takes the water from the suppli-
cant, places it in the sun's rays, and then having
bestowed upon it his auspicious breath, returns it.
Also many, whose diseases are deemed incurable:
intreat him to breathe upon them, and are thereby
restored to health." — iAyeen Akhery, vol. i., p. 665.)
port which none of the " Great Moguls"
before or after Akber ever acquired or even
strove for. A total disbeliever in revealed
religion,t he had found no difficulty in sanc-
tioning the free exercise of all creeds, and
in humouring national vanity, or courting
sectarian prejudice whenever it suited his
object, and it was always his object to be
popular. To the Brahmin, the Buddhist, the
Parsee,J the Jew and the Roman catholic,§
the emperor listened with courteous defer
ence; and his legislative ability, personal
daring, and suavity of manner, won golden
opinions from multitudes who cared not to
Had Akber lived in the middle of the nineteenth
century he would have taken a peculiar interest in
mesmerism, spirit-rapping, and table-turning.
X To the customs of tliis sect Akber practically in-
clined more than to any other, his stated times of
worship being day-break, noon, and midnight. " His
majesty," Abul Fazil adds, " has also a great venera-
tion for fire in general, and for lamps, since they are
to be accounted rays of the greater light." — Glad-
win's Ayeen Akbery, vol. i., p. 160.)
§ Akber appears to have played upon the credu-
lity of the priests sent from Goa in a manner which
they have described with much naivete, though no
Protestant can read their account without pain and
indignation at the thought of the pure and life-
giving faith of the meek and lowly Redeemer being
presented to the imperial sceptic, under a form so little
likely to win respectful attention. He had expressed
a wish to see their chapel, which they dressed up for
the occasion with every kind of ornament they could
borrow from the Hindoos or any other quarter, and
Akber declared himself dazzled with the result, and
exclaimed that " no other religion could produce
such brilliant proofs of its divinity;" a speech which,
considering the enormous wealth in gold and gems
he must have heard of, if not witnessed, in the idola-
trous temples of Hindoostan, would seem little better
than a cutting sarcasm. He had on a previous oc-
casion prostrated himself before a representation of
the crucifixion, " but his chief emotion was excited
on viewing a finely-painted and ornamented image
of the Virgin. He gazed on it long in admiration,
and declared that she appeared indeed the Queen of
Heaven seated on her throne." The friars began to
entertain great hopes of his conversion, but soon
found that he persisted in " holding himself forth as
an object of worship; and though exceedingly
tolerant as to other modes of faith, never would
admit of any encroachments on his own divinity."
One of his courtiers suffered it to transpire that the
sole aim of the monarch in listening to the mis-
sionaries was " curiosity and amusement," and this
was confirmed soon afterwards by Akber's gravely
proposing to them, as a means of deciding between
their assertions and those of the Mohammedans, that
a famous Mullah should leap into a furnace with the
Koran in his hand, followed by one of the friars
bearing a Bible. He promised that the Mullah
should leap in first, hinting that he would not at all
regret to see him fall a sacrifice to his presumption ;
but the friars refused the ordeal, and not feeling
" much at ease in the Mogul court, soon solicited
and obtained permission to return to Goa." — (Mur-
ray's Account of Discoveries, vol. ii., p. 92.)
116
DEATH OP THE EMPEROR AKBER— a.d. 1605.
search out the selfishness which was the
hidden main-spring of every project, whether
ostensibly for the promotion of external
aggression or internal prosperity. But now
the season for rest had arrived, and he might
hope to enjoy the wide-spread dominion
and almost incalculable wealth, which a
clever head and a sharp sword had combined
to win. His strongly-built and handsome
frame* had escaped almost unscathed from
the dangers and fatigues of the battle-field,
the toilsome march, the onslaught of wild
beasts, and the weapon of the assassin. All
had failed to dispirit or unnerve him, and
the conduct of an intricate campaign, or the
pressure of civil government (a far more dif-
ficult undertaking for one who had to make
laws as well as superintend their execution),
never absorbed the time and energy neces-
saiy to the active part which he loved to
bear in mental or bodily exercises of all de-
scriptions, from philosophical discussions to
elephant and tiger hunts, animal fights,
feats of jugglers, and other strangely varied
diversions. Though in youth given to in-
ulgence in the luxuries of the table, in later
life he became sober and abstemious, re-
fraining from animal food on particular
days, amounting altogether to nearly a
quarter of the year. There is, however,
reason to believe that, like his father and
grandfather, he was addicted to the inordi-
nate use of opium,t an insidious vice which
would partially account for the criminal
• " My father," says Jehangeer, " was tall in sta-
ture, of a ruddy, or wheaten, or nut-brown com-
plexion ; his eyes and eyebrows dark, the latter
running across into each other. Handsome in his
exterior he had the strength of a lion, which was
indicated by the extraordinary breadth of his chest
and the length of his arms." A black mole on his
nose was pronounced by physiognomists a sure
prognostication of extraordinary good fortune. —
(Price's Memoirs of Jahangueir, p. 45.)
t Ferishta mentions that Akber was taken dan-
gerously ill about 1582, " and as his majesty had
adopted the habit of eating opium as Humayun his
father had done before him. people became appre-
hensive on his account." — (Vol. ii., p. 253.)
X Abul Fazil states that to the Noroza, or ninth
day of each month, Akber gave the name of Khus-
roz, or day of diversion, and caused a female market
or sort of royal fair, to be held and frequented by
the ladies of the harem and others of distinction,
going him.self in disguise to learn the value of dif-
ferent kinds of merchandize, and what was thought
of the government and its executive officers. —
(Ayeen Akber;/, vol. i., p. 228.) Tod attributes the
presence of Akber to a different and most disgrace-
ful motive, and says, that however incredible it may
geem, that so keen-sighted a statesman should have
risked his power and popularity by introducing an
immoral festival of Scythic origin, peculiarly op-
e.xcesses in another respect attributed to
him by Hindoo authorities,! and which,
however notorious, would unquestionably
have been passed over in silence by so ful-
some a panegyrist and determined a partisan
as Abul Fazil. Regarding the cause of his
death, Hindoo records likewise cast a dark
cloud,§ to which Mr. Elphinstone makes no
allusion, but simply notes the total loss of
appetite and prostration of strength which
were the chief symptoms of the fatal disease.
In truth, the disgraceful nature of his recent
domestic afflictions, and the cabals and
struggles respecting the succession, (which
raged so fiercely that his only son was with
difficulty induced to attend his dying bed,)
were alone sufficient to bring a proud and
sensitive spirit with sorrow to the grave.
Akber expired in October, 1605, hav-
ing been for nearly the whole forty-nine
years of his reign a cotemporary ruler with
Elizabeth of England, whose enterprise had
prepared an embassy (sent by her successor)
to solicit from him the promotion of the
peaceful pursuits of commerce between their
subjects. How little could these mighty
ones of the earth have foreseen that the
sceptre of Akber would eventually fall from
the feeble grasp of his weak and vicious
descendants, into the hands of the struggling
community of traders, for whose protection
an imperial firman was at first so humbly
solicited. These marvellous changes teach
great lessons. May we but profit by them.
posed to the sensitive honour of the Rajpoots, "yet
there is nevertheless not a .shadow of doubt that
many of the noblest of the race were dishonoured on
the Noroza," and one of the highest in the court
(Pirthi Raj) was only preserved from being of the
number by the courage and virtue of his wife, a
princess of Mewar, who, having become separated
from her companions, found herself alone with
Akber, in return to whose solicitations she " drew a
poinard from her corset, and held it to his breast,
dictating and making him repeat, an oath of renun-
ciation of such infamy to all her race." The wife of
Ray Sing is said to have been less fortunate or less
virtuous. — [Atmals of JRaJast'han, vol. i., p. 345.)
§ " The Boondi records," says Tod, " are well
worthy of belief, as diaries of events were kept by
her princes, who were of the first importance in this
and the succeeding reigns." They expressly state
that a desire to be rid of the great Rajah Maun Sing
of Jeypoor, to whom he was so much indebted, and
whom he did not dare openly attack, induced Akber
to prepare a maajuii (intoxicating confection), part Oi
which he poisoned — but presenting by mistake the
innocuous portion to the Rajah, he took the other
himself, and thus perished in his own snare. Maun
Sing had excited the displeasure of both Akber and
Selim, by seconding the pretensions of his nephew,
Khosru to the throne. Old European writers at-
tribute the death of Akber to a similar cause.
IMPROVED REVENUE SYSTEM ADOPTED BY AKBER.
117
At the period of Akber's death the em-
pire was divided into fifteen subahs or pro-
vinces, namely, Allahabad, Agra, Oude,
Ajmeer, Guzerat, Behar, Bengal, Delhi,
Cabool, Lahore, Moultan, Malwa, Berar,
Candeish, and Ahmednuggur. Each had
its own viceroy [sepah sillar),* who exercised
complete control, civil and military, subject
to the instructions of the king. Under him
were the revenue functionaries, and also the
foujdars, or military commanders, whose
authority extended alike over the regular
troops and local soldiery or militia within
their districts. Justice was administered
by a court composed of an officer named
meer adel (lord justice) and a cazi. The
police of considerable towns was under an
officer called the cutwal ; in smaller places,
under the revenue officer ; and in villages,
under the internal authorities. t
The revenue system, by which Akber
gained so much celebrity, had, in fact, been
partially introduced during the brief reign
of Sheer Shah. Its objects were — First, to
obtain a correct measurement of the land,
by the establishment of a uniform standard,
to supersede the differing measures formerly
employed even by public officers; and by
the appointment of fit persons, provided
with improved instruments of mensuration,
to furnish accounts of all cultivable lands
within the empire. Second, the land was
divided into three classes, according to its
fertility; the amount of each sort of produce
that a begahj would yield was ascertained,
the average of the three was assumed as the
produce of a begah, and one-third of that
produce formed the government demand.
But any cultivator who thought the amount
claimed too high might insist on an actual
• This title was subsequently changed to suhah-
dar, and an additional financial officer introduced,
named the deican, who was subordinate to the su-
bahdar, but appointed by the king.
t The general tone of the instructions given to these
functionaries appears as just and benevolent as could
well be expected under a despotism ; the question
is, how far they were carried out in the right spirit.
There are, however, some enactments which reflect
little credit on th« law-giver, such as the following :
" Let him (the cutwal) see that butchers, those who
wash dead bodies, and others who perform unclean
offices, have their dwelling separate from other men,
who should avoid the society of such stony-hearted,
dark-minded wretches. M'hosoever drinketh out of
the same cup with an executioner, let one of his hands
be cut off; or if he eateth out of his kettle, deprive
him of one of his fingers." — Gladwin's Ayeen Akbery.
X An Indian measure, much above half-an-acre.
§ The ancient rulers of Hindoostan, Abul Fazil
admits, claimed but one-sixth. — Vol. i., p. 278.
measurement and division of the crop.
Third, the produce was to be converted into
a money payment, taken on an average of
the preceding nineteen years; but, as in
the previous case, every husbandman was
allowed to pay in kind if he thought the
rate in specie fixed too high. All particu-
lars respecting the classification and revenue
of the land were annually recorded in the
village registers ; and as at the period of the
introduction of this system Akber abolished
a vast number of vexatious taxes and fees to
officers, the pressure on individuals is said
to have been lightened, though the profit to
the state was increased. It should, however,
be remembered that Akber claimed one-
third of the produce, and Sheer Shah had
professed to take but one-fourth. § The
farming of any branch of the revenue was not
allowed, and the collectors were instructed
to deal directly with individual cultivators,
and not rely implicitly on the headman and
accountant of the village.
The chief agent in these reforms was
Rajah Todar Mul, whose zealous observance
of the fasts and other requirements of the
Brahrainical religion, doubtless augmented
his influence among his own nation. Thus,
whether in military proceedings or civil
government, Akber always gladly availed
himself of the abilities of the Hindoos, of
whose character he unquestionably formed
a very high estimate, || and whose good will
(notwithstanding the aggression on which
his interference was grounded) he greatly
conciliated by three important edicts, which
involved concessions to human rights, of a
description rarely made by oriental despots, to
whose notions of government by the sword
all freedom is essentially opposed. In 1561,
ll Abul Fazil, who may be taken as a fair expo-
nent of the feelings of his royal master (in the for-
tieth year of whose reign he wrote), thus expresses
himself on this point : — " Summarily the Hindoos
are religious, affable, courteous to strangers, cheer-
ful, enamoured of knowledge, fond of inflicting
austerities upon themselves, lovers of justice, given
to retirement, able in business, grateful, admirers of
truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their deal-
ings. Their character shines brightest in adversity."
He adds his conviction, from frequent discourses
with learned Brahmins, that they " one and all be-
lieve in the unity of the Godhead; and although
they hold images in high veneration, yet they are by
no means idolaters," which latter assertion may be
doubted as applied to the lower and less-informed
professors of any religion which inculcates or suffers
the "high veneration" of images. Lastly, he says,
" they have no slaves among them," a remark to
wliich we may have occasion to revert in a subse-
quent section. — Ayeen Akbery, vol. ii., pp. 294-'5.
118 CAPITATION-TAX ON INFIDELS ABOLISHED BY AKBER.
a prohibition was issued against the making
slaves of persons captured in war; an infa-
mous practice, winch had gained such a
height that not only the innocent wives and
children of garrisons taken by storm were
sold into slavery, but even the peaceable
inhabitants of a hostile country were seized
for the same purpose. In 1563, the jezia or
capitation-tax on infidels was abolished ; and
about the same time all taxes on pilgrims
were removed, because, " although the tax
fell on a vain superstition, yet, as all modes
of worship were designed for one Great
Being, it was wrong to throw an obstacle
in the way of the devout, and to cut them
oflf from their mode of intercourse with their
Maker." {Akber Namah, MS. translation.)
The condition of the royal slaves* was
ameliorated by Akber ; but it does not ap-
pear that he made any attempt to restore
liberty even to those from whom it had been
ravished by the glaring injustice above de-
scribed. Nor would any effort of a purely
just and benevolent tendency have been
consistent with the character of one whose
ambition filled the mountain fortresses of
Hindoostan with captives,t and who scru-
pled not to form minarets of human heads, {
or give orders for the complete extermina-
tion of a flying foe.§
In the regulation of the army great
alterations were made : the troops, where-
ever it was practicable, were paid in cash
from the treasury, instead of by jaghires and
assignments on the revenue ; and the tricks
played at the musters by means of servants
• The king (says Abul Fazil) disliking the word
slave, desired that of chelah (signifying one who re-
lies upon another) to be applied in its place. " Of
these unfortunate men there are several kinds : 1st.
Those who are considered as common slaves, being
infidels taken in battle ; and they are bought and
sold. 2nd. Those who of themselves submit to bon-
dage. 3rd. The children born of slaves. 4th. A
thief who becomes the slave of the owner of the
stolen goods. 5th. He who is sold for the price of
blood. The daily pay of a chelah is from one dam
to one rupee ; they are formed into divisions, and
committed to the care of skilful persons, to be
instructed in various arts and occupations." — Glad-
win's Ayeen Akbery, vol. i., p. 209.
t Among the prisoners who perished by violence
in the fort of Gwalior, was the only son of the un-
happy Kamran. The reason does not appear; but the
execution is stated by Price, on the authority of Abul
Fazil, as commanded by Akber some time after the
death of Kamran ; and Ferishta (also apparently
quoting the Akhernameh) says that Behram K-han
•was accused of intending to intrigue with the un-
fortunate prince J a very unlikely supposition, con-
sidering the enmity which he had ever displayed to-
wards his father. — Dow'a Hindoostan, vol. ii., p. 324.
and camp-followers, mounted for the day on
borrowed horses, prevented, by written de-
scriptions of every man's person, and the
marking of each horse. But the organiza-
tion of the army was never very complete.
The king named the munsubdars\\ or officers,
as he thought fit, commanders of from 10
to 10,000 men; hut these numbers, in all
but the lowest classes, were merely nominal,
and only served to fix the rank and pay of
the holders, whose actual force, often not a
tenth of their figure on paper, when mustered,
was paid from the treasury. Each munsub-
dar was obliged to keep half as many infan-
try as horsemen ; and of the infantry, one-
fourth were required to be matchlockmen,
the rest might be archers. There were also
a distinct body of horsemen, called ahdis
(single men), whose pay depended upon
their merits, but was always much higher
than that of the ordinary cavalry. Into every
branch of the imperial arrangements, domes-
tic as well as public, the most careful me-
thod was introduced — the mint, treasury,
and armoury — the harem, with its 5,000T[ in-
habitants— the kitchens,** baths, perfume
offices, fruiteries, and flower-gardens, alike
manifested the order-loving mind of their
ruler. The department which he appears to
have superintended with especial pleasure,
was that comprising the various descriptions of
animals, whether belonging to the class pecu-
liarly adapted for the use and benefit of
man, or to that of the savage beasts who
played a leading part in the barbarous fights
and shows which formed the chief popular
J Bird's Gujarat, p. 338.
§ " What with the examples made during the
reign of my father," writes Jehangeer, " and subse-
quently during my own, there is scarcely a provincs
in the empire in which, either in battle, or by the
sword of the executioner, .500,000 or 600,000 human
beings have not fallen victims to [what he terms]
their fatal disposition to discontent and turbulence."
— (p. 128.) Allowing the narrator to have had, as
was doubtless the case, the larger share in this
wholesale destruction, and supposing the numbers to
be overstated, there yet remains ample evidence to
indicate a terrible waste of human life on the part of
both monarchs.
II None but the king's sons were munsubdars of
more than 5,000 ; and this latter class, according to
the Ayeen Akbery, comprised only thirty persons.
^ Each of whom had an apartment and a monthly
stipend, " equal to her merit," of from two to 1,610
rupees, that is, from four shillings to £161.
** The emperor took but one meal a-day, for
which there being no fixed time, the cooks were
ordered to keep 100 dishes always in readiness to
set on table at an hour's notice. " What is required
for the harem," adds Abul Fazil with sly sarcasm,
" is going forward from morning till night"
WEALTH OP AKBER AND OTHER GREAT MOGULS.
119
diversions of the age. The elejjhants,* dro-
medaries, and camels; horses and mules;
oxen, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, and tame deer;
lions, tigers, and panthers; hunting-leopards,
hounds, and hawks; — received as much at-
tention as if their royal master had been a
veterinary surgeon : while, in the matter of
tame partridges and pigeons, no schoolboy
could have been a greater adept than the
mighty monarch, Akber Padshah.f
The town of Futtehpoor Sikri, near Agra,
built and fortified by Akber, although now
deserted, presents ample evidence of having
been a place, both iu magnificence and
architectural beauty, adapted for the abode
of one of the wealthiest sovereigns the world
ever knew. Respecting the amount of the
treasures seized from Moslem and Hindoo
palaces and temples, we have no reliable in-
formation.! Jehangeer asserts, that of the
paraphernalia and requisites for grandeur,
accumulated by Akber, "whether in trea-
sure or splendid furniture of any description,
the invincible Timur, who subdued the
world, and from whom my father was eighth
in descent, did not possess one-tenth." He
adds, that Akber, desirous to ascertain the
contents of the treasury at Agra, had 400
pairs of scales kept at work, day and night,
weighing gold and jewels only. At the ex-
piration oi five montlis the work was still far
from being concluded; the emperor, from
some cause or other, not choosing to have it
* According to Abul Fazil, Akber had between
5,000 and 6,000 elephants, of whom 101 were kept
for his own riding. He delighted in the exerci.se ;
and, even when in their most excited state, would
place his foot on the tusk of one of these enormous
creatures, and mount in an instant ; or spring upon
its back, from a wall, as it rushed furiously past.
A fine elephant cost a lac of rupees (£10,000), had
five men and a boy allotted for its service, and a
stated daily allowance of rice, sugar, milk, ghee, &c.,
besides 300 sugar-canes per diem, during the season.
Every ten elephants were superintended by an offi-
cer, whose duty it was to report daily to the emperor
their exact condition — whether they ate less food
than usual, or were in any way indisposed.
t On a journey or march, the court was never
accompanied by less than 20,000 pigeons, with hear-
ers carrying their houses. Of the quality of these
birds, Abul Fazil remarks, his majesty had discovered
" infallible criterions," such as twisting their feet,
slitting their eyelids, or opening their nostrils.
X In Mandelsloe's travels (Harris's Voyages, vol. iii.,
p. 762), an inventory is given of the treasure in
jewels, bullion, coin, and other property belonging
to Akber at the time of his death, which that tra-
veller states to have been furnished him by " very
knowing and worthy persons," in the reign of Shah
Jehan, whom he describes as possessing " eight large
vaults filled with gold, silver, and precious stones,
the value of which is inestimable." The items are
continued, had the treasures safely secured,
and was content to be the master of " un-
told gold." In this astounding statement
there would seem to be either some great
mistake on the part of the copyist,§ or gross
exaggeration on that of the royal autobio-
grapher. The latter is probably in fault;
for although he frequently criminates him-
self by confessing the commission of crimes
which other writers would scarcely have
ventured to attribute to him (the murder of
Abul Fazil, for instance), yet his credulity
and tendency to " high colouring," render
much sifting necessary before receiving his
assertions, and greatly enhance the value
of corroborative evidence. European tra-
vellers go far to establish the probability of
otherwise incredible statements regarding
the enormous wealth of the Great Moguls,
by their descriptions of the magnificence of
the court, and also of the steady influx of
gold and silver still annually received in
return for silk, cotton, spices, and various
products, for which coin or bullion was the
chief exchange, other commodities or manu-
factures being taken only in comparatively
small quantities.
Reign of Jehangeer. — The bier of Akber
was carried through the palace-gates of
Agra by Selim and his three sons, Khosru,
Khoorum, and Parvaez, and borne thence
to its stately mausoleum II at Secundra (three
miles distant), by the princes and chief
interesting — in certain sorts of money coined by the
express order of Akber, in another description,
called Akber rupees, and in "payses [pice], sixty
whereof make a crown," — total value ^ 199,173,333
crowns, or about £50,000,000 sterling. In jewels,
30,026,026 crowns ; " statues of gold, of divers crea-
tures," 9,503,370 c. ; gold plate, dishes, cups, and
household-stuff, 5,866,895 c. ; porcelain and other
earthen vessels, 1,255,873 c. ; brocades — gold and
silver stuffs, silks and muslins, 7,654,989 c. ; tents,
hangings, and tapestries, 4,962,772 c. ; twenty-four
thousand manuscripts, richly bound, 3,231,865 c. ;
artillery and ammunition, 4,287,985 c ; small arms,
swords, bucklers, pikes, bows, arrows, &c., 3,777,752 c. j
saddles, bridles, and other gold and silver accoutre-
ments, 1,262,824 c; coverings for elephants and
horses, embroidered with gold, silver, and pearls,
2,500,000 c.; woollen cloths, 251,626 c.; brass and
copper utensils, 25,612 c; making a total (coin in-
cluded) of 274,113,793 c, or £68,628,448 sterling.
§ The Persian copy of Jehangeer's Memoirs, trans-
lated by Major Price, was unfortunately imperfect ;
that from which Mr. Gladwin has borrowed largely,
is considered less defective.
II This superb structure, begun by Akber, was
finished by his successor, who declared the total cost to
have been about £1,800,000. The amiable mother
of Akber, Hameida, afterwards termed Miriam Me-
kani, had been buried only two years before in Hu-
mayun's tomb at BelhL
120
ACCESSION OP THE EMPEROR JEHANGEER, a.d. 1605.
nobles. Owing to the exertions made by
the late sovereign on his death-bed to pre-
vent the threatened outbreak of domestic
rivalry, and to the successful negotiations
entered into with Rajah Maun Sing, and
other leading persons, Selim was proclaimed
emperor unopposed. "With undisguised de-
light he mounted the jewelled throne, on
which such enormous sums had been
lavished, and placed on his brows the twelve-
pointed crown.* The chief ameers were
summoned from the different provinces to
attend the gorgeous and prolonged cere-
monial; for forty days and nights the nukara,
or great state-drum, sounded triumphantly ;
odoriferous gums were kept burning in
censers of rare workmanship, and immense
candles of camphorated wax, in branches of
gold and silver, illumined the hours of
darkness.
Considering " universal conquest the pe-
culiar vocation of sovereign princes," the
new emperor, in the coinage struck upon
his accession, assumed the title of Jehan-
geer (conqueror of the world), and ex-
pressed a hope so to acquit himself as to
justify the assumption of this high-sounding
epithet. His early measuresf were of a more
pacific and benevolent tendency than might
have been expected either from this com-
mencement, or his general character. He
confirmed most of his father's old servants
in their offices; issued orders remitting
some vexatious duties which existed, not-
• The crown and throne, those favourite symbols
of power, with which eastern kings have ever de-
lighted to dazzle the eyes of their subjects, were of
extraordinary magnificence and beauty. The for-
mer— made by the order of Akber, in the fashion of
that worn by the Persian kings — had twelve points,
each surmounted by a diamond of the purest water,
while the central point terminated in a single pearl
of extraordinary size ; the whole (including many
valuable rubies) being estimated at a cost equivalent
to £2,070,000 sterling. The throne, so constructed
as to be easily taken to pieces and put together again,
was ascended by silver steps, on the top of which
four silver lions sujiported a canopy of pure gold,
the whole adorned with jewels, to an amount, which
Price translates, as equal to £30,000,000 sterling.
+ One of these, most creditable to Jehangeer, in-
volves a terrible revelation of existing evils. He
ordered the governor of Bengal to take decided mea-
sures for abolishing the infamous practice, long used
in Silhet and other dependencies of Bengal, of com-
pelling the people to sell their children, or else
emasculate and deliver them up to the governors of
those provinces in satisfaction for their rents, — by
which means some thousand eunuchs had been made
yearly. — Gladwin's Jehangeer, p. 104.
X Sir Thomas Roe was occasionally admitted to
the evening entertainments, when the Great Mogul,
eeated on a low throne, threw off all restraint, and,
withstanding the recent reformatory mea-
sures ; and desii'ing to give access to all
classes of people who might choose to ap-
peal to him personally, caused a gold chain
to be hung between a stone pillar near the
Jumna and the walls of the citadel of Agra,
communicating with a string of little bells
suspended in his private apartments; so that
the suitor, by following the chain, would be
enabled to announce his presence to the
emperor without any intermediary. For
this invention, Jehangeer takes great credit,
and also for the interdict placed by him on
the use of wine, and the regulations for
that of opium; but as his own habits of
nightly intoKication were notorious,^ the
severe punishment with which he visited all
other offenders against the laws of strict
temperance, gives little evidence of the
rigid justice so repeatedly put forward in
his autobiography,^ as his leading principle
of action. Among his first proceedings,
was the release of all prisoners throughout
the empire. " From the fortress of Gwalior
alone," he says, " there were set at liberty no
less than 7,000 individuals, some of whom '
had been in confinement for forty years.
Of the number discharged altogether on this
occasion, some conception may be formed,
when it is mentioned, that within the limits
of Hindoostan there are not less than 2,400
fortresses, of name and strength, exclusive
of those in the kingdom of Bengal, which
surpass all reckoning." — [Memoirs, p. 10.)
together with most of his companions, drank himself
into a state of maudlin intoxication. A courtier
once indiscreetly alluded, in public, to a debauch of
the previous night, upon which Jehangeer affected
surprise, inquired what other persons had shared in
this breach of the law, and ordered those named to
be so severely bastinadoed that one of them died.
In his Memoiri, he makes no secret of his habitual
excesses, but says his usual allowance once reached
twenty cups of spirits a-day, and that if he was a
single hour without his beverage, his hands began to
shake, and he was unable to sit at rest. After coming
to the throne, he took for some time but five cups
(little more than a quart), diluted with wine, and only
after night-fall. Of opium, his daily dose, at forty-
six years of age, was eight ruttees, orsixty-four grains.
§ This Autobiography resembles that of Timur iri
the manner in which the royal narrator boldly
alleges good motives for his worst deeds, and after
describing the torments and cruel deaths inflicted
by him on thousands of unhappy beings, dwells,
almost in the same page, on his own compassionate
and loving nature, giving, as examples, the letting
free of birds, deluded by the skilful murmuring of
the Cashmerians into captivity ; his regret for the
death, by drowning, of a little boy who used to guide
his elephant, and similar circumstances. In spite of
its defects, the book is both valuable and interest-
ing, as throwing much light on the customs and
HISTORY OP NOUR MAHAL, AFTERWARDS NOUR JEHAN. 121
Jehangeer was not long permitted to en-
joy in peace his vast inheritance.* The
partial reconciliation between him and
Prince Khosru was little more than a tem-
porary cessation of hostilities, marked by
distrust and tyranny on the one side — sul-
lenness and disaffection on the other. At
length, some four months after his accession,
the emperor was aroused at midnight with
the tidings that his son had fled to Delhi,
with a few attendants. A detachment was
immediately sent in pursuit, and Jehangeer
followed in the morning with all the force
he could collect ; but notwithstanding these
prompt measures, Khosru succeeded in as-
sembling upwards of 10,000 men (who sub-
sisted by plunder), and obtained possession
of Lahore. He was, however, defeated in
a contest with a detachment of the royal
troops ; taken prisoner in a boat, which ran
aground in the Hydaspes; and in less than
a month, the whole rebellion was com-
pletely quashed. When brought in chains
of gold into the presence of his father,
Khosru, in reply to the reproaches and
questions addressed to him, refused to
criminate his advisers or abettors, entreating
that his life might be deemed a suflBcient
penalty for the offences he had instigated.
Jehangeer, always ready to take advantage
of any plausible pretext for the exercise of
his barbarous and cruel disposition, spared
his son's life,t but wreaked an ample ven-
geance, by compelling him to witness the
agonies of his friends and adherents. Some
were sewn up in raw hides and exposed to
a burning sun, to die in lingering tortures
of several days' duration ; others flayed alive ;
while no less than 700 were impaled in a
line leading from the gate of Lahore, and
so long as any of these unfortunates con-
opinions of the age, and on the demonology, alche-
my, and various superstitions in which Jehangeer
was as firm a believer as his royal compeer, James I.,
of England, whom he resembled in another point,
namely, strong dislike to tobacco (then newly in-
troduced by the Portuguese), against which he also
issued a " counterblast," in the shape of a decree,
forbidding its use in Hindoostan, as Shah Abbas
had previously done throughout Persia.
• Besides the treasure accumulated by his father,
he received the property (amounting, in jewels alone,
to £4,500,000,) which l)anial had contrived to amass
in the Deccan, in great measure by open violence,
or, as Jehangeer mildly phrases it, by compelling
people to sell to him elephants and other property,
and sometimes omitting to pay for them. The 300
ladies of the prince's harem were likewise sent to the
emperor ; who, being somewhat puzzled how to dis-
pose of so large an addition to his family, gave them
to understand that tliey were, one and all, free to
tinued to breathe, the prince was brought
daily to the spot, in mock state, mounted
on an elephant and preceded by a mace-
bearer, who called out to him to receive the
salutations of his servants. Khosru passed
three days and nights without tasting food,
and long remained a prey to the deepest
melancholy. At the expiration of a year,
Jehangeer seemed disposed to lighten his
captivity by suffering his chains to be
struck off, but a conspiracy for his release
being subsequently detected (or invented by
the partisans of Prince Khoorum), he was
confined as closely as before.
In 1607, an army was despatched, under
Mohabet Khan (son of Sagurji, the recreant
brother of Pertap), against Umra, Rana of
Oudipoor, and another under the Khan Kha-
nan, into the Deccan ; but both were unsuc-
cessful, and the latter especially received re-
peated defeats from Malek Amber, who retook
Ahmednuggur; and uniting to his talents
for war no less ability for civil government,
introduced a new revenue system into the
Deccan, and obtained there equal celebrity
to that acquired by Rajah Todar Mul in
Hindoostan.
During these proceedings, Jehangeer was
privately occupied in the criminal intrigues
which resulted in his marriage with the
celebrated Nour Jehan. This clever, but un-
principled woman, was the daughter of a
Persian adventurer,^ who having succeeded
in gaining admittance to the service of
Akber, rose to a position of trust and
honour. His wife frequently visited the
royal harem with her young' daughter,
whose attractions speedily captivated the
heir-apparent. Akber being made aware of
what was passing, had Nour Jehan bestowed
in marriage on Sheer Afghan, a young
bestow themselves and their dowries on any of the
nobles who might desire them in marriage.
t There is a passage in the Memoirs which indi-
cates prettv clearly that Jehangeer would have felt
little scruple in following " the distinguished exam-
ple" given by "the house of Othman, who, for the
stability of their royal authority, of all their sons,
preserve but one, considering it expedient to destroy
all the rest."— (p. 6C.)
X Gheias was a man well born, but reduced to
poverty, and driven to seek subsistence by emigrating
with his wife and children to India. Directly after
reaching Candahar, Nour Jehan was born ; and, being
worn down with fatigue and want, the miserable
parents exposed the infant on a spot by which the
caravan was to pass. The expedient succeeded: a
rich merchant saw and took compassion on the child,
relieved the distress of its parents, and, perceiving
the father and eldest son to be ))ersons of education
and ability, procured for them suitable employment.
_.,
122
NOUR MAHAL MADE EMPRESS, a.d. 1611.
Persian, distinguished for his bravery, to
whom he gave a jaghire in Bengal, wliither
he proceeded, accompanied by his young
bride. But the matter did not end here ;
for Jehangeer, about a year after his ac-
cession, took occasion to intimate to Kootb-
po-deen, the viceroy of Bengal (his foster-
brother), liis desire to obtain possession of
the object of his- unhallowed passion. En-
deavours were made to sound Sheer Afghan
on the subject ; but the high-spirited chief,
at the first intiipation of the designs enter-
tained against his honour, threw up his com-
mand, and left off wearing arms, as a sign
that he was no longer in the king's service.
After this, repeated attempts were made to
assassinate him, until at length, at a com-
pulsory interview with Kootb-oo-deen, per-
ceiving himself entrapped, he resolved to
sell his life dearly — slew the viceroy and
several other officers, and at last fell him-
self, covered with wounds. Nour Jehan
was seized and sent to court, but, either
from some temporary aversion on her part
to the murderer of her husband, or (for the
tale is differently told) from some equally
short-lived compunction on his, she was
allowed to remain in the seraglio unnoticed
for above four years. The passion of the
emperor at length reviving, he made her his
wife; bestowed on her, by an imperial edict,
the title of empress ; and styled her first,
Nour Mahal {the light of the harem), and
afterwards Nour Jehan [the light of the
world.) Her influence became unbounded :
beginning by a feminine desire for splendid
jewels,* shfe soon manifested her capacity
for coveting and exercising arbitrary do-
minion, and evinced as much energy and
ambition, and as little principle as could be
• Jehangeer states that he assigned for her dowry
en amount equal to £7,200,000 sterling, " which
sum she requested as indisijensable for the purchase
of jewels, and I granted it without a murmur." —
^p. 271.) He also gave her a pearl necklace, com-
prising forty beads, each one of great worth. These
statements must, of course, be taken quantum valeai,
and are only cited to enable the reader to form some
idea of the numerous and costly jewels worn at the
period: the accumulation of which had been for ages
the favourite employment of the Hindoo princes,
from whom they had been plundered. In evidence of
the excessive desire for splendid jewels, may be no-
ticed the testimony of Sir Thomas Roe's chaplain —
that one of the courtiers purchased from a merchant a
large pear-shaped pearl, which he had brought with
him from England, for the sum of £1„200.
t The Rajpoots have been fortunate in having had
Tod for a chronicler ; but they still need a Walter
Scott to po|)ularize their deeds of love and war in
the eyes of those who care not to look on truth un-
mixed with fiction. Yet Rajpoot annals, even in the
paralleled in many (so called) "great men."
Honours never before enjoyed by the consort
of any Indian potentate were lavished upou
her, even to the conjunction of her name
on the coin with that of Jehangeer; her
father, Mirza Gheias, was made prime minis-
ter; her brother, Asuf Khan, placed iu
a high station ; and, on every affair in which
she took an interest, her will was law.
The legislative ability of Mirza Gheias
produced beneficial effects in public affairs ;
and his modest, yet manly bearing, con-
ciliated the nobility, -who soon learned to
appreciate the value of the control which he
exercised over the ill-regulated mind of the
emperor. Nour Jehan found employment
in superintending the construction of pub-
lic edifices and gardens; and by skilful
management, increased the magnificence of
the court and lessened the expenditure.
The mode of preparing the famous otto of
roses is generally attributed, in India, cither
to her or to her mother.
Soon after this marriage, the disturbances
in Bengal, which had prevailed throughout
the previous years of Jehangeer's reign,
were brought to a close a.d. 1612. Malek
Amber's Mahratta-like mode of warfare
proved increasingly successful in the Deccan,
and the imperial forces were decidedly
worsted; but in Mewar, Prince Khoorum,
at the head of 20,000 men, obtained the
submission of liana Urara Sing, who, after
sustaining seventeen pitched battles, was at
length compelled to bow to the Moguls " the
crimson banner" which, for more than 800
years, had waved in proud independence
over the heads of the Gehlotes. Prince
Khoorum (the son of a Rajpootni) evinced
affectionate respect towards his brave foe ;t
sober page of the historian, are fraught with romance
and chivalry. Take one instance. During the war
with Jehangeer, an opportunity occurred to recover
some frontier lands in the plains, and Umra, with all
his chiefs, assembled for the purpose. Two rival
clans (whose feuds largely contributed to the ruin of
Mewar) disputed the privilege of forming the herole
or vanguard, and the sword would have decided the
question but for the tact of the prince, who exclaimed,
" The herole to the clan that first enters Ontala."
Ontala was a frontier fortress, about eighteen miles
east of Oudipoor, situated on rising ground, with a
stream flowing beneath its massy walls, round towers
at intervals, and but one gate. Some hours before
day-break the clans moved off to the attack ; the Suk-
tawuts arrived first, and made directly for the gate-
way; the Chondawuts, less skilled in topography,
traversed a swamp, which retarded them ; but they
brought ladders, and, on arriving, their chief at once
commenced the escalade. A ball struck him back
lifeless among his vassals. Meanwhile, the Sukta-
wuts were also checked; for the elephant on which
SUBJUGATION OP OUDIPOOR, a.d. 1614..— EMBASSY OF ROE. 133
and Jehaiigeer himself, delighted at having
obtained, by means of the valour of his
favourite son, the homage of a prince whose
ancestors, intrenched in their mountain
strongholds, "had never beheld a king of
Hindoostan, or made submission to any
one," sent to the rana a friendly firman,
with the " impress of his five fingers," and
desired Khoorum, " by any means by which
it could be brought about, to treat this il-
lustrious one according to his own heart's
wishes."* The personal attendance of Umra
at the Mogul court was excused, and a simi-
lar exemption extended to the future reign-
ing sovereigns of Mewar, the heir-apparent
being received as their representative. Prince
Kurrun, the son and successor of Umra, was
most honourably welcomed by Jehangeer,
who placed him on his right hand, above
every other noble, and declared that '-'his
countenance carried the impression of his
illustrious extraction."t Nour Jehan like-
wise loaded him with gifts and dignities;
but the prince, feeling liis newly-forged
chains none the lighter for the flowers with
which they were wreathed, still remained
sad and humiliated, though courteous in his
bearing. Umra was yet further from being
reconciled to become a fief-holder of the em-
pire. To receive the imperial firman outside
his capital was the only concession demanded
from him, in return for which Khoorum
offered to withdraw every Moslem from
Mewar. But he could not be brought to
submit to the humiliation ; therefore, assem-
bling the chiefs, he made the teeka (the
their leader rode, and on whose strength he depended
to force the gate, was deterred from approaching by
its projecting spikes. His men were falling thick
about him, when a shout from the rival clan in-
spired a desperate resolve. Springing to the ground,
he covered the spikes with his own body, and bade
the driver, on pain of instant death, propel the ele-
phant against him. The gates gave way, and over
the dead body of their chief the clan rushed on to
the combat, and, fighting with resistless energy,
slaughtered the Moguls, and planted on the castle the
standard of Mewar. But the herole was not for themj
for the next in rank and kin, and heir to the Chonda-
■wut leader, had caught the lifeless body as it fell, andj
true to his title (the mad chief of Deogurh), wrapped
it in his scarf, slung it on his back, and, scaling the
wall, cleared the way with his lance, until he was
able to fling his burden over the parapet, shouting —
" the herole to the Chondawuts ! we are first in !
• Colonel Tod mentions having seen the identical
firman in the rana of Oudipoor's archives. The
hand being immersed in a compost of sandal-wood,
is applied to the paper, to which the impression of
the palm and five fingers is thus clearly, and even
lastingly affixed. — liajast'han, vol. i., p. 362.
t Hajatthan, vol. i., p. 364. Tod had probably a
ancient symbol of soveS-eignty) on his son's
forehead, and forthwith quitted the capital,
and secluded himself in a neighbouring
palace, on the borders of a lake. The stately
form of Umra, " the tallest and strongest of
the princes of Mewar," never again crossed
the threshold until it was borne, as dust and
ashes, to be deposited in the sepulchre of
his fathers ; but Prince Khoorum visited
him, as a friend, in his retirement, and, in
after years, had abundant reason to rejoice
in the sympathy which he had manifested
towards the Rajpoot princes of Oudipoor.
In 1615, Sir Thomas Roe arrived at court,
then held at Ajmeer, as ambassador from
James I. His journey from Surat, by Boor-
hanpoor and Chittore, lay through the Dec-
can, where war was raging ; and the rana's
country, where it had just ceased; yet he
met with no obstruction or cause for alarm,
except from mountaineers, who took advan-
tage of the disturbed state of the times to
molest trcavellers. The emperor received
him favourably, notwithstanding the oppo-
sition and intrigues of the Portuguese Jesuits^
and the contrast afforded by the unpretend-
ing character of liis presents^ and retinue
to the magnificent ceremonial which he
daily witnessed, and in which he was per-
mitted to take part without performing the
humiliating prostration which Jehangeer,
like Akber, demanded from those who ap-
proached him, despite the belief of all zea*
lous Mohammedans, that such homage could
be fitly offered to the Deity alone.
The greatest displays took place on the
more perfect copy of Jehangeer's Memoirs than that
translated by Price, as he cites passages not to be
found in the English version.
\ The most acceptable of these seems to have been
a coach, a mode of conveyance then newly used in
England. Jehangeer had it taken to pieces by na-
tive workmen, who, having built another with more
costly materials, reconstructed the pattern-one, sub-
stituting double-gilt silver nails for the originals of
brass, and a lining of silver brocade instead of
Chinese velvet. Some pictures, likewi.se, proved
suitable gifts ; and one of them was so accurately
copied by native artists, that Roe being shown the
original and five copies by candle-light, could not,
without some difficulty, distinguish that which he
had brought from England. Once, being much
pressed for some offering wherewith to gratify Jehan-
geer's insatiable covetousness, he presented to him a
book of maps {Mercator's Cosmography), with which
the emperor was at first excessively delighted ; but,
on examination, finding the independent kingdoms
there delineated somewhat too numerous to accord
with his grandiloquent title, he returned the -olume,
saying that he should not like to deprive the ambas-
sador of so groat a treasure. — A Voyage to East
India, by Sir Thomas Roe'.s Chaplain. London, 1666.
124 WAR WITH MALEK AMBER. -DEATH OF KHOSRU, 1621.
emperor's birth-day, when there was a gene-
ral fair and many processions and ceremo-
nies, among which the most striking was
the weighing of the royal person twelve
times, in golden scales, against gold, silver,
perfumes, and other substances, which were
afterwards distributed among the spectators.
The festivities lasted several days, during
which time the king's usual place was in a
sumptuous tent, shaded by rich awnings,
while the ground, for the space of at least
two acres, was spread with silken carpets
and hangings, embroidered with gold, pearl,
and precious stones. The nobility had simi-
lar pavilions, where they received visits from
each other, and sometimes from the sove-
reign. But beneath the veil of splendour
and outward decorum, all was hollow and
unsound. The administration of the coun-
try was rapidly declining; the governments
were farmed, and the governors exacting
and tyrannical ; though, occasionally, an ap-
peal from some injured person brought upon
the oppressor the vengeance of the empe-
ror, from which neither ability nor station
could purchase immunity. The highest offi-
cials were open to corruption; and Roe,
finding the treaty he was sent to negotiate
remained unaccomplished after two years'
tarry, deemed it expedient to bribe Asuf
Khan with a valuable pearl, after which he
soon succeeded in procuring for the English
a partial liberty of trade; and then joy-
fully took his leave. The military spirit of
the Moslems had already evaporated in an
atmosphere of sloth and sensuality ; and the
Rajpoots, Patans, and Beloochees were
spoken of by cotemporary writers (Terry,
Hawkins, Roe) as the only brave soldiers to
be found. The language of the court was
Persian, but all classes spoke Hindoostani.
In the royal family, the succession was a
matter of jealous discussion : Khosru was
considered to have forfeited his prior claim
by rebellion ; and Parvaez, the next in age,
• Jehangeer established himself at Ajmeer, in
1613, in readiness to support his son in liis opera-
tions against the Rana of Oudipoor, and had held
hie court there ever since. He now jjrocecded to
take up his residence at Mandu, in Malwa, for the
similar reason of being nearer |to the seat of war.
Sir Thomas Roe was permitted to follow in the suite
of the court. He describes the royal progress as
resembling a triumphal procession on a scale of
extreme magnificence. Jehangeer himself, before
entering his coach, showed himself to the people,
literally laden with jewels — from his rich turban,
with it« plume of 'heron feathers, whence " on one
side hung a rubie unset, as bigge as a walnut, on
♦ie other side a diamond as great, in the middle an
being far inferior in ability to his younger
brother, Khoorum, would, it was expected,
be set aside to make way for the latter
prince, who had married a niece of Nour
Jehan, and was supported in his pretensions
by her all-powerful influence.
In 1616, a great expedition was sent to
the Deccan, of which the command was
given to Khoorum, together with the title
by which he was thenceforth known, of
Shah Jehan (king of the world) .* He suc-
ceeded in regaining Ahmednuggur and
other places, captured by Malek Amber,
who was compelled to make submission on
the part of his nominal sovereign, Nizam
Shah; but, in 1621, renewed the war. Shah
Jehan was again dispatched to the Deccan ;
but, from some rising distrust, refused to
mai'ch unless his unhappy brother. Prince
Khosru (who, by the earnest mediation of
Parvaez, had had his chains struck off, and
some measure of liberty allowed him) were
entrusted to his custody. This desire was
complied with, and Khoorum proceeded to
attack Malek Amber, whom he at length
brought to risk a general action. The
result was very favourable to the Moguls,
who granted peace on condition of a further
cession of land and a considerable sum of
money. Soon after this success, Jehangeer
was prostrated by a dangerous attack of
asthma. At this critical juncture. Prince
Khosru died suddenly, and his rival brother,
to whose charge he had been entrusted,
was accused of having incited his assassina-
tion. However caused, it is remarkable
that this event, which seemed especially cal-
culated to strengthen the pretensions of
Shah Jehan to the succession, proved to be
only the commencement of a long series of
dangers and disasters. The emperor par-
tially recovered, and ever after manifested
distrust and aversion to his previously fa-
vourite child. He evidently shared the
suspicions generally entertained regarding
emerald like a heart, much bigger," down to his " em-
broidered buskins with pearle, the toes sharpe and
turning up." Immediately after the king rode Nour
Jehan, also in an English carriage. The Leskar, or
imperial camp, was admirably arranged, and occu-
pied a circumference of at least twenty miles ; looking
down from it from a height, it resembled a beautiful
city of many-coloured tents ; that of the emperor in
the centre, with its gilded globes and pinnacles,
forming a sort of castle, from whence diverged nu-
merous streets, laid out without the least disorder,
since every one, whether noble or shop-keeper, knew
the precise spot on which he must place himself by
its distance from, and situation with regard to, the
royal paviliou. — (Murray's Discoveries, voi. ii. p. 163.)
SHAH JEHAN REBELS, 1633.— MOHABET SEIZES EMPEROR, 1626. 125
Khosru's fate ; besides which, the empress !
having recently affianced her daughter * by
Sheer Afghan, to Prince S.hehriar (Jehan-
gecr's youngest son), attached herself to
his interests, foreseeing that, in the event
of his accession to the throne, she might
continue to exercise a degree of power,
which, under the sway of his more able and
determined brother, was not to be expected.
With a view of removing Shah Jehan
from the scene of his power and triumphs,
he was directed to attempt the recovery of
Candahar from the Persians, by whom it
had been recently seized. The prince, per-
ceiving the object of this command, delayed
compliance on one pretext or another, until
discussions arose, which issued in his break-
ing out into open rebellion, a.d. 1623. The
crisis was fraught with danger to all par-
ties. The father of Nour Jehan, on whom
both she and the emperor had implicitly
relied, was dead; Asuf Khan, though he
seemed to move like a puppet according
to her will, naturally leant towards his
son-in-law ; Parvaez, though a brave sol-
dier, needed as a general an able coun-
sellor by his side ; nor does Shehriar seem
to have been calculated to take the lead in
this fierce and prolonged feud.f At length
Nour Jehan cast her eyes on Mohabet Khan,
the most rising general of the time, but,
heretofore, the especial opponent of her
brother, Asuf Khan. To him, jointly with
Parvaez, was entrusted the conduct of hos-
tilities against Shah Jehan, who retreated
to Boorhanpoor, but was driven from thence
to Bengal, of which province, together vrith
Behar, he gained possession, but was expelled,
and obliged to seek refuge in the Deccan,
where he was welcomed and supported by
his former foe, Malek Amber. At the ex-
piration of two years he proffered his sub-
mission, and surrendered to Jehangeer the
forts of Rohtas in Behar, and Aseerghur in
the Deccan, together with his two sons
(Dara and Aurungzebe), but he himself
took refuge with the Rajpoots of Mcwar.J
Scarcely was this storm allayed, before a
still more alarming one burst over the head
of the emperor, provoked by his violent
temper, and also by the domineering and
suspicious conduct of Nour Jehan. The
growing popularity of Mohabet Khan had,
* DclIaValle states, that Nour Jehan had previously
j desired to marry lior daughter to Kliosru, offering, on
that condition, to obtain his release; but he steadily
refused, from strong affection to the wife he had
already married, and who, after \ainly urging him to
comply with the proffered terms, continued as here-
S
it would appear, excited jealousy, and he
was summoned to answer, in person, various
charges of oppression and embezzlement
adduced against him during the time of his
occupation of Bengal. He set out for court,
attended by a body of 5,000 Rajpoots,
whom he had contrived to attach to his
service. Before his arrival, Jehangeer,
learning that he had ventured to betroth
his daughter without the customary form of
asking the royal sanction, sent for the bride-
groom, a young nobleman named Berkhor-
dar, caused him to be stripped naked, and
beaten with thorns in his own presence ;
seized on the dowry he had received from
Mohabet, and sequestrated all his other
property. On approaching the camp, Mo-
habet Avas informed of what occurred, and
also that the emperor would not see him;
upon which he resolved, while the means
remained at his command, to make a bold
stroke for life and liberty. Jehangeer was
at this time preparing to cross the Hydaspes,
by a bridge of boats, on his way to Cabool ;
the troops had passed, and he intended to
follow at leisure, when Mohabet, by a sudden
attack, just before day-break, gained posses-
sion of the bridge, and surprised the royal
tent, where the emperor, scarcely recovered
from the effects of the last night's debauch,
was awakened by the rush of armed men.
Mohabet pretended to have been driven to
this extremity by the enemies who had
poisoned the mind of his master against
him, and Jehangeer, after the first burst of
rage, thought it best to conciliate his captor
by affecting to believe this statement, and
agreed to accompany him, in public, under
the guardianship of a body of Rajpoots.
Nour Jehan, on learning that the emperor
had been carried to the tents of Mohabet
Khan, put on a disguise, and succeeded in
reaching the royal camp on the opposite
side of the river, where she set on foot im-
mediate preparations for a forcible rescue.
Jehangeer, afraid of what might happen to
himself in the confusion, sent a messenger
with his signet, to desire that no attack
might be made ; but she treated the mes-
sage as a trick of Mohabet Khan's, and, at
the head of the ai'niy, began to ford the
river, the bridge having been, in the interim,
burned by the Rajpoots. Rockets, balls,
tofore the patient companion of his long and. sad
captivity. — (London trmisluiion of liidH, ]). 30.)
t According to Gladwin, this war " so deluged the
empire with blood, that there was hardly a family
but shared in the calamity.'" — Hin(h<>slan,yo\.i. p. 45,
X Shah Jehan was warmly befriended in Oudi-
126 NOUR JEHAN RESTORES THE EMPEROR TO LIBERTY, 1627.
and arrows were discharged upon the troops,
as they strove to make good their passage
over a dangerous shoal, full of pools, with
deep water on either side; and, on setting
foot on the beach, they were fiercely opposed
by the Rajpoots, who drove them back into
the water, sword in hand. The ford became
choked with horses and elephants, and a
frightful sacrifice of life ensued. The em-
press* was among those who succeeded in
effecting a landing, and at once became the
special object of attack. The elephant on
which she rode was speedily surrounded,
the guards cut to pieces, and, among the
bails and arrows which fell thick round her
howdah, one wounded the infant daughter
of Shehriar, who was seated in her lap, and
another killed her driver. The elephant
having received a severe cut on the proboscis,
dashed into the river, and was carried along
by the current ; but, after several plunges,
swam out, and safely reached the shore,
where Nour Jchan was quickly surrounded
by her attendants, who found her engaged
in extracting the arrow, and binding up the
wound of the terrified infant. The repulse
was complete ; for, although a portion of
the royalists, under an officer named Fcdai
Khan, had, during the confusion of the
battle, entered the enemy's camp at an
unsuspected point, and penetrated so far
that their balls and arrows fell within the
tent where Jehangeer was seated, they were
compelled to retire by the general defeat,
and Fedai Khan, having lost most of his
men, and being himself wounded, imme-
diately took refuge in the neighbouring
fort of Rohtas, of which he was governor.
Nour Jehan, perceiving the hopelessness
of attempting the forcible rescue of her
husband, determined to join him in his
captivity ; and her brother, with other
leaders, were eventually obliged to surrender
themselves to Mohabet Khan, who appeared
to be completely triumphant, but whose
position, nevertheless, demanded great cir-
cumspection. He had from the first affected
to treat Jehangeer with much ceremonious
deference ; and the captive monarch, tutored
by Nour Jehan, pretended to be completely
reconciled to his position, and glad to be
relieved from the thraldom of Asuf Khan.
He even carried his duplicity so far as to
poor, where a sumptuous edifice was raised for his
use, adorned with a lofty dome crowned with a cre-
scent; the interior richly decorated with mosaic in
onyx, cornelian, jaspjr and agates, rich Turlccy car-
pets, &c. ; and that nothing of state might be want-
ing to the royal refugee, a throne was sculptured
warn Mohabet of the ambition and discon-
tent of the empress, and acted his part so
cleverly, as completely to deceive his gaoler.
Meanwhile the army advanced to Cabool,
and the Afghans in the neighbourhood
showed every disposition to take part with
the emperor, while the dissensions among
the troops gave full employment to their
general. Nour Jehan was too able an intri-
guante not to take advantage of such favour-
able circumstances. She employed agents
to enlist fit men in scattered points at a
distance, whence some were to straggle into
the camp, as if in quest of service ; while
others were to remain at their positions,
and await further orders. Jehangeer next
suggested a muster of the troops of all the
jaghiredars, of whom the empress formed
an important member, holding large estates,
and having been made a muusubdar of
30,000; commanders of that rank being,
it will be remembered, only expected or
even suffered to maintain a much smaller
number. When summoned to produce her
contingent, she expressed indignation at
being placed on the level of an ordinary
subject; but, on pretence of desiring to
produce a respectable muster, increased her
previous force, by gradually receiving the
recruits from the country. Mohabet Khan
began to suspect some plot, but suffered
himself to be persuaded by Jehangeer to
avoid personal risk, by forbearing to accom-
pany him to the muster of Nour Jehan's
contingent. The emperor advanced alone
to the review, and had no sooner got to
the centre of the line, than the troops closed
in on him, cut off the Rajpoot horse, by
whom he was guarded, and, being speedily
joined by their confederates, placed his
person beyond the reach of recapture. Mo-
habet Khan, perceiving himself completeb;
duped, withdrew to a distance with his
troops, and, after some attempts at negotia-
tion, came to an open rupture, and entered
into alliance with Shah Jehan. This prince
had endeavoured to take advantage of his fa-
ther's captivity to renew hostilities, by march-
ing from the Deccan to Ajmeer at the head of
little more than 1,000 men; but the death of
his chief adherent, Rajah Kishen Sing, de-
prived him of at least half his followers, and
he was compelled to fly across the desert to
from a single block of serpentine, supported by
quadriform female caryatides : in the court a little
cliapel was erected to the Moslem-Saint, Madar.
* Nour Jchan was a true Amazon : Jehangeer re-
cords with much pride her having, on a hunting party,
killed four tigers with a matchlock from her elephant.
CHARACTER AND DEATH OP JEHANGEER, a.d. 1627.
127
Sinde. Thence he purposed proceeding to
Persia, but, beinsj delayed by sickness, re-
mained there until affairs took a more pro-
mising turn. Parvaez died at Boorhanpoor,
according to the general account, of epilepsy,
brought on by excessive drinking, though
Tod asserts him to have been slain at the
instigation of Shah Jehan, who proceeded
to the Deccan, where he was joined by
Mohabet Khan.
Jehangeer, shortly after his restoration
to liberty, quitted Cabool for his residence at
Lahore, and from thence set off on his
annual visit to " the blooming saffron
meads" of Cashmere. But the autumn
was unusually cold, and the clear pure air
of the lovely valley proved too keen for the
broken constitution of the emperor. A
severe attack of asthma came on, and an
attempt was made to carry him back to the
warmer climate of Lahore. The motion and
passage of the mountains increased the com-
plaint, and before a third of the journey
was accomplished he expired, in the sixty-
sixth year of his age. ,
His character was full of contradictions.
Though cruel and rapacious, he yet, in many
ways, evinced a sort of paternal interest in
the welfare of his subjects, and a desire for
the impartial administration of justice be-
tween rich and poor — Moslem and Hindoo.
He occasionally quitted the palace, and went
abroad on nocturnal expeditions, mingling
freely with the lower classes, without any
fear of assassination, although his person,
from his daily appearance in public, must
have been well known. His easy and
familiar manners rendered him popular,
notwithstanding the frightful torments in-
flicted on real or alleged criminals by his
express orders. Many of his proceedings
favour the idea that he had inherited from
his mother a taint of madness, which his
excesses in wine and opium sometimes
brought into action. He was probably as
complete a deist as his father, but super-
stition had laid much heavier chains on his
weak and wayward mind ; and some of the
tales gravely recorded by him might find
a fit place in the Arabian Nights. Un-
fortunately, his autobiography ceases about
the middle of his reign. Long before its
conclusion, the whole tone and spirit changes;
and instead of exulting over his immense
possessions, the royal writer dwells bitterly
on the unceasing anxiety attendant on
sovereign power, declaring that the jewels
formerly coveted had become worthless in
his sight, and that satiety had utterly ex-
tinguished the delight he had once taken
in contemplating the graces of youth and
beauty. Like a far wiser monarch — even
Solomon — he had discovered that all was
vanity and vexation of spirit, but knew not,
or cared not to search out the antidote.
With Jehangeer all the schemes of Nour
Jehan perished. On her attempting to as-
sert the claims of the absent Shehriar, her
own brother, probably weary of the tyranny
to which he had been so long subjected,
placed her under restraint; but, on being
released, she was treated with respect, and
allowed a yearly stipend of a quarter of a
million sterling. Throughout her widow-
hood she lived very quietly; abstained from
all entertainments; wore no colour but white;
and at her death, in 1646, was buried in a
tomb she had herself erected, close to that
of the emperor, at Lahore.
Reign of Shah Jehan. — On the death of
Jehangeer, Asuf Khan immediately sent a
messenger to fetch his son-in-law, whose
cause he had resolved to support, although
(according to Dow), by the will of the late
emperor, the throne had been expressly be-
queathed to Shehriar. Pending the arrival
of Shah Jehan, the vizier, desirous to sanc-
tion his own proceedings by the semblance
of legal authority, released Prince Dawir,
the son of Khosru, from prison, and pro-
claimed him king. Shehriar, who had been
at Lahore some weeks, on learning his
father's death, seized the royal treasure,
took command of the troops — whose favour
he gained by extravagant largesses — and
set free the two sons of Prince Danial from
the species of honourable captivity in which
they had been detained by Jehangeer ever
since their father's death, in accordance
with the cruel policy of oriental despotism.
The confederate princes were defeated and
captured by Asuf Khan. Meanwhile, the
Rajpoot allies of Shah Jehan, delighted at
the prospect of his rising fortunes, sent an
escort to Surat to accompany him thence to
Oudipoor, and there, within the hospitable
walls which had sheltered him in exile, the
now triumphant prince was first formally
hailed Emperor of Hindoostan. Rana Kur-
run did not live to witness the joyful re-
turn of the wanderer ; he had died shortly
before Jehangeer: his brother. Rajah Bheem,
with many noble chiefs, had fallen in the
cause ; but their representative, Juggut Sing,
received from the new emperor, on his de-
parture, a ruby of inestimable value, _ the
128 ACCESSION OF SHAH JEHAN— DOOM OP HIS KINDRED, a.d. 1628.
restoration of five alienated provinces, and
a most welcome permission to reconstruct
the fortifications of Chittore. Other emotions
besides those of gratitude were, however, at
work within the breast of Shah Jehan. Re-
solved, by any means, to grasp the imperial
sceptre, he sent to Asuf Khan a mandate for
the execution of the puppet he had placed
upon the throne, also of his brother Sheh-
riar, the two sons of Danial, and another
prince, the son of Khosru. The tyrannical
command was obeyed.* Shah Jehan was
proclaimed king at Agra, January, 1628,
and not a male of the house of Timur re-
mained to cause him present or future
anxiety, save only his four sons, whose strife
and rebellion were destined, by retributive
justice, to scourge his crimes, to snatch the
sceptre from his feeble hands, and immure
liim for long years the captive of a son,
who, like himself, scrupled not to wade to a
throne through the blood of near kindred.
But this is anticipating events ; for Shah
Jehan's reign lasted thirty years before its
miserable termination. His first acts were
evidently designed to obliterate from the
public mind, and probably from his own,
the means by which he had endeavoured to
consolidate his authority. Following, to a
limited extent, the example of his father, he
opened the doors of the fortress of Gwalior
to all state-prisoners, some of whom had
been in confinement during the whole of the
preceding reign — a measure which did more
to procure him popularity than the magnifi-
cence of his festivals or the costly structures
which he delighted in erecting. From these
pursuits he was soon diverted by local dis-
turbances. The Uzbeks invaded Cabool, but
were driven out by Mohabet Khan. The
Mogul arms were next directed against
Narsing Deo, of Bundelcund (the destroyer
of Abul Fazil), and the rajah, after long resis-
tance, was eventually brought to submission.
As Sliah Jehan considered it the bounden
duty of every great prince to leave to his
posterity a larger territorial sway than that
M'hich he had himself inherited,t it is not
• According to Dow, all the five princes were
murdered; but Elphinstone (on the authority of
Olearius, Ambassadors Travels, p. 190) states that
Dawir found means to escape to Persia, where he
was seen by the Ilolstcin ambassadors, in 1688. The
conduct of Shah Jehan on this occasion strongly
favours the general belief of his having instigated
the assassination of his brother, Khosru, (see p. 124.)
Mr. Klphinstone partially defends him, by remark-
ing, " that we ought not readily to believe that a life
not sullied by any other crime could be stained by
one of so deep a dye" (vol. ii. p. 368.) But, in a
surprising that abundant reason was soon
found for invading the Deccan. At this
period, the three remaining governments
held by Moslems — Ahmednuggur, Bceja-
poor, and Goleonda, had nearly recovered
their ancient limits. Khan Jehan Lodi, an
Afghan officer of rank, being left with undi-
vided authority over the Moguls after the
death of Prince Parvaez, had deemed it
necessary or expedient, during the troubled
state of afi'airs occasioned by the disputes
regarding the succession, and the proceed-
ings of Mohabet Khan, to surrender the re-
maining portion of Shah Jehan's conquests
in the Deccan to the son of Malek Amber,
who had succeeded his father in the Nizam
Shahi government : but the fort of Ahmed-
nuggur was still held by a Mogul garrison,
who refused to obey Khan Jehan Lodi's
command. When Shah Jehan set out to
ascend the throne, Khan Jehan refused to
join him. On learning the defeat and
death of Shehriar and Dawir, he profliered
allegiance, and was confirmed in his gov-
ernment by the new emperor, but soon re-
moved thence to Malwa, Mohabet Khan
taking his place in the Deccan. Having co-
operated in the reduction of Narsing Deo,
Khan Jehan was invited to court, whither
he proceeded with his two sons, relying for
safety both on the assurances given to him
individually, and on the edict of indemnity
proclaimed to all who had opposed the
accession of the reigninj; sovereign. The
usher of the court evinced a marked dis-
respect towards him — or so at least the
proud Afghan considered — but the cere-
monies of presentation were passed without
any positive disturbance. His son, Azmut,
a lad of sixteen, with all his father's
high spirit and less discretion, was next in-
troduced ; and he, considering that he
had been kept too long prostrate, sprang
up before the signal was given. The usher
struck him on the head with his rod ; the
youth aimed a blow in return ; upon which
a general confusion ensued, and Khan
Jehan, with his sons, rushed from the palace
subsequent page, he expressly states, that Shehriar
" was afterwards put to death with the sons of
Danial, by order of Shah Jehan " (vol. ii. p. 388.)
He does not adopt Dow's statement of the bequeath-
ing of the throne by Jehangeer to Shehriar ; and,
consequently, regards that prince and his nephews
as having forfeited their lives by rebellion against
the lawful authority of Shah Jehan, the eldest sur-
viving son. By Mohammedan law, the children of
Danial were cut off from the succession by the death
of their father, before their grandfather.
t Dow's History of Hindoostan, vol. ili. p. 167.
KHAN JEHAN LODI— HIS HISTORY AND FATE, a.d. 1630. 129
to their own house, and there shut them-
selves up within the strong stone walls, with
about 300 dependents. The emperor, not
caring to order a siege so near his own
abode, endeavoured to entice the refractory
noble by fair words ; but, not venturing to
put faith in them, Khan Jehan assembled
his troops by night, and marched out
of Agra, with his kettle-drums beating.*
Within two hours a strong detachment was
sent in pursuit, and came up with the fugi-
tives at the river Chumbul. A desperate
encounter took place, especially between
the Afghans and a body of Rajpoots, who
dismounted and charged with lances, accord-
ing to their national custom. Azmut was
slain, after first killing with an arrow the
Mogul usher, who had struck him at court ;
and Khan Jehan, being wounded in an
encounter with Rajah Pirthi Sing, plunged
into the stream, and succeeded in gaining
the opposite bank, from whence, though
hotly pursued by a much superior force, he
made his way through Bundelcund into the
wild and woody country of Gondwana,
where he opened a friendly communication
with the king of Ahmednuggur.
Towards the close of 1629, Shah Jehan
marched to Boorhanpoor, at the head of a
powerful armament, and sent on three de-
tachments (estimated by Khafi Khan at
50,000 men each), to march into Ahmed-
nuggur. Khan Jehan and his friends could
make no head against this overwhelming
force. The kings of Golconda and Beeja-
poor, as long as possible, kept aloof from
the conflict, and Mortezza Nizam Shah, of
Ahmednuggur, was himself obliged to seek
protection in his forts. Khan Jehan was at
length driven from the Deccan, and hunted
from place to place. Being overtaken in
Bundelcund, he made a desperate stand, and
when defeated endeavoured to force his way
into the hill-fort of Calinjer, but was repulsed
with the loss of his last remaining son, and
• The account given by Elphinstone and Dow, on
the authority of native writers, differs greatly. Ac-
cording to the foi-mer. Khan Jehan was accompanied
in his flight by his women on elephants, and by
twelve of his sons. IJow alleges a fearful tragedy
to have been previously enacted. Thinking it hope-
less to attempt carrying away the inmates of his
hnrem, and dishonourable to abandon them to the
lust of his foes, Khan Jehan knew not what to
do ; when the women, learning his perplexity, took
the desperate resolve of destroying themselves, and
thus removing all impediments to his escape. They
did so, and their shrieks and groans reached the ears
of Khan Jehan, who, after hastily performing the
rites of sepulture, assembled his followers in the
finally overtaken at a pool, where he had
stopped from exhaustion. The few brave
adherents who still followed him, he en-
treated to seek safety in flight, but they (to
the number of about thirty) refused to for-
sake their brave leader, and were, with him,
cut to pieces after a desperate struggle with
the Rajpoots. The head of the unhappy
chief was fixed on a pike, and carried in
triumph, as a most acceptable gift, to Shah
Jehan, a.d. 1630.
The hostilities against Ahmednuggur did
not end with the life of the person whose
conduct had formed the pretext for them,
but were prosecuted in the ferocious spirit
befitting an invader, who declared war to be
an evil which compassion contributed to
render permanent.f Time passed on; fire
and the sword were freely used to ravage
the country and dishearten its defenders;
drought, famine, and pestilence, to a fright-
ful extent, lent their aid, but still, in 1635,
repeated murderous campaigns were found
to have left the Deccan as far as ever from
being subdued to the imperial yoke. J
At one time, indeed, affairs had seemed
more promising, owing to the internal feuds
which wasted the strength of Ahmednuggur.
Mortezza Nizam Shah (the king set up by
Malek Amber) being, on the death of the
vizier, inclined to act for himself, threw the
eldest son of his patron, Futteh Khan, into
prison ; but, being pressed by foes without,
and faction within, was soon glad to release
him and place him in his father's position.
Mohammed Adil Shah of Beejapoor, who
had looked on from neutral ground, and
left the neighbouring kingdom to maintain
single-handed the contest with the Moguls,
became alarmed at the probable consequence
of the ruin of a monarchy, which, though
at all times a rival, and often an inimical i
state, had nevertheless long formed a valu-
able bulwark against invasion from Hin-
doostan. He now, therefore, declared war
court-yard, threw open the gates and rushed out,
maddened by rage and despair. — (Vol. iii., p. 133.)
t Dow's History of Ilindoostan, vol. iii., p. 168.
X Azuf Khan " trod down the scanty har\'est in the
Deccan, and ravaged with fire and sword the king-
dom of Beejapoor." — (Dow, vol. iii., p. 101.) The
Hindoos, in desjiair, abandoned all attempts at culti-
vation, and prostrated themselves in crowds before
the shrine of their gods, upon which, Shah Jehan issued
an edict for breaking down their idols, and demo-
lishing the temples. Many Brahmins were mas-
sacred; but the resistance offered was so determined,
that the emperor was compelled to relinquish this
species of persecution, and to adopt more gentle
means of inducing them to till the ground..
130 SHAH JEHAN SUBJUGATES AHMEDNUG-GUR, a.d. 1637.
against Shah Jehan; but the effect of the
diversion intended to be created by this
step, in favour of Mortczza Nizam Shah,
failed in its effect, through the machina-
tions of Futteh Khan, who, treacherously
employing the power newly entrusted to
him, to the ruin, instead of the protection of
his royal master, caused him to be put to
death, with his chief adherents. He then
took the government into his own hands, and
sent a large contribution, or rather bribe,
to the Moguls, with offers of submission,
and an open profession that the infant he
had placed on the throne would hold his
dignity in subordination to the emperor.
Shah Jehan doubtless considered it as
necessary, in the contingencies of war, to
overlook perfidy and uphold its perpetrators,
as to set aside the pleadings of compassion ;
and this is not to be wondered at ; for jus-
tice and mercy, rightly understood —
" Are twin-born sisters ; and so mix their eyes,
As if you sever one, the other dies."
Futteh Khan's proposals were immediately
accepted; but having no intention of ful-
filling his promise to any further extent
than that which his own narrow views of
expediency might dictate, he no sooner saw
the whole Mogul force directed against
Beejapoor, than he violated his engage-
ments, and being consequently attacked by
the Moguls, once more made common cause
with the king of Beejapoor.
Shah Jehan returned to Agra in 1632,
after having ineffectually besieged Mo-
hammed Adil Shah in his capital, leaving
Mohabet Khan in command. The opera-
tions under that general led to Futteh
Khan's being shut up in the fort of Dou-
latabad, where he was besieged, and at
length forced or induced to surrender. Not-
withstanding all his treachery, he was re-
ceived into the Mogul army,* while the un-
happy child, whom he had styled king, was
sent to languish in the lately emptied fort
of Gwalior. Ahmednuggur was, however,
not yet conquered. Shahjee Bhonslay, an
officer who had played a conspicuous part
in the recent war, and whose family were
afterwards the founders of the Mahratta
power, asserted the rights of a new claimant
• He afterwards became mad, and died from the
efl'ects of an old wound in the head.
t In 1634 and 1636, a portion of the troops on tlie
eastern frontier completed the settlement of Little
Thibet; another detachment was defeated, and almost
destroyed, in an attempt to conquer Srinagar in
1634 ; and a third, after subduing the petty state of
Cutch Behar from Bengal, in 1637, was compelled
to the throne, and gradually conquered all
the districts of that kingdom, from the sea
to the capital.
The king of Beejapoor, after the capture
of Doulatabad, made overtures of negotia-
tion, but these being unfavourably received,
continued to defend himself bravely, until
Mohabet Khan, having vainly invested Pu-
rinda, was compelled to fall back upon Boor-
hanpoor, and to desist from aggressive opera-
tions. On learning the ill success of his
deputies, Shah Jehan resolved to take the
field in person, and dividing his troops
as before, sent them first into Ahmednug-
gur to attack Sahjee: having driven him from
the open country, they proceeded to assault
Beejapoor. Adil Shah was, however, a bold
and determined prince ; he laid waste the
country for twenty miles around, destroyed
every particle of food or forage, choked the
wells, drained the reservoirs, and rendered
it impossible for any army to invest the
city. Peace was at length granted, the
king of Beejapoor agreeing to pay £200,000
a-year to Shah Jehan, who conferred upon
him, in return, a share of the Nizam Shahi
dominions. Shahjee held out for some time ;
longer, but at length submitted, gave up
the person of the pretended king, and
entered into the service of Adil Shah, by
the permission of the emperor. The king
of Golconda had not ventured to contest
Shah Jehan's claim to supremacy and tri- ,
bute, which he had recognised at the com- !
mencement of this expedition, and the em-
peror returned in triumph, the kingdom of
Ahmednuggur being now extinguished.
"While these prolonged hostilities were
carried on in the Deccan, contests of less
magnitude were taking place in Little
Thibet, Hooghly, Cutch Behar, and else-
where.f During his rebellion. Shah Jehan
had applied to the Portuguese at Hooghly
for aid, and had received a refusal (couched,
it is alleged, in terms of reproach for his
undutiful conduct), which he only waited
a convenient opportunity to revenge. His
lutewife,J Mumtaz Mahal, daughter to Asuf
Khan, had also conceived an especial dis-
like to "the European idolaters," on account
of the images before which they worshipped.
to retire by the unhealthiness of the climate. —
(Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 401.)
X This lady died in 1631. She had been married
twenty years, and had borne nearly as many children.
Shah Jehan erected to her memory a structure of
extraordinary beauty and magnificence (called, by a
corruption of her name, Taj Mahal), which forms
one of the most interesting monuments of Agra.
CANDAHAR FINALLY REGAINED BY PERSIA, a.d. 1647.
131
These circumstances lent weight to a repre-
sentation which arrived from the governor
of Bengal, complaining of the insolent and
aggressive conduct of the Portuguese,* and
he received from the emperor the laconic
command — " expel these idolaters from my
dominions." Hooghly was carried by storm,
after a siege of three months and a-half, in-
volving a terrible destruction of life on the
side of the Portuguese, whose fleet (including
sixty-four large vessels) was almost entirely
destroyed. The principal ship, in which about
2,000 men, women, and children had taken
refuge, with all their treasure,was blown up by
its captain, sooner than yield to the Moguls ;
and the example was followed in many other
vessels. From the prisoners, 500 young per-
sons, of both sexes, were selected, with some
of the priests, and sent to Agra; the girls
were distributed among the harems of the
emperor and chief nobles, and the boys
circumcised. The Jesuits and other friars
were vainly threatened with severe punish-
ment if they persisted in rejecting the
Koran ; but, after some months' confine-
ment, were liberated and sent to Goa. The
pictures and images, which had excited the
displeasure of the queen, were all destroyed,
and Hooghly became the royal port of Ben-
gal, A.D. 1632.
In 1637, the Persian governor of Can-
dahar, incited by the tyranny of his sove-
reign, surrendered this important frontier
post to Shah Jehan, who appointed him to
various high positions (including, at differ-
ent times, the governments of Cashmere
and Cabool), and made him leader of several
important expeditions, the first of which
was the invasion of Balkh and Badakshau,
in 1644. The pretext for hostilities was
Shah Jehan's desire to assert the dormant
rights of his family ; the inducement, the
revolt of the sou of the reigning Uzbek sove-
reign, Nazir Mohammed, and the conse-
quent unfitness of the state to resist foreign
invasion. After a large expenditure of
blood and treasure, and the display of extra-
ordinary valour on the part of a body of
14,000 Rajpoots, commanded by Rajah
Juggut Sing,t who encountered the hardships
of the rigorous climate as unshrinkingly as
the fierce onsets of the Uzbeks, Balkh was
* Among other accusations, the governor asserted,
that the Portuguese were in the habit of kidnapping
or purchasing children, and sending them as slaves
to other parts of India, — (Stewart's Bengal, p. 240.)
t Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 402. This chief would
appear to have been the son of Mokund Sing, Rajah
of Kotah, a branch of the Oudipoor family.
at length captured. In this war the princes
Morad and Aurungzebe were both em-
ployed; and Shah Jehan twice repaired to
Cabool, to support their efforts. But all
endeavours to restore order into the con-
quered territory were rendered ineffectual
by the marauding incursions of Uzbeks
from the other side of the Oxus, headed
by Abdool Aziz, the prince whose turbu-
lence had stimulated the Mogul invasion.
Shah Jehan, despairing of being able to
keep what it had cost so much to gain,
re-instated Nazir Mohammed on his throne,
on condition of receiving a small annual tri-
bute ; and after restoring the places of which
he had got possession, left him to maintain
the contest against his rebellious son as best
he might, t
In 1647, Candahar was taken by Shah
Abbas II. in person. In 1649 and 1652,
it was invested by Aurungzebe; and, in
1653, by Dara Slieko, the acknowledged
heir to the throne — Shah Jehan, on each
occasion, accompanying the army as far
as Cabool. Dara made a fierce and de-
termined attack ; for the jealousy already
springing up between the royal brothers,
rendered him especially desirous to con-
quer where Aurungzebe had been twice
defeated. Besides natural means, he had
recourse to magicians and astrologers,
who promised great things, but could not
prevent the failure of his last desperate
assault, in which, though the troops at one
time gained the summit of the rampart,
they were eventually repulsed, and Dara
compelled to raise the siege, after losing
the flower of his array in its prosecution.
No after-endeavour was made by the Moguls
to recover Candahar, of which they had
held but precarious possession since its first
conquest by Baber.
Two years of nearly undisturbed tran-
quillity followed, during which, Shah Jehan
having completed a revenue survey of his
Deccani dominions, gave orders for the
adoption of the system of assessment and
collection, introduced by Todar Mul, in
Bengal. This period is likewise memorable
for the death of Saad UUah Khan, who had
succeeded Asuf Khan§ as vizier. In him
Shah Jehan lost a wise and upright minister,
\ Upon this war, according to Dow, six million
were expended out of the imperial treasury, besides
estates granted to the value of one million more.
§ Asuf Khan died in 1641, leaving several chil-
dren ; but as the emperor loved money, and might
possibly avail himself of the law which constituted
the sovereign heir to all his officers, the prudent vizier
133 WAR WITH BEEJAPOOR AND GOLCONDA, a.d. 1655—1657.
whose ability had made amends for the de-
creasing energy consequent on the criminal
excesses in which the emperor had indulged
after the death of his favourite wife.
Towards the close of 1G55, a pretext was
found for renewing the war in the Deccan.
Abdullah Kootb Shah, of Golconda, had
taken for his chief minister, Meer Jumla,
originally a Persian adventurer, who had
gradually acquired great wealth as a diamond
merchant. During the absence of this
officer, in command of an army in the
eastern part of the kingdom, his son, Mo-
hammed Ameen, a dissolute and violent
young man, seated himself on the musnud, in
a fit of intoxication; for which offence he was
severely reprimanded, and forbidden to ap-
pear in the presence of the sultan. Meer
Jumla, either from distrust of his sovereign,
or, as is more probable, from some pre-
vious understanding with Aurungzebe, to
whom he was personally known, took oc-
casion to solicit the assistance of that
prince. Such conduct was inexcusably dis-
loyal ; for it does not appear that either the
life or liberty of the offender were in danger ;
and Abdullah, by the regular payment of
the stipulated tribute since the last pacifica-
tion, had left no plea for Mogul interference.
Nevertheless, Shah Jehan was induced to
send to the sultan a peremptory order for the
discharge of both father and son, for whom
the same envoy bore commissions in the
imperial service as munsubdars, respectively
of 5,000 and 2,000 horse. Before the ar-
rival of the ambassador, Abdullah having
learned his approach and mission, threw
Mohammed Ameen into prison, and confis-
cated the property of his father. Shah
Jehan then authorised Aurungzebe to carry
his command into effect by force of arms,
which the wily pi'ince proceeded to do
after his own treacherous and manoeuvring
fashion, by despatching a chosen force,
imder pretence of escorting his son. Sultan
Mohammed, to Bengal,* there to espouse
his cousin, the daughter of Prince Shuja,
the viceroy of that province. Abdullah
Shah was preparing an entertainment for
the reception of the supposed bridegroom,
when he suddenly advanced as an enemy,
and took the sultan so entirely by surprise,
that he had only time to fly to the neigh-
thought it best to distribute a certain portion of his
wealth, amounting to £375,000, among his chil-
dren and servants, leaving the remainder (nearly
£4,000,000 stg.) to his grandson. Vara Sheko. His
landed estates, of course, reverted to the crown.
bouring hill- fort of Golconda, while Hydera-
bad fell into the hands of the Moguls, and
was plundered andhalf-burued before the sol-
diery could be brought into order. Abdullah
Shah released Mohammed Ameen, restored
the confiscated property, and did all in his
power to enter into an accommodation on
reasonable terms, but Aurungzebe persisted
in investing Golconda, and Meer Jumla
drew near with re-inforcements, in readiness
to turn his unfortunate master's troops
against himself.
After repeated unsuccessful attempts to
obtain aid from Beejapoor, and to raise the
siege by force, Abdullah Shah was com-
pelled to submit to the severe terms im-
posed upon him of giving Ms daughter in
marriage to Sultan Mohammed, with a
large dowry in land and money, and paying
a crore of rupees (£1,000,000 sterling) as
the first instalment of a yearly tribute ; in
which, however, a considerable remission
was afterwards made by Shah Jehan.
When these matters were settled, the king-
dom of Beejapoor was invaded by Aurungzebe
on a plea as hollow as that used for the attack
on Golconda. Mohammed Adil Shah died
in November, 1656, and was succeeded by
his son Ali, a youth of nineteen. A large
portion of the 13eejapoor army was employed
at a distance, in wars with the petty Hindoo
princes of the Carnatic; and Aurungzebe,
having obtained his father's approval of his
nefarious project, asserted the right of the
emperor to decide upon the succession,
denied that the minor was the real issue
of the late sovereign, advanced upon the
capital, and by sudden and treacherousf pro-
ceedings, left the new king no resource but
to sue for peace on any terms. Even this
overture was rejected by Aurungzebe, who
would probably have speedily obtained com-
plete possession of the kingdom, had not
his attention been suddenly diverted by the
startling intelligence, that his father's dis-
graceful indulgences had brought on an
attack of paralysis and strangury, which
threatened to terminate fatally.
At this time, the children of Shah Jehan, by
Mumtaz Mahal, were six in number. Dara
Sheko, the eldest, tlicn in his forty-second
year, was a high-spirited prince, dignified in
his manners, and generous to his adherents,
• In the road from Aurungabad to Bengal, a cir-
cuit is made to avoid the forests of Gondwana, and i
thus the prince was enabled to come within a short
distance of Hyderabad, without creating suspicion.
t He succeeded in corrupting All's prime minister.
CHARACTERS OF THE CHILDREN OF SHAH JEHAIST.
133
but obstinate in the extreme, and impatient
of advice, even from counsellors on whose
judgment and ability he might be expected
to place most reliance. Shuja was brave,
and not devoid of capacity, but given up to
wine and pleasure. Auruugzebe, the third
brother, was a man of extraordinary ability.
His talents for war and intrigue had been
repeatedly manifested, and Dara appears to
have fully appreciated the depth of am-
bitious resolve which lay hidden beneath
the veil of extreme humility of deportment
and an affected indifference to all worldly
distinction.*
Zeal for the religion of Mohammed was
the ostensible motive of Aurungzebe's con-
duct through life ; how far felt or how far
feigned, can scarcely be decided, owing to
the profound and habitual dissimulation
which marked his whole career. A creed
to be unceasingly promulgated by any and
every means, was, in either case, a con-
venient political weapon ; and Aurungzebe
used it skilfully and without scruple. Frugal
and abstemious almost to asceticism, he
seemed resolved to follow in the steps of the
cai-ly caliphs, and drew the attention of the
more zealous Moslems, by his studious ful-
filment of every ordinance, until he became
looked up to as the champion of Islam, in
contradistinction to Dara, who openly pro-
fessed many of the tenets of Akber, and
had written a book to reconcile the Hindoo
and Mohammedan doctrines. Shuja, the
viceroy of Bengal, was unpopular with the
orthodox party, on account of his attach-
ment to the Persian sect of the Sheiahs.
Morad, the youngest prince, the governor
of Guzerat, was brave and generous, but
presumptuous and self-willed, with little
intellect, and addicted to sensual gratifica-
tions. Padshah Begum, the elder of the
two daughters, was richly endowed with
beauty and talent. She exercised un-
bounded influence over her father, and was a
great support to her favourite brother Dara.
Roushenara, the younger princess, though
less gifted with personal or mental attrac-
tions, possessed considerable aptitude for in-
trigue ; and having made common cause with
Aurungzebe, served him materially, by for-
warding reliable information respecting the
state of affairs at court at critical periods.
• One of our best authorities for this period is
Bernier, an intelligent French traveller, who having
been reduced to a state of penury "by various ad-
ventures with robbers, and by the heavy expenses
incurred on a journey of near seven weeks from
T
Dara endeavoured to keep the illness of
the emperor a profound secret until the
crisis should be past, by intercepting cor-
respondence and detaining travellers likely
to spread the news throughout the pro-
vinces ; but all in vain : the absent princes
soon learned what had occurred, and at
once prepared to struggle for life and em-
pire. Shuja assembled the troops of Bengal,
and marched forthwith into Behar, on his
way to the capital. ]\Iorad seized the
money in the district treasuries of Guzerat,
and laid siege to Surat, where there was
a governor independent of his authority.
Aurungzebe prepared his forces, but made
no open declaration of war, until orders
came from Dara, in the name of the em-
peror, directing Meer Jumla and other
commanders to quit his standard. This
injunction carried considerable weight in
the case of the above-named general. On
joining the Moguls, he had been appointed
to the highest offices at court, but through
the solicitations of Dara, was sent back to
the Deccan. His family remained at Agra :
he therefore feared the consequences of
disobeying the imperial mandate. The
subtlety of Aurungzebe soon suggested an
expedient. Meer Jumla was seized with
pretended violence, and placed in the fort
of Doulatabad, while his cliief officers con-
tinued secretly to obey his commands.
Dara and Shuja, Aurungzebe knew, might
be safely left to fight out their own quarrel ;
in Morad, he calculated, with reason, upon
finding a useful tool, as well as an easy
dupe. He addressed him a letter in the
most adulatory strain, proffering his zealous
co-operation against the infidel Dara, and de-
claring, that after aiding his worthy brother
to mount the throne, he should renounce
the world, and devote his life to praying for
his welfare in the holy retirement of Mecca.
Morad, completely deceived, joyfully ac-
cepted the offer, and Aurungzebe marched
to join him in Malwa, whither Rajah Jes-
wunt Sing had been already sent to oppose
them ; but he, from sheer fool-luirdiness,
is alleged to have permitted the junction of
the princes. Meanwhile, Shah Jehan had
sufficiently recovered to resume the general
control of the government. The tender solici-
tude of Dara, during his illness, had rendered
Surat to Agra and Delhi," was glad to accept a
salary from Shah Jehan in the capacity of physician,
and also from Danechmur.d Khan, a distmguished
noble of the Mogul court to which Bernier was at-
tached for eight years.
134 FIERCE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE BETWEEN THE FOUR PRINCES.
this son more dear to him than ever, and he
resented with energy the misconduct of the
other princes. To Shuja he wrote, com-
manding him in imperative terms to return
immediately to his government; but instead
of obeying, the prince affected to consider
the order dictated by Dara, and continued
his progress until he encountered Soliman
Sheko, the son of Dara, in the neighbour-
hood of Benares, by whom he was defeated
and compelled to reti'eat into Bengal. This
battle occurred at the close of 1657 : in the
spring of the following year, a fierce conflict
took place between the forces of the con-
federate princes and Rajah Jeswunt Sing,
who had encamped on the river Sipra, near
Oojein. The Rajpoots fought bravely, but
were ill-supported, for most of the Moguls
deserted to the enemy. The rajah retired
in disorder to his own country, and Morad,
whose gallantry had been very conspicuous
throughout the sanguinary conflict, which
had lasted from morning to sunset, was
hailed as sole victor, Aurungzebe still
acting in conformity with the solemn oath
of fidelity and allegiance he had voluntarily
taken at their first meeting. Shah Jehan
now determined to take the field in person
against his turbulent sons. Had he per-
severed in this resolve, much bloodshed
would probably have been spared, as the
soldiers of the rebel camp were known to
be well-disposed towards him personally,
and would doubtless have rallied round his
standard. But Dara did not comprehend
the extent of the danger ; regard for his
father's infirm state, united perhaps to a
more selfish desire of keeping the authority
in his own hands, rendered him averse to
this proposition, and Shah Jehan reluctantly
gave way. Confident in his superior num-
bers, Dara refused even to wait for Soliman,
then on his victorious march from Benares
with the flower of the troops, and proceeded
single-handed to meet the advancing foe.*
The hostile armies came in sight of each
other at Samaghar, one march from Agra,
in the beginning of June, 1658. The battle
which ensued was long and bloody, the
three brothers fighting with desperation.
Morad was attacked by 3,000 Uzbek
archers, who showered their arrows upon his
howdah until they resembled the bristling
quills of a porcupine, and the frightened
elephant would have rushed from the field,
• Khafi Khan states the imperial force at above
70,000 horse, with innumerable elephants and guns.
(Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 423.) Bernier, at 100,000
had he not ordered its feet to be chained,
thus (although wounded in several places)
cutting off his own power of retreat.
Aurungzebe saw his brother's danger, but
was fully occupied in opposing Dara, who
having, by a third fierce charge of cavalry,
broken through the guns chained together
in front of the enemy's line, now carried all
before him, and, though again checked,
would probably have eventually prevailed,
had not a rocket struck the elephant on
which he rode, while pressing forward and
cheering on his troops by voice and action.
The terrified animal became perfectly un-
governable. Dara threw himself from its
back and sprang upon a horse; but an at-
tendant, while fastening on his quiver, was
killed by a shot. The momentary con-
fusion which occurred among those imme-
diately around him, added to the effect of
his previous disappearance from the view of
the more distant troops, occasioned a gene-
ral panic. With him the sole object of the
war was supposed to have perished ; and the
confederate princes perceiving their advan-
tage, pressed forward and drove the now
disordered foe, including Dara himself, be-
fore them, in irremediable disorder. Rajah
Chutter-sal, of Boondi, with his vassals,
formed the vanguard of the unfortunate
prince, and made a devoted but unavailing
effort to stem the torrent. The rajah
himself, clad in saffron robes, with a chaplet
of pearls on his head, was true to these
ensigns of victory or death. Leaping from
the back of his wounded elephant, which he
could not restrain from joining in the general
flight, he mounted his horse, and forming
his men in a dense mass, led them to attack
Morad, against whom he was about hurling
his lance, when a cannon-ball laid him
dead at his feet. The brave band were
soon hemmed in, and the heads of every
Hara clan, including six princes of the
blood-royal of Boondi, perished, maintain-
ing inviolate their oath of allegiance to
Shah Jehan When the issue of the day
was evident, Aurungzebe fell on his knees
and returned thanks for the victory granted
to Morad, whom he saluted, and affecting
lively emotion at the sight of his wounds,
wiped the blood from his face, and warmly
congratulated him on the acquisition of a'
kingdom. While this hypocritical scene
was being enacted, the uuhappy Dara pur-
horse, 20,000 foot, and 30 pieces of cantion. He
reckons the opposing army as not exceeding " 40,000
men of all arms." — (Brock'srr«nsto<io«,vol.i., p. 50.)
DEPOSITION OF SHAH JEHAN— CHARACTER OF HIS REIGN. 135
sued his flight to Agra, with about 2,000
men, most of them wounded; and feeling
ashamed to present himself before the in-
dulgent ftither, whose counsels he had dis-
regarded, proceeded to Delhi, accompanied
by his wife and two children, and was sub-
sequently joined by 5,000 horse, sent by
Shah Jelian to his assistance. Three days
after the battle, Aurungzebe encamped be-
fore the walls of Agra, took immediate pos-
session of the city, but did not attempt to
enter by force the royal residence, content-
ing himself for some days longer by sending
messages to his father, pleading the neces-
sity of the case, and requesting to be for-
given and admitted to his presence. It is
probable that he really desired to conciliate
the aged monarch, and would have pre-
ferred carrying on the government in his
name, at least until all rivalry should be
completely crushed; but Shah Jehan re-
sented his protestations of filial affection as
an additional insult, and did not swerve
from his attachment to Dara. Aurungzebe,
therefore, sent his son, Mohammed Sultan*
to take possession of the citadel, and pre-
vent all communication between the em-
peror and every one beyond its walls. This
appears to have been done without difficulty;
for there is no record of a single eftbrt being
made to assert the rights of the monarch,
who remained in a sort of honourable cap-
tivity, until his death, seven years after, aged
seventy-four. During the long reign thus
abruptly closed, the internal administration
of affairs had been conducted with more
rectitude and ability than, perhaps, under
* The circumstances connected with this interest-
ing period are differently told. According to Ber-
nicr (whose account Dow appears to have followed),
Shah Jehan was tempted to encounter Aurungzebe
with his own weapons, and hoping to secure his per-
son, consented to listen to his excuses. The wily
prince affected extreme delight at this concession,
but alleged, that although he had perfect confidence
in his father's good faith, he dreaded the intrigues
of his elder sister, and dared not trust the garrison,
unless he were permitted to introduce, for his
protection, some troops under his son, Mohammed
Sultan. Shah Jehan, desirous to get him within
reach at all hazards, consented, relying for aid on his
daughter, who posted some strong Tartar women
belonging to the harem in readiness to seize the
prince. Mohammed was suffered to take possession
of the citadel in anticipation of the arrival of Au-
rungzebe, when intelligence came that he had sud-
denly ordered his cavalcade to change their course,
and was gone to offer up his prayers at the tomb of
Akber. Shah Jehan, enraged beyond measure,
asked Mohammed what he had come for, if not to
guard his father. The curt reply was, " to take
charge of the citadel." The insulted monarch pointed
any other Mogiil ruler. Khafi Khan (the
best historian of those times) asserts, that
although Akber v/as pre-eminent as a con-
queror and a law-giver, yet, in territorial
and financial arrangements, he could bear
no comparison with his grandson. Although
a staunch Mussulman, Shah Jehan was
warmly attached to the Hindoos, who, as
we have seen, had spent their best blood
freely in his behalf, and his foreign wars did
not interrupt the tranquillity which pre-
vailed, almost without interruption, through-
out his dominions. Wealth, both public
and private, increased in a I'cmarkable de-
gree, and the annual revenue is supposed to
have exceeded thirty-two million sterling.
A new city was built at Delhi,t on a regular
plan, far surpassing the old one in magnifi-
cence ; and the imperial establishments, re-
tinue, and appurtenancesj all exceeded in
pomp those of previous reigns. Yet, not-
withstanding the costly wars in which he
engaged, the maintenance of a large regu-
lar army (including 200,000 horse), and
the erection of many splendid structures.
Shah Jehan left a treasure estimated at
twenty-four million sterling, besides vast ac-
cumulations in wrought gold and silver, and
in jewels. ;
After deposing his father, the next step
of Aurungzebe was to get rid of Morad,
whom he continued to delude, by submissive
behaviour and unremitting attentions, till
they had marched from Agra in pursuit of
Dara. Taking advantage of Morad's ad-
diction to pleasure, Aurungzebe invited him
to supper, and, waving his own scruples (if
to the imperial crown which was suspended above
his head, and taking the Koran in his hand, swore
that if Mohammed would release him, he would
make him emperor, to the exclusion of all his own
sons. The prince, from policy or principle, refused
the offer, and quitted the presence of his grandfather
— little dreaming how soon a stronger temptation j
would lead him to take the course from which he
now turned. — -(Bernier, vol. i., p. 72.) Khafi Khan, :
whose father was an actor in the turbulent scenes of
this period, makes no mention of this plot and coun-
ter-plot.— (Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 427.)
t Tavertder's Trawls in various parts of the em- ;
pire ; Mandelsloe's in Guzerat ; Graaf and Bruton's
(Murray's Asiatic Discoveries) in Bengal, Behar
and Orissa ; afford forcible evidence of the gran-
deur of the Indian cities of this period, including
those situated in remote provinces ; and also to the
richly-cultivated state of the surrounding country.
X The famous throne, of which the chief orna-
ment was a peacock, with its tail spread, represented
in its natural colours by various gems, was con-
structed for Shah Jehan ; and a vine was commenced,
with leaves and fruit of precious stones, whose rays
were reflected from mirrors set in large pearls.
136 AURUNGZEBE PROCLAIMED EMPEROR, AUGUST, 1658.
he really had any), induced him, by the
two-fold temptation of wine and feminine
seductions, to separate himself from his
companions, some of whom appear to have
warned him against placing such implicit
trust in his brother's professions. While
stretched on a couch, sleeping off the stupor
of intoxication, Morad was seized, fettered,
and sent off, before day-break, on an elephant,
to Selimghur, a portion of the citadel of
Delhi, while three other elephants were dis-
patched with similar escorts, in different
directions, to mislead people as to the actual
place of confinement, which was afterwards
changed to Gwalior, the Bastille of Ilindoo-
stan. The frankness and bravery of the
unfortunate prince had rendered him popu-
lar with the army, but the suddenness of his
seizure seems to have paralysed every effort
on his behalf. His chief adherents were
brought into the presence of Aurungzebe,
who, after receiving their oaths of allegiance,
proceeded to Delhi, where he caused him-
self to be proclaimed emperor, and assumed
the title of Alumgeer (the Conqueror of
the Universe), by which he is designated in
local histories and documents.
The Reign of Aurungzebe had lasted a
twelvemonth before his name was stamped
on the coin, or the ceremonial of coronation
performed. More pressing affairs claimed
his Vi^hole attention during the interim. At
the time of the fatal battle, Soliman, a brave
prince of five-and-twenty, was marching to
the aid of his father. Rajah Jey Sing, of
Amber, who, like most of the Rajpoot lead-
ers, had taken part with the lawful heir,
was associated with the prince in the com-
mand; but the promises of the usurper,
under whom he had served in Balkh, tempted
him to abandon Soliman on a very flimsy
pretext, as did also another general, named
Dileer Khan. Deprived of the strength of
his army, and scarcely able to retain any
authority over the remainder, the prince
endeavoured to avoid an encounter with the
troops of Aurungzebe by taking the road
under the mountains to join Dara ; but being
intercepted near Hurdwar, his soldiers lost
heart, and all, except 500 horse, deserted.
With this remnant Soliman proceeded to
Sireenuggur, near Kumaon, where a new trial
awaited him. The rajah refused to admit
him, unless he would first dismiss his faith-
ful followers; and to this proposition he was
ultimately compelled to submit, after makini-
an unavailing attempt to return to the fort
of Allahabad, in which more than half of
his little band perished. On entering the fort
of Sireenuggur, with five or six attendants,
he was courteously received, but soon found
himself, in effect, a prisoner.
Meanwhile, Aurungzebe continued, in
person, to pursue Dara. Having, during
the early part of his flight, procured some
troops at Delhi, the prince marched thence
to Lahore, and finding a large sum of money
in the royal treasury, began to raise an
army. Shah Jehan had written urgently
in his favour to the viceroy of Cabool, Mo-
habet Khan (son of the great general), and
Dara, had he proceeded thither, would pro-
bably have found valuable auxiliaries in the
troops of the province, or, in case of need,
a ready refuge among the Afghan tribes,
and an easy exit to the territories of the
Uzbeks or the Persians. These views, even
if entertained, were disconcerted by the
prompt measures of Aurungzebe ; and Dara,
unable to resist the force by which he v/as
threatened, left Lahore with three or four
thousand men, on his way to Sinde. The
emperor followed him nearly to Moultan;
but before reaching that city he learned
that Shuja was marching in force from
Bengal ; therefore, sending a detachment to
follow Dara, he hastened to Delhi, and from
thence set out to arrest the progress of the
advancing army, comprising 25,000 horse
and a numerous train of artillery. The bro-
thers met at Cujwa, thirty miles north of
Allahabad, and drew up their forces, neither
caring to begin the conflict. On this occa-
sion, Aurungzebe was nearly worsted by
arts similar to those he himself delighted to
employ. Rajah Jeswuut Sing, after his un-
successful efforts in favour of Dara, had
received a message from the victor, with
assurances of pardon, and a command to
join the army then forming against Shuja.
He feigned obedience, but it would appear
only for the sake of watching an opportunity
to serve the cause of the rightful heir, and
his angry feelings were increased by the
withholding of the rank to which he con-
sidered himself entitled. Having commu-
nicated his intentions to Shuja, Jeswunt
Sing, one morning before day-break, attacked
the rear- ward of the imperial camp with
his Rahtore cavaliers; and, during the
onset made shortly afterwards by the
priuce's army in front, the rajali deliberately
loaded his camels with plunder, and marched
oft' to Agra, leaving the brothers to a con-
test which he heartily wished might involve
the destruction of both. Notwithstanding
DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF DARA SHEKO—a.d. 1659.
137
this inauspicious commencement, the self-
possession and valour of Aurungzebe gained
the day. The battle began by a cannonade,
followed by a close action, in which he was
repeatedly in imminent danger; but the
centre of Shuja's troops was at length
broken, and they fled, leaving 114 pieces of
cannon and many elephants on the field.
Mohammed Sultan and ]\Ieer Jumla (whose
mock imprisonment had ceased so soon as
his family were set free by the flight of
Dara) were sent with a strong force to
Bengal, while the emperor proceeded to
Agra. The governor of this city, Shaista
Khan, had just been relieved from great
alarm ; for the triumphant approach of .Tes-
wunt Sing, added to discouraging reports
from the field of battle, and various signs of
popular feeling in favour of Shah Jehan,
had so perplexed him that he would have
swallowed poison, but for the timely inter-
position of his wife. Had Jeswunt at once
attacked the citadel, the garrison would
probably have surrendered, and the aged
monarch been set at liberty ; but the attempt
■was fraught with hazard ; for besides the
danger of shutting up his troops within the
precincts of the capital, it would prevent his
forming a junction with Dara, whom he had
instructed to hasten to the scene of action.
Aurungzebe, on returning to Agra, had
consequently the satisfaction of learning that
Jeswunt had departed to his own territories
in Marwar, whither he sent 10,000 men to
seize his person and reclaim the spoils now
safely housed within the castle of Joda.
I But this open hostility was soon changed
: for a policy more congenial to the character
[ of the wily monarch. The afi'airs of Dara
had taken an unlooked-for turn, — after
! being compelled, by the desertion of his fol-
i lowers and the death of his carriage-cattle,
■ to relinquish his designs upon Sinde, the
I fugitive had, through the loyalty of the
governor of Guzerat (Shah Nawaz Khan,
father-in-law to both Aurungzebe and
Morad), obtained possession of the whole
province, including Surat and Baroach.
The territories of Jeswunt Sing extended
from Guzerat to Ajmeer : to prevent his
forming the projected coalition with Dara,
was, therefore, of the highest importance to
* On the fourth day, Dara was met hy Bernier,
who was on his way to Delhi, unconscious of passing
events. The sultana had been wounded, and there
was no physician among the little band. The pro-
fession of the traveller being discovered, he was
obliged to join Dara, and would have been taken on
to Sinde, but that neither threats nor entreaties
Aurungzebe, who, laying aside his plans of
vengeance for a more convenient season,
instead of soldiers and musketry, sent the
rajah a letter in his own hand-writing, full
of flattery and blandishments, conceding
the rank and office, the withholding of which
had previously been a cause of irritation.
This politic conduct, added to the delay of
Dara, made Jeswunt falter in his resolve,
and by the mediation of Jey Sing, Aurung-
zebe succeeded in persuading him to rely
on his good faith, and keep aloof from a
cause which could only end in the ruin of
its object and all connected with him.
Dara, disappointed of the expected co-opera-
tion, fortified a commanding position on the
hills near Ajmeer, and there awaited the
approach of his brother. Three days' can-
nonading was followed by a general assault,
in which, after the lapse of many hours,
Shah Nawaz fell just as a party of the im-
perial troops mounted the ramparts. The
prince fled precipitatel}'^, attended by the
females of his family and a small body of
horse, and reached the neighbourhood of
Ahmedabad, after eight days* and nights of
almost incessant marching, rendered nearly
intolerable by the heat and dust of a scorch-
ing season, to which were latterly added the
merciless attacks of the hill Coolies, who
stripped or massacred every man separated
from his companions. When within a march
of Ahmedabad, Dara was informed that the
gates were shut against him, and he must
seek shelter elsewhere. Amid tears and
lamentations the weary cavalcade resumed
its toilsome progress ; and after much loss
of life in {he desert, through hunger, thirst,
and fatigue, at length reached the small
territory of Joou, on the eastern frontier of
Sinde. The chief of Joon,t apparently an
Afghan, had been twice condemned to death
for murder and treason, but saved from the
vengeance of Shah Jehan by the interces-
sion of Dara, who novv relied upon his gra-
titude, notwithstanding the warnings and
entreaties of his adherents. Dara's wife (the
daughter of Prince Parvaez) , who had been
wounded in the late battle, and was fast
sinking under suff'ering and fatigue, im-
plored him to leave her, and prosecute with-
out delay his journey to Persia. But the
could procure a single horse, ox, or camel for his
use. Having beheld the hapless prince and his
family depart, Bernier, after a week's detention, suc-
ceeded in persuading the Coolies, " by a grand display
of professional skill," to attach a bullock to his car-
riage and conduct liim to Ahmedabad. (Vol. i. p. 106.)
t Called Jihon Khan m Brock's .Bernier.
138 FATE OF DARA— REBELLION OF MOHAMMED SULTAN, 1660.
prince could not be prevailed upon to for-
sake his faithful companion in the trying
hour of death, and after she had expired in
his arms, he sent a portion of his small
force, with two confidential servants, to at-
tend her remains to Lahore. When the
period of mourning permitted, he set out
towards the Indus, accompanied by a bro-
ther of the chief of Joon and a body of
troops, under pretence of escorting him to
the frontier ; but suddenly, the signal being
given, Dara and his son, Seper Sheko, were
seized and carried prisoners to Aurungzebe,
who was then engaged in celebrating the
anniversary of his accession. Loaded with
chains, habited in coarse and dirty raiment,
and mounted on a sorry elephant without
housings, the royal captives were conducted
through the most populous streets of the
capital, amid the tears and groans of the
people. No attempt at a rescue was made ;
but the next day the chief of Joon being
recognised on his way to court, was nearly
torn to pieces by the populace.* The leader
of the tumult was executed; and shortly
after, a mock consultation having been held
by the chief counsellors and lawyers, Dara
was pronounced worthy of death as an
apostate Mohammedan. Aurungzebe gave
his consent with alFected reluctance, and
selected a personal enemy of his brother's
to carry the sentence into effect. When
the assassins entered the prison, Dara and
his son were occupied in preparing some
lentils, the only food they would touch for
fear of poison. Seizing a small kitchen
knife, the sole weapon in his possession,
Dara defended himself to the last; but
being overwhelmed by numbers, was thrown
down and decapitated. His body was ex-
hibited to the populace on an elephant, and
his head carried to Aurungzebe, who, having
satisfied himself of its identity by washing
the blood from the distorted features, af-
fected to weep, and directed its interment
in the tomb of Humayun. Seper Sheko
was sent to the dreary fortress of Gwalior,
• When returning to his own country, laden with
the price of blood, lie was waylaid and assassinated.
t Dow asserts (but without giving his authority,
who is evidently neither Khafl Khan nor Bernier)
that Aurungzebe wrote a letter to his son, as if in
answer to an appeal for forgiveness, and caused it to
fall into the hands of Shuja, who, thereupon, dis-
missed his son-in-law and daughter from the camp,
not crediting their protestations of innocence.
X Bernier, vol. i., p. 124. According to Dow,
Shuja and his son, after bravely defending the moun-
tain passes while endeavouring to make good their
retreat to Pegu, were overpowered by means of
whose gates soon afterwards opened to re-
ceive no less a person than Mohammed
Sultan, the eldest son and acknowledged
heir of Aurungzebe.
This prince had been betrothed to his
cousin, the daughter of Shuja, but the mar-
riage was broken off by the outburst of
civil war. Seeing the critical position of
her father, the princess addressed a com-
munication to Mohammed, reminding him
of their engagement; this appeal, added to his
restless, disposition and jealousy of Meer
Jumla, who was associated with him in the
command of the army, induced him to go
over to his uncle, a step which he probably
thought would be followed by the majority
of the imperial army. Any such movement
was prevented by the zeal and influence of
Meer Jumla, and hostilities were recom-
menced at the conclusion of the rainy sea-
son. Shuja received his nephew with honour,
and gave him his daughter in marriage;
but either from the machinations of Aurung-
zebe,t or some other cause not satisfactorily
explained, distrust sprang up between them,
and the prince again deserted his party, and
threw himself upon the mercy of his father,
who immediately sent him to Gwalior.
After a series of unsuccessful struggles, Shuja
retreated to Dacca, and being hotly pursued
by Meer Jumla, fled, with a few attendants,
to Arracan. The remainder of his history is
very imperfectly known. A difference is
said to have arisen between him and the
rajah, whose avarice was roused by the
sight of the wealth of the prince, and, on one
pretext or another, he was prevented from
hiring vessels in which to proceed to Mokha,
en route for Mecca. Shuja, irritated by this
treatment, entered into a plot with the
Mussulmans of the country to overturn the
existing government; but, being detected,
was seized by the rajah's emissaries, and
put to death. Of his wife and family, no
certain particulars were ever made public
in Hindoostan; but it is probable they all
perished by violence about the same time.f
stones hurled upon them from the adjoining rocks.
Shuja was drowned (the doom of royal criminals in
Arracan) in sight of his wife and daughters, who, in
despair, flung themselves headlong into the river,
but were rescued and carried to the palace. Of
these four unhappy ladies, three perished by their
own hands ; the fourth was married to the rajah,
but did not long survive her sufferings and disgrace.
The elder son of Shuja and his infant brother were
both ])ut to death. Shah Jehan, on learning the
melancholy intelligence, exclaimed, "Alas ! could not
the rajah of Arracan leave one son to Shuja to revenge
his grandfather ?" — (Hindoostan, vol. iii. p. 390.)
MURDER OF MORAD AND HIS SON, SOLIMAN, AND SEPER SHEKO.,139
At the commencement of 1661, Aurung-
zebe obtained possession of the person of
Dara's eldest son, SoHman; the Rajah of
Sireenuggur, after prolonged negotiations,
having been at length persuaded, by the
arguments of Jey Sing, to deliver up the
prince to the imperial officers. He was
paraded through the city on an elephant,
and then brought into the presence of his
uncle in golden fetters. Bernier, who was
present, describes his manly bearing as hav-
ing affected many of the courtiers to tears ;
and when he implored that his life might be
taken at once, rather than that his strength
and reason should be undermined by the
hateful opium draught* (which he evidently
believed to be the common fate of captive
princes), even Aurungzebe seemed touched
with compassion, and assured him of safety
and good treatment.
It is not likely that this pledge was re-
deemed ; for Soliman, together with his bro-
ther, Seper Sheko, and the young sonof Mo-
i rad, all died in Gwalior within a short space
of time, while the emperor's own son, Mo-
hammed, lived several years, and was even-
; tually restored to comparative freedom. The
■ doom of Morad was less easily decided ; for
i it was necessary to Aurungzebe's views that
I his death should be well known; and the
I convenient method of poisoning him in
' prison might leave a doubt regarding his
fate on the public mind, which, in the event
of a political crisis, would be eagerly seized
by agitators or pretenders. The prince was
popular, despite (or probably on account of)
his misfortunes : he had endeavoured to es-
cape by means of a rope let down from the
battlements ;t and Aurungzebe felt that
there was no time to lose in compassing his
destruction. The son of a man who had
been arbitrarily put to death by the prince,
while viceroy of Guzerat, was incited to
complain against him as a murderer; and,
after the formality of a trial and sentence,
the last act of this family tragedy closed
with the execution of Prince Morad, in
prison. The three brothers of Aurungzebe
and their brave sons had now all fallen vic-
tims to his ambition and their own, goaded on
by the hateful policy which too often leaves to
eastern princes little choice beyond a throne
or a grave. Their aged parent, by a terrible re-
* Bernier calls it pousta, and says it was simply a
strong infusion of poppy-heads, which the intended
victims were compelled to drink daily until they be-
came toqrid and senseless, and so died.
t Khati Khan, quoted by Elphinstone, vol. ii.,
p. 45t, It is to be regretted that no complete
tribution, sickened with horror as the tidings
of one catastrophe after another slowly
reached him within the walls of his palace-
prison. He execrated the name of the son
whose crimes had thus cast his own into the
shade, and would not suffer his presence.
Aurungzebe made repeated overtures of
reconciliation by affecting to seek his advice
on various affairs of state, and ventui'cd to
proffer two requests — the first on behalf of
his third son. Prince Akber, for the hand of
the daughter of Dara, then under the pro-
tection of her aunt Jehanara ; the second,
for some of the jewels retained by Shah
.Tehan, for the decoration of the throne.
The deposed monarch indignantly rejected
both demands, declaring that his grand-
daughter should never, with his consent, be
thus degraded ; and the maiden, on her part,
avowed her purpose of self-destruction,
should force be attempted to ally her with
the son of her father's murderer. With
regard to the jewels, Shah Jehan sternly
bade his son make wisdom and equity the
ornaments of his throne, and use no imnor-
tunity to obtain the coveted gems, since the
hammers were in readiness which should, in
that case, crush them to powder. Aurungzebe
prudently gave way, and his father, gratified
by this submission, and by the ample pro-
vision made for his expenditure, afterwards
sent him various articles more especially
connected with the insignia of royalty.
The early measures of the new emperor
were well calculated to obliterate from the
minds of his subjects the monstrous iniqui-
ties above detailed. In the Deccau he had
gained a high character for justice as well
as austerity ; and on grasping the reins of
government, he evinced a determination to
make the welfare of the people his leading
object. In marching to battle against Dara,
Aurungzebe had strenuously restrained his
soldiers from plundering the countries
through which they passed, and had even
given compensation for the damage unavoid-
ably occasioned. During a terrible famine
which prevailed over diflFerent parts of
India, resulting from the combined effects
of drought and civil war, he made great
exertions for the relief of the wretched suf-
ferers, by remitting the taxes, and spending
large sums from the treasury in the pur-
translation has been made of the works of this
author, Vv'hose real name was Mohammed Hashem
Khan. He wa^ brought up in the service of Aurung-
zebe, by whom both he and his father (also an his-
torian) were employed in various important military
and diplomatic positions.
140
DANGEROUS ILLNESS OF AURUNGZEBE, 1662.
chase and conveyance of grain, from Bengal
and the Punjanh, to the chief seats of dis-
tress. This calamity having passed over,
the emperor found leisure to plan the exten-
sion of his dominions, resting the justifica-
tion, alike of past and future aggression, on
the duty of propagating the Koran by all
and every means. One quality, essential to
the character of a statesman, or even a suc-
cessful genera], he wanted — namely, confi-
dence in his fellow-men. It was the fitting
curse of this arch-hypocrite, that suspicion
should lie like the canker-worm at the root
of his best-laid plans, occasioning the haras-
sing distrust, or at least the want of cordial
support to which the reverses of his generals
may be for the most part attributed.
Towards the end of 1661, a successful ex-
pedition v;as despatched against the Rajah of
Bikaneer ; and early in the following year,
Meer Jumla, whose talents were at once the
dread and admiration of his distrustful mas-
ter, was sent to attempt the subjugation of
Assam. Having obtained possession of the
capital, the victor boastfully declared his
intention of pursuing his conquests, and
opening the way to China. The rainy sea-
son brought with it a change of affairs.
The rich plains on either side the Burram-
pootra were flooded ; the cavalry could not
march or even forage ; and when the floods
subsided, a pestilence broke out among the
troops, so that Meer Jumla was glad to
make terms with the rajah, renounce his
magnificent projects, and withdraw his
army. Before reaching Dacca he expired
(January 7, 1663), stung by disappoint-
ment, and worn down by the fatigues which,
despite the burden of advanced age, he had
shared in common with the humblest sol-
dier. His son, Mohammed Ameen, was im-
mediately raised to the rank enjoyed by the
deceased. Aurungzebe himself had recently
received a forcible warning of the precarious
tenure by which emperors and peasants
alike hold, not merely worldly possessions,
but life itself. A dangerous attack of fever
completely prostrated him, and his tongue
became so palsied as to deprive him almost
entirely of the power of speech. Intrigues
regarding the succession arose immediately;
but Aurungzebe clung to political even more
tenaciously than to physical existence, and
during the crisis of his disorder, caused him-
self to be carried into the diurnal assembly
of the nobles. Some days after, Vhen scarcely
recovered from a swoon (so long and deep
that his death was generally reported), he
sent for Rajah Jey Sing, and two or tliree
other chief omrahs, to convince them that
he lived; and iu their presence, being still
unable to articulate, wrote an order for the
great seal, which had been placed in the
charge of the Princess Roushenara, enclosed
in a bag, and impressed with the signet which
had remained fastened to his arm. These
manifestations of a strong will triumphing
over bodily weakness, inspired fear and ad-
miration in the beholders, and had the de-
sired effect of preventing any plots for the
rescue of Shah Jehan, or conspiracies for
less worthy ends. When convalescent,
Aurungzebe sought repose and change of
scene iu Cashmere, little thinking of the
fierce and prolonged strife • about to burst
forth in the Dccean, mainly in consequence
of his own insidious policy. By gradually
undermining the strength of the two re-
maining Mohammedan kingdoms of the
south, he had anticipated their reduction to
a state of enfeeblement and disorganisation,
which must render them an easy conquest
so soon as he should find leisure to take the
field in person at the head of an extensive
and powerful army. Meanwhile, he cared
not to trust Jey Sing, Jeswunt Sing, Di-
leer Khan, or any other general, much
less his own son, Mauzim, with a sufficient
force for the reduction of these kingdoms,
lest he should furnish weapons against him-
self: the troops placed under their com-
mand were, therefore, skilfully calculated as
sufficient to maintain a distressing and desul-
tory warfare, but nothing more. The im-
perial schemer had not a suspicion that in
thus, as it were, drawing the claws of the
Moslem rulers of Beejapoor and Golconda,
he could possibly be serving the interest of
a third party, as intriguing and hardly less
bigotted than himself, though in a precisely
opposite direction.
Rise of Mahratta power. — It will be re-
membered, that in sketching the ancient
condition of India, the Mahrattas have been
mentioned as inhabiting the territory lying
between the range of mountains which
stretches along the south of the Nerbudda,
parallel to the Vindya chain; and a line
drawn from Goa, on the sea-coast, through
Beder to Chauda on the Wurda ; that river
being the eastern, and the sea the western
boundary. This singular country will be
described in a subsequent section, as also its
inhabitants, of whom it is here only neces-
sary to remark, that the soldiery were small
sturdy men, active and persevering, posses-
RISE OP THE MAHRATTA POWER.— BIRTH OF SEVAJEE, 1627. 141
sing nothing of the chivalrous sentiments or
dignified bearing of the Rajpoots, but a great
deal more worldly wisdom. The chiefs, in
the time of the Great Moguls, were the
representatives of families who had for gene-
rations filled the old Hindoo offices of heads
of ■\'illages, or functionaries of districts,
under the names of patels, desmookhs, &c.,
and had often been employed as partisans
under the governments of Ahmednugger and
Beejapoor. They were nearly all Soodras,
of the same caste with their people, but
some claimed to have Rajpoot blood in their
veins. Though our present knowledge does
not show that the Mahrattas formed at any
time an united commonwealth, their strongly
marked characteristics indicate a broad line
of demarcation between them and the people
of Camara and Telingana, and also between
the lower orders of Hindoostan ; although
the difference in this latter case is less
striking. Mussulman writers, proverbially
slow to recognise differences among infidels,
scarcely notice the Mahrattas by this dis-
tinctive appellation until the beginning of
the seventeenth century; although the sur-
names of chiefs, mentioned at earlier periods,
prove their having belonged to that race.
In the time of Malek Amber they first
emerge into notice ; and, under his govern-
ment, the noblest of them, Lookjee* Jadu
Rao, held a jaghire for the support of 10,000
men. Among his dependants was Malojee
Bhoslay, a man of inferior rank, who, by a
singular chain of circumstauces,t obtained
Jeejee Bye, the daughter of Jadu, in mar-
riage for his son Shahjee, a.d. 1604; and the
issue of this union was two children, of
whom the younger was the famous Sevajee.
Shahjee has been mentioned as an important
actor in the concluding events of the Ahmed-
nuggur state. He was subsequently em-
ployed by the king of Beejapoor on con-
quests to the southward, and obtained a
considerable jaghire in the Mysore country,
including the towns of Sera and Bangalore,
in addition to that he had previously pos-
sessed, of which the chief place was Poona.
• Jee is the Mahratta adjunct of respect, equiva-
lent to our Mr. Bije, signifies lady. — (Grant Duff's
History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 121.)
t When Shahjee was about five years old, he was
taken by his father to the house of Jadu Rao,
•where a large number of Hindoos of all castes had
assembled to celebrate a religious festival. Pleased
with the boy's bearing, Jadu merrily asked his
daughter, a pretty child of three years' old, whether
she would take her play-fellow for a husband ; and
the little maiden, by throwing at him some of the
U
Three years after the birth of Sevajee (in
1627), a disagreement arose between his
parents, on account of a second marriage
being contracted by Shahjee, who took his
elder son with him to the Mysore, leaving
the younger with his mother at Poona.
As all Mahratta chiefs were wholly illite-
rate, they usually retained a number of
Brahmins in their service, styled Carcoons,
or clerks, who were necessarily entrusted
with their most private affairs. One of
this class, Dadajee Konedeo, a man of talent
and integrity, was left by Shahjee in charge
of the Poona jaghire ; and from him and his
mother, Sevajee imbibed a deep and bitter
hatred against the Mohammedans. The ex-
ploits of the heroes of the Raraayana and Ma-
habarat,with other wild andfantastic legends,
were the boy's delight ; he performed with
earnest zeal the numerous observances en-
joined by his creed, and anxiously waited the
time whenhe should be old enough and strong
enough to assert the rights and dignity of
the insulted gods of his country. These
feelings, in part, supplied the want of a
more enlightened and exalted patriotism ;
and they afforded to Sevajee an object and
a rallying point, of which, in after years,
he learned the value. Like the mail-clad
barons of old England, Shahjee deemed all
book-learning undignified, if not degrading
drudgery ; and his son could never so much
as write his name. In horsemanship, and the
use of warlike weapons, he was unrivalled.
Poona is situated at the junction of the
hilly country with the plains ; hence Sevajee,
in the hunting parties and military exercises,
which formed his chief occupations, con-
stantly associated with the soldiery iij his
father's service, and the plundering high-
landers of the neighbouring Ghauts. The
Bheels and Coolies, to the north of Poona
— .the Ramoosees to the south — viewed with
admiration the young chief, to whom every
glen and defile of their mountain recesses
were well known ; but his earliest adherents
were the Mahrattas, called Mawulees, from
the appellation of the valleys which they
red colour at hand, in accordance with the usages
of the festival, seemed to express assent. To the
astonishment of all present, Malojee instantly started
up, and desired the company to bear witness that
Jeejee Bye and Shahjee were affianced. Jadu was
exceedingly indignant at the advantage taken of
him ; but Malojee persisted in his claim, and being
an active partisan, rose gradually in the service of
the state of Ahmcdnuggur, and by the intercession
of the king himself, eventually obtained the fulfil-
ment of his long-cherished desire.
142
EARLY PROCEEDINGS AND PROGRESS OF SEVAJEE.
inhabited immediately to the west of Poona.
Before he was sixteen, Sevajee began to
talk of becoming an independent poligar, to
the serious alarm of Dadajee, who endea-
voured to wean him from his lawless asso-
ciates by confiding much of the affairs of
the jaghire to his superintendence^ and tried
earnestly to convince him that a much more
brilliant destiny might be expected to await
him, as a steady adherent of the Ahmed-
nuggur government, than as a rebel. But
the twig was already bent, and would grow
only in one direction ; and, in spite of the
popularity gained by the courteous and
winning manner of Sevajee among the
respectable ^Mahrattas in the neighbour-
hood, it was whispered that he was a sharer
in the profits of several extensive gang-rob-
beries committed in tlie Concan.
The hill-forts possessed by Beejapoor, like
most others under Moslem rule, were much
neglected. Being remote and unhealthy,
they were sometimes occupied by a single
foreign commander, with a small garrison of
ill-paid local troops ; or, in other cases, left
in charge of the nearest desmookh, or other
•revenue-officer. Our adventurer saw the
opportunity afforded by this state of things
for his plans of gradual and insidious aggres-
sion; and by some means, not precisely
known, succeeded in getting possession of
Torna, a hiU-fortress, twenty miles S.W. of
Poona, A.D. 1646. He immediately sent
ambassadors to Beejapoor, representing his
conduct in the most favourable light, and, by
dint of arguments and bribery, was suSered
to retain possession unmolested for several
years, until it became known that he had
built a stronghold on a neighbouring hill,
by the aid of a golden treasure supposed to
have been miraculously discovered to him,
among some ruins at Torna, by the goddess
Bhavani. A serious remonstrance was ad-
dressed to Shahjee, who wrote in strong
terms to Dadajee and his son, reminding
them of the danger to which he was exposed
by their encroachments, and bidding them
desist from all such attempts. Dadajee
once more essayed to change the settled
purpose of his young master ; but soon after-
wards, when about to expire, worn out with
age and anxiety, he bestowed on him a part-
ing benediction ; and instead of further dis-
suasion, bade him protect Brahmins, kine
and cultivators, preserve the temples of the
Hindoos from violation, and — follow the for-
tune which lay before him.
'J^hcsc injunctions were obeyed to the
letter. Under pretence of the poverty of
the country and its increasing expenditure,
Sevajee withheld the revenue from his father,
and proceeded step by step, by manoeuvring
and bribery, to gain fort after fort; until
at length, as before stated (p. 130), he had
gained possession of the whole tract between
the Chakun and the Neera, without blood-
shed or any disturbance. " The manner in
which he established himself," says Grant
Duff, "watching and crouching like the
wily tiger of his own mountain valleys,
until he had stolen into a situation from
whence he could at once spring upon his
prey, accounts both for the difficulty found
in tracing his early rise, and the astonishing
rapidity with which he extended his power
when his progress had attracted notice, and
longer concealment was impossible." In
1648, Sevajee thought fit to throw down the
gauntlet of open rebellion, by attacking and
pillaging a convoy of royal treasure on the
road to Callian ; and the news had scarcely
reached Beejapoor, before it was followed
by tidings, that five of the principal hill-
forts in the Ghauts, and subsequently
Callian, and the whole of the northern
Concan, were in the occupation of the same
insidious foe.
Shahjee was seized and brought before
Mohammed Adil Shah, who, heedless of
his assurances that his son was acting in
his defiance, as much as in that of their
mutual sovereign, imprisoned him in a
stone dungeon, of which he caused the
door to be walled up, declaring, that if the
insurrection continued beyond a certain
time, the remaining aperture should be
likewise closed. Sevajee was extremely
alarmed by this menace, and is alleged to
have been only dissuaded from submission
by the arguments of his wife, who urged
that his father's liberty might more pro-
bably be wrung by necessity from the king
of Beejapoor, than obtained by blind re-
liance on the promises of a power so noto-
riously treacherous. He therefore main-
tained his position, and made overtures to
Shah Jehan, who received his application
the more favourably, as the wily Mahratta,
anxious to leave himself a resource in the
event of being hard pressed by his own
government, had carefully avoided inroads
on !Mogul territory. It was probably by
the intercession of the emperor that Shahjee
was released from his dungeon ; but four
years elapsed before he was permitted to
leave Beejapoor : at the expiration of which
ASSASSINATION OP AFZOOL KHAN BY SEVAJEE— a.d. 1659. 143
time his presence in the Carnatic became
necessary to the interests of the govern-
ment, on account of an extensive insurrec-
tion, in which his eklest son had been slain.
The restoration of Shahjee to his jaghire
was the signal for the renewal of Sevajee's
plans of aggrandisement. During the pre-
vious interval, he had delayed entering the
imperial service, by preferring an hereditary
claim to certain dues on land in the Joonere
and Ahmednuggur districts, which he affected
to desire to see settled before proceeding
to Delhi. His first step, on resuming open
hostilities against the Beejapoor state, was
to seize the hilly country south of Poona,
whose rajah, having refused to co-operate
with him, he had allowed to be removed by
assassination. The arrival of Aurungzebe
in the Deccan, in 1655, somewliat discon-
certed Sevajee, who at first addressed the
prince as his suzerain ; but, on seeing him
engaged in war with Golconda, thought to
profit by the general confusion, and, for the
first time, invaded the Mogul dominions.
He surprised and plundered the town of
Joonere; but a similar attempt upon Ahmed-
nugger proved less successful : and, alarmed
by the rapid conquests of the imperial
troops, Sevajee sought, by excuses and pro-
mises, to obtain forgiveness for his recent
proceedings. At this crisis the illness of
Shah Jehan suddenly called off Aurung-
zebe to Delhi; and the Mahratta chief,
taking advantage of his departure, imme-
diately renewed his attacks on Beejapoor,
where the king had been succeeded by his
son, a minor. A large army was despatched,
(a.d. 1659), under the command of a noble,
named Afzool Khan, who, at his public
audience of leave, boastfully declared that
he \yould bring back the insignificant rebel,
and cast him in chains under the footstool
of the throne. Sevajee was informed of the
vaunt of his opponent, with whose character
he was acquainted, and concerted his mea-
sures accordingly. On the approach of the
hostile force, he took up his residence in the
hill-fort of Pertabghur, and sent ofiers of
submission, couched in the humblest terms,
to Afzool Khan, who deputed a Brahmin,
high in his confidence, to complete the
negotiation. This man, Sevajee, during a
private interview by night, contrived to win
over to his cause, which he afBrmed to be
that of the Hindoos and the Hindoo faith.
By their joint artifice, the haughty Moslem
was persuaded that Sevajee's excessive alarm
could only be overcome by his personal
assurances of mediation at the court of
Beejapoor, and he readily consented to leave
the army and advance to meet the repentant
rebel. In compliance with the suggestion
of the treacherous Brahmin, the 1,500 men,
who had escorted their general to within a
few hundred yards of the fort, were forbidden
to proceed further, for fear of exciting the
apprehensions of Sevajee. Accompanied by
a single armed attendant, Afzool Khan ad-
vanced to the appointed place of meeting,
and, descending from his palanquin, entered
the open bungalow prepared for his recep-
tion, where, clad in thin white robes, with a
straight sword in his hand, he impatiently
awaited the arrival of Sevajee, whose figure
(unpretending, from its diminutive size, and
rendered ungainly by the extreme length of
the arms) was seen descending the heights
with slow and hesitating steps. His only
follower carried two swords in his waist-
band, a common circumstance among the
Mahrattas; but Sevajee himself was seem-
ingly unprovided with any offensive or de-
fensive weapon, although secretly prepared
for deadly strife. The convenient axiom
for evil-doers — that the end justifies the
means — had induced the Mahratta chief to
proceed on this occasion as if about to at-
tempt an act of heroic self-devotion, instead
of a treacherous assassination, lifter per-
forming, with earnest solemnity, his morning
devotions, he laid his head at the feet of his
mother (Jeejee Bye), and having received
her blessing, arose and equipped himself in
a suit of chain armour, over which he placed
his turban and a cotton tunic. His right
sleeve concealed a crooked dagger, named
from its form a " beechwa," or scorpion, and
his left-hand held a small steel instrument,
called a " wagnuck," or tiger-claw, on ac-
count of its three crooked blades, which are
easily hidden by half-closed fingers. Thus
provided, Sevajee approached the khan, and,
at the moment of the embrace, struck the
wagnuck into his body ; then, instantly fol-
lowing up the blow, dispatched him with his
dagger. The attendant of Afzool refused
quarter, and fell vainly endeavoui-ing to
avenge his ill-fated master. The blast of a
horn and the firing of five guns announced
the unhallowed triumph of Sevajee to the
Mawulees. They rushed from the different
wooded recesses, where they had been posted,
upon the Beejapoor troops, who, suddenly
roused from fancied security, were slaugh-
tered or dispersed almost without resistance.
Numbers were driven by hunger into a sur-i
144 EXPLOITS OF SEVAJEE— PLUNDER OP SURAT— a.d. 1664.
render, after long wandering in the neigh-
bouring wilds, and all were humanely re-
ceived by Sevajee, who, throughout his
whole career, was remarkable for gentle
treatment of prisoners, always excepting
such as were suspected of concealing trea-
sure, in which case, like the Great Moguls,
he resorted to torture without stint or
scruple.
By this violent deed, Sevajee gained pos-
session of the whole train of equipment
which had been sent against him, and many
of the Mahrattas were induced to enlist in
his service ; but the most distinguished
captive of that nation having steadily refused
to renounce his allegiance, was honourably
dismissed with costly presents. From this
period, up to the close of 1662, Sevajee was
engaged in hostilities with the king of
Beejapoor, who took the field against him
in person ; but, after recovering much terri-
tory, was compelled to turn his chief atten-
tion to a revolt in the Carnatic, upon which
the Mahratta chief regained his former con-
quests, with usury, and succeeded, through
Shahjce's mediation, in obtaining a peace, by
which he was recognised as master of the
whole coast-line of the Concan for 250
miles (between Goa and Callian), and ex-
tending above the Ghauts for more than
150 miles from the north of Poona to the
south of Merich on the Kistna. The ex-
treme breadth of this territory did not
exceed 100 miles. The hardiness and pre-
datory habits of his soldiery, enabled Sevajee
to support an army of 7,000 horse and
50,000 foot (a much larger force than the
size of his country would seem to warrant),
and he soon prepared to take advantage of
his truce with Beejapoor, by extending his
dominion at the expense of the Moguls.
To put an end to these aggressions, Shaista
Khan (viceroy* of the Decean, and the empe-
ror's maternal uncle) marched from Aurun-
gabad, drove the marauding force from the
field, captured Poona and Chakun, and
took up his position at the former place,
within twelve miles of Singhur, the hill-fort
to which Sevajee had retired. The house
occupied by the viceroy had been originally
built by Dadajee for Jeejee Bye, and her son
resolved to take advantage of his perfect
acquaintance with its every inlet and outlet,
by surprising the intruder, notwithstand-
ing his well-planned precautions. Leaving
Singhur one evening after dark, and posting
small bodies of infantry on the road to sup-
port him, Sevajee, attended by twenty-five
Mawulees, proceeded to the town, into which
he gained admission by joining a marriage
procession, planned for the purpose. By
the aid of a few pickaxes, the party suc-
ceeded in entering the mansion, but not
without awakening some of the women of
the family, who gave the alarm. Shaista
Khan escaped from the window of his bed-
chamber, having first received a sword-
cut, which severed two of his fingers, while
letting himself down into the court below.
His son, and most of his attendants, were
cut to pieces in a moment, after which
Sevajee retreated with all speed, and as-
cended Singhur amid a blaze of torches, in
full view of the Mogul camp.
On the following morning, a body of the
enemy's horse came galloping towards the
fort, but were driven off in confusion ; and
on this occasion the Mahrattas, for the first
time, pursued the Mogul cavalry. Shaista
Khan, blinded by grief and mortification,
instead of taking active measures against
Sevajee, accused Jeswunt Sing (who had not
long before arrived with re-inforcements) of
treachery ; and the dissensions of the leaders
crippled the movements of the army, until
Aurungzebe removed Shaista Khan to
Bengal, and sent Prince Mauzim to com-
mand in conjunction with the rajah.
After a feeble attempt to invest Singhur,
Jeswunt retired to Aurungabad ; and Seva-
jee, glad to be released from the necessity of
standing on the defensive, having spread
several false reports of his intentions, set off
with 4,000 horse, surprised the rich and
defenceless city of Surat, and, after six days
of systematic plunder, leisurely proceeded to
Raighur, a newly-erected fort in the Con-
can, which became thenceforth the seat of
his government. The booty acquired at
Surat was very considerable, and would
have been greater, but for the determined
defence made at the English and Dutch
factories, where some of the native chiefs
had taken refuge. The English, especially,
gained much favour with Aurungzebe, who
granted them a perpetual exemption from a
portion of the customs exacted from the
traders of other nations at Surat.*
At Raighur, Sevajee learned the death of
Shahjee, who, although of a great age, con-
* It seemed necessary to notice this circumstance
here ; but the progress of European power, until
the close of the reign of Aurungzebe, so little affected
the general state of India, that I have thouglit it
best, for the sake of clearness, to reserve an accounl
of it for a brief separate sketch.
SEVAJEE ENTHAPPED BY AURUNGZEBE— ESCAPES IN A BASKET. 145
tinued to pursue his favourite diversion of
hunting, until he was killed by a fall from
his horse, a.d. 1664. He had restored his
jaghire to perfect order, and extended his
dominions to the southward, ■with the tacit
permission of the king of Beejapoor, until
they comprehended the country near Ma-
dras, and the principality of Tanjore. Seva-
jee now assumed the title of rajah, struck
coins in his own name, and carried on hos-
tilities alternately against the Beejapoor and
imperial authorities. He collected a fleet,
took many Mogul ships, and exacted ran-
soms from all the rich pilgrims proceeding
therein towards Mecca. On one occasion
he embarked with a force of 4,000 men, in
eighty-seven vessels, and made an unex-
pected descent on the wealthy town of
Barcelore, about 130 miles below Goa, plun-
dered all the adjacent territory, and returned
in triumph to his mountain capital. His
homeward voyage was, however, prolonged
for many days by adverse winds, which, with
several other unfavourable circumstances,
were interpreted as indications of the displea-
sure of the goddess Bhavani, at this the only
naval enterprise in which Sevajee ever in per-
son engaged. Alarming intelligence awaited
his return. Aurungzebe at length resolved
to punish the sacrilegious conduct of "the
mountain rat," as he contemptuously styled
the Mahratta chief; had sent a powerful force
against him under Jey Sing and Dileer Khan,
with orders, after his subjugation, to proceed
against Beejapoor. Sevajee, for once taken
by surprise (in consequence of the neglect or
treachery of one of his own commanders),
held out for some time, and then opened a
negotiation with Jey Sing, who assured him,
"on the honour of a Rajpoot," of safety,
and even favour, on the part of the em-
peror, in return for entire submission and
co-operation. This guarantee, even Sevajee
deemed sufficient ; and he proceeded, with a
few attendants, to the Mogul camp, and
agreed to deliver up twenty of the forts
which he possessed, together with the terri-
tories attached thereto. Raighur and eleven
others, with the dependent country, he was
to hold as a jaghire from Aurungzebe, in
whose service his son, Sumbajee — a boy,
seven years old — was to receive the rank of
a munsubdar of 5,000; and, probably in
lieu of the alleged hereditary claims which
he had so pertinaciously asserted, Sevajee
stipulated for certain assignments (Chout
and Surdeshmooki) on the revenue of each
I district under Beejapoor ; an arrangement
which laid the foundation of the ill-defined
claims of the Mahrattas in after-times.
No mention is made of this condition in
the letter written by Aurungzebe to Sevajee,
in which he distinctly confirmed every other
article of the treaty ; nor in the subsequent
communications, in which he highly com-
mended the conduct of Sevajee and his
10,000 followers during the invasion of
Beejapoor by Jey Sing, and invited him to
court, with a promise of returning at plea-
sure to the Deccan.
The wily Mahratta was, in this instance,
duped by the equally wily Mogul, and, at
the termination of the campaign, set off for
Delhi, accompanied by his son, and escorted
by 1,500 men. Aurungzebe thought his foe
secure within his grasp ; and instead of act-
ing as Akber would have done, by surpassing
in courtesy and generosity the expectations
he had raised, and binding to him the now
submissive chief by the ties of self-interest,
at least, if not of gratitude, — he broke every
pledge, received him with marked disre-
spect, and caused him to be placed among
the commanders of the third rank, in the very
position promised to his child. Overpowered
by rage and mortification, Sevajee sank to
the ground in a swoon, and, on recovering
his senses, bitterly reproached Ram Sing
with the breach of his father Jey Sing's
plighted faith ; and then, declaring that life
was valueless to him without honour, abruptly
quitted the imperial presence.
Aurungzebe, astounded by this unex-
pected display of vehemence, refused again
to receive the Mahratta, who requested per-
mission to return to the Deccan, but, not
obtaining it, affected to be quite cast down,
and begged that his followers at least might
be suffered to depart, as the air and water of
Delhi injured their health. This solicita-
tion was gladly complied with, and Sevajee
seemed completely at the mercy of his foes.
But Ram Sing, feeling his father's honour
compromised by the conduct of Aurungzebe,
connived at the escape of the captive, who,
having taken to his bed on pretence of sick-
ness, caused himself and his son to be con-
veyed by night out of the house and city in
two large hampers, which the guards suf-
fered to pass without examination, having
been purposely accustomed to see similar
baskets sent to and fro, filled with sweet-
meats, flowers, &c., as presents to the Brah-
mins and physicians. His couch was occupied
by a servant, and his flight remained undis-
covered till a late hour on the following
146 SEVAJEE FIRST LEVIES " CHOUT," 1670— HIS CIVIL POLICY.
day. In the meantime, Sevajee repaired to
an obscure spot, where a swift liorse had
been posted in readiness, and rode off with
liis son behind him. At Muttra he shaved
off his hair and whiskers, assumed the dis-
guise of a Gosaeu, or Hindoo religious men-
dicant, and leaving Sumbajee under the
charge of a Brahmin, pursued liis journey
by the most obscure and circuitous roads,
arriving at Raighur in December, 1666, after
an absence of nine mouths. Tidings of his
recovered liberty reached the Deccan long
before his arrival ; and the English factors at
Carwar, in the Concan, wrote, September
29th — " If it be true that Sevajee has es-
caped, Aurungzebe will quickly hear of him
to his sorrow."
Shah Jehan died about this time, and his
favourite child, Padshah Begum, or Jeha-
nara, was formally reconciled to her brother,
whose fortunes were then in the zenith of
prosperity. Tranquillity prevailed through-
out his territories, the limits of which had
been extended by the acquisition of Little
Thibet, to the north, and Chittagong, on the
eastern shore of the Bay of Bengal. Some
questions of etiquette had arisen with Shah
Abbas II., of Persia, which threatened to
involve a war with India, and preparations
were being made, but set aside in conse-
quence of the death of the Shah. The sole
drawback on the general success of the
empire was the ill-fortune of its army at
Beejapoor, where the king had resorted to
the old plan of defence, by reducing the
surrounding country to a desert. Jey Sing,
after investing the capital, was compelled to
withdraw with loss to Aurungabad. Being
soon after recalled, he died on the road to
Delhi, having (according to Tod) been poi-
soned by his second son, at the instigation
of Aurungzebe, who promised that he should
succeed to the raj (or kingdom) of Mewar,
to the prejudice of his elder brother. Ram
Sing ; but, when the crime was committed,
withheld the promised reward, giving the
parricide only the district of Kamah,* and
offering no opposition to the claims of the
rightful heir. Jeswunt Sing was now asso-
ciated in command of the troops with Prince
Mauzim and Dileer Khan — an arrangement
which proved very advantageous to Sevajee ;
for Jeswunt exercised great ascendancy over
the mind of the prince, and was secretly
better disposed towards the Hindoos than
to the government he served. By his
mediation a treaty was concluded, a.d. 1667,
* Annals of Majast'han, vol. ii., p. 355.
on highly favourable terms for Sevajee, to
whom a considerable portion of territory
was restored, a new jaghire granted in
Berar, and his title of rajah recognised.
Aurungzebe confirmed these extraordinary
concessions in the hope of deluding Sevajee
again into his power : with this view the
Mogul leaders were enjoined to keep up a
constant intercourse with him, and even
directed to feign disaffection to their own
government, and a disposition to enter into
a separate alliance with the Mahrattas.
The emperor long patiently waited the result
of his scheme ; but at length discovering or
suspecting the truth — namely, that his in-
tended victim had turned his weapons
against himself, by conciliating both the
prince and rajah by bribes and gifts — he
renewed hostilities by giving orders for an
open attempt to seize his person, a.d. 1670.
During the preceding prolonged truce, Se-
vajee, after obtaining from Beejapoor and
Golconda the promise of an annual tribute,
had laid aside his sword, and diligently
employed himself in giving a regular form
to his government. His great and varied
talents were never displayed in a more
forcible light than when exerted in domestic
administration ; and his rules were rigo-
rously enforced, whether framed to check
oppression of the cultivatorsf or fraud against
the government. In the arrangement of
the army, the most careful attention to
method and economy was manifest. Both
troops and officers received high pay, but
were obliged to give up their plunder of
every description to the state, or to retain it
at a fixed price.
The trump of war again sounded in the
ears of the miserable inhabitants of the
Deccan. Sevajee recovered Singhur near
Poona, plundered Surat anew, carried his
ravages over Candeish, and levied the famous
"chout," which, like the black mail of Scot-
tish border warfare, exempted from plunder
the districts in which it was regularly paid.
He equipped a powerful fleet, and resumed
his attacks on the Abyssinians of Jinjeera,
which induced them to seek the protection
of the Moguls. These successes were, in
great measure, attributable to the inadequacy
of the opposing force. Aurungzebe at length
convinced of this, sent 40,000 men, under
Mohabet Khan, to the scene of action, but
quite independent of the authority of Prince
t Ssvajee's assessments were made on the actual
state of the crop, of which lie is alleged to have
taken two-fifths. — (Duff's MahraUas,so\. i., p. 231.)
AFGHAN WAR.— HINDOO INSURRECTION.— INFIDEL TAX REVIVED. 147
Mauzim, whose fidelity he doubted, and
with whom he left Dileer Khan, but recalled
Jeswunt Sing. The consequence of this
divided command was the total defeat of
20,000 Moguls, A.D. 1672, in a field-action
with the Mahrattarf. Mauzim and !Moha-
bet were recalled, and Khan Jehan Bahadur,
the viceroy of Guzerat, sent to take their
place ; but active hostilities were soon
dropped by mutual consent, the energies of
both Aurungzebe and Sevajee* being fully
employed in other quarters.
The emperor's attention was drawn off by
the increasing importance of a war which
had been going on for some time with the
north-eastern Afghans, including the Eusof-
zies. In 1670, an army under Ameen Khan,
the governor of Cabool, had been totally
destroyed ; and, about the same time, a king
was set up by the Afghans, who is repre-
sented by European writers as an impostor,
assuming to be the murdered Prince Shuja;
but is described, by Indian authorities, as
an Afghan chief. In 1673, the emperor
proceeded to direct, in person, the military
operations of his troops, accompanied by his
son, Mohammed Sultan, who was now re-
leased from prison ; but, at the close of two
years of unsatisfactory effort, he returned to
Delhi, and a very imperfect settlement was
afterwards arranged with the Afghans.
In 1676, an insurrection of an extra-
ordinary character broke out near the
capital, originating in the disorderly con-
duct of some soldiers of the police, who
had mobbed and beaten a Hindoo devotee of
the sect of quietists, called Sadhs or Satna-
mis, in consequence of a quarrel between
him and one of their comrades. The Sat-
namis came to the rescue, several lives were
lost, and the affray increased until the
numbers of both parties became conside-
rable. The devotees took possession of the
town of Narnol, and maintained it, defeating
two separate detachments sent against them
from Delhi. The idea gained ground that
they were endowed with supernatural powers;
that swords would not cut, nor bullets pierce
them, whUe their weapons dealt death at
every blow. From standing on the defen-
sive, they took an aggressive part, and were
joined by several of the neighbouring zemin-
• Sevajee is said to have given a large sum of
money to Khan Jehan, part privately, and part pub-
licly: the Mogul styled the latter, tribute ; but the
Hindoo called it " oil-cake given to his milch cow."
t i'he three eldest sons of Jeswunt Sing had
perished : two, it is alleged, in consequence of the
inclement climate of Cabool. The third, a youth of
dars. The growing belief in their invinci-
bility seemed likely to justify its assertion;
for no troops could be induced to face them ;
and, on learning their approach to Delhi,
Aurungzebe found it necessary to order his
tents to be prepared to take the field, and,
with his own hand, wrote extracts from the
Koran, to be fastened to the standards as a
protection against enchantment. The royal
force made a stand, and the insurgents
were defeated and dispersed with great loss.
But the previous success had tempted many
of the Hindoo inhabitants of Ajmeer and
Agra to take up arms, and it was with
difficulty that order could be restored in
these provinces. Instead of the conciliatory
measures which were imperatively needed,
Aurungzebe, chafed by recent occurrences,
took the only step necessary for the com-
plete alienation of the minds of his Hindoo
subjects, by reviving the jezia (capitation tax
on infidels) abolished by Akber. In vain
the populace assembled in crowds round the
palace ; no notice was taken of their tears
and complaints. Determined that their
appeal should be no longer ignored, they
intercepted the emperor on his way in pro-
cession to the mosque ; but the stern com-
mand was given to force a path, and many
of the suppliants were trampled under the
feet of the horses and elephants. The tax
was submitted to without further demur, but
the good-wiU of the Hindoos was gone for
ever : in the Deccan every one of them
became at heart a partisan of the Mahrattas ;
and the little fanning needed to blow into a
flame the long-smouldering discontent of the
Rajpoots was given within a few months of
the imposition of the hated jezia.
Rajah Jeswunt Sing died at Cabool, and
his widow immediately set out for India,
without waiting the permission of Aurung-
zebe, who made this insubordination a pre-
text for endeavouring to seize her two infant
sons.t By the ingenuity of Durga Das,
the Hindoo leader, the rani and her chil-
dren were enabled to escape to Marwar, over
which principality the elder of the boys,
Ajeet Sing, lived to enjoy a long reign, and
became a formidable enemy to the Great
Mogul, t Ram Sing, of Jeypoor or Amber,
remained faithful to the master who had so
great promise, expired suddenly at Delhi in extreme
torture, owing to a poisoned robe of honour bestowed
on him by the perfidious emperor. — (Hy'ast'han.)
X Another female and two infants were captured
by Aurungzebe, the Rajpoots sacrificing their lives
freely, as if the supposititious family had been really
the widow and orphans of the deceased rajah.
148 DEATH OF SEVAJEE, 1680— HIS LATEST ACQUISITIONS.
little desei-ved such loyalty ; but Raj Sing,*
the rana of Oudipoor, entered heartily into
the cause of the children of Jeswuut Sing,
and refused to agree to the jezia. A long
and tedious contest commenced with the
year 1679, and was carried on by Aurung-
zebe in a spirit of the most barbarous
intolerance. His orders to the tvTO princes,
Mauzim and Akber, were " to make the
enemy feel all the evils of Avar in their
utmost severity ;"f and the Rajpoots, having
at length caught something of the intolerant
spirit of their foes, plundered the mosques,
burned the Koran, and insulted the Moollahs.
A strange turn was given to affairs by the
conduct of Prince Akber, then only twenty-
three, who was induced to join the Rajpoots,
on condition of being proclaimed emperor,
in lieu of his father. This rebellious attempt
proved unsuccessful; and after being deserted
by every Mohammedan follower, Akber
resolved to take refuge with the Mahrat-
tas, and, under the escort of Durga Das
and 500 Rajpoots, arrived safely iu the Con-
ean, a.d. 1681. Great changes had taken
place in the affairs of the Deccan since the
withdrawal of the flower of the Mogul troops
to the north-eastern frontier, in 1672. Se-
vajee having turned his arms against Beeja-
poor, had, in the course of the year 1673,
become master of the whole of the southern
Concan (excepting the points held by the
English, Abyssinians, and Portuguese), and
of a tract above the Ghauts, extending to
the east beyond the upper course of the
Kistna. In 1675 he crossed the Nerbudda,
and began to invade the Mogul territory.
In the next four years he formed separate
alliances with the kings of Golconda and
Beejapoor against the Moguls, now under
the command of Dileer Khan ; and, in return
for his co-operation, received valuable ces-
sions of territory, including the jaghire
in Mysore, which had been suffered to de-
scend to his half-brother, Venkajee.
* About this time Aurungzebe had sent a body of
2,000 horse to escort to his court a princess of
Koopnagurh, a younger branch of the Marwar
house, whom he demanded in marriage. The
maiden, indignant at the thougiit of wedding the
enemy of her race, sent a message to Raj Sing by
her preceptor (the family priest), entreating him to
come to her rescue. " Is the swan," she asked, " to
be the mate of the stork ; a liajpootni, pure in blood,
to be wife to the monkey-faced barbarian ?" The
rana accepted the challenge, appeared suddenly be-
fore Roopnagurh, cut off the imperial guard, and
carried away the princess in triumph to Oudipoor.
t Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 498. The same para-
graph states, " their orders were to employ part of
One singular feature in this period of the
history of Scvajee, is the flight of Sumba-
jee, the elder of his two sons, who had been
imprisoned in a hill-fort for attempting to
violate the wife of a Brahmin. This young
man, of his father's better qualities, seems to
have only inherited personal daring. He
succeeded in making liis escape, and took
refuge with Dileer Khan, who welcomed
him gladly, but on learning that Aurung-
zebe was treacherously disposed, connived at
his quitting the imperial camp. Sumbajee
then threw himself upon the mercy of his
father, who sent him back to the fort of
Panalla. From thence he was speedily re-
leased by an unexpected event. Sevajee,
shortly after dictating a letter to Venkajee,
in which he bade hira " arouse and be
doing," for the present was the time for
great deeds, was seized with a painful swell-
ing in the knee-joint, which threw him into
a fever, and in a few days cut short his
extraordinary career, in the fifty-third year
of his age, a.d. 1680.
The emperor expected, that deprived of
their leader, the Mahrattas would sink into
insignificance. But he was mistaken. Se-
vajee well knew the character of his coun-
trymen, and Iv^d carefully used that know-
ledge in laying down rules for their govern-
ment. The Brahminical creed could not
be used as a weapon of persecution, but
its mingled tolerance and exclusiveness
made it a powerful instrument for concen-
trating the religious feelings of the Hindoos,
and directing their full force against the
cruel and bigotted oppression commanded
by the Koran, and practised by Aurungzebe.
Sevajee made it his mainstay, scarcely less
when the boy-chief of a band of half-naked
and superstitious mountaineers, than when
these had become the nucleus of a powerful
army, and he the crowned king of a state
(under Providence) of his own creation, with
yearly-increasing territory and revenue. It is
their troops to cut off all supplies from the fugitives in
the hills ; and with the rest to lay waste the country,
burn and destroy the villages, cut down the fruit-
trees, and cany off the tcometi and children," of
course as slaves, or for the services of the harem
and its degraded eunuch guards. This barbarity
contrasts with the practice of the Hindoos, whether
Rajpoot or Mahratta. Sevajee himself decreed, that
" cows, cultivators, and women were never to be
molested ; nor were any but rich Mohammedans, or
Hindoos in their service, who could pay a ransom, to
be made prisoners" (Duff, vol. i., p. 230) ; and El-
phinstone remarks, that " his enemies bear witness to
his anxiety to mitigate the evils of it [war] by humane
regulations, which were strictly enforced."
CHARACTER OF SEVAJEE. AURUNGZEBE MARCHES TO THE DECCAN. 149
not wonderful that the memory of the
man whose well-digested plans " raised
the despised Hindoos to sovereignty, and
brought about their own accomplishment,
when the hand that had framed them
was low in the dust," should be grate-
fully remembered by his countrymen; but
it affords melancholy evidence of the dark-
ness of heathenism to be told, that the
murder of Afzool Khan is spoken of as a
" commendable exploit," and its perpetrator
" as an incarnation of the Deity setting an
example of wisdom, fortitude, and piety."*
Impartial judges admit that Sevajee pos-
sessed qualities which, in an unenlightened
Hindoo, may be termed admirable. Pre-
pared for every emergency, peril could not
daunt, nor success intoxicate him. Frugal
even to parsimony in his habits, courteous and
endearing in manner though passionate in
disposition, he continued to the last to move
freely about among the people, inspiring
them with his own spirit of determined op-
position to the Mohammedans. Intent on
following every turn and winding of Aurung-
zebe's snake-like policy, he also practised
treacherous wiles ; but the use of these un-
worthy weapons did not detract from his
personal courage. To have seen him charge,
was the favourite boast of the troops en-
gaged in the Deccani wars ; and his famous
sword (a Genoa blade of the finest temper,
named after his tutelary goddess, Bhavani)
was preserved and regarded with nothing
short of idolatrous veneration.
On the death of Sevajee, one of his sur-
viving widows burned herself with his body.
The other, Soyera Bye, endeavoured to place
her son, Rajah Ram, a boy of ten years old,
on the throne, to the exclusion of Sumbajee,
whose mother had died during his infancy.
The attempt failed, and Sumbajee was pro-
claimed king. He caused Soyera Bye to
be put to a painful and lingering death;
imprisoned her son; threw the leading
Brahmin ministers into irons; and slew
such of his other enemies as were not pro-
tected by the sanctity of their caste. Prince
• History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 297. The
above account of Sevajee is almost exclusively de-
rived from the able and interesting narrative of
Grant Duff, whose labour of love has rendered him
as eminently the historian of the Mahrattas, as Colo-
nel Tod of the llajpoots.
t Dileer Khan died in this year. He was, perhaps,
the ablest officer in the service of Aurungzebe, whose
battles he fought for six-and-twenty years ; but he,
like Jey Sing and Jeswunt Sing, found, in the sus-
picion and neglect of his crafty master, fit punish-
X
Akber reached the Deccan in June, 1681,
and was honourably received by Sumbajee,
who acknowledged him as emperor, but
showed no intention of supporting his pre-
tensions; devoting such time as he could
spare from drinking and debauchery to mak-
ing war upon the Abyssinians of Jinjeera
and the Portuguese. The vast treasure
accumulated by his father was soon dis-
sipated; the people were harassed by op-
pressive taxes; and the troops, being left
in arrears of pay, began to appropriate the
plunder taken on expeditions for their own
use, and to degenerate from comparatively
regular bands into hordes of rapacious and
destructive freebooters.
Such was the state of things when Au-
rungzebe, in 1683, arrived at the head of the
whole force of the empire. Sumbajee awoke
from his stupor; and ably seconded by his
father's trained troops, cut off the greater
part of the army sent under Prince Mau-
zim to overrun the Concan, in 1684 ;f and,
in the following year, retaliated this inva-
sion by taking advantage of the march of
the emperor against Ahmednuggur, to
sack and burn the great city of Boorhan-
poor. In 1685, tlie Moguls being again
drawn off to the south, Sumbajee made
another bold inroad into the territory in
their rear, and plundered Baroach with the
adjacent part of Guzerat. About this time
he entered into a defensive alliance with
the king of Goleonda, which Aurungzebe
resenting, sent an army against that state,
then weakened by internal dissension. Its
sovereign, Abool Hussun, though indolent
and voluptuous, was popular, and his go-
vernment and finances were ably managed
by ]\Iaduna Punt, an active and upright
Brahmin, in whom he placed full con-
fidence, thereby exciting the discontent of
the Mussulmans, especially of Ibrahim
Khan, the commander-in-chief, who, on
the approach of the imperial force, under
Prince Mauzim, deserted to him with the
greater part of the army. The obnoxious
minister was murdered; the king fled to
ment for treachery to the brave and unfortunate
Dara. The emperor confiscated the property of the
deceased, and being disappointed in its value, vainly
strove to extort, by torture, from his secretary, a
confession of the manner in which the supposed sur-
plus had been employed. The relatives of Dileer
Khan were not, however, more unfortunate than
those of Khan Jelian Bahadur, foster-brother to the
emperor, who visited his death-bed, but appropriated
his property, giving the usual order to seek for hid-
den deposits, and recover all outrstanding debts.
150 BEEJAPOOR AND GOLCONDA ANNEXED TO THE EMPIRE— 1686-7.
the hill-fort of Golconda; and Hyderabad
was captured and plundered for three days
by tlie Mogul soldiery, notwithstanding the
efforts of the prince to check this breach of
discipline, which his suspicious father attri-
buted to his connivance, as a means of em-
bezzlement for ambitious purposes.
By a large pecuniary payment, Abool
Hussun purchased a brief respite from
Aurungzebe, who then moved in person
against Beejapoor. The army of this mo-
narchy had been so reduced by prolonged
warfare, that the. city, although surrounded
by walls six miles in circumference, was
soon completely invested. The Patan gar-
rison seemed determined to perish sword in
hand, and were therefore suffered to capitu-
late after a practicable breach had been
made, through which Aurungzebe entered
the place on a portable throne. The state
was extinguished, a.d. 1686; and Beeja-
poor, after attaining a grandeur quite dis-
proportioned to the extent of the kingdom
of which it formed the capital, sunk rapidly
into the deserted condition in which it now
stands. The young king, after three years'
close imprisonment in the Mogul camp,
perished suddenly, it is said by violence,
the fears of his imperial gaoler having been
raised by a popular commotion in his favour.
Golconda, the last independent Moham-
medan state, was next destroyed, after a
duration of 175 years. Abool Hussun strove
by costly gifts to deprecate the ambition
of Aurungzebe, who, while receiving these
offerings, was secretly occupied in in-
trigues with the ministers and troops of the
unhappy king; and at length, his plans
being matured, denounced him as a pro-
tector of infidels, and laid siege to Gol-
conda. Roused by this treachery, Abool
Hussun, though deserted on all sides, de-
fended the fort for seven months, but was
eventually betrayed into the hands of his
merciless foe, by whom he was sent to end
his days in the fortress of Doulatabad.
His fate and treatment awakened the com-
passion of Prince Mauzim, whose media-
tion he solicited; and the prince, touched
by the dignity and resignation with which
the monarch bore his misfortunes, or rather
injuries, made an earnest appeal in his
favour. The result was his own imprison-
* In all these countries Aurungzebe acquired little
more than a military occupation. " The districts were
farmed to the Desmookhs and other zemindars, and
were governed by military leaders, who received
twenty-five per cent, for the expense of collecting ;
ment for nearly seven years, after which he
was released and sent as governor to Cabool.
All the territories which had been acquired
by Beejapoor and Golconda were annexed
to the empire, as well as many of Sevajee's
conquests; Venkajee was deprived of the
Mysore jaghire, and confined to Tanjore;
and Sumbajee seemed to have sunk into
a state of inertia, and become heedless of
passing events. Prince Akber, dreading to
fall into his father's hands, fled to Persia,
where he remained till his death, about
eighteen years afterwards.
Aurungzebe had now reached the culmi-
nating point of success; neither humanity
nor policy had stayed his covetous grasp:
he stood alone, the sole jMoslem ruler in
India — the despotic master of an unwieldy
empire, over which the seeds of disorgani-
sation and dissolution were sown broadcast.
In Hindoostan, the finest provinces were, for
the most part, entrusted to the care of in-
competent and needy governors, chosen
purposely from the lower ranks of the -o-
bility. These men oppressed the peopiO
and neglected the troops — evils which
Aurungzebe preferred to the risk of being
supplanted by more able and influential
officers. His policy in the Deccan was
equally selfish and short-sighted. In the
governments of Beejapoor and Golconda, he
might have found valuable auxiliaries in
keeping under the power of the Mahrattas ;
but, by their destruction, he threw down
the chief barrier to lawless incursions, set-
ting aside constituted authorities without
supplying any efficient substitute.* Of the
disbanded armies, the Patans and foreign
mercenaries probably obtained service under
the emperor ; the remainder joined Sumba-
jee, or plundered on their own account; and
amid the general anarchy and distress, the
new-born feeling of religious opposition
rapidly gained ground. Notwithstanding
the inefficiency of their rajah, the Mah-
ratta chiefs exerted themselves individually
against the invader, and their energies were
rather stimulated than enfeebled by the un-
expected capture of Sumbajee, with his mi-
nister and favourite companion, a Brahmin
named Kaloosha, who were surprised by a
body of Moguls during a revel at a favourite
pleasure-house in the Concan. It was sug-
and sent up the balance, after paying their troops, to
the emperor ; unless, as often happened, assignments
were made for a period of years on fixed districts for
the payment of other chiefs."— (Elphinstone's His-
tory of India, vol. ii., p. 522.)
SUMBAJEE EXECUTED, 1689.— MOGUL AND MAHRATTA TROOPS. 151
gested, that Sumbajee might be used as a
tool to obtain possession of the Mahratta
strongholds ; and with this view, he was
offered life on condition, of becoming a
Mussulman. But misfortune had awakened
in him a sense of degradation, and the only
reply was a sarcastic message to Aurungzebe,
and an invective on the False Prophet, for
which offence a cruel punishment was de-
creed. His eyes were destroyed by a red-
hot iron, his tongue cut out, and he was at
last beheaded in the camp bazaar, together
with Kaloosha, a.d. 1689.
Sumbajee had neither deserved nor ob-
tained the confidence of his subjects; but
they were deeply mortified by his ignominious
fate. The chiefs assembled at Raighur,
acknowledged the infant son of the deceased
as his successor, and nominated his uncle,
Rajah Ram, regent. Raighur was invested
by a Mogul force, and taken in 1690, after
a siege of several months, through the
treachery of a Mawulee leader. The young
rajah and his mother fell into the hands of
Aurungzebe, who treated them with un-
usual kindness.* Rajah Ram remaining at
liberty, proceeded to the distant fortress of
Jinjee, in the Carnatic, and assumed the
sovereignty. He did not attempt more than
the general direction of affairs, sending two
able leaders to create a diversion in his own
country, and leaving independent com-
manders to carry on desultory operations
against the Moguls, with whom a tedious
and harassing struggle commenced, in which
the advantage lay on the side of the ap-
parently weaker party.
Yet Aurungzebe was indefatigable. Al-
though far advanced in years, he superin-
tended every hostile operation, and besieged
in person the chief places. t His immense
armies were marshalled forth in splendid
array. The nobles went to battle in quilted
cotton tunics, covered with chain or plate
armour, and rode on chargers, whose huge
• Begum Sahib, the emperor's daughter, evinced
unremitting kindness to both mother and child
during their long captivity. The boy, being much
with her, attracted the notice of Aurungzebe, who
jestingly applied to him the nick-name of Sahoo or
Shao, a word signifying the opposite of thief, robber,
and similar terms, by which he habitually designated
Sumbajee and Sevajee. — (Buff's Mahrattas, vol. i.)
+ The traveller, Gemelli Carreri, who saw Aurung-
zebe at Bepjapoor, in 1695, describes him as slender
and of low stature, with a smiling aspect, bright
eyes, a long nose, and a beard whose silvery white-
ness contrasted with an olive-coloired skin. His
dress was of plain white muslin, with one .arge
emerald in the turban. He stood amid his omrahs
saddles, housings of cloth or velvet, satin
streamers, bells, chains, and other ornaments
of gold and silver, with the frequent ad-
dition of pairs of the bushy ox-tails of Tibet
hanging down on either side, were better
adapted for a triumphal procession, than
for warfare with mountaineers in their own
country. The common soldiers imitated
their superiors in their cumbersome attire,
and likewise in sloth and effeminacy : the
result was a total relaxation of discipline.
The Mahrattas, on the contrary, were
mounted on horses, small, strong, and active
as themselves, with a pad for a saddle, and
a black blanket folded over it for nightly
covering during their expeditions, when
each man slept on the ground, with his
spear stuck by him, and his bridle tied to
his arm, ready for any emergency. A led
horse, with bags to contain the expected
plunder, formed the remainder of their
camp equipage. Their common food was a
cake of millet, ^vith perhaps an onion ; their
dress, a small turban, a fold of which was
frequently passed under the chin,J a quilted
cotton tunic, tight drawers descending to
the knee, and a scarf or sash rolled round
the waist. Some carried a sword and shield;
a certain proportion were armed with match-
locks, or bow and arrows ; but the prevailing
weapon was a bamboo spear, thirteen or
fourteen feet long, which they wielded with
extraordinary skill. Thus armed and habited,
they wisely adhered to the desultory war-
fare which could alone be successfully
waged against the heavily-attired legions of
the Mogul. § Then, as now, their only
name for a victory was, " to plunder the
enemy," this being, in their eyes, the chief
object as well as sole irrefragable evidence
and measure of conquest.
Fort after fort was captured by the im-
perial army; but the Mahrattas meanwhile
issued from their lurking-places and over-
spread the newly-acquired territories, as
leaning on a staff or crozier (like those used by the
fakeers) ; received petitions, read them without spec-
tacles, and endorsed them with his own hand. In
youth, savs Manouchi, he was pale even to ghastliness.
X The Mahratta description of a very fierce-look-
ing person, includes a turban tied beneath the
chin, and mustachios " as thick as my arm." 'Their
national flag, swallow-tailed and of a deep orange
colour, is emblematic of the followers of Mahdeo.
§ The Mawulees were famous for sword-in-hand
combat; the Hetkurees (Concan mountaineers)
ueed a species of firelock, and excelled as marks-
men : both parties could, with ease, scale rocks and
mount precipices, which the Moguls would have
found certain destruction in attempting.
152 DISTRESS AND HUMILIATION OF MOGUL ARMY— 1700 to 1707.
well as Berar, Candeisli, and Malwa. De-
tachments were sent against them in various
directions, but to little avail; for, on per-
ceivinn; their approach, the wily mountai-
neers dispersed at once, without attempting to
stand a charge ; and after leading the Moguls
a weary, and generally fruitless chase, were
themselves ready to follow the retreating
track of their disheartened pursuers, and
take advantage of any opening or confusion
in the ranks, occasioned by accident or
exhaustion. Fighting such foes was like
beating the air, and even worse ; for while
their number and power were rapidlj' in-
creasing by the alliance of the zemindars
of the countries which they overran, the
troops of Aurungzebe, thinned by long and
sanguinary sieges, required frequent recruit-
ment from Hindoostan, whence also supplies
of money had to be drawn.
Rajah Ram died a.d. 1700, and was suc-
ceeded by his infant son, Sivajee, under the
regency of Tara Bye, mother of the young
rajah. This change had little effect on the
war. Aurungzebe went on taking forts,
until, by the close of the next five years, all
the principal Mahratta strongliolds had
fallen before him ; but then the tide turned,
and the rapidly-multiplying foe themselves
became besiegers, and regained many for-
tresses, at the same time intercepting several
convoys, and thus depriving the emperor of
the means of paying his army.* No writer
has delineated the condition of the agricul-
tural population of the Deccan ; but their
sufferings from these prolonged and deso-
lating wars must have been frightful. From
them the circle of distress spread gradually
but surely, until scarcity of food began to be
felt even in the imperial camp, and was aggra-
vated by the devastating effects of heavy
rains. On one occasion, a sudden flood of
the Beema inundated the imperial canton-
ment during the night, and caused the de-
struction of 12,000 persons, with horses,
cattle, and stores beyond calculation.
The contempt with which the Moguls
once regarded the Mahrattas had long given
place to dread; while the Mahrattas, on
their part, began to see the emptiness of
the pomp which surrounded the Great
Mogill, and mocked the Mussulmans, by
pretending to ejaculate devout aspirations
for the prolonged life of their best patron,
• Among the many letters extant, written by Au-
lungzebe, are several addressed to Zulfikar Khan,
desiring him to search for hidden treasures, and
hunt out any that may have fallen into the hands
Aurungzebe. The news from Hindoostan
was of an increasingly-disheartening cha-
racter; the Rajpoots were, for the most part,
in open hostility, and their example had been
followed by the Jats (a Hindoo people of
the Soodra class), near Agra: against these,
as also against a body of Sikhs at Muttra,
it had been necessary to send a force under
a prince of the blood. Zulfikar Khan, the
chief Mogul general, being treated with
irritating distrust by his sovereign, seems to
have grown dilatory and indifferent, if, in-
deed, the dark clouds which were gathering
over the political horizon did not induce
him, like other nobles, designedly to tem-
porize with the foe. The princes — now fa-
voured, now disgraced — turned pale when
summoned to the presence of their father ;t
while he, remembering the fate of Shah
Jehan, trembled yet more at the semblance
of overstrained humility than at open insu-
bordination.
At length overtures of peace were made
to the Mahrattas, and Aurungzebe was
brought to consent to the liberation of
Shao, the son of Sumbajee, and to the pay-
ment of ten per cent, of the whole revenues
of the six soubahs of the Deccan (as Sur-
deshmooki), on condition of the maintenance
of a body of horse to keep order; but the
negotiation was broken off by the exorbi-
tant demands and overbearing conduct of
the ^Mahrattas. Disgusted and unhappy,
with dispirited troops and exhausted cattle,
the aged emperor retreated from Beejapoor
to Ahmednuggur, harassed all the way by
the enemy, who succeeded in dispersing
and destroying a portion of the grand army;
and, had they chosen to hazard a general
attack, would probably have captured the
person of their inveterate foe. That no
such attempt was made is a subject of fer-
vent exultation with Mussulman writers.
Aurungzebe gained Ahmednugger in safety;
and, when pitching his camp on the same
spot whence it had marched in so much
pomp and power twenty years before, he
sorrowfully remarked, that his campaigns
were ended — his last earthly journey com-
pleted. He had now entered the fiftieth
year of his reign, and the eighty-ninth of his
age ; but the extreme temperance and regu-
larity which characterised his physical ex-
istence, had preserved his faculties in an
of individuals, that means may be afforded to
silence " the infernal foot-soldiers," who were croak-
ing like the tenants of an invaded rookery.
1" Khafi Khan. — {Vide Elphinstone,vol.ii. p. 544.)
DEATH OF AURUNGZEBE, 1707— STATE OF THE EMPIRE, 153
extraordinary degree of perfection.* Yet to
him, freedom from the imbecility frequently
attendant on extreme age was rather a
curse than a blessing. The few sands still
remaining in his measure of life would, he
feared, be rudely shaken by the ambition of
his heirs, and, to avoid this danger, he made
a last exertion of power by sending away
his favourite son, Kaumbuksh, to Beejapoor,
and preventing Mauzim (then in Cabool) or
Azim (in Guzerat) from coming to Ahmed-
nuggur. His own children could not be
trusted to minister to their aged father,
although, in this awful period, he seems to
have had a newly-awakened yearning for
human sympathy. Death was fast ap-
proaching ; and what provision had he made
for the stability of the empire, the welfare
of the people, the salvation of his own soul ?
After his decease, which took place in Feb-
ruary, 1707, a willf was found beneath his
pillow, decreeing the division of the empire
among his sons : but he probably foresaw
the little attention which would be paid to
it, and might reasonably have adopted the
saying of another crooked politician, "Apres
* Khafi Khan says, " none of his five senses were
at all impaired, except his hearing in a small degree ;
but not so that others could perceive it." Aurung-
zebe possessed, in perfection, what Lytton Bulwer,
following a French proverb, calls the twin secrets for
wearing well — " a bad heart and a good digestion."
•r A previous will contained directions for his
funeral, the expense of which was to be defrayed
by a sum, equal to ten shillings, saved from the price
of caps which he had made and sold : 805 rupees,
gained by copying the Koran, were to be distributed
among the poor. (Elphinstone's India,yo\. ii.,p.551.)
X These remarkable and well-authenticated letters
contain many characteristic and interesting pas-
sages : for instance, " the camp and followers, help-
less and alarmed, are like myself — full of affliction,
restless as the quicksilver. The complaints of the
unpaid troops are as before. • • » The fever
has left me; but nothing of me remains but skin
and bone. My back is bent with weakness; my
feet have lost the power of motion. » • • I'he
Begum [his daughter] appears afflicted ; but God is
the only judge of hearts." To Kaumbuksh he says,
" Odiporee, your mother, was a partner in my ill-
ness, and wishes to accompany me in death ; but
everything has its appointed time."— (Scott's History
of the Deccmi, vol. i., pp. 8 and 9.) According to
Tod, this lady was a princess, not of Oudipoor, but
of Kishenghur, a minor division of Joudpoor.
§ As in the Deccan, so also throughout Hindoos-
tan, we can only form an idea of the condition of the
mass of the people by an incidental remark, scattered
here and there, amid many weary pages filled with
details of invasion and slaughter, pomp and intrigue.
The Mussulman writers were usually pensioners of
the monarch, whose deeds they chronicled; the Hin-
doo annalists were the bards of the leading families,
of which they formed important and cherished mem-
b»rs. Neither the one nor the other could be ex-
moi le diluge." His subjects — at least the
Mussulman portion — he commends to the
care of his sons, in his farewell letters, as a
charge committed to them by God himself;
and then proceeds to give vent, in discon-
nected sentences, to the terrible apprehen-
sions before which his spirit shrank in dis- -
may. " Wherever I look," writes the dying
emperor, " I see nothing but the Deity. I
know nothing of myself — wjiat I am — and
for what I am destined. The instant whicli
passed in power hath left only sorrow be-
hind it. I have not been the guardian and
protector of the empire," he adds, in the same
tone of remorse rather than repentance.
* * * "J have committed many crimes ; and
know not with what punishments I may be
seized. The agonies of death come upon me
fast. Farewell ! farewell ! farewell !"{
It has been shown that, during the latter
part of the reign of Aurungzebe, the empire
was manifestly losing its coherent power.
After his death, strife, luxury, and corrup-
tion in the court; disorganization in the
camp, and discontent among the people ;§
pected to rise above the class of mere annalists.
To have given a true and lively picture of the actual
state of the Indian population under Moslem rule,
would have tasked to the utmost the intellect of a
philosopher, the zeal of a pliilanthropist, the courage
of a martyr. And to whom should an historian,
thus richly gifted, havu addressed himself? Would
either the degraded Hindoo or the sensual Moham-
medan have cared to trace " the practical operation
of a despotic government, and rigorous and san-
guinary laws, or the efiect, upon the gre-at body of
the nation, of these injurious influences and agen-
cies."— (Preface to Elliot's Biblioffrapkical Index of
Historians of Mohammedan India.) No ; for to
Christianity alone belongs the high prerogative of
teaching men to appreciate justly their rights, duties,
and responsibilities. Even with her teaching, the
lesson is one which nations are slow to learn. Con-
cerning the reign of Aurungzebe, we know less than
of many of his predecessors ; because he not only
left no autobiography behind him, but even, for a
considerable number of years, forbade the ordinary
chronicling of events. Of the wretchedness pre-
vailing among the people, and the indignation with
which the imposition of the jezia was generally re-
garded, a forcible representation is given in a letter,
addressed by Raj Sing of Oudijjoor (wrongly attributed
by Orme to Jeswunt Sing of Marwar) to Aurungzebe,
in which he reminds him of the prosperity atten-
dant on the mild conduct of Akber, Jehangeer, and
Shah Jehan towards the Hindoos, and points out
the opposite results of the present harsh measures,
in the alienation of much territory, and the devasta-
tion and rapine which universally prevailed. " Your
subjects," he says, " are trampled under foot, and
every province of your empire is impoverished ; de-
population spreads, and difficulties accumulate. • • •
The soldiery are murmuring ; the merchants com-
plaining ; the Mohammedans discontented ; the Hin-
154 CONTESTED SUCCESSION— REIGN OF BAHADUR SHAH, 1707.
fostered by the imposition of the jezia and 1 to pacify the weeping boy with caresses,
excessive imposts upon land, grew apace, and promising to treat him as one of his own
the power of the great Moguls crumbled into children, a pledge he faithfully redeemed, in
ruins, its decay being hastened by the rapid | spite of the jealous insinuations of his own
increase of the Mahratta nation; the struggles
of the Rajpoots for independence ; the irrup-
tion of the Sikhs ; and the desolating inva-
sion of the Persian monarch. Nadir Shah.
The career of the successors of Aurungzebe
need be but briefly narrated, since their
reigns are not of sufficient interest to occupy
space which can be ill-spared from more
important matters ; beside which, the leading
events of the eighteenth century will again
come into notice in sketching the marvellous
rise of the English from humble traders to
lords paramount of India.
Bahadur Shah* — Prince Mauzim, the
rightful heir to the throne, on receiving
tidings of his father's decease, assumed the
crown at Cabool with the title of Bahadur
Shah, and offered to confirm to his brothers
the territorial possessions bequeathed to them
by Aurungzebe: viz., to Azim — Agra, with all
the country to the south and south-west ; to
Kaumbuksh — Beejapoor and Golconda. The
generous and upright character of Bahadur
Shah warranted belief in his good faith ; but
Azim, who, on the death of the emperor, had
hastened to the camp, from which he was
not far distant, and caused himself to be
proclaimed sovereign of the whole empire,
could not be prevailed upon to retract this
unwarrantable pretension.
Despite the exhausted state of the king-
dom, very large armies were assembled on
both sides, and a sanguinary contest took
place to the south of Agra, in which Prince
Azim and his two grown-up sons were slain.
The third, a child, was taken by the soldier
who decapitated his father, as he lay sense-
less in his howdah, and carried into the
presence of the emperor, together with the
bloody trophy of victory, the head of Azim.
Bahadur Shah burst into tears, and strove
doos destitute ; and multitudes of people, wretched
even to the want of their nightly meal, are beating
their heads throughout the day in want and destitu-
tion. How can the dignity of the sovereign be pre-
served who employs his power in exacting tribute
from a people thus miserably reduced?" — (Orme's
Historical Fragments of the Moyul Empire, p. 252.)
Aurungzebe's persecution of his Hindoo subjects
consisted in pecuniary exactions and systematic dis-
couragement: they were excluded from office, their
fairs and festivals forbidden, and even some of their
temples destroyed; but bodily suffering was rarely, if
ever, inflicted from mere bigotry; and capital punish-
ments, for any offence whatever, were infrequent.
sons. In this important battle the valour
and ability of Monaim Khan, who had been
Bahadur Shah's chief officer in Cabool, were
very conspicuous. Concealing his own dan-
gerous and painful wounds, he remained on
the field till late at night to restore order
and prevent plunder; and then, perfectly
exhausted, was lifted from his elephant, and
carried into the presence of the emperor, by
whom he was appointed vizier. Zulfikar
Khan and his father, Assud Khan, who had
at first taken part with Prince Azim, quitted
his camp, disgusted by hip arrogance, before
the late engagement, of which they had
remained spectators. On presenting them-
selves with fettered hands before the emperor,
they were gladly welcomed, and appointed to
high positions.
Prince Kaumbuksh, avain and flighty young
man, persisted in refusing to acknowledge the
supremacy of his elder brother, who, after
repeated attempts at negotiation, which were
rejected with scorn and defiance, marched
against him to the Deccan, and was again
victor in a battle near Hyderabad. Kaum-
buksh died of his wounds the same day ; his
children fell into the hands of their uncle,
by whom they were treated as kindly as
their orphan cousin.f The next important
event was a truce with the Mahrattas, among
whom internal dissensions had arisen, owing
to the release of Shao (by Prince Azim,
immediately after his father's death), and
the disputed succession between him and the
son of Tara Bye, whose claims, although an
idiot, were actively upheld by his ambitious
mother. The ascendancy of Shao was
recognised by the Mogul government, and
the chout, or fourth, of the revenues of the
Deccan conceded to him. The Rajpoots
were likewise permitted to make peace on
very favourable terms. The territory cap-
* Sometimes entitled Alum Shah Bahadur.
t Eradut Khan, one of the many rebellious nobles,
who, after the defeat of Azim, were freely pardoned,
says, that the sons of the fallen princes were always
permitted to appear fully armed before the em-
peror, to accompany him dailv in the chase, and
share in all his diversions. Seventeen princes—
his sons, grandsons, and nephews, sat round his
throne: the royal captives of Beejapoor and Gol-
conda were likewise suffered to take their place im-
mediately behind the royal princes ; and a crowd
of the high nobility daily thronged " the platform
between the silver rails."— (Scott's Deccan, vol. ii.,
p. 49.)
ORIGIN OF THE SIKHS— BAHADUR SHAH DIES, a.b. 1712.
155
tured from the rana of Oudipoor was restored,
aud he became again independent in all but
name. Ajeet Sing, the rajah of Marwar,
and Jey Sing, of Jeypoor, appear to have
obtained nearly similar advantages, but rather
from necessity than good-will, since the em-
peror was about to advance against them,
when his attention was diverted by intelli-
gence of the capture of Sirhind by the
Sikhs. These people, from an inoffensive,
religious sect, founded about the end of the
fifteentli century by a Hindoo named
Nanuk,* had been changed by persecution
into fanatical warriors. When driven from
the neiglibourhood of Lahore, which had
been their original seat, they took refuge in
the northern mountains, a.d. 1606, and
there remained for nearly seventy years,
until the accession of Guru Govind, the
tenth spiritual chief from Nanuk. This
leader conceived the idea of forming the
Sikhs into a religious and military common-
wealth. To increase their numbers, he
abolished all distinction of caste, and all
prohibitions regarding food or drink, except
the slaughter of kine, which was strictly
forbidden. Hindoo idols and Brahmins were
to be respected, but the usual forms of
worship were set aside. All converts were
admitted to a perfect equality, and were
expected to take a vow to fight for the
cause, always to carry steel in some part of
the person, to wear blue clothes, allow the
head and beard to grow, and neither clip nor
remove the hair on any part of the body.
The Sikhs fought desperately, but were
too few in number to accomplish the plans
of resistance and revenge planned by Guru
Govind, who, after beholding his strong-
holds taken, his mother and children mas-
sacred, his followers slain, mutilated, or
dispersed, was himself assassinated by a
private enemy. To his spiritual authority,
as Guru, no successor was appointed. The
temporal command of the infuriated Sikhs
was assumed by a Hindoo ascetic, named
Bandu, under whose leadership they overran
the east of the Punjaub, and, true to their
* The beauty of Nanuk, when a mere boy, attracted
the attention of a learned and wealthy Seyed, who
caused him to be educated and instructed in the
doctrines of Islam. As he grew up, Nanuk extended
his reading, collected maxims alike from the Koran
and the Vedas, and endeavoured to unite Moham-
medan and Hindoo doctrines on the basis of the
unity of God. Converts flocked around him, taking
the name of Sikhs {the instructed), and giving to
their preceptor the name and authority of Guru
{spiritual chief.) The doctrines of the sect Avere
vengeful motto of unceasing enmity to
the Mohammedans, not only destroyed the
mosques and slaughtered the mooUahs, but
massacred the population of whole towns,
sparing neither age nor sex, and even dis-
interring the bodies of the dead, and ex-
posing them as food for carrion. The chief
seat of these atrocities was Sirhind, which
they occupied after defeating the governor
in a pitched battle : they subsequently retired
to the country on the upper course of the
Sutlej, whence they made marauding in-
cursions, extending to the neighbourhood of
Lahore on the one side, and of Delhi on the
other.
Bahadur Shah marched against them in
1711, and soon obliged them to take refuge
in the hills, where they long continued to
struggle against the imperial force. Bandu
was at last shut up in a fort, which was
strictly blockaded ; but the Sikhs continued
the defence until large numbers perished of
hunger, and then made a desperate sally,
upon which the enemy took possession of
the fort without further resistance ; but
Bandu escaped through the self-devotion
of one of his followers, by whom he was
personated. t
After this success, the emperor took his
departure ; but the Sikhs had received only
a temporary check; and their power was
again in the ascendant, when Bahadur Shah
expired suddenly at Lahore (not without
suspicion of poison), in the seventy-first
(lunar) year of his age, and the fifth of his
reign, a.d. 1712.
Jehandar Shah. — On the death of the
emperor, a deadly' conflict commenced be-
tween his four sons, in which three perished
— the eldest ascending the throne, notwith-
standing his well-known incapacity, by the
aid of Zulfikar Khan, who had taken part
with him from ambitious motives, hoping to
govern absolutely under the name of vizier.
All the princes of the blood, whose persons
were within reach, were slain, to secure the
authority of the new ruler. But this iniquity
only served to heighten the hatred and disgust
gradually embodied in sacred volumes called Orunths,
and the Sikhs silently increased; until, in 1606, the
Moslem government took offence at their leading
tenet— that the form of worship offered to the- Deity
was immaterial — and put to death their existing
chief, whereupon the Sikhs took up arms under his
son, Hur Govind. — (H. T. Prinscp's Sikh Power.)
t Though struckby the generosity of the impostor,
Bahadur is said to have nevertheless sent him pri-
soner, in an iion cage, to Delhi, an act singularly at
variance with his compassionate nature.
156 SEYED BKOTHERS DEPOSE AND SLAY JEHANDAR SHAH, a.d. 1713.
excited by the pride and tyranny of Zulfikar
Khan, and the vices and follies of his impe-
rial froUgi, who lavished honours upon his
favourite mistress (originally a public dancer),
and promoted her relations, although, like
herself, of a most discreditable class, to the
highest dignities in the state. Dissatisfac-
tion prevailed throughout the court, when
tidings arrived that Teroksheer (the son of
one of the fallen princes whom Jehandar
had vainly striven to get into his power)
had prevailed upon two Seyed* brothers,
the governors of Behar and Allahabad, to
espouse his cause ; and having, by their aid,
assembled an army, was now marching to-
ivards Agra. Jehandar and Zulfikar met the
invaders, at the head of 70,000 men ; but,
being defeated, the emperor fled in disguise
to Delhi, and took refuge in the house of
Assud Khan. The treacherous old man
made him a prisoner, and persuaded Zulfikar
(who arrived soon after, with the remaining
troops) to make terms with the conqueror,
by the surrender of their unfortunate master.
The father and son then presented them-
selves to Feroksheer, with fettered hands, as
they had done to his grandfather, Bahadur
Shah, some six years before, but with a very
different result. Zulfikar and Jehandar
were strangled with a leathern thong, after
which their bodies were fastened to an ele-
phant, and dragged through the leading
thoroughfares of Delhi, followed by the
wretched Assud Khan, and all the female
members of his family, in covered carriages.
Thus ended the nine months' sway of Je-
handar Shah, A.D. 1713.
'Feroksheer' s first act of sovereignty was
to appoint the Seyed brothers to the highest
offices in the empire — the elder, Abdullah
Khan, being made vizier ; the younger,
Hussein Ali, ameer ool omra, or com-
mander-in-chief. He next proceeded to
remove from his path, by the bow-string,
such of the old nobility as might be disposed
to combine against him ; and the same in-
• Lineal descendants of Mohammed.
t The mother of Feroksheer had taken a leading
part in persuading the Seyed brothers, for the sake
of her husband who had befriended them, to uphold
her son ; and had sworn upon the Koran, that if they
would do so, no plot should ever be formed against
them, of which she, if cognizant, would not give them
immediate information. This jjledge was conscien-
tiously redeemed, and her timely warning more than
once preserved their lives. — Vide Col. Briggs' revised
translation of the Siyar-uUMutakherin — (Manners of
the Moderns), a work comprising the history of the
greater part of the eighteenth century, written in a
very clear and interesting manner, by Mir Gholam
strument was freely used among the remain-
ing members of the royal family, including
even his own infant brothers. These cruel-
ties were sure indications of a .suspicious
and cowardly nature ; and, as might be ex-
pected, his distrust was soon excited against
the very persons by whom he had been
raised to the throne. The consequence was,
that his whole reign was a continued,
though long-disguised struggle with the two
Seyeds, whose watchfulness and confidence
in each other rendered them eventually
victorious.f Feroksheer endeavoured to
weaken, by dividing them ; and, for this end,
sent Hussein against Ajeet Sing, of Marwar,
to whom a private intimation was for-
warded, that the emperor would be well-
pleased by the defeat and death of his own
general. The plot failed ; for the parties
immediately concerned wisely consulted
their mutual interest, by making a speedy
peace, and Hussein returned to court, bear-
ing with him the daughter of the rajah, to
be the bride of his ungrateful sovereign.
The nuptials were celebrated on a scale of
extraordinary magnificence; but were no
sooner terminated, than Hussein Ali was
sent to the Dcccan, ostensibly to prosecute
hostilities against the Mahrattas. Daud
Khan Panni, an Afghan commander, re-
nowned for reckless courage, received orders
to join Hussein, and, under pretence of
co-operation, to take the first opportunity of
effecting his destruction. But the agent
selected to carry this nefarious scheme into
execution was ill-chosen. Daud Khan,
though well-disposed to revenge the death
of his old patron, Zulfikar Khan, J would
not stoop to stab in the dark ; he therefore
set the Seyed at defiance, engaged him as
an open enemy, and, by the impetuosity of
his charge, had nearly triumphed, when a
ball pierced his brain, and at once changed
the fortune of the day. Hussein Ali pro-
ceeded to execute his commission against
the Mahrattas, without openly attributing
Hussein, a Delhi noble. Mr. St. George Tucker, late
chairman of the East India Company, who met him
repeatedly at Gya Behar, in 1786-7, alludes to him
as " the finest specimen of a nobleman I had ever
seen." — {Tucker's Life and Correspondence, edited
by J. W. Kaye, vol. i., p. 40.)
X Zulfikar Khan, on receiving the appointment^ of
viceroy of the Dcccan, had been permitted to reside
at court, leaving Daud Khan as his representative,
or, as it was then termed, naik suhah-dar, deputy
viceroy. He was himself succeeded, in 1713, by
Cheen Kilioh Khan (afterwards well-known under
the titles of Nizam-ool-Moolk and Asuf Jah), who
was in turn removed by Hussein Ali.
DEFEAT OP SIKHS— MASSACRE OP PRISONERS, a.d. 1715.
157 .
to tlie emperor the opposition which he had
encountered, and sent a strong detachment
against a chief named Dabari, who had
established a line of fortified villages in
Candeish, and by his depredations on cara-
vans, shut up the great road from Hiudoo-
stan and the Deeean to Surat. While one
portion of the imperial troops was thus
employed, another was dispatched against
the Sikhs, who had renewed their ravages
with increased fury. Bandu was defeated,
captured, and put to death in a most barba-
rous manner, and a large number of his
followers were slaughtered in cold blood.*
Those who remained at large were hunted
down like wild beasts, and a considerable
time elapsed before they became again for-
midable. In the Deccan the Moguls were
less successful : the Mahrattas practised
their usual tactics of evacuating assaulted
positions, and leading their foes, by the oft-
repeated expedient of a pretended flight,
among hilly and broken ground, where they
were easily separated and defeated in de-
tail, many being cut to pieces, and others
stripped of their horses, arms, and even
clothes. This inauspicious campaign was
at length brought to a discreditable con-
clusion ; for Hussein Ali, determined at
any cost to rejoin his brother at Delhi,
made a treaty with Rajah Shao, acknow-
ledging his claim to the whole of the terri-
tory possessed by Sevajee, with the addition
of later conquests, and authorising not only
the levy of the chout, or fourth, over the
whole of the Deeean, but also of surdesh-
mooki,t or one-tenth of the remaining re-
venue. In return, Shao was to pay a tribute
of ten lacs of rupees; to furnish a contin-
* The majority were executed on the field of
battle ; but 740 were sent to Delhi, and after being
paraded through the streets on camels, were be-
headed on seven successive days, having firmly re-
jected the ofl'er of life, on condition of belying their
religious opinions. Bandu was exhibited in an iron
cage, clad in a robe of cloth-of-gold and a scarlet
turban : around him were the heads of his followers,
fixed on pikes ; and even a dead cat was stuck up to
indicate the extirpation of everything belonging to
him. On his refusal to stab his own infant, the
child was slaughtered before his eyes, and its heart
forced into his mouth. The wretched father was then
torn to pieces with hot irons, and died defying his
persecutors, and exulting in the belief that he had
been raised up to scourge the iniquity and oppres-
sion of the age. — (Scott's History of the Deccan.)
t The Desmookh, literally chief of the district, was
Ml hereditary officer under the Hindoo government,
who received a portion of the revenue in money or
in kind ; " and," says General Briggs, " in the local
or modern appellations of Dcssavi, Nat Gour, Na-
gent of 16,000 horse; to preserve the tran-
quillity of the country; and to be answerable
for any loss occasioned by depredations,
from whatever quarter.
As Shao was at this time engaged in
civil war, it was manifest that he could but
very imperfectly perform his part of this
extraordinary agreement, since a consider-
able portion of the country recognised as
his, was really in possession of the hostile
party. Peroksheer refused to ratify the
treaty ; but Hussein Ali gained his point,
by returning to Delhi, where his presence
was much needed by his brother, Abdullah
Khan. This noble, though a man of talent,
was indolent, and devoted to the pleasures of
the seraglio; he therefore delegated the
business of the vizierat almost wholly to
his deputy, a Hindoo named Ruttun Chand,
whose strict measures, arbitrary temper, and
zeal for the Brahminical faith, aggravated
the jealous feelings with which his adminis-
tration was regarded by the Mussulman
nobility. Of this state of affairs Peroksheer
endeavoured to take advantage, by forming
a combination of the chief persons to whom
the vizier was known to have given offence.
Among these were Jey Sing, of Jeypoor,J
Cheen Kilich Khan, and others of impor-
tance, who entered warmly into the matter;
but the irresolution and timidity of the
emperor, together with the continued pre-
ference which he evinced, even at this
critical period, for incapable and profligate
advisers, disgusted and disheartened the
nobles who were inclined to take part with
him, and all except Jey Sing deserted his
cause, § and made their peace with the
vizier, from whom Cheen Kilich Khan re-
tumkur, Naidu, Dessye, Desmookh, and Zemindar,
we recognise the same person, from Ceylon to Cash-
mere, to the present day." — (Note to Siyar-ul-Mutak-
herin, p. 146.) It was as compensation for an
hereditary claim of this description, purchased by
Shahjee, that his son Sevajee stipulated with Au-
rungzebe for certain assignments on the Beejapoor
reveniieasearly as 16G6. — (Grant Dufl', vol. i.,p. 497.)
X This chieftain had been employed against the
Jats, whom, after a long course of operations, he
had succeeded in reducing to extremities ; when the
vizier opened a direct negotiation with them, in a
manner considered very derogatory to the honour
of the Rajpoot general. The cause of offence to
Cheen Kilich Khan was his removal from the vice-
royalty of the Deccan to the petty government of
Moradabad.— (Elphinstone's India', \o\. ii., p. 580.)
§ In marching through Amber, Hussein Ali, to
punish the fidelity of Jey Sing to the emperor,
gave full scope to the rapacity of the soldiery, who
ravaged the land and carried away many persons, of
both sexes, into captivity. — {Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.)
158 SEYEDS MURDER FEROKSHEER AND CROWN MOHAMMED SHAH.
ceived large promises of increased rank and
influence, in return for co-operation against
Peroksheer, whose doom was now sealed by
the arrival of Hussein Ali, at the head of an
army devoted to him, and strengthened by
10,000 Mahrattas. Hussein immediately
demanded the dismissal of Jey Sing to his
own principality. Feroksheer complied, and
strove to deprecate the vengeance of his
enemies by the most abject submission,
giving no encouragement to the few nobles
who were still inclined to take part with
him. All was gloom and uncertainty, when
the townspeople suddenly rose against the
Mahrattas, upon which the Seyeds, taking
advantage of the disturbance, marched into
the city, forcibly occupied the palace, and
wrung by torture, from the women of the
seraglio, a knowledge of the hiding-place of
the unhappy emperor, who was seized, flung
into a dark closet, and soon afterwards put
to death in a cruel and insulting manner.
The body was then buried in that general
receptacle for the murdered princes of the
house of Timur — the sepulchre of Hu-
mayun : but the people evinced an un-
looked-for degree of grief; and of the needy
multitude who followed the funeral proces-
sion, no one could be induced to accept the
money brought for distribution, or partake
of the victuals prepared in conformity to
custom. Three days afterwards a number
of poor persons assembled at the place where
the corpse had been washed and perfumed,
according to Mussulman rites, and having
distributed a large quantity of food, sent for
several readers of the Koran, with whom
they passed the whole night in tears and
lamentations, separating in the morning in
an orderly manner.
" Oh, wonderful God ! " exclaims Khafi
Khan, in concluding the above narration,
" how did thy Divine justice manifest
itself in the several events of this revolu-
tion ! Feroksheer, in his days of power,
had strangled his own brothers, yet in their
tender years : he had murdered numbers of
innocent persons, and blinded others ; and
he was, therefore, destined to sufler all these
cruelties before he was permitted to die :
he was doomed to experience, from the
• Vide Siyar-ul-Mutahherin, vol. i., p. 193. From
using such language respecting two Seyeds, Khafi
Khan was evidently a Sonnite or Sunni (see note to
p. 62) ; and disputes between this sect and the
Sheiahs had risen to an alarming height during the
late reign, a violent affray having taken place be-
tween them in the capital. In Ahraedabad, a still
more serious contest, in which many lives were lost,
hands of strangers, all those agonies which
others had suflered at his. Nor did the two
brothers escape the day of retribution, or
go themselves unpunished : in a little time
they met with that same usage which they
had inflicted on others."*
During their remaining tenure of pros-
perity, the Seyeds exercised unlimited power.
Upon the deposition of Feroksheer, a sickly
prince of the blood-i-oyal was brought forth
from the seraglio, and crowned under the
name of Rafi-ed-derjut. He died of con-
sumption in little more than three months,
and his younger brother, Rafi-ed-dowlah,
being set up in his stead, fell a victim to
the same disease in a still shorter period.
Mohammed Shah was the title bestowed
by " the king-makers" on Roshen-aJrhter,
grandson to Bahadur Shah, whom they
raised to the throne on the death of Rafi-cd-
dowlah. This prince, now in his eighteenth
year, had been educated, like his predeces-
sors, in enervating seclusion; but he pos-
sessed an able counsellor in his mother, who
enjoined the most unhesitating acquiescence
with the will of his imperious protectors,
until the time should arrive when he might
safely defy their anger. The desired oppor-
tunity was not long in presenting itself.
The decease of the two pageant emperors
so soon after the murder of Feroksheer
(although really not the interest of the
Seyeds, but the reverse), had served to
deepen the distrust and dislike with which
they were generally regarded ;t and in Alla-
habad, Boondi, and the Punjaub, efforts
were made to take advantage of a govern-
ment which was daily becoming weaker.
In Cashmere, a furious contest took place
between the Hindoos and Mussulmans, pro-
voked by the persecuting and insulting con-
duct of the latter, in which some thousand
lives and much property were destroyed
before the authorities could restore tran-
quillity. But the most important event of
this period was the revolt of Cheen Kilich
Khan, the governor of Malwa. This chief,
whose descendants were the famous NizamsJ
of the Deccan, is better known by his titles
of Nizam-ool-Moolk or Asuf Jah, by which
he will henceforth be indiscriminately
had occurred between the Hindoos and the Mussul-
mans, in which the governor (Daud Khan Panni)
took part with the former.
t Rqfi-ed-derjut was said to have been poisoned
for attempting to contravene the will of the Seyeds.
X Nijam-ool-Moolk, signifies regulator of the state ,
" the Nizam," though scarcely a correct expression, is
commonly used by European writers to this day.
MOHAMMED SHAH TRIUMPHS OVER THE SEYEDS.
159
termed. His father, a Turk, had been a
favourite officer with Aurungzebe, under
whom he had himself served with distinc-
tion. The waywardness of Feroksheer had
induced him to take part with the Seyeds,
from whom he received the government of
!Malvva ; but their evident weakness tempted
his ambition, and induced him to levy
troops, and attempt the establishment of an
independent power in the Deccan. March-
ing to the Nerbudda, he obtained possession
of the fortress of Aseerghur, by the simple
expedient of furnishing the garrison their
two years' arrears of pay ; the citadel of Boor-
hanpoor was acquired in a somewhat similar
manner; and many Deccani officers, both
Mussulman and Mahratta, joined the in-
vader. Two armies were dispatched against
him from Malwa and Aurungabad; but Asuf
Jah, knowing the impetuous character of
one of the commanders (Dilawur Khan),
drew him into an engagement before he
could be supported by his colleague. Alum
Ali (a nephew of the two Seyeds) ; and both
forces were separately engaged and defeated,
with the loss of their respective leaders.
Much alarm was created at Delhi by the
tidings of these disasters; and a violent
earthquake, which occurred about this time,
deepened the gloom of the political horizon.
The usurping Ijrothers shared the general
feeling; and the young emperor, though
closely watched, began to form plans of de-
liverance from his wearisome tutelage, being
■ aided in this perilous enterprise by a noble-
man, named Mohammed Ameen Khan,
with whom he conversed in Turki, a lan-
guage unknown to the Indian, Seyeds. A
party was seCretly formed, in which the
second place was occupied by Sadut Khan,
originally a merchant of Khorasan, who had
risen to a military position, and eventually
became the progenitor of the kings of Oude.
These combinations were not unsuspected
by the brothers, between whom it was at
I length resolved that the younger, Hussein
Ali, should march against Asuf Jah, carry-
ing with him the emperor and certain no-
bles, leaving Abdullah at Delhi to watch
over their joint interests. Shortly after
• He appears to have been poisoned ; hut popu-
lar helief assigned a different cause for his death..
An impostor, named Nemud, had established
himself at Delhi, and promulgated a new scripture,
written in a language of his own invention, framed
from those spoken in ancient Persia, and had founded
a sect, of which the teachers were called Bekooks,
and the disciples, Feraboods. The Influence of the
new ])retender increased. His proceedings induced
their separation, Hussein AU was stabbed
in his palanquin while reading a petition
presented to him by the assassin (a Calmuck
of rank), who immediately fell under the
daggers of the attendants, a.d. 1720. Ab-
dullah, on learning his brother's death, set
up a new emperor, and hastily assembling a
large but ill-disciplined force, marched
against Mohammed Shah, who had now
assumed the reins of government. Chora-
man, chief or rajah of the Jats (vrhose num-
ber and influence had thriven amid the
general disorganisation), joined the vizier,
while Jey Sing sent 4,000 men to reinforce
Mohammed, who was further strengthened
by some chiefs of the Rohilla Afghans,
a tribe now rapidly rising into importance.
The armies met between Delhi and Agra, a
cruel signal being given for the commence-
ment of the conflict. Ruttun Chand hav-
ing been seized immediately after the murder
of Hussein Ali, was severely beaten and kept
in chains until the day dawned on which
the decisive encounter was to take place.
Then, when " the trumpets sounded and the
heralds had published three times, as usual,
that courage in war is safer than cowardice,"
the prisoner was decapitated, and his body
fastened to the elephant on which Ma-
hommed Shah sat, in the centre of his
troops, throughout the whole of the ensuing
day and night, which the contest occupied.
Abdullah Khan was at length defeated and
made prisoner, having received several se-
vere wounds, of which he died in the course
of a few months. Mohammed Shah entered
Delhi in triumph : the empress-mother re-
ceived him at the entrance of the haram,
bearing a basin filled with gems and new
coins, which she poured over his head, as a
" wave-offering" of joy and thanksgiving.
The puppet-prince, crowned by Abdullah
Khan, was sent back to his former seclusion,
happy in thus escaping punishment for the
part which he had been made to bear in the
late events. Mohammed Ameen Khan be-
came vizier, but had scarcely entered upon
the duties of his office, before he was taken
ill, and died, after a few hours of extreme
agony.* Asuf Jah was appointed as his
Ameen to issue orders for his apprehension ; but be-
fore they could be executed, the vizier was taken
ill, and his alarmed family, believing the wrath of
Nemud to be the cause of this sudden attack, en-
deavoured, by gifts and entreaties, to avert his ven-
geance ; but could obtain no other answer than — ■
that the arrow being shot, could not be recalled.
He was, nevertheless, left undisturbed, and died
about three years after. — (Siyar-id-Mutakherin.)
160 ASUP JAH (OR THE NIZAM) ESTABLISHED AT HYDERABAD, 1724.
successor,* it being hoped that his abilities
might prop up the falling monarchy. He
did not, however, choose to leave the Dec-
can until his arrangements with the Mah-
rattas should be placed ou a satisfactory
footing. Meanwhile Mohammed was left to
make his own terms with Ajeet Sing, whom
he had offended by breaking his secret
pledge, that as the reward of the rajah's
neutrality, with' regard to the Seyeds, he
should receive the government of Ajmeer,
in addition to that of Guzerat, which he
already possessed. But the hour of peril
having passed, its engagements were forgot-
ten; not only was Ajmeer withheld, but
Ajeet Sing was removed from Guzerat, upon
which, assembling a large army of Rajpoots,
he occupied Ajmeer, plundered Narnol, and
marched within fifty miles of Delhi, the
emperor being at length glad to compromise
the matter by confirming him in the posses-
sion of Ajmeer. This happened at the close
of 1731 : in the beginning of the following
year, Asuf Jah arrived in Delhi, and beheld
with dismay the shameless dissipation which
prevailed there. Corruption and intrigue
.were venial sins, if not necessary expedients,
in the sight of a diplomatist brought up at
the court of Aurungzebe; but indolence and
sensuality were vices of a class which Asuf
Jah held in well-merited abhorrence. It
would seem as if the emperor had by this
time cast off the salutary influence of his
mother, since, among the circumstances
that excited the stern reprobation of the
vizier, was that of the royal signet being
entrusted to the cave of a favourite mistress,
who accumulated a large fortune by means
of the petitions she was suffered to carry
within the seraglio. The dissolute com-
panions of the young monarch cordially
reciprocated the dislike of the minister, and,
from mimicking the antiquated dress and
formal manners of "the old Deccani ba-
boon," as they insolently termed him, soon
began to form serious conspiracies, which,
he perceiving, quitted Delhi on pretence of
a hunting excursion, and then sent in his
resignation of the vizierat. Returning to
the Deccan, he assumed the full powers of
an independent ruler ; still, however, affect-
ing to recognise the supremacy of Moham-
med Shah, who, with equal duplicity, re-
turned this empty compliment, by conferring
on him the highest titles that could be held
by a subject; but, at the same time, sent
* Asuf Jah signifies " in place and rank, as Asuf,"
who is supposed to have been Solomon's vizier.
secret orders to Mubariz Khan, the local
governor of Hyderabad, to endeavour to
dispossess Asuf Jah, and assume the vice-
royalty of the Deccan. Mubariz perished
in the attempt ; and Asuf Jah, not to be out-
done in dissimulation, sent his head to the
emperor, with presents and congratulations
on the suppression of the rebellion. Then,
fixing his abode at Hyderabad, he strove to
secure himself against the aggression of
the Mahrattas, by various manoeuvres, alter-
nately endeavouring to direct their efforts
against the Delhi court, or fomenting their
own internal divisions. Considerable changes
had taken place since the reign of Bahadur
Shah. The idiot son of Tara Bye died in
1713, and a party set up the claims of
Sumba, a child of the younger widow of
Rajah Ram. In the struggle between the
cousins, Shao acquired the superiority by
the favour of the Moguls, and maintained
it through the abilities of his minister,
Balajee Wiswanath (the founder of the
Brahmin dynasty of Peishwas), who, shortly
before his death, in 1720, obtained from
Mohammed Shah a ratification of the
treaty made with Hussein Ali Khan in
1717. Chout and surdeshmooki being
thus made legal claims, Balajee demanded,
ou account of the former, one-fourth of the
standard assessment fixed by Todar Mul
and Malek Amber ; but, as of this only a
small portion could now be realised from
the exhausted country, the best that could
be done was to secure at least 35 per cent,
of the actual receipts. The latter claim,
styled the rajah's wutun, or inheritance,
it suited both the foreign and domestic
policy of the Mahrattas to keep undefined;
" but," says Grant Duff, " one system in
practice — that of exacting as much as they
could, was as simple as it was invariable."t
The revenue thus acquired was parcelled
out by Balajee in assignments on various
districts, and distributed among different
chiefs, in such a manner as to give each an
interest in the increase of the general stock,
while to none was allotted a compact pro-
perty calculated to tempt its holder into
forming plans of independence. This was
the general rule; but some Mahrattas
were already landed proprietors, and others
were occasionally permitted to become so.
The complicated state of affairs which natu-
rally resulted from the above arrangements,
rendered the illiterate chiefs more than ever
dependent on their carcoons, or Brahmin
t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 454.
BAJEE RAO (PEISHWA) AND ASUP JAH (NIZAM-OOL-MOOLK.) 161
clerks.* The power of the peishwas grew with
that of their caste ; and from being secondt
in the counsels of the rajah, they became
paramount even over their nominal master,
to which result, tlie talents and energy of Ba-
jee Rao, the son and successor of Balajee,
greatly contributed. This remarkable man
united to the enterprise and vigour of a
Mahratta chief J the polished manners and
address which frequently distinguish the
Brahmins of the Concan. He saw clearly
that the predatory hordes, so useful in an
enemy's country, would prove ungovernable
at home ; and, therefore, urged their imme-
diate employment in invading the northern
provinces. Shao hesitated : brought up in
a Mussulman seraglio, he had retained little
of the restless spirit of his countrymen ; but
when Bajee Rao pointed out the weakness
of the Mogul empire, adding, " now is our
time to drive strangers from the land of
the Hindoos — let us strike at the trunk of
the withering tree, the branches must fall
of themselves," the rajah, roused to enthu-
siasm by the prophecy that his standard
should fly from the Kistna to the Attock,
exclaimed — " You shall plant it on the
Himalaya, noble son of a worthy father." §
These ambitious projects were materially
forwarded by the disputes between the
emperor and Asuf Jah. The latter, while
vizier, had obtained possession of the go-
vernment of Guzerat ; but was deprived of
it, as also of Malwa, after his return to the
• " Bajee Rao," says Grant DufF, " had not leisure
to attend to detail or arrangement; the minute
divisions which were made of the revenues ceded by
the Moguls, served to provide hundreds of Brahmin
carcoons with bread ; and every one interpreted the
amount of his own or his master's claims to Surdesh-
mooki, Baptee, Mokassa, &c.; rather according to his
power to enforce his demands, than his ability to
prove their justice." — (Vol. i., p. 568.)
t The prithee nidkee, or representative of the
rajah, took rank above the eight ministers or purcl-
hans, of whom the peishwa was the chief; and Bajee
Rao long found a troublesome rival in Sreeput Rao,
the prithee nidhee, whose influence with the rajah
frequently obliged the peishwa to return to Sattara
while engaged in distant expeditions, lest his power
should be undermined through prolonged absence.
J During his first campaign against Bajee Rao,
the nizam, desiring to form an idea of the person
of his opponent, desired a famous painter in his
service to proceed to the hostile army, and take the
likeness of its leader, in whatever attitude he might
be first seen. The result was a sketch of the hand-
some figure of the peishwa, mountbd, with the head
and heel-ropes of his horse in its feeding-bag, his
spear resting on his shoulder, and both hands em-
ployed in rubbing some ears of ripening grain (the
common Jnowaree), which he ate as he rode.
§ Duff's Mahratlas, vol. i., p. 48(5.
Deccan. In Guzerat, Hameed Khan (AsuPs
uncle and deputy) resisted the occupation
of the newly-appointed governor, Sirbuland
Khan, and called in the aid of the Mah-
rattas (a.d. 1725), giving, in return, the
chout and surdeshmooki of the country
under him, which grant, Sirbuland Khan,
though victorious over Hameed, was even-
tually obliged to confirm. || Bajee Rao,
about the same time, made incursions into
Malwa, entrusting the chief commands to
the afterwards famous leaders, Puar, Holcar,
and Sindia.*f
The nizam (Asuf Jah), beheld with
alarm the growing power of the peishwa,
which he strove to undermine in various
ways. But secret plots and open hostility
alike failed;** and fearing that the emperor
might be disposed to revenge his insubordi-
nation, by transferring the viceroyalty to his
powerful foe, he changed his policy, and
made overtures to Bajee Rao, whicli pro-
duced the mutual good understanding neces-
sary to the immediate plans of both parties.
The presence of the peishwa was now
needed for the support of the Mahratta
interest in Guzerat, the court of Delhi
liaving refused to ratify the grant made by
Sirbuland Khan, who had been dismissed
from the government, and forcibly expelled
by his successor, Abhi Sing, rajah of Joud-
poor, the unnatural son of the brave Ajeet
Sing.ft Pilajee Guicowar (the ancestor of
the family still ruling in Guzerat) repre-
11 In 1729, he granted deeds, ceding ten per cent.
(surdeshmooki) of the whole revenue, both on the
land and customs, with the exception of the port of
Surat and the district around it ; together with one-
fourth (chout) of the whole collections on the land and
customs, excepting Surat; and five per cent, on the
revenues of the city of Ahmedabad. — (Grant Duff's
Historji of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 514.)
^ Udajee Puar was a chief before his connection
with the peishwa. Mulhar Rao Holcar was a shep-
herd on the Neera, south of Poona ; and Sindia,
though of a respectable family, near Sattara, had
acted as a menial servant to Bajee Rao.
•• The nizam first affected to doubt whether the
money due from his revenues was to be paid to Shao
or Sumba ; but this question was decided by the
treaty which the latter was compelled to sign, ac-
cepting, in lieu of all other claims, a tract of country
round Kolapoor, bounded on the west by the sea.
Asuf Jah next allied himself with a powerful leader,
named Dhabari (the hereditary tenaputee, or com-
mander-in-chief), who had mainly assisted in the esta-
blishment of Mahratta power in Guzerat, and viewed
with envy the paramount sway of Bajee Rao.
Dhabari assembled an army of 35,000 men, and
marched against the peishwa, by whom he was de-
feated and slain, A.D. 1731.
tt Ajeet Sing refusing to sanction the nefarious
schemes of the two Seyeds, they sent for his son, and
163 MAHRATTAS ADVANCE TO THE GATES OF DELHI— a.d. 1736.
sented the rights or claims of the Mahrattas
ill that district j and Abhi Sing, finding him
a formidable adversary, procured his removal
by assassination. This crime roused the in-
dignation of the countrymen of the deceased:
his son and brother appeared in great force ;
the hill tribes of Bheels and Coolies flocked
round their standard ; and, beside throwing
the whole province into confusion, made a
sudden in-uption into the hereditary domi-
nions of the Rajpoot governor, who, leaving
a very inefficient deputy in Guzerat, with-
drew to defend his own principality. In
Malwa, the fortune of the Moguls was
equally on the decline : Bajee Rao invaded
it in person in 1 733, and, taking advantage
of the hostility between Mohammed Khan
Bungush, the viceroy of Malwa and Allaha-
bad,* and the rajah of Bundelcund, whose
territory lay between those two provinces,
made common cause with the latter, and
succeeded in expelling the imperial governor.
The Bundelcund rajah, in return for this
co-operation, ceded the territory of Jausi,
on the Jumna, to the peishwa, and, at his
death, bequeathed to him certain rights in
"Bundelcund, which paved the way to the
occupation of the whole of that country
by the Mahrattas. Rajah Jey Sing II., of
Amber, was now made viceroy of Malwa.
This prince, so celebrated for munificence,
learning, and love of science,t does not
seem to have inherited the Rajpoot passion
for war. He considered it hopeless to
oppose the partition of the empire, and,
therefore, surrendered the province to the
peishwa (a.d. 1734), with the tacit con-
currence of Mohammed Shah, on whose
behalf it was still to be held. By this
conduct, Jey Sing is said, by his own coun-
trymen, " to have given the key of Hin-
doostan to the Southron ;" but it is certain
that he strove to curb the excesses of the
Mahrattas, whose power and influence con-
tinued to increase during the two following
informed him that the deposition and death of his
father were the only means of averting the destruc-
tion of Marwar. 15y the offer of the indejjendent
sovereignty of Nagore, Abhi Sing prevailed on his
younger brother, Bukht Sing, to murder their
father, who was stabbed while sleeping. The mother
of these parricidal sons burnt herself with her hus-
band's body ; and no less than eighty-four persons
shared her fate ; for, says Tod, " so much was Ajeet
beloved, that even men devoted themselves on his
pyre." — {Rajast'han, vol. i., p. 745.)
* Mohammed Khan threw himself into a fort, and
was almost driven to surrender at discretion, when
his wife sent her veil (the strongest appeal to Afghan
honour) to her countrymen in Rohilcund; and by
years, at the expiration of which Bajee Rao,
after a short interval spent in arranging the
internal aff'airs of the Deccan, again took
up the negotiation, and demanded, as the
price of peace, a jaghire, comprising no-
thing less than the whole province of Malwa,
and all the country south of the Chumbul,
together with the holy cities of Muttra,
Allahabad, and Benares. As the Mah-
rattas, like many other diplomatists, inva-
riably began by demanding much more than
they expected to obtain, the emperor tried
to pacify them by minor concessions, in-
cluding authority to levy tribute on the
Rajpoots, and to increase that already
legalised on the territories of Asuf Jah.
This permission had the doubtless desired
efl^ect on the mind of the nizam. Be-
coming seriously alarmed by the rapid pro-
gress of his allies, he thought he had carried
his policy of weakening the Moguls too far,
and listened gladly to the solicitations of
Mohammed Shah, who, overlooking his
reliellious conduct, now earnestly desired his
assistance. The courtiers, likewise, chang-
ing their tone, began to reckon upon the
advice of the nizam as that of " an old
wolf who had seen much bad weather."
Asuf Jah was yet deliberating how to act,
when Bajee Rao marched towards the
capital, sending a detachment of light troops,
under Holcar, to ravage the country beyond
the Jumna. Sadut Khan, the governor of
Oude, advanced to the defence of the ad-
joining province; and the clieck given by
this spirited proceeding was magnified into a
decided victory, the report of which occa-
sioned excessive rejoicing at Delhi, and so
galled Bajee Rao, that avoiding the army
sent out to meet him, he advanced at the
rate of forty miles daily, being resolved, as
he said, to prove to the emperor that he
had not been expelled from Hindoostan by
showing him flames and Mahrattas at the
gates of the capital. J As his object was,
means of the volunteers thus assembled, her husband
was rescued and escorted to Allahabad. ( Scott, vol. ii.)
f This prince occupied the gadi, or cushion of
Amber, for forty-four years. When dismissed by
Feroksheer {see p. 158), he retired to his hereditary
dominions, devoting himself to the study of asti-onomy
and history. He built the city of Jeypoor ; erected
observatories, furnished with instruments of his own
invention, at Delhi, Jeypoor, Oojein, Benares, and
Mat'hura, upon a scale' of Asiatic grandeur ; and
caused Euclid's Elements, the Treatises on Plain and
Spherical Trigonometry, and Napier on the Consir.uc-
tion and Use of Logarithms, to be translated into
Sanscrit. — [Rajast'han, vol. ii., p. 358.)
t Duff's Mahrattas. vol. i., n. 532.
TAHMASP NADIR KOOLI, AFTERWARDS NADIR SHAH.
163
however, to intimidate rather than pro-
voke, he exerted every effort to prevent
the devastation of the suburbs by his troops,
and, for this purpose, drew off to some
distance from the city. This movement
being attributed to fear, induced the Moguls
to make a sally ; but they were driven back
with heavy loss. The approach of the im-
perial forces, and also of Sadut Khan, warned
Bajee Rao of the necessity of making good
his retreat to the Deccan, which the nizam
quitted some months later for Delhi, tempted
by the promise not only of the vizierat, but
also of the viceroyalty of Malwa and Guzerat,
provided he could expel the Mahrattas.
With an army of about 34,000 men under
his personal command, supported by a fine-
train of artillery and a reserve, the nizam
advanced to Seronje against his formidable
foes, while Bajee Rao crossed theNerbudda at
the head of a nominally-superior force. Tliis
circumstance, added perhaps to reliance on
his artillery, led Asuf Jah, with character-
istic caution, to establish himself in a strong
position close to the fort of Bhopal, and
there await the enemy. But he ought to
have been better acquainted with Mahratta
tactics. Seldom formidable in pitched bat-
tles, they gladly avoided a decisive encounter,
and resorted to their usual plans of laying
waste the surrounding country, intercepting
all communication, and attacking every de-
tachment that ventured beyond the lines.
Dispirited by watching and privation, many
of the nizara's troops were inclined to desert ;
but Bajee Rao gave them no encouragement,
well knowing, that so long as the blockade
could be secured, the greater the numbers
the greater their straits. After the lapse of
a month or six weeks, Asuf Jah, straitened
for supplies, and completely cut off from the
reserve force, attempted a retreat northward,
under cover of his powerful artillery, but
was so harassed by the Mahrattas as to be
compelled to come to terms, and agree, on
condition of being suffered to pursue his
humiliating march unmolested, to give up
Malwa, with the complete sovereignty of all
the country from the Nerbudda to the Chum-
bul, solemnly engaging to use his best en-
* " I tried hard," says Bajee Rao, in a letter to
his brother, " to get something from the nabob him-
self; but this I scarcely expected. I recollected his
unwillingness to part with money when I entered on
an agreement to assist him ;" alluding to their com-
pact six years before. — (Buff, vol. i., p. 542.)
t T}u! Wonderful being used as a title of the
Divinity. The father of Nadir Kooli belonged to
the Turki tribe of Afshar, and earned his livelihood
deavours to procure from the emperor a
confirmation of this cession, together with
a payment of fifty lacs of rupees (£500,000),
to defray the peishwa's expenses.* Ba-
jee Rao proceeded to occupy the territory
thus acquired ; but before the decision of the
emperor could be pronounced, an event oc-
curred which, for the time, threw into the
shade the internal dissension that mainly
contributed to bring upon unhappy Hin-
doostan so terrible a visitation.
Invasion of Nadir Shah. — The last men-
tion made of Persia was the circumstance
of the intended hostilities between Shah
Abbas II. and Aurungzebe being broken off
by the death of the former monarch in 1666.
Since then, great changes had occurred.
The Saffavi, or Sophi dynasty, after a dura-
tion of two centuries, had fallen into a state
of weakness and decay ; and Shah Hussein,
the last independent sovereign of that race,
was defeated and deposed by Mahmood, the
leader of the Afghan tribe of Ghiljeis, who
usurped the throne of Persia, a.d. 1722.
Two years (spent in the unsparing destruc-
tion of the wretched Persians, whose nume-
rical superiority was their worst crime in
the eyes of their barbarous conquerors) ter-
minated the career of Mahmood : he died
raving mad, and w^s succeeded by his
nephew, Ashruf. The new king resisted
successfully the assaults of the Russians
and Turks, who entered into a confederacy i
for dismembering Persia, the western pro-
vinces of which were to be appropriated by ;
the Porte; the northern, as far as the Araxes,
by Peter the Great. The death of the czar
relieved Ashruf from these difficulties ; but
a more formidable foe arose in the person j
of Prince Tahmasp, the fugitive son of Shah j
Hussein, whose claims were supported by a
freebooting chief, already widely celebrated
as a daring and successful leader, under the
name of Nadir Kooli, slave to the Won-
derful.-^ On entering the service of the
prince, this designation was exchanged for
that of Tahmasp Kooli Khan, the lord who
is slave to Tahmasp; but when, after some
severe struggles, the Afghans had been ex-
pelledjf this nominally-devoted adherent,
by making coats and caps of sheep-skins : his famous
son was born in Khorasan, in 1688. An uncle of
Nadir Kooli's, who appears to have been at the head
of a small branch of the Afshars, was governor of
the fort of Kelat ; but, having quarrelled with his
turbulent nephew, fell a victim to his resentment,
Nadir Kooli slaying him with his own hand.
X Ashruf was murdered by a Beloochee chief, be-
tween Kerman and Candahar, in 1729.
164 PERSIANS, UNDER NADIR SHAH, INVADE INDIA— a.d. 1738.
finding his master disposed to exercise the
prerogatives of royal ty,fouiid means to depose
tim, and place his infant sou on the throne,
usurping the sole authority under the name
of regent. Repeated victories over the Turks,
ending in a treaty of peace with both Turkey
and Russia, rendered this soldier of fortune
so popular in Persia, that he felt the time
i.ad arrived to. give free rein to ambition.
The boy-king died opportunely at Ispahan ;
aud Nadir, assembling the army and the
leading persons in the empire, to the num-
ber of 100,000, in the spacious plain of
Mogham, bade them choose a ruler. They
named him unanimously ; upon which he,
after a hypocritical declaration that he
looked upon the voice of the people as
the voice of God, and would therefore abide
by their decision, although it contravened
his own intention in calling them together,
accepted the crown, on condition of the
general renunciation of the Sheiah doc-
trine and the establishment of that of the
Sunnis, or Sounites, throughout Persia.
This proviso was evidently designed for
the purpose of eradicating any lingering
■ regret from the public mind regarding the
Saffavis, who had ever been the champions
of the Sheiah sect : but it proved unsuc-
cessful ; for the people secretly adhered to
their former belief, and its prohibition, to-
gether with the strangling of the refractory
chief moollah, oi- high-priest, only served to
alienate them from their new ruler, who,
on mounting the throne (a.d. 173G), as-
sumed the title of Nadir Shah, the Won-
derful King.
Hostilities with the Ghiljeis, from whom
Candahar was captured after a close blockade
of nearly a twelvemonth, brought Nadir
Shah to the frontiers of the Mogul empire.
He could not be ignorant of its weakness;
and the prospect thus afforded of lucrative
and congenial employment for the warHke
tribes who owned his sway, offered tempta-
tions not to be resisted. In such cases,
pretexts are seldom wanting ; nor were they
now. While besieging Candahar, Nadir
Shah had applied to the court of Delhi
for the seizure or expulsion of some Afghans
who had fled into the country near Ghuznee ;
a demand to which the indolent and effete
• Khan Dowran, and his supporters, treated the
account of the intercepted embassy from Cabool as a
report originated by Nizam-ool-Moolk and the Turani
party at court, and jeeringly declared, that the houses
of Delhi had very lofty roofs, from which the citizens
might see Nadir Shah and his troopers from afar
whenever they chose. — Siyar-ul-3Iutakherin, p. 414.
government, after a long interval, returned
an ambiguous answer, being, it would ap-
pear, at once unable to comply with the
request, and disinclined to acknowledge the
title of the Persian sovereign. Nadir Shah .
advanced on Ghuznee and Cabool, and, from
the latter place, which he captured with
little difficulty, sent another messenger to
Delhi, who failed in fulfilling his embassy,
being cut off, with his escort, hj the Afghans
at Jellalabad.* This circumstance was set
forth as warranting the invasion of India;
and after spending some months in settling
the affairs of the country round Cabool,
Nadir marched to the eastward in October,
I738.f Even these proceedings failed to
rouse the supine authorities at Delhi, or
teach the necessity of merging internal
strife in defensive operations against a com-
mon foe. They knew that Cabool was
taken, but believed, or tried to believe,
that the mountain tribes and guarded passes
between that city and Peshawer would check
the further advance of the invading force,
although, in fact, even this barrier had been
cast down by the peculation or misplaced
economy of Khan Dowran, the ameer-ul-
omra, who, by withholding tlie sum of twelve
lacs of rupees, formerly sent every year for
the payment of guards, had caused the break-
ing up of garrisons, until roads and defiles
being all unwatched, marauding Afghans or
invading Persians alike passed without ob-
struction. Its commencement being unop-
posed, the march of Nadir Shah was speedy
and terrible. Having sacked Jellalabad, he
passed through Peshawer, crossed the Attock
in boats, and entered Moultan. The governor
of Lahoremade some show of opposition, over
which Nadir triumphed with little difficulty ;
and, in fact, met with no serious opposition
until, on approaching the Jumna, within 100
miles of Delhi, he found himself in the
neighbourhood of the whole Indian army.
Mohammed Shah, at length thoroughly
roused to a sense of the impending calamity,
strove to meet the danger it was now too
late to avert ; and, being joined by Asuf Jah,
moved to Kurnaul, where he occupied a
fortified camp. Sadut Khan, the viceroy of
Oude, arrived to join his sovereign ; and
Nadir Shah, by attempting to intercept
t The number of his force is nowhere satisfac-
torily stated. Fraser, in one place {History of Nadir
Shah, p. loo), gives the total, including armed fol-
lowers, at 1()0,000 ; but, in a previous page, a more
distinct enumeration, made by a Persian news-writer
at the camp at Jellalabad, only shows 64,500 lighl-
ing-men and 4,000 followers.
DELHI MASSACRE BY NADIR SHAH AND THE PERSIANS. 165
him, commenced hostilities, which issued in
a general engagement. lu this battle it
would appear, that few (if any) Rajpoot
princes took part, no longer caring to shed
their blood for a foreign dynasty, whose
ingratitude they hated, and whose weakness
they despised. Even in this emergency,
disunion prevailed in the Indian camp.
Asuf Jah, from some real or pretended mis-
conception, took no part in the action.
Khan Dowran, the commander-in-chief, was
killed; Sadut Khan taken prisoner; and Mo-
hammed Shah, seeing his troops completely
routed, had no resource but to send Asuf
Jah to offer his submission, and repair him-
self, with a few attendants, to the Persian
camp. Nadir Shah, considering the affinity
between himself, as of Turcoman race,
(though the son of a cap-maker), and the
defeated monarch (a lineal descendant of
the house of Timur), received his unwil-
ling visitor with every demonstration of
respect, and would probably have accepted
a ransom, and spared Delhi, but for the
selfish intrigues of Sadut Khan and the
nizam. The accounts recorded of this
period differ materially;* but it is certain,
that after some time spent in apparently
fruitless negotiations. Nadir Shah marched
into Delhi, established himself in the palace,
distributed his troops throughout the city,
and stationed detachments in different places
for the protection of the inhabitants. During
the first day strict discipline was maintained,
and all was quiet, though, probably, the
usurpers could as ill-disguise their exulta-
tion as the Indians their hatred and disgust ;
but on the second, a rumour spread of the
death of Nadir Shah,t and the citizens im-
mediately rising, slew all the Persians within
reach, to the number of 700, including some
of those who had been stationed for the
protection of private dwellings. The tumult
continued during the whole night : at day-
* According to the Siyar-ul-Mutakherin, Nadir
Shah, at an interview with Asuf Jah (procured by
the diplomacy of the captive, Sadut Khan), consented
to conclude a peace, and return to his own domi-
nions, on condition of receiving two crores of rupees
(£2,000,000 sterling), a piece of intelligence which
so delighted Mohammed Shah, that he instantly
conferred the office of ameer-ul-omra on the suc-
cessful mediator. Sadut Khan, enraged by the suc-
cess of his rival, told Nadjr Shah, that the ransom
he had consented to receive was absurdly insuffi-
cient— that he himself could afford to pay it from
his private fortune ; and, by these treacherous repre-
sentations, induced the invader to violate his pledge,
enter the city, and pillage it without mercy.
t This rumour is said to have been spread by the
break. Nadir Shah mounted his horse and
sallied forth, believing that his presence
would at once restore order by proving the
falsity of the current report. Flights of
stones, arrows, and fire-arms from the houses,
soon undeceived him ; and one of his chiefs,
being killed at his side by a shot aimed at
himself, he ordered his troops to retaliate,
and not leave a soul alive wherever they
should discover the corpse of a Persian.
This command, which, of course, warranted
nothing less than a general massacre, was
eagerly obeyed : the soldiery entered the
houses, and gave free loose to those hateful
passions — covetousness, lust, revenge; the
true " dogs of war." The streets of Delhi
streamed with blood; many thoroughfares
became blocked up with carcasses ; flames
burst forth in various places, where the
wretched citizens, distracted by the thought
of beholding their wives and children in the
hands of the foe, had preferred sharing with
them a fiery death ; the shrieks and groans
of the dying and the dishonoured pierced
the air, overpowering at moments the fear-
ful imprecations, or yet more fiendish scof-
fing of their persecutors ; and from sunrise
to broad noon these horrid sights and sounds
continued unabated. Nadir Shah, it is
said, after issuing the murderous order, went
into the little mosque in the Great Bazaar,
near the centre of the city, and there re-
mained in gloomy silence until he was
aroused by the entrance of Mohammed
Shah, whose deep distress (for though weak
and sensual, he was compassionate and
gentle) obtained a command for the termi-
nation of the massacre. The prompt obe-
dience of the troops, is quoted by histo-
rians as a remarkable proof of discipline;,
but these tigers in human form must have
been weary of a slaughter, in which, ac-
cording to the lowest trustworthy statement,
30,000 human beings were put to the sword. J
proprietors of certain granaries, which nad been
forcibly opened, and the wheat sold at a low price.
X Nadir-nameh, translated from Persian into
French, by Sir W. Jones ( Works, vol. v.) Scott
states the number at 8,000; but Mr. Elphinstone
naturally remarks, that it is incredible so small a re-
sult should have been produced by a detachment of
20,000 men, employed for many hours in unresisted
butchery (vol. ii., p. 630.) Fraser, who among much
valuable authority, quotes the journal of a native
Indian, secretary to Sirbuland Khan, writes — " of
the citizens (great and small), 120,000 were slaugh-
tered: others computed them at 1 50,000 j" adding,
in a note, "about 10,000 women threw themselves
into wells, some of whom were taken out alive, after
being there two or three days." — (pp. 185-187.)
166 IMMENSE SUMS EXTORTED FROM PEOPLE OP DELHI— 1739.
The wretched survivors seem to have wanted
energy even to perform the funeral obsequies
of the dead. " In several of the Hindoo
houses," says Fraser, " where one of a family
survived, he used to pile thirty or forty car-
casses a-top of one another, and burn them :
and so they did in the streets ; notwithstand-
ing which, there still remained so many, that
for a considerable time, there was no such
thing as passing any of those ways." After
some days, the stench arising from the mul-
titudes of unburied dead becoming intole-
rable, the bodies were dragged into the
river, thrown into pits, or else collected to-
gether in heaps, without distinction of Mus-
sulman, or Hindoo, and burned with the
rubbish of the ruined houses, until all were
disposed of.
The sufferings of the wretched people of
Delhi were not yet complete; the rapacity
of Nadir afforded fresh cause for bloodshed-
diug, aggravated by cruel tortures. The
usurper sat on the imperial throne, receiv-
ing costly offerings from the humiliated
monarch and his degraded courtiers. He
now demanded, under the name of peishcush
(a gift), a sum stated at from twenty-five
to thirty million sterling,* exclusive of the
jewels, gold-plate set with gems, and other
articles already appropriated. How to pro-
vide this enormous ransom was a new diffi-
culty; for Mohammed Shah was far from
inheriting the wealth of his ancestors. The
prolonged wars of Aurungzebe, and the con-
tinued struggles of his successors, had well
nigh emptied the treasury ; and the present
emperor had neither striven to replenish it
by legitimate methods, nor, to his credit, be
it recorded, by injustice or oppression. The
jezia had been formally abolished at the
commencement of his reign ; and he alone,
of all the Great Moguls, had steadily re-
fused to confiscate the property of deceased
• Siyar-ul-Mutakherin ; on the authority of Haz.
veen, an eye-witness; and Scott's Zleccon, vol. ii., p. 208.
•j- Dow's account of this period, though very in-
teresting, is not deemed reliable; the rumours in
circulation at the period, being too often suffered to
usurp the place of carefully-sifted facts. This want
of judgment is aggravated by the infrequency with
which he gives authorities for particular stafements.
He describes Nadir Shah as having been invited to
Hindoostan by Asuf Jah and Sadut Khan, and after-
wards represents him as reproaching them for the
treachery, by which he had gained the battle of Kur-
naul, and spitting upon their beards. The nizam, see-
ing the fury of Sadut at this public disgrace, proposed
that they should end their lives by poison, which
being agreed to, they returned to their respective
homes. Sadut, doubting the sincerity of his wily
colleague, sent a messenger to his house to discover
nobles, leaving, not a small portion, as a
matter of favour, for the maintenance of
their families, but suffering the appropria-
tion of the whole as a matter of right. The
result was, that Mohammed Shah had com-
paratively little to lose : even the famous
peacock-throne, now seized by Nadir, had
been deprived of its most costly ornaments ;
and other portions of the imperial regalia
were proportionately diminished in value.
During the administration of the Seyeds,
large sums had been abstracted from the
treasury ; and even the gold and silver rails
of the hall of audience had been coined
into money. A large quantity of gold,
silver, and jewels was found in vaults,
sealed up long ago (probably by Shah
Jehan), and immense sums were levied from
the nobles. Neither the crafty nizam nor
his treacherous rival, Sadut Khan, were
exempted from furnishing their quota, the
former being compelled to disgorge treasure
exceeding in value a million and a-half
sterling ; the latter, above a million ; while
both were treated by the conqueror with un-
disguised contempt and distrust. Sadut
Khan died suddenly, whether from the
eflfects of disease, anger, or poison, is an
open question : the old nizam lived on,
waiting for the turn of the wheel des-
tined to restore to him that political power
which was the sole end and aim of his
existence.f The means of exacting the
required tribute grew severe in proportion
to the difficulty of its obtainment. The
property of the nobles, merchants — even of
the smallest tradesmen — was subjected to an
arbitrary assessment, which, being frequently
much above the actual value, impelled num-
bers of all ranks to commit suicide, as a
means of avoiding the disgrace and torture
likely to follow their inability to furnish the
amount required;! while others perished
whether the oath had been carried into effect. Being
made aware of the presence of the spy, the nizam
swallowed an innoxious draught, and pretended to faii
down dead. The trick succeeded ; Sadut Khan took,
poison, and died, leaving his rival to exult over his
wicked device. — {Hindoostan, vol. ii., p. 425.)
X The vakeel from Bengal, being ordered to send
for seven crore of rupees, said, " so much would fill a
string of waggons from Bengal to Delhi ; for which,
beingroughlyused,he went horae,and murdered him-
self and family." (Fraser, p. 200.) The rough usage
here alluded to was probably a severe bastinadoing ;
since that punishment was frequently inflicted on
men of station and character, by the orders and in
the presence of Nadir Shah, whose partiality for this
species of discipline is strange enough, since, if the
authorities quoted by Fraser may be relied on, he had
I been himself, in early youth, br.stinadoed by the
DEPARTUKE OF NADIR SHAH PRQM DELHI— APRIL, 1739. 167
under the tortures inflicted by the merce-
nary wretches to whom the power of extort-
ing the tribute was farmed, and who made
their own profit, or wreaked their private
revenge unchecked, amid universal misery
and desolation. " It was before a general
massacre, but now the murder of individuals.
In every chamber and house was heard the
cry of aflSiction. Sleep and rest forsook the
city." The pangs of hunger and sickness
were not long absent ; and " no morning
passed that whole crowds, in every street
and lane, did not die." * The citizens vainly
strove to escape these multiplied calamities
by flight ; the roads were blocked up ; and
all such attempts punished by mutilation of
the ears or nose ; until at length — the dignity
of human nature subdued by terror — the
wretched sufferers slunk away into holes
and corners, and cowered down before their
oppressors like the frightened animals of the
desert. The Persian horsemen sallied forth
in different directions, seeking provisions
and plunder ; ravaging the fields, and killing
all who offered resistance ; but were occasion-
ally attacked by the Jats, who had taken up
arms. Intelligence of what was passing at
Delhi had reached the Deccan : it was even
reported that 100,000 Persians were advanc-
ing to the southward. Bajee Rao, undis-
mayed, prepared to meet them, declaring,
that domestic quarrels and the war with the
Portuguese were to him as nought — there
was now but one enemy in Hindoostan.
" Hindoos and Mussulmans," he said, " the
whole power of the Deccan must assemble ;
and I shall spread our Mahrattas from the
Nerbudda to the Chumbul." Nadir, how-
ever, does not appear to have had any inten-
tion of risking his rich booty by exposing it
to the chances of Mahratta warfare. He
contented himself with inveighing bitterly
against the insolence of the infidel " wretches
of Deccan," in venturing to demand tribute
from the dominions of a Mussulman emperor,
and the weakness of the government by which
it had been conceded ; and then, having
drained to the uttermost those very re-
sources on which the means of resisting
order of Shah Hussein, " until his toe-nails dropt off."
However, it is doubtless true, that in forming an
opinion regarding the use of the rod, it makes all the
difference which end falls to our share.
* Scott's History of the Deccan, vol. ii., p. 210.
This description is quoted from a journal kept by an
eye-witness, during this terrible epo'-n. The work
somewhat resembles De Foe's masterpiece — the
Plague of London; though the misery which it re-
cords is of a far more varied character.
similar extortion depended, he prepared to
quit the desolated city. Before departing,
he caused a marriage to be celebrated be-
tween his son and a princess of the house
of Timur, with a degree of regal magnifi-
cence sadly at variance with the gloom and
desolation which prevailed throughout the
once stately capital. Seating Mohammed
Shah anew on his dishonoured throne (after
severing from the Mogul empire the whole
of Sinde and Cabool, together with some
districts that had always been set apart for
the pay of the garrisons of the latter pro-
vince), he placed the crown upon his head,
and bade him keep strict watch over the
intrigues and corruption of his courtiers —
especially of Asuf Jah, who was too cunning
and ambitious for a subject. To this advice
he added an assurance, that in the event of
any cabals, an appeal from Mohammed
Shah would bring him to his assistance,
from Candahar, in forty days ; and although
this speech would, at first sight, appear only
an additional insult, yet it is just possible,
that it was dictated by a sort of compas-
sionate feeling, which the misfortunes of
the delicately-nurtured, indolent, and easy-
tempered monarch had awakened in the
breast of his victorious foe, whose mental
characteristics contrasted no less forcibly
than the extraordinary physical powers of
his stalwart frame,t with the handsome but
effeminate person and bearing of his victim.
To the principal Hindoo leaders, including
Jey Sing, Abhi Sing, Shao, and Bajee Rao,
Nadir Shah issued circular-letters, bidding
them " walk in the path of submission and
obedience to our dear brother ;" and threat-
ening, in the event of their rebellion, to
return and " blot them out of the pages of
the book of creation."J On the 14th of
April, 1739, the invader quitted Delhi, after
a residence of fifty-eight days, bearing with
him plunder in coin, bullion, gold and
silver plate, brocades, and jewels (of which
he was inordinately fond) to an incalculable
extent. The money alone probably ex-
ceeded thirty million. § Numerous elephants
and camels were likewise carried away, as
+ Fraser's description of a weather-beaten man, of
fifty-five — above six foot high, very robust, with large
black eyes and eyebrows — exactly coincides with the
full-length picture of Nadir Shah preserved in the
India-house. His voice was so strong, that he could,
without straining it, give orders to the troops at
above 100 yards' distance. — (Fraser, p. 227.)
X Scott's Deccan, vol. ii., p. 215.
§ Scott, Fraser, and Hanway. The Nadir-nameh
states it at only 15 million : but this is not probable.
168
REIGN OF MOHAMMED SHAH RESUMED.
also many hundreds of skilful workmen and
artificers. Exactions were levied in the
towns and villages through which the re-
treating army marched, until they reached
Cabool, where the mountaineers threatened
to attack them ; and Nadir, considering that
the soldiers had suffered much from the
intense heat, and were heavily laden with
booty, thought it best to purchase forbear-
ance, and reached Herat in safety, where he
proudly displayed the spoils of Hindoostan.*
Reign of Mohammed Shah resumed. — The
Persian invasion had plunged the court and
people of Delhi into a " slough of despond,"
from which it was long before they sum-
moned sufficient resolution to attempt extri-
cating themselves. The state of public
affairs held forth no promise that future
prosperity might make amends for past suf-
fering ; and the worst of all indications of
the decadence of the empire, was the readi-
ness with which the courtiers relapsed into
the habits of sensuality and intrigue, that
had rendered them impotent to resist the
power of a foreign foe; while the lower
classes?, imitating their apathy, grew to re-
gard the brutal escesses of the Persian
soldiery, rather as a subject of coarse mer-
riment than deep humiliation; and, in
mimicking their dress and manners, gave
vent to feelings no less different from what
may be termed the natural dignity of un-
civilised man, than from the magnanimous
forgiveness of injuries, which is the very
crown of Christian virtue.
The influence of Asuf Jah was now su-
preme at Delhi. He was supported by the
vizier, Kamer-oo-deen, with whom he was
connected by intermarriage, and by a few
leading families, who being, like himself, of
Turki descent, were called the Turani no-
bles. He was secretly opposed by a large
number of malcontents, among whom the
emperorwas thought to be included; and thus
the counsels of government were again weak
and divided at a time when there was most
need of energy and union. On the depar-
ture of Nadir Shah, Rajee Rao sent a letter
• A portable tent was constructed from the spoils j
tlie outside covered with scarlet broad cloth, and the
inside with violet-satin, on which birds and beasts,
trees and flowers, were depicted in precious stones.
On either side the peacock^throne a screen extended,
•domed with the figures of two angels, also repre-
lented in various-coloured gems. Even the tent-
poles were adorned with jewels, and the pins were of
massy gold. The whole formed a load for seven
elephants. This gorgeous trophy was broken up by
Kadir Shth's nephew and successor, Adil Shaji. —
to the emperor, expressive of submission
and obedience, together with a nuzur, or
offering of 101 gold raohurs, and received in
return a splendid Ichillut,^ accompanied by
assurances of general good-will, but not by
the expected sunnud, or grant of the go-
vernment of Malwa, an omission which the
peishwa naturally attributed to a breach of
faith on the part of the nizam. Had Bajee
Rao, on this, as on previous occasions,
chosen to advance to the gates of the capi-
tal, and there insist on the confirmation of
the agreement, he might have probably
done so with impunity, so far as the Moguls
were concerned; for Nadir Shah had
ravaged the only provinces which the Mah-
rattas had left intact; the imperial army
was broken up, and the treasury completely
empty. But Bajee Rao was himself in a
critical position : hostilities abroad, intrigue
at home, crippled his ambitious plans, and
surrounded him with debt and difficulty.
His foreign foes were the Abyssinians of
Jinjeera, and the turbulent sons of Kanhojee
Angria, of Kolabah, a powerful chief, whose
piracies (which he called levying chout on
the sea) had rendered him a formidable
enemy to the Portuguese and English.
After the death of Kanhojee, in 1 728, a
contest ensued between his sons. Bajee
Rao took part with one of them, named
Mannajee, whom the Portuguese also at
first assisted ; but, being disappointed of the
expected reward, changed sides, and ap-
peared in arms against him. For this in-
constancy they paid dearly by the loss of
their possessions in Salsette, Bassein, and
the neighbouring parts of the Concan ; and
hostilities were still being carried on, when
the tacit refusal of the Delhi government to
recognise his claims, induced the peishwa
to direct his chief attention to his old an-
tagonist, the nizam. Before recommencing
hostilities in this quarter, it was necessary to
provide against the coalition of the prithee
nidhee with other domestic foes (of whom
the chief was Rugojee Bhonslay, of Be-
rar,J and the next in importance, Dummajee
{Memoirt of Khqfeh Abdulktirreem, a Cashmerian of
distinction, in the service of Nadir Shah. Gladwin's
translation, Calcutta, 1788, p. 28.)
t A khillut comprises a complete dress, or sir-pa
(head to foot), with the addition of jewels, horse,
elephant, and arms.
J Parsojee, the founder of the Bhonslay family,
from whom sprang the rajahs of Berar, being one of
the first to tender allegiance to Shao on his release
at the death of Aurungzebe, was promoted from the
rank of a private horseman to high position. Not-
DEATH OF THE PEISHWA, BAJEE EAO— a.d. 1740.
169
Guicowar, of Guzerat), who, envying his
power, were plotting its overthrow, under
pretence of emancipating their mutual sove-
reign. This difficulty Bajee Rao met by
engaging the Bhonslay chief in a remote
expedition into the Carnatic ; but another,
of a different character, remained behind.
The vast army he had kept up, and the
necessity of giving high rates of pay, in
order to outbid the nizam, and secure the
best of the Deccan soldiery, had induced
him to incur an expenditure which he had
no means of meeting.* The troops were in
arrears, and, consequently, clamorous and
inclined to mutiny. His financial arrange-
ments would appear to have been far inferior
to those of Sevajee ; and, as a nation, the
MahrattaSj from various causes, no longer
found war a profitable employment. Still,
Bajee Rao persisted in endeavouring to
carry out his ambitious designs, and taking
advantage of the absence of the nizam, sur-
rounded the camp of his second son, Nasir
Jung, who had been left in charge of the
viceroyalty. The defence was carried on
with such unlooked-for vigour, that after
some months of active hostility, the peishwa
became convinced that his means were in-
adequate to the task he had undertaken,
and entered into an accommodation with
his young and energetic opponent. The
prudence of the general triumphed over the
rash valour of the soldier; yet it was a
moment when many in his position would
have been inclined to struggle on ; for it
would appear, that his retreat to court was
cut off by the machinations which he had
sought to circumvent by procuring the ab-
sence of Rugojee Bhonslay. Addressing
his mahapooroosh, or spiritual adviser, he
withstanding the coincidence of his surname with that
of the rajah, they do not appear to have been related.
• The soucars, or bankers, to whom he already
owed a personal debt of many lacs of rupees, refused
to make any further advances ; and he forcibly de-
scribes his embarrassments, by declaring — " I have
fallen into that hell of being beset by creditors ; and
to pacify soucars and sillidars (military commanders),
I am falling at their feet till I have rubbed the skin
from my forehead"- — a figurative expression, used in
allusion to the Hindoo custom of placing the fore-
head at the threshold of the temple, or at the feet
of the idol, in humble supplication.
t History of the Mahrattas, vol. i., p. 559. The
manner of his death does not appear.
\ Bajee Kao left three sons — Balajee Bajee Rao,
Rugonat Rao, or Ragoba (who was at one time
much connected with the English), and Shumsheer
Bahadur, to whom, though the illegitimate offspring of
a Mohammedan woman, and brought up in that creed,
he bequeathed all his claims and possessions in Bun-
writes — "I am involved in diSiculties, in
debt, and in disappointments, and like a
man ready to swallow poison : near the
rajah are my enemies; and should I at this
time go to Sattara, they will put their feet
on my breast. I should be thankful if I
could meet death."t After such an avowal,
there is something strange and startling in
the fact that Bajee Rao set off suddenly,
with his army, towards Hindoostan, with
what object is not known, but only lived to
reach the Nerbudda, on whose banks he
expired in April, 1740.J
Rugojee Bhonslay, although about be-
sieging Trichinopoly when he heard of the
death of his rival, instantly hastened to
Sattara; but being obliged to leave the
greater part of his army behind him, had
no sufficient force to cope with Balajee
Bajee Rao, who asserted his hereditary
claim to succeed to the office of his father ;
neither was Dummajee Guicowar ready to
take the field. In this conjuncture, Rugojee
proposed that Bappoojee Naik,§ a connec-
tion, but bitter foe (because a disappointed
creditor of the late peishwa's), should be ap-
pointed to the vacant position ; and very
large sums were offered to Shao, on condi-
tion of his seconding the arrangement.
These attempts failed ; and Balajee Bajee
Rao was formally appointed by the rajah.
Being answerable for his father's debts,
he was immediately assailed by Bappoojee
Naik with the harassing pertinacity fre-
quently exercised by Mahratta creditors. ||
From this persecution, his own efforts, ably
seconded by the influence and credit of his
dewan (treasurer, or high steward), relieved
him; and, after more than a year spent in
internal arrangements, he prepared to resist
delcund. The names of the peishwas (first Balajee,
then Bajee, and now Balajee Bajee, combined) will,
it is to be feared, confuse the reader ; but the allite-
ration is unavoidable.
§ Brahmin soucars and money-changers assume
the appellation of Naik.
II A species of dunning, called tuquazu, is practised
as a trade. Several men, hired for the purpose, fol-
low the debtor wherever he goes, and establish
themselves at the door of his house, subsisting all
the while upon the food with which the invariable
custom of the country obliges him to supply them.
If humble petitions and insolent demands alike fail,
the creditor himself sometimes resorts to the last
expedient (as Bappoojee Naik did in the present
instance), bv the practice of dhurna—t\\dX is, by
taking up his position in person, as a dun, and ob-
serving a rigid fast, in which his unfortunate debtor
is compelled by that powerful agent, public opinion,
to imitate him, even at the hazard of starvation,
until he can induce him to raise the siege.
170 ALI VTiRDI KHAN, OF BENGAL— WAR WITH MAHRATTAS, 1745.
the encroachments of inimical Mahratta
chiefs, and to demand the government of
Malwa from the Delhi court.
In the interim, no endeavour had been
made by the Mogul party in the Deccan to
take advantage of the dissensions in the
Mahratta state. The active viceroy, the
successful opponent of Bajee Rao, had been
fully occupied in rebellion against his own
father, the nizam, who, in 1741, marched into
the Deccan to oppose his refractory represen-
tative, and received, during his progress, a
personal visit from the new peishwa, together
with the assistance of a body of troops.
Rugojee Bhonslay, upon the failure of his
political schemes at Sattara, returned to the
Carnatic, and after the successful termination
of the campaign, by the surrender of Trichi-
nopoly and the capture of Chunda Sahib,
the soubahdar (or, according to the English
phrase, the nabob), he sent a force into Bengal
under his Brahmin minister, Bhaskur Punt.
At this period, the viceroyalty of Bengal
was possessed by Ali Verdi Khan (some-
times called Mohabet Jung.) This celebrated
individual was of Turki descent, and had
been promoted by Shuja Khan, the late
viceroy, to the subordinate government of
Behar. After his death, Ali Verdi turned
his arms against Serferaz Khan, the son and
successor of his late patron, slew him in
battle, and usurped the government, for
which he obtained an imperial firman by
dint of large bribes and hypocritical as-
surances of devoted submission. He made
a determined resistance to Bhaskur Punt;*
but, alarmed by the advance of Rugojee in
person, he besought the emperor to assist
him in the defence of the province ; and this
• Ali Verdi Khan was encamped at Midnapore,
when he heard of the approach of Bhaskur Punt, at
the head of 40,000 horse. He marched to Burdwan,
and there strove to bring on a general engagement,
which the Mahrattas of course avoided, and ravaged
the environs with fire and sword, offering, however,
to evacuate the country on payment of ten lacs of
rupees. This Ali Verdi refused ; and resolving to
force his way to Moorshedabad, issued orders
that the heavy baggage and camp-followers should
remain at Burdwan. Instead of obeying, the peo))le,
terrified at the idea of being left to the mercy of the
enemy, persisted in accompanying the retreating
army ; and the result was, that on the first day's
march, the Mahrattas surrounded the line, and cap-
tured the chief part of the stores, artillery, and tents.
The sum previously demanded as the price of peace
was offered, but rejected : Bhaskur Punt would now
accept nothing less than a crore of rupees (a million
sterhng), with the surrender of all the elephants.
Ali Verdi refused these degrading terms, and con-
tinued his retreat, for three days, through a flat
request resulted in an appeal for aid to the
peishwa, seconded by the long-withheld grant
of the viceroyalty of Malwa.
Such an invitation would have been at all
times welcome ; for the Mahrattas were in-
variably solicitous to find excuses for inter-
fering in the affairs of the various provinces
still more or less subject to Mogul rule, and
were ever labouring silently to increase their
influence. In the present instance, Balajee
Bajee was especially glad to be called in to
act as an auxiliary against his private foe,
and immediately marching by Allahabad
and Behar, he reached Moorshedabad in
time to protect it from Rugojee, who was
approaching from the south-west. After
receiving from Ali Verdi the payment of an
assignment granted to him by the court of
Delhi on the arrears of the revenue of
Bengal, the peishwa marched against the
invader, who retired before him, but was
overtaken, and suffered a rout and the loss
of his baggage before he was completely
driven out of the province, a.d. 1743. The
reprieve thus purchased for Bengal only
lasted about two years; for the peishwa,
who, in the name of his sovereign, Rajah
Shao, wielded the power of the head of a
confederacy of chiefs, rather than that of a
despotic ruler, found it necessary to come
to terms with Rugojee, by ceding to him the
right of levying tribute in all Bengal and
Behar, if not also in Allahabad and Oude.
Bhaskur Punt was again sent to invade
Bengal (1745), and proceeded with success,
until he suS'ered himself to be inveigled
into an interview with Ali Verdi Khan, by
whom he was treacherously murdered. Of
twenty-two principal officers, only one (Ru-
country, amid heavy rains, constantly harassed by
the enemy, and greatly distressed for food and shelter.
On the fourth morning he reached Cutwa ; and al-
though the foe had been beforehand with him, by
setting on fire the magazines of grain, enough
remained to afford means of subsistence to the
famishing soldiery until further supplies could be
procured. Yusuf Ali Khan, one of Ali Verdi's
generals, states, that the first day of the march,
he and seven nobles shared between them about one
pound's-weight of kichery (boiled rice, mixed with
pulse) i the next, they had a few pieces of a sweet con-
fection ; the third, a small quantity of carrion, which,
while it was cooking, was eagerly watched by others,
who could not be refused a single mouthful. The
common soldiers strove to maintain life on the bark
of trees, leaves, grass, and ants.- — (See Siyar-ul-
3Iutakherin, done into Erjglish by a Frenchman, in
3 vols. 4to.) This translation, though full of gallicisms,
is of great value to inquirers on Indian history ; since
the able labours of General Briggs, as yet, extend
only over the first part of the first volume.
DISSENSIONS AND INTRIGUES OF THE DELHI COURT, 1741 to 1745. 171
gojee Guicowar) escaped, having been left
ia charge of the camp, and by him the army
was conducted back to Berar. No long time
elapsed before an opportunity to revenge
this perfidious massacre arose, as a direct
consequence of the crime itself; for Mustapha
Khan, the leader of a body of Afghans who
had borne the chief part in it, quarrelled
with Ali Verdi for withholding the promised
reward — namely, the government of Behar.
Both parties were well aware that assassina-
tion was an expedient likely enough to be
attempted, and soon came to open hostilities,
in which the Afghans supported their coun-
trymen. Rugojee Bhonslay took advantage
of this state of affairs to invade Orissa, where
he obtained possession of several districts,
and named 30,000,000 rupees as the sum
■ for which he would spare the remainder, and
quit the country. Before narrating the result
of these proceedings, which occupied several
years, it is necessary, for the sake of the
chronological succession of events, to return
to the court of Delhi. On the departure of
Asuf Jah for the Deccan, a.d. 1741, his place
at court was taken by his son, Ghazi-oo-
deen, the son-in-law of the vizier, Kamer-
oo-deen. These two nobles, being closely
united by political and by domestic ties, re-
sisted successfully many intrigues and com-
binations; but they fought with the same
unholy weapons that were employed against
them. Treacherous and sanguinary deeds
became frequent, offering unmistakable evi-
dence of the weakness as well as wickedness
of those who bore sway, and indicating to
all accustomed to watch the decline of
national power, its rapidly-approaching dis-
solution. The only person who appears
to have profited by the bitter medicine of
adversity, was the emperor ; he became a
wiser and a better man : but long-continued
habits of ease and indolence are not to be
lightly broken ; and he gladly sought refuge
in the devotion of the closet, from the cares,
vexation, and intrigue which beset the
council-chamber. Nevertheless, '-'while he
lived, the royal name was respectable, and
his prudence sustained the tottering fabric
of the state from falling into total ruin ; but
he could not repair the unwieldy fabric."*
Of the various communities whose separate
existence was more or less fostered at the
expense of the empire, the only one against
which Mohammed Shah took the field in
person, after the departure of the Persians,
was that founded by the Rohillas, an Afghan
• Scott's History of the Deccan, vol. ii, p. 223.
colony, composed chiefly of Eusofzeis and
other north-eastern tribes, who had acquired '
possession of the country east of the Ganges,
from Oude to the mountains, and, under a
chief named Ali Mohammed, had attained
to so much importance, as to be with diffi-
culty reduced to even temporary submission.
Turbulent and rebellious as subjects, they
were yet more dangerous as neighbours ; and
scarcely had tranquillity been partially re-
stored in the territory above designated,
before a formidable combination of Afghans,
in their own dominions, threatened India
with another desolating irruption. The chief
cause was an event which, above all others,
would have been least expected to contribute
to such a result — namely, the assassination
of Nadir Shah, the spoiler of Hindoostan,
whose leading share in the expulsion of the
hated Afghan dynasty and victories over the
Turks, had gained him a degree of renown
which, despite his crimes, made him the
boast of his subjects. On returning to Per-
sia, he was received with the utmost enthu-
siasm ; and the troops whom he had trained
and led to conquest, gloried in the renown of
their successful leader. At first, it appeared
as if he were disposed to use his ill-gotten
wealth for the relief and improvement of his
kingdom ; but it soon became evident, that
the hardening influence of rapine and
slaughter had extinguished every better
impulse, fostered his evil passions, and
rendered the once enterprising adventurer
nothing better than a cruel and capricious
coward. Even his ability and energy in
war seemed to fail; and his latest proceedings
against the Turks evinced little of his early
skill. When this contest was terminated by
a treaty. Nadir Shah, no longer occupied by
external hostilities, gave free vent to his
fierce, savage, and dastardly nature, and
instead of the boast, became the terror and
execration of his country. All around him
trembled for fear of becoming the object of
suspicions which their slavish submission
served only to increase. Among other
atrocities, he accused his eldest son of having
incited an attempt to kill him by a shot,
which slightly wounded him while traversing
a forest in one of his campaigns ; and,
although there appeared no reason to think
that the assassin was not one of the enemy,
the unhappy prince was blinded at the com-
mand of his still more unhappy father, who,
in a paroxysm of gloom and remorse, subse-
quently caused no less than fifty of his chief
nobles to be put to death, because they had
172 NADIR SHAH MURDERED— KINGDOM OF CANDAHAR FOUNDED, 1747.
witnessed the execution of his wicked sen-
tence without one prayer for mercy.* Covet-
ousness was one of the distinguishing vices
of his advancing age; and, instead of pursuing
his avowed intention of relieving the Per-
sians from the pressure of taxation by means
of his enormous private wealth, he became
extortionate and oppressive, as if ravaging a
conquered territory. Disaffection and re-
volts ensued, and afibrded pretexts for
fresh cruelties. Whole cities were depopu-
lated; towers of heads raised to commemorate
their ruin : eyes were torn out ; tortures in-
flicted; and no man could count for a
moment on his exemption from death in
torments. t The mad fury of Nadir was
aggravated by his knowledge of the angry
feelings excited, at the time of his accession,
by the prohibition of the Sheiah doctrines,
and the confiscation of the lands and stipends
of the priests, and his conviction that, after
all, the people generally, maintained the for-
bidden opinions. At length, he came to
regard every Persian as his enemy, and
entertained for his protection a band of
Uzbeg mercenaries, placing his entire confi-
dence on them and the Afghans, tasing a
delight in aggrandising these, his former
enemies, at the expense of his own country-
men. To such a height had his madness
attained, that he actually ordered the Afghan
chiefs to rise suddenly upon the Persian
guard, and seize the persons of the chief
nobles ; but the project being discovered,
the intended victims conspired in turn ; and
a body of them, including the captain of
Nadir's guard, and the chief of his own tribe
of Afshar, entered his tent at midnight, and
after a moment's involuntary pause — when
challenged by the deep voice at which they
had so often trembled — rushed upon the
king, who, being brought to the ground by
a sabre-stroke, begged for life, and attempted
* Elphinstone's India, vol. ii., p. 652.
f The sole exception is that afforded by his desire to
encourage commerce ; but even this was, for the most
part, only another incentive to despotic and harsh
measures. To foreign traders he, however, extended
protection ; and Jonas Hanway, the eminent mer-
chant, who visited his camp at a time when all Persia
was devastated by his exactions, obtained an order
that the property of which he had been plundered,
during a rebellion at Asterabad, should be restored,
or compensation given instead.
X Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 653, on the authority of
P^re Bazin, a Jesuit, who acted as physician to Nadir
Shah during the last years of his life. Malcolm
states, that being suddenly aroused from sleep, the
king started up, and had slain two of the meaner
assassins before a blow from Salah Beg, the captain
at hi» guards, deprived him of life.
to rise, but soon expired beneath the repeated
blows of the conspirators. J
With the morning light, the rumour oi
this sanguinary deed spread alarm and
amazement throughout the army. The
Afghans, under the command of a young
chief, named Ahmed Khan, the head of the
Abdalli tribe, were joined by the Uzbegs in
an efibrt made in the hope of being still in
time to rescue Nadir Shah; but being re-
pulsed, and finding that the Shah was really
dead, they marched to Candahar, obtained
possession of that city, and captured a large
convoy of treasure on its way from Cabool
and Sinde to the Persian treasury. Ali,
the nephew of the murdered monarch, was
placed on the vacant throne under the name
of Adil Shah,§ and, during his short and
inglorious reign, had probably neither the
ability nor inclination to interfere with the
proceedings of Ahmed Khan, who, having
rapidly extended his influence over the
neighbouring tribes and countries, including
Balkh, Sinde, Cashmere, and other pre-
viously-conquered provinces, was, in the
course of a few months, formally declared
king of Candahar. In the plains and cities
he established absolute authority ; but the
Afghan tribes retained their internal govern-
ment : Beloochistan, Seestan, and some other
places remained under their native chiefs,
but owned allegiance and military service.
Without, however, waiting the settlement of
all the above-named countries, Ahmed Shah
directed his attention to India as a means
of employing his army and increasing his
pecuniary resources. The coronation fes-
tivities were scarcely concluded before he
marched to the eastward, and, having rapidly
subjugated all the territory as far as the
Indus, proceeded to invade the Punjaub.
The viceroy being in revolt, could claim no
aid from the Delhi government ; and Ahmed,
§ To assuage the fears of the guilty chiefs by
whom he was raised to the throne, Adil Shah pub-
licly but falsely declared, that he had himself incited
the deed by which Persia had been relieved from the
curse of a despot, who delighted in blood. This
character was equally applicable to himself; for he
slew the unfortunate blind prince, Reza Kooli, and
thirteen of Nadir's sons and grandsons, sparing only
Shah Rokh, a lad of fourteen, who was afterwards
protected in his residence at Meshhed, by Ahmed
Shah, who possessed dependencies immediately to
the east of that city. All the assassins of Nadir did
not escape with impunity ; for the Afshar leader,
having incurred the displeasure of Adil Shah, was
delirered over to the vengeance of the female rela-
tives of the murdered monarch, by whom he was cut
to pieces. — (Malcolm's Hittory of Persia, vol. ii.,
p. 66.)
ABDALLI OR DOORANI INVADERS DEFEATED AT SIRHIND, 1748, 173
with little difficulty, triumphed over the
feeble opposition offered to his usurpations,
and occupied Lahore and other towns on
the road to the Sutlej. News of his approach
had reached the court, and Prince Ahmed,
the heir-apparent, with Kamer-oo-deen, the
vizier, at the head of the Mogul army, were
sent to arrest his progress.* They had taken
possession of the fords of the Sutlej ; but the
Candahar king, despite the inferior number
of his troops, resolved to force a passage ;
and having succeeded in crossing at an
unguarded, because unfordable part, left the
enemy in his rear, and advancing against
Sirhind, captured that place, together with
the baggage, stores, and guns deposited
therein. The Moguls, intimidated by the
rapidity of these movements, intrenched their
camp, soon after which the vizier was shot
by a cannon-ball ; but the army continued
to repel the assaults of the Dooranis (as the
AbdaUis were now termed),t and on the
tenth day succeeded in effecting their com-
plete defeat, obliging them to march off
homeward during the ensuing night.
Mohammed Shah expired within a month
of this victory (a.d. 1748), and his only son,
Ahmed, ascended the throne. For the first
time from the commencement of the Indian
annals of the house of Tirnur — in the be-
ginning of the 15th century — the succession
was uncontested. J In truth, it was a woe-
ful heritage — little to be coveted by the
most ambitious pretender.
Reign of Ahmed Shah. — The events of the
next eighteen years can scarcely be woven
into a connected narrative. The Great
Mogul is no longer the chief feature in the
picture ; his proceedings have ceased to
form the centre around which all other inci-
dents could be easily and naturally grouped ;
the governors of provinces, from simple ser-
vants of the crown, having become indepen-
dent powers, whose assistance their nominal
sovereign was glad to purchase, at any cost,
to ward off a foreign foe.
After the battle of Sirhind, the victor sent
a governor to the Punjaub, believing that
• Elphinstone states his force at 12,000 men;
Elliot's Hiifiz Rehmet at 15,000; but the Siyar-ul-
Mutakherin at 67,000 horse.
\ By the advice of a dervish, who had predicted
his future greatness, Ahmed assumed the title of
Door-dowran (the pearl of the age) ; and the Abdalli
tribe took the name of Doorani.
X The accession of Jehangeer can scarcely be
deemed an exception, since opposition was attempted
before the death of Akber ; and by Prince Khoorum
vitbin four months after.
2a
important province secured to the empire by
the retreat of the Afghan monarch ; but this
latter, on learning that the prince had been
recalled to Delhi, by the illness of his father,
turned back before he had reached the
Indus, and forced from the newly-appointed
viceroy an engagement to pay a permanent
tribute. Ahmed Shah, anxious to forni
connections which should enable him to
provide against the incursions of his turbu-
lent neighbour, offered the " ink-stand of the
vizierat"§ to Asuf Jali, who had become
reconciled to his son, Nasir Jung, and wab
employed in consolidating his own power
over the territories in the Deccan, conquered
with so much difficulty by the most powerful
of the house of Timur, and so easily snatched
from their feeble descendants. The nizana
declined the proffered office, on account of
his great age, and died, shortly after, at
Boorhanpoor, in his ninety-sixth year. |1
Nasir Jung assumed his father's govern-
ment, and Sufdur Jung (son and successor
of Sadut Khan) became vizier, on condition
of retaining likewise the viceroyalty of
Oude. In the northern part of that pro-
vince, the Rohillas had again become for-
midable, and the efforts of the imperial
force were directed to their suppression.
Sufdur Jung acted in this matter with
shameless ingratitude,^ and his ill-dis-
ciplined troops sacked their own towii
of Bara (famous for being peopled by
Seyeds), and massacred such of the inhabi-
tants as attempted resistance. The Ro-
hillas, though greatly inferior in number,
gained a complete victory; wounded the
vizier, set the imperial power at defiance,
and penetrated to Allahabad. In this emer-
gency, the common error was committed of
avoiding one danger by incurring another
involving greater, though less immediate
hazard. Mulhar Rao Holcar, and Jeiapa
Sindia, had been recently sent to Malwa by
the peishwa: to them Sufdur Jung now
applied for aid; as also to Suraj Mul, rajah
of the Jats. With these auxiliaries, he de-
feated the Rohillas, in a pitched battle ;
§ An ornamented ink-stand, or rather ink-horn, is
the insignia of office worn by viziers.
II Or 104 lunar years, according to the Moham-
medan mode of computation ; their years consisting
of 13 months— of 28 days 6 hours each,
^ He induced Kaium Khan Bungush, the Afghan
fovernor of Furruckabad, to conduct the war against
is own countrymen. Kaium was slain in battle,
and his employer strove to dispossess the widow of
the chief part of her legitimate possessions, but with
no avail ; for the people rose upon his representative,
.174 ROHILLA AFGHANS SUBDUED, 1751.— MAHRATTA AFFAIRS.
drove them into the lower branches of the
Himalaya, about the Kutnaon range, which
forms their north-eastern boundary, and by
authorising the Mahrattas to le-vy the pro-
mised subsidy on the conquered territory,
soon reduced his foes to such straits for sub-
sistence, that they submitted on the sole
condition of receiving the assignment of a
few villages for their chiefs.
In the Deccan many important changes
had occurred since 1745, when Rugojee
Bhonslay, taking advantage of the rebellion
of Mustapha Khan, had invaded Orissa. The
defeat of the Afghans, and the fall of their
leader, in an attempt to obtain possession of
Behar, relieved Ah Verdi from one dangerous
foe, and enabled him to direct his efforts to
the expulsion of the Mahrattas. In this un-
dertaking he was less successful ; driven off
at one point, they attacked another, fighting
ever in true Cossack* style, until Ali Verdi,
in 1751, weary of beholding his fertile plains
desolated by their incursions, and possibly
influenced by the craving for quiet, natural
to the old age of even men of war, bought
off the invaders by the cession of Cuttack
(the southern division of Orissa), and an en-
gagement for the annual payment of twelve
lacs of rupees, as the chout of Bengal and
Behar. This very inadequate sum, Rugo-
jee was doubtless induced to accept by the
necessity of returning to the Deccan, where
the renewal of internal strife among the
Mahrattas, and the quarrels and intrigues of
the sons of Asuf Jah, together with the am-
bitious projects of M. Bussy, the French
leader, warned every wandering chief to
guard his home interests.
The death of Shao, in 1750, gave the
expected signal for a struggle between the
peishwa and his rivals. The rajah was
childless, and had not complied with the
Hindoo custom of adopting an heir. His
wife, Sawatri Bye, an intriguing and ambi-
tious woman, had strongly urged the claims
of the nearest relative, the rajah of Kola-
poor; but Shao, who, after remaining for
some years in a state of imbecility, had
shortly before his death recovered his
senses, rejected this candidate, because he
also was without offspring, and declared
that he had received a private intimation
and called in the Rohillas, against whom the vizier
took the field in person. — (Scott, vol. ii., p. 225.)
* The Mahrattas have borrowed this term from
the Moguls, finding it perfectly applicable to their
favourite mode of warfare.
of the existence of a posthumous son of
Sevajee II., who had been concealed by
Tara Bye. The story sounded sufficiently
improbable : but the peishwa and Tara Bye
agreed in asserting its truth ; and the former
procured from the rajah an instrument,
transferring to him all the powers of the
government, on condition of his maintaining
the royal dignity in the house of Sevajee,
through its newly-discovered representative
and his descendants. Whether this docu-
ment was authentic or not, the peishwa
acted as if it had been so, by placing the
alleged grandson of Tara Bye on the throne,
with the title of Ram Raja, and by removing
all obstacles to his own supremacy either by
force, fraud, or bribery. The prithee nidhee
was seized and thrown into prison, and
Sawatri Bye goaded into performing suttee,
in accordance with her own declaration,
made before her husband's death, to dis-
guise her real designs. Rugojee Bhonslay,
who was anxious to prosecute his annual
incursions into Bengal — not having then
come to the above-mentioned agreement
with Ali Verdi — formally acknowledged the
succession of Ram Raja, receiving, in return,
a portion of the confiscated lands of the
prithee nidhee, and other concessions;
while the good-will of Holcar and Sindia
was secured by assignments of almost the
entire revenue of Malwa.t Believing his path
now clear, Balajee Bajee left the rajah at
Sattara, under the control of Tara Bye, and
starting from Poona, to which place he
had before transferred his residence, and
which may be henceforth considered as the
Mahratta capital, proceeded to take part in
the civil war that had broken out between
the sons of the late nizam. He was speedily
recalled to Delhi by the machinations of
Tara Bye, who, having vainly endeavoured
to induce her weak and timid grandchild to
assert his independence, and set aside the
dominant influence of the peishwa, vehe-
mently declared, that she believed he was,
after all, no true descendant of Sevajee, but
a base-born Gonedulee,{ having been
changed, at nurse, by the cottagers to
whose ch;irge he had been confided; then
throwing him into a damp, stone dungeon,
with the coarsest grain doled out as food,
£1,500,000, £750,000 was allotted to Holcar;
£650,000 to Sindia; and £100,000 to Puar and
other chiefs.— (DufFs Mahrattas, vol. ii., p. 40.)
+ The Gonedulees are a low cast of musicians, in
1 the house of one of whcm Rajah Ram (according to
t Of the annual revenue, estimated at about I the statement of Tara Bye) had been first concealed.
THE EMPEUOR, AHMED SHAH, BLINDED AND DEPOSED— 1754. 175
the old virago assumed the government in
her own name, and called in the assistance
of Dummajee Guicowar, who had previously
refused to acknowledge the succession of
Ham Rajah. Dummajee was treacherously-
captured by the peishwa at a pretended
friendly interview, and his army completely
dispersed. Tara Bye proved a more trouble-
some opponent, being regarded by the people
as the rightful regent ; besides which, popular
superstition attributed to her the possession
of supernatural power ; but whether she was
a deo or a dyt — that is, a good or an evil
spirit — was a disputed point, though one on
which most persons, acquainted with her
character and history, would scarcely enter-
tain much doubt.
At Delhi, another revolution was impend-
ing. During the absence of the vizier in
Rohilcund, the Dooraui king had extorted
from the emperor the cession of the Punjaub ;
and this arrangement, though it would seem
to have been almost inevitable, the vizier
made the pretext for insult and reproach;
and soon after, vented his jealous spleen by
the assassination of Jaweed, a eunuch much
favoured by the emperor and his mother, at
a banquet to which the victim had been
purposely invited. Exasperated by this out-
rage, Ahmed Shah turned to the ameer-
ool-omra for aid against the vizier. Tliis
young man, named Shaab-oo-deen,* was
grandson to Asuf Jah, and had inherited too
much of his ancestor's unprincipled am-
bition to hesitate taking any part that pro-
mised to gratify his dominant passion ; he,
therefore, gladly sided with the emperor
against the very man whose patronage had
placed him in an influential position. -A
civil war ensued, determined not by one
great battle, but carried on for six months
in daily combats in the streets, during which
time the vizier being a Sheiah, and his oppo-
nent a Sunni, the war-cry of their respective
adherents was the test-word of either sect.
Becoming wearied of this unprofitable con-
test, the rival ministers came to terms ; and
the unhappy monarch, betrayed by both,
made an effort to assert his independence ;
but being captured by the Mahratta auxili-
aries of his treacherous servants, under
Mulhar Rao, was delivered over into the
hands of the ameer-ool-omra, by whom he
was deposed and blinded, together with the
queen his mother, a.d. 1754.
* Ho also bore his father's and grandfather's title
of Ohazi-oo-deen ; but to avoid confusion, I have
adhered to his original appellatitm.
Alumgeer II. — Under this name a prince
of the blood was placed on the vacant throne
by Shaab-oo-deen, who, upon the death of
the vizier, which happened about this
time (at Lucknow, the capital of Oude), took
upon himself the vacant office, and soon
afterwards marched towards Lahore, secretly
hoping to take advantage of the state of
affairs in the Punjaub. Upon the death
of the Mogul governor, whom Ahmed Shah
had continued in his office after the cession,
his infant son had been appointed to the
viceroyalty under the tutelage of his mother.
It so happened, that Shaab-oo-deen had been
affianced to the daughter of the late viceroy,
and he now approached on pretence of claim-
ing his bride. The marriage festivities were in
course of celebration, when a sudden attack
was made upon the town, and the governess
captured in her bed. While being conveyed
to the camp, she vehemently denounced the
treachery which had been practised, declar-
ing, that the vengeance of Ahmed Shah
would be swift and terrible. Her prediction
was verified: the Doorani king marched
rapidly from Candahar, passed through the
Punjaub without opposition, and advanced
upon Delhi to enforce his demand of pecu-
niary compensation. The culprit escaped
through the intercession of his mother-in-
law, whom he had contrived to conciliate;
but the devoted city was again given over
to pillage and slaughter, Alimed Shah, if
willing, being quite unaljle to restrain the
excesses of his soldiery. A detachment
was sent into Bengal to levy a contribution,
and Ahmed proceeded in person to Agra,
against the Jats, with n similar object. The
troops enforced his exactions by the most
barbarous methods, and found, in bigotry,
an excuse and incentive for the indulgence
of their natural ferocity. The ancient and
venerated city of Muttra was surprised dur-
ing the celebration of a religious festival, and
the defenceless worshippers massacred with-
out distinction of sex or age.
Happily, the career of these destroyers
was stopped by the excessive heat, which
occasioned an alarming mortality among
them, and compelled Ahmed Shah to re-
nounce the siege of the citadel of Agra,
which was defended by a Mogul governor,
and be content with the money already
levied. Before returning to his own terri-
tories, he married a princess of the house
of Timur, and affianced another to his son,
afterwards Timur Shah. He also caused an
able and enterprising Roliilla chief, named
176
ALUMGEER II. ASSASSINATED— NOVEMBER, 1759.
Nujeeb-oo-dowla, to be appointed ameer-
ool-omra at the especial request of the
emperor, who hoped to find in him a coun-
terpoise against his intriguing vizier. This
scheme failed ; for Shaab-oo-deen called in
the assistance of the Mahrattas, under
Ragoba (brother to the peishwa), who had
recently acquired notoriety by his proceed-
ings in Guzerat, and in levying contributions
on the Rajpoot states. Thus aided, the
vizier forcibly re-established his paramount
influence in Delhi, the prince, afterwards
Shah Alum, having first escaped to a place
of safety, and Nujeeb to his own country
about Seharunpoor, to the north of Delhi.
The ascendancy of his ally being se-
cured, Ragoba next turned his attention to
the Punjaub, where a turbulent chief, named
Adina Beg, whose whole career had been a
aeries of intrigues, was plotting the over-
throw of Ahmed Shah's sway by means of
the Sikhs, who, during the late disorders,
had again become considerable. Ragoba,
seeing in this disorganisation the promise
of an easy conquest, marched to Lahore
(May, 1758), and took possession of the
whole of the Punjaub, the Dooranis retiring
across the Indus without hazarding a battle.
The death of Adina Beg threw the power
wholly into the hands of the Mahrattas,
who now began to talk unreservedly of
their plans for the obtainment of unques-
tioned supremacy over the whole of Hin-
doostan. These pretensions, though little
likely to be vigorously contested by the no-
minal emperor, were opposed to the interests
of various individuals, especially of Shuja-
oo-dowla, who had succeeded his father,
Sufdur Jung, in the government of Oude,
and who now joined his hereditary foes,
Nujeeb-oo-dowla and the Rohillas, against
the common enemy. The first result of
this alliance was the invasion of Rohilcund
by the Mahrattas, and the destruction of
1,300 villages in little more than a month :
but Shuja marched from Lucknow to the
relief of his allies, and drove the invaders,
with heavy loss, across the Ganges, obliging
their leader, Duttajee Sindia, to conclude a
peace, which he did the more readily on
account of the reported approach of Ahmed
Shah from Cabool.
The retaliation of the Afghan ruler for
the expulsion of his son from the Punjaub,
had been retarded by the attempt of Nadir
Khan, chief of the Beloochees, to establish his
entire independence ; but this question was
no soouer settled than Ahmed, for the fourth
time, invaded India (September, 1759), ad-
vancing by the southern road of Shikarpoor
to the Indus, and marching along its banks
to Peshawer, where he crossed the river and
entered the Punj aub. The Mahrattas ofi"ered
no obstacle ; and he continued his progress
towards Delhi, avoiding the swollen rivers,
keeping near the northern hills until he
passed the Jumna, opposite Seherunpoor.
The approach of the Afghans greatly
alarmed the vizier, who, conscious of the
friendly feeling existing between Ahmed
Shah and the emperor, thought to remove
an obstacle from his path, and ensure a safe
tool, by causing the assassination of Alum-
geer II., and hurrying from the palace-prison
of Selimghur to the throne, another ill-
fated descendant of Aurungzebe.
Extinction of Mogul power. — The title of
the prince brought forward by Shaab-oo-
deen was never recognised; and the heir-
apparent (Shah Alum) being, happily for
himself, beyond the reach of his father's
murderer, the strange confederacy of Mo-
guls, Mahrattas, and Jats, against Doorani
and Rohilla Afghans, had no crowned leader
whose uncontested supremacy epuld aiford a
bond of union to all concerned.
At this crisis, the question naturally arises
— where were the Rajpoots, and how occu-
pied, at an epoch so favourable for the
assertion of national independence and in-
dividual aggrandisement? Their eloquent
historian. Colonel Tod, candidly admits, that,
absorbed in civil strife, enfeebled by luxury,
degraded by intrigue — their position, in no
small degree, resembled that of the once
powerful dynasty, whose most distinguished
members they had opposed so bravely, or
served so loyally. Yet, even had Mewar
possessed a rana able and energetic as Pertap
or Umra — Marwar, a rajah like Jeswunt or
Ajeet; or Amber (Jeypoor), like Maun or
Jey Sing, it is still not probable that
Rajast'han would have become the nucleus
of a Hindoo empire. The characteristics of
feudal confederacies are, under any circum-
stances, scarcely consistent with compre-
hensive and enlightened patriotism ; and the
temporary alliances between Rajpoot states,
formed in an hour of mutual peril, were
thrown aside as soon as their immediate
cause was removed. The spirit of clanship,
unrestrained by higher and holier princi-
ples, prompted in proud and ardent breasts
many deeds which, at the first glance, seem
grand and heroic, but when tried by the
standard of Christian law, severe in its sim-
MAHRATTA POWER AT ITS ZENITH— a.d. 1759.
177
plicity, are found to be fair-seeming fruit
rotten at the core. To raise the honour of
a clan — to humble a rival — to avenge an
affront — these were objects to be gained at
any cost of blood or treasure, and without
regard to the character and true interest of
the state. It was by taking advantage of the
opportunities thus oiFered, and by becoming
partisans in disputed successions, that the
Mahrattas, as much by stratagem as by
force, were enabled to levy chout over all
Rajast'han.
The Mahratta power was now at its
zenith. The whole territory, from the Indus
and Himalaya, on the north, to nearly the
extremity of the Peninsula, was either sub-
jugated or tributary. The authority of the
peishwa had become absolute, Tara Bye
having, though ungraciously enough, been
compelled to enter into terms of peace. She
still, however, persisted in retaining the un-
fortunate Rajah Ram in rigorous confine-
ment, a measure which entirely coincided
with the views of the wily Brahmin, who
ensured its continuance by perpetually so-
liciting its revocation. The army, no longer
composed of predatory bands, now included
a large body of well-paid and well-mounted
cavalry, 10,000 infantry, and a train of artil-
lery. Nor were external signs of increasing
wealth and dominion wanting. The pomp
which had characterised the palmy days of the
Delhi court, together with much of the cere-
monial of Rajpoot states, was now observed
at Poona; and the peishwa and inferior
ministers, possessing the comely forms and
courteous manners common among Concan
Brahmins, bore their new-fledged honours
with natural dignity. The case was very
different with the field-oflBcers, who, by ex-
changing the rude but picturesque garb and
homely manners of former days, for the
cumbersome attire and wearisome conven-
tionalities, in which they rather caricatured
than copied the Moguls, not only rendered
themselves ridiculous, but really lost much
eflBciency in vain attempts to assume a
stateliness of demeanour in correspondence
with the cloth-of-gold uniforms in which
their short, sturdy, active, little bodies were
now encased. Their love of plunder had,
however, undergone no change : they even
seemed to have become more extortionate
* The Bhow, or brother, is a terra commonly ap-
plied by the Mahrattas to cousins German.
t llagoba remained in the Deccan, having given
offence by his improvidence in previous campaigns.
I The Jats (who, according to Tod, are " assuredly
in proportion to their growing passion for
ostentatious display. Their conduct, at this
epoch, brought its own punishment; for,
although there were 30,000 Mahratta horse
in the field, in two bodies, at some distance
from each other, when the Dooranis crossed
the Jumna, the country people, exasperated
by their depredations, kept them in com-
plete ignorance of the movements of the
enemy. Ahmed Shah was consequently
enabled to prevent their junction; and,
coming suddenly on the body under Dut-
tajee Sindia, slew that chief and two-thirds
of his force, while the other division was
overtaken and almost destroyed by a de-
tachment which had made an extraordinary
march for that purpose. The news of this
inauspicious commencement of the war,
enraged but did not dispirit the Mahrattas,
who prepared for a desperate and decisive
encounter. The command of the assembled
force was given to the peishwa's cousin,
Sewdasheo Rao Bhow, commonly called the
Bhow,* a brave soldier, but too violent and
headstrong for a safe general. He was ac-
companied by Wiswas Rao, the youthful
son and heir-apparent of the peishwa,
and by almost all the leading Mahratta
chiefs. t The pressing necessity of uniting
to repel the common foe of the Hin-
doos, seems to have aroused even the Raj-
poots from their apathy, and induced them
to lay aside their private quarrels ; for seve-
ral Rajpoot detachments were sent to join
the Mahratta force on its march from the
Deccan, and Suraj Mul came to meet them
with 30,000 Jats. This experienced old
chief beheld with dismay the gorgeous ap-
pearance of the advancing cavalcade, and
earnestly entreated the Bhow to leave his
heavy baggage, infantry, and guns, under
the protection of the strong forts in the Jat
territory, and practise the same tactics
which had so often proved successful;
urging, that if the war could only be pro-
tracted, the Dooranis, who had been already
many months in India, would probably be
constrained by the climate to withdraw to
their native mountains. This judicious
counsel, though seconded by the Mahratta
chiefs, was haughtily rejected by their com-
mander, who affected to despise the Jats; J
treated Suraj Mul as a petty zemindar,
a mixture of the Rajpoot and Yuti, Jit, or Jete races")
formed the cliief part of the agricultural popula-
tion of Agra in the reign of Aurungzebe, by whose
persecutions they were driven to rebel and elect
Choramun for their leader and rajah.
178 FINAL STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE MAHRATTAS AND AFGHANS.
incapable of judging of politics on a large
scale; and marched on, in defiance of all
counsel, with his whole force to Delhi, which
was held by a small garrison of Dooranis and
their partisans, Ghazi-oo-deen having sought
refuge in the Jat country. The citadel
yielded after a feeble defence. The Bhow
triumphantly entered the ill-fated capital;
defaced the palaces, tombs, and shrines, for
the sake of the rich ornaments which had
been spared by the Persians and Afghans ;
tore down the silver ceiling of the hall of
audience (which was coined into seventeen
lacs of rupees) ; seized the throne, and all
other royal ornaments ; and even talked of
proclaiming Wiswas Rao emperor of India.
Disgusted and alarmed by these rash and
grasping proceedings, Suraj Mul returned
to his own territory, and the Rajpoots like-
wise withdrew from the confederacy. Ahmed
Shah passed the rainy season on the fron-
tier of Oude, and during that time suc-
ceeded in procuring the co-operation of
Shuja-oo-dowla. He then marched rapidly
towards Delhi, and on reaching Cunjpoora,
on the Jumna, learned that the Doorani
garrison stationed there had been captured
by the enemy, and put to the sword. In a
paroxysm of rage, the Shah, thirsting for
revenge, crossed the river between fording
and swimming ; and this impetuous act, by
which many lives were sacrificed, so asto-
nished the Mahrattas, that they retired to
Paniput, and intrenched their camp.
The force of Ahmed Shah was computed
at less than 100,000 men; that of his oppo-
nent at 300,000, including followers.* This
disparity prevented the invader from ven-
turing an attack, and induced him to en-
camp, and fortify his position. For three
months the hostile armies remained face to
face, without coming to any decisive en-
gagement. During that time the state of
affairs underwent a material change. The
Mahrattas at first endeavoured to provoke
an attack, by cutting off the supplies of the
Doorani camp ; and with this object a chief,
named Govind Rao Bondela, was ordered to
collect troops on the lower course of the
Jumna, and spread over the country in the
* The Bhow's force consisted of 65,000 caTalry, in
regular pay, with at least 15,000 predatory Mahratta
horse, and 15,000 infantry ; of whom, 9,000 were
disciplined sepoys, under Ibrahim Khan Gardi, a
Mussulman deserter from the French service. He
had 200 guns, with numerous wall-pieces, and a great
supply of rockets, which is a favourite weapon with
the Mahrattas. These troops, with their immediate
followers, made the numbers within his lines amount
Mahratta fashion. Govind Rao obeyed, and
levied 10,000, or 12,000 men, who proved
very successful plunderers, until their leader
was surprised in a mango-grove and cut off,
with about a thousand followers, by a body
of horse, who had come upon them, after
performing a march of sixty miles. Other
disasters followed ; and, at length, all means
of forage being cut off, Ahmed Shah suc-
ceeded in establishing a rigid blockade ; and
the resources of the town of Paniput, which
was within the lines, being quite exhausted,
the pressure of want began to be severely felt ;
and, from clamouring for arrears of pay, the
Mahrattas now began to lack daily food.
Cooped up amidst the stench of a besieged
camp, among dead and dying animals, sur-
rounded by famished followers, the once
mighty host grew weaker daily ; and, to the
dispiriting influences of physical evils, the
knowledge of the dissensions between the
Bhow, Holcar, and minor chiefs, added
greatly. The position of Ahmed Shah was
one of considerable difficulty; but he rejected
the overtures of peace made through the
intervention of Shuja-oo-dowla, judging,
by the impatience and weariness of his own
troops, of the condition of the foe, and feel-
ing convinced that they would soon be
driven into quitting their intrenchments, as
the only alternative from starvation. Mean-
while he kept a vigilant guard, visiting his
posts, reconnoitring the enemy, and riding
fifty to sixty miles a-day. Among the last
efforts of the besieged, was the dispatch of a
party, with innumerable camp-followers, on
a midnight foraging expedition. The at-
tempt was discovered by the watchful picket
stationed by Ahmed Shah, and the defence-
less crowd were surrounded and slaughtered
in prodigious numbers. On this, the chiefs
and soldiers called upon the Bhow to put an
end to their sufferings and suspense, by
leading them to the attack. The necessary
orders were given; the last grain in store
distributed among the famishing troops ;
and, an hour before day-break, the Mah-
rattas quitted their intrenchments, marching
forth with the ends of their turbans loosened,
and their hands and faces dyed with turmeric;
to 300,000 men. Ahmed Shah had about 4,000
Afghans and Persians, 13,000 Indian horse, and a
force of Indian infantry, estimated at 38,000, of which
the part consisting of Kohilla Afghans would be very
efficient ; but the great majority, the usual rabble
of Indian foot-soldiers. He had, also, about thirty
ijieces of cannon of different calibres, chiefly be-
longing to the Indian allies, and a number of
wall-pieces. (Elphinstone, vol. ii., p. 679.)
TERMINATION OF MOHAMMEDAN POWER IN INDIA.
179
their gait and expressions bespeaking vic-
tims prepared for sacrifice, rather than war-
riors hoping for conquest. The sight of the
foe revived their courage ; a fierce onslaught
was made on the centre of the Mohammedan
army ; and a general encounter followed,
which lasted in unabated violence until noon
— the field of action being one mass of dust
and confusion, the combatants fighting hand
to hand, and the shrieks and groans of the
dying drowned by the incessant " Allah ! "
and "Deen \" of the Mohammedans, and the
"Hur! Hur! Mahdeo !" of the Mahrattas.
Up to this period, victory seemed to incline
to the latter party ; but a reserve, sent for-
ward by Ahmed Shah, who, from his little
red tent, had eagerly watched the engage-
ment, decided the fortune of the day. The
Bhow and Wiswas were slain.* Holcar and
Dummajee Guicowar quitted the field ; and
" all at once, as if by enchantment, the
whole Mahratta army turned their backs,
and fled at full speed." f The victors pur-
sued them with the utmost fury, giving no
quarter, and slaying without mercy all who
fell into their hands. Men, women, and
children crowded into the town of Paniput,
where they were blockaded for the night,
and the next morning divided into allot-
ments by their barbarous captors, the
women and children being taken for slaves,
the men ranged in lines, and prevented
from fainting by a few grains of parched
corn, and a little water poured into the
palms of their hands preparatory to their
decapitation ; after which, their heads were
piled around the doors of the tents,J as
fitting trophies of what men call "a glorious
victory." These atrocities Ahmed Shah
made no effort to restrain ; but, on the
contrary, sanctioned by example the cold-
blooded massacre of the most distinguished
prisoners, among whom was Jancojee Sindia,
* The body of Wiswas Rao was brought to the
tent of the Shah, where the whole camp assembled
to look upon it, and admire the extraordinary beauty
which, strange to say, a violent death had not
marred. Yet the Afghans, untouched by pity, looked
upon the pale corpse only as an evidence of victory ;
and were, with difficulty, induced by Shuja-oo-dowla
to renounce the idea of having " it dried and stuffed,
to carry to Cabool." Concerning the fate of the
Bhow considerable uncertainty prevailed, although a
headless trunk was said to be recognised as his by a
scar on the back — certain marks in the hands and feet,
which seemed to bear evidence of the 1,400 prostra-
tions he made daily before the sun, and what the
astrologers term the Puddum Mutch, or fortunate
lines in his foot.
t See narrative of Casi Rai, an officer in the ser-
vice of Shuja-oo-dowla. {Asiatic Mesearches, vol. iii.)
a youth about the age of Wiswas Rao.
Ibrahim Khan was cruelly treated; and it
was even reported that his death had been
caused by the poison put into his wounds.
This great overthrow was a blow from
which the aspiring Mahrattas never whollj
recovered. In the course of the cam-
paign, 200,000 of them are alleged to have
perished, including nearly all their leading
chiefs. The disastrous intelligence reached
the Deccan through the medium of a letter
addressed to the soucars or bankers, who
generally contrive to obtain the earliest
tidings of all afiairs affecting the money-
market. The letter-carrier was intercepted
by the peishwa while about to cross the
Nerbudda, on his way to Hindoostan, and
its brief contents — " two pearls have been
dissolved ; twenty-seven gold mohurs have
been lost ; and, of the silver and copper, the
total cannot be cast up" — revealed to him
the fate of his beloved sou and cousin, of
the officers and army. The shock proved
fatal to a mind worn down with intrigue,
and a frame enfeebled by indolence and sen-
suality; and the peishwa, retiring towards
Poona, died in a temple which he had erected
near that city. Notwithstanding the personal
faults of Balajee Bajee Rao, his political
sagacity, polished manners, and great ad-
dress, together with the honoured names
he bore, had rendered him popular, and his
death increased the gloom which overhung
the country. §
With the battle of Paniput || the Moham-
medan portion of the history of India natu-
rally closes. Ahmed Shah quitted Hindoo-
stan without attempting to profit by the fruits
of his victory; and Alum Shah, after endur-
ing many vicissitudes of fortune, ended his
days as a pensioner of the powerful company
whose proceedings will occupy the chief por-
tion of the following section.
I The Dooranis said, that " when they left their
own country, their mothers, wives, and sisters de-
sired, that whenever they should defeat the un-
believers, they would kill a few of them on their
account, that they also might possess a merit in the
sight of God." — (Casi Rai.)
§ Tara Bye did not long survive her old adversary,
the peishwa. She died, aged eighty-six, full of
exultation at the misfortunes which had overtaken
her foes. The rajah was then taken out of prison,
and suffered to reside at large in Sattara ; his origi-
nally weak intellect, still further broken down by
persecution, rendering such a procedure free from
any danger to the interests of Madhu Kao, the
youthful son and successor of the late minister.
II Paniput is in 29' 22' N., 76° 51' E. ; the town,
about four miles in circumference, was formerly sur-
rounded by a brick wall, of which a part still remains.
ISO INDO-MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTIES, FROM 1001 to 1760, a.d.
Mohammedan Conquerors and Rulers of Ilindoosfan.
House or
Dynasty.
House of
Ghuznee—
Subuktugeen
dynasty.
Ghor dynasty
Slave Kings.
House of
Khilju.
House of
TogUak.
Lodi.
The Seyeds,
or Seids.
House of
Lodi.
Mogul
dynasty.
Afghan
dynasty.
Mogul
dynasty.
Name or Title.
Mahmood
Mohammed
Masaud
Ahmed , , . . .
Modood
Abul Hussun
Abul Baschid
Toghi-al
Farokshad
Ibrahim
Masaud II
Arslan i .
Behram ... . . .
Khosru
Khosru Malik
Shahab-oo-deen . . . .
Kootb-oo-decn
Aram
Altamsh .....*.
Rukn-oo-deea
llezia (Sultana) ....
Behram (Moiz-oo-deen). .
Masaud (Ala-oo-deen) . .
Mahmood (Nasir-oo-deen) .
Bulhun, or Balin ....
Kei Eobad
Jelal-oa-deen
Ala-oo-deen
Mobarik
Gheias-oo-deen . . . .
Mohammed (Juno) . . .
Feroze
Gheias-oo-deen
Abubekir
Nasir-oo-deen
Humayun ......
Mahmood Toghlak . . .
Doulat Khan Lodi . . .
Seyed Khizer Khan . .
Moiz-oo-deen, or Seyed )
J^ Mobarik J
j Seyed Mohammed' . .
LSi'ved Al-oo-deen . . . .
Bheilol Lodi . . , .
Seeander Lodi
Ibrahim Lodi ...
Baber
Humayun . . ...
Sheer Shah Soor . . . .
Selim Shah Soor ....
Feroze Soor
Mohammed Shah Soor AdUi
Ibrahim III
^Seeander Soor
/Humayun
Akber
Jehangeer
Shah Jehan
Aurungzebe (Alumgeer) ,
) Bahadur Shah
Jehandar Shah ....
Ferokshere
Mohammed Shah ....
Ahmed Shah
Alumgeer II
VAlum Shah
Date.
1001
1030
1030
1040
1041
1049
1051
10.52
1052
1058
10S9
1114
1118
1160
1167
1186
1206
1210
1211
1236
1236
1239
1241
1246
1266
1286
1288
1295
1317
1321
1325
1351
1388
1389
1390
1390
1394
1412
1414
1421
1436
1444
1450
1488
1517
1526
1530
1542
1545
1552
1552
1554
1554
1555
1556
1605
1627
1658
1707
1712
1713
1719
1748
1754
1760
Capital.
Ghuznee . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto
Ditto . . .
Do. and Lahore
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
'Ghor, Ghuz-1
nee, & Delhi /
"Delhi .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
■. Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
/Deoghiri, or ")
t Doulatabad ./
Delhi . .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Agra . .
Delhi & Gwalior
Gwalior
Chunar
Delhi.
Agra .
Delhi .
]. Delhi* Agra I
■' Delhi .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Successor.
Son .
Brother . ,
Nephew
Son . .
Brother .
Uncle ....
No Relation . .
Prince of the Blood
Brother ....
Son
Son . .
Brother .
Son ....
Son .
Conqueror . .
His slave & general
Son ....
Brother-in-law
Son ....
Sister , . .
Brother . . .
Son of Rukn .
Grandson of Altamsh
His Vizier . . ,
Son of Bakhara .
A Khilji Chief. .
Nephew ....
Sou
Vizier
Son
Nephew ....
Grandson . . .
Ditto of Feroze .
Son of Feroze . .
Son
Brother, a Minor .
No Relative
No Relative
Eldest Son . .
Son. .
Son
Conqueror . . ,
Son
Son
Conqueror . . .
Son
Usurper .
Youngest Son . .
Son
Uncle ....
(■Division of Domi-"l
Death or Deposition.
^ nion J
Humayun . . .
Son
Son
Son
Fourth Son .
Son . .
Eldest Son . . .
Son of Azim-u-Shan
Nephew , .
Son. . . .
Prince of the Blood
Son
No successor . .
Natural death, 1030.
Deposed and blinded.
Deposed and murdered.
Murdered.
Natural death.
Deposed.
Murdered.
Assassinated. \
Assassinated.'
Natural death.
Natural death.
Murdered.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Imprisoned and murdered.
Assassinated.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Deposed after 7 mths. reign.
Imprisoned and murdered.
Imprisoned and murdered.
Imprisoned and murdered.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Assassinated,
Assassinated.
Poisoned.
Murdered.
Killed, supposed by his son.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Deposed and murdered.
Deposed.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Driven from Delhi by TimtiT
Expelled,
Natural death.
Murdered in a Mosque.
Natural death.
Abdicated.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Slain in battle at Paniput,
Natural death.
Driven into Persia.
Killed at a siege.
Natural death.
Assassinated in 3 days.
Expelled and slain.
Imprisoned and slain.
Defeated in battle, and fled
Killed by a fall.
Natural death.
Natural death.
Deposed.
Natural death..
Natural death.
Murdered
Deposed and slain.
Natural death.
Deposed and eyes put out.
Murdered.
Natural death.
Nctte. — Of the above 65 conquerors and rulers, 24 were assassinated or poisoned ; 1 1 were deposed, driven from th,e throne,
or abdicated ; two were slain in battle ; one killed by a fall ; and 27 were said to have died a natural death. Fifteen
princes of the Ghaznivede dynasty had an average duration of reign of II years ; 10 Slave kings of eight years ; three
Khiljii of 10 years; eight Toghlak of 11 years; four Seyeds of nine years; three Lodi of 25 years; two Mogul
of eight years ; six Afghan of two years; and 12 Mogul of 17 years each. If the reign of Akber, which lasted for
49 years, and that of Aurungzebe, for 49 = 98, be deducted, the average duration of the remaining 10 princes' reigns
was only lOJ years. The period of 751 years gives an average reign, to each prince, of exactly H years. These state-
ments must, however, be regarded rather as affording a general view of the Indo-Mohammedan Dynasties, than aa
^sertions of opinions on various disputed points respecting the death and exact date of accession of several potentates :
for accounts of the minor Mohammedan kingdoms see pp. 93 to 107. The Great Moguls alone assumed the title of
Padsha, or Emperor.
SECTION 11.
EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE— RISE AND GROWTH OF BRITISH POWER.
Some light is thrown on the communication
between the eastern and western hemis-
pheres by the scriptural account of the fre-
quent supplies of spices and other oriental
products obtained by Solomon from the sou-
thern parts of Asia, b.c. 1000. The Phoe-
nicians were even then supposed to have
long been the chief carriers in the Indian
trade, by way of the Red Sea and the Per-
sian Gulf; but an overland intercourse ap-
pears to have been simultaneously main-
tained through Persia and Arabia. Of the
Asiatics themselves, and of their territories,
little was known in Europe until the inva-
sion of the Indian frontier by Alexander the
Great, b.c 331. For nearly three centuries
after his death, the Indian traffic was chiefly
conducted by Egyptian and Arabian mer-
chants, by way of the Red Sea, the Nile,
and the Mediterranean; the marts being
Berenice, Coptos, and Alexandria. There
were, besides, two other and far less fre-
quented routes : the first lay through Persia
and the upper part of Arabia to the Syrian
cities, and stretched over a long and dreary
desert tract, in which the only halting-place
was the famous Tadmor or Palmyra — the
city of palms — whose independence and
growing prosperity exciting the jealousy of
imperial Rome, proved the occasion of its
destruction, notwithstanding the determined
efibrts of its brave queen, Zenobia. With
Palmyra the overland traffic of the desert,
which had existed since the time of Abra-
ham, terminated ; but the other route,
across the rocky passes of the Hindoo
Koosh, is still in existence, and by this
means an inland trade is maintained between
India, Persia, and Russia {vid Bokhara.)
In the middle of the first century of the
Christian era a discovery was made by a
Greek, named Hippalus, the commander of
an Egyptian East-Indiaman, of the steady
course of the monsoon, at fixed periods, in a
certain direction. The result of his observa-
tion and daring adventure was to reduce a
tedious voyage, of two months' duration,
within the compass of a few days ; mariners
thenceforth steering from the mouth of the
RedSea directly across the ocean to Nelcunda
(the site of which Dr. Vincent traces in the
2b
modern Nelisuram), instead of following the
circuitous line of the Arabian and Persian
coasts. Here pepper in great abundance, cot-
ton cloths, and exquisitely fine muslins, silk,
ivory, spikenard, pearls, diamonds, amethysts,
with other precious stones, and tortoiseshell,
awaited the arrival of the merchants, and
were largely exported, as also from Tyndis
and Musiris (Barcelore and Mangalore), and
other emporia on the Indian coast, in exchange
for gold and silver, (in vessels and specie,)
cloth, coral, incense, glass, and a little wine.
The weakness and distraction of the Ro-
man empire checked this profitable traffic,
and the rise of Mohammedan power subse-
quently cut off aU direct communication
between Europe and India. The Arabians
then formed settlements on the eastern
coasts of the Deccan, and by their vessels, or
by inland caravans, the rich productions of
India were sold to the Venetians or Genoese
on the shores of the Mediterranean or of the
Euxine. These merchant-princes, though
characterised by maritime enterprise, were
naturally little desirous of prosecuting dis-
coveries calculated to break up their mono-
poly, and transfer to other hands at least a
large proportion of the Indian trade. The
leading European states, engrossed by na-
tional or internal strife, were slow to recog-
nise the superiority of an extended commerce
as a means of even political greatness, over
the sanguinary warfare into which whole
kingdoms were repeatedly plunged to gratify
the ambition or malignity of a few persons —
often of a single individual. The short-lived
triumphs of the sword only paved the way
for new contests, envenomed by bitter recol-
lections ; and it followed inevitably, that all
peaceful interests — arts and sciences, me-
chanics, and agriculture — were neglected in
the paramount necessity of finding means
to meet the heavy drain of blood and treasure
so wantonly incurred. The true principle of
trade — the greatest good of the greatest
number — was quite overlooked: the citizens
of a leading emporium forgot, in triumphing
over a defeated rival, that they were exulting
in the destruction of one of their own mar-
kets ; and were far from understanding the
more remote connexion which, in the absence
182 FIRST EUROPEAN VOYAGE TO INDIA, 1498— VASCO DE GAMA.
of a holier principle of union, binds nation
to nation, forming of the whole a body-cor-
porate, through which the blood circulates
more or less freely according to the healthy
or diseased action of each and every member.
Portuguese Discovery and Dominion.*
— A new epoch commenced for Europe,
dating from the time when John I. and
Prince Henry — worthy representatives of
the royal house of Portugal — struck out for
themselves and their country a path to power
and renown, by becoming the patrons of
maritime discovery. Portugal was then, as
now, of limited extent and fertility : her
previous history afforded little scope for
boastful recollection, either while under the
sway of the Romans, as the province of
Lusitania, or when, in the middle ages, she
lay crushed beneath the iron yoke of the
Moors, who, after having overrun nearly the
whole Peninsula, erected Portugal into a
kingdom, under the name of Algarve. But
the fiery furnace of adversity developed mar-
vellously the latent energies of the Portu-
guese. Religious zeal became the inspiring
theme with them, as it had formerly been
with their conquerors ; and, after a struggle
of many hundred years' duration, they, like
their Spanish neighbours, succeeded in ex-
pelling from their shores the numerous, war-
like, and fanatical hordes united under the
banner of the crescent.
Acting on the false principle of their late
persecutors, — that hostilities against infidels
vrere meritorious in the sight of God, — the
Portuguese pursued the Moors into Africa,
retaliating by every possible means the long
* The authorities for the Portuguese proceedings
are Lopez de Castanheda; Stevens' translation of
Faria y Sousa ; and the accounts given in Harris's
Voyages,\he World displayed ; Murray's Discoveries ;
and other collections of travels by land and sea, in
which Juan de Barros and Osorio are largely quoted.
t Pp. 92 to 106. J Page 41.
§ The origin of the zamorins, or Tamuri rajahs, is
discussed by Buchanan (vol. ii., p. 474) and Sousa
(vol. ii., p. 225.) In accordance with the custom of
the country, the name of the individual then reigning
was withheld from the Portuguese ; but their inter-
preter, a Moor of Tunis (long resident at Calicut),
described him " as a very good man, and of an hon-
nurable disposition." He proved to be a person of
majestic presence and advanced age : dressed in fine
white calico, adorned with branches and flowers of
beaten gold, and rare gems (with which latter his whole
person was bedecked), he reclined on cushions of white
silk, wrought with gold, under a magnificent canopy.
A golden fountain of water stood beside him, and a
gold basin filled with betel and areca: the hall of
audience was richly carpeted, and hung with tapestry
of silk and gold. De Gama found some difficulty
series of outrage and thraldom to which they
had been subjected. The pecuhar situation
of Portugal, and its long range of coast-
line, bordered by the yet unmeasured ex-
panse of the Atlantic, favoured maritime
enterprise ; and the exploration of the shores
of western, southern, and eastern Africa
was followed by the expedition of Vasco de
Gama, who, after crossing the Indian Ocean
(by the aid of a Hindoo pilot, obtained at
Mehnda), succeeded in gaining the Malabar
coast, and landed at Calicut in May, 1498.
The general condition of India at this
period has been shown in previous pages.f
Secander Soor sat on the throne of Delhi :
in the Deccan, the Mohammedan rulers
were Mohammed II., of the Bahmani
dynasty ; Yusuf Adil Shah, of Beejapoor ;
and Ahmed Nizam Shah, of Ahmednuggur.
The country visited by the Portuguese had
anciently formed the southern division of
the kingdom of Kerala; J but in the course
of the ninth century had revolted from its
prince (who had become a Mohammedan),
and been formed into many petty Hindoo
principalities. Of these, the chief was that
now governed by a ruler styled the samorin,
or Tamuri rajah,§ to whom several lesser
rajahs seem to have been feudatory ; his
capital, called Calicut, had attained wealth
and celebrity as a commercial emporium.
By this prince the adventurers were well
received; and notwithstanding some awk-
ward blunders, occasioned by their igno-
rance of the language, customs, and religion
of the country, II all went on favourably
until their proceedings excited the jealousy
of the Mohammedan traders, whom they
from thewant of the costly presents with which all
diplomatic intercourse in the east begins and ends.
The zamorin desired an image of Mary, in gold, of
which he had heard : this was refused, on the plea
that it was only wood, gilt, but valuable " because it
had preserved them at sea" — an answer calculated to
confirm the assertion of the Moors, that these Euro-
peans, unlike the native Christians, were idolaters.
II The Portuguese, acquainted by the accounts of
]SIarco Polo and other travellers with the existence
of a Christian community on this coast, looked for
the signs of Christian or rather llomish worship;
and, filled with this idea, actually entered a splendid
])agoda with lofty pillars of brass, and prostrated
themselves before an assemblage of strange and
grotesque forms, which they took for the Indian
ideal of the Madonna and saints. The strings of
beads worn by the priests, the water with which the
company were sprinkled, the powdered sandal-wood,
and the peal of bells, could not, however, quell
the suspicions excited by the numerous arms and
singular accompaniments of many of the figures;
and one of the Portuguese started to his feet, ex-
claiming, " If these be devils, it is God I worship."
PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION UNDER ALVAREZ CABRAL— a.d. 1500. 183
termed the Moors,* settled in Calicut. These
merchants having, through their factors,
received intelligence of the contests which
had taken place, during the voyage, between
Vasco de Gama and the people of Mozam-
bique, Mombas, Melinda, and other places
on the coast of Africa, informed the zamorin
of the outrages that had been committed
on this and previous occasions, urging,
with sufficient reason, that people who, on
frivolous pretences, fired upon and destroyed
towns, carried off the inhabitants as slaves,
and scrupled not to extort information by
the most barbarous tortures, were more pro-
bably pirates than ambassadors,t especially
as they came unprovided with any offer-
ing from their sovereign. Notwithstanding
these representations, the Portuguese were
suffered to make an advantageous disposition
of their cargo (of scarlet cloth, brass, coral,
&c.) at Cahcutj but a dispute subsequently
arising, the factor and secretary were made
prisoners. De Gama dissembled his alarm,
and continued to communicate with the
Indians as if nothing had occurred, until he
had succeeded in entrapping on board his
vessel a party, comprising six nairsf and
fifteen other persons of distinction. He
then demanded the release of his officers as
their ransom ; but when this condition was
complied with, forfeited his pledge by re-
taining possession of several of his captives.
Enraged by this dishonourable and insulting
conduct, the zamorin dispatched a squadron
of boats against the Portuguese, and suc-
ceeded in procuring the co-operation of
neighbouring powers; so that in a short
time every bay, creek, and river was fiUed
with boats, ready, at a given signal, to
attack the intruders. Such at least was
the intelligence, wrung by tortures of the
most cruel and disgusting description, from
a spy who came out from Goa. De Gama,
by the aid of favourable winds avoided the
encounter, steered homewards, and reached
* This designation seems frequently applied to
Arabian and African Mohammedans, in contradis-
tinction to Moguls and Patans. Sousa speaks of
them as "inhabiting from Choul to Cape Comorin."
t Prince Henry's characteristic motto, " Talent de
bien faire," was sadly misapplied by the Portuguese
commanders, who, almost without exception, treated
the natives of newly-discovered territories with such
shameless cruelty, that their skill and courage fails
to disguise tlie fact, that they were little else than
pirates and robbers on an extensive scale ; — worse
than all, they were stealers of men ; and thereby
guilty of a crime which could not and did not fail
to bring a curse upon their nation. In vain they
strove to strengthen themselves with forts and can-
the Tagus in August, 1499, after an absence
of two years and two months ; only fifty-five
of the 16011 ™6n who had accompanied him
on his perilous enterprise, surviving to share
the honours of his triumphant entry into
Lisbon; but of these, every individual re-
ceived rewards, together with the personal
commendation of King Emanuel,
An armament, comprising thirteen ships
and 1,200 men, was immediately fitted out
and dispatched to take advantage of the
new discovery. The com.mand was entrusted
to Alvarez Cabral, De Gama being excluded
on the plea of being spared the hazard, but
probably either on account of an opposite
interest having begun to prevail at court, or
because even his own report of his Indian
proceedings may have borne evidence that
the beneficial results of the skill and courage
which had enabled him to triumph over the
perils of unknown seas, were likely to be
neutralized by his indiscreet and aggressive
conduct on shore. Cabral reached Calicut
in September, 1500, having, on his way,
discovered the coast of Brazil, and lost four
of his ships in the frightful storms encoun-
tered in rounding the Cape of Good Hope,
Bartholomew Diaz being one of those who
perished in the seas he had first laid open
to European adventure. The captives car-
ried off by De Gama were restored by Cabral,
and their representations of the honourable
treatment they had received in Portugal,
together with costly presents of vessels of
gold and silver of delicate workmanship,
and cloths ingeniously wrought, obtained
for the admiral a gracious reception, and
permission to establish a factory at Calicut.
Cabral endeavoured to ingratiate himself
still further by intercepting and driving into
the harbour or roadstead of Calicut a large
vessel, then passing from the neighbouring
port of Cochin, laden with a rich cargo, in-
cluding seven elephants, one of which the
zamorin had vainly endeavoured to pur-
non — spreading the terror of their name over the
whole African sea-coast': their power has dwindled
away like a snow-ball in the sun ; and now only
enough remains to bear witness of lost dominion.
Five-and-twenty years ago, when serving in the
navy, I visited the great fortress of Mozambique,
where we landed the marines of our frigate to pre-
vea t the governor-general (then newly-arrived from
Lisbon) being massacred by a horde of savages. At
Delagoa, Inhamban, Sofala, and other places, the
Portuguese governor and officers were unwilling to
venture beyond the reach of the rusty cannon on
the walls of their dilapidated forts.
X Military class of Malabar, of the Soodra cast.
II According to Sousa. Castanheda says, 108.
184 HOSTILITIES PROVOKED BY PORTUGUESE IN MALABAR— a.d. 1501,
chase ; but this unscrupulous use of power
gave alarm rather than satisfaction, and
added weight to the arguments of the Moors,
regarding the danger of encouraging such
officious interlopers. The result was, that
the Portuguese, unable to effect any pur-
chases from the native merchants, in their
impatience construed a hasty expression,
dropped by the zamorin when wearied by
their solicitations and complaints, into per-
mission to seize a Moorish cargo of rich
spices, on condition of the payment of an
equitable price. This outrage provoked the
resentment of both the Moors and the Hin-
doo inhabitants of Calicut. The newly-
erected factory was broken open, and out of
its seventy occupants, fifty-one were killed,
the remainder escaping only by leaping into
the sea, and swimming to their boats. Cabral
retaliated by the capture and destruction of
ten Moorish ships, seizing the cargoes, and
detaining the crews as prisoners. Then,
bringing his squadron as close as possible to
the shore, he opened a furious discharge of
artillery upon the city, and having set it
on fire in several places, sailed southward to
Cochin, whose ruler, having rebelled against
the zamorin, gladly embraced the offer of
foreign commerce and alliance. Here an
abundant supply of pepper, the commodity
chiefly desired' by the Europeans, was ob-
tained, and Cabral returned to Lisbon,
taking the opportunity of a favourable wind
to avoid a fleet of sixty sail, sent against
him from Calicut. It was now manifest
that the aggressive policy of the Portuguese
could succeed only if power-fully supported ;
and Emanuel being desirous, in the words
of Faria y Sousa, "to carry out what the
apostle St. Thomas had begun," during
his alleged visit to India, resolved, at all
hazards, to avail himself of the papal grant
to Portugal of all the eastern regions
discovered by her fleets, and tenanted by
infidels. He assembled a larger armament
than had yet been sent into the eastern
seas, and assuming the title of " Lord of
the navigation, conquest, and commerce of
Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India," dis-
patched Vasco de Gama to enforce his
authority. The conduct of the envoy was
marked by the most savage cruelty. On
the coast of Arabia he met and captured a
large Moorish ship, seized its stores, shut up
the crew in the hold, and set it on fire.
Appearing before Calicut, he collected fifty
Indians from several captured vessels, and
in consequence of some delay which oc-
curred during a negotiation, opened by his
demand of compensation for the destruction
of the factory and its occupants, he took up
an hour-glass, and declared, that unless the
matter were settled before the sand had
passed through, the prisoners should all be
massacred. This savage threat he fulfilled
to the letter, flinging on shore the heads,
hands, and feet of the wretched victims.
After pouring a destructive fire on the city,
he proceeded to Cochin and Cananore,
cemented the Portuguese alliance with the
rulers of these territories, and then returned
to Lisbon, leaving a squadron of five vessels
under his uncle, Vincente Sodre, to blockade
the Red Sea, exclude the hostile Moors
from any communication with the coast of
Malabar, and do what he could to protect
the allies of Portugal against the anger of
their liege lord, the zamorin. Instead of
following these injunctions, Sodre engaged
in piratical pursuits, and at length perished
in a violent storm. Triumpara, rajah of
Cochin, was left to make his own defence,
and being driven from his capital, took refuge
in the isle of Vaipeen, whose natural strength
and sacred character would probably not
have sufiiced to ensure him a safe asylum
but for the succour that arrived from Por-
tugal, one detachment being sent under the
afterwards famous Alphonso Albuquerque,
another under his brother Francisco, and a
third under Antonio Saldanha. With their
assistance, Triumpara was replaced on his
throne, and peace concluded with Calicut,
but soon broken by the outrageous conduct
of the Portuguese. The Albuquerques, after
endeavouring to intimidate the zamorin into
a renewal of the violated treaty, set sail for
Europe,* leaving Duarte Pacheco with four
vessels and a few hundred men to assist in
guarding their ally, the rajah of Cochin.
The struggle that ensued aflbrded the first
notable instance of the superiority of a small
force, strengthened by European strategy
and discipline, over an unwieldly Indian
host, and may be said to have laid the
foundation of Portuguese power in India.
Pacheco was skilful and resolute : Trium-
para confided to him the sole direction of
the defence to be made against the advanc-
ing naval and military armament of the
zamorin; and the well-directed fire of his
little squadron enabled him to obtain a com-
plete triumph, which was greatly facilitated
* Alphonso reached Europe safely. Francisco,
with the ships under his command, is supposed to
have perished in a storm near Melinda, in Africa.
ALMEIDA VICEROY— WAE WITH EGYPT AND GUZERAT— 1508. 185
by a destructive sickness that broke out
among the enemy, and compelled their re-
treat to Calicut.* Pacheco was, perhaps, the
ablest as well as the most humane and dis-
interested of the commanders of his nation
in India; for no other, not even Albuquer-
que, obtained such uniform success with
such inadequate means. It would have
been good policy to have left him in the posi-
tion he had so well filled ; instead of which,
he was superseded by Lope Soarez. On re-
turning to Portugal, he was treated by
Emanuel with well-merited distinction ; and
his disregard of his own interests, and zeal for
the public service, were rewarded by the ap-
pointment of governor of El Mina, the chief
settlement on the African coast; but a
violent faction being there raised against
him, he was sent home in chains, impri-
soned for years, and although at length
honourably acquitted, suffered to die in
poverty and neglect.
In 1505, Francisco de Almeida arrived off
Malabar, attended by a powerful fleet, and
dignified with the new and pompous title
of viceroy of India. A more formidable
opposition than any heretofore encountered
now awaited the Portuguese, in the combi-
nation formed against them by Mahmood
Begarra, of Guzerat, with the Mameluk
sultan of Cairo, and the angry and disap-
pointed Venetians. The sultan, incensed by
the diminution of his revenues, by the shame-
ful piracies committed on his vessels, and by
the barbarous massacre of pilgrims on their
way to Mecca (whose cause every zealous
Mohammedan identifies with his own),
equipped twelve large ships in the Red
Sea,t and placed them under an officer
named Meer Hocem, with orders for the
ejftirpation of the infidel invaders from the
whole face of the eastern seas. Malek
Eiaz, the viceroy of Diu, was sent by
Mahmood to join the Mameluks, with an
assemblage of vessels, inferior in size, but
greater in number ; and the combined force
fell upon the Portuguese squadron anchored
off Choul with such effect, that the young
commander, Lorenzo, the only son of Al-
meida, seeing no prospect of successful re-
sistance, and his chief officers, like himself,
being wounded, resolved to take advantage
* Both Moors and Hindoos were provided with
cannon before the arrival of the Portuguese, though
they do not appear to have been skilful in its use.
t The Venetians sent the timber from the forests
of Dalmatia, by way of Alexandria and the Nile.
Venetian carpenters built the fleet, which was
strongly manned with choice Turkish soldiers.
of a favourable tide and proceed out to sea.
The movement was commenced at midnight,
and went on favourably until the ship in
which Lorenzo sailed ran foul of some fish-
ing stakes. The enemy having discovered
the manoeuvre, pressed on in pursuit, while
ineffectual attempts were made to free the
intercepted vessel. Lorenzo was entreated
to enter a boat and escape to the fleet ; but
he refused to forsake his companions, and
drawing them up in fighting order, resolved
to hold out, if possible, until the advancing
tide should float them out to sea. Hostile
ships, bristling with cannon, bore down on
the devoted band, and destroyed their last
hope by opening upon them a tremendous
fire. A ball in the thigh incapacitated
Lorenzo for movement ; but he caused him-
self to be lashed to the mast, whence he
continued to direct and cheer his men till
another shot struck him on the breast, and
terminated at once his struggles and his
life. J The crew, though reduced from one
hundred to twenty men, and all wounded,
were still disposed to resist the boarding of
their vessel ; but Malek Eiaz, by gentleness
and promises of good treatment, prevailed
on them to surrender ; and by his after-
conduct, amply redeemed his pledge. In
truth, Eiaz appears to be almost the only
Mohammedan commander of his age and
country, who in any degree inherited the
chivalry which romance and even history
have associated with Saracen leaders in the
time of the Crusades. He addressed Al-
meida in terms of the most delicate con-
dolence, expressing earnest admiration of
the valour of his lost son ; but the veteran
sternly replied, that he considered excel-
lence more to be desired than long life, and
saw no cause for lamentation in the glorious
death of one who was doubtless now enjoy-
ing the reward of his good conduct. This
semblance of resignation imposed no re-
straint upon the burning impatience with
which he prepared for vengeance. When
about to depart at the head of a fleet of
nineteen ships, an unexpected event de-
ranged his plans, and inflicted a blow which
he bore with far less dignity than he had
done his late bereavement. This was nOr
thing less than his recall and supercessiou
X Sousa says, his countrymen lost 140 men in this
engagement, and the enemy 600. Unfortunately, we
cannot check the Portuguese accounts by those of
their foes, because the Mohammedan historians of
the Deccan have rarely thought fit to narrate their
contests with these " foreign idolaters," whom they
affected to treat with contemptuous indifference.
186 STORMING OF DIU— PORTUGUESE DEFEATED AT CALICUT— 1510.
by Alphonso Albuquerque, who arrived in
1506, bearing a commission as governor-
general of India.* Almeida positively re-
fused to resign his command until he should
have avenged his son's death by the de-
struction of the hostile fleet. Being sup-
ported in his disobedience to the royal man-
date by several leading officers, he refused
to allow Albuquerque even to take part in
the intended expedition, and sailed off to
attack Dabul, a leading emporium, which
had zealously embraced the Egyptian cause.
The troops disembarked at Diu, notwithstand-
ing the discharge of powerful batteries ; for
these, having rather a high range, passed
over the soldiers heads as they landed in
boats, without inflicting any injury. Once on
shore, a deadly conflict commenced with the
bodies of armed citizens who blocked up the
narrow passages to the town : these were
at length overpowered; and by the orders
of the merciless victor, an indiscriminate
slaughter ensued. The streets streamed
with blood, and the distracted multitudes
fled to the caves of the neighbouring moun-
tains, finding that even buildings consecrated
to the service of the One Universal Lord
aflbrded no refuge from the lust and fury
of the savage men who dared to cast dis-
honour on the great name of the Redeemer,
by styling themselves disciples and propa-
gators of a faith whose very essence is peace
and love. This disgraceful scene had a suit-
able conclusion; for Almeida, unable to with-
draw his troops from their horrible employ-
ment, resorted to a violent method of re-
storing some degree of discipline, by causing
the town to be set on fire. The flames ex-
tended rapidly over the light timber roofs,
and after reducing the stately city to a pile
of smoking wood and ashes, reached the
harbour. The native shipping was de-
stroyed ; the Portuguese vessels with diffi-
culty escaped, and proceeded to the Gulf
of Cambay. Here Almeida attacked the
combined fleet, and gained a great but
costly victory. The Mameluk portion was
completely destroyed, and Malek Eiaz com-
pelled to sue for peace. Almeida stipulated
for the surrender of Meer Hocem; but Eiaz
indignantly refused to betray his ally, and
would offer no further concession as the
price of peace than the freedom of all
Jjuropean captives. Having no power of
enforcing other terms, Almeida was com-
• The o£Bce of viceroy and governor-general was
the same, though the title differed.
t Vide British Possessions in jifrica, vol. iii,, p. 4.
pelled to accept these; but unsoftened by
the kindness which the surviving compa-
nions of his son had received from their
brave captor, the Portuguese admiral filled
the measure of his barbarities by causing
his prisoners to be shut up in the prize
vessels and burnt with them. " Many,"
says Faria y Sousa, "judged the unhappy
end of the viceroy and other gentlemen to
be a just punishment of that crime." If
so, it was not long delayed. On the return
of Almeida to Cochin, a contest seemed
about to commence with Albuquerque for
the possession of the supreme authority.
At this crisis, Ferdinand Coutinho, a noble-
man of high character, arrived in command
of fifteen ships and a large body of troops,
having been opportunely dispatched by Ema-
nuel, with powers to act in the very pro-
bable conjuncture which had actually arisen.
By his mediation, Almeida was induced to
resign the viceroyalty, and set sail for his
native country, which he never lived to
reach, — he, who had brought so many to
an untimely end, himself sufi'ering a vio-
lent death at the hands of some Hottentots
at the Cape of Good Hope, of whose cattle
the Portuguese had attempted to take for-
cible possession. t
Albuquerque was now left to carry out
unchecked his ambitious schemes. He com-
menced by the assault of Calicut (January,
1510), in conjunction with Coutinho, who,
being about to return to Portugal, vehe-
mently urged his claim to be allowed to take
the lead on this occasion. As the city could
only be approached through narrow avenues,
amidst thick woods, in which the whole
army had not room to act, it was arranged
that the two commanders should advance, at
day-break on the following morning, in sepa-
rate divisions. That of Albuquerque took the
lead, and obtained possession of a fortified
palace (previously fixed upon as the first
object of assault) before the rival party
reached the spot. Coutinho, greatly annoyed
at being thus anticipated, reproached Albu-
querque with a breach of faith, and declaring
that he would not be again forestalled, made
his way through the streets of Calicut to the
chief palace, wliich lay on the other side of
the city, and formed a little town, enclosed
by a wall. Being the only regular fortifica-
tion in the place, it was defended by the
main strength of the army ; but Coutinho
succeeded in forcing open the gates, and ac-
quired possession of the whole enclosure.
Flushed with victory, he gave his men full
ALBUQUERQUE CAPTURES GOA, 1510— MALACCA, 1511— ORMUZ, 1515. 187
license to plunder, and withdrew, to seek
rest and refreshment in the state apartments.
This over-confidence afforded the Hindoos
time to recover from their consternation ;
and a cry, uttered by one of the chief nairs,
passed from mouth to mouth, to the distance
of several miles, until 30,000 armed men
had assembled, and in turn, surprised the
invaders. Albuquerque, who occupied the
city, vainly strove to maintain the commu-
nication with the fleet : he was hemmed in
with his troops in the narrow lanes and
avenues, and exposed to a continued shower
of arrows and stones, one of which felled
him to the ground. The soldiers set fire to
the adjacent buildings, and escaped to the
ships, bearing away their commander in a
state of unconsciousness. Coutinho was less
fortunate. When, after neglecting repeated
warnings, at last roused by the clash of arms
to the actual state of the case, he sprang to
the head of his troops, and fought with the
fury of desperation, striving not to retain
possession of the place — for that was mani-
festly impossible — but only to cut a path to
the shore. In this the majority of the com-
mon soldiers succeeded ; but Coutinho, with
Vasco Sylviera, and other nobles of distinc-
tion, were left dead on the field. Out of
1,600 Portuguese (according to De Barros),
eighty were killed, and 300 wounded. This
disastrous commencement, so far from
checking, only served to increase the desire
of Albuquerque for territorial dominion, in
opposition to the policy previously pursued
by Almeida, who had considered that fac-
tories, guarded by a powerful fleet, would
better suit the purposes of commerce, and be
less likely to excite enmity.
Disappointed in the hope of gaining pos-
session of the capital of the zamorin, he
looked round for some other city which
might form the nucleus of a new empire ;
for as yet, notwithstanding their high-
sounding titles, the Portuguese had but a
precarious tenure, even of the land on
which their few forts and factories were
erected. A useful, though not creditable ally,
Timojee, a Hindoo pirate, directed his at-
tention to Goa, then comprehended in the
kingdom of Beejapoor. The city was taken
by surprise in the early part of 1510; re-
captured a few months later by Yusuf Adil
Shah, in person ; and finally conquered by
* Portuguese Asia, vol. i., p. 172.
t After making large allowance for t'ne barbarities
common to his age and nation, Albuquerque seems
to have been more than usually cruel in his punish-
Albuquerque, at the close of the same year.
The contest was prolonged and sanguinary ;
and the after-slaughter must have been ter-
rific,— since, according to Sousa, " not one
Moor was left alive in the island."* The
Hindoos were treated very differently; for
Albuquerque, with a politic view to the con-
solidation of his newly-acquired power, con-
firmed them in their possessions, and pro-
moted the intermarriage of their women
with the Portuguese by handsome dowries,
at the same time proving his confidence in
his new subjects, by employing them in
both civil and military capacities. A large
quantity of cannon and military stores were
captured in Goa, and probably assisted in
furnishing the fortifications raised by him in
that city ; and also in fitting out an arma-
ment, comprising 800 Portuguese and 600
Indians, with which Albuquerque proceeded
to attack Malacca. This kingdom was then
of great importance, being what Singapore
is now — namely, the chief mart of the com-
merce carried on between Hindoostan, China,
and the eastern islands. The inhabitants made
a vigorous resistance with cannon and floats
of wild-fire, and defended their streets by
mining with gunpowder ; but they were
overpowered by the Portuguese, who gained
complete possession of the city, and im-
mediately began to erect a strong fort from
the ruins of the shattered palaces, and take
other measures for the permanent establish-
ment of their supremacy. Negotiations
were opened with Siam, Java, and Sumatra ;
and friendly embassies are even asserted
to have been dispatched from these countries
in return. The restless sword of Albu-
querque next found employment in the de-
fence of Goa, where tranquillity was no
sooner restored, than he resumed his plaas
of distant conquest; and after two unsuc-
cessful attempts upon Aden, assembled
1,500 European and 600 Asiatic troops,
in pursuit of the darling object of his am-
bition— the conquest of Ormuz, the famous
emporium of the Persian Gulf. This he ap-
pears to have accomplished with little diffi-
culty, by working upon the fears and weak-
ness of the sovereign, who felt quite in-
capable of combating a formidable force, led
by a commander whose ability was more
than equalled by his ruthless severity ;f
and Ormuz, notwithstanding the counter-
ments. Among many instances, may be cited that
of his sending Portuguese renegades back to their
country with their ears, noses, right-hands, and
thumbs of the left hand cut off. His passions were
188 ALBUQUERQUE^S RECALL AND DEATH— PORTUGUESE POWER— 1515.
intrigues of the Persian ambassador, fell an
easy prize into the hands of the Portuguese.
Albuquerque, delighted with his success,
prepared to return to Goa, there to super-
intend the consolidation of the dominion he
had gained, and at the same time recruit
his own strength, after toils calculated to
increase the burden of advancing years.
These anticipations were suddenly dashed
to the ground by tidings which reached
him while sailing along the coast of Cambay.
He who had superseded Almeida, was now
himself to be ignominiously displaced by a
new governor — Lope Soarez, who, to make
the blow more galling, was his personal and
bitter foe. There was no letter, nor any mark
of respect or sympathy from the king, and
no reason assigned for his removal ; probably
none existed beyond the malice of his foes,
in suggesting that the powerful viceroy
might not long continue a subject. New
officers were nominated to the chief vessels
and forts, selected from the party known
to be hostile to his interests ; and even men
whom he had sent home prisoners for
heinous crimes, returned with high appoint-
ments. The adherents of Albuquerque
rallied round him, and strove to induce him
to follow the example of many Asiatic
governors, by asserting his independence; but
he rejected the temptation, declaring that
the only course now left him consistent with
his honour, which through life had been his
first care, was to die. Then giving way to
profound melancholy, and refusing food or
medicine, he soon found the death he
ardently desired, expiring upon the bar of
Goa (which he had called his land of pro-
mise) in December, 1515, in the sixty-third
year of his age. While writhing under the
torment of a wounded spirit, he was pre-
vailed upon to address a few proud and
pathetic hues of farewell to his sovereign,
commending to his favour the son whom he
had left in Portugal. " As for the affairs of
India," he added, "they will speak for
themselves and me." This was no empty
boast ; for in five years, Albuquerque had
raised the maritime power of his nation in
the East, to a point which, in spite of many
unrestrained, after his nephew, Antonio de Noronha,
■was^ slain in action ; this youth having, according
to Faria y Sousa, exercised a very salutary influence
over his temper through his affections.
• When on his way to supersede Almeida, he at-
tacked Ormuz, and there committed great cruelties,
such as cutting ofT the hands, ears, and noses of per-
sons carrying provisions into the city. Being com-
pelled to raise the siege by the valour of Khojeh
changes and conflicts, it never far surpassed.
The prize thus acquired was little less
than the monopoly of commerce between
Europe and India, which was maintained
for upwards of a century. Faria y Sousa,
indeed, boasts that the empire of his
countrymen stretched from the Cape of
Good Hope to the frontier of China, and
comprehended a coast 12,000 miles in ex-
tent; but this simply signifies, that upon
this immense sea-line, they alone, of the
nations of Europe, had established factories.
Of these there were, in all, about thirty — ■
in some cases 1,000 miles apart ; and of the
surrounding country they rarely possessed
anything beyond that which their walls en-
circled. In India, Goa was the great seat
of their influence : they there obtained pos-
session of an area, extending, at a subse-
quent period, over above 1,000 square miles.
The town of Cochin may be said to have
been under their control, and probably also
that of Cananore ; but both these small states
continued to retain their native rajahs.
Peace had been concluded with Calicut in
1513, and a fortified factory erected there :
they possibly, also, established a few insigni-
ficant trading depots on other parts of the
coast. Had the management of affairs
continued to be entrusted to such men as
Albuquerque, it is probable that the strug-
gle, already commenced with the Moham-
medans by the seizure of Goa, would have
continued until the Portuguese had really
acquired extensive territorial sovereignty ;
but as it was, the high-sounding title of
the viceroy or governor-general of India,
was quite inconsistent with his actual
position as ruler of a few scattered settle-
ments, held at all times on a very precarious
tenure.
Lope Soarez, the new governor, presented
a strong contrast to his predecessor. Albu-
querque was a man of middle stature, with
a long white beard, which, for a character-
istic reason, had been suffered to grow
until it reached his girdle, where he wore
it knotted.* When not clouded by fierce
and too frequent paroxysms of passion, his
countenance was pleasing, and his manner
Atar, the governor or regent for the young king,
the enraged Albuquerque swore, that his beard
should never be cut, until he should sit, for that
purpose, on the back of his adversary. The oppor-
tunity never appears to have arrived (for the name
of Khojeh Atar is not even mentioned in the account
of the eventual seizure of Goa) ; and Albuquerque
carried to his grave a mortifying niemorial of the
folly of rash vows. — (Faria y Sousa, vol. i., p. 178.)
VASCO DE GAMA DIES VICEROY OF INDIA— a.d. 1524.
189
frank and courteous : to the native princes
especially he maintained a respectful de-
meanour, -which rendered him popular even
with those who had little real cause for re-
garding him with a friendly eye. Soarez,
according to Faria y Sousa, " was a comely
man, with very red hair," and a haughty
and repulsive bearing. His covetous and
grasping conduct set an example which was
speedily followed ; and the whole body of the
military began to trade, or rather plun-
der, each one on his own account, with an
utter disregard for the public service. The
main-spring of the mischief was in Portugal,
where, instead of selecting men of tried
ability and rectitude, birth or patronage be-
came the first requisite for an office, in
which the formula of installation required
from the successful candidate a solemn as-
severation, that he had made no interest to
procure that employment. " How needless
the question !" exclaims Faria y Sousa,
" how false the oath !" Even if a good
governor were appointed by a happy acci-
dent, or in a moment of urgent necessity,
he could hope to effect little permanent re-
form ; for in the event of his sending home
officers charged with the most outrageous
offences, they, if men of wealth, however
acquired, were sure of a favourable hearing
at court, and their representations would
probably succeed even in procuring the
downfall of their more righteous accuser.
It is quite unnecessary to follow in detail
the hostilities in which the Portuguese be-
came involved with the natives of every
place where they had established them-
selves, being, in some cases, completely
expelled ; in others, barely tolerated : thus
fulfilling the prophecy of one of the despised
Hindoos, — that " whatever they gained as
courageous soldiers, they would lose as
covetous merchants ;"* and it might with
truth have been added, as persecuting
bigots : for the injunctions given to the
eight Franciscan friars attached to Cabral's
expedition, to " carry fire and the sword
into every country which should refuse to
listen to their preaching,"t were not neg-
lected by their successors.
The administration of Soarez, though
generally disastrous,J was distinguished by
* Sousa adds, " Who was most barbarous — he that
said this, or they who did what he said ?"
t De Barros and Faria y Sousa, vol. i. p. 53.
\ The wrath excited by the piratical seizure of two
ships, caused the cxp'ilsion of the Portuguese from
Bengal, where they wished to establish factories.
§ Surat (according to Sousa), whenattacked in 1530,
2c
the erection of a fort and factory in the
territory of the king of Columbo, in Ceylon
(a.d. 1517), from whom, though he had
from the first traded amicably with them,
the Portuguese now exacted a yearly tribute
of 1,200 quintals of cinnamon, 6welve rings
of rubies and sapphires, and six elephants.
It is probable this payment could not be
enforced, as the fort itself was abandoned,
in 1524, as not worth the keeping, by Vasco
de Gama, who was sent out as viceroy in
that year. His tenure of office lasted but
three months, being terminated by death on
Christmas Eve. Sousa describes De Gama as
a man of " middle size, somewhat gross, and
of a ruddy complexion ;" of a dauntless dis-
position ; capable of enduring extraordinary
fatigue ; prompt, and resolute in the execu-
tion of justice. Even during his mortal
sickness the veteran discoverer zealously
exerted himself to put down piracy by sea
and peculation by land, preparatory to the
execution of greater designs ; but the tem-
porary check given to long-permitted mal-
practices was soon over-stepped; and the dis-
sensions arising from the unbridled lust and
avarice of the Portuguese reached such a
height, that had the natives combined to-
gether against them, their total expulsion
would seem to have been very practicable.
The zamorin succeeded in driving them
from Calicut, which they quitted after per-
forming the humiliating task of destroying
their own fortifications.
Nuno da Cunha was sent out in 1529.
He was then forty-two years of age, tall,
and well-proportioned, with a fair com-
plexion and black beard, but disfigured by
the loss of an eye. His reputation for jus-
tice and moderation, though probably de-
served, so far as his countrymen were con-
cerned, ill accords with the character of his
foreign policy; for during his administra-
tion a series of unprovoked outrages of the
most disgraceful character were committed
on the territories of neighbouring rulers.
The coast of Guzerat was ravaged in 1530;
towns and villages, including Surat,§ Da-
maun, and others of note, were plundered
and burned; the adjacent land bereft of
every semblance of cultivation; and the
wretched inhabitants carried off' as slaves. ||
contained "ten thousand families, mostly handicrafts,
and all of no courage :" it was taken almost with-
out resistance, " and nothing left in it that had life,
or was of value. Then the city, and some ships
that lay in the arsenal, were burnt."
II The result of a single incursion on the coast of
Diu was " the obtainment of 4,000 slaves and on
190 PORTUGUESE DEFEND DIU AGAINST SOLYMAN PASHA— 1538.
In the two following years an expedition
was carried out, which, though unsuccessful
in its main object — the taking of Diu — re-
sulted in the capture of the strong island of
Beth, seven leagues distant: the whole of
the towns on the Maharashtra coast, from
Chicklee Tarapoor to Bassein, were burned,
and contributions levied from Tanna and
Bombay. The' contest between Bahadur
Shah and the Moguls, drove the former into
a compromise with his European foes, whose
assistance against the emperor, Humayun,
he purchased by granting the long-desired
permission to build a fort at Diu,* and by
the cession of Bassein in perpetuity, with
authority to levy duties on the trade with
the Red Sea. The circumstances connected
with the assassination of Bahadur by the
Portuguese have been already repeatedly
mentioned.f The immediate consequence
was their occupation of Diu, where they ob-
tained some treasure and an extraordinary
amount of cannon and military stores.
In September, 1538, a determined at-
tempt to recover Diu was made by a force
levied in Guzerat, through the exertions of
a Moorish chief, named Khojeh Zofar, and
supported by a squadron dispatched by the
Grand Seignior, under the command of Soly-
man Pasha, the governor of Cairo. The
small and sickly garrison of the fort de-
fended themselves with desperate valour;
and the women, incited by the enthusiasm
of Donna Isabella de Vega (the wife of the
governor), and others, bore their part in the
danger and fatigue, by taking upon them-
selves the task of repairing the works
shattered by the incessant fire of the
batteries. Attempts to carry the fortress
by storm were continued during two months,
and the besieged were well nigh exhausted,
only forty men remaining fit for duty, when,
to their joyful surprise, want of union in
the camp of the enemy, added probably to
ignorance of the straits to which they were
reduced, led Solyman to abandon the enter-
prise on the very eve of success. During his
way to Egypt he committed great cruelties
on the Portuguese whom he found at differ-
infinite booty." The fleet, as reviewed in 1531, con-
sisted of " above four hundred sail, many large, more
indifferent, and the greatest number small ; several
of them were only sutlers, fitted out by the natives
for private gain, and manned by 3,600 soldiers,
1,450 Portuguese seamen, 2,000 Malabars and Cana-
rese, 8,000 slaves, and 6,000 seamen.— (iSousn, vol. i.
p. 347.) Nuno is also described as employing as
sailors " 1,000 Lascarines of the country."
• Sousa relates a feat, performed on this occasion
by a Portuguese, named Botello, who, hoping to
ent Arabian ports, putting 140 of them to
death, and causing their heads, ears, and
noses to be salted, and so preserved for the
gratification of the Grand Turk. This at
least is the story told by Sousa, who de-
parts from his usual moderation in describing
this formidable foe to his nation, represent-
ing him as ill-favoured, short and corpulent
— " more like a beast than a man." Al-
though eighty years of age, and unable to
rise without the assistance of four servants,
he obtained the command of the recent
expedition, by reason of the enormous
wealth gathered by oppression, which en-
abled him to furnish the shipping at his
own cost. At length a career of crime was
terminated by suicide, committed in a
paroxysm of envy and wounded pride.
The reason of succour not having been
dispatched from Goa to Diu, was the unset-
tled state of affairs occasioned by the recall
of Nuno da Cunha, whose ten years' ad-
ministration was brought to a close as ab-
rupt and humiliating as that of Albuquerque.
His aggressive policy is quite unjustifiable ;
but as King John III. was little disposed to
be critical on that account, the perfect dis-
interestedness and energy of the governor
had merited honour rather than disgrace.
Like many other of the world's great
men, who have thought to serve their coun-
try at the expense of duty to God and the
common rights of mankind, Nuno discovered
his error too late : he fell sick, and died on
the voyage to Portugal, the body being com-
mitted to the deep, in compliance with the
command of the disappointed statesman,
that his ungrateful country should not have
his bones.
The next memorable epoch in Indo-Por-
tuguese annals, is formed by the adminis-
tration of Martin Alonzo de Sousa, which
commenced in 1542, and lasted about three
years, during which brief period, his fierce,
bigotted, and grasping conduct completely
neutralised the beneficial effect of the efforts
of his immediate predecessor, Stephen de
Gama.J War again commenced with the
neighbouring rulers : cities were destroyed,
regain the favour of King John by being the first
to communi.''ate the welcome news, set out from
India with live Europeans and some slaves, in a
barque, 16 feet long, 9 broad, and 4i deep. The
slaves mutinied, and were all slain ; the Europeans
held on their course without sailors or pilot, and
after enduring great hardships, arrived at Lisbon.
f Vide preceding section, pp. 85 — 103.
j The son of Vasco held sway during two years.
In evidence of his disinterestedness, it is said that
he left India 40,000 crowns poorer than he entered it.
.
PORTUGUESE WARFARE IN INDIA UNDER DE CASTRO— 1545. 191
together with every living thing they con-
tained ;* temples were despoiled, and cruelty
and corruption reigned undisguised. Fran-
gois Xavier, one of the earliest Jesuits, had
come to India with De Sousa. He exerted
himself strenuously in representing the im-
policy of the course pursued, which, if not
checked, threatened to cause the downfall
of Portuguese power throughout Asia; but
his arguments appear to have been unheeded.
The king of Guzerat, forced into a renewal
of hostilities, co-operated with his old ally
Khojeh Zofar, who again besieged the fort
of Diu, A.D. 1545. The blockade lasted
eight months, and was carried on after the
death of Khojeh Zofar (whose head and
hand were carried away by a cannon-ball)
by his son, entitled Rumi Khan. Provi-
sions became so scarce, that nauseous vermin
were used for food ; while " a crow taken
upon the dead bodies was a dainty for the
sick, and sold for five crowns." The am-
munition was almost spent, and the soldiers
exhausted with fatigue. The women dis-
played the same determination as on a pre-
vious occasion, and the fort was maintained
until the new governor, Don Juan de Castro,
arrived to its relief. On his way he cap-
tured several ships in the vicinity of Damaun,
and " cutting the Moors that were in them
in pieces, threw them into the mouths of
the rivers, that the tide carrying them up,
they might strike a terror in all that coast."
Ansote and other towns were destroyed, and
" the finest women of the Brahmins and Ba-
nians slaughtered." In fact, these butchers
spared neither youth nor beauty, age nor
infirmity; the sanctity of cast, nor the in-
nocence of childhood. After raising the
siege of the fort, the city of Diu became the
scene of a fierce conflict, in which, when
the Portuguese wavered, the favourite expe-
dient was resorted to of holding up a cruci-
fix as an incitement to renewed exertion.
The sword was a favourite means of con-
version with Romish missionaries ; priestly
robes and warlike weapons were quite compa-
tible ; and, on the present occasion, one Era
Antonio played a leading part. The result
is best told in the words of the historian
above quoted, and may serve to illustrate the
manner in which hostilities were conducted
by his countrymen, under the personal
• The rani, or queen of a small raj or kingdom,
situated on the Canarese coast, having refused to pay
tribute to the Portuguese, was punished by the de-
struction of her capital, Batecala. " The city," says
Faria y Sousa, "ran with the blood of all living
leadership of a governor whose administra-
tion is generally considered one of pecu-
liar prosperity and honour. An arm of the
desecrated symbol was shattered in the con-
test, upon which "the priest, calling upon
the men to revenge that sacrilege, they fell
on with such fury, that having done incre-
dible execution, they drove the enemy to
the city, who still gave way, facing us. The
first that entered the city with them was
Don Juan, then Don Alvaro and Don
Emanuel de Lima, and the governor, all
several ways, making the streets and houses
run with blood. The women escaped not the
fate of the men, and children were slain at
their mothers' breasts, one stroke taking
away two lives. The first part of the booty
was precious stones, pearls, gold and silver;
other things, though of value, were slighted
as cumbersome. * * * Of the Portuguese,
100 were killed ; others say only thirty-four :
of the enemy, 5,000 [including Rumi Khan
and others of note.] Free plunder was
allowed. * * * There were taken many
colours, forty pieces of cannon of an extra-
ordinary bigness, which, with the lesser, made
up 200, and a vast quantity of ammunition."!
After this " glorious victory," thirty ships
were sent to devastate the Cambay coast:
the people fled in alarm from the burning
towns and villages, and took refuge in the
mountain caves. The inhabitants of a city,
called Goga, while sleeping in imagined
security, a league distant from their ruined
homes, were surprised at night, and all put
to the sword. The cattle in the fields were
either killed or ham-strung. In the various
vessels captured along the coast of Baroach,
the same system of general massacre was
carried out ; and the groves of palm-trees,
which aflbrd, in many places, the sole article
of subsistence, were systematically destroyed.
The governor returned in triumph to
Goa, crowned with laurel, preceded by
Fra Antonio and his crucifix, and followed
by 600 prisoners in chains, the royal stan-
dard of Cambay sweeping the ground. The
streets were hung and carpeted with silk, scat-
tered over with gold and silver leaves. The
ladies threw flowers at the feet of the con-
queror, and sprinkled sweet-scented waters
as he passed their windows. This ovation,
whether designed to gratify individual vanity,
creatures before it was burnt ; then the country was
laid waste, and all the woods cut down." — (Vol ii.,
p. 74.) Other small Hindoo states are mentioned by
Sousa as personally defended by female sovereigns,
t Faria y Sousa, vol. ii., pp. 110 to 113.
192
PORTUGUESE PROCEEDINGS IN INDIA— 1546 to 1571.
or with the idea of making an impression on
the natives, was rendered the more un-
seemly by the fact, that Don Fernando, the
son of the governor, had perished during
the siege of Diu. The sway of De Castro
lasted only from 1545 to 1548. Notwith-
standing his sanguinary proceedings, he
appears to have been solicitous for the inter-
ests of commerce, and perfectly disinterested;
for, instead of having amassed wealth, like
many other governors of equally short stand-
ing, he was so poor, that in his last illness
provision was made for him out of the public
revenue.* The cause of his death, at forty-
seven years of age, is said by Faria y Sousa
to have been " grief for the miserable estate
to which India was reduced" — a statement
reconcilable with other accounts of this
period, only by supposing that amid seeming
prosperity, De Castro foresaw the end of an
oppressive and corrupt system.
The invasion of Sinde, in 1556, under the
administration of Francisco Barreto, is al-
leged to have been provoked by the fickleness
of its ruler, who first solicited and then re-
fused Portuguese co-operation, thus afford-
ing a pretext for his intended auxiliaries to
pillage his capital (Tatta), kill 8,000 persons,
and destroy by fire " to the value of above
two millions of gold," after loading their
vessels with one of the richest booties they
had ever taken in India. Eight days were
spent in ravaging the country on both sides
of the Indus, after which the fleet returned,
having, it would appear, scarcely lost a man.
The next exploit was the burning of Dabul
and the neighbouring villages, in revenge
for the hostility of the king of Beejapoor.
Religious persecution, which seems to
have slumbered for a time, awoke with
renewed ferocity, and was directed rather
against what the Romish priests chose to
call heresy, than absolute paganism. An
account of the alleged mission of St.
Thomas the apostle, and of the Christian
church spoken of by Cosmas,t in the sixth
century, properly belongs to the section on
the religious condition of India. In this
place it is sufficient to say, that both on
the Malabar coast and in the kingdom of
Ethiopia — including the state whose ruler
attained such extraordinary celebrity under
the name of Prester John — the Portuguese
found Christian communities who steadily
* He died in the arms of Francois Xavier. " In
his private cabinet was found a bloody discipline
(? a scourge) and three royals, which was all his trea.
eure."— (/•uno y Sousa, vol. ii., p. 129.)
refused to acknowledge the supremacy of
the pope; rejected the use of images, to-
gether with all dogmas regarding transub-
stantiation, extreme unction, celibacy of
priests, &c., and asked for blessings, whe-
ther temporal or eternal, only in the name
of the one mediator, Jesus Christ. These
" ancient Christians," says Sousa, " dis-
turbed such as were converted from pa-
ganism" by Zavier and his fellow-labourers :
the Jews also proved a stumbling-block.
In 1544, Jerome Diaz, a Portuguese phy-
sician of Jewish extraction, was burnt for
heresy; and probably many others of less
note shared his fate. In 1560, the first
archbishop of Goa was sent from Lisbon,
accompanied by the first inquisitors, for the
suppression of Jews and heretics. Through-
out the existence of this horrible tribunal,
crimes of the most fearful character were
perpetrated ; and in the minds alike of the
denounced schismatics and of pagans, a
deep loathing was excited against their per-
secutors. The overthrow of the Hindoo
kingdom of Beejanuggur, in 1564, by the
combined efforts of the four Mohammedan
Deccani states, left these latter at liberty to
turn their attention more fully towards their
European foes; and in 1571, a league was
formed against the Portuguese by the kings
of Beejapoor and Ahmednuggur. The za-
morin of Calicut likewise joined them; but
from some distrust in his own mind, long
withheld his personal co-operation. AU
AdU Shah besieged Goa, sustained great
loss, and after ten months was compelled
to withdraw without having accomplished
anything. Mortezza Nizam Shah sus-
tained a mortifying defeat at Choul, and
was glad to make peace with the triumphant
Portuguese. The zamorin, though last in
the field, had the best success, obtainiug
the surrender of the fort Chale (a few miles
from Calicut) from Don George de Castro,
who, although eighty years of age, was
beheaded at Goa by orders from Portugal,
on the ground of having surrendered his
charge without sufficient reason.
A change was made in 1571 in the duties
of the governor, by the division of authority
over Portuguese affairs in Asia into three
parts : the first, that of India, being made
to comprise their possessions situated be-
tween Cape Guardafui and Ceylon ;f the
t Surnamed Indicopleustes, or the Indian voyager,
\ The proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon
are purposely omitted here : they will be narrated in
the history of that island.
THE "HOLY INQUISITION" IN INDIA, FROM 1560 to 1816. 193
second, styled Monomotapa, extending from
Cape Corrientes to Guardafui; the third, or
Malacca, from Pegu to China. The sway
of Portugal was now, however, nearly ended ;
she had misused the trust committed to her
care, and was punished by the suspension of
her independence, after maintaining it 500
years. King Sebastian fell in Africa, in
1578, and about two years later, Philip II.
of Spain procured the reannexation of Por-
tugal, to which he laid claim in right of his
mother, Isabella. In India, the change was
only from bad to worse : the furnace of per-
secution was heated seven times hotter than
before. The Syrian Christians of Malabar
were cruelly persecuted, their bishop seized
and sent to Lisbon, and their churches pil-
laged ; their books, including ancient copies
of the Scriptures, burned, while Archbishop
Menezes marched, singing a hymn, round the
flames (1599.) The Inquisition increased in
power ; and, perhaps, among all the impious
and hateful sacrifices offered up by men
given over to dark delusions, never yet did
idolatrous pagan, or professed devil-worship-
per, pollute this fair earth by any crime of
so deep a dye as the hideous Auto da Fe,
usually celebrated on the first Sundays in
Advent.* Dellon, a French physician, who
languished two years in the dungeons of
Goa, has given a life-like picture of the
horrible ceremonials of which he was an
eye-witness ; and describes his " extreme
joy" at learuing that his sentence was not
to be burnt, but to be a galley-slave for five
year§.t He speaks of himself as having heard
every morning, for many weeks, the shrieks
of unfortunate victims undergoing the ques-
tion; and he judged that the number of pri-
soners must be very large, because the pro-
found silence which reigned within the walls
of the building, enabled him to count the
number of doors opened at the hours of
meals. At the appointed time, the captives
•were assembled by their black-robed jailors,
and clothed in the san benito, a garb of yellow
cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew before
and behind. The relapsed heretics were
dressed in the samarra, a grey robe, with
the portrait of the doomed wearer painted
upon it, surrounded by burning torches,
flames, and demons; and on their heads
were placed sugar-loaf- shaped caps, called
• The portion of the gospel read on that day men-
tions the last judgment; and the Inquisition pre-
tended, by the ceremony, to exhibit an emblem of
that awful event. — AVallace'8 3/ismotV>o//n(/i«,p.394.
-)■ Dellon was accused of heresy for having spoken
carrochas, on which devils and flames were
also depicted. The bell of the cathedral
began to ring a little before sunrise, and
the gloomy procession commenced — men and
women indiscriminately mixed, walking with
bleeding feet over the sharp stones, and
eagerly gazed on by innumerable crowds
assembled from all parts of India to behold
this " act of faith" of a European nation.
Sentence was pronounced before the altar
in the church of St. Francis, the grand
inquisitor and his counsellors sitting on
one side, the viceroy and his court on the
other; and each victim received the final
intimation of his doom by a slight blow
upon the breast from the alcaide. Then
followed their immolation, the viceroy and
court still looking on while the prisoners
were bound to the stake in the midst of
the faggots, and hearing, as a periodical
occurrence, the shrieks and groans of these
unhappy creatures. The vengeance of the
Inquisition ceased not even here : the day
after the execution, the portraits of the
murdered men were carried to the church
of the Dominicans, and there kept in memory
of their fate ; and the bones of such as had
died in prison, were likewise preserved in
small chests painted over with flames and
demons. J
These are dark deeds which none aspiring
to the pure and holy name of Christian can
record without a feeling of deep humiliation j
but they may not be shrouded in oblivion,
since they furnish abundant reason why the
mutilated gospel preached by Romish priests
made so little permanent impression in
India; and, moreover, afford enduring evi-
dence that England, and every other pro-
testing nation, had solid grounds for seve-
rance from the polluted and rotten branch
which produced such fruit as " the holy In-
quisition." In Europe, as in Asia, a light
had been thrown on the true nature of the
iron yoke, with which an ambitious priest-
hood had dared to fetter nations in the
name of the Divine Master, whose precepts
their deeds of pride and cruelty so flagrantly
beUed. The Reformation, faulty as were
some of the instruments concerned in its es-
tablishment, had yet taught men to look to.
the written gospel for those laws of liberty
and love which nations and individuals are
disparagingly of the adoration of images. He had'
also grievously offended by calling the inquisitors
fallible men, and the " holy office" a fearful tribunal
which France had acted wisely in rejecting.
X Hough's Chriitianity in India, vol. i., chap, iv
194 DECLINE OF PORTUGUESE POWER— END OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
Alike bound to observe. Unhappily, this
threat lesson was but imperfectly learned ;
for although withheld rights have ever
formed a popular theme, the responsibilities
those rights involve cannot be expected
to commend themselves, save to conscien-
tious and enlightened minds. Thus it proved
easier to renounce the dogmas of popery,
than to root out the vices it had fostered
or permitted ; and the very people who had
most cause for gratitude in being delivered
from the oppressive and arrogant dominion
of Spain, became themselves examples of
an equally selfish and short-sighted policy.
At this period there were many signs in the
commercial horizon, that neither papal bulls,
nor the more reasonable respect paid to the
claims of discovery and preoccupation,
could any longer preserve the monopoly of
the Indian trade to Spain and Portugal.
Several causes combined for its destruction.
The conquest and settlement of America
afforded full employment for the ambition
and ferocity of Philip II. ; and his Asiatic
territories were left in the hands of rulers,
who, for the most part, thought of nothing
but the gratification of their own passions,
and the accumulation of wealth; — which
latter, by pillage of every description, and
by the shameless sale of all offices and posi-
tions, they usually contrived to do in the
period of two to three years,* which formed
the average duration of their tenure of office.
It may be readily imagined that the measures
of his predecessor were rarely carried out
by any governor; but all seem to have
agreed in conniving at the most notorious
infraction of the general rule which forbade
any Portuguese to traffic on his own account,
as an unpardonable infringement on the
exclusive rights of his sovereign. Corrup-
tion, mismanagement, and the growing
aversion of the natives, gradually diminished
the trade, until the average annual arrival
in Lisbon of ships from India was reduced
from five to about three ; and the annual
value of the cargoes decreased in proportion
to about a million crowns. Thus, notwith-
* From the arrival of Almeida in 1505, to 1640 (the
period at which Sousa terminates his history), there
were some fifty viceroys or governors, of whom
a very large proportion (about one-third) died in
India or on their voyage home.
_ t The possessions of Spain and Portugal, at this
time, were the forts of Diul (on the Indus) and
of Diu ; a fortified factory at Damaun ; the town
and castle of Choul ; a factory at Dabul ; the city of
Bassein ; the island of North Salsette, and the town
of Tanna ; the island of Bombay ; the city and fort
standing the royal monopoly <3f spices,
Philip soon found that the expense of main-
taining the various Indian governmentsf
exceeded the commercial profits : he there-
fore made over the exclusive privilege of
trading to India, in the year 1587, to a com-
pany of Portuguese merchants, on conside-
ration of a certain annual payment ; reserv-
ing, however, the appointment of governors,
the command of the army, and every de-
scription of territorial revenue and power.
This change in the state of aflFairs created
great excitement and dissatisfaction at Goa.
It was evident that the company, if able
and willing to enforce the rights bestowed
upon them, would reduce the profits of the
various officials to their legitimate bounds;
and the very thought was intolerable to a
community who, " from the viceroy to the
private soldier, were all illicit traders, and
occasionally pirates." J The general disorga-
nisation was increased, in 1594, by the arrival
of a papal bull and royal command for the
forcible conversion of infidels; which was
in effect, free leave and license to every
member of the Romish communion to
torture and destroy all who differed from
them on doctrinal points, and to pillage pa-
godas or churches, public or private dwel-
lings, at pleasure. Such a course of pro-
ceeding could scarcely fail to bring about
its own termination ; and the strong grasp
of tyranny and persecution, though more
fierce, was yet rapidly growing weaker, and
would probably have been shaken off by the
natives themselves, even in the absence of
the European rivals who now appeared on
the scene. England, under the fostering
care of Elizabeth, had already manifested
something of the energy which, under the
Divine blessing, was to secure to her the
supremacy of the ocean ; to extend her
sway over ancient and populous nations ;
and to lay the foundation of the greatest
colonial empire the world ever saw. This
puissance was still in the embryo, and Eng-
land a little kingdom with a limited trade,
when her soldiers and merchants began the
of Goa; and factories at Onore, Barcelore, Mangalore,
Cananore, Calicut, Cranganore, and Quiloa ; sta-
tions at Negapatam and St. Thomas, or Mehapoor,
(on the Coromandel coast) ; and several commercial
posts in Bengal. They had also the port of Cochin ;
factories, or liberty to trade at Pegu, Martaban, and
Junkseylon ; held the strongly-fortified town of Ma-
lacca, and had, moreover, established themselves at
several commanding points in the island of Ceylon.
(Bruce's Annals of East India Company, vol. i. p. 24.)
\ Macpherson's Commerce with India, p. 32.
PIRST DUTCH VOYAGE TO THE INDIAN SEAS— 1595-'6.
195
struggle with the combined forces of Spain
and Portugal, in alliance with a people whose
newly-acquired independence had originated
in the reaction caused by the corruption and
cruelty of the Spanish government, repre-
sented by such men as the Duke of Alva,
and the bigotry of Rome, represented by
such institutions as the Inquisition.*
Rise of Dutch Power. — It was only
in the year 1579 that the Netherlanders
ventured to defy the power of Philip, and
formed themselves into a separate govern-
ment, which they did not establish without
a desperate and prolonged conflict, aided zea-
lously by Elizabeth. Their after-progress
was marvellous ; and before neighbouring
countries had well learned to recognise their
new position, the " poor distressed people
of Holland" had changed that designation
for the "High and Mighty States, the United
Provinces." The course that materially
aided their rapid advancement was forced
upon them by the arbitrary policy of Philip.
Having very little land, they had ever mainly
depended for subsistence on fisheries, trade,
and navigation. While Portugal was a sepa-
rate kingdom they resorted thither for East
India produce, of which they became the
carriers to all the northern nations of
Europe ; and after the annexation of that
kingdom to Spain, their ships continued to
sail to Lisbon under neutral colours, at
which the Portuguese gladly connived.
But Philip, hoping to lay the axe to the
root of the mercantile prosperity which
enabled his former subjects to sustain a
costly and sanguinary contest with his
mighty armies, compelled the Portuguese
to renounce this profitable intercourse, —
• Before the people rose against their oppressors,
100,000 of them were judicially slaughtered — the
men by fire and sword, and the women by being
-buried alive. — {GrotU Annal. Belg. pp. 15 — 17.)
t Along the shores of Norway, Russia, and Tar-
tary, to China, and thence into the Indian Ocean.
X The manner in which he acquired this know-
ledge is variously related : — by Savary, as obtained in
the Portuguese service ; by other authorities, during a
long imprisonment at Lisbon ; Raynal says for debt ;
Sallengre, in consequence of the suspicions excited
by his inquiries on commercial subjects. His free-
dom was procured by payment of a heavy fine, sub-
scribed on his behalf by Dutch merchants. {See
different accounts, commented on in Macpherson's
European Commerce with India, note to p. 45.)
§ Two of the vessels were 400 tons burthen, car-
rying each eighty-four men, si.K large brass cannon,
fourteen lesser guns, four great " patereroes" and
eight little ones, with " musters" and small guns in
proportion; the third, of 200 tons, had fifty-nine
laid an embargo on all Dutch ships, seized
the cargoes, imprisoned the merchants and
ship-masters, or delivered them over aa
heretics to the tender mercies of the In-
quisition, and even forced the mariners and
others into his hated service. The Dutch,
driven to desperation by an enemy from
whom they had all to fear and nothing to
hope, incited by the able counsel of Prince
Maurice, resolved to attempt procuring the
necessary supplies of spices direct from Asia.
AVith the double inducement of avoiding
the fleets which guarded the approach to the
Indian seas, and of finding a much shorter
route, the Dutch (following the example
of various English navigators) strove to
discover a north-eastern passage to India,t
and in the years 1594,-'5, and '6, sent
three expeditions for this purpose. All
failed, and tlie last adventurers were com-
pelled to winter on the dreary shores
of Nova Zembla. In the meantime some
Dutch merchants, not caring to wait the
doubtful issue of these attempts, formed
themselves into a company, and resolved
to brave the opposition of Philip, by com-
mencing a private trade with India vid
the Cape of Good Hope. Four ships were
dispatched for this purpose, under the direc-
tion of Cornelius Houtman,J a Dutch mer-
chant or navigator, well acquainted with the
nature and conduct of the existing Indian
traffic ; and the coast of Bantam (Java) was
reached without hindrance, save from the
elements. § Having obtained cargoes, partly
by purchase from the natives, but chiefly
by plunder from the Portuguese, Houtman
returned to the Texel, where, notwithstanding
the loss of one of the vessels— a very frequent
occurrence in thosedays,|l — the safe arrival of
men, six large cannon, with lesser ones in proportion ;
the fourth, of thirty tons, with twenty-four men and
cannon : the whole carrying 249 mariners. The fleet
sailed from the Texel the 2nd of April, 1595 ; reached
Tenerifle on the 19th ; St. Jago on the 26th ; crossed
the equator on the 14th of June ; on the 2nd of
August doubled the Cape of Good Hope (seamen
in great distress with scurvy), and remained some
days on the coast ; in Sejjtember, October, and No-
vember, the ships were at different parts of Mada-
gascar, and sailed thence on the 1st of December
towards Java, which was reached in the middle of
January, 1596 ; thus terminating the first Dutch voy-
age to the Indian seas. — (See Collection of Voyages
undertaken hy Dutch East India Company. London
translation, 1808.)
II Linschoten says, that almost every year one or
two Portuguese East-Indiamen were lost. Faria
y Sousa gives an account of 956 vessels, which sailed
from Portugal for India, from 1412 (when Prince
Henry first attempted the discovery of a passage by
the remainder was ■welcomed as an auspicious
commencement of the undertaking. Several
new companies were formed ; — the number
of ships annually increased,* and succeeded
in obtaining cargoes, notwithstanding the
opposition of the Portuguese, who strove, but
for the most part ineffectually, to prejudice
the natives against their rivals; their own
proceedings having been so outrageous, that
any prospect of a check or counteraction
seemed rather to be courted than avoided.
In 1600, not five years after the first ex-
pedition under Houtman, forty vessels, of
from 400 to 600 tons, were fitted out by
the Dutch. Hitherto the Spanish monarch
had made no effort to intercept their fleet;
but in the following year he dispatched an
armament of thirty ships of war, by which
eight outward-bound vessels, under the
command of Spilbergen, were attacked near
the Cape Verd Islands. The skill and
bravery of the defendants enabled them
to offer effectual resistance, and they suc-
ceeded in making their way to India without
any serious loss. Philip did not again at-
tempt a naval contest, but made military
force the basis of his subsequent efforts for
their subjugation; prohibiting them, under
pain of corporal punishment, from trading
with the Spanish possessions, either in the
East or West Indies. These threats proved
only an incitement to more determined
efforts ; and it being evident that the com-
bination of the several Dutch companies
would tend to strengthen them against the
common foe, they were united, in 1602, by
the States-General, and received a charter
bestowing on them, for a term of twenty-
one years, the exclusive right of trade with
India, together with authority to commission
all functionaries, civil and military, to form
what establishments they pleased, and
make war or peace in all countries beyond
the Cape of Good Hope. From regard to
the claims of the proprietors of the minor
associations, the iiew company was divided
into six chambers or boards of management,
of which Amsterdam and Middleburg were
the chief, their share in the funds subscribed
being proportionably represented by twenty-
gea) to 1640: of these, 150 were lost, and with
them he estimates not less than 100,000 persons —
a not improbable number, considering the great
size of many of the vessels, which carried 800 or
000 men.
* In 1598, two fleets, consisting of eight vessels,
were sent by the Amsterdam merchants from the
Texel, and five from Rotterdam, which were followed
up by successive fleets in subsequent years, as the
five and twelve directors ; the remaining
chambers of Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, and
Enkhuysen having each seven directors :
making a total of sixty-five persons, with a
capital of 6,440,200 guilders, or (taking
the guilder at Is. 8d.) about ^6536,600.
The project was popular, and brought both
money and a valuable class of emigrants into
Holland, many opulent merchants of the
Spanish provinces in the Netherlands, and
of other places, removing with their effects
into the Dutch territory. No time was
lost in fitting out a fleet of fourteen large
ships, well manned, and furnished with
soldiers and the necessary military and
other stores requisite for the carrying out of
the aggressive policy henceforth to be adopted
against the national enemies, whom the
Dutch had previously shunned rather than
courted encountering in their foreign pos-
sessions.t The same power, whose co-opera-
tion had so materially contributed to the
success of their European struggles, now
came equally opportunely to their assistance
in Asia; for in this same year (1602) the
first ships of the first English East IndiaCom-
pany appeared in the Indian seas. It may
be useful to pause here, and briefly review
the circumstances that led to the formation
of a body, which, after long years of trial
and vicissitude, attained such unexampled
and strangely -constituted greatness.
HisE OF English Power. — Before the
discovery of the passage by the Cape of
Good Hope, England, like other northern
European nations, had been supplied from
the Adriatic with Eastern products. A ship
of great bulk usually arrived every year
from Venice, laden with spice (chiefly
pepper) and some other Asiatic commodi-
ties, which the traders necessarily sold at
high prices, owing to the circuitous route
they were compelled to traverse. This state
of things terminated with the close of the
fifteenth century, by reason of the successful
voyage of Vasco de Gama, which gave to
Portugal the monopoly of the Asiatic trade.
At that very time, the English, stimulated
by a strong desire for the extension of com-
trade gave twenty to seventy-five per cent, of profit
on the adventures. — ( Voyages of Dutch Company.)
t The Dutch at first resorted to Sumatra and
Java, where the Portuguese do not appear to have
had any considerable establishments. Houtman
formed a factory at Bantam in 1595.
The spice trade was opened with Amboyna,
Ternate, and the Bandas, in 1598 j with Sumatra and
China, in 1599 ; with Ceylon, in 1600.
TRADE UNDER HENRY VII. and YllL, and EDWARD VI.
197
tnerce, and likewise by curiosity regarding
the far-famed country, then called Cathay
(China), were themselves attempting the dis-
covery of a sea-passage to India; and in
May, 1497, two months before the departure
of Vasco, from Lisbon, an expedition com-
prising two ships fitted out by Heury VII.
and some vessels freighted by the merchauts
of Bristol, left England, under the guidance
of an enterprising Venetian navigator, named
Giovanni Gavotta, anglici, John Cabot. On
reaching 67° 30' N. lat., Cabot was compelled,
by the mutinous conduct of his crew, to stand
to the southward ; and in the course of the
homeward voyage he fell in with Newfound-
land and the continent of North America.
Notwithstanding the dissensions which cha-
racterised the concluding portion of the reign
of Henry VII., and that of his son and suc-
cessor Henry VIII., several commissions of
discovery were issued by them,* but were
attended with no important results. The
commerce with the Levant appears to have
commenced about the year 1511 ;t in 1513,
a consul was stationed at Scio for its pro-
tection ; and in process of time, the Levant
or Turkey merchants came to be looked
apon as the true East India traders. Fac-
tories were established by them at Alex-
andria, Aleppo, Damascus, and the different
• Robert Thome, an English merchant, having dur-
Jg a long residence at Seville acquired considerable
knowledge of the benefits derived by Portugal from
the Indian trade, memoriahsed Henry VIII. on the
subject, urging the advantages which England might
attain from the same source, and suggesting three
courses to be pursued j— either by the north-east,
which he imagined would lead them to " the regions
of all the Tartarians that extend toward the mid-
day," and thence " to the land of the Chinas and the
land of Cathaio Orientall ;" from which, if they con-
tinued their navigation, they might "fall in with
Malacca" and return to England by the Cape of
Good Hope. The second course, to the north-west,
would lead them, he said, " by the back of the New-
fonnd-land, which of late was discovered by your
grace's subjects," and pursuing which they might re-
turn through the Straits of Magellan (discovered six
years before.) The third course lay over the North
Pole, after passing which he suggested that they
should " goe right toward the Pole Antarctike, and
then decline towards the lands and islands situated be-
tween the tropikes and under the equinoctiall ;" and
" without doubt they shall find there the richest
lands and islands of the world of gold, precious
stoTies, balmes, spices, and other things that we here
esteem most," — (Hakluyt, vol. i., p. 235.) The con-
sequence of this memorial was the sending of two
vessels by private merchants in 1527, which re-
turned very shortly without success (Hakluyt,
iii., 167), and two by the king in the same year, of
which one was lost off the north coast of Newfound-
land, and the other effected nothing. — (Purchas'
Pilgrims, iii., 809.)
2 D
ports of Egypt and the Turkish dominions.
Their growing importance did not however
extinguish, but rather increased the general
desire for more direct communication with
India and China; and in 1549, Sebastian
Cabot, the son of John Cabot, who had ac-
companied his father in the expedition of
1497, and had since attempted the discovery
of the much-desired line of route, persuaded
a number of London merchants to raise a
capital of £6,000 in shares of j625 each,
for the prosecution of a new voyage of dis-
covery and trading adventure. The young
king Edward VI., to whose notice Sebastian
had been previously introduced by the pro-
tector Somerset, had bestowed on him an
annual pension of £166, and made him
grand pilot of England. He now gave every
encouragement to the infant association.
No time was lost in fitting out three vessels,
which were dispatched under the command
of Sir Hugh Willoughby, in May, 1553,
and furnished with " Letters Missive" from
King Edward to the sovereigns of northern
Europe, bespeaking their protection for his
subjects in their peaceful but perilous enter-
prise. J The court, then at Greenwich, as-
sembled to witness the departure of the
little squadron : vast crowds of people lined
the shore ; and the roar of cannon, and the
i" Hakluyt states, that between 1511 and 1534,
" divers tall ships of London, Southampton, and
Bristol had an ordinary and usual trade " to Sicily,
Candia, Chios, and somewhiles to Cyprtis ; as also to
Tripoli and Beyrout, in Syria. The exports, as
proved by the ledgers of Locke, Bowyer, Gresham
and other merchants, were " fine kersies of divers
colours, coarse kersies, &c. ;"* the imports, silks,
camlets, rhubarb, malmsey, muscatel, &c. Foreign
as well as English vessels were employed, " namely,
Candiots, Raguseans, Genouezes, Venetian galliases,
Spanish and Portugall ships.'' (ii., 207.)
\ The religious spirit in which the project was
conceived is forcibly evidenced by the instructions
drawn up by Cabot, for what Fuller truly remarks
" may be termed the first reformed fleet which had
English prayers and preaching therein." ( Worthies
of England, Derbyshire, of which county Willoughby
was a native.) Swearing and gambling were made
punishable offences, and " morning and evening
prayer, with other common services appointed by
the king's majesty and laws of this realm to be read
and said in every ship daily by the minister in the
Admiral [flag-ship], and the merchant, or some other
person learned in other ships ; and the Bible or
paraphrases to be read devoutly and Christianly to
God's honour, and for his grace to be obtained, and
had by humble and hearty prayer of the navigants
accordingly." — (Hakluyt, i., 254.) This daily prayer
on board ship was long an acknowledged duty ; and
in 1580, in the directions of the Russian company, the
mariners are enjoined, as a matter of course, " to
observe good order in your daily service and pray
unto God; so shall you prosper the better."
198 EASTERN TEADE IN THE REIGNS OF MARY fe ELIZABETH.
V
shouts of the mariners, filled the air: yet
the ceremony seemed inauspicious ; for the
youthful monarch, on whom the eyes of
Protestant Christendom waited hopefully,
and who felt so deep an interest in the
whole proceeding, lay prostrate in an ad-
vanced stage of that insidious disease, which
then as now, yearly robbed England of many
of her noblest sons and fairest daughters.
Sir Hugh, and the whole ship's company
of the Buona Ventura, were frozen to death
near Lapland;* Captain Chancelor, the
second in command, reached a Russian port
(where Archangel was afterwards built), and
proceeded thence to Moscow. The czar,
Ivan Vasilivich, received him with great
kindness, and furnished him with letters
to Edward VI., bearing proposals for the
establishment of commercial relations be-
tween the two countries. These were gladly
accepted by Mary, who had in the inte-
rim ascended the throne ; and a ratification
of the charter promised by Edward to the
company was granted by the queen and her
ill-chosen consort, in 1554.t Chancelor was
again sent out in the following year with
agents and factors, and on his return, an
ambassador accompanied him to England,
in saving whose life in a storm off the
Scottish coast, Chancelor lost his own. J
This is an exceptional instance of encourage-
ment given by the Crown to commercial
enterprise during this short and sanguinary
reign ; nor, indeed, could Mary, as the wife
of the bigotted Philip of Spain, herself a [
stanch and unscrupulous adherent of the I
Romish creed, be expected to patronize
• When the extreme cold ceased, the peasants of
the country found the body of Sir Hugh in his
cabin, seated as if in the act of writing his journal,
which, with his will, lay before him, and testified his
having been alive in January, 1554.
t The Kussian company, probably the first char-
tered joint-stock association on record, exists to the
present day — at least in name.
% The Russian ambassador, Osep Napea, returned
to his own country in the last year of Mary's reign,
and was accompanied by Anthony Jenlcinson, who
represented the company, and was instructed to at-
tempt the extension of their trade through Russia to
Persia and Bactria. By permission of the czar, Jen-
kinson quitted Moscow in April, 1558, and pro-
ceeded by Novogorod and the Volga river to Astra-
carL on the north of the Caspian : he then crossed
thai sea, and on its southern shores joined a caravan
of Tartars, with which he travelled along the banks
of the Oxus to Bokhara, and having there ob-
tained much valuable information for his employers,
returned to England (by Moscow) in 1560. In the
following year. Queen Elizabeth dispatched him
with letters to the Sufiavi or Sophi, king of Persia
(Shah Abbas I.), requesting his sanction for her sub-
any adventure likely to trench upon the
monopoly which the pope had assumed to
himself the power of bestowing on her
husband : the only cause for surprise is,
that her signature should ever have been
obtained to the charter of the Russian
company, though probably it was a con-
cession granted to the leading Protestant
nobles, whose support she had secured at
a critical moment by her promise (soon
shamelessly broken) of making no attempt
for the re-establishment of a dominant
priesthood in England.
It was reserved for her sister and succes-
sor Elizabeth, alike free from the trammels
of Rome and the alliance of Spain, to en-
courage and aid her subjects in that course
of maritime and commercial enterprise,
whose importance she so justly appreciated.
The early part of her reign abounded
with political and social difiiculties; — foes
abroad, rebellion in Ireland, discord at
home, gave full and arduous employment
to the ministers, whose energy and ability
best evidenced the wisdom of the mistress
who selected and retained such servants.
The finances of the nation did not warrant
any large expenditure which should neces-
sitate the imposition of increased taxation
for an uncertain result : it was therefore
from private persons, either individually or
in societies, that commercial adventures
I were to be expected. The Russian com-
pany renewed their efforts for the discovery
I of a north-east passage, and records of seve-
I ral voyages undertaken under their auspices
are still extant ; but it does not appear that
jects to open a trade in his dominions for the sale
of their goods, and the purchase of raw silk and
other commodities. The jealousy and intrigues of
some Turkish agents, who were then engaged in
concluding a treaty with the Shah at the fortified
city of Casvin (where the Persian court then was),
frustrated the mission of the English envoy, and
even endangered his life ; so that he was glad to
make his escape through the friendly interposition
of the king of Hyrcania, who furnished him with
credentials granting various commercial privileges
to such English as might desire to traffic in, or
traverse his dominions on the southern shore of the
Caspian. In 1566, another agent, named Arthur
Edwards, was sent to Persia, and succeeded in ob-
taining from the czar permission for Englishmen
to trade in his dominions with immunity from tolls
or customs on their merchandise, and protection for
their persons and property. In the same year the
Russian company obtained from Elizabeth a charter
with additional privileges, in reward for their ex-
plorations in the Caspian Sea, Armenia, Media,
Hyrcania (Astrabad), and Persia, which it was
hoped might lead to the ultimate discovery of " the
country of Cathaia."— (Hakluyt, i., 414 — 410.)
FIRST ENGLISH EXPEDITION TO INDIA— 1577 to 1596.
199
either queen or people cared to defy the
fleets of Spain by sailing round the Cape
of Good Hope, until Sir Francis Drake, in
1577, having fitted out five ships at his own
expense, left England and sailed through
the straits of Magellan, into the south seas,*
where he acquired immense booty from the
Spaniards. The news reaching Europe, a
strong force was sent to intercept him,
but information of the danger enabled him
to avoid it by changing his route, and after
visiting Ternate (one of the Moluccas),
forming a treaty with the king, and taking
part in some hostilities between the natives
and the Portuguese, Drake shipped a large
quantity of cloves, and proceeded round the
Cape to England, where he arrived at the
close of 1580, with a single shattered vessel,
having been the first of his nation to cir-
cumnavigate the globe.
The Turkey Company, established by
charter in 1581, sent four representatives
to India, through Syria, Bagdad, and Ormuz,
whence they carried some cloths, tin, and
other goods to Goa, and proceeded to visit
Lahore, Agra, Bengal, Pegu, and Malacca,
meeting everywhere with kindness from the
natives, and opposition from the Portuguese.
Of the envoys. Fitch alone returned to
England (in 1591) ;t Newberry died in the
Punjaub; Leades, a jeweller by profession,
entered the service of the Emperor Akbar ;
and Storey became a monk at Goa. In 1586,
Captain Cavendish commenced his voyage
round the globe, and on the way, scrupled
not to seize and plunder whenever he had
the opportunity, either by sea or land. He
returned home in less than two years
flushed with success, and some years after
attempted a similar privateering expedition
(for it was little better), from which he
never returned, but died at sea, worn out
by a succession of disasters. The voyages
of Drake and Cavendish had brought mat-
ters to a crisis : the Spanish government
complained of the infringement of their
exclusive rights of navigating the Indian
seas ;% to which Elizabeth repUed — " It is as
lawful for my subjects to do this as the
Spaniards, since the sea and air are common
• He anchored in a bay (supposed to be that now
called Port San Francisco) on the coast of Califor-
nia, and landing, took possession of the country in the
name of Queen Elizabeth, calling it " Nova Albion."
t Fitch published a narrative of his adventures,
which greatly stimulated public curiosity on the
subject ; and this feeling was increased by the ac-
counts sent from India by an Englishman, named
Stevens, who had proceeded thither in a Portuguese
to all men." The defeat of the so-called
Invincible Armada, in 1588, rendered the
English and their brave queen more than
ever unwilling to give place to the arrogant
pretensions of their foes ; and in 1591, some
London merchants dispatched three vessels
to India by the Cape of Good Hope, under
the command of Captains Uaymond and
Lancaster. A contest with some Portu-
guese ships, though successful, eventually
ruined the expedition by the delay it occa-
sioned ; one of the vessels was compelled to
put back in consequence of the sickness of
the crew and the difiiculties encountered in
weathering the " Cape of Storms ;" — the
second, under Raymond, is supposed to
have perished ; — the third, under Lancaster,
reached Sumatra and Ceylon, and obtained a
cargo of pepper and other spiceries, but
was subsequently lost in a storm at Mona,
one of the West India isles. The captain
and the survivors of the ship's company were
rescued by a French vessel bound to San
Domingo, and reached England in May,
1594. In the meanwhile, mercantile enter-
prise had received a fresh stimulus by the
capture of a Portuguese carrack, profanely
called Madre de Dios, of 1,600 tons burden,
with thirty-six brass cannons mounted.
This vessel, the largest yet seen in Eng-
land, was taken by Sir John Burroughs,
after an obstinate contest near the Azores,
and brought into Dartmouth. The cargo,
consisting of spices, calicoes, silks, gold,
pearls, drugs, china-ware, &c., was valued
by the lowest estimate at £150,000. This
display of oriental wealth incited Sir Robert
Dudley and some other gentlemen to fit out
three ships, which sailed for China in 1596,
bearing royal credentials addressed to the
sovereign of that country, vouching for the
probity of the adventurers, and oSering the
fullest protection to such Chinese subjects as
might be disposed to open a trade in any
English port. This expedition proved even
more disastrous than the preceding one.
After capturing three Portuguese vessels,
the , English crews became so fearfully re-
duced by disease, that out of three ships'
companies, only four men remained alive.
vessel from Lisbon. According to Camden, a Por-
tuguese carrack, captured by Drake off the Azores
in 1587, and bi-ought to England, contained various
documents regarding the nature and value of the
India trade, which first inspired English merchants
with a desire to prosecute it on their own account.
X By the union of Spain and Portugal, the papal
grants of eastern and western discoveries centi'eu
tri one crown.
200
ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY INCORPORATED— 1600.
These ■ unfortunates were cast on shore on a
small island near Puerto Rico, where three
of them were murdered by a party of Spa-
niards, for the sake of the treasure they had
with them, and only one survived to divulge
the crime to the Spanish officers of justice,
soon after which he was poisoned by the
same robbers who had murdered his ship-
mates. The public enthusiasm was some-
what damped by the dense cloud which long
shrouded the calamitous issue of this expe-
dition ; but the successful adventures of the
Dutch {see p. 196), and their grasping policy
in raising the price of pepper from three to
six and eight shillings per lb. (the cost in
India being two to three pence), induced the
merchants of London — headed by the lord
mayor and aldermen — to hold a meeting at
Founders' -hall, on the 22nd of September,
1599,* which resulted in the formation of a
company, for the purpose of setting on foot
a voyage to the East Indies.f The stock
embarked, then considered a large one, of
£30,133 6s. M., was divided into 101 shares
or adventures, the subscriptions of indi-
viduals varying from £\00 to £3,000. The
queen was ever zealous in promoting similar
projects, but in this instance there was need
of deliberation. Elizabeth well knew the
value of peace to a trading nation, and de-
layed granting the charter of incorporation
solicited by the company, until it should be
proved how far their interests could be pru-
dently consulted in the course of the friendly
negotiations newly opened by Spain through
the mediation of France. Thi *-reaty how-
* At the commencement of this year a merchant,
named John Mildenhall, was dispatched (by way of
Constantinople) to the Great Mogul, to solicit, in
the name of his sovereign, certain trading privileges
for his countrymen. He did not reach Agra till
the year 1603, and was there long delayed and put
to great expense by the machinations of the Jesuits
then residing at the court of the Great Mogul,
aided by two Italian (probably Venetian) merchants ;
but he eventually succeeded in obtaining from Je-
hangeer the desired grant in 1606.
f At a subsequent meeting, a committee of fifteen
persons was appointed to present a petition to the
lords of the Privy Council, setting forth that, " stimu-
lated by the success which has attended the voyage
to the East Indies by the Dutch, and finding the
Dutch are projecting another voyage, for which they
have bought ships in England, the merchants hav-
ing the same regard to the welfare of this kingdom,
that the Dutch have to their commonwealth, have
resolved upon making a voyage of adventure, and
for this purpose entreat her Majesty will grant them
letters patent of incorporation, succession, &c., for
that the trade being so far remote from hence, can-
not be managed but by a joint and united stock."
X Thomas Smith, alderman of London, and an active
ever soon fell to the ground, in consequence
of a disputed question of precedency between
the English and Spanish commissioners at
Boulogne. The discussion of the East India
question was eagerly resumed both in the
city and at court ; and on the last day of
the 16th century, Elizabeth signed a charter
on behalf of about 220 gentlemen, mer-
chants, and other individuals of repute, con-
stituting them "one bodie-corporate and
politique indeed," by the name of " The
Governor and Company of Merchants of
London trading into the East Indies."J
A petition was addressed to the Privy
Council for their sanction that "the voyage
might be proceeded upon without any hin-
drance, notwithstanding the treaty :" but
they " declined granting such a warrant, as
deeming it more beneficial for the general
state of merchandise to entertain a peace, than
that the same should be hindered by standing
with the Spanish commissioners for the main-
tenance of this trade, and thereby forego the
opportunity of concluding the peace." §
It was a fitting conclusion for a century
of extraordinary progress, and also for a
reign, characterised throughout by measures
of unrivalled political sagacity. The ablest
sovereign (perhaps excepting Alfred) the
realm had ever known, was soon to be taken
away under very melancholy circumstances.
The death of Lord Burleigh, and the rebel-
lion of Essex, were trials which the failing
strength and over-taxed energies ol the
queen could ill withstand; and she died in
November, 1603, a powerful and beloved
member of the Turkey company, was declared first
governor. Among the other names mentioned in the
charter are those of George, Earl of Cumberland ;
Sirs — John Hart, John Spencer, Edward Michel-
borne, Richard Staper, and ten other citizens and
aldermen of London, and two hundred and six in-
dividuals of repute, who petitioned for the " royal
assent and license to be granted unto them, that
they, at their own adventures, costs, and charges, as
well as for the honour of this our realm of Eng-
land, as for the increase of our navigation and ad-
vancement of trade of merchandise within our said
realms and the dominions of the same, might set
forth one or more voyages, with convenient number of
ships and pinnaces, by way of trafiic and merchan-
dise to the East Indies and countries of Asia and
Africa, and to as many of the islands, ports and
cities, towns and places thereabouts, as where trade
and traffic may by all likelihood be discovered, es-
tablished or had, divers of which countries and
many of the islands, cities, and ports thereof have
long since been discovered by others of our sub-
jects, albeit not frequented in trade of merchandise."
— [See quarto vol. of OMriers granted to the JEatt
India Company from IpOl, &c., pp. 4, 5.)
§ Milburn's Orienta Commerce, vol. i., p. 4.
MARITIME POSITION OF ENGLAND IN 1600,
201
ruler, but a broken-hearted woman. As
yet tbe commercial and colonial enterprises,
commenced under her auspices, had pro-
duced no tangible results, so far as terri-
torial aggrandisement was concerned. Eng-
lish merchants had, it is true, even then be-
come "the honourable of the earth;" and
English ships had compassed the world,
bearing their part manfully in the perilous
voyages of the age, in the icy straits of
Greenland and Labrador, uplifting the
national flag on the shores of Virginia and
Newfoundland,* amid the isles of the West
Indies.t and the coasts of Brazil, Guiana,
and Peru. The straits of Magellan, the
broad expanse of the Pacific and Indian
Oceans, had mirrored that standard on their
waves ; and for a brief season it had floated
upon the Caspian Sea, and been carried along
the banks of the Oxus. In the ports and
marts of the Adriatic, the Archipelago, the
Levant, and the southern coasts of the Medi-
terranean, it became a familiar visitant, as it
had long been to the trafiickers of the Canary
Isles, and dwellers on the shores of Guinea
and Benin ;% and lastly, pursuing its way to
the isles and continents of the East, it floated
hopefully past the Southern Cape of Africa.§
The initiatory measures are ever those which
most severely task the weakness and sel-
fishness of human nature : energy, fore-
thought, patience — all these qualities, and
many more, are essential ingredients in the
characters of those who aspire to lay the
foundation of an edifice, which future gene-
rations must be left to bring to perfection.
In the history of the world, such "master
builders" are comparatively few : more com-
monly, we find men carrying on the struc-
ture of national progress with scarcely a
thought beyond their individual interests,
each one labouring for himself, like the coral
insects, who live and die unconscious of the
mighty results of their puny labours. Nor
is this blindness on the part of the majority
* North American Possessions, vol. i., pp. 292-3.
t West Indian Possessions, vol. iv. (div. viii.),
p. 1 5. The Rev. James Anderson, in enumerating the
exploratory proceedings of England, truly remarks,
that " the foundations of her future greatness were
laidin the very efforts which had appeared so fruitless."
— {History of the Colonial Church, vol. i., p. 123.)
X Repeated efforts were made for the extension of
commerce with Africa. In 1572, a treaty between
England and Portugal provided for the better ad-
justment of the intercourse of their respective sub-
jects with the western shores of Africa; in 1585, the
queen granted a patent to Robert, Earl of Leicester,
for the management of the trade with Barbary and
Morocco : and in 1588, and 1592, some merchants
to be regretted, while the minority — those
on whom the steering of the vessel of the
state more or less evidently devolves — aflbrd
such constant illustrations of the fallible and
unsatisfactory character of human policy.
Thus, even in attributing to Elizabeth the pre-
eminence in patriotism and statesmanship,
in zeal for religious truth and liberty ; — the
excellence ascribed is at best only compara-
tive, since her administration was deeply
stained by the besetting sin of civilised gov-
ernments— " clever diplomacy," or, in plain
words, that constant readiness to take
advantage of the weakness or ignorance of
other nations, which, among individuals,
would be stigmatised as grasping, overreach-
ing, and unjust, even by those who do not
profess to judge actions by any loftier
standard than the ordinary customs and
opinions of society. This admixture of un-
worthy motives is probably often the cause
of the failure of many well-devised schemes :
it may account, to some minds, for the career
of Elizabeth terminating when the projects
she had cherished were on the eve of deve-
lopment ; when England was about to enter
on a course of annually increasing territo-
rial, commercial, and maritime prosperity,
often, however, checked rather than encou-
raged, by the weakness, selfishness, or pre-
judice of her rulers.
The original charter bestowed on the East
India Company manifested a prudent regard
for the prevention of disputes with other
European powers, or witli previously incor-
porated English companies, and reserved to
the Crown the power of accommodating the
Indian trade to the contingencies of foreign
politics, or of the trade carried on by its
subjects with neighbouring countries. The
charter was granted for fifteen years ; but if
the exclusive privileges thereby conferred
should be found disadvantageous to the
general interests of the country, it might be
revoked upon two years' notice : if, on the
of Exeter and Taunton were empowered to traffic
with Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. In 1597, we
find the mdefatigable Elizabeth seeking commercial
privileges from " the most invincible and puissant
king of the Abassens (Abyssinians), the mightie
emperor of Ethiopia, the higher and the lower.
§ I'he Russian company desired, by an overland
trade, to connect the imports from Persia with those
from the Baltic ; the Levant company, which traded
with the Mediterranean ports, brought thence, among
its assortments, a proportion of Indian produce, the
value of which might be affected by the imports
brought into England or for the European market,
by the direct intercourse, though circuitous routes,
of the company. — (Bruce's Annals of E. I. Cy.)
202 E. I. COMPANY'S FIRST FLEET SAILS FROM TORBAY— 1601.
contrary, the result should prove of public
benefit, new letters patent were to be granted
at the expiration of the first period, for other
fifteen years.* With these needful limita-
tions, great encouragement was given to
the association ; notwithstanding which, the
delay occasioned by the Spanish negotiation
had so far damped the enterprise of some of
the individual adventurers, that they refused
to pay their proffered subscriptions; and the
directors, acting under the charter (in which
no amount of capital was prescribed, as in
the case of modern documents of a similar
character), appear to have wanted power to
compel them to do so, or else to have
deemed its exercise imprudent. The conse-
quence was, the formation of a subordinate
association, endued with authority to adven-
ture on their own account, providing the
funds, and either bearing the whole loss, or
reaping the whole profit of the voyage. A
new body of speculators was thus admitted,
• Under the charter, the plan which they had
already adopted for the management of their aifairs,
by a committee of twenty-four and a chairman, both
to be chosen annually, was confirmed and rendered
obligatory. The chief permissive clauses were as
follow : — the company were empowered to make
bye-laws for the regulation of their business, and of
the people in their employment, whose offences they
might punish by imprisonment or fine ; — to export
goods for four voyages duty free, and duties after-
wards paid on goods lost at sea to be deducted from
dues payable on next shipment ; — six months' credit
to be allowed on custom dues of half imports, and
twelve months for the remainder, with free exporta-
tion for thirteen months (by English merchants in
English vessels) ; — liberty to transport Spanish and
other foreign silver coin and bullion to the value
of £30,000, of which £6,000 was to be coined at the
Tower, and the same sum in any subsequent voyage
during fifteen years, or the continuance of their
privileges, provided that within six months after
every voyage except the first, gold and silver equal
in value to the exported silver should be duly im-
ported, and entered at the ports of London, Dart-
mouth and Plymouth, where alone the bullion was
to be shipped. The monopoly of the company was
confirmed by a clause enacting, that interlopers in
the East India trade should be subject to the for-
feiture of their ships and cargoes, one-half to go to
the Crown, the other to the company, and to sufi'er
imprisonment and such other punishment as might
be decreed by the Crown, until they should have
signed a bond engaging, under a penalty of £1,000
at the least, " not to sail or traffic into any of the
said East Indies" without special license from the
company. Another clause aflTords evidence of the
condition of the state by guaranteeing, that " in any
time of restraint," six good ships and as many pin-
naces, well-armed and manned with 500 English
sailors, should be permitted to depart " without any
stay or contradiction," unless the urgent necessities
of the kingdom, in the event of war, should require
their detention, in which case three months' notice
by whom £68,373 were subscribed, and five
vesselst equipped, manned by 500 men, pro-
visioned for twenty months, at a cost of
j£6,600, and furnished with bullion and
various staples and manufactures wherewith
to try the Indian market. The command
was entrusted to Captain James Lancaster,
who received from the queen general letters
of introduction addressed to the rulers qf
the ports to which he might resort. The
fleet sailed from Torbay on April 22, 1601,
and proceeded direct to Acheen,J which
they reached on June 5, 1602; a voyage
now usually accomplished in ninety days.
Captain Lancaster, on his arrival, delivered
the queen's letter to the king or chief of
Acheen, who received him with much pomp
and courtesy, and accorded permission to
establish a factory, with free exports and
imports, protection to trade, power of be-
queathing property by will, and other privi-
leges of an independent community. But
would be given to the company. — {Charters of Eatt
India Company, p. 21.)
f The Dragon, Hector, Ascension, Susan, and
Guest, of 600, 300, 260, 240, and 100 tons re-
spectively, the smallest serving as a victualler; the
others are described by Sir William Monson at
" four of the best merchant ships in the kingdom."
According to the same authority, there were not in
England, at this period, more than four vessels o!
400 tons each. In 1580, the total number of ves-
sels in the navy was 160, of which only forty be-
longed to the Crown : a like number was employed
in trade with diff'erent countries, the average bur-
den being 150 tons. At the beginning of the six-
teenth century, it appears that wars with Spain, and
losses by capture, had reduced both shipping and sea-
men one-third. The small English squadron seemed
insufficient to enter on a traffic in which the Por-
tuguese had long been in the habit of employing
vessels of 1,200 to 1,500 tons burden : in its
equipment £39,771 were expended, the cargoes were
estimated at £28,742 in bullion, and £6,860 in
various goods, including iron and tin wrought and
unwrought, lead, eighty pieces of broad-cloth of all
colours, eighty pieces of Devonshire kersies, 100
pieces of Norwich stuffs, with various smaller articles,
including glass, quicksilver, Muscovy hides, and
other things intended as presents for different local
functionaries. Factors and supercargoes were nomi-
nated, and divided into four classes: all gave secu-
rity for fidelity and abstinence from private trade in
proportionate sums of £500 downwards. Three of the
principal factors were allowed £100 each as equip-
ment, and £200 for an " adventure ;" and four of
each of the other classes smaller sums. The salary
of each commander was £100, and £200 on credit
for an adventure. If the profits of the voyage
yielded two for one, they were to be allowed £500 ;
if three for one, £1,000; if four for one, £1,500;
and if five for one, £2,000.— (Bruce's Annals, vol. i,
p. 129.)
X Situate on the N.W. extremity of the large
island of Sumatra, in 5° 36' N. lat., 95° 26' E. long.
RESULT OF E. I. COMPANY'S FIRST EXPEDITION— 1603.
203
(
the crop of pepper having failed in the pre-
ceding season, a sufficient quantity could
not be obtained in that port ; and Lancaster,
impressed with a conviction of the influence
the pecuniary results of the first voyage
■would have upon the future prosecution of
the trade, concerted measures with the com-
mander of a Dutch ship, then at Acheen,
for hostilities against their joint foe, the
Portuguese.* A carrack of 900 tons was
captured, and her cargo, consisting of cali-
coes and other Indian manufactures, having
been divided between the conquering ves-
sels, the Portuguese crew were left in pos-
session of their rifled ship, and the Dutch and
English commanders went their way. Lan-
caster proceeded to Bantam, in Java, where,
after delivering his credentials and presents,
he completed his lading with spices, and
leaving the remaining portion of his mer-
chandise for sale in charge of some agents,
sailed homewards, arriving off the Downs in
September, 1603.
The company awaited his return with ex-
treme anxiety. They delayed making pre-
parations for a fresh voyage until the result
of the first venture should appear, and per-
sisted in this resolve, notwithstanding the
representations of the privy council, and
even of the queen, who considered their
delay an infraction of the terms on which
the charter had been granted, and reminded
them of the energy and patriotism of the
Dutch, who annually formed their equipments
and extended their commerce by unceas-
ing exertion. The safe return of the fleet,
What authority Captain Lancaster possessed for
this proceeding does not appear, but it is probable
that he acted according to permission granted for a
similar conjuncture; because the queen, being unable
to retaliate the attack of the Armada on Tier own
behalf, by reason of the condition of the treasury,
permitted private adventurers to fit out expeditions
against the national foe both by sea and land. Such
T/as the squadron of about 100 vessels, 1,500 sailors,
and 11,000 soldiers, under Sir F. Drake and Sir
John Norris, in 1589, which ravaged and plundered
the coasts of Spain and Portugal ; and that of several
ships under the personal command of George Clif-
ford, Earl of Cumberland, in the same year, to the
Azores or Western Isles, ■where much booty was
obtained. From this period may be dated English
" privateering," which soon degenerated into " buc-
caneering ;" and which James I. deserves much
praise for his endeavours to check.
■f Elizabeth was dead, and London afflicted with
the plague ; everybody who could leave it, had taken
refuge in the country ; and in the general disorder it
was next to impossible to raise money either by
borrowing or by sales of merchandise.
X In 1604, King James granted a license to Sir
Rdward Michelborne and others to trade with China
though at an inopportune moment,t put an
end to all incertitude regarding the feasi-
bility of the projected trade ; and notwith-
standing the difficulties occasioned by the
encouragement given by the king to the at-
tempts of private adventurers, in violation
of the fifteen years' monopoly promised by
the charter,} and the enmity of the Portu-
guese,— to which the tacit and afterwards
open opposition of the Dutch was soon
added, — the company continued to fit out
separate expeditions on the same terms as
the first, until the year 1614, when the
twelfth was undertaken by a single ship,
chiefly for the purpose of carrying out Sir
Robert Shirley, who had been sent as am-
bassador to the English sovereign oy Shah
Abbas of Persia. The total capital expended
in these voyages was £464,284; of which
£263,246 had been invested in shipping
and stores, £138,127 in bullion, and £62,411
in merchandise. Notwithstanding losses
(including a disastrous expedition in 1607,
in which both vessels perished), the general
result was prosperous, the total profit reach-
ing 138 per cent. ; but it must be remem-
bered that a period of six or seven years
and upwards elapsed before the proceeds of
a voyage could be finally adjusted, and that
the receipts included the profits of a ship-
builder and purveyor, or " ship's husband,"
as well as of a merchant.
In 1613, it was deemed advisable to re-
nounce all separate adventures, and continue
the trade on a joint-stock account ; this,
however, being itself an experiment, was
and various East Indian ports. The undertaking
was little better than a series of petty piracies, com-
mitted upon Chinese junks and small Indian ves-
sels encountered in cruising among the Asiatic
islands ; but is memorable as marking the appear-
ance of the interlopers or private traders, whose dis-
putes with the company afterwards ran so high.
This very Michelborne had been recommended by
the lord-treasurer for employment to the company ;
but although then petitioning for a charter, the
directors rejected the application, and requested that
they might" be allowed to sort their business with
men of their own qualitye, lest the suspicion of the
employment of gentlemen being taken hold of by
the generalitie, do dryve a great number of the ad-
venturers to withdraw their contributions."— (Bruce's
Annals of the East India Company, vol. i., p. 128.)
The same determined spirit was evinced on the pre-
sent occasion ; and they succeeded in obtaining an-
other charter in 1609, in which, departing from the
cautious policy of his predecessor, the king confirmed
the exclusive privileges of the company, not for a
limited term of years, but for ever, provided how-
ever that the trade should prove beneficial to the
realm, otherwise the charter was to be annulled, on
giving three years' notice.— {Idem, p. 157.)
204
PROGRESS OF THE EAST INDIAN TRADE— 1613.
fixed for the term of only four years ; during
which time, the stipulated capital of £429,000
was to be paid up in equal annual propor-
tions. This union was generally beneficial
in its effects, by preventing the international
competition resulting from the clashing in-
terests of parties concerned in the different
voyages, whether in the Indian market or
in England, where the imports were either
sold by public auction, or divided among the
adventurers in kind, as was best suited to
the interests of the leading persons in the
separate concerns; and it often happened
that private accommodation was studied at
the expense of the general good. Besides
these inconveniences, it was necessary tha't
some specific line of policy should be adopted,
for the general direction of the trade and the
control and guidance of individual com-
manders; since it was evident that the
interested and impolitic conduct of one ex-
pedition might seriously impede the success
of subsequent voyages.
The proceedings of Sir Henry Middleton
will illustrate this. Up to 1609, the inter-
course of the English had been exclusively
with Sumatra, Java, and Amboyna; an at-
tempt was then made to open a trade with
woollens, metals, and other British com-
modities, in barter for spices and drugs, in
the ports of the Red Sea, Cambay, and
Surat. At Aden and Mocha, they were
opposed by the Turks, and Middleton with
seventy men made prisoners. They suc-
ceeded in effecting their escape, and pro-
ceeded to Surat, where a forcible landing
was eflfected, in defiance of the Portuguese,
who, however, induced the Moguls to pre-
• The company, finding themselves unable to
charter vessels of sufficient burden either in England
or elsewhere, formed a dockyard at Deptford ; and
in 1609 launched, in the words of Sir William Mon-
son, " the goodliest and greatest ship [1,100 tons]
that was ever framed in this kingdom. King James,
with his son (afterwards Charles I.), presided at the
launch, named the vessel the Trade's Increase, and
partook of a sumptuous banquet served on China-
ware, then considered a rare mark of eastern mag-
nificence. From this period may be dated the in-
crease of large ships j for the king about this time
caused a man-of-war to be constructed of 1 ,400 tons
burden, carrying sixty-four guns, called the Prince.
From 1609 to 1640 the company continued to ex-
ercise the now separate vocations of ship-builders,
purveyors, &c. In their yards at Deptford and
Blackwall, not only were vessels constructed of
700, 800, 900, and in one instance (the Royal James)
of 1,200 tons burdenj but their masts, yards, an-
chors, sails, cordage, and entire outfit were prepared ;
the bread was baked, the meat salted and casked,
and the various departments which, by the present
iroi'roved system, are subdivided into many distinct
vent their attempts at commerce. About
this time, the envoy (Hawkins) dispatched
by the company to seek the imperial con-
firmation of the trading privileges promised
to Mildenhall, threw up his suit in despair,
and quitted Agra, after a residence of
more than two years. Middleton returned
to the Red Sea, and there seized upon
several Mogul ships (including one of 1,500
tons, fitted out by the mother of Jehangeer
for the use of pilgrims), and obliged them
to pay a ransom equivalent to his estimate
of the loss occasioned by the frustration
of his voyage. After lading two of his
vessels with pepper at Bantam, he prepared
to return homewards; but his chief ship,
the newly-built Trade's Increase,* over-
set in Bantam roads, and was totally des-
troyed; which so affected her commander,
that he soon after died of vexation : the
voyage, nevertheless, afforded £131 per cent,
profit on the capital employed. The un-
warrantable aggression committed in the
Red Sea had roused the indignation and
alarm of the emperor; but the discre-
tion of Captain Bestf was successfully
exerted in obtaining permission to trade,
through the intervention of the governor
of Ahmedabad, whose concessions were ra-
tified by an imperial firman, which arrived
in January, 1613, authorising the esta-
blishment of English factories at Surat,
Ahmedabad, Cambay, and Goga, with pro-
tection for life and property, on condition of
the payment of a custom duty of three-and-
a-half per cent. The Portuguese did not
quietly witness the progress of this arrange-
ment, but attacked the two vessels of Cap-
branches of labour, were then brought to a con-
siderable degree of perfection by the combined
efforts of skill and capital possessed by the East
India Company. As trade increased, ship-building
became a distinct and profitable business ; and in
1640 and subsequent years, the company were
enabled to hire vessels at £20 to £25 per ton
freight, whereas their own cost £31 per ton : thence-
forth the commerce was carried on partly by their
own and partly by hired ships ; and eventually the
dockyards were sold for private enterprise.
t Captain Best visited Acheen in 1615, and as the
bearer of a royal letter, formed a new treaty with
its ruler, and obtained permission to establish a
factory at Tikoo or Ticoo (in Sumatra), on condition
of paying seven per cent, import and export duty.
The monarch, who is represented as very fierce and
sanguinary, replied to the communication of the
English sovereign with a request, that he would
send him one of his countrywomen for a wife, pro-
mising to make her eldest son " king of all the
Eepper countries." No English lady appears to
ave taken advantage ->f this offer; and whether
from disappointment or avarice, the king of Achee:i
FRENCH AND DANISH EAST INDIA ASSOCIATIONS— 1601-1613. 205
tain Best, at Swally, near Surat, with a
squadron of four galleons, and a number of
smaller vessels without cannon, intended to
assist in boarding, for which, however, they
found no opportunity, being driven off with
considerable loss, after a struggle of more
than a month's duration.*
The chief events which marked the four
years' existence of the first joint-stock com-
pany, was the embassy of Sir Thomas Roe,t
who succeeded in obtaining from Jehan-
geer liberty of trade for his countrymen
throughout the empire ;t the formation of
a treaty with the zamorin for the expulsion
of the Portuguese from Cochin, which when
conquered was to be ceded to the English ;
and lastly, hostilities with the Dutch, which
entailed losses and expense, whereby the
total profits of the four voyages were reduced
to eighty-seven per cent. This decreased
dividend did not, however, prevent a new
subscription being favourably received by
impeded the trade of the Europeans by exactions ;
and at length, in 1621, expelled both the Dutch and
English factors 5 but the intercourse was subse-
quently resumed and carried on at intervals.
• From 22nd of October to the 27th November,
1S12.— (Wilson's note on Mill's India, vol. i., p. 29.)
+ The mission of Sir Thomas Roe to Jehangeer
has been already narrated (p. 123.) The incidents of
his journey from Surat to Ajmeer evidence a com-
parative state of order in the country traversed :
whereas, the adventures which befel VVithington,
one of the company's agents, who set out from Ah-
medabad to Laribunda, the port of Sinde, where
three English ships had arrived, afford a far less
favourable picture of the condition of the portion
of India through which his route of about 500
miles lay. The caravan with which he travelled
was attacked in the night of the third stage, and
" the next day he met the Mogul's officer returning
with 230 heads of the Coolies," whom Mr. Orme sweep-
ingly terms, " a nation of robbers ;" and who in the
opinion of Jehangeer seem to have merited nothing
less than extermination. Many days were spent in
crossing the desert, but no molestation occurred un-
til the peopled country was reached, and che cara-
van separated ; after which, Withington and his
sixteen companions (four servants, two merchants
with five servants, and five drivers to their ten
camels) hired an escort for the march to Gundaiwa,
which saved them from a band of robbers. Twice
afterwards they were attacked, and compelled to
purchase immunity from plunder by a small pre-
sent. They next reached the residence of a Raj-
poot chief, who had recently escaped from the hands
of the Moguls, by whom he had been blinded. His
son agreed to escort Withington to Tatta, a distance
of only thirty miles, but fraught with danger ; and
it would appear, from mere covetousness, acted in a
manner quite contrary to the usual fidelity of a
Hindoo, and especially of a Rajpoot guide, by trea-
cherously delivering over the travellers to a party
of marauders, who strangled the two Hindoo mer-
chants and their five servants ; and binding Withing-
ton and his attendants, marched them forty miles to
2e
the public : dukes, earls, and knights, judges
and privy counsellors, countesses and ladies,
" widows and virgins," doctors of divinity
and physic, merchants and tradesmen, are
aU classified in the list of the 954 indivi-
duals, by whom a sum of no less than
£1,629,040 (averaging £1,700 for each
person) was furnished in 1616 for a new
series of ventures, comprising three distinct
voyages, to be undertaken in the four fol-
lowing years. Surat and Bantam were to
be the chief seats of trade, with factories
at Ceylon, Siam, Japan, Maccassar, and
Banda. A proposition had previously been
made by the Dutch for a union of trade with
the English, that common cause might be
made against the Spanish-Portuguese, and
a monopoly secured to the combined com-
panies. This offer was repeated in 1617, on
the plea of the rivalry about to arise from
the formation of an East India association
in rrance§, and likewise in Denmark ;|1 but
a mountain stronghold, whence they were sent to
Parker, and thence on to Radenpore : their clothes
were stolen from them on the way, and they sub-
sisted by begging, until their wants were relieved
by the charity of a Banian, whom Withington had
known at Ahmedabad, which place he reached, " after
a distressful absence of 111 days." — (Orme's Origin
of the English Establishment, and of the Company's
trade at Surat and Broach, p. 334.)
t Vide pp. 123-4.
§ The French are said to have made an unsuccess-
ful endeavour to double the Cape of Good Hope as
early as 1603 : in 1601 a small commercial associa-
tion was formed in Bretagne. Two vessels were fitted
out and dispatched to the East Indies : both were
wrecked amid the Maldive Archipelago near Cey-
lon ; and the commander, Pyrard de Laval, did not
return home for ten years. In 1615, "The Molucca
Company" was formed, with exclusive privileges to
trade for twelve years. This new source of compe-
tition alarmed the Dutch, and their constant hosti-
lity, together with the alleged exactions of the king
of Acheen, obliged the French company to relin-
quish their enterprise. In 1619-'20, a French ship
was burnt at Bantam with a cargo valued at 500,000
crowns, " apparently by the Dutch." — (Macpherson's
Commerce, p. 256.) Merchants of St. Malo and
Dieppe sent vessels to India at various times in 1622,
and the former had an agent settled at Bantam.
II A Danish company was formed at Copenhagen
in 1612, and six vessels (three belonging to the
king, Christian IV., and three to the company) were
sent out under a commander named Boschower, who
had formerly been in the service of the Dutch in
Ceylon, and had come to Europe with an appeal
from the natives against the cruelties of the Spanish-
Portuguese. Boschower first applied to the Dutch,
and conceiving himself neglected, proceeded to
Denmark, where he obtained ihe desired assistance,
and sailed for Ceylon, but died on the voyage. His
second in command became involved in disputes
with the rajah he came to befriend, and sailed for
Tanjore, where, by means of presents and the pro
mise of a yearly tribute of £700, he obtained from
206
PROGRESS OF THE DUTCH IN THE EAST INDIES.
again rejected.* To guard against the an-
tagonism of the Dutch, and liliewise to
defeat the attempts of English interlopers,
■who had taken both to trading and priva-
teering on their own account, it was deemed
necessary to send out a fleet of nine ships, of
■which six were of considerable size, under
the command of Sir Thomas Dale, who was
commissioned by the king, and empowered
to seize the ships of illicit traders, and to
declare martial law in case of necessity.
Hostilities were seldom long intermitted :
even while the nations at home were in
alliance, their subjects in the Indies were
more or less openly at strife, unless indeed
their joint influence was needed against the
Portuguese, whose powers of aggression and
even defence were now, however, almost neu-
tralised by their disorganised condition.
The Lisbon company to whom the exclu-
sive claims of the Spanish crown had been
made over, was unable to furnish the stipu-
lated payments ; and the king, finding him-
self impoverished instead of enriched by his
Indian possessions, sent an order to Azevedo,
the viceroy, to make the government sup-
port itself, by selling every oflace to the
highest bidder. This had already been done
to a great extent ; but the royal order for so
disgraceful a proceeding annihilated the
few remaining relics of a better system ; and
the Moors and Hindoos, instead of humbly
suing these former lords of the Indian seas
for a passport (which, even when obtained,
often failed to secure their vessels against
the rapacity of Portuguese cruisers), now in
turn became the assailants, thus materially
aiding the aggressive policy of the Dutch.
The English did not often come in con-
tact with the Portuguese, their head-quarters
the rajah a cession of territorj-, on ■which the settle-
ment of Tranquebar and the fortress of Dansburg
■were established. By justice and kindness the Danes
acquired the goodwill cf the natives : their trade
extended to the Moluccas and China ; they had fac-
tories at Bantam and on the Malabar coast; gained
possession of the Nicobar islands in the Bay of
Bengal (of which they could make nothing); and
built a neat town called Serampore, fifteen miles
above Calcutta, on the Hooghly river. All these
stations •were under the direction of Tanjore ; and
matters went on favourably until the rajah became
involved in a long and sanguinary war, which pre-
ventedtheDanesfromprocuringcargoes with any cer-
tainty, and proved an obstacle to their commerce
which all their economy and perseverance never
enabled them to surmount. — (Anderson's Commerce.)
• An attempt was likewise made for the establish-
ment of a Scottish East India Company, and a royal
patent granted in 1618 to Sir James Cunningham, but
■withdrawn in consequence ot the interference of the
being at Surat; but about the time of their
establishment in that place, the Dutch at-
tempted to trade with the Malabar coasts, and
in 1603, made an ineffectual endeavour to
dislodge the Portuguese from Mozambique
and Goa; opened a communication with
Ceylon ; succeeded in expelling them from
the islands of Amboyna and Tidore, and by
degrees engrossed the whole trade of the
Spice Islands; their large equipments and
considerable proportion of military force,
under able commanders, enabling them to
conquer the Moluccas and Bandas.f The
reinforcements of the Portuguese grew
scanty and insufficient ; their Spanish ruler
finding full employment for his forces in
maintaining the struggle in the Low Coun-
tries, and, at the same time, guarding his
dominions in the West Indies and South
America; the Dutch were therefore enabled
by degrees to fix factories at Pulicat, Masu-
lipatam, and Negapatam, on the Coroman-
del coast ; in Ceylon ; at Cranganore, Cana-
nore, and Cochin, in Malabar; and thence
pushed their commercial agencies to Bussora
and the shores of the Persian Gulf. The
Amsterdam company also formed establish-
ments in Sumatra and Java.
The twelve years' truce, entered upon be-
tween Spain and Holland in 1609, checked
open hostility in the Indies ; but the Dutch
covertly continued their opposition ; and in
1611, succeeded in opening a trade with the
islands of Japan, despite the exclusive pre-
tensions of the Spanish-Portuguese. The
growing naval strength of England justly
gave them more uneasiness than the decay-
ing power of a nation whose yoke they had
thrown off'; and they already found the
English, competitors for the spice trade, of
London company, who made compensation for the
expenses incurred. The king, in return for this con-
cession, and with a view of sustaining the Russian
company, which had long been in a precarious stats,
prevailed on the East India Company to unite with
them in carrying on a joint trade, each party advanc-
ing £30,000 per annum during the continuance of
their respective charters ; but the experiment failing
after a trial of two seasons, the connexion was dis-
solved at the termination of the year 1619 ; the loss
of the East India Company being estimated at
£40,000 — (Milburn's Oriental Commerce, p. 10.)
t Their traffic seems from the first to have been
always lucrative, though fluctuating. The dividends
to the shareholders in each year, from 1604 to 1613
inclusive, were at the rate of 125, 55, 75, 40, 20,
25, 60, and 37 per cent. Numerous strong squa-
drons were equipped : in 1613-14, no less than
twenty-seven ships were dispatched to India. —
( Voyages undertaken hy Dutch East India Company :
published in London, 1703.)
TREATY BETWEEN DUTCH AND ENGLISH COMPANIES— a.d. 1619. 207
which a complete monopoly was their especial
desire. The islands of Polaroon and Rosen-
giu* were fortified by the English, with tlie
permission of the natives, about the year
1617. This the Dutch resented, on the
ground that they were already possessed of
authority over the whole of the Bandas by
reason of their occupation of the more im-
portant islands in the group. They attacked
Polaroon and were driven off, but seized two
English ships, and declared their intention
of retaining them until the English should
consent to surrender all rights and claims
on Polaroon and the Spice Islands. Consi-
dering the general, though unjust, ideas
then entertained regarding the rights ob-
tained in newly-discovered countries by
priority of occupancy, without regard to the
will of the natives, the Dutch had some
plausible pretext for maintaining their claims
to the exclusive advantage of trade with the
Moluccas, as obtained by conquest from the
Spanish-Portuguese ; but with regard to the
settlement in Java, they could not urge that
plea, since they had at first welcomed the
arrival and alliance of the English, and made
' no opposition to their establishment in that
island, now sanctioned by time. Their own
I notions of the case are set forth in a memo-
rial addressed to King James in 1618,
complaining of the encroachments of his
subjects, and praying him to restrain their
further aggressions : the London company,
on their part, vindicated their conduct, and
enumerated a long series of losses and
injuries entailed upon them by the jealous
enmity of the Dutch. The governments of
the respective companies resolved to make
an arrangement for the regulation of the
East India trade ; and after repeated confer-
ences, a treaty was signed in London, in
1619, by which amnesty for all past excesses
was decreed, and a mutual restitution of
ships and property. The pepper trade at
Java was to be equally divided. The Eng-
lish were to have a free trade at Pulicat on
the Coromandel coast, on paying half the
expenses of the garrison, and one-third of
the trade of the Moluccas and Bandas,
bearing an equal proportion of the garrison
expenses ; joint exertions to be made for the
reduction of the customs and duties claimed
• Two small islands in the Banda archipelago,
chiefly producing nutmegs and other spices.
t Bantam, which attracted so much attention in
the early periods of European intercourse with the
East, is situated near the north-west point of Java
(lat. 5" 52' ; long. 106' 2), at the bottom of a large
by the native governments at different
ports ; the trade of both the contracting
parties to be free to the extent of the speci-
fied funds respectively employed ; each com-
pany to furnish ten ships, not to be xised in the
European trade, but only for mutual defence,
and in carrying goods from one port of
India to another. Finally, a Council of
Defence, composed of four members on either
side, who were to preside each alternate
month, was established for the local super-
intendence of the treaty, which was to re-
main.in force twenty years.
Some months before these arrangements
were concluded, the fleet under Sir Thomas
Dale combined with the king of Bantamf
for the expulsion of the Dutch from Jaccatra ;
which being accomplished, the place was left
in the possession of its native owners ; but
shortly afterwards again seized from the
Javanese by their forme;: conquerors, who
thereupon laid the foundation of a regular
fortified city, on which was bestowed the an-
cient name of Holland, "Batavia," and which
became, and still remains, the seat of their
government and the centre of their trade.
The scheme of making the two companies
politically equal, and commercially unequal,
was soon found to be impracticable; and
before the Council of Defence had been well
established in Jaccatra, the domineering
conduct of the Dutch clearly proved their
determination to take an unjust advantage
of their superior capital and fleet. Consi-
derable exertions were, however, made by
the English company, and ten large ships
sent out, with £63,490 in money, and
£28,508 in goods. Nine of these vessels
were detained in the East Indies ; but one
returned home freighted with a cargo which
realised £108,887 ; and had the Dutch acted
up to the spirit or letter of their agreement,
the returns would have been immense.
Instead of this, they gradually laid aside the
flimsy veil which they had at first cast over
their intertfc'ons, and at length ceased to at-
tempt disguising their continued determina-
tion to monopolise the spice-trade. In fram-
ing the treaty, no distinction had been made
between past and future expenses : the Eng-
lish intended only to bind themselves for the
future; the Dutch demanded from them a
hay, between the branches of a shallow river. A
factory, it will be remembered, had been formed
there by the English, under Captain Lancaster, in
1602, and this had been burned by the Dutch, who
had also attacked .the palace of the king of Bantam,
with whom they were constantly at variance.
208 ENGLISH AND PERSIANS EXPEL PORTUGUESE FROM ORMUZ— 1622.
share of the past, and carried themselves in
80 overbearing a manner, that the English
commissioners soon reported the worse than
uselessness of maintaining a connexion which
involved the company in a heavy outlay,
without adequate remuneration. In the
circle of which the ancient city of Surat*
was the centre, affairs were proceeding more
prosperously. A treaty of trade and friend-
ship had been concluded with Persia, in
1620, on very advantageous terms for the
English, to whom permission had been ac-
corded to build a fort at Jaskj but an
expedition sent there in the following year
found the port blockaded by a Portuguese
fleet, consisting of five large and fifteen
small vessels. The English having but two
ships, did not attempt to cope with so dis-
proportionate a force, but sailed back to
Surat, where, being joined by two other
vessels, they returned to Jask, and suc-
ceeded in forcing an entrance into the
harbour. The Portuguese retired to Ormuz,t
and after refitting, made a desperate attack
upon the English, who gained a decisive
victory over a much superior force. This
event produced a deep impression on the
minds of the Persians, who urged the victors
to unite with them for the expulsion of the
Portuguese from the island of Ormuz ; and,
although it was against the royal instruc-
• Surat, already repeatedly mentioned in connec-
tion with the Moguls, Portuguese, and Mahrattas,
is the present capital of Guzerat, situated on the
bank of the Taptee river, about twenty miles above
its junction with the sea, in 21° 11' N. lat., 73° 7' E.
long. On the establishment of European intercourse
with India, different nations resorted thither, as it
had long been a commercial emporium, and was
deemed " one of the gates of Mecca," from the num-
ber of pilgrims who embarked there on their way to
visit the tomb of Mohammed. The Dutch did not
visit Surat until 1617, and then only by accident, being
shipwrecked off the coast, and kindly treated by the
English, who aided them in disposing of their car-
goes at Surat, by which means they learned the im-
portance of this ancient emporium, of which they
were not slow to take advantage.
f Ormuz, six miles long by four miles broad, is
situated at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, in 27°
12' N., within seven miles of the main land. When
first visited by the Portuguese, under Albuquerque,
in 1508, it was a place of considerable trade; there
were then 30,000 men on the island, and in the
harbour 400 vessels, sixty of them of large size, and
having 2,500 men on board. The place was cap-
lured by the Portuguese in 1514, and it remained
in their possession for 120 years, during which time
the fortifications were increased,- noble mansions
built, and the town advanced in wealth and splen-
dour, until it grew to be regarded as the richest spot
in the world. The share of the customs granted to
the English at Gombroon, soon resulted in the trans-
tions to attack the subjects of the king of
Spain, the previous provocation and the
urgent solicitation of the Shah was supposed
to justify a further breach of the peace. A
joint assault was made, and the town and
castle captured in 1622, the English having
the chief conduct of affairs, and receiving in
return a proportion of the plunder, and a
grant of the moiety of the customs at the
port of Gombroon, J which was regularly paid
till about 1680, when the company, being
unable to keep the gulf free from pirates,
the Persian monarch withheld their dues.
Notwithstanding the favourable result of this
enterprise, the four representatives of the
English East India Company at Jaccatra, who
bore the title of " President and Council,"
blamed the co-operation with the Persians
as a rash and ill-advised measure, because
the pepper§ investment had been lost, from
the company's vessels not arriving at Acheen
as expected; beside which the general interest
had suffered, from the shipping intended for
the Java and Sumatra trade being detained
by the factors at Sumatra. || Probably
the English members of the Council of De-
fence felt the necessity for the concentration
of their force as a guard against the Dutch ;
but for this the whole was far too little. The
expiration of the truce between Spain and
Holland, in 1621, gave the signal for the
fer of the trade to that port ; and in the hands of the
Persians, Ormuz degenerated into a heap of ruins.
J Oomhroon lies nearly opposite to Ormuz, in
27° 10' N. lat, 54° 45' E! long., on the mainland of
Persia. The English were permitted to establish a
factory here in 1613, and the Dutch in 1620. After
the expulsion of the Portuguese from Ormuz, many
Persian merchants removed to Gombroon, which
was then strongly fortified, and adorned with fine
structures. When the interests of the E. I. Cy. be-
came concentrated on the continent of India, their
distant factories were neglected. The French seized
Gombroon in 1759 : it was reoccupied by the English,
but eventually abandoned from its unhealthiness.
§ The stress laid on pepper and other spices, as
primary articles in the East India trade, can only be
explained by remembering, that in those days (while
homoeopathy was unknown) both cordials and viands
were flavoured to a degree which, when the cost of
spicei ""'minished, proved itself a fashion rather than
a wanv, 'ailing into comparative disuse.
II A share of the prize-money taken at Ormuz and
elsewhere was demanded by the king, in right of the
Crown, and by the Duke of Buckingham, as Lord
High Admiral. The company admitted the former,
but denied the latter claim', upon which the duke
stopped at Tilbury the seven out-going ships for the
season, 1823-'4, and obtained £10,000 as a compro-
mise. The same sum was required by the king, but
there is no direct evidence that he ever received it.
The total priee-money was stated at 240,000 rials,
or £100,000.— (Bruce's Annals vol. i., p. 242.)
CRUELTIES OP THE DUTCH AT AMBOYNA— a.d. 1623.
209
renewal of undisguised hostility on the part
of the Dutch towards the settlements of the
Spanish-Portuguese; and the large arma-
ments their lucrative trade enabled them to
equip, rendered them strong enough to brave
the vengeance both of their ancient foes and
of their allies the< English. Upon the plea
that there had been a prior agreement with
the natives of the Bandas, who had placed
themselves under the sovereignty of the
States- General, the Dutch governor. Van
Coens, proceeded to the islands of Polaroon,
Rosengin, and Lantore, and took possession
of the factories, treating the few Englishmen
he found there with the most barbarous
cruelty, and executing great numbers of the
natives on pretence of a conspiracy. The
successor of Van Coens, Peter Carpentier,
openly asserted the right of sovereignty over
the countries in which the Dutch trade was
situated, and declared that the English had
only a title by the treaty as subordinate
traders. The English factory at Bantam
had been removed to Batavia on the faith
of the Dutch performance of their treaty;
but they soon found their mistake, and de-
sired to return to Bantam, where, by favour
of the king, their old ally, they doubted not
that ten ships of 800 tons might be annually
filled with pepper, provided the Javanese
were allowed to bring it in without obstruc-
tion ;*■ but to this measure the Dutch would
not consent, lest the progress of their newly-
erected and neighbouring sovereignty at
Batavia should be thereby impeded. The
English had no force wherewith to oppose
the tyranny of their pretended coadjutors,
* A frequent complaint urged against the Dutch,
in the Annals of the E. I. Cy. is, that they sought
" to bear down the merchants of every other country
by raising the price, so as to render the trade un-
productive to all other nations." — (Bruce, vol. i., p.
231.) But if the Dutch company, by good manage-
ment of their funds, could afford to purchase pepper
from the natives at so high a price as to " bear
down" all competition, the means employed would
seem perfectly legitimate.
t Amboyna, to the south of Coram, is the largest
of the Clove Islands : Fort Victoria, the capital, lies
in 3' 42' S. lat., 128' 11' E. long. The Portuguese
discovered this island in 1511, and occupied it in
1564, in consequence of its valuable spices; but
were driven out by the Dutch in 1607, who, as also
the English, formed factories here ; and by the
treaty of 1619, both nations were to occupy Am-
boyna in common.
X The factories at Siam and Potania were with-
drawn about the same time, also those in Japan,
upon which island the Dutch had been driven during
a storm in 1600 : and through the influence subse-
quently acquired by their English pilot, " old Wil-
liam Adams," over the mind of the emperor, had
but real foes ; and at length tired of remon-
strance, urged the company to use every
exertion to procure from the king the annul-
ment of a treaty, whose ambiguity enabled
the stronger party at will to oppress the
weaker. The commercial efforts of the
factors stationed at Amboynaf had proved
equally unsatisfactory; they were therefore
ordered by the English president and coun-
cil to leave the station with their property
and come to Batavia. J It was at this crisis
that those barbarous proceedings were insti-
tuted which rendered the conduct of the
Dutch at Amboyna a synonyme for cruelty.
The local government, on the plea of
the formation of a plot for its expulsion,
seized ten Javanese about the middle of
February, 1623, and by subjecting them to
excessive and repeated torture, extorted a
declaration that they had been parties in a
conspiracy which the English agent (Captain
Towerson), with thirteen of his countrymen
and one Portuguese sailor, had formed to
seize on the castle of Amboyna, and exter-
minate the Dutch. That such a conspiracy
should have been formed against an over-
powering force, by a few trading agents who
had no ambitious motives to prompt so daring
an attempt, is highly improbable ;§ but the
savage persecution of the Dutch governor
can hardly be accounted for, except by sup-
posing that he and his associates were hur-
ried on by a desire to revenge a supposed
wrong; or else, that having resolved to be
rid of their troublesome competitors, they
first brought forward an accusation invented
for the purpose, and then wrung from them,
obtained, in 1609, permission to send two ships
annually to the port of Firando. Adams, on learn-
ing the establishment of his countrymen at Bantam
(which the Dutch strove to conceal from him), sent
a letter to advise their opening intercourse with
Japan. In June, 1613, the Clove, Captain Saris,
with a letter from King James I., and presents in
charge of a superintendent or factor, arrived. The
king or governor of Firando sent Captain Saris to
Jedo, the capital, where he was well received ; a
friendly answer returned to the royal letter, and a
very liberal charter of privileges granted to the E. I.
Cy. The Dutch soon instituted hostilities against
the factory ; plundered the ships, wounded and killed
several of the English, and compelled the rest to flee
for their lives, which would probably have been sacri-
ficed as at Amboyna, but for the interference of the
Japanese, who, for several years after their departure,
guarded the deserted factories from plunder, in con-
stant expectation of their return.
§ There were four strong forts, garrisoned by about
200 Dutchmen, with some 300 or 400 native troops ;
the English, in all, numbered about twenty men, in-
cluding a surgeon and tailor, who were among the
sufferers.
210 EXECUTION OP CAPT. TOWERSON AND ENGLISH FACTORS— 1623.
by intolerable anguish, a confession of guilt,
the falsity of which none knew better than
those who extorted it. The motives remain a
mystery — as those of great public crimes often
do ; the cause assigned being insufficient to
account for the fiend-like cruelty with which
Captain Towerson and his miserable com-
panions were by turn subjected (as the na-
tives had previously been) to the agonies
which, by the aid of those two powerful
agents, fire and water, the wicked invention
and pitiless will of man can inflict upon his
fellow.* By the Dutch code, as by the codes
of all the other continental nations of Europe,
evidence obtained by torture afforded suf-
ficient ground for legal condemnation : the
English, it was alleged, were living under
Dutch sovereignty, established before their
arrival in the island ; and on these grounds,
the whole of the accused were condemned
to death, and with four exceptions, beheaded
on the 27th of the same month in which
they were first seized — all of them pro-
testing, with their latest breath, their entire
innocence of the crime with which they were
charged. t Besides the above-named persons
who were reprieved, four others remained in
Amboyna, whose absence at the time of the
alleged conspiracy had procured their safety.
The survivors were sent for by the English
president and council to Batavia, so soon as
the terrible end of their companions was
known there, and gladly made their escape,
leaving their oppressors to seize the factories
and stores, and to commit all manner of
cruelties on the wretched Javanese, who
were shipped off in large numbers, as slaves,
to different islands. The English sufferers
were dispatched to London, where they ar-
rived in August, 1624. Their representations
of the horrible outrage committed in Am-
boyna, seconded by the protestations of in-
nocence, written in a Bible and other books
belonging to their unhappy countrymen,
were sedulously circulated, and the effect
heightened by the exhibition of a picture, iu
which the victims were represented upon the
rack, writhing in agony. The press teemed
with publications, enlarging upon the same
subject ; and the tide of popular feeling rose
so high, that in default of ability to reach
the true criminals, it had well nigh found
• These proceedings are narrated at length in
Hall's Cruelties of the Dutch in the East Indies,
8vo., London, 1712: they were continued during
several days, including a Sunday, and are too hor-
rible for quotation : it must, therefore, suffice to say,
that each victim v/as placed on the rack, and com-
pelled to inhale water at every attempt to draw
vent on the heads of the unoffending Dutch
residents in London, who urgently ap-
pealed to the Privy Council for protection,
and complained of the conduct of the East
India directors, whose proceedings, though
probably not uninfluenced by views of mis-
called policy, would yet be very excusable,
when viewed on the ground of indignation
at the unjust and cruel sufferings inflicted
on their servants.
A commission of inquiry was instituted
by the king; application made to the Dutch
government for signal reparation; and an
order issued for intercepting and detaining
the Dutch East India fleets, till an accom-
modation should be arranged. The evasive
answer of the States was evidently framed
with a view of gaining time to let the fierce
but short-lived tumult of popular rage pass
away, before coming to any definite arrange-
ment. The only concession offered, deemed
worth accepting, was permission for the
English to retire from the Dutch settlements
without paying any duties; and even this
was accompanied by an unqualified assump-
tion of the sovereign and exclusive rights of
the Dutch over the Moluccas, Bandas, and
Amboyna, — the very point so long contested.
King James manifested considerable
energy on this occasion; but his foreign
and domestic policy had acquired a reputa-
tion for weakness and vacillation, which
probably militated against the success of
the measures instituted in the last few
months of his reign, which terminated in
March, 1625. His ill-fated son succeeded
to a regal inheritance heavily burdened with
debt, war, and faction ; which required, at
least humanly speaking, the governance of
one gifted with a powerful and unprejudiced
intellect, and judgment wherewith to guide
the helm of state — by that best rudder, the
power of distinguishing the cry of faction
from the desire of a nation. Had Charles I.
been thus endowed, even a turbulent par-
liament could not have driven him to
alienate the affections of his subjects by the
expedients (irregular loans and sliip-money)
to which he had recourse. As it was, the
failing power of the Crown diminished the
hope of redress entertained by the company,
and subjected them to danger from the
breath, until his body became inflated and he
swooned, was recovered, and the same horrible pro-
cess repeated. The fire was applied by means of
lighted candles, held to the elbows and other sensi-
tive parts of the body, and relit when extinguished
by the heavy sweat of afi;ony. — (I'p. 18 to 32.)
t This fact rests on Dutch authority.
ENGLISH DRIVEN BY DUTCH FROM SPICE ISLANDS TO INDIA. 211
feeling against monopolies, which was evi-
dently gaining ground in the House of Com-
mons, stimulated by the complaints of the
private traders, or interlopers, who pleaded
the severities exercised against them in the
Indian seas. The charter of the company
was the gift of the Crown, from which they
tad recently received a new and important
prerogative ; namely — authority to punish
their subjects abroad by common and
martial law :* nor does the sanction of par-
liament appear to have been deemed neces-
sary for the delegation of so important a
trust. But a change was rapidly taking
place; and the company, alarmed for the
continuance of their monopoly, paid homage
to the rising sun, by presenting a memorial
to the Commons, in which they represented
the national importance of a traffic employ-
ing shipping of 10,000 tons burden, and
2,500 men; and urged that the Dutch
should be pressed to make compensation
for past injuries, and discontinue their op-
pressive conduct in monopolising the spice-
trade, which was felt the more sensibly by
the English from the difficulty they ex-
perienced in opening a trade for woven
goods on the coast of Coromandel. The
precise condition of their finances at this
period is not recorded ; but it was certainly
far from being a prosperous one :t nor
could they foresee the issue of the efforts
which their expulsion from the Indian
islands compelled them to direct to the for-
mation of settlements on the great peninsula
itself. In the interim, many difficulties
were to be encountered. The company's
Persian trade languished under the caprice
and extortions of local magistrates. Their
agents, soon after the catastrophe at Am-
* Captain Hamilton asserts, tliat before this time
(1624), the servants of the company, having no
power to inflict capital punishment by the legal
mode of hanging, except for piracy, had recourse to
■whipping or starvation for the same end. It is very
possible, that in the general license and disorder
attendant on the formation, whether of factories or
colonies, by men suddenly removed beyond the
pale of conventional propriety, and unguided by a
deeply-rooted principle of duty, that many violent
deeds were committed in the profaned name of jus-
tice. Nevertheless, eo serious and sweeping a charge
as the above, requires some stronger confirmation
than any adduced by Mr. Hamilton, who did not
enter India until sixty years after the period of
which he writes so freely, and who, by his own
admission, has recorded much hearsay information,
through the medium of what he describes as " a
weak and treacherous memory." The date of the
facts are in some measure a criterion how far they
may be relied on. His description of scenes, in which
boyna, had quitted Java and retired to
Lagundy, in the Straits of Sunda. In less
than a year, the extreme unhealthiness of
the island rendered them anxious to abandon
it; but of 250 men, 130 were sick, and
they had not a crew sufficient to navigate a
ship to any of the English factories. In
this emergency the Dutch assisted them, by
aiding their return to Batavia ; and through
the steady friendship of the Pangran, or
king of Bantam, they obtained the re-estab-
lishment of their factory there, in 1629,
without opposition on the part of the Dutch,
who were then actively employed in de-
fending Batavia against the Materam, or
emperor of Java, who unsuccessfully be-
sieged it with 80,000 men.
In 1628-'9, the station at Armegaun, on
the Coromandel coast (established on a
piece of ground purchased from the Naig,
or local chief, shortb before) was fortified;
twelve pieces of cannon being mounted
round the factory, w th a guard of twenty-
three factors and soldiers. The centre of
the company's trade was the presidency of
Surat, where, however, they had to sustain
the commercial rivalry of the Dutch, whose
larger capital, and, according to Mill,!more
economical management,^ enabled them to
outbid the English, both in purchase and
sale. The Spanish-Portuguese made an
effort to retain their vanishing power ; and
in 1630, the viceroy of Goa having received
a reinforcement from Europe of nine ships
and 2,000 soldiers, projected the recovery of
Ormuz, and made unsuccessful overtures to
the Mogul governor of Surat to obtain the
exclusive trade. He then attacked five
English vessels as they entered the port of
Swally; but after a short, though indecisive
he had been an actor, bear the stamp of truthfulness :
though, so far as the company is concerned, they are
often tinctured with prejudice; for the writer was
himself an "interloper." — (Vide New Account of the
£ast Indies, or " Observations and Remarks of Cap-
tain Hamilton, made from the year 1688 to 1723.")
+ In 1627, Sir llobert Shirley, before mentioned
as Persian ambassador, and one of the two brothers
who so strangely ingratiated themselves with Shah
Abbas, applied to the king and council to order the
E. I. Cy. to pay him £2,000 as compensation for his
exertions and services in procuring them a trade
with Persia. The directors denied the alleged ser-
vice, and moreover stated, that having " been obliged
to contract so large a debt as £200,000, their para-
mount duty was, in the first instance, to liquidate
this debt, that they might raise the price of the
stock, which had sunk so low as eighty per cent. —
(Bruce, vol. i., p. 272.)
X Mill's History of British India, edited by Pro-
fessor Horace Hayman Wilson, vol. i., p. 64.
212
COMMENCEMENT OF TRADE WITH BENGAL— a.d. 1634.
action, followed by several minor skirmishes,
and one great eifort to destroy their fleet by
fire, the English gained the victory, and
succeeded in landing their cargoes.
In 1631-'2, a subscription, amounting to
£420,700, was opened for a third joint-
stock fund. Its results have not been very
accurately chronicled ;* neither if they had
would they afford matter of sufiicient interest
to occupy space already so limited, that the
author is frequently compelled to crowd
into a note that which he would otherwise
have gladly woven into the text.
The Dutch were now the paramount
maritime power in India : they annually
sent from Holland thirty-four to forty-one
ships, receiving in return from twenty-five
to thirty-four rich cargoes ;t and the oc-
casional squadrons still dispatched by the
Spanish-Portuguese, opposed their formidable
enemy with even less success than did the
brave sailors who manned the "ventures"
of English, French, and Danish companies.
The revolution in Portugal, in 1640, by
which, in less than a week, that kingdom
regained its independence, had not its ex-
pected efiect in restoring the national in-
fluence in India. The Dutch continued
their conquering course ; and having pre-
viously expelled the Portuguese from the
Spice Islands, and Formosa in the China
Seas, drove them from Malacca in 1640,
Japan in 1641, and terminated a long and
* The effect of the company's proceedings had
been for several years a subject of parliamentary
discussion ; and some valuable statistics regarding
their, early condition have come down to us in the
form of documents laid before the House. It appears
that from 1600 to 1621 inclusive, 86 ships were sent
to India, of which 36 returned with cargoes, 9 were
lost, 3 worn out in trading from port to port, 11
captured by the Dutch, and 25 accounted for as
engaged in India or on their voyage home. During
this time, the exports had amounted to £613,681 in
bullion, and £319,211 in woollens, lead, iron, tin,
and other wares, making a total of £932,892, or
about £45,000 per annum : the imports realised
£2,004,600, the cost of lading having been
£375,288. Another paper, drawn up by order of
the Commons in 1625, states, that between March,
1620, and March, 1623, 26 ships were equipped, and
furnished with bullion to the amount of £205,710,
and goods worth £58,806; total, £264,616. The
imports during the same time, including raw silk
from China and Persia, and a sum of £80,000 paid
by the Dutch in accordance with the treaty of 1619,
realised £1,255,444, or on an average, £313,861 per
annum, and would have been much greater but for
the hostilities with the Dutch. The principal objec-
tions urged on public grounds against the company
were, that the exportation of specie impoverished
the realm, and that the navigation of the southern
seas was destructive both to the mariners and vessels
severe struggle by expelling them from
Ceylon in 1656. The fortified stations on
the Malabar coast — Cochin, Cananore, Cran-
ganore, Coulan, and others of minor im-
portance, likewise changed hands;! but the
Portuguese, on their side, had wherewith to
balance, at least in part, the success of their
opponents in the East Indies, by their own
acquisitions in South America (the Brazils) ;
and in 1661, a treaty was formed between
Portugal and Holland, on the basis of the
Uti posseditis — each party agreeing to be
content with their reciprocal losses and
advantages.
The English company, meanwhile, found
it difiicult to maintain even a feeble and
interrupted trade; and the more so from
the unfaithful conduct of their own agents
at Surat.§ In 1634, permission was granted
by the emperor for trade with the province
of Bengal, with the restriction that the
English ships were to resort only to the
port of Piplee, in Orissa ; and in the fol-
lowing year, a friendly convention was
entered into with the Portuguese. This
latter arrangement becoming known in Eng-
land, excited hopes of extraordinary profit,
and induced a number of gentlemen, headed
by Sir William Courten, to form a new
association for trade with India. By the
intervention of Endymion Porter, a gentle-
man of the bed-chamber, Charles I. was
prevailed upon to sanction, and even to
employed. In reply to these charges it was urged,
that the company exported not English, but foreign
coin i and that the quantity had always fallen far
short of the sum authorised by the charter, and was
expected to decrease yearly: with regard to the in-
jurious results alleged to be produced on the English
marine by the East India trade, the best answer was
its greatly increased inefficiency. — (Monson's Naval
Tracts in Churchill's Voyages — Bruce and Macpher-
son.) The pro's and con's of the question as urged
by the political economists of that day are very
curious. What would have been their surprise, could
they have been forewarned of the wealth England
was to receive from India j or been told that the
country whose currency could, they considered, ill
bear a yearly drain of specie to the amount of
£30,000, would, in 1853, be found capable of ex-
porting £30,000,000.
t Macpherson's Commerce with India, p. 49.
X " When will you return to India ?" .said a Dutch
to a Portuguese officer, who was embarking for
Europe after the surrender of a fortress to his an-
tagonist.— " When your crimes are greater than
ours" was the instructive reply. — (Memoirs of hidia,
by R. G. Wallace: London, 1824, p. 198.)
§ Instead of attending to the company's affairs,
the president and council carried on a private trade,
until, quarrelling among themselves, they betrayed
one another, and were obliged to solicit the leniency
of their far-distant employers. — (Bruce, i., 325.)
FIRST ENGLISH SETTLEMENT FORMED AT MADRAS— a.d. 1640. 213
accept a share in the proposed adventure.
The preamble to the Hcense, whicli was
granted for a term of five years, alleges
that the East India Company had neglected
to establish fortified factories or seats of
trade, to which the king's subjects could re-
sort with safety ; that they had broken the
conditions on which their charter had been
granted ; and had generally accomplished
nothing for the good of the nation, in pro-
portion to the great privileges they had
enjoyed, or even to the funds of which they
had disposed. These allegations, were they
true, could not justify the breach of faith now
committed : had the monopoly been clearly
proved injurious to the nation, nothing
beyond the stipulated three years' notice
was necessary to its legal abrogation. The
company remonstrated and petitioned with-
out success : and one Captain Weddel, who
had been previously engaged in their ser-
vice, proceeded to the East Indies with six
ships, and there occasioned the agents of
his former employers great inconvenience,
both by interfering with their trade, and
by drawing upon them the hostility of the
natives, who naturally suspected actual col-
lusion, hid beneath the apparent rivalry
of men of the same nation. In 1637-'8,
several of Courten's ships returned with
cargoes, which produced an ample profit to
the association ; and a new license was con-
ceded, continuing their privileges for five
years. The old company, who had never
ceased complaining apd petitioning against
the Dutch, had now a second source of
anxiety, to which a third was soon added;
for the king, in his distress for funds where-
with to carry on the Scottish war, compelled
them to make over to him, on credit, the
whole of the pepper they had in store, and
then disposed of it at a reduced price for ready
money.* Lord Cottington and others be-
* The king bought 607,522 bags of pepper, at
2s. Id. per lb.=£63,283 lis. 6(7.: and sold it at
Is. Sd. = £50,626 17s. Irf.— (Bruce, vol. i., p. 371.)
t The affairs of the third joint-stock were wound
up in 1640, and the original capital divided, nith a
profit, in eleven years, of only thirty-five per cent —
little more than three per cent, per annum. In the
following year, £67,500 were subscribed for a single
voyage; and in 164S, about £105,000 were raised
for a fourth joint-stock. The attempts made, with
this small sum, were very unfortunate : one ship,
valued at £35,000, was wrecked ; and another, with
a cargo worth £20,000, was carried into Bristol by
her commander (Captain Macknel), and delivered
over for the king's use, during the civil war in which
the nation was then involved. The company bor-
rowed money both at home and abroad ; and, in
1646, their debts, in England, amounted to £122,000.
2 F
came sureties for the king, who, when they
were pressed for its repayment, exerted him-
self for their relief and the liquidation of
the debt ; but his power soon ceased ; and
what (if any) portion of their claim the com-
pany eventually recovered, is not known.
It was while matters were in their worst
state of distress and embarrassment at
home, that the first English stations des-
tined to prove of permanent importance
in India were formed. f The position of
Armegaun had been found inconvenient for
providing the " piece-goods "J which con-
stituted the principal item of exportation
from the Coromandel coast; the permission
of Sree Ranga Raya, the rajah of Chand-
ragiri,§ granted in 1640, for the establish-
ment of a settlement at Madras (sixty-six
miles south of Armegaun) was therefore
eagerly embraced, and the erection of Fori
St. George immediately commenced by the
chief local agent, Mr. Day. The court,
or executive committee in London, deemed
the enterprise hazardous, and inclined to
its abandonment ; but by the advice of the
president and council of Surat, the de-
fences were continued, though on a very
limited scale. Madras remained subordi-
nate to the distant station of Bantam until
1653 ; but was then raised to a presidency.
Lest its importance should be over-rated, it
may be well to add, that the garrison of the
fort at this latter period amounted only to
twenty-six English soldiers, and, in 16o4-'5,
was ordered to be diminished to a guard of
ten, and the civil establishment to two factors.
The settlement of a trading post at
Hooghly forms another early and impor-
tant link in the chain of circumstances,
that from slender beginnings, under a policy
of the most irregular and uncertain cha-
racter, has terminated in the formation of
that extraordinary power, called by some
Their effects are stated as follows : — " Quick stock at
Surat, £83,600 ; at Bantam, £60,731 ; in shipping
and stores, £31,180; and customs at Gombroon,
estimated at £5,000: forming a total of £180,511."
— (Milburn's Oriental Commerce, vol. i., p. 27.)
X The general term applied to the muslins and
wovegoods of India and China.
' § A descendant of Venkatadri,. brother of the
famous Rama Rajah, the last sovereign of Beeja-
nuggur (see p. 97.) In compliment to the naik, or
local governor, ■who first invited the English to
change their settlement, the new station was named
after his father, Chenna-patam, and is still so called
by the natives, though Europeans use an abbreviation
of its previous designation — Madras-patam. The
territory granted extended five miles along-shore and.
one mile inland. — (Hamilton's Gazetteer, and Orme's
Ilutm-icul Fraymenis of the Mogul Empire, p. 229.)
au BOUGHTON OBTAINS TRADING PRIVILEGES FROM THE MOGUL.
an empire of chance, but really an empire
of Providence. Jehanara, the favourite
daughter of Shah Jehan, in retiring one
night from the imperial presence to her
own apartments, set her dress on fire in
passing one of the lamps which lit the
corridor, and fearful of calling for assis-
tance while the male guards of the palace
were within hearing, rushed into the harem
all on fire, and was fearfully burned before
the flames could be extinguished. The most
famous physicians were summoned from dif-
ferent parts of the empire, and the surgeons
of the English East-Indiamen having ob-
tained considerable repute for cures per-
formed on some Mogul nobles, an express
was sent to Surat for one of them. Mr.
Gabriel Boughton was selected for the
important office, and having been instru-
mental in aiding the recovery of the
princess, was desired by Shah Jehan to
name his reward. With rare disinterested-
ness, Boughton asked exclusively for bene-
fits to the company he served; and in return
for this and subsequent attendance on the
household of the emperor and Prince Shuja,
-the governor of Bengal, he obtained a licence
for unlimited trade throughout the empire,
with freedom from custom-dues in all places
except Surat, and permission to erect fac-
tories, which was availed of by their es-
tablishment at several places, especially
Hooghly, from whence the Portuguese had
been expelled in 1633.* Authorities agree
with regard to the leading facts of the
above occurrences, with one important ex-
ception— the date, which is variously stated
as 1636,t 1640,t and 1651-'2. Bruce, the
careful annalist of the E. I. Cy., fixes the
latter period for the formation of the
Hooghly factory, but his notice of Bough-
ton is scanty and unsatisfactory, probably
from the character of the data on which it
was founded ; for the " cautious mercantile
silence" § observed by the company extended
to their records ; and while striving to make
the most of their claims upon the country
at large, and to represent at its highest
value the "dead stock" acquired in India,
in the shape of trading licences, forts, faq-
tories, &c., tlfey were naturally by no means
* They had settled there subsequent to the termi-
nation of Faria y Sousa's history, in 1640 : for an
account of their expulsion by Shah Jehan, see p. 131.
t Malcolm's Political India, vol. i., p. 18.
I Stewart states that Bougliton was sent to the
imperial camp, in the Deccan, in IGIiG ; and that fac-
rtories were established at Balasore and Hooghly, in
1640. — {History of Bengal, p. 252.) Dow mentions
anxious to set forth the easy terms on which
some of their most important privileges
had been obtained. During the concluding
years of the reign of Charles I., they main-
tained a struggling and fitful commerce.
In 1647-'8, when the king was a prisoner
in the Isle of Wight, and the power of the
parliament supreme, a new subscription was
set on foot, and strenuous endeavours made
to induce members of the legislature to sub-
scribe, in the hope that the English, like
the Dutch company, might ensure the pro-
tection of the state, through the influence
of its chief counsellors. This project seems
to have failed ; and in 1649-'50, attempts
to form another joint-stock were renewed,
and carried out by means of a junction with
Courten's association, now designated the
"Assada Merchants," in consequence of their
having formed a settlement on an island
called by that name, near Madagascar.
The establishment of the Commonwealth
changed the direction, but not the character
of the solicitations of the company. They
now appealed to Cromwell and his Council
for redress from the Dutch, and the renewal
of their charter. The first claim met with
immediate attention, and formed a leading
feature in the national grievances urged
against Holland. The famous Navigation
Act, prohibiting the importation of any
foreign commodities, except in English
vessels, or those of the countries wherein
they were produced, though, under the pe-
culiar circumstances of the time, absolutely
requisite for the encouragement of the Bri-
tish navy, was felt by the Dutch as a measure
peculiarly levelled against the carrying trade,
so important to their national prosperity;
and ambassadors were sent to Cromwell to
solicit its repeal. The war which followed
his refusal, involved the feeble settlements of
the English in India in great danger, and
almost suspended their coasting-trade; but
the success of their countrymen in Europe,
soon delivered them from this peril. Crom-
well reduced the Dutch to the necessity of
accepting peace on terms of his dictation ;
and a treaty was concluded at Westminster,
in 1654, in which a clause was inserted for
the appointment of a commission, composed
the accident of the princess as occurring in 1643, but
does not name Boughton. — (Hindoostan, vol. iii., p.
190.) It appears that no firman was issued, but
only a " nishan," or order from Prince Shuja, with
warrants from the local governors; but, in 1680,
Aurungzebe confirmed the grant of Shah Jehan.
§ Uruce' a Annals of E. I. Cy.,from 1600 to Union
of London and English Cos., in 1 707-'8, i., 426.
CROMWELL COMPELS COMPENSATION FROM DUTCH E. 1. Cy.— 1654. 215
of four Dutch and four English members,
to examine into and decide upon the
claims of their respective nations, and to
award punishment to all survivors concerned
in the perpetration of the cruelties at Am-
boyna, in 1623.* In the event of the com-
missioners being unable to come to a de-
cision, within a specified time, their differ-
ences of opinion were to be submitted to
the arbitration of the Protestant Swiss
cantons.
The claims of both parties, as might be ex-
pected from the circumstances of the case,
bear evident marks of exaggeration, though
to what degree it would be difficult to judge.
The English company estimated their da-
mages, as ascertained bv a series of accounts
from 1611 to 1652, at ^2,695,999 15*.; the
Dutch, at £2,919,861 13«. 6d. The award
of the commissioners set aside the balance
claimed bv the latter, and allotted to the
English the sum of £85,000, and £3,615 to
the heirs or executors of those who had
suffered at Amboyna. Polaroon was like-
wise to be ceded by the Dutch ; but they
long endeavoured to evade compliance with
this stipulation ; and when, after the lapse of
many years, the island was at length sur-
rendered,t the nutmeg plantations, which
had constituted its chief value, were found
to have been all purposely destroyed.
The English company were not well
pleased with the amount adjudged to them,
and their dissatisfaction was greatly increased
by Cromwell's proposition to borrow the
£85,000 in question, until its distribution
should be arranged. The directors asserted
that the different stocks were £50,000 in
debt, and many of the proprietor's in diffi-
cult circumstances; J but that they would
consent to spare £50,000, to be repaid by
instalments in eighteen months, provided
the remaining £35,000 were immediately
assigned them to relieve their more pressing
* It does not appear that this latter part of the
agreement was ever fulfilled.
+ In 1665:Damin, an island near Banda, was occu-
pied by the English in the same year; but they were
driven out by a Dutch force, on the plea of a prior
right. The war between England and Holland gave
the Dutch an opportunity for regaining Polaroon ;
and by the pacification of Breda in 16G7, the British
government tacitly surrendered both Polaroon and
Damm, in consideration of more important objects
gained by that treaty.
I " At the same time," says Mill, " it is matter
of curious uncertainty who these directors were,
whom they represented, by what set or sets of pro-
prietors they were chosen, or to whom they were
responsible." — (Vol. i., p. 861.)
liabilities, and make a dividend to the share-
holders.
The application of the company for a
confirmation, under the republic, of the ex-
clusive privileges granted under the mo-
narchy, was not equally successful. It is
not necessary to enter into the question of
whether the well-grounded aversion enter-
tained by the public towards the monopolies
of soap, wine, leather, salt, &c., bestowed
by the Crown on individuals, extended to
the charters granted for special purposes
to large associated bodies ; the fact remains,
that so far from obtaining a confirmation
of their privileges, the E. I. Cy., in 1654,
beheld with dismay their virtual abrogation
in the licences granted by Cromwell to sepa-
rate undertakings. The rivalry of discon-
nected traders was unimportant in compari-
son with that of the so-called Merchant Ad-
venturers, who were proprietors of the united
stock formed in 1049, and who now took their
chance, in common with other speculators.
By their exertions, four ships were equipped
for the Indian trade, under the management
of a committee. The news of these events
created great excitement in Holland ; and
instead of rejoicing over the downfall of an
old rival, the Dutch company appear to have
been filled with consternation, either fearing
that the example might lead to the destruc-
tion of their monopoly, or else that it would
open the door to more dangerous competi-
tion from the English at large. The experi-
ment of open trade with India was, however,
of too brief continuance to afford conclusive
evidence regarding the permanent effects
it was calculated to produce on British
commerce ;§ for in 1657, the Protector and
Council of State decided upon the manage-
ment of a corporate body vested with exclu-
sive privileges, as the most efficacious method
of carrying on the Indian traffic. A new
charter was accorded, and a coalition effected
§ Numerous pamphlets, published during the paper
war which raged towards the latter part of the seven-
teenth century, are still extant. On one side, it was
argued, that the cheapness and abundance of Indian
products (especially indigo and calico), which re-
sulted from the open tvade, attested its beneficial
influence on the nation j but the advocates of the
company, in reply, asserted that this was merely a
temporary excitement, sure to produce a reaction.
With regard to the adventurers themselves, it has
been alleged, that they were eminently successful ;
but Anderson remarks, " it is generally said that
even the interlopers, or separate traders, were
losers in the endj" and he adds, "so difficult is it
to come at the real truth where interest is nearly
concerned on both sides." — (Vol. ii., p. 441.)
216
BOMBAY CEDED BY PORTUGAL TO ENGLAND— a.d. 1661.
between the E. I. Cy. and the Merchant
Adventurers. By their united efforts a sub-
scription was raised, amounting to £786,000,
and arrangements, ah-eady too long delayed,
entered into with the owners of the pre-
ceding funds ; all the forts, privileges, and
immunities obtained in India and Persia
being made over to the new association, in
full right, for the sum of £20,000, and the
ships or merchandise similarly transferred
at a valuation. Thus the directors had
henceforth a single fund to manage, and a
single interest to pursue ; but, unfortunately
for them, the joint-stock was not as yet a
definite and invariable sura placed beyond
the power of resumption, the shares only
transferable by purchase and sale in the
market. On the contrary, their capital was
variable and fluctuating, — formed by the
sums whtch, on the occasion of each voyage,
the individuals who were free of the com-
pany chose to pay into their hands, receiv-
ing credit for the amount in the company's
books, and proportional dividends on the
profits of the voyage. Of this stock, £500
entitled a proprietor to a vote in tlie general
courts; and the shares -were transferable
even to such as were not free of the com-
pany, on payment of an admission-fee of
£i>. A defective system, and inadequate
resources, together with the hostility of the
Dutch, and the disturbed state of the Deccan
during the long reign of Aurungzebe, com-
bined to render the operations of the com-
pany in India languid and inconsiderable.
Yet, during this period of depression, several
events occurred which had an important
bearing on their after-history : in the words
of Robert Grant, " amidst the storms under
which it was bending, — if we may not rather
say from the very effects of them, — the
British authority silently struck some deep
roots into the eastern continent."*
The death of Cromwell, and the restora-
tion of monarchy under Charles II., proved
fortunate events to the corporation ; for the
Protector, notwithstanding his decision in
their favour, had shown a continued inclina-
• Sketch nf the History of the E. I. Ct/., page 20.
t Shortly before his death, Cromwell licensed a
Mr. Holt to export three mortars and 20,000 shells,
to be disposed of to Aurungzfbe, then engaged in
rebellion against his father. The company directed
the Sural presidency to seize on these articles as
illicit; and the more effectually to frustrate the
speculation, sent large quantities of ordnance, mor-
tars, shells, &c., desiring the difl'erent presidencies to
dispose of them at the best price to either of the four
rival princes who should first apply for them, pre-
serving meanwhile a strict neutrality. — (Bruce, i., 39.)
tion to sanction private adventure, at least
in exceptional cases ;t while the king evinced
no desire to question or infringe their exclu-
sive claims, but confirmed them in the
fullest manner in April, 1661, and empow-
ered them to make peace or war with any
prince or people not Christians; and to
seize unlicensed persons within their limits,
and send them to England. These two
privileges, added to the administration of
justice, consigned almost the whole powers
of government over "all plantations, forts,
fortifications, factories, or colonies" already
or hereafter to be acquired by the company,
to the discretion of the directors and their
servants — not for a stated term, but in per-
petuity, with, however, the usual condition
of termination after three years' notice, if
found injurious to the sovereign or the
public. J Two months after the renewal of
the charter, Charles married the Infanta
Catherine, and received, as a portion of her
dowry, a grant of the island of Bombay
from the crown of Portugal. The Earl of
Marlborougli, with 500 troops, commanded
by Sir Abraham Shipman, were dispatched
to India on the king's behalf, to demand
possession of the island and its dependen-
cies (Salsette and Tanna.)§ The Portuguese
governor took advantage of the indefinite
wording of the treaty, and refused to deliver
over any territory beyond Bombay itself;
and even that he delayed to surrender till
further instructions, on the pretext that the
letters or patent produced did not accord
with the usages of Portugal. The troops
were dying day by day, in consequence of
long confinement on board ship, and their
commander requested the president of Surat
(Sir George Oxenden), to make arrange-
ments for their reception, but was refused,
on the ground that such a proceeding
might excite the anger of the Mogul go-
vernment. In this emergency, the Earl of
Marlborough returned to Englaiul, and Sir
Abraham Shipman proceeded to the little
island of Anjediva; twelve leagues distant
from Goa, where, being cooped up in an
X A clause in this charter confirmed to the com-
pany the possession of St. Helena, which they had
taken possession of in 1651, as a convenient station
for the refreshment of homeward-bound vessels, the
Dutch having previously abandoned it for tlie Cape
of Good Hope. Here, as in Bombay, they were em-
powered to frame and execute laws " as near as might
be" conformable to the constitution of England; a
direction not sufficiently observed.
§ He urged that the cession of these isles could
not have been intended, since it would lay the im-
portant station of Bassein open to the English.
p
^
6=
S
©
as
!2=
SiJI
BOMBAY TRANSFERRED FROM THE CROWN TO E. I. Cy.— 1688. 217
unhealthy position, and distressed for pro-
visions, he offered to cede the rights of the
English Crown to the representatives of the
company at Surat. The proposition was
rejected, for the two-fold reason that it was
unauthorised, and that the presidency had
not a sufficient force to occupy and main-
tain the island. At length, after Sir Abra-
ham and the majority of the soldiers had
perished, the survivors, about 100 in num-
ber, were suffered to .take possession of
Bombay, in December, 1664,* on terms
prescribed by the Portuguese. The govern-
mental expenses being found to exceed the
revenue of the island, it was transferred to
the E. I. Cy. in 1668 ;t " to be held of the
king in free and common socage, as of the
manor of East Greenwich, on the payment
of the annual rent of ten pounds in gold,"
and with the place itself was conveyed
authority to exercise all political powers
necessary to its defence and government. J
Bombay, from its insular position, proved
a very important acquisition, especially to
the presidency of Surat, from which it was
situated within a sail of 200 miles, — a very
practicable distance considered with respect
to the extensive range of the Indo-British
establishments. The fortifications were dili-
gently enlarged and strengthened ; and in
about six years the ordnance of the garrison,
* This date is memorable for the first importation
of tea into England by the E. I. Cy., a small quan-
tity being brought as a present for the king. No
public order was given for its purchase until 1667 ;
when the agent at Bantam was desired " to send
home by these ships 100 lbs. weight of the best tey
that you can gett."— (Bruce, ii., 211.) This article
became the chief item in the trade with China, to
be described under the head of IIony-Kmig.
+ Probably it was intended thereby to recom-
pense the company for the annulment of their claims
to Polaroon and Damm, mentioned in a previous
note; and also for the cession of their possessions on
the coast of Africa (obtained through their junction
with the Assada merchants), to the company formed
by the Duke of York, for the hateful slave-trade.
X The question of the proprietorship of the land
at Bombay is nowhere very definitely stated as re-
gards the native owners. The Jesuits claimed con-
siderable portions, as appertaining to their college
at Bundera, and vainly strove to establish their pre-
tensions by force. — {Annals, ii., 214.) Authority was
subsequently given for the purchase of lands in the
vicinity of the fort to the extent of £l,oOO. A subse-
quent record states that the inhabitants had paid the
Kingof Portugal one-fourth of the profit of their lands
as a quit-rent, which President Aungier commuted
for an annual sum of 20,000 xeraphins, reserving to
the company the right of military service. — (iii., 105.)
§ The sobriety and regularity of the German re-
cruits are particularly praised in the communications
of 1676-'7, and a. request made, that a proportion
Bbould be annually embarked to supply, the frequent
which, at the time of the cession, consisted
of twenty-one pieces of cannon, was aug-
mented to 100. Every encouragement was
held out, both to European and native
settlers. A remission of customs was pro-
claimed for five years, looms were provided,
houses built, and a system of administration
framed with especial regard to the opinions
and customs of the motley population, com-
prising English and Germaus,§ Hindoos,
Mohammedans, and Parsees. In 1675-'6,
the revenues were nearly doubled, having
increased from .£6,490 (75,000 xeraphins) to
£12,037 sterling.— (Grant's Sketch, p. 87.)
Letters-patent were granted by Charles II.,
in 1676, for the establishment of a mint at
Bombay for the coinage of rupees and pice,||
to pass current in all the dependencies of the
company. A system was adopted, about the
same time, for the general regulation of the
service on the principle of seniority ever
after maintained ; the gradations of ap-
prentices, writers, factors, merchants, and
senior merchants being then established.
The position of the company at this period
was a very critical one : in England, not-
withstanding the decided patronage of the
Crown, their severe treatment of interlopers
produced fierce altercations between the two
houses of parliament,^ and their pecuniary
involvements induced them to direct their
vacancies caused by the climate. A militia was
formed, and in 1672-'3, on an alarm from the Dutch,
the assistance of 500 Rajpoots was requested.
II The rupee was then valued at about three shil-
lings: a pice, at a halfpenny.— (Bruce's Annals.)
% A memorable instance of this strife occurred in
the case of a merchant, named Skinner, who applied
to government for redress against the E. I. Cy.,
for having seized his ship and merchandise in India,
in 1658. His complaint was referred by the king to
the Privy Council, and thence to the House of Peers,
by whom the directors were ordered to answer at
the bar the charge brought against them. They
refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Peers,
and appealed to the Commons against this infraction
of their chartered privileges. The Lords decreed
judgment, by awardmg £5,000 damages to Skinner,
upon which the Commons passed some condemna-
tory resolutions regarding the -Upper House, and
seizing the successful petitioner, sent him to the
Tower. The Lords, in reprisal for Skinner's incarce-
ration, ordered Sir Samuel Barnadiston and three
other leading members of the contumacious com-
pany into confinement, and declared their memorial
ialse and scandalous : while the Lower House in
turn, resolved, that whoever should execute the sen-
tence of the Lords in favour of Skinner, would prove
himself a betrayer of the rights and liberties of the
Commons of England. To such a height did these
contentions proceed, that the king prorogued parlia-
ment seven times on this account ; and at length, in
1670, when, after some intermission, the controversy
again revived, he sent for the members of both
218 COLBERT FORMS FRENCH E. I. Cy.— 1664.— PONDICHERRY.
servants in India to borrow the money-
necessary for procuring investments or car-
goes for Europe, " without being limited
either in the amount, or the rate of inter-
est."* In the year 1673-'4, the president of
Surat stated that the Indian debts amounted
to £100,000, exclusive of the rapid accumu-
lation of them by the payment of high in-
terest ;t and for the liquidation of these
sums, the only source as yet available was
the balance of trade. Nor was it always
practicable to raise loans on any terms ; for
the native bankers and dealers, called Shroffs
and Banians, who took off the imports of
European traders in large quantities, and
advanced money when the supply sent
out was insufficient to prov'de cargoes for
the expected shipping, were themselves con-
stantly exposed to the arbitrary exactions of
their own government, which they strove to
escape by calling in their capital, and bury-
ing it till better cimes enabled them to em-
ploy it with impunity. These difficulties
induced the president and council to urge
that money should be borrowed in England at
four per cent., rather than taken up in India
at double the cost, or, as frequently happened,
no funds being available to provide invest-
ments, the ships kept waiting for return
cargoes until the arrival of a fresh supply of
bullion. Territorial revenue began to be
looked to as the remedy for these evils, and
houses to Whitehall, and by personal persuasion,
induced them to erase from their journals all their
votes, resolutions, and other acts relating to the
subject. The company came off victors ; for Skin-
ner, it would appear, never got any portion of the
compensation adjudged to him. — (Anderson, ii., 461.)
* Bruce's Annals ofE. I. Cy., ii., 202. f Idem, 342.
X The ministers of Louis XIV., Cardinal Richelieu
and the great Colbert, had directed their attention
to the commercial and naval interests of France.
Colbert, especially, laboured in this cause with extra-
ordinary zeal and success. In 1642, a settlement
was made in Madagascar, preparatory to the exten-
sion of French power in the Eastern seas ; but the
adventurers, through their wanton cruelty, became
involved in contests, with the brave natives (Mala-
gash), and notwithstanding repeated attempts, were
unable to secure a footing in this rich island. In
1664, Colbert formed an E. I. Cy. on the model of
that of Holland, with a very privileged charter for
fifty years, and a stock of £625,000, partly raised by
loan. Four ships were sent to Madagascar; and in
1668 a factory was commenced at Surat, then the
general resort of European nations. But the French
soon looked to political rather than to commercial
prospects ; and under the direction of an experienced
man, named Caron (who, disgusted with the ill-
treatment received from the Dutch after long and
valuable service, had quitted their employ), sur-
veyed the coasts of India for an eligible site
whereon to l»y the foundation of French power. The
political influence courted as a means of
commercial prosperity. There was no esta-
blished power under whose protection foreign
traders could place themselves, and to whose
legitimate authority they could offer, in re-
turn, hearty and undivided allegiance. Their
earliest territorial suzerain, the rajah of
Chandragiri, had been overpowered by
Meer Jumla, the general of the King of
Golconda, about the year 1656, and Moham-
medan rule extended over the territory in
which Madras was situated. The English
suffered no inconvenience from the change ;
but were, on the contrary, especially favoured
by the usurping sovereign, who suffered their
money to pass current, and conferred upon
them several valuable privileges. They con-
tinued to pay him an annual quit-rent of
1,200 pagodas, until about 1687-'8, when his
power being considerably weakened by the
aggressions of Aurungzebe, they appear to
have taken advantage of some flimsy pretext
to withhold their tribute. By the Great
Mogul the English were likewise well
treated ; and had he possessed unquestioned
supremacy over the places in which their
trade was situated, their policy would have
been comparatively plain and easy, and their
difficulties would have consisted almost ex-
clusively in the rivalry of the Portuguese,
Dutch, and Danes, to which list the FrenchJ
had been recently added. But the rise of
fine harbour of Trincomalee, in Ceylon, was judi-
ciously selected, and taken possession of by a French
squadron, under La Haye : hostilities ensued between
the French and Dutch E. I. Companies ; but the
former losing many men by sickness, were soon ex-
pelled, and proceeded to the coast of Coromandel,
where they captured St. Thomas, or Meliapoor. The
Dutch co-operated with the King of Golconda, and
the French garrison being reduced to the extremity
of famine, were compelled to surrender. The sur-
vivors, under the guidance of a Mr. Martin, who, like
Caron, had previously been in the service of the
Dutch company, purchased from the King of Beeja-
poor, a village upon the coast called PondicheiTy,
with a small adjacent territory, and there formed the
settlement eventually of so much importance. By
his prudent measures the place became rapidly
populous, and being desirous to put it in a state of
defence during the disturbed state of the country,
he obtained permission for the erection of fortifica-
tions, notwithstanding the opposition of the Dutch,
who endeavoured to bribe the King of Beejapoor
to withdraw his protection, and permit them to ex-
pel the new settlers ; but the firm reply was, " The
French have fairly purchased the place ; I shall not
be so unjust as to take it from them." — (Macjmer-
son's Commerce tvith India, p. 260.) The Beejapoor
monarchy was overthrown by Aurungzebe in 1686.
The Dutch overpowered the French garrison, and
drove them out in 1693 ; then, desirous to secure their
conquest, immediately improved and strengthened the
ENGLISH DEFEND SURAT AGAINST SEVAJEE— 1664 and 1670. 219
theMahrattas, under Sevajee — a native power
under a native leader — greatly changed the
state of affairs. At first, the English were
disposed to follow the example of their im-
perial patron, and treat the new leader as a
mere marauder — a captain of banditti —
whose attempts at friendly communication
were to be evaded, without however, unne-
cessarily provoking a foe whose anger and
alliance were both to be avoided.
When Sevajee advanced against Surat
iu 1664, the terror of his name had already
taken such deep root, that the governor
shut himself up in the castle, and the in-
habitants fled from the city. The Dutch
and English remained in their factories ; and
the latter, calling in the ships' crews to their
aid, by courage and determination succeeded
in preserving their own property, and that
of their immediate neighbours, from pillage.
Aurungzebe rewarded this service by a
firmaun, conceding one per cent, out of his
three per cent, custom duties, and a total
exemption from all transit charges. In
1670, the place was again approached by
Sevajee. The French, who had established
a factory there, preserved it by paying a
contribution :* the Dutch station being
without the town, was not attacked : the
English, having transported the greater part
of their goods on board ship to Swally,
prepared to guard the remainder at all
hazards. The factory was assailed, but suc-
cessfully defended by the English, though
several lives were lost, as well as some
property in detached warehouses. The
Mahrattas then threatened to set the factory
on fire ; but Sevajee was unwilling to pro-
ceed to extremities, being desirous to induce
them to return as traders to Rajapoor,
which they had quitted on account of his
exactions. A complimentary present offered
to Sevajee, was very gratifying to him. He
extended his hand to the English deputies,
with an assurance that he would do them no
wrong ; and on several subsequent occasions
negotiations were set on foot, which, how-
ever, the English endeavoured to evade
bringing to any definite conclusion, by
demanding compensation for the injuries re-
works : but their labour proved ill-bestowed ; for the
place was restored to its rightful owners by the treaty
of Ryswiek, in 1697.— (Raynal's E. and W. Indies.)
* Wilson's note on Mill, vol. i., p. 99. Grant Duff
says, " the French purchased an ignominious neu-
trality, by permitting the Mahrattas to pass through
their factory to attack an unfortunate Tartar prince
who was on his return from a pilgrimage to Mecca,
and whose property [including a vast treasure in
ceived from the Mahrattas at Surat and
elsewhere. This stipulation was conceded
in 1674, and a treaty formed, by which
10,000 pagodas were promised to the
aggrieved party, and the long-maintained
right deemed inherent in the sovereign over
all wrecks on the shores of his territory, re-
linquished in favour of English vessels. The
enthronement of Sevajee took place at this
time, and the envoy beheld with amazement
a portion of the magnificent ceremonial,
with its costly and characteristic feature, —
the weighing of the person of the new
sovereign against gold coin to be distributed
among the Brahmins, as an act of reverence
to their order, accompanied by the per-
formance of many munificent acts of charity. f
The Mogul government watched with jealous
distrus this growing intercourse, and the
EnglisVj found great difficulty in maintaining
a neui ral position. In 1677-'8, the direc-
tors of the E. I. Cy., or, as they were then
termed, the Court of Committees, " recom-
mended temporising expedients to their ser-
vants as the rule of their proceedings with
the Mogul, with Sevajee, and with the petty
rajahs," as the means of obtaining com-
pliance with the various firmauns and grants
already acquired ; and desired them to en-
deavour, by their conduct, to impress the
natives with an opinion of their commercial
probity. " At the same time," says Bruce,
" they gave to President Aungier and his
council [at Surat] discretionary powers to
employ armed vessels to enforce the obser-
vance of treaties and grants : in this way
the court shifted from themselves the re-
sponsibility of commencing hostilities, that
they might be able, in any questions which
might arise between the king and the com-
pany, to refer such hostilities to the errors
of their servants." :{: This writer is too inti-
mately acquainted with the company's pro-
ceedings, and too decidedly their champion,
to be accused of putting an unfair construc-
tion on any of their directions. It was
evidently necessary that considerable lati-
tude should be given by masters so far re-
moved from the scene of action ; but subse-
quent events indicate that plans of terri-
gold, silver, and plate, a gold bed and other rich
furniture], became, part of Sevajee's boasted spoils
on this occasion." — (History of Mahrattas, i., 247.)
t Dr. Fryer mentions that he weighed about
16,000 pagodas, equal to about ten stone. The
titles assumed by Sevajee were, — the I'ead ornament
of the Cshatriya race, his mtijesty, the rajah Seva,
possessor or lord of the royal umbrella.
t Bruce's Annals of U. I. Oy., ii., 406-7.
220
ENGLISH SOLDIERS MUTINY AT BOMBAY— a.d. 1683-'4
torial aggrandisement, to be carried out by
force of arms, were already entertained.
The governmental expenses of Bombay
(civil and military) were found to be very
heavy ; and as a means of meeting them,
taxes were raised and salaries diminished;
that of the deputy-governor, the second in
rank in the service,' being reduced to £120
per annum. Great dissatisfaction was created
by these changes, especially by the diminu-
tion of the garrison ; soon after which the
trade of the place was menaced by two
sterile isles in the neighbourhood (Henery
and Kenery) being taken possession of re-
spectively by Sevajee and his opponent, the
Siddee, or Abyssinian leader, who held the
position of admiral of the Mogul fleet.*
The English were obliged to conclude a
humiliating truce with both parties, and
thus purchase freedom from interruption
to their trade, until the abandonment of
these barren rocks relieved them from alarm
on that scoi'e.
The death of Sevajee, in 1680 ; the ap-
pointment of Mr. (afterwards Sir John)
Child as president of Surat, with a council
of eight members, in 1681 ; the erection of
an independent agency in Bengal, in 1682;
and the expulsion, in the same year, of the
English from Bantam,t were rapidly fol-
lowed by other important events. The system
of injudicious retrenchment attempted at
Madras and Surat, and persevered in at
Bombay,t ended in producing a revolt in
that island. Captain Keigwin, the com-
mander of the garrison, which comprised
150 English soldiers and 200 topasses
(natives), seized the deputy-governor, with
such of the council as adhered to him, as-
sembled the militia and inhabitants, and
being by them appointed governor of the
island, issued a proclamation declaring the
authority of the company to be annulled in
Bombay, and that of the Crown substituted
• Siddee, or Seedee, is a corruption of an Arabic
term, signifying a lord ; but in the common language
of the lieccan, it came to be applied indiscriminately
to all natives of Africa. The Siddees of Jinjeera
took their name from a small fortified island in the
Concan, where a colony had been formed on a jag-
hire, granted, it appears, in the first instance, to an
Abyssinian officer, by the king of Ahmednuggur, on
condition of the maintenance of a marine for the
protection of trade, and the conveyance of pilgrims
to the Ked Sea. The hostility of Sevajee induced
the Siddee, or chief, to seek favour with Aurungzebe,
by whom he was made admiral of the Mogul fleet,
with an annual salary of four lacs of rupees (£40,000)
for convoying pilgrims to Judda and Mocha. The
emperor himself sent an annual donation to Mecca
of three lacs. — (Duff's Mahrattas, Bruce, and Orme.)
in its place. President Child had no force
wherewith to compel the submission of the
insurgents ; and his attempts at negotiation
were decidedly rejected, on the plea that
the measures which had led to the rebellion,
had originated solely in the selfish policy of
himself and his brother. Sir Josiah Child,
the chairman of the Court of Committees.
The king was appealed to by both parties ;
and in November, 1684', the island was de-
livered up by Keigwin to Sir Thomas Gran-
tham, as the representative of the Crown, on
condition of a free pardon for himself and all
concerned. To prevent the recurrence of a
similar disturbance, the seat of government
was removed from Surat to Bombay; and for
the suppression of the interlopers, who were
believed to have been intimately concerned
in the late revolt, admiralty jurisdiction was
established in India, by virtue of letters-
patent granted by James II., in 1686. Sir
John Child was appointed captain-general
and admiral of the forces of the E. I. Cy.,
both by sea and land, in the northern parts
of India, from Cape Comorin to the Gulf of
Persia, and he was likewise entrusted with
supreme authority over all the settlements.
The weapons thus furnished were used with aii
unhesitating determination, which has ren-
dered the conduct of the plenary representa-
tive of the powers delegated to the company
a subject of unqualified panegyric, and of
equally exaggerated blame. The truth pro-
bably lies between these extremes. The bro-
thers Child were men of considerable ability,
and deeply interested in the fortunes of the
company, whose affairs devolved chiefly on
their management. They were led, by a
very natural process, to contrast the flourish-
ing state of the Dutch trade with their own
depressed condition, and to seek for the
cause of the comparative, if not complete
exemption of the rival company from the
unlicensed competition of their countrymen,
t In 1677, the principal agents at Bantam were
assassinated by some of tlie natives, on what ground,
or by what (if any) instigation, does not appear. The
company persevered, nevertheless, in endeavouring
to maintain commercial intercourse ; and friendly
embassies, accompanied by presents of tea on the
part of the King of Bantam, and of gunpowder on
the part of the English sovereign, were continually
dispatched, until a civil war, instigated by the Butch,
terminated in the deposal of the old king by his son,
who, in obedience to his domineering allies, expelled
the English from their factory in 1682, and never
permitted their re-establishment in his territories.
J In 1682-'3, the European garrison, reduced to
at least 100 men, "were daily murmuring at the
price of provisions, which their pay could not afford."
— (Bruce's Annals of E. I. Cy., ii., 489.)
E. I. Cy. commence hostilities against AURUNGZEBE— 1686. 221
and from the delinquency of their servants.
Whether they examined and compared the
commercial details of the two associations
does not appear, nor whether they made due
allowance for the heavy drain occasioned by
the large subsidies, or, as the anti-monopo-
lists called them, bribes, furnished to Charles
II. and James II., not, however, for the pri-
vate use of these monarchs, since the monies
in question are said to have been paid into
the exchequer for the public service.* Be
this as it may, the remedy for existing evils
constantly put forth by the company during
the administration of Sir Josiah Child, was
a close imitation of the policy of the success-
ful and unscrupulous Dutch, whose ag-
gressive conduct towards the natives had its
counterpart in the sanguinary decree for
the infliction of capital punishment on all
interlopers and deserters. Sir Josiah Child
certainly understood the mind of the Eng-
lish public at the close of the seventeenth
century far too well to press the adoption of
such a law, whatever his own wishes on
the subject might have been. He contented
himself with urging the suppression of pri-
vate trade by more gentle means, at the
same time advocating the attainment of in-
dependent power in India, by the enlarge-
ment and strenuous assertion of the authority
of the company over British subjects within
the limits of their charter; and, secondly,
of retaliative, if not aggressive hostilities
against the Indian princes. The adminis-
tration of Shaista Khan, as " Nabob,"t or
governor of Bengal, was alleged to have
been vexatious and oppressive in the ex-
treme; and amicable negotiations having
failed in procuring redress, it was thought
practicable to obtain better terms by force
of arms. Accordingly, the largest military
armamentj ever yet assembled by the com-
pany, was dispatched to India, with orders
to gain possession of the city and territory
* Grant's Sketch of History of E. I. Cy.,pp. 105-'6.
t An English corruption of the Arabic word Naib
or the Persian Natcab (meaning deputy), applied to
the imperial soubahdars or governors.
t Ten armed vessels, from twelve to seventy guns,
and six companies of infantry, without captains,
whose places were to be supplied by the members of
council, in Bengal. In admtion to this force, appli-
cation was made to the king for an' "SfitiJe company
of regular infantry, with their officers.
§ Bruce, vol. ii., p. 586. It was stated in 169l-'2,
that £400,000 had been spent in fortifying and im-
proving Bombay, including the harbour, docks, &c.
il The aldermen were to be justices of the peace,
and to wear thin scarlet gowns, and the burgesses
black silk gowns: a town-clerk and recorder were to
2g
of Chittagong as a place of future security,
and thence retaliate upon the Nabob, and
even upon the Mogul himself, the injuries
and losses which had already been sustained.
Bombay was elevated to the rank of a
regency, after the example of the Dutch at
Batavia and Columbo ; and orders were given
to increase the fortifications, and render the
island " as strong as art and money could
make it."§ Madras was formed into a cor-
poration, to consist of a mayor and ten
aldermen (of whom three were to be the
company's servants and seven natives), with
120 burgesses. II An offer was made by the
garrison of Fort St. George (Madras), to
aid the King of Golconda against the
Dutch, with whom he was then at war ; and
in return, a firmaun was to be solicited to
coin rupees, together with the grant of St.
Thomas as an English possession. Thus
the company were desirous of attaining po-
litical influence in all directions ; and their
views were seconded with much energy by
Sir John Child, who, following the spirit of
the instructions cited in a previous page,
resolved to commence hostilities against
Aurungzebe, as if on his own responsibiUty ;
so that in the event of an unfavourable issue
to the expedition, an opportunity might be
provided of negotiating for the restoration of
former privileges and trade, upon the same
basis as they had stood previously to his
apparently unsanctioned proceedings.
By some casualty the whole force did not
arrive in the Ganges at the same time ; and
an insignificant quarrel between three Eng-
lish soldiers and the " peons," or native
police of the Nabob, brought on the contest
in an unexpected manner, in October, 1686.
Hooghly was cannonaded by the fleet under
Captain Nicholson, and 500 houses were
burnt, upon which the foujdar, or military
governor, made overtures for peace; but
the demands of the English were so exces-
be appointed j a sword and mace to be carried before
the mayor, and a silver oar before the judge-advo-
cates— ceremonies which must have been very puzzling
to the native aldermen. Some difficulty occurred in
carrying this project into execution; for although
the inhabitants soon recognised the beneficial effect
of the new measure, the mixed description of persons
considered proper for the court of aldermen could
not be obtained. No Armenian could be induced to
act; the Jews left the place; the Portuguese feared
their countrymen and the Inquisition too much to
accept office ; and the local authorities considered it
unsafe to " confide in the Moors or Mussulmen." —
(Bruce's Annals of the £. I. Cy., ii., 593 ; 659 : iii.,
Ill ; 156.) With regard to the Hindoos, no objection
appears to have been raised either by or against them.
222 ENGLISH COMPELLED TO SUE FOR PEACE WITH MOGUL— 1688.
sive, amounting to above sixty-six lacs of
rupees, or nearly £700,000, that they could
scarcely have expected compliance. On
the side of Surat considerable advantage
was at first gained by the capture of a num-
ber of Moorish vessels, richly freighted;*
and also in Bengal, through the determined
conduct of Job Charnock, the company's
agent, by whom the Nabob's forces were
repulsed in repeated assaults, the fort of
Tanna stormed, the island of Injellee seized
and fortified, and the town of Balasore par-
tially burned, with forty sail of the Mogul
fleet: the factories, however, at Patna and
Cossimbazar were taken and plundered by
the enemy, and the agents placed in irons.
At this period, Muchtar Khan was appointed
governor of Surat, and with him a sort of
provisional convention was entered into,
which was to be the basis of a treaty with
the Mogul. The court in London, over-
joyed at the prospect of such favourable
terms, voted Sir John Child a present of
1,000 guineas, — a very large sum in propor-
tion to the moderate salaries then appor-
tioned to Anglo-Indian functionaries.f
The negotiation fell to the ground. Ac-
cording to the account given in the ofiicial
records, Muchtar Khan never intended to
carry it out, and only affected to entertain
the proposition as a means of gaining time
until the results of the contest of Aurungzebe
with Beejapoor and Golconda, and also with
Sumbajee, should be fully manifest. This
seems contradicted by the fact, that after
these two kingdoms fell into the power of
the Mogul, the English authorities of Madras
solicited and received from the conqueror a
confirmation of the privileges accorded to
them by the deposed monarch. In fact,
they followed the example of a neighbour-
ing Hindoo governor, Avho quietly remarked,
that "as the world turned round like a
wheel, he had beaten his drums and fired his
guns, for the victory of the mighty Aurung-
zebe over his old master." J Sir John Child
severely reprimanded the Madras agency for
their conduct, as implying a doubt of the
ultimate issue of the struggle of their country-
men with the Mogul ; but since he had him-
self evinced pretty clearly a similar feeling,
by affecting to act on his private authority,
without the knowledge of his employers, it
is hard to censure the Madras agents for
• According to the writers of that day in the
interloping interest, the advantage in question was
purchased at the expense of a flagrant breach of
faith ; but this allegation the company denied.
taking measures against their otherwise cer-
tain destruction or captivity. The annals
of this period are very confused : even Bruce,
more than once, alludes to their defective-
ness ; but it appears, that in October, 1688,
Sir John Child, suspecting duplicity on the
part of the Mogul governor, embarked at
Bombay, and appeared off Surat with a fleet
of seven ships, his intention being to deter
Muchtar Khan from any breach of the pro-
visional agreement. In this same month.
Captain Heath reached Bengal, in command
of a large armed ship, the Defence, attended
by a frigate, and bearing instructions from
the Court of Committees for the active prose-
cution of hostilities. His proceedings are
thus related by Bruce : — "Captain Heath, on
the 29th of November (contrary to the opi-
nion of the agent and council, and notwith-
standing a perwannah [order] for peace with
the English had been received by the gover-
nor from the Nabob), attacked and took a bat-
tery of thirty guns, and plundered the town
of Balasore. The English factory, on this
occasion, was burned by the governor; and
the company's agents, who had been pre-
viously taken prisoners, were carried up the
country, where all subsequent efforts for
their release were unavailing." Under
these circumstances, it would seem unjust to
accuse the Moguls of breaking the armistice,
since it was not till the 26th of December
that Muchtar Khan seized and imprisoned
Mr. Harris and Mr. Gladman, ordered the
company's goods in Surat to be sold, de-
manded a contribution of five lacks of rupees,
and offered a large reward for the person of
Sir John Child — alive or dead. The island
of Bombay was attacked by the Siddee, the
greater part of it occupied by the enemy, and
the governor besieged in the town and castle.
Aurungzebe issued orders to expel the English
from his dominions. The factory at Masulipa-
tam was seized, as also that at Vizagapatam,
where the agent and four factors were slain.
The unequal contest could not, it was
evident, be prolonged without occasioning
the destruction of those by whose ambi-
tion and imprudence it had been provoked.
Solicitations for peace were presented, in
December, 1688, and received with a show
of indifference — rather affected than real;
for the imperial treasury, drained by con-
stant warfare, could ill bear the sub-
t Harris, the successor of Child as president of
Surat and governor of Bombay, had only £300
a-year. The regency scl^eme was abandoned.
% Orme's Historical Fragments of Mogul Empire.
TERRITOEIAL VIEWS OF E. I. Cy. EXPRESSED IN 1689.
223
traction of any source of income. The
application of the English for the restora-
tion of commercial privileges, was doubtless
the more welcome, for being presented under
circumstances which enabled Aurungzebe
to carry out the policy evidenced in his
dealings with the Portuguese, of reducing
the pretensions of European maritime powers
trading to the Indies to a complete depen-
dence on his authority ; thus keeping down
attempts at political influence while desirous
of promoting mercantile intercourse. In
February, 1689, a new firmaun was issued,
which declared that "the English having
made a most humble and submissive petition
that the crimes they have done may be
pardoned ;" and having promised " to restore
the merchants' goods they had taken away
to the owners thereof, and walk by the ancient
customs of the port, and behave themselves
for the future no more in such a shameful
manner; therefore his majesty, according to
his daily favour to all the people of the world,
hath pardoned their faults, and mercifully
forgiven them." Out of his princely conde-
scension, the Great Mogul further agreed
to permit a present of 150,000 rupees to be
placed in the treasury of Surat. The firmaun
concludes with an express stipulation " that
Mr. Child, who did the disgrace, be turned
out and expelled." The translation of this
document is apparently faulty; but it suffices
to convey an idea of its tone and tenor, and
fully bears out the declaration of Bruce, that
the result of all the projects of the company
to become an independent power in India,
was to reduce their agents to a more abject
position than any in which they had been
placed since the first establishment of an
English factory in India.*
Sir John Child, who had provided in his
own person a scape-goat for the wrath of
the emperor, died at Bombay during the
progress of the negotiation, and the office of
president devolved on Mr. Harris, then a
prisoner at Surat. On payment of the fine
and restoration of goods decreed in the
* Brace, ii., 639-'40 ; 646—653. The firmaun con-
tains no reference to the privilege of coining money,
which had long been a point in dispute.
t " Dispatch from the Court of Committees in Ann.
Comp., 1689-'90 : written, there seems good reason
for believing, by Child."— (Grant's Sketch, p. 101.)
\ In the instructions for the establishment of this
new settlement, special encouragement is directed
to be given to Armenians, as also in Vizagapatam
and Madras. In the latter place, one quarter of the
town was to be allotted to them, with permission
"to build a church at their own cost," a duty sadly
neglected by the company. These Armenians were
firmaun, Mr. Harris and other English pri-
sorjprc were immediately released from their
long confinement in irons ; but it was not
until the 22nd of June, 1690, that the Siddee,
by order of Aurungzebe, vacated his different
posts at Bombay (Mazagon, Mahim, and
Sion), after about a twelvemonth's occupa-
tion. On the same day, the accession of
William and Mary to the throne of Eng-
land was proclaimed in this island, as it had
been at Madras eight months before. Igno-
rant of the disasters attending their ambi-
tious projects, the court, in the instructions
addressed to their servants in 1689, declare
— " The increase of our revenue is the sub-
ject 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 inter-
lopers, united only by his Majesty's royal
charter, fit only to trade where nobody of
power thinks it their interest to prevent us ;
and upon this account it is, that the wise
Dutch, in all their general advices which we
have seen, write ten paragraphs concerning
their government, their civil and military
policy, warfare, and the increase of our
revenue, for one paragraph they write con-
cerning trade."t Being chiefly concerned
in monopolising the spice-islands, the Dutch
appear to have followed their policy of terri-
torial aggrandisement far less strenuously
on the continent of India than at Ceylon,
Java, and throughout the Eastern Archi-
pelago, at Formosa (China), at the Cape
of Good Hope, at New York, Guyana, and
other widely-spread localities.
The disastrous issue of the recent expedi-
tion, compelled the English to adopt a more
deferential manner towards the native pow-
ers, but made no change in their ultimate
intentions. Shortly after the conclusion of
peace, the town andharbourofTegnapatam,J
on the Coromandel coast, a little to the south
of the French settlement of Pondicherry,
was obtained by purchase from Rajah Ram,
a Christian sect formed during the power of the
successors of Constantine. When the countries they
inhabited were over-run by the Mohammedan arms,
they were forcibly transplanted by Shah Abbas, and
other belligerent njonarchs, into Persia, and dis-
persed among the surrounding countries, where they
earned a livelihood as merchants and brokers. Some
of them made their way into India, and obtained a
character for successful trading, which rendered the
company desirous to employ them in vending English
woollens, and procuring fine muslins and other goods.
The project seems to have failed, the Armenians being
pre-engag-^d in the service of the Levant company.
224 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT & FORT ESTABLISHED AT CALCUTTA— 1696.
the Mahratta sovereign, and the sanction of
the Mogul authorities of the Carnatic ob-
tained for its occupation. It was strength-
ened by a wall and bulwarks, and named
Fort St. David.*
About the same time a more important
acquisition was made in Bengal. During
the late hostilities, the agent and council at
Hooghly, fearing to continue in so exposed a
position, removed to Chuttanuttee, a village
about twenty-four miles lower down the
river, where they hoped to remain in security
under the protection of their ships. The
Nabob ordered them to return to Hooghly,
and forbade tlieir building, with either stone
or brick, at Chuttanuttee ; but, on the paci-
fication with the court of Delhi, permission
was obtained for the establishment of a
factory there. Repeated attempts were made
to obtain leave to fortify the new position,
and for a grant of jurisdiction over its in-
habitants, as also over those of the adjoining
villages of Calcutta and Govindpoor. Si-
milar applications were made by the Dutch
at Chinsura (about a mile southward of
Hooghly), and by the French at Chanderna-
gore (two miles lower down the river), but
without success ; for Aurungzebe never per-
mitted any foreigner to erect a single bastion
on Mogul territory, though he tolerated the
continuance (at Madras for instance) of such
European fortresses as his conquests over
Mohammedan or Hindoo princes drew within
the borders of the empire. At length, one
of those intestine divisions which have so
often placed India at the feet of strangers,
procured for the agencies before-named the
privilege long vainly solicited. Soobah
Sing, a petty Hindoo chief, being dissatisfied
with Rajah Kishen Rama, of Burdwan (who
must have been either tributary to, or in the
service ofj Aurungzebe), united with Rehim
Khan, an Afghan, then considered the head
of that clan remaining in Orissa, in an
attempt to overturn the government, in
1695-'6. The three European settlements
hired a number of native soldiery to guard
their property : the Dutch and French pro-
fessed themselves staunch allies of the
• The precise period of the introduction of the
Dutch into Bengal is not recorded ; but the French
established themselves about 1676, and the Danes in
the same year at Serampore. — (Stewart's Bengal,
p. 346.)
t Tanna, ten miles west of Calcutta, on the opposite
side of the river, was defended by an English frigate,
sent at the request of the foujdar of Hooghly to
support the fort against the rebels. Calcutta, ac-
cording to Stewart (properly called Caliootta), takes
Mogul : the English endeavoured to pre-
serve a semblance of neutrality, but united
in requesting permission to fortify their fac-
tories against the attacks of the insurrec-
tionists. The Nabob directed them, in general
terms, to defend themselves, and they, taking
for granted what was not absolutely for-
bidden, laboured day and night in raising
walls with bastions round their stations. A
pitched battle between the insurgents and
Kishen Rama, terminated in the defeat
and death of the latter, and the capture
of his family. His beautiful daughter was
among the prisoners : Soobah Sing strove
to dishonour her; but the attempt cost
him his life ; for the hapless ' girl, aware
of his intention, had concealed a sharp
knife in the folds of her dress; and when
he strove to seize her, she inflicted upon
him a mortal wound, and then, with mis-
taken heroism, stabbed herself to the heart.
By this catastrophe, the rebel army fell
under the sole control of the Afghan chief,
who became master of Hooghly, Moor-
shedabad, and Rajmahal: the Dutch and
English factories, at the latter place, were
pillaged of considerable property. Chutta-
nuttee and the fort of Tannaf were unsuc-
cessfully attacked. But the general progress
of the rebels was almost unchecked ; and in
December, 1696, their force comprised
12,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry: the
revenue of the country in their possession
was estimated at sixty lacs of rupees per
annum ; and Rehim Shah assumed the style
and dignity of a prince. The remissness of
the Nabob being deemed the chief cause of
the rapid spread of the insurrection. Prince
Azim (second son of Prince Mauzim)J was
sent at the head of thcMogul army for its sup-
pression, and was at the same time appointed
to the government of the three provinces of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. The death of
Rehim Shah in battle, in 1698, and the
submission of the Afghans, was followed by
a general amnesty. The Europeans were
suffered to continue their fortifications ; and
in 1698, the English, by the payment of a
considerable sum of money, obtained per-
its name from a temple dedicated to Caly, the
Hindoo goddess of Time. The territory purchased
from the zemindars in 1698, extended about three
miles along the Hooghly (or Bhagaruttee), and one
mile inland.
% It was a part of the policy of the wily Aurung-
zebe, to bring forward his grandsons and place them
in positions of honour and emolument j so that they
might be disposed, in any emergency, to side with
him rather than with their own fathers.
E. I. Cy. confound private trade with piracy— a.d. 1692. 225
mission to purchase Chuttanuttee and the
adjoining villages, with authority to exercise
justiciary power over the inhabitants. The
designation of Calcutta came to be applied
to the whole, and the name of Fort William
was given to the defences in honour of the
English monarch.
Notwithstanding these cheering indica-
tions of progress in Bengal, the general
condition of the E. I. Cy. at this period
was one of extreme political and financial
depression ; their difficulties from private
trade and piracy being aggravated by the
national hostility of the French, and the
domestic rivalry of a new association. The
death of Sir John Child made no change in
the policy pursued by his brother in England :
at his instigation, the Court of Committees
continued to wield, to the fullest extent, the
somewhat questionable authority conveyed
by their charters, which, although intended
to confer the privilege of exclusive trade, left
loopholes sufficient to encourage unauthorised
ventures on the part of speculators inclined
to balance ultimate risk, against the present
safety and prospect of gain afforded by the
want of any power on the part of the com-
pany to seize vessels at the outset or on the
voyage, however evident the intention of
the equipment. The consequence was, that
although the court might occasionally bring
ofienders before the King's Bench, and did,
at one time (1685-'6), threaten to prosecute
as many as forty-seven of the principal in-
terlopers, yet the brunt of the battle fell to
the share of their servants in India; and
they, if the evidence of Captain Hamilton*
may be trusted, shrank from the responsi-
• According to this write!-, Mr. Vaux, the governor
of Bombay, who had obtained that position by favour
of Sir Josiah Child, in answering a communication
on the subject of interlopers, took occasion, while
thanking his patron for past benefits, to assert his
resolution to abide by the laws of his country. Sir
Josiah, in reply, "wrote roundly to Mr. Vaux, that
he expected his orders to be his rules, and not the
laws of England, which were a heap of nonsense
compiled by a few ignorant country gentlemen, who
hardly knew how to make laws for the good govern-
ment of their own families, much less for the regu-
lating of companies and foreign commerce. I am
the more particular," adds Hamilton, " on this ac-
count, because I saw and copied both those letters in
anno, 1696, while Mr. Vaux and I were prisoners at
Surat, on account of Captain Evory's [Avery] rob-
bing the Mogul's great ship, the Ounsvmy" [Guj
Suwaee] — East Indies, i., 233.) Considering the pre-
ponderance of country gentlemen in parliament at
this period, the satire is not without point ; and Hamil-
ton's assertion regarding the letter is so clear and posi-
tive, that it can hardly be set aside without unwarrant-
able disparagement to the character of an intelligent
bility of carrying out the stringent orders
forwarded on this head, declaring that the
laws of England were contrary to the mea-
sures proposed. Apart from the testimony
of any unfavourable witness, there are indi-
cations, in the selected Annals of the E. I.
Cy., of a tendency to confound private and
unlicensed trade with piracy,t which pro-
bably conduced to the increase of the latter
disgraceful crime, while it aggravated the
hostility of the interlopers, who must have
possessed considerable influence if they were,
as described in an official despatch, " mal-
contents, quondam committee-men, and
adventurers, who have sold their stocks at
high rates, and want to buy in again at
low."J The change in the government of
England paved the way for discussions re-
garding the validity of rights proceeding
from a grant of the Crown simply, qr rights
proceeding from a grant founded on an act
of the legislature. The strong desire of the
nation for extended commerce with India
was manifested in the eagerness with which
one large class of persons recommended an
open trade ; while another united for the
formation of a new joint-stock association.
Petitions and -remonstrances were on all
sides presented both to parhament and the
king ; and while parliament passed repeated
resolutions in favour of the new company,
the king as often granted charters to the
old. The letters-patent of 1693 confirmed
the monopoly of the latter, but only for a
period of twenty-one years ; terminated the
" permission trade," by prohibiting the
grant of licences to private ships; decreed
the annual exportation of British manu-
though prejudiced writer. Such vague statements
as the following may be reasonably viewed with more
suspicion : — " The power of executing pirates is so
strangely sketched, that if any private trader is in-
jured by the tricks of a governor, and can find no
redress, if the injured person is so bold as to talk of
lex talionis, he is infallibly declared a pirate." — p. 362.
t An illustration of this tendency may be found
in the records of 1691-'2. "The court continued to
act towards their opponents (the interlopers) in the
same manner as they had done in the latter years
of the two preceding reigns, and granted commis-
sions to all their captains proceeding this season to
India, to seize the interlopers of every description,
and bring them to trial before the admiralty court
of Bombay, explaining that as they attributed all
the differences between the company and the Indian
powers to the interlopers, if they continued their
depredations on the subjects of the Mogul or King
of Persia, they were to be tried for their lives as
pirates, and sentence of death passed, but execution
stayed till the king's pleasure should be known." —
(Annals of E. I. Cy., vol. iii., p. 103.)
1 Idem, p. 112.
226 BRIBERY PRACTISED BYE. I. Cy.— DUKE OF LEEDS IMPEACHED, 1695.
factures, to the value of £100,000; and
directed the dividends to be paid, for the
future, exclusively in money. In defiance
of this charter, a vote of the House of Com-
mons declared it to be "the right of all
Englishmen to trade to the East Indies or
any part of the world, unless prohibited by
act of parliament."* This state of strife
and confusion reached its climax in 1695,
when it became known that a system of
direct bribery had been pursued towards
men in power. The Lower House, though
some of its leading members were deeply
implicated, came forward actively in the
matter, and ordered the books of the com-
pany to be examined, from whence it ap-
peared, that previous to the Revolution the
annual expenditure in " secret services" had
scarcely ever exceeded £1,200; but that
since that epoch it had gradually increased,
and in the year 1693, whilst Sir Thomas
Cooke was governor, had amounted to up-
wards of £80,000. Many persons of eminence
were involved in these nefarious transac-
tions with the most unprincipled schemers :
the Duke of Leeds, then lord president of
the council, vehemently defended the com-
pany, and was himself impeached by the
Commons, on the charge of having received
a bribe of £5,000; but the principal wit-
ness against him was sent out of the way ;
and it was not till nine days' after it had
been demanded by the Lords, that a pro-
clamation was issued to stop the fugitive.
The inquiry, at first urged on with all the
violence of party-spirit, soon languished;
the rank and influence of a large number of
the persons directly or indirectly concerned,
opposed an insurmountable barrier to its
prosecution, and by the prorogation of par-
liament, though nominally only suspended, it
was actually abandoned. Sir Thomas Cooke
had been committed to the Tower for re-
* Bruce's Annals of E. I. Cy., iii., p. 142.
t Anderson's Origin of Commerce, ii., 608. Tys-
sen, the deputy-governor, and other persons shared
the imprisonment of the governor, and probably also
received proportionate gratuities. Among tliem was
the notorious Sir Basil Firebrass, or Firebrace, who
had been recently bought off from the interloping
interest, and who played a leading part in 1701 in the
arrangements for the union of the two E. I. Com-
panies, and demanded in return a per centage equal
in value to £30,000, on a portion of the joint stock.
X The French East India trade appears to have
been from the first a losing concern. Notwithstanding
the pecuniary and political support of the government,
Colbert's company (according to the Abbe Raynal),
had often to subscribe for the payment of losses,
while their European rivals were dividing thirty per
cent, on mercantile ventures ; and in 1684, their ac-
fusing to disclose the names of the indi-
viduals who had received bribes : his tempo-
rary confinement was compensated by a
present of £12,000, bestowed upon him by
the Court of Committees " some years after
the bustle was over."t
The result of these proceedings was greatly
to degrade the company; nor could it be
otherwise, while any sense of honesty existed
in the public mind. Yet the weight of blame
rests unquestionably less heavily on those
who offered the bribes than on the sworn
guardians of the national interests, who, by
accepting them, showed themselves tainted
by that unholy covetousness which, under
a despotism, is the chief source of the per-
version of justice; and, among a free people,
must tend to destroy the very basis of all
sound principle and impartial legislation.
In a pecuniary sense, these disbursements
were unwarrantable, being made at a time
when the funds of the association barely
sufficed to meet the necessary and legitimate
expenditure called for by the occupation
of new settlements, and the heavy losses
entailed by the hostility of the French, after
the declaration of war against that people
by England and Holland, in 1689. For
the next eight years sharp conflicts occurred
between the fleets of the rival nations, which
were happily terminated by the treaty of
Ryswick, 1697. In a commercial point of
view, the French inflicted more injury upon
themselves by their lavish and ill-directed
expenditure, than upon their old-established
opponents; J but the improvement in the
condition of their marine, through the ex-
ertions of the ministers of Louis XIV.,
rendered their enmity peculiarly disastrous
to the mercantile shipping of their foes.
During the war, no less than 4,200 British
merchant-vessels were captured, including
manyEast-Indiamen, which were intercepted
counts being examined by commissioners appointed
by the king, it appeared that their sales, in twenty
years, amounted to no more than 9,100,000 livres,
and that three-quarters of their capital-stock were
totally lost. Assistance from the state again propped
up the association, and a slight gleam of prosperity
followed; for in the years 1687 and 1691, two divi-
dends, each of fifteen per cent., were for the first
time paid from profits. The war with England and
Holland was not beneficial in its general results ; for
although the French Cy. made extensive captures,
their very success helped to encourage the swarms
of privateers, which covered the seas and carried into
the ports of France a great number of English and
Dutch prizes with rich cargoes, to be sold at any
price they would fetch. This proceeding caused a
glut in the market, and obliged the company to sell
their goods at unremuuerative prices, or not at all.
EUROPEANS GUARANTEE AURUNGZEBE AGAINST PIRACY— 1698. 227
both on the Indian seas and on the middle
passage; and,ofFthe coast of Galway,in 1695,
all the four homeward-bound vessels of the
company were taken by a French fleet.*
In India, the wrath of the emperor had
been excited by the frequent piracies com-
mitted on the shipping of Mogul merchants,t
and especially by the plunder of his own
vessel the Guj-Suwaee, while engaged in
conveying pilgrims to Mecca, in 1695.
Aurungzebe himself could not detest these
sacrilegious sea-robbers more heartily than
did the whole body of European traders ;
but they being at war with one another,
could make no united effort for the sup-
pression of the common foe. The tide of
popular feeling among the Mohammedans
rose against the English agencies at Surat
and Swally with so much violence, that the
Mogul governor placed the factors and
others, to the number of sixty-three persons,
in irons — not from any voluntary harshness
on his part, but as a necessary measure
to preserve their lives amid the tumult.
Large rewards were held out, both by the
government of England and by the E. I.
Cy., for the apprehension of the leading
offenders. A sum of j61,000 was offered
for the person of Captain Avery; but he
escaped, having proceeded to the Bahamas,
where his ship was sold and the crew dis-
• Although the merchantmen of the E. I. Cy.,
at this period, proved unable to cope with French
shlps-of-the-llne, and were even captured by the
desperate hardihood of privateering adventure, they
were, nevertheless, by no means Ill-provided with the
appliances of war. To encourage the building of ships
of above 650 tons burden, and capable of defence
against the pirates of Algiers, then termed the " Turk-
ish Rovers, it was enacted by parliament, soon after
the restoration of Charles II., that for a certain num-
ber of years, whoever should build ships with three
decks, or with two decks and a-half, and a forecastle,
with a space of five feet between each deck, and
mounted with at least thirty cannon, should for the first
two voyages receive one-tenth part of all the customs
that v/ere payable on their export and import lading.
— (Milburn's Oriental Commerce, i.. Introduction,
XXXV.) A Vindication of the E. I. Cy., generally
attributed to Sir Joslah Child, and published in
1677, states that they employed from thirty to thirty-
five ships of from 300 to 600 tons burden, carrying
from forty to seventy guns, whlcli must of course
have been very light. — (Macpherson's Commerce
with India, 133.) In an official statement of their
afiairs, published in 1689, the company assert, that in
seven years they had built sixteen ships of from 900 to
1,300 tons, and had in India or on the homeward
voyage eleven of their own, and four "permision
ships" (i. e., licensed by them) with cargoes worth
above £.360,000, besides a fleet comprising four-
teen of their own and six permission ships bound
for India, China, &c., with cargoes worth £670,000.
persed ; several of them were, however,
seized and executed. The English found
means of extricating themselves from their
difficulties, and prevailed upon Aurungzebe
to confide to them the task of convoying pil-
grim vessels to Mocha, J at a charge of 40,000
rupees for a large, and 30,000 for a small
vessel. The good understanding thus re-
stored was soon destroyed by the daring
piracies committed by a Captain Kidd and
others off Surat. § The emperor could no
longer be appeased with assurances that
such and such culprits had been executed in
different British colonies, or hung in chains
at Tilbury ; and he declared, that since all
other means had failed to check these dis-
graceful proceedings, he would put an end
to European commerce with his subjects,
unless the English, French, and Dutch
would consent to sign a bond, engaging to
make good any future depredations com-
mitted by pirates on the Indian Seas — an
arrangement to which the European agents
were most reluctantly compelled to assent.
The list of difficulties which environed
the E. I. Cy., at this period, is still incom-
plete. While weighed down by pecuniary
involvements, and unable, for years together,
to pay a dividend, the project for a new
Scottish company was again brought for-
ward, and a very advantageous charter
t One of the negotiations between Aurungzebe
and the English factors, regarding piratical seizures,
is recorded by Khafi Khan, an author frequently
quoted in the previous section on the Mohammedan
portion of Indian history. He makes no mention of
the war which had previously taken place ; but says,
that in the year 1693, a ship bound to Mecca, carrying
eighty guns and furnished with 400 muskets, was
attacked by an English vessel of small size. A gun
having burst in the Mogul ship, the enemy boarded,
and " although the Christians have no courage at
the sword, yet by bad management the vessel was
taken." Khafi Khan was sent by the viceroy of
Guzerat to demand redress at Bombay. He de-
scribes his reception as being conducted with great
dignity and good order, and with a considerable dis-
play of military power. He negotiated with elderly
gentlemen in rich clothes ; and although they some-
times laughed more heartily than became so grave
an occasion, yet he seems to have been favourably
impressed with their sense and intelligence. The
English alleged that the king's ships had been
captured by pirates, for whom they were not answer-
able, and explained their coining money in the name
of their own sovereign (which was another complaint
against them), by stating that they had to purchase
investments at places where the money of the em-
])eror would not pass. No definite result appears to
have attended this interview.— (Elphinstone, ii., 550.)
t Mocha and Judda are the seaports of Mecca.
§ Captain Kidd and several of his associates, being
eventually captured, were executed at Tilburv Fort.
228
HOSTILITY OP RIVAL ENGLISH E. I. COMPANIES— 1699.
granted to these adventurers, in 1698, with
authority to trade to the East as well as
West Indies, Africa, and America. This
enterprise — which issued iu the formation of
the ill-fated Darien settlement — was soon
succeeded by another more directly hostile
to the E. I. Cy., and which was, in fact, a
complete triumph on the part of the inter-
loping interest. On the termination of the
French war, the government of England
looked around eagerly for means to liqui-
date the heavy expenses thereby incurred.
The E. I. Cy. offered a loan of £700,000, at
four per cent, interest, provided their charter
should be confirmed, and the monopoly of
the Indian trade secured to them by act of
parliament. Their opponents tried a similar
expedient, with more success, by proposing
to raise a sum of £2,000,000 sterling, at
eight per cent., on condition of being
invested with exclusive privileges, and un-
fettered by any obligation to trade on a
joint-stock, except as they themselves might
afterwards desire. After much discussion, a
bill was passed by the legislature, by which
it was enacted that a loan of £2,000,000
should be raised, by subscription, for the
service of government. Natives and fo-
reigners, bodies politic and corporate, were
alike at liberty to contribute their quota
towards the total sum, which was to bear an
interest of eight per cent, per annum. In
return for this accommodation, letters-patent
were issued, incorporating an association,
called the General Society trading to the
East Indies.* The members were autho-
rised to adventure severally, to the amount of
their subscriptions : or, if they so desired,
might be formed into a joint-stock com-
pany. This new monopoly was to last until
1711 ; after that time, it was to terminate
whenever the government chose, upon three
years' notice, the original capital of two
million having been first refunded to the
subscribers. The old company were treated
very summarily; the proviso of three years'
noticet was, in their case, just so far regarded
as to ensure them leave to trade with India
* Mill, i., 141. Bruce says, the old association
were obliged to assume the name of the London
company, in contradistinction to the new corporation,
which bore the more popular because national name
of the Enylish company (iii. 250) ; but these terms,
used only for a few years, would but confuse the
reader if interwoven in the text.
t Bruce, iii. 257. The old company declared
their rivals " invaders of their rights, and authorised
interlopers only." The new association were yet
more violent in their invectives ; and " the charge of
pirticy," says Mill, " became a general calumny with
till 1701. With regard to both associations,
it was decreed that the private fortunes of
the adventurers should be responsible for
the liquidation of liabilities incurred in
their public capacity; and if further divi-
dends were made by the old company before
the payment of their debts, the members who
accepted them were to be held responsible
for the sums thus unduly received.
This measure, like all others based on
injustice, produced much evil and little
good to any party. The conduct of the
government, in expecting a trading body to
traffic largely and profitably, after the ab-
straction of its entire capital, under the
name of a loan, was in itself as glaring an
absurdity as to have opened the veins of a
man in fuU health, and then, after leaving
him just blood enough to prolong a feeble
existence, to expect from his emaciated frame
vigorous and healthy action. As for the old
company, they determined to persevere under
all circumstances. The trade was too long-
established, and too valuable, to be re-
linquished easily; and they wrote out to
their servants in India, that they had re-
solved to bear up against ill-fortune with "a
true Roman courage.'^ Taking advantage
of the clause which permitted corporations
to hold stock in the new company, they
resolved to trade separately and in their
own name, after their three years of char-
tered privileges should have expired, and de-
voted the sum of £315,000 to this purpose ;
at the same time avowing their belief " that
a civil battle was to be fought" between
them and their adversaries ; for that " two
E. I. Companies in England could no more
subsist without destroying each other, than
two kings at the same time regnant in the
same kingdom ; " adding, that " being
veterans, if their servants abroad would do
their duty, they did not doubt of the vic-
tory : that if the world laughed at the
pains the two companies took to ruin each
other, they could not help it, as they were
on good ground, and had a charter."
The world — at least the Indian portion of it
which all the different parties in India endeavoured
to blacken their competitors" (i. 136.) Sir Nicholas
Waite openly denounced the London company to the
Mogul as " thieves and confederates with pirates"
(Bruce, iii. 337) ; and even applied to the governor
of Surat to have their servants put in irons for an
insult which, he asserted, had been offered to the
ambassador of the King of England. Unfortunately,
a great deal of personal ill-feeling existed between
the representatives of the two societies, to which
much of the impolitic harshness of their measures
must be attributed.
AURUNGZEBE PERPLEXED BY RIVAL ENGLISH COMPANIES— 1761. 229
did not laugh, but was simply amazed by
the hostilities of two powerful trading bodies,
each professing to act under the direct patron-
age of their mutual sovereign. Aurungzebe
listened incredulously to the representations
of Sir William Norris, who was dispatched
to the Mogul court at the cost of the new
company, but in the character of royal
ambassador. Norris is accused of having
conducted himself with unjustifiable vio-
lence towards the rival officials; and the
same complaint is urged still more strongly
against Sir Nicholas Waite, who had formerly
acted as agent to the old company, but had
been dismissed their employ. The new cor-
poration in this, as in several other cases,
were glad to avail themselves of the local
knowledge possessed by the discarded ser-
vants of their opponents; and Waite was
appointed their representative at Surat, with
the title of president ; to which that of con-
sul was superadded by the king, as also
to the chief of the three projected pre-
sidencies at Hooghly in Bengal, Masulipatam
on the Coromandel coast, and in the island
of Borneo. Each party maligned the other
to the Mogul government, and lavished
large sums of money for the purpose of
gaining exclusive privileges. Prince Azim,
the governor of Bengal, received presents
from both sides — 16,000 rupees from the
old company, and 14,000 from the new;*
but without understanding their ground
of difference. The emperor, equally puzzled
by these proceedings, wrote privately to
Seyed Sedula, " an holy priest at Surat,"t
desiring him to search out which of the two
parties was really authorised by the Eng-
lish nation. The reply of the Seyed is not
* Stewart's History of Bengal, 342.
t Bruce's Annals of the E. I. Cy., 'in., 466.
X Bernier, while serving Danechmund Khan in the
capacity of physician, heard from the lips of this
nobleman the particulars of a singular interview
which he had just returned from witnessing between
Aurungzebe and his former tutor. The latter had
enjoyed for many years a jaghirc, bestowed upon
him by Shah Jehan. Upon the triumph of the
schemes of his ambitious pupil, the old man pre-
sented himself as a candidate for office. Aurungzebe,
wearied by his importunity, dismissed him. declaring
that he owed him no gratitude for his ill-directed
labours and erroneous instruction. "You taught
me." he exclaimed, " that the whole of Frangistan
(Europe) was no more than some inconsiderable
island, of which the most powerful monarch was for-
merly the King of Portugal, then the King of Hol-
land, and afterwards the King of England. In re-
gard to the other sovereigns of Frangistan (such as
the King of France, and the King of Andalusia), you
told me they resembled our petty rajahs; and that
the potentates of Hindoostan eclipsed the glory of all
2 H
recorded; probably it was indefinite and
unimportant : but had the same question
been addressed to a European versed in the
politics of the day, the answer might have
involved a revelation of quite a new order
of things to the mind of the despotic but
philosophical monarch. J What a text full
of strange doctrines would have been con-
tained in the fact plainly stated, that both
companies represented the will of difierent
sections of a free though monarchical
nation ; — that, indeed, " the whole of this
contest was only one division of the great
battle that agitated the state between the
tories and the whigs, of whom the former
favoured the old company, and the latter
the new."§
The fierce contention and excessive com-
petition of the rival associations, proved
almost equally injurious to both. The new
company, upon the first depression of their
stock in the market, had manifested an in-
clination to unite with the old body; but
the latter held off, hoping to drive the enemy
out of the field; and they succeeded in obtain-
ing an act of parliament continuing them as
a distinct corporation. The struggle, how-
ever, cost them dearly ; and their stock, in
these times of fluctuation and anxiety, varied
in value between 300 and 37 per cent.]|
The market was overladen, there being at
one time as many as sixty ships abroad in
India and returning. Great quantities of
Indian-wrought silks, stufi"s, and calicoe
were imported, and from their low price,
worn by all classes. The silk-weavers of
London became extremely tumultuous ; and
in 1697, attempted to seize the treasure at
tht East India-house.^ Order was restore(?
other kings." A profound and comprehensive know-
ledge of the history of mankind ; familiarity with the
origin of states, their progress and decline ; the
events, accidents, or errors, owing to which such
great changes and mighty revolutions have been
effected) — these were subjects which Aurungzebe pro-
nounced to be of more importance to a prince than
the possession " of great skill in grammar, and such
knowledge as belongs to a doctor of the law," or
even proficiency in the difficult Arabic language,
which no one could hope to attain without " ten or
twelve years of close application." This mighty
prince is certainly not the first who has lamented
the waste of the precious hours of youth " in the
dry, unprofitable, and never-ending task of learning
words :" yet, considering the importance attached by
Mussulmans to the power of reading the Koran in
the original tongue, it seems strange that so zea-
lous a believer should have expressed himself thus
forcibly on that point. — (Brock's Bernier, \\.,\ 65-'6-'7.)
§ Grant's Sketch of History of E. I. Cy., 119.
11 Anderson's Origin of Commerce, ii., p. 43.
if Iclcv., 633.
for the time ; but the discontents were
renewed by the augmented imports of the
years 1688-'9; and the loud complaints
from Spitalfields, Norwich, Canterbury, Co-
ventry, &c., of the detrimental effect on the
nation, occasioned by the numerous manu-
facturers thrown out of employ, and likewise
of the largely increased exportation of sil-
ver,* succeeded in procuring the enactment
of a law prohibiting the use in England or
sale, except for re-exportation, of silks
wrought, or calicoes printed in Persia,
China, or the East Indies, either for apparel
or furniture, under a penalty of J:200, after
Michaelmas, 1701 ; and a duty of fifteen
per cent, was soon afterwards imposed upon
muslins. These regulations materially re-
duced the value of the Eastern trade ; and
probably helped to accelerate the union of the
two associations,' — a measure strenuously
urged by King William, but not carried out
till after the accession of Anne. An in-
denture tripartite was entered into by the
queen and the rival companies in 1702, by
which it was agreed that a full and com-
plete union should take place at the termi-
nation of the ensuing seven years, the in-
termediate time to be occupied in winding
up the separate concerns of each party.
The coalition took place before the lapse of
the stated interval, being hastened by the
alarm occasioned by the demand of govern-
ment for the subscription of a new loan of
£1,200,000, without interest. The com-
panies, knowing from the experience of the
past, the danger of the present crisis, dreaded
the formation of a fresh body of adven-
turers, or renewed discussions on the sub-
ject of open trade with India. They forth-
• From 1698 to 1703 inclusive, the silver ex-
ported from England to the East Indies amounted to
£3,171,405; the gold to £128,229: total, £3,299,634,
or, on an average, £549,939 per ann. The East
India goods re-exported from England from 1G98
to 1702 inclusive, were estimated at the value of
£2.538,934, or, on an average, £507,787 per ann.—
(Macpherson's Commerce, i., Introduction, p. xii.)
t To equalise the shares of the two companies, it
was agreed that the old, or London company, should
purchase at par as much of the capital of the new
or English company lent to government, as, added
to the £315,000 which they had already subscribed,
should equalise their respective portions. The dead
stock of the London company was estimated at
£330,000 ; that of the English company at £70,000 :
therefore, the latter paid the former £130,000 to
place the shares of this part of the common estate
on the same basis. The assets or effects of the Lon-
don company, in India, fell short of their debts; and
Lord Godolphin decreed that they should pay by
instalments to the United company the sum of
with laid aside all separate views, and
agreed to furnish jointly the amount re-
quired. Their differences were submitted
to the arbitration of Sidney, Earl of Go-
dolphin, then lord high treasurer of England;
and an act was passed, in 1708, consti-
tuting them one corporate body, under
the name of the United Company of Mer-
chants trading to the East Indies, with
continuance only until the year 1726, and
then " to cease and determine, on three
years'" notice and repayment by government
of their capital stock of £3,200,000."t
While this matter was in progress of
arrangement, the long-expected death of the
aged emperor took place, and was imme-
diately followed by the fierce war of suc-
cession, with equal anxiety anticipated by
the native and European inhabitants of
Hindoostan. When the news reached Surat,
the English president (Sir John Gayer),
anxious to transmit the intelligence to the
company, yet fearful of plainly stating cir-
cumstances which, in a political crisis, might
either by their truth or falsehood expose
the promulgator to danger, took a middle
course, by stating in an allegory easy to be
understood, " that the sun of this hemis-
phere had set, and that the star of the
second magnitude being under his meridian,
had taken his place ; but that it was feared
the star of the first magnitude, though
under a remoter meridian, would struggle
to exalt itself."!
The victory of Prince Mauzim (the star
of the first magnitude) over his brothers,
Azim and Kaumbuksh, and his elevation to
the throne, have been already related {see
p. 154) ; as also the rapid decay of the once
£96,615 : the English company, having their balance
on the right side of the account, were to receive
from the same fund the sum of £66,005. The debts
of both companies in Britain were ordained to be
discharged before March, 1709; and as those of the
London body amounted to nearly £400,000, the
directors were empowered to call upon their pro-
prietors, by three several instalments, for the means
of liquidation. The £1,200,000 now advanced to
government, without interest, being added to the
previous sum of £2,000,000, constituted a loan of
£3,200,000, yielding interest at the rate of five per
cent, on the whole. — (Bruce, iii., 635 — 639 ; 667—
679.) To assist them in raising the required loan, the
company were empowered to borrow, on bonds, to
the extent of £1,500,000 on their common seal, over
and above what they were legally authorised to do
before, and also to make calls of money from their
proprietors. — {Charters of E. I. Cy., pp. 243 — 367 j
Anderson, iii., 29.) — The company continued to bear
the title now assumed until the year 1833.
X Bruce's Annals of E. I. Cy., iii., 616.
EFFECT OF EUROPEAN INTERCOURSE ON INDIAN CHARACTER. 231
mighty fabric of Mogul power, which had
made perceptible progress even before the
death of Aurungzebe.
Before proceeding to describe the growth
of English ascendancy, it may be need-
ful, for the sake of readers not conversant
with the sources from which the narrative of
European intercourse with India has been
derived, to notice the grievous dearth of
native history, which has largely contributed
to render many ponderous tomes published
on Anglo-Indian affairs, almost as un-
readable as a Blue-Book, or the ledger of a
commercial firm. The valuable work of
Bruce is professedly compiled from the
records of the E. I. Cy. ; but as he has very
judiciously thought fit to give an able, though
brief sketch of the general state of European
politics in successive reigns, it would have
been no less pertinent to the subject to
have selected from the voluminous despatches
of the Indian presidencies, various interest-
ing illustrations of the condition and charac-
ter both of the Hindoo and Mohammedan
population. Such knowledge is useful even
in a purely commercial point of view ; and
there is the greater cause for surprise that
it should have been neglected by this writer,
because in almost the only instance in which
he deviates from his general rule by relating
an affray with the Hindoos, occasioned by
an act of wanton aggression on the part of
the crews of two of the company's vessels,
he introduces it as " one of those untoward
• These vessels had gone from Surat to Carwar to
bring off the pepper, &c. The crew of one of them
stole a cow and killed it, thus offending both the
rights and prejudices of the Hindoos ; being re-
sisted, they fired at and killed two native children of
rank. The factory was in danger of destruction,
and the agents of imprisonment; but proceedings
were suspended by reason of the impending battle
between the Mahratta rajah Sumbajee, and Aurung-
zebe. Bruce adds, that the Malabar trade received
a severe check ; which would be the natural result of
such an aggression, as the produce was chiefly
procured through native merchants.— (ii., 545.)
+ Annals, iii., 658-'9. Hamilton asserts, that a ter-
rible catastrophe occurred at Batecala about the year
1670, in consequence of a bull-dog belonging to the
English factory having killed a cow consecrated to
a pagoda or temple. The enraged priests, believing
the injury to have been intentional, raised a mob
and killed the whole of the English (eighteen in
number) while engaged in a hunting party. — (i. 280.)
The same writer describes the neighbouring king-
dom of Canara as being generally governed by a
female sovereign ; and he adds, " the subjects of this
country observe the laws so well, that robbery or
murder are hardly heard of among them ; and a
stranger may pass through the country without
being asked where he is going, or what business he
has." — {New Accoimt of East Indies, i. 279.)
events which strongly mark the necessity of
attention to the rights, as well as to the
prejudices of the natives."* Nearly at the
close of his third and last quarto volume^
he quotes the humiliating observation of
President Pitt (the grandfather of Lord
Chatham), that " when the Europeans first
settled in India, they were mightily admired
by the natives, believing they were as in-
nocent as themselves; but since, by their
example, they are grown very crafty and
cautious; and no people better understand
their own interest : so that it was easier to
effect that in one year which you sha'nt do
now in a century; and the more obliging
your management, the more jealous they
are of you."t
This evidence of the effect of communica-
tion between nominally Christian nations and
a people still unenlightened by the teaching
of the Gospel, is unhappily confirmed by the
common testimony borne by impartial wit-
nesses regarding the state of various native
populations after their intercourse with Eu-
ropeans. The bigotry of Romish commu-
nities, and the indifference (masked under
the name of toleration) of Protestants, had
rendered the profession of Christianity in
the mouth of the former a pretext for cruel
persecution, and in that of the latter little
better than an unmeaning sound; the
shameless immorality of Europeans in gene-
ral, giving cause for the Indians to doubt
whether they had really any religion at all. J
I The Dutch, from the first commencement of
their intercourse with the East Indies, made strenu-
ous efforts for the conversion of the natives of Java,
Formosa, Ceylon, and the Spice Islands generally,
by the establishment of missions and schools, and
the translation of the Scriptures ; but on the con-
tinent of India their stations were small and tem-
porary, and their spiritual labours partook of the
same character. The good and zealous minister,
BaldcDus, visited the Dutch possessions of Tuticorin
and Negapatam on the Coromandel coast, in 1660,
and extended his visitation along the southern coast
of the continent as far as Coulan (Quilon.) He
describes the state of the Parawar, or cast of fisher-
men converted by Francis Xavier and other Romish
missionaries, as little else than a peculiar phase of
idolatry, their religion consisting in the mere out-
Ward acts of worshipping images, counting beads,
and crossing themselves. The Danes, afterwards so
justly celebrated for their earnest and well-directed
labours in the missionary field, made no efforts of
this description until they had been eighty years in
India— -that is, until 1706-'7. Before that time the
impression they had endeavoured to make upon the
natives by the scrupulous integrity of their commer-
cial dealings, was greatly impaired by their irreligion
and immorality. — (Hough, iii., 181.) With regard
to the English, the description given by Ferishta, at
the commencement of the 17tL century, was pro-
232 FIRST ENGLISH CHURCH ERECTED IN INDIA, BY MASTERS— 1680.
Tiie E. I. Cy. followed the example too
generally shown by the government of Eng-
land throughout the seventeenth century,
excepting, perhaps, during the Protectorate.
They contented themselves with sending
out a few chaplains, not always well selected ;
and made no provision for the establishment
of places of worship, consecrated to the
decent celebration of the observances of
their common faith. The first English
church in India was erected in 1680, in
Fort St. George, Madras, for the use of
the factory, by the governor, Streynsham
Masters. This good and earnest man com-
pleted the building " without any aid or
countenance of the company in order
thereto."* In fact, the missionary spirit
intimately connected with the earliest colo-
nial and commercial enterprises of the
nation had been swallowed up (at least for a
time) in the thirst for gain; and this cir-
cumstance is in itself a sufficient reason
for the disastrous condition to which the
E. I. Cy. found themselves reduced. No
body of men, either in a private or public
capacity, ever yet (in popular phraseology)
"made their ledger their Bible" with im-
punity; and the punishment of an erring
community is usually more perceptible than
that of an individual, for the evident reason
that the one has only a present existence,
while for the other there is a judgment to
come. We are all inclined to pass too
lightly over such facts as these : we do not
care to trace "the workings of a superin-
tending Providence, checking by adversity,
or encouraging by prosperity, the every-day
concerns of a mercantile company ; never-
theless, the pith of the matter — the true phi-
losophy of history — is in all cases the same.
The flagrant blunders made by men noted
for shrewdness and intrigue — the total failure
of their most cunningly-devised schemes,bear
daily witness amongst us of the fallibility of
human judgment : — would that they taught
bably regarded by his countrymen as a correct
account of the protestant creed at its close ; so little
effort had been made to set forth, in its truth and
purity, the doctrines of the reformed faith. The
Portuguese Jesuits, who were long in attendance
on the court of Akber, were very likely to have
accused their rivals of participation in the Nestorian
heresy (which they had made the pretext for perse-
cuting the Syrian Christians on the Malabar coast) ;
otherwise it would be difficult to account for some
of the assertions of Ferishta. " The persuasion of
this nation," he writes, " is different from that of
other Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, with
whom they are in a state of constant warfare. They
Msert that Jesus was a mortal, and the prophet of
us also the wisdom of implicit reliance on re-
vealed truth, and of constant obedience to its
pure and consistent dictates !
The century did not, however, close
without some promise of better things, at
least on the part of the English government ;
for the letters-patent of 1698 contain a
special proviso, binding the general company
to provide a chaplain on board every ship,
and for every garrison and superior factory,
in each of which a decent and convenient
place was to be set apart for divine service
only. These ministers were to learn Portu-
guese, and likewise the native language of
the country where they should reside, " the
better to enable them to instruct the Gentoos
that shall be servants or slaves of the said
company, or of their agents in the Protestant
religion."t These provisions were, it is
evident, intended for the exclusive benefit
of British subjects. The duty of spreading
the Gospel among Indian populations was
one which England was slow to recognise.
Portugal, Spain, and France, Holland and
Denmark, all took precedence of her in this
great field; and it was not until after a
long and arduous struggle, that the advo-
cates of missionary exertion in our land
succeeded in obtaining the sanction of go-
vernment for their attempts to place before
the people of India those divinely-revealed
truths, which must be either entirely disbe-
lieved, or else accepted as the only solid basis
whereon to establish that " public virtue"
which is as necessary to the true greatness
of a nation, as integrity to the character of
an individual. The progress of Christianity
in India belongs, however, to a distinct
section of this work ; and its history, so far
as England is concerned, is far subsequent
to the present period, of which the chief
interest lies in the succession of events im-
mediately preceding the struggle between
the French and English for political ascen-
dancy in Hindoostan.
God ; that there is only one God, and that he is with-
out equal, and has no wife nor child,— according to
the belief of the Portuguese. The English have a
separate king, independent of the King of Portugal,
to whom they owe no allegiance ; but, on the con-
trary, these two people put each other to death
wheresoever they meet. At present, in consequence
of the interference of Jehangeer Padshah, they are
at peace with one another, though God only knows
how long they will consent to have factories in the
same town, and to live on terms of amity and friend-
ship with one another." — (Brigg's Ferishta, iv., 641.)
* Hough's Christianity in India, in., 377.
t Charters, 2'reaties, and Grants of £. I. Cy.
(English and Indian), from 1601 to 1772.,
INDIAN SETTLEMENTS OF THE DUTCH IN 1707.
233
Indo - European Settlements in the
Eighteenth Centuky. — The death of Au-
rungzebe and the junction of the two com-
panies, mark the commencement of a new
epoch ; before entering upon which it may be
useful to sketch the position of the various
European nations whose settlements and fac-
tories dotted the coast-line of the continent
of India. On the western side of the great
peninsula, the Portuguese still retained pos-
session of the city of Goa ; the fortresses of
Damaun, Bassein, and Choul ; and of Diu
in Guzerat;* but the prestige of their
power was gone for ever : by land, the
Dutch, the Mogul, the Mahrattas, .and their
old foe the zamorin of Calicut, plundered
them without mercy ; and from the seaward
they were harassed by the restless and
vengeful hostility of the Muscat Arabs,t
until the once haughty invaders were so
completely humbled, that the English presi-
dent and council at Surat, during their
worst season of depression, could find no
stronger terms in which to describe their
own degradation, than by declaring that
they had become " as despicable as the
Portuguese in India, or the Jews in Spain." J
The possessions of the Dutch were, for
the most part, conquests from thePortuguese.
On the Coromandel coast their chief settle-
ment was that of Negapatam : in Bengal,
* Gemelli, quoted by Anderson, ii., 644. — He
adds, that they had " the islands of Timor, Solor,
j and Macao subject to China; and in Africa, An-
gola, Sena, Sofala, Mozambique, and Mombas — many
in number, but of no great value."
t The Arabs expelled the Portuguese from Muscat
about the middle of the 17th century, and main-
tained almost incessant warfare against them for the
next fifty years, but did not molest other European
traders till nearly the expiration of that period. In
1697, the Portuguese joined the King of Persia
against the Arabs, whereupon these latter divided
their fleet into two squadrons ; sent one of them
to burn the Portuguese settlement at Mombas,
and employed the other in destroying the factory
at Mangalore. The Persian monarch offered the
English the same privileges conceded to them at
Gombroon for co-operation in the capture of Ormuz,
if they would now assist him in attacking Muscat.
The company's troops and shipping were not in a
condition to comply with this request, as they were
otherwise inclined to do, and an evasive answer was
returned. The suspicions of the Arabs were pro-
bably aroused by the negotiation ; for they shortly
afterwards commenced hostilities against the English,
which their improvement in naval tactics rendered
increasingly disastrous ; until, in the year 1704-'5,
we find the court of the London company expressing
their determination, so soon as the war in Europe
should terminate, " to equip armed vessels to clear
the seas and to root out that nest of pirates, the
Muscat Arabs." — Annals, iii., 557.
I Bruce's Annah of E. I. Cy., iii., ?07.
they had posts or factories at Chinsura,
Hooghly, Cossimbazar, Dacca, Patna, and
other places : in Guzerat, a station at Surat
of considerable importance in a commercial
point of view; and dependent posts at Ahme-
dabad,§ Agra,|| and Baroach. Cochin, Cran-
ganore, Coulan (Quilon), and Cananore, on
the Malabar coast, were clogged with heavy
military expenses, which greatly outweighed
the profits of the trade connected with
them. As many as a thousand soldiers
were, for some years, maintained here,^
chiefly with the object of overawing the
Hindoo princes, who, though frequently con-
quered, had never been completely sub-
jugated either by the Portuguese or the
Dutch J but on the contrary, were always
ready to take advantage of any symptom
of weakness on the part of their oppressors,
to put forth an unexpected amount of armed
hostility. The Malabar pepper is considered
the finest in India ; and the Dutch, although
obliged to pay double the price for which
they could obtain abundant supplies in
Bantam and Jambee, made strong efforts to
monopolise the market, but without efi'ect.
They stigmatised the sale of pepper to other
nations as a contraband trade, and endea-
voured to blockade the ports of Malabar ; but
with so little effect, that they could not even
prevent the natives from maintaining an open
§ Founded in 1620, and abandoned in 1716.
II Founded in 1618, and abandoned in 1744.
^ A great trade was at this period carried on at
Surat by Moorish, Armenian, and Arabian mer-
chants, with Persia, Mocha, Acheen, and elsewhere.
The English, Dutch, and French had establishments
here, under the protection of the Mohammedan go-
vernment. Excellent ships, costly but extremely
durable, were built of teak j and one of the resident
merchants (a wealthy and enterprising Moor) is said
to have possessed as many as fifteen or sixteen sail,
of from 100 to 500 tons burthen.— f^ccoj/ni of Trade
of India ; by Charles Lockyer : London, 1711.) The
Dutch factory here proved the most advantageous of
any formed by them in India, and continued ex-
tremely lucrative until Bombay usurped the place
of Surat, and the dominancy of the English became
established. Admiral Stavorinus writes from official
documents, that the Dutch company, in the ten
years ending 1698, gained, upon an average, a
sum of about £46,315 sterling, or about 850 per
cent, upon the finer spices; and on their other
goods a profit of £23,266, although only in the
proportion of about 59 per cent, on the prime
cost. Valentyn, an excellent authority, states the
gain of the Dutch at Surat, on various articles, as
follows: — Upon cloves, 665; nutmegs, 1,453; mace,
718; copper in bars, 128; ditto in plates, 31; ben-
zoin, 40 ; gumlac, 34 ; quicksilver, 27 ; and Vermil-
lion, 19: and he adds, that the clear profit of the
head factory amounted yearly to between six and
seven tons of gold, or from £55,000 to £64,000 ster-
ling. (Quoted in Stavorinus' Foya^es, iii., 112 — 114,J
234 POSITION OF DANES, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH IN INDIA— 1707.
traffic with the notorious pirate Kidd. The
Dutch governor, writing in 1698, remarks
" that it is to be regretted the company
carried so much sail here in the beginning,
that they are now desirous of striking them,
in order to avoid being overset."* The
Dutch committed the common error of
putting forth pretensions unjust iu them-
selves, and maintainable only by force. The
attempt failed, and the means employed
produced disastrous consequences. The re-
duction of the land establishments, and the
breaking up of the fleet heretofore sta-
tioned on the coast, accompanied by the
avowed determination of no longer obstruct-
ing the navigation, were tokens of weakness
which the native princes were not likely to
view in the light of voluntary concessions.
In 1701, war broke out with the zamorin,
or Tamuri rajah, the existing represen-
tative of a dynasty which had for two cen-
turies formed a bulwark to India against
the inroads of European powers in this
direction ; and hostilities were carried on at
the epoch at which we are now arrived.f
The efforts of the Danes, based on a
very slender commercial capital, had not
prospered. In 1689, Tranquebar, their only
settlement of importance, was nearly wrested
from them by their territorial sovereign, the
rajah of Tanjore, in consequence of the in-
trigues of the Dutch ; and was preserved to
its rightful owners solely by the armed in-
terference of an English detachment sent
to their relief from Madras, after the siege
had lasted six months.
The French, as traders, were equally un-
fortunate with the Danes. The home manu-
facturers had become discontented on per-
ceiving the increasing use of gold and
silver brocades, and painted cottons. Like
their fellow-traders in England, they suc-
ceeded in procuring an edict (in 1687) for
• Stavorinus' Voyages, iii., 238.
+ The Dutch had governments or factories in
Ceylon, in Java (where stood the fine city of Batavia,
called by its owners the Queen of the East), in Ma-
lacca, Amhoyna, Banda, Ternate, Bantam, Siam,
Macassar, Tonquin, Japan, Gombroon (in the Per-
sian Gulf), with chiefships at Ispahan and Bussora.
At Arracan, they purchased rice and slaves ; and they
had also many temporary stations in different parts
of Asia, which it would be needless to enumerate.
t Milburn's Commerce, i., 384.
§ The Presidency of Bombay held command
over the factories of Surat, Swally, and Baroach, of
Ahmedabad, Agra, and Lucknow (from which three
last places the factors had been temporarily with-
drawn) : on the Malabar coast, they had the forts of
Carwar, Tellicherry (established by permission of the
Hindoo rajah, about 1695), Anjengo (with the
the immediate prohibition of this branch of
commerce; and it was with considerable
difficulty that the company obtained per-
mission to dispose of their imports on hand,
or expected by the next ships. The sale of
piece-goods even to foreigners was forbidden,
on the supposition that those of France would
be purchased instead ; and a high duty was
laid on raw silk, then imported in consider-
able quantities. Under these discouraging
circumstances the trade languished ; and in
1693, received a fresh blow from the cap-
ture of Pondieherry (the chief French settle-
ment) by the Dutch. New walls were
raised, and the fortifications strengthened
by the victors ; but their labours proved ill-
directed ; for, upon the conclusion of the
peace in 1697, the place was decreed to be
restored to its former owners, with all its
additional defences, on payment of j65,000
to the Dutch government, for the expendi-
ture thus incurred. The French company
received orders from the king to take
measures to prevent the recapture of Pon-
dieherry, and frequent reinforcements were
sent there. The national treasury must
have furnished the funds ; for the finances of
the association were exhausted, and in 1708
they became absolutely bankrupt; but
Louis XIV., fearing that the trade to India
might otherwise entirely cease, staid all
prosecutions at law against them for debt,
and granted them permission to lease out
their privileges, upon the best terms they
could, to any private person who should be
able to adventure the necessary capital.
Arrangements were actually formed on this
basis with a M. Croizat, and afterwards
with some merchants of St. Malo.J
The possessions of the English are
clearly set forth in the enumeration of "dead
stock," made by the two companies at the
time of their union. § The central points
sanction of the ranee or queen of Attinga, accorded
at the same time, probably in both cases with a
view of procuring the aid of the English against
the aggressions of the Dutch), and the factory of
Calicut. On the Coromandel coast, the company
had establishments at Jinjee and Orissa; the fac-
tories depending on the Madras Presidency, the
city, and Fort St. George, Fort St. David, Cudda-
lore, Porto Novo, Pettipolee, Masulipatam, Mada-
poUam, and Vizagapatam. The factories dependent
on the Presidency of Calcutta, or Fort Wil-
liam, were — Balasore, Cossimbazar, Dacca, llooghly,
Malda, Rajmahal, and Patna. The above forts and
factories, with their stores and ammunition, together
■with the rents and customs arising therefrom,
and the firmauns by right of which they were en-
joyed, constituted the " dead stock" of the old or
London company on the Indian continent. Some
MADRAS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUEY. 235
f
were then, as now, formed by the three
presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Cal-
cutta, the last of which was created in 1707.
They had at this time no dependence upon
one another; each was absolute within its own
limits, and responsible only to the company
in England. The presidents were respec-
tively commanders-in-chief of the mili-
tary force maintained within the limits
of their jurisdiction. The numbers com-
prised in the several garrisons is not stated :
but they were composed partly of recruits
sent out from England ; partly of deserters
from other European settlements in India ;
and also (at least at Bombay and Surat) of
Topasses — a name applied to the offspring
of Portuguese and Indian parents, and also
given, though with little reason, to Hindoo
converts to the Romish church. Natives of
purely Indian descent — Rajpoots for in-
stance— were already, as has been noticed,
employed by the company in military ser-
vice, under the name of Sepoys, a corrup-
tion of Sipahi (soldier.) As yet little de-
sire had been shown to discipline them
after the European custom. They used the
musket, but in other respects remained
armed and clothed according to the country
usage, with sword and target, turban, cahay
or vest, and long drawers. Officers of their
own people held command over them, but
were eventually superseded by Englishmen.
Fort St. George (Madras), is described
by a contemporary writer as " a port of the
greatest consequence to the E. I. Cy., for its
strength, wealth, and great returns made
yearly in calicoes and muslins."* The citadel
or inner fort had four large bastions with
curtains, on which were mounted fifty-six
guns and a mortar; the western, or main
guard, was kept by about thirty soldiers ; the
east by a corporal's guard of six. The Eng-
lish town, or outer fort, was furnished with
" batteries, half-moons, and flankers, at
proper distances, whereon are about 150
of these posts had probably proved sources of ex-
penditure rather than gain ; Masulipatam, Pettipo-
lee, and MadapoUam, for instance, are stated by
Bruce, in 1695-'6, to have involved a dead loss of
above £100,000.— (^nna?» of E. I. Cy., iii., 184.)
The London company's further possessions were —
the island of St. Helena : in Persia, a factory at
Gombroon, with the yearly rent of about £3,333,
still paid by the Persian monarch (see p. 208) ; and
trading posts at Shiraz and Ispahan. On the island
of Sumatra they had the settlements at York Fort,
Bencoolen, Indrapore, Priaman, Sillebar, Bencoolen
with dependent stations ; and also a factory at Ton-
quin. The dead stock of the new, or English com-
pany, for which they were to be allowed £70,000 in
guns and three mortars, mounted for de-
fence, besides thirty- two guns more on the out-
works, with eight field-pieces." The garrison
comprised 250 Europeans, each paid at the
rate of ninety-one fanams, or £\ 3«. Qd. per
month ; and 200 topasses, at fifty or fifty-
two fanams a-month; with some twenty ex-
perienced European gunners, at 100 fanams
a-month. The captains received fourteen,
ensigns ten, Serjeants five pagodasf monthly ;
and corporals received the same salary
as the artillerymen. The chief gunner of
the inner fort had fourteen, and of the
outer works twelve pagodas. About 200
peons, or native police, were constantly re-
tained; and the Portuguese portion of the
population were obliged to furnish a com-
pany or two of trained bands at their own
charge, on any disturbance. The Black City
— that is, the native town, situated outside
the fort to the northward — was encompassed
with a thick, high brick wall, and fortified
after the modern fashion. Maqua Town,
where the MussulahJ boatmen live, lay to
the southward. The sway of the company
extended beyond these limits; for they
owned several villages two or three miles
further in the country, such as Egmore,
New Town, and Old Garden, which they
rented out to merchants or farmers for 1,100
pagodas per annum. The " singular de-
corum observed by the free merchants, fac-
tors, servants, and other inhabitants," is
especially noticed by Lockyer, who adds,
that the excellent arrangements of Madras,
together with " good fortifications, plenty of
guns, and much ammunition, render it a
bugbear to the Moors, and a sanctuary to
the fortunate people living in it."§
By this account, it is evident that a
blessing had attended the Christian labours
of Streynsham Masters. His church, as yet
the only building in India consecrated by
Englishmen to divine worship, is described
as a large and stately pile, adorned with
the united funds, consisted of factories at Surat, in the
Bay of Bengal, at Masulipatam, MadapoUam, on the
island of Borneo, and on the island of Pulo Condore,
(coast of Cochin China), with the stores and ammuni-
tion belonging to each. — Vide the " Quinque Partite
Indenture," in charters of E. I. Ct/., pp. 316 — 344.
• Account of the Trade of India, by Charles
Lockyer, pp. 3-'4; London, 1711.
t A gold coin varying in value at different times
from about nine to ten shillings.
% The planks of the large and flat-bottomed Mas-
sulah boats are sewn together with twine, which pre-
vents their starting even under the most violent
shocks. Their hire was then eighteen-pence a trip.
§ Account of Trade, p. 15.
236 PROTESTANT ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT AT MADRAS.
curious carved work, with very large win-
dows, and furnished with a fine altar, organ,
and other appurtenances usual to the most
complete edifices of its kind, with the ex-
ception of bells, which had perhaps been
purposely omitted, on account of their in-
timate connexion with the superstitions of
the Brahminical- creed. Two ministers were
attached to the church, in which services
were performed twice a-day. On Sunday,
the customary rites were "most strictly
observed," and " country Protestiints were
examined in the catechism." A school,
" held in a large room under the library,"
was open to all children free of charge.
According to Lockyer, the ecclesiastical
establishment was altogether well conducted,
and deserved the high character it bore
among the people. Pious persons gave or
bequeathed considerable sums to " the
church," for charitable purposes; and dying
parents chose its representatives as trustees
for their children,* a course of proceeding
calculated, it is true, to place dangerous
weapons of oppression in the hands of
a dominant priesthood; but which, in
the isolated and unpatronised condition
of the religious establishments at Madras,
can hardly be viewed in any other light
than as evidence of the respect inspired by
devout and upright conduct. The project
for the formation of a municipal body had
• The church stock of unemployed money was lent
out at seven per cent, per ann.- — (Lockyer, p. 18.)
f Lockyer mentions a Seagate custom of £5 per
cent., yielding 30,000 pagodas per ann. ; and a
choultry, or land custom of two-and-a-half per cent,
on cloth, provisions, and other goods brought in
from the country, yielding 4,000 pagodas. Anchor-
age and permit dues, licences for fishing, arrack and
wine, tobacco and beetle-nut farms, mintage, &c.,
furnished various sums; but the total must have
fallen far short of the expectations expressed by the
company in 1691-'2 of drawing as much from Ma-
dras as the Dutch did from Batavia; namely, a yearly
income of £260,000.— (Bruce, iii., 110.)
X The governor had £200 a-year, with a gratuity
of £100: of the six councillors, the chief had £100
per ann. ; the others in proportion, — £70, £50, and
£40 per ann. : six senior merchants had annual
salaries of £40 ; two junior merchants, £30 : five
factors, £15: ten writers, £5: two chaplains, £100:
one surgeon, £36: two "essay masters," £120: one
judge, £100 : and the attorney-genera!, fifty pagodas.
Married men received from five to ten pagodas per
month, as diet money, according to their quality;
inferior servants, dining at the general table had no
other allowance beyond their salaries than a very
trifling sum for washing, and oil for lamps. — (Lock-
yer's Trade of India, p. 14.) The highest appoint-
ment at Bombay did not exceed £300 per ann.
§ The condition of several of the minor English
settlements at this period is well sketched by
been carried out, and a mayor and six alder-
men held a court twice a-week.
The total amount of revenue derived from
Madras does not appear :t the scale of
salaries was extremely moderate,^ and pro-
bably affords a fair specimen of that laid
down for the presidencies of Bombay and
Calcutta, to which Lockyer's interesting
sketches unfortunately do not extend. § Dis-
appointment and reverses had by this time
greatly modified the ambitious views enter-
tained by the managers of the East India
trade. The belligerent and costly policy
introduced by Sir Josiah Child and his
brother, was succeeded by a directly oppo-
site system — to conciliate rather than to defy
and overawe the native princes, was the
order of the day; and to this end the
Indian officials were directed to carry on
their business " without the affectation ot
pomp and grandeur, as merchants ought to
do." II The large sums spent by the rival
companies in outvying and thwarting each
other, constituted a departure from the gene-
ral rule — at least in the case of the older
body; but upon their union, this unsatis-
factory expenditure ceased, and the leading
members of the new concern, who now,
under the name of the Court of Directors,
took the place of the Court of Committees,^
enjoined upon their agents the most rigid
frugality, which they continued to enforce
Lockyer: — Tegnapaiam, or Fort St. David, he de-
scribes as " a port of great profit, as well for the
rents and income arising immediately thereon, as
for the great quantities of calicoes and muslins that
are brought thence for Europe. Metchlepatam
[Masulipatarn], Vizigapatam, and MadapoUam, are
factories continued for the sake of red-wood and the
cotton-manufactures, which are here in the greatest
perfection." — (p. 13.) The factory at Carwar, on
the Malabar coast, was provided with eight or nine
guns and twenty-six topasses, " to defend it against
the insults of the country people." — (p. 269.) The
native chief, or rajah, received custom dues of one
and-a-half per cent, on all goods imported by the
English. At TMicherry, a small fort with a slight
guard was maintained to protect the trade in pepper
and cardamums, coir, cowries, and chanks from the
Maldives. At Anjengo, the company possessed a
small fort with guns, and a garrison of forty " mon-
grel Portuguese," to protect the traffic (chiefly pep-
per), and the " go-downs," or warehouses. Business
was carried on by a chief agent, assisted by three or
four counsellors, and a surgeon was included in the
establishment. At Calicut, where there was con-
siderable trade, the English factory was a large old
house without fortifications or guns, which the zamo-
rin, like the Mogul, would probably not have suffered
any foreigners to maintain within his dominions.
II Bruce's Annals of E. I. Cy., iii., 452.
^ Committees ; — in the sense of persons to whom
something is committed.
SYSTEM OP E. I. Cy. IN THE EARLY PART OP 18th CENTURY. 237
so strictly, that in 1724, the outlay of about
£100 in the purchase of a chaise and pair
of horses for the president at Calcutta, was
reprehended as an unwarrantable proceed-
ing. The directors ordered the amount to
be refunded, remarking, that if their ser-
vants desired " such superfluities" they
must pay for them.* It is certain that
the regular salaries given even to the
highest functionaries could have barely
covered the necessary expenses of Euro-
peans living in a tropical climate. But
they had other sources of emolument more
or less legitimate. Each employe was suf-
fered to prosecute an independent traffic,
which he had the best opportunity of doing,
as the coasting-trade and likewise the inter-
course with all eastern ports north of the
equator, except Tonquin and Formosa, had
recentlyt been relinquished by the company
to their servants, or to Englishmen licensed
to reside in India as free merchants, by
which latter arrangement an independent
community was gradually formed.
The plan of allowing officials to prosecute
business in two distinct capacities, was
fraught with evils for which the attendant
saving in the item of salaries could make
but poor amends. Convenience of situation
• Thornton's British Empire in India, {., 75.
t The commerce had formerly been circuitous : the
E. I. Cy's ships went first to Surat and other northern
ports, and disposed of part of their English cargoes in
exchange for piece-goods and other commodities,
with which they sailed for the southern ports, where
these articles were in demand ; and procured instead
pepper, cloves, nutmegs, and various articles for the
European market. This tedious and expensive mode
of traffic was abandoned towards the close of the
17th century; direct intercourse was established be-
tween London and the Indian ports, and the " coun-
try," or coasting-trade, disposed of as above related.
The mode of conducting the inland traffic had like-
wise undergone considerable change. " The sale of
the commodities imported from Europe," says Mill,
" was transacted in the simplest and easiest of all
possible ways ; namely, by auction — the mode in
which they disposed of Indian goods in England.
At the beginning of this traffic, the English, as well
as other European adventurers, used to carry their
commodities to the inferior towns and markets,
transporting them in the hackeries [cars] of the
country ; and established factories and warehouses
where the goods were exposed to sale." — (iii., p. 12.)
During the confusion, however, which prevailed
while the empire of the Moguls was in progress of dis-
solution, an order was issued forbidding persons in
the E. I. Cy.'s service, or under their jurisdiction, to
proceed far into the country without special permis-
sion ; and the care of distributing the goods inland,
and of introducing them to the consumers, was left
to native and other independent dealers. The col-
lection and custody of the goods which constituted
a European " investment," was a more complicated
2 I
for the affairs of each individual was the
first object to be desired, and as all power
of appointment (saving where the rule of
seniority applied) was lodged in the pre-
sident and council jointly, they naturally
distributed among their own body the most
advantageous offices. The employment and
consequent absence of a member of council
as chief of an important factory, did not
disqualify him for retaining his position
in the government; but it could scarcely
fail to detract from his efficiency, since few
men have sufficient energy, and fewer still
sufficient integrity, to perform at one time
the arduous duties of a judge, legislator, and
politician, and of the head of an extensive
commercial establishment in conjunction
with the business of a private merchant.
No doubt, in most cases, the last-named
interest would absorb the others, and neglect
of the affairs of government would neces-
sarily follow : to this single cause many of
the defects observable in the management of
affairs in India, may probably be attributed.
Upon the union of the two companies, a
manifest preference was evinced to the
agents of the elder body, and especially to
Mr. Thomas Pitt,J the president of Madras
before mentioned, whose ability and discre-
business, especially the purchase of the produce of
the loom. The extreme indigence of the weaving
class, and the consequent necessity of at all times
furnishing them with the materials of their work, or
the means of purchasing them, involved consider-
able advances of capital and a large amount of
superintendence, compelling the employment of seve-
ral distinct sets of agents (banyans, gomashtahs
dallals, and pycars), who made their profit at the
expense both of the company and the weaver; the
latter, as the weaker party, being naturally the most
open to oppression. When the piece of calico or
muslin was finished, the gomashtah, or broker, holds
a " kattah," — examined the work, fixed its price, and
paid the workman, who, it is said, was often obliged
to accept fifteen or twenty, and often thirty or forty
per cent, less than the result of his labour would
have fetched in the market. — (Mill, iii., 15.)
X Another individual of the same family figures
in the history of East Indian affairs : first, as " Pitt
the interloper", then as "president and consul Pitt" in
the service of the new or English association ; and
lastly, as one of the highest officials in the employ
of the united company, in which position he died in
1703, leaving behind him heavy personal debts and
a very questionable reputation as regarded his public
dealings. The only doubtful point which I have
met with regarding the character of his cousin, Mr.
Thomas Pitt, relates to the manner in which the
famous diamond, bearing his name, came into his
possession. Captain Hamilton avers, that the gem
was procured through the intervention of a person
named Glover, who, seeing it at Arcot, prevailed
upon the proprietor to offer it for sale to the Englisli
at Fort St. George, and he placed in his hands
238 MR. PITT, GRANDFATHER OF LORD CHATHAM.— PITT DIAMOND.
tion had been evinced in the late season of
disaster and embarrassment. When the coa-
lition of their employers in England rendered
it of the first consequence that their repre-
sentatives in India should lay aside their
contentions, and, if possible, subdue the
ill-feehng raised by systematic hostility, Mr.
Pitt set a good example, by addressing a
communication to' the English company, in
which he applied to himself " the great
saying of King William of blessed memory,
to the French king's plenipotentiary at
Ryswick, on concluding the peace, — 'twas my
fate, and not my choice, that made me your
enemy ; and since you and my masters are
united, it shall be my utmost endeavour to
purchase your good opinion, and deserve
your friendship.'"*
The treaty of Utrecht happily terminated
the long war with France, and England
enjoyed a season of commercial prosperity,
of which the rapid growth of Liverpool,
Manchester, and Birmingham afford re-
markable evidence.f The company like-
wise prospered, and their imports rose in
value from £493,257 in 1708, to £1,059,759
in 1730. The export branch of their trade
was far from exhibiting so favourable a
result ;{ but the rate of profit steadily
increased up to 1723; the dividends aug-
menting from five per cent, per annum to
the proprietors, upon £3,163,200 of capital,
until they reached ten per cent. ; they then
declined to eight per cent., at which annual
rate they continued until 1732, when they
were reduced to seven per cent., and re-
mained there until 1744, in which year
they returned to eight per cent. The in-
3,000 pagodas of his own as a guarantee that no
compulsion should be used to oblige him to sell
unless he were so inclined. The pledge was broken
by Mr. Pitt, and the money forfeited by Glover. —
(JV«M! Account of East Indies, i., 306.) The tale is
not very clearly told ; the seller, if a native, was pro-
bably pot the legitimate possessor of the diamond,
because all stones, above a certain weight, found in
the mines, were claimed by the emperor. This,
however, is no excuse for the conduct of Mr. Pitt, if
Hamilton's accusation be correct. The traffic in
jewels was, it should be stated, considered of much
importance, and had been alternately monopolised
by the company, and conceded to their servants as an
especial ])rivilege.
• Annals of E. I. Cy., year 1702-'3.
t Liverpool, which was not formed into a separate
parish till 1699, increased so rapidly, that in 1715, a
new parish with a church was erected ; and its
extent was doubled between 1090 and 1726. Man-
chester grew with equal rapidity, and was computed,
in 1727, to contain no less than 50,000 inhabitants;
and at the same period, the metal manufactories of
Birmingham, which thirty years before was little
terval between 1708 and 1745 is marked by
but few important events. In England the
company were employed at various times in
procuring decrees against interlopers,§ and
obtaining extensions of their exclusive pri-
vileges. The opposition of the free trade
party was very violent in 1730 ; and the
East India association obtained a renewal of
their charter only on condition of the pay-
ment of a premium of £200,000, and tlie
reduction of the interest of their capital lent
to government from five to four per cent.
The term now fixed was to terminate upon
three years' notice from March, 1766.
In India the servants of the company
watched with alarm the successive contests
for the throne, which took place between
the death of Aurungzebe and the accession
of his great-grandson, Feroksheer, in 1713.
Moorshed Kooli Khan (sometimes called
Jaffier Khan), who had previously filled the
office of dewan, or comptroller of the revenues
in Bengal, was appointed subahdar, or viceroy
of that province, and subsequently obtained
a grant of Bahar and Orissa. The English
found his rule arbitrary and extortionate ;
and, in the hope of obtaining from the em-
peror a decree for especial protection and con-
cessions, persuaded the directors at home to
allow them to send an embassy to the Mogul
court. Two factors, selected for their intel-
ligence, were dispatched from Calcutta to
Delhi, with an Armenian merchant for their
interpreter ; and the report of the costly pre-
sents of which they were the bearers having
preceded them, the governors of the pro-
vinces through which their road lay were
ordered to show them every respect. || They
more than a village, are represented as giving main-
tenance to upwards of 30,000 individuals. — (Ander-
son's Origin of Commerce, iii., 143-'4.) To London
several new parishes had been added in a short
period. And from the year 1708 to 1730, the im-
ports of Great Britain, according to the valuation
of the custom-house, had risen from £4,098,063 to
£7,780,019; and the exports from £6,969,089, to
£11,974,135.— (Sir Charles Whitworth's Tables, part
i., p. 78.— Mill, iii., 25.)
X The exportation of 1708 was exceedingly small
compared with years immediately following : that of
1709, was £168,357; that of 1730, only £135,484.
§ In 1718, the company were authorised, by act
of parliament, to seize all liritish subjects found
trading within their limits, under the commission of
a foreign government, and to send them to England,
subject to a penalty of £500 for each offence.
II They seem to have especially dreaded passing
through the country of the Jats, near Agra : in
communicating thi'ir progress to the authorities at
Calcutta, the deputation relate having accomplished
this part of their journe}-, — " not meeting with much
trouble, except tliat once in the night, rogues came
MR. HAMILTON CURES THE EMPEROR FEROKSHEER— a.d. 1716. 239
reached the capital after journeying three
months : but the influence of Moorshed Kooli
Khan, through his party, in the divided coun-
sels of the state, prevailed; and, notwith-
standing their ofi'erings of gold coin, a table-
clock set with precious stones, a unicorn's
horn, a gold escrutoire, a map of the world,
japan, lacquered, earthen and cutlery wai'e,
with looking-glasses and red and yellow
broad cloth in abundance, the negotiation
languished;* and Feroksheer, engaged inpre-
paring for his nuptials with the daughter of
the Marwar rajah, Ajeet Sing, would pro-
bably have paid no attention to their solici-
tations, had not the medical skill of one of
the party (a surgeon in the company's ser-
vice) been offered at an opportune moment
for the cure of a malady from which he had
been long suffering.
Under the treatment of Mr. Hamilton
the emperor recovered; and the marriage,
which had been delayed ou account of his
illness, was forthwith consummated. Ferok-
sheer, of whom it has been said that " his
only quality was an ill-placed liberality," f
presented liis physician with a magnificent
khillut {see p. 168), 5,000 rupees in coin,
and models of all his surgical instruments
on our camp, but being repulsed three times, they
left us." — (Auber's iJj.se and Progress of British
Power in India, i., 16.)
• The value of the presents was about £30,000,
but Khojeh Serhaud, the Armenian employed, had
given out their value at more than three times that
amount — a deception which could not fail to produce
disappointment.
+ Scott's History of the Deccan, ii., 135.
X The case of Broughton has been related. Ac-
cording to Orme, the medical skill engaged in the
service of the company was likewise instrumental in
gaining favour with Aurungzebe, about the time of
the first occupation of Calcutta — an English physician
being serviceable in administering relief to the em-
peror, when " sorely tormented with carbuncles,"
which his own medical attendants could not cure. —
{Historical Fragments of Mogul Empire, p. 284.)
§ The company lost no opportunity of strengthen-
ing and enforcing their authority over their country-
men in India. Independent traders, licensed or
unlicensed, were alike on sufferance; and in ad-
dressing their presidencies, the directors expressly
desire that care should be taken to let even the
uncovenanted merchants know " that by the laws, no
subject of his majesty can stay in India without our
leave ; and therefore, as they are there only during
good behaviour, so you will let them continue no
longer than they deserve it."— Letter to Bengal, 1722.
'I According to European and Hindoo writers, the
sway of Moorshed Kooli Khan was marked by a
degree of barbarous and fiend-like cruelty, which
certainly formed no part of the character of Aurung-
zebe, who, though he never scrupled to make away
with the life of a human being if it suited his policy,
was nevertheless, as a ruler, decidedly opposed to
in pure gold ; at the same time assuring him
that any favour he might solicit should be
granted. Again, the disinterestedness of a
medical officer of the company proved equal
to his skill, J and Hamilton requested the
emperor to concede to the embassy the
important privileges they had come to ask ;
namely : — 1st, " That a ' dustuck,' or pass-
port, signed by the president of Calcutta,
should exempt the goods it specified from
being stopped or examined by the Mogul
government, under any pretence : 2ndly.
That the officers of the mint at Moorshe-
dabad should at all times, when required,
allow three days in the week for the coinage
of the East India Company's money : 3rdly.
That all persons, whether Europeans or
natives,^ who might be indebted or account-
able to the company, should be delivered up
to the presidency at Calcutta on the first
demand : 4thly. That the English might
purchase the lordship of thirty-eight towns,
with the same immunities as Prince Azim
Ooshan had permitted them to buy with
Calcutta, Chuttanuttee, and Govindpoor."
The petition was granted, notwithstanding
the representations of the friends of Moor-
shed Kooli Khan, the viceroy of Bengal, || who
capital punishment or the infliction of tortures. The
viceroy of Bengal, on the contrary, seems to have
used by preference such means of enforcing his
authority as were best calculated to strike terror into
the minds of all beneath his sway. He never placed
confidence in any man, but examined the state of his
exchequer daily. Any zemindar found remiss in
payment, was put under arrest, guards were placed
to prevent his eating and drinking till the deficiency
was supplied, and spies watched over the guards to
inform if they were bribed, or negligent in their
duty. When a district was in arrear, the delinquent
zemindar was tormented by every species of cruelty,
such as hanging up by the feet, bastinadoing, ex-
posure to the sun in summer, and in winter frequent
sprinklings of the bare flesh with cold water. The
deputy dewan of the province, Seyed Rezah Khan,
who had married the grand-daughter of the Nabob, "in
order to enforce payment of the revenues, ordered a
pond to be dug, which was filled with everything
disgusting, and the stench of which was so offensive,
as nearly to suffocate whoever approached it" — to
this place the dewan, in derision of the Hindoos,
gave the designation of Bickoont (a term which
signifies their Paradise) — " and after the zemindars
had undergone the usual punishments, if their rent
was not forthcoming, he caused them to be drawn by
a rope tied under the arms through this infernal
pond. By such cruel and horrid methods, he ex-
torted from the unhappy zemindars everything they
possessed, and made them weary of their lives."
Wherever a robbery was committed, the foujedar
was compelled to find out the thief, or to recover the
property ; and the robber, when caught, was impaled
alive, or the body split in two, and hung upon trees
on the high road. The Mussulman writers speak of
240 IMPORTANT FIRMAUN GRANTED TO ENGLISH BY FEROKSIIEER,
seems to have been constantly on the watch |
to repress every indication of increasing
power on the part of either Europeans or
Hindoos. This lesson he had doubtless
learned from his early patron, Aurungzebe ;
and in practising it, together with other
maxims derived from the same school, he
earned the cordial .detestation of the classes
whose views he steadily opposed, and the
unbounded admiration of Moguls and Mus-
sulmans as the champion of their political
supremacy and religious creed. The firmaun
(comprising thirty-four patents),* issued at
the intercession of Hamilton,t was impera-
tive, but the viceroy contrived to impede the
operation of its most important clauses. The
thirty-eight villages which the company had
obtained leave to purchase, would have given
them a district extending ten miles from
Calcutta on each side of the river Hooghly,
where a number of weavers, subject to their
own jurisdiction, might have been established.
This arrangement Moorshed Kooli Khan
circumvented by using his influence to deter
the holders of the land from consenting to
its sale. The privilege of granting dustucks
or passports, was at first exercised by the
president of Calcutta unchallenged, but the
extension of immunity from duties from the
goods of the company to those of their ser-
vants, soon had the effect of exempting not
only articles of foreign commerce, but also the
produce of the province itself, in its passage
by land from one district to another. This
the viceroy declared it his determination to
prevent, as a practice equally destructive to
his revenue and ruinous to the native traders,
on whom heavy duties were imposed ; and
he commanded that the English dustucks
Moorshed Kooli Khan as severe in the extreme, but
equally impartial, showing favour to no one, and
always rewarding merit wherever he found it. His
jurisdiction certainly afforded room for praise as well
as censure, were it only for his earnest eJBbrts to ward
off the terrible calamity of famine, and prevent the
monopoly of grain. In private life, he was learned,
temperate, and self-denying ; refrained wholly from
spirituous liquors and intoxicating drugs ; despised
all the refinements of luxury, whether in dress or
food ; always kept constant to one lawful wife, >nd
would not suffer any strange women or eunuchs to
enter the apartments of his seraglio. Every year he
sent Korans of his own writing to Mecca, Medina,
and other holy places; and during the period of
twelve days, which include the anniversaries of the
birth and death of Mohammed, he feasted people of
all conditions, and caused a road three miles in
length to be illuminated with lamps, representing
verses of the Koran, mosques, trees, and other
figures. He also kept, with great state, another
favourite Moslem festival, in which the chief feature
is the setting afloat of boats made of bamboo and
should be respected solely in the case of
goods imported by sea, or purchased for ex-
portation. The company remonstrated, but
in vain ; and their servants, checked in their
endeavours to grasp the inland trade, directed
their ardour to the maritime branch ; and
their superior skill soon induced the mer-
chants of the province, Moors, Armenians,
and Hindoos, to freight most of their exports
in English vessels. Within ten years from
the period of the embassy, the shipping of
the port of Calcutta increased to 10,000 tons.
The non-acquirement of the thirty-eight
villages apparently occasioned no great dis-
appointment to the company, who had
already adopted the wary and reluctant
tone they ever afterwards maintained regard-
ing the increase of their territory. When
aware of the sanction obtained by their
representatives, they bade them purchase
only so much of the lands in question as
were immediately contiguous to Calcutta,
remarking, that " when Jaffier Khan [Moor-
shed Kooli Khan] or any other governor,
finds you desire only half of what you might
insist on, he or they may be the easier to
give their consent, and not pick future quar-
rels; for as our business is trade, it is not
political for us to be encumbered with much
territory." In a subsequent paragraph, the
directors speak of the benefit derivable from
the possession of a good dock ; and add, " if
ever we should be forced to the necessity of
it, our settlement there would enable us to
command the river; but this is not to be so
much as publicly hinted at, lest it alarm the
government." Again, in the same month
(Feb., 1 721) , they write to Bengal, "remember
we are not fond of much territory, especially
paper, ornamented with flags, lamps, &c., as a re-
ligious offering.— (Stewart's Bengal, pp. 378^ — 411;
s.nA Sketches of Bengal — anonymous.) As a climax
to his oppressions in the eyes of the Hindoos, and
laudable zeal in those of his fellow-believers, the
viceroy, in his old age, caused all the Brahminical
temples in Moorshedabad to be pulled down to
furnish materials for his tomb.
* Other privileges of less importance than those
cited in the previous page, were comprised in these
patents, which long constituted the great charter of
the English in India. Among them was a de-
cree that the annual payment of a fixed sum to the
government of Surat should free the English trade at
that port from all duties and exactions ; that three
villages contiguous to Madras, formerly granted and
afterwards resumed by the government of Arcot,
should be restored to the company ; and the island of
Diu, or Divi, near Masulipatam, conceded to them on
payment of a fixed rent. — (Grant's Sketch, p. 128.)
t Mr. Hamilton died in Calcutta, in 1717. His
tombstone was discovered about sixty years after, in
digging for the foundations of a new church.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE OSTEND E. I. Cy.— 1716 to 1726.
241
if it lies at a distance from you, or is not near
the water-side; nor, indeed, of any, unless you
have a moral assurance it -will contribute
directly or in consequence to our benefit."*
In Indian affairs, as in the ordinary
course of all collective or individual enter-
prise, successes and reversesf came at the
same period from different but equally
unexpected quarters. About the date of
the successful embassy, a new and powerful
rival appeared on the stage. In the year
1716, the governor of the French settle-
ment at Pondicherry, announced to the
British at Fort St. David, that there were
off the Malabar coast two 40-gun vessels
under the imperial colours. These ships
belonged to the Ostend East India Com-
pany, who were just commencing their
operations, but did not gain a regular char-
ter from their sovereign, the Emperor of
Austria, till four years afterwards. Dutch,
French, and English, immediately made
common cause against the intruders, who
had now to combat the opposition every
nation had encountered from its predeces-
sors in the field of Indian commerce since
the Portuguese first interrupted the navi-
gation of the Arabs and Moors. In the
present case it was argued, that the con-
cession of a charter by the emperor to the
Ostend company, was a breach of faith to-
wards the English and Dutch, inasmuch as
it was by their united prowess that the ten
provinces of the Netherlands, which re-
mained in allegiance to Spain during the
war of independence, were transferred from
that kingdom to the crown of Austria. The
Dutch insisted upon the continuance of the
restriction forcibly imposed by them on the
trade of these provinces while they consti-
tuted a portion of the Spanish dominions ;
and asserted that this prohibition was imr
plied in the very terms of the barrier-treaty
from which the emperor derived his autho-
rity. They seconded their arguments by
active hostile measures : seized the vessels
of the Ostend company, with their cargoes ;
and forbade the subjects of the stjites from
• Auber's Ilise and Progress, vol. L, 23.
+ During the first half of the 18th century the
English East India trade experienced some severe
checks in China and the eastern islands. It seemed
as if, nolens-volens, they were to be driven to ex-
pend all their energies on the Indian peninsula.
Their factors vpere compelled, with great loss of
goods and stores, to quit Chusan, where they had
commenced a settlement, and a worse result attended
their endeavours to establish themselves on Pulo
Condore, an island subject to the Cochin Chinese,
and at Banjar Massin, in Borneo. The British at
all concern in the undertaking on the se-
verest penalties, — even, it is said, on pain of
death. France and England adopted the
same selfish policy, though they did not
carry it out with equal asperity. Louis XV,
pubHshed a declaration denouncing various
forfeitures, and in some cases, imprisonment
and exile on any of his people who should
enter into the service of the Ostend associa-
tion, or hold shares in their stock. Similar
punishments were held forth by George I.
and his parliament, to deter British subjects
from taking part in the new adventure ; and
one instance, at least, occurred of an Ostend
ship, homeward-bound and richly freighted,
being captured by a British privateer. All
this persecution did not deter the Nether-
landers from their object : it was to them as
a breathing time from oppression ; and they
struggled with determination, and in a com-
mercial point of view, with success, against
their foes. Their charter was granted in
1723; in less than twenty-four hours their
subscription-books were filled up; and within
a month the shares were sold at a premium
of fifteen per cent. At a meeting of pro-
prietors in 1726, the remaining instalment
on the subscriptions, equal to a dividend of
thirty-three and one-third per cent., was
paid up from the gains of the trade. Thus
far, the emperor had persevered in uphold-
ing the company, and in granting them
commissions of reprisal, in which course
he had been confirmed by an article in the
treaty of Vienna in 1725, by which Spain
guaranteed the continuance of the associa-
tion. But this alliance was of brief dura-
tion, and only served to rouse the jealousy
of, other European powers. It was followed
by a eombination which resulted in the
treaty of Hanover, between France, Eng-
land, Holland, and Denmark, by which
among other provisions, the contracting par-
ties mutually guaranteed their respective
commercial claims to the exclusion of the
Ostend company. J The emperor, deserted
by his only ally the King of Spain, could
not oppose this formidable confederacy with-
Pulo Condore were barbarously massacred by the
soldier)', in 1705, and nearly two years afterwards the
same fate overtook those at Banjar Massin, only a
few escaping with life. In Sumatra (at Bencoolen), a
severe and prolonged struggle tookplace: the natives
compelled the British to evacuate Fort Marlborough,
in 1718; but fearing to fall into the hands of the
Dutch, suffered the P^nglish to return and resettle
their factories, in 1721. — (Grant's Sketch.)
X The Ostend company, though not expressly
named, are plainly alluded to in this treaty, to whicn
Prussia and S'vcden mere likewise parties.
242
FORMATION OP THE SWEDISH E. I. Cy.— 1731.
out endangering the object he had most at
heart — namely, to secure the transmission
of his crown to his daughter and only child,
Maria Theresa; and he was reluctantly com-
pelled to sign a treaty, in 1727, by which
the Ostend company was suspended for
seven years; and before the expiration of
that term, he, by the treaty of Seville,
pledged himself to its complete dissolution.
The whole of these transactions, while
affording strong evidence of the value at-
tached to the Asiatic trade, certainly ex-
hibit the exclusive companies of the most
powerful European states of the period in
a very unpleasing light, as concurring,
in the open face of day, to crush the at-
tempt of a persecuted people to regain their
lost prosperity, and draw from the deep
fountain of foreign commerce their portion
of the invigorating streams by which other
countries had been long fertilised.*
At this time the commerce of Sweden had
recovered from the depression caused by the
wars of Charles XII. Brilliant victories
cannot neutralise the disastrous and exhaust-
ing effect of war on the energies of a people ;
and many Swedish citizens forsook their
native land for countriesin which they could
hope to sow the seed and reap the harvest
of their labours unmolested. The restora-
tion of tranquillity gave the signal for the
return of those wanderers, who brought with
them in some cases comparative wealth, and
for the most part a spirit of enterprise yet
more beneficial to the state.
An opulent merchantof Stockholm, named
• The ten provinces, it will be remembered, which
remained under the possession of Spain, were be-
stowed by Philip on his daughter and her husband,
the Archduke of Austria, with a stipulation in the
deed of conveyance prohibiting their subjects from
sailing to America or the East Indies. Vainly the
Netherlanders presented petition after petition to the
court of Madrid : they could obtain no redress. The
wealth and industry of the country took refuge in
Protestant lands, — in the congenial atmosphere of civil
and religious freedom. Cities, ojice the hives of indus-
try, were deserted; and even Antwerp, lately the
commercial capital and emporium of Europe, was
reduced almost toa solitude; — its harbour abandoned
by shipping — its exchange by merchants. Upon the
death of Isabella, in 1698, the sovereignty reverted
to Spain ; and the king was persuaded to grant to the
Netherlands the liberty of trading to those parts of
the Indies settled by Portugal, then under his sway.
The revolt of the Portuguese in 1640 was attended
with the resumption of such of their Indian posses-
sions as had not fallen into the power of the Dutch ;
and the hopes of the Netherlanders were again dis-
appointed. In 1698, Carlos II., the last of the Aus-
trian kings of Spain, granted them permission to trade
with such parts of India an4 the coast of Guinea as
Koning, observed the temper of his country-
men, and connecting with it the number of
men possessed of capital and of commercial
and nautical knowledge turned adrift by the
destruction of the Ostend company, con-
sidered that a favourable opportunity had
arrived for the establishment of an East
India trade in Sweden. A company was
formed, and a royal charter granted in 1731,
empowering them to trade to all countries
between the Cape of Good Hope and Japan,
provided they refrained from entering havens
occupied by any European power without
permission. Gottenberg was to i)e the sole
port of outfit and arrival, and for the dis-
posal of the imports, which might be done
only by public sale. In all points regarding
duties the regulations were extremely liberal.
The direction was to be entrusted to native
or naturalised subjects of Sweden, and to
Protestants only. The Dutch opposed the
new association at the onset ; and the chief
of their two first vessels,t the Frederick, was
seized in the Straits of Sunda, and carried
into Batavia ; but the representations of the
Swedish minister procured its liberation,
and both the States-General and the company
disavowed having given any order for its
interception. The poverty and low com-
mercial reputation of Sweden, probably yet
more than the total absence of any pretext
for questioning her right of intercourse with
other independent kingdoms, prevented any
systematic opposition being set up by the
leading European powers to this new candi-
date for eastern trade. The Swedes, from
were not preoccupied by Europeans ; but before they
could take advantage of this charter, the death of
their royal patron occurred, A.D. 1700, and was fol-
lowed by the long and sanguinary war of succession
which convulsed Europe for thirteen years. Atthe con-
clusion of peace they fell under the dominion of the
house of Austria ; and the emperor, desirous of encou-
raging the commerce of his new subjects, but fearful
of provoking the enmity of the maritime powers (as
England and'Holland were then termed), he at first,
as has been shown, could only be prevailed on to
sanction separate voyages, the success of which in-
cited the formation of a temporary association, which
was soon followed by that of the chartered company,
whose efforts were brought to an untimely ter-
mination in 1727. Among the accusations made
against the Ostend company was that of being most
determined smugglers, especially of tea, which they
imported largely into Great Britain. However, as
one wrong, though it cannot justify, is usually held
to palliate another (at least in the sight of human
tribunals), the Ostenders might well plead that ex-
cuse for their adoption of the sole means of retali-
ation in their power.
t The Frederick and Utnca ; named after the king
and queen of Sweden.
EVENTS IN INDIA— 1725 to 1739,
243
the beginning, traded almost entirely with
China,* and tea formed at least four-fifths
of their exports, of which a very small part
was consumed in Sweden, the remainder
being sold for ready-money to foreigners,
chiefly for the purpose of being smuggled
into Great Britain — a practice which the
heavy duties levied upon this article greatly
encouraged.
To return to the business of the three
presidencies. The death of the aged vice-
roy of Bengal, in 1725, seems to have occa-
sioned fear and regret, and the English, after
so long complaining of his cruelty and ex-
tortion, now openly lamented his loss. The
truth was, that Moorshed Kooli Khan, in
common with the Nizam Asuf Jah, and other
statesmen of Aurungzebe's stamp, had im-
bibed from their imperial master habits of
unflagging and methodical application to
the whole duties of their position, whether
civil or military, which raised them in a
remarkable manner above the sensual and
sluggish condition into which the Moguls
had sunk under the enfeebling influence of
an eastern climate and unchecked luxury. f
Moreover, the English had other reasons for
viewing any change of this kind with anxiety;
for the weakness of the present representa-
tive of the house of Timur, rendered it doubt-
ful whether the succession to the viceroy-
alty might not prove a question to be
decided by force of arms. This fear was re-
moved by the uncontested appointment of
Shuja Khan, the son-in-law of the deceased ;
but upon his death, in 1739, a struggle
ensued between his son, Serferaz Khan, and
his ungrateful but able dependent, the
famous AH Verdi Khan, who, after slaying
the heir of his patron in battle, usurped the
government, in which he contrived to estab-
lish himself. The piracies of the sons of
Kanhojee Angria,J a Malabar chieftain,
about this period, sensibly affected the ad-
vancement of the English trade, and injured
yet more deeply the failing strength of the
Portuguese. The invasion of Nadir Shah,
in 1739, was a shock which was felt through
the length and breadth of the Indian conti-
nent : it announced in language not to be
misunderstood the downfall of a once mighty
• The supercargo of the Frederick, a Mr. Colin
Campbell, was invested with the character of ambas-
sador to the emperor of China, and some other eastern
princes. — (Macpherson's Commerce, p. 308.)
t The directors of the E. I. Cy. continued extremely
desirous to prevent their servants from acquiring
habits of indulgence which might impair their useful-
ness; and in 1731 they addressed a serious renion-
empire, and was as the tocsin of war in the
ears of the governors of the various pro-
vinces, who, though still maintaining a
semblance of respect to their nominal master,
were really anxious only about one another's
intrigues, and the increasing power of the
Mahrattas. The incursions of this nation
into Bengal, and their demand of choui, or
a fourth of the total revenues, was resolutely
opposed by Ali Verdi Khan ; and, while
strengthening his own defences, he granted
permission to the English at Calcutta to
form a trench round the city to the extent
of seven miles (the company's bounds), still
known as the Mahratta ditch.
Meanwhile events were occurring in Eu-
rope destined to produce very important
consequences in India. On the death of the
emperor, Charles VI., in the year 1740, a
violent war, kindled by competition for the
imperial dignity, and for a share in the spoils
of Austria, commenced in Germany. In
this contest France and England (the latter
through her Hanoverian connexions) had
both engaged, and, in the end, had become
nearly, or rather altogether, principals. In
1744, the two governments exchanged decla-
rations of war, and before long their most
distant settlements experienced the devastat-
ing consequences of international strife.
No material changes had taken place in
the position of the European settlements
since the commencement of the century. A
single deviation from the exclusive policy
pursued by the sovereigns of Portugal oc-
curred in 1731, when the king granted per-
mission for a single ship to make a single
voyage to Surat and the coast of Coromandel,
and back to Portugal. A company was
formed for the purpose, but the experiment
being attended with little success, was not
repeated.
The Dutch continued to exercise a pro-
fitable, though (as far as India was con-
cerned) a diminishing trade. The war with
the zamorin commenced in 1701, — was ter-
minated by a treaty of peace in 1710; but
again renewed in 1715, when the zamorin
surprised the fort of Chittua, which had been
constructed in order to keep him in check.
This event was followed by the invasion of
strance to their Bengal agents, in the style of one
already quoted, on their extravagant way of living,
desiring them especially to eschew the " foppery of
having a set of music at table, and a coach-and-six,
with guards and running footmen, as we are informed
is now practised, not only by the president, but by
some of inferior rank."
J Sec page 1G8.
244 DUTCH PROPOSAL TO KIDNAP INDIAN PRINCES— 1739.
his country by an army of fully 4,000 men
(Europeans and natives) ; and, in 1717, a
new treaty was concluded on terms, accord-
ing to Stavorinus, by no means advantageous
to the Dutch, "in comparison with what
might and ought to have been insisted on."*
The same authority states, that during the
continuance of hostilities "the English, or
rather their commandant at Tellicherry, had
assisted the zamorin with money, ammuni-
tion, and gunners.'* The evidence on which
this assertion is made does not appear.
Without any such auxiliary, the neighbour-
ing rajahs were probably quite strong enough
to compete with the Dutch, whose military
proceedings increased in cost as they de-
creased in efficiency. The " supreme gov-
ernment," as it was termed, at Batavia,
addressing the local authorities at Malabar,
in 1721, express astonishment at the re-
newed spirit of hostility towards the native
powers manifested by them, and also at
their extravagant expenditure. They added,
that "in case the zamorin thought fit to
attack the rajah of Cochin, who had so long
enjoyed the protection of the company, they
should not take an active part in the quar-
rel." This direction was nothing less than
the ungrateful abandonment of a dynasty
which, from the time of the hostilities pro-
voked by the aggressions of the Portuguese
under Alvarez Cabral, in 1501, had sided
with the Europeans. The Cochin rajahs
had, it would seem, been little more than
tools in the hands of the Dutch, who now so
ungenerously abandoned them to their
incensed countrymen. The impolicy of this
proceeding, iu a worldly sense, equalled its
injustice as a question of principle. The
zamorin and the rajah of Travancore ex-
tended their dominions by the diminution
of those of the chiefs dependent on the
Dutch; until the Travancore prince, in
1739, by his repeated successes acquired a
reputation which rendered him respected
and feared throughout the Malabar coast.
His attachment to the English was another
argument against him with the Dutch offi-
cials ; and one of them. Van ImhofF, who
came over from Ceylon, in 1739, to examine
into the state of affairs, represented that a
total reformation was absolutely necessary,
and could be effected only in two ways.
The first was, to follow the market price for
pepper; the second, to enforce the con-
tracts into which the natives were said to
have entered, of traffic with the Dutch only,
by forcibly exacting penalties in case of
their non-performance, "or by surprising
and carrying off to Batavia one or other of
those princes, who showed themselves the
most refractory, which would create so much
terror among them, that it would not be
necessary to resort to the same expedient a
second time." This latter method M. Van
Imhoff concluded would be the best; nor
does it appear that any exception was taken
at the cruelty and injustice of the plan thus
suggested.f Happily for the Malabar rajahs,
and possibly still more happily for the
Dutch, no opportunity occurred for carrying
it into execution, and the Malabar officials
were compelled to adopt a more open mode
of warfare, which they did without even ask-
ing orders from Batavia on the subject,
though they were soon obliged to send there
for assistance, against the consequences of
an unprovoked attack made by them on the
• Stavorinus' Voyages, vol. iii., p. 239.
t Other officials in the service of the Dutch E. I.
Cy. appear to have possessed and acted upon prin-
ciples of the same character displayed by M. Van
Imhoff. A terrible catastrophe occurred in Batavia,
in 1740. The identical accusation brought forward
against the English at Amboyna, was here urged
against the Chinese inhabitants, who, it was alleged,
had conspired to extirpate the Dutch, and were able
to muster 90,000 men. On this pretext a pitiless
massacre of the Chinese commenced, and the quarter
of the town occupied by them was burnt to ashes,
being set on Are, as was said, by themselves in de-
spair. The number of the Chinese slaughtered on
this occasion is estimated at from 12,000 to 30,000;
and the amount of plunder taken from them was
enormous. No clear account of the origin of the
business ever appeared, to refute the statement of the
Fuflfering party ,-=-th«t the conspiracy had been on the
side of the Dutch, who were heavily indebted to the
persons they accused. The governor himself shipped
property for Holland to an amount stated at half a
million sterling. No public trial took place ; but the
reason is evident from the fact, that two members of
the council, and the fiscal, were deprived of their
offices and put in prison, together with the gover-
nor, who remained there till the day of his death.
Although most anxious to hush up the matter, it was
deemed necessary to send an embassy to the Em-
peror of China, and explain away, as far as possible,
or at least palliate the fearful crimes committed, by
representing it as an act of justice, much fear being
excited that, on the persons of the Dutch at Canton,
the emperor might find vent for the wrathful feelings
likely to be roused by the slaughter of his people.
The answer proved the Heedlessness of such anxiety ;
the ambassador being informed that this paternal
sovereign " took no concern in the fate of unworthy
subjects, who had abandoned their native country, and
the tombs of their ancestors, to live under the domi-
nion of foreigners for the greed of gain ;" a very
impolitic as well as unfeeling sentiment to proceed
from the mouth of the ruler of so densely populou*
an empire. — (Macpherson's Commerce.)
DANISH AND FRENCH E. I. COMPANIES— 1714 to 1732.
245
rajah of Travancore. The Dutch company
couid ill bear this addition to the burthen
already imposed by the war in Macassar, — a
locality which, as it had been the arena of
some of their most cruel aggressions, in
devastating the land, and carrying off the
inhabitants in large numbers as slaves, so it
became the scene of many of their greatest
calamities and embarrassments.*
The Danish East India Company had
endeavoured to take advantage of the sup-
pression of the Ostend society; and their
king, Frederick IV., lent a willing ear to argu-
ments similar to those which had been suc-
cessfully urged by Koning upon the Swedish
monarch, regarding the advantage of enlist-
ing in the service of Denmark the capital
and ability of the Netherland merchants,
prohibited from trading under their own
flag. A charter was granted, in 1728, au-
thorising the opening of an additional sub-
scription-list for new members, and an India
House was established at Altona, a Danish
town adjacent to Hamburgh. The English
and Dutch companies remonstrated warmly
against this measure, as little less than the
reproduction of the Ostend association under
a fresh name. Their jealous opposition suc-
ceeded in procuring the abandonment of
the Hamburgh establishment ; but it raised,
in the minds of the Danes, a strong feeling
of the importance of the commerce so sharply
watched by rival societies, and induced a
large number of persons to take part in it.
* Their general trade continued, notwithstanding
these drawbacks, steadily lucrative. During the
first twenty-one years of their existence — that is,
from 1602 to 1622 — the company divided thirty
million florins ; being more than quadruple the ori-
ginal stock. From the year 1605 to 1728 the divi-
dends amounted to about twenty-two per cent, per
annum, sometimes paid in bank money, sometimes
in cloves. Thus, on the original capital of £650,000,
eighteen million sterling were paid as dividends, be-
sides the necessary accumulation of property in terri-
tory, forts, and ships. The price of the stock, between
1723 and 1760, bore a premium varying from 320
to 650 per cent. The annual fleet dispatched from
Holland was very large. From the year 1720 to
1729, inclusive, the number amounted to 372 ves-
sels (giving an annual average of thirty-seven), with
crews comprising nearly 70,000 men. The dividends,
during the same period, averaged twenty-three per
cent. Various renewals of their charter had been
qbtained, at different times, from the States-Gene-
ral, notwithstanding considerable opposition on the
part of the public, which was silenced, in the ears of
government, by the payment of large sums of money
on various occasions. In 1740, unusual difficulties
appear to have been met with, and the company
could only obtain a prolongation of their privileges
for a single year ; nor was it until 1748 that they
s.ucceeded in procuring the desired grant, which wa&
2 K
A new and very favourable charter, granted
to the company in 1732, for a term of forty
years, contains among its clauses two which
are interesting, even after the lapse of more
than a century. One was a proviso, " that
the strictest attention should be paid to the
morals of the people sent out to India in
the company's service" — a point which had
been heretofore sadly disregarded ; the
other threw a shield round the individual
interests of the proprietors, by enacting
that " no money should be lent or bor-
rowed without the consent of a general
meeting of the proprietors." f The trade
carried on after this period, though never
very extensive, became decidedly prosperous,
and continued so during the remainder of
the eighteenth century.
Fkance had advanced far more perceptibly
towards the close of the epoch now under
consideration. In 1714, the E. I. Cy. again
applied for and obtained a renewal of their
charter. Exhausted funds, and a debt
amounting to 10,000,000 livres, seemed to
afford little prospect of remunerative trade
during the ten years for which their exclu-
sive privileges were continued; but before
the expiration of that period, their separate
existence was merged in the extraordinary
association formed by the famous schemer,
John Law. J In the year 1720, England
and France exhibited to the world at large
the disgraceful spectacle of the governments
of two great nations struggling to shake off
then conceded for a term of twenty-seven years. —
(Milburn, Macpherson, and Stavorinus.)
t Macpherson's Commerce with India, p. 239.
X This remarkable man (the son of an Edinburgh
goldsmith), persuaded the Duke of Orleans, regent
of France, in 1716, to adopt his plans of finance and
commerce as a means of honourably relieving the
government and nation from a debt of about
£90,000,000 sterling, (mainly caused by the lavish
expenditure of Louis XIV.,) in preference to the dis-
graceful alternative actually propounded of disavow-
ing the large quantity of depreciated paper-money,
which had been issued from the Parisian treasury.
The first step taken by Law was the formation
of a public Bank, with a capital of six million
livres, divided into 1,200 shares ; its business to
be confined to receiving money on deposit, and
lending it at a moderate rate of interest on per-
sonal or proprietory security. The project became
immediately popular; hoarded coin found its way
to the coffers of the Bank, the notes of which
became current throughout Europe : the West India
Company furnished £.3,937,500; and the increased
circulating medium gave new energy to agricul-
ture, commerce, and the arts. During the excitement
w;hich ensued. Law wielded unlimited power, and
his personal health became a matter of intense
anxiety and eager speculation. In 1617, he founded
tjie Miasissi^ipi coii^ariy, with which was subse-
246 PROJECTS OF LAW, THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURER— 1720.
the involvements caused by war and lavish
expenditure, and to lessen their public debts
by sanctioning schemes which, being mani-
festly unjust in principle, could not fail to
prove injurious to the multitudes who, un-
accustomed, under any circumstances, to
examine into the truth of plausible state-
ments, would accept them without hesita-
tion when made current by the approbation
of the legislature, and thus cruelly misled,
rush headlong into ruin. The conduct of
the ministry and parliament of England,
though deeply blamable in regard to the
South Sea bubble, was far surpassed in dis-
honesty and infatuation by the proceedings
of the rulers of the French nation, in carry-
ing out the complication of incongruous pro-
jects called " Law's system." The " Royal
Bank" constituted the leading and absorb-
ing feature of the whole ; and of the nume-
rous societies whom their own credulity or
the manoeuvring of stock-jobbers had im-
pelled within the vortex, the East India
body alone appear to have survived the
general wreck.
This company arose strong in the " per-
petual and irrevocable"* privileges in-
herited from its defunct associates, and
secured in its pecuniary welfare by the ar-
bitrary measures enacted in 1721 for the
diminution of its shares, which benefited
the corporation by a method peculiar to
despotic governments — of annihilating the
property of their own subjects by a few
strokes of the pen, without so much as a
quently incorporated the Canada, China, Senegal,
St. Domingo, Guinea, and East India associations.
The united body became generally known as the
Company of the West — or sometimes of the Indies —
and had a capital stock of one hundred million
livres, it being the scheme of Mr. Law to pay the
holders of government paper with the stock (or shares)
of this company. All the nations of Europe became
infected with the mania of suddenly growing rich by
the issue of paper-money, and capitalists flocked by
thousands to Paris from every metropolis : the shares
bore a premium of 1,200 per cent, and the govern-
ment granted to the company various privileges, — such
as the sole vending of tobacco, the mint, and general
farming of all the revenues, in consideration of a loan
to the king of fifty million sterling towards the
liquidation of the public debt. Capital was nomi-
nally added by several expedients : gold was forbid-
den in trade ; and the coin successively diminished in
value, until the people of France gladly brought
their specie to the Bank, and converted their stock
in the public funds into shares of the company, by
which proceeding the national debt would, it was sup-
posed, be paid off. The mania lasted about a twelve-
month, and then the bubble burst, in spite of every
endeavour to continue its inflation. A terrible panic
ensued, and was followed by a long season of iiidi-
pretence of compensation. At the same
time, the nomination of directors was
claimed for the Crown, and likewise the
right of appointing one, two, or even three
commissioners, with considerable controlling
powers over the directors, with whom they
were constantly at variance. Notwithstand-
ing this great drawback, the company pur-
sued their eastern trade with much energy.
Their Indian debts — the accumulation of a
long series of years — were paid off; and, on
the appointment of the able and upright
Orry as minister of finance, measures were
adopted for the improvement and defence of
the Indo-French settlements. Pondicherry,
after its surrender by the Dutch, in 1697,
had been restored to the superintendence of
M. Martin. By his prudence and integrity
the basis of its prosperity was laid in the
confidence of the natives, who gladly settled
under his protection ; and in course of time
the village grew into a large and regular
city, containing 70,000 inhabitants, of whom
the European proportion continued, of
course, extremely small. The French had
also factories or comptoirs at Mahe, not
far south from TelHeherry, on the Mala-
bar coast; and at Chandernagore, on the
Hooghly, in Bengal. Dumas, the governor-
general appointed by Orry, increased the
revenues of the company by obtaining per-
mission from the Mogul, in 1734, to coin
money in the fort of Pondicherry ; and the
rupees struck there yielded a profit of nearly
j620,000 per annum for several years. In
vidual misery and general depression. Multitudes
of all classes awoke from their dream of wealth to
the realities of want, and the government reeled
under the shock which attended the downfall of its
splendid projects for re-establishing the public credit.
The " Sieur Law," comptroller-general of the finances
and inspector-general of the Royal Bank, and all
its associate societies, disappeared from France,
and died in obscurity, without having acquired any
thing very considerable for himself, although he had
it once in his power (so far as human judgment can
decide) to have become the richest subject in
Christendom. — (Anderson's Origin of Commerce,
years 1716 to 1720. Macpherson's European Com-
merce with India, pp. 2G4 to 276. Justamond's trans-
lation of the Abbe Raynal's European Settlements in
the East and West Indies, vol. ii., pp. 61 to 68.)
* Macpherson's Commerce, p. 269. It is a trite
remark, but singularly apposite to the present case,
that governments are never so ready to concede un-
limited privileges as when their own authority stands
on a tottering and precarious footing. In examining
into all questions regarding the grant of exclusive
privileges, and their bearing in a national point of
view, it is always important to understand clearly the
condition of the acting prince or government at the
time of making such concessions.
CHARACTER OP M. DE LA BOURDONNAIS— a.d. 1741.
247
1739 the French took forcible possession of
Karical, on the Coromandel coast, which
was confirmed to them by a grant from the
rajah of Tanjore. Meanwhile, war was
being carried on between Dost Ali, the go-
vernor or nabob of Arcot, and the Mahrattas
under Ragojee Bhonslay, which terminated
in the defeat of the former. His family, and
several of his subjects, took refuge in Pondi-
cherry, whither Ragojee pursued them, and
threatened to besiege the place, unless they
were surrendered. This Dumas positively
refused ; and at length, after plundering far
and near, the Mahrattas accepted a small
subsidy, and retired from the field in April,
1741. Sufder Ali, the son of the deceased
nabob, is alleged to have made a princely
return for the protection bestowed upon his
relatives, by ceding to Dumas personally
three districts, in value amounting to nearly
£100,000 sterling per annum. The emperor
Mohammed is stated, by the same authority,
to have confirmed this grant, and further
to have sent Dumas a dress of honour,
bestowed on him the title of nabob (a
dignity never before conferred on a Euro-
pean), and made him a Munmbdar of 4,500 —
that is, a commander entitled to the rank
and salary associated with the control of that
(often almost nominal) number of cavalry.
These distinctions were, it is added, trans-
ferred to his successor, the afterwards fa-
mous Dupleix.*
Another justly celebrated man was then
at the head of the presidency established by
the I'rench in the Indian seas, which com-
prised the two islands of Mauritius and
Mascarenhas, otherwise called Isles of
France or Cerne, and of Bourbon. M. de la
Bourdonnais was a native of St. Malo, and
liad been at sea since the age of ten years.
In the course of his voyages he had the
opportunity of observing the advantages of
the coasting trade of India, in which he was
the first of his nation to embark. In a few
years he realised a considerable fortune,
and by sheer force of character, acquired
much influence over those with whom he
associated. A violent quarrel between the
crews of some Arabian and Portuguese
ships, in the harbour of Mocha, was ami-
• See Milburn's Oriental Commerce, i., 389. This
usually correct writer possibly attributes to Dumas
honours conferred on or assumed by Dupleix a few
years later. Dost Ali was himself an interloper, un-
confirmed by the emperor or the viceroy of the
Deccan; and it is strange ftiat the extravagant grant
made by his son should have received the imperial
BanctioD, even though bestowed in reward of opposi-
cably adjusted through his intervention ; and
the viceroy of Goa, greatly relieved by this
termination of an affair which threatened
fatal consequences, invited the successful
mediator to enter the service of Portugal,
gave him the title of agent for that power
on the coast of Coromandel, together with
the command of a royal ship, the rank of
Fidalgo, and enrolled him as a member of
the order of knighthood profanely termed
" of Christ." In this honourable position
he remained for two years, and then, in 1733,
returned to France, where his reputation for
ability and uprightness procured him the
appointment of governor - general of the
Mauritius and Mascarenhas, where he ar-
rived in 1735. His conduct here was truly
admirable. He found the people poor, in-
dolent, and ignorant; but by dint of un-
wearied application, and a capacity for
taking the initiative in everything connected
with the material welfare of the settlements
over which he had been chosen to preside,
he effected improvements which seemed,
says Raynal, "owing to enchantment."t The
functions of governor, judge, surveyor,
engineer, architect, agriculturist, were al-
ternately performed by this one man, who
could build a ship from the keel, construct
vehicles, and make roads ; break in bulls to
the yoke, or teach the method of cultivat-
ing wheat, rice, cassava, indigo, and the
sugar-cane. He established an hospital for
the sick, and notwithstanding his multi-
farious occupations, visited it regularly every
morning for a whole twelvemonth. Neither
his unwearied labours, nor the extraordinary
success with which they were attended, suf-
ficed to shield him from the shafts of ca-
lumny. Some ship-captains and other visi-
tants of the island, whom he checked in
their unreasonable demands, laid unfounded
charges against him before the directors, and
the high-spirited governor was consequently
exposed to treatment which induced him to
return to France, in 1740, with the intention
of resigning his harassing and thankless
office. { This Orry would not permit, but
induced him to return to the Isles, and en-
couraged his plans for the extension of
French power in the East, and of hostility
tion to the common foe of Mohammedans, the Mah-
rattas.
t European Settlements in E. Sf W. Indies, ii., 75.
X Raynal states, that La Bourdonnais, being asked
how he had conducted his private afl'airs with more
ability than those of his employers, replied : " I ma-
naged mine according to my own judgment, and those
of the company according to their directions."
248
DUPLEIX— STATE OP INDIA— 1740 to 1745.
against the English. La Bourdonnais could
not, however, procure adequate means for
the execution of his extensive projects ; but
the force entrusted to him was usefully em-
ployed in raising the siege of Mahe, invested
by the Mahrattas inl741, after which he again
occupied himself with the same energy as be-
fore in the detaih of his own government.
Dupleix, the French governor-general in
India, was perhaps equal to his colleague
in a certain description of ability, and pro-
bably superior to him in education and social
position (his father having been a farmer-
general of the revenues, and a director of
the East India Company) ; but in manliness
and integrity he was incomparably the in-
ferior. In 1720, Dupleix was appointed first
member of the council at Pondicherry ; and
here he continued for ten years, carefully
studying the politics of the epoch, and ac-
cumulating property by engaging in the
commerce of the country, from which the
poverty of the servants of the Trench company
for the most part debarred them. In 1730
he was sent to superintend the settlement at
Chandernagore, which he found in a very
neglected condition. Under his rule a great
change took place, and the increase of wealth
and population was marked by the erection
of no less than 2,000 brick houses. A new
trading establishment was formed at Patna
through his exertions, and the French com-
merce in Bengal became an object of envy to
all other Europeans. These indubitable
proofs of legislative ability, aided probably
by the influence of family connexion at
home, procured for Dupleix the position of
governor-general. It would seem as if the
peculiar vices of his character had lain dor-
mant while he remained in a subordinate
position, but were called into action by the
possession of supreme authority over his
countrymen in India, checked only by re-
sponsibility to a distant and ill-informed body
of directors. Ambitious in the extreme, in-
ordinately vain, and no less restless and
intriguing, Dupleix, from this period, con-
stantly manifested a degree of littleness which
made his really remarkable talents a matter
of doubt in the sight of many who deemed
such opposite qualities incompatible.
It may be imagined that a man of this cha-
racter would neglect no opportunity of dis-
tinguishing himself and extending the power
of his nation at the expense of the English ;
but his appointment at Pondicherry had
been accompanied by such stringent com-
mands for a general diminution of outlay,
that he dared not commence hostilities,
but was compelled to content himself by
taking measures (in contravention to his
instructions) for placing Pondicherry in a
strongly defensible condition.
The state of the English Company at this
period has been sufficientlj"^ shown in pre-
ceding pages. They do not appear to have
numbered among their servants any leader
fitted by experience and ability to oppose
with success the generalship of La Bour-
donnais, or the wiles of Dupleix. Happily
for England, want of union in the councils
of the enemy, tended to diminish the dan-
ger of their hostile attempts.
Before proceeding to narrate the struggle
between the two nations, it is necessary to
pause and briefly notice the leading terri-
torial divisions of India at the epoch when
the Mogul yoke changed from an iron
chain to a rope of sand, and imperial vice-
roys or subahdars, nabobs or deputy go-
vernors, rajahs and ranas, naiks, wadeyars,
polygars, zemindars, and innumerable chiefs
of lesser note and dififering titles, strove
each one for the aggrandisement and in-
dependence of himself or his own family.
A similar summary has been given previous
to the invasion of India by the followers
of Mohammed (pp. 39 to 43); as also at
the epoch formed by the accession of Akber
in 1556 (pp. 93 to 107): it is now important
to note the origin and condition of several
newly- created principalities, and also the
changes which had taken place in the older
states, in the course of the intervening
period of nearly two centuries, for the sake
of affording a means of reference, the value
of which will be apparent when the narra-
tive of European progress brings into pro-
minent notice nabobs and rajahs taking
their titles from places as yet unheard of.
Indian States — 1740 to 1745. — The in-
vasion of Nadir Shah, in 1739 (as has been
shown in previous pages), left the Great Mo-
gul in the dismantled palace of his ances-
tors, with an exhausted treasury and an
empire diminished by the severance of Ca-
BOOL, SiNDE, and Motjltan. A few years
later, and another jewel was snatched from
the imperial crown. The lovely valley of
Cashmere, ever since its acquisition by
Akber, had been the favourite retreat of
successive monarchs from the intense sum-
mer-heats of Delhi or Agra. Here Jehan-
geer had held many a Bacchanalian revel,
and spent long hours in dalliance with the
gifted but unprincipled Nour Mahal, watch-
CASHMERE, OUDE, THE PUNJAUB, GUZERAT, RAJPOOTANA, &c. 249
jng her distilling the far-famed essence of
the rose, or listening 'to her magnificent
projects for the erection of public edifices,
mingled, too often, with unworthy schemes
of ambition or revenge. Here Shah Jehan
passed many bright summers before death
took away Taj Mahal, the wife whom he truly
loved, and before the quarrels and rebel-
lion of the children she had borne, brought
to him, in retribution for the unsparing
cruelty which had attended his accession
to the throne, an old age of sorrowful
captivity. Here Aurungzebe, proof alike
against the enervating influences of climate,
the charms of the seraglio, the seductions
of wine, or the intoxicating drugs which
had been the bane of his race, pondered in
austere seclusion over the complicated web
he spent a life in weaving, with the bitter
result of finding himself at last entangled
in his own toils. Here, lastly, Mohammed
Shah came, in the first flush of regal gran-
deur, to forget, amid a crowd of giddy
courtiers, the heavy responsibilities of the
inheritance of despotic power which his
indolent, easy nature rendered peculiarly
burdensome; and here, too, he came in age,
and beholding the vessel of the state, com-
mitted by Providence to his guidance,
reduced almost to a wreck, by Calamities
brought on by internal corruption, rather
than by external strife, he probably learnt
the causes of evils it was too late to remedy,
but which he encountered with a quiet dig-
nity and forbearance that served to keep
together some of the shattered remains of
imperial power. Cashmere was, however,
seized by Ahmed Shah Abdulli, and incor-
porated in the new kingdom of Candahar ;
and the conqueror proceeded to invade the
PuNJAUB, and had even crossed the Sutlej,
■when he was met by the Mogul army (under
his namesake the heir-apparent), completely
defeated, and driven back. This victory was
followed almost immediately by the death of
Mohammed Shah, and the accession of
Prince Ahmed. The period, however, of
which we are treating commences with the
* The rise of the Mahrattas materially aided the
Jats, by withdrawing Aurungzebe from the neighbour-
hood of Agra ; but the statement of Grant Duff,
that the plunder of the imperial army enabled them
to fortify Bhurtpoor, is contradicted by Elphinstone.
— [India, ii., 51 1. See also Thornton's Indian Oazet-
teer,ia four vols., London, 1854 — article, Bhurtpore.)
t See p. 171. — The founder of the Rohillas is
described by Duff as the son of a Hindoo Aheer, a
class of shepherds nearly similar to the Dhimyurs of
Maharashtra. An Afghan adopted him when a boy,
and gave him the name of Ali Mohammed Rohilla.
departure of the Persian invaders (1739.)
The intrigues of viceroys and governors were
speedily resumed when the first stunning
efiect of the late calamity had passed away.
In Oui)E, Sadut Khan had been succeeded
by his nephew and son-in-law, Sufder Jung.
In the PuNJAUB, the rebellion of the Mogul
viceroy soon produced renewed incursions
from the Afghan border, and the province
of GrzERAT fell completely into the hands
of the Mahrattas. The three chief Rajpoot
states of Jeypoob (Amber), JoudpoOr (Mar-
war), and OoDiPOOR (Mewar), were still, to
some extent, tributary to the emperor. The
two last-named had been subjected to partial
devastation from the Mahrattas; but the
intimate connexion subsisting between Rajah
Jey Sing and Bajee Rao, prevented such
aggressions in the districts of Jeypoor, at
the cost to the empire of the province of
Malwa. The Jats, established in the terri-
tory between Agra and Jeypoor, were
rapidly gaining ground ; and after the Mah-
rattas crossed the Chumbul, they, for the
most part, maintained a friendly intercourse
with their fellow-marauders.* The princi-
pality afterwards known by the name of
Rohilla, was in progress of establishment in
THE Doab, little inore than a hundred miles
to the southward of Delhi.f Bengal, Bahar,
and Orissa were under the sway of Ali
Verdi Khan, but subject to the exactions of
the Mahrattas, to whom the whole of India
was rapidly becoming more or less tributary.
When one pretext failed, another could
easily be found by those who had the power
of enforcing their most unreasonable de-
mands. A district once overrun, was said to be
under tribute from usage, whilst chout and
surdeshmooki were extorted from the others
by virtue of letters patent. J Thus, on various
pretences the Mahrattas, says Dufi', " went
plundering and burning on the east and
on the west, from the Hooghly to the Bunass,
and from Madras to Delhi;" while the
Europeans, in their profound ignorance of
native history, watched with amazement the
progress of a people whom they still called
His followers assumed the same designation ; and
from being the commander of a small party of
Afghan cavalry, in the service of the deputy-go-
vernors of Moradabad, he gradually obtained pos-
session of lands, and encroached by degrees, until
the force sent for his expulsion by the imperial
viceroy, proved insufficient for the purpose.
I It does not appear that any deed for collecting
general cJiout over the empire was ever granted by
Mohammed Shah : sums of money and convenient
assignments were the modes of payment. — (Grant
Duff's History of the Mahrattas, i., 457.)
250
MAHARASHTRA AND THE SOUTH OF INDIA.
" the Sevajees," after their great leader, in-
stead of bj' their own distinctive appellation.
The centre of the diffusive power of the
lilahrattas was Maharashtra, the region
where their peculiar language was spoken.
The whole of this territory had, in 1573,
during the reign, of Akber, been subject to
the kings of Eeejapoor and Ahmednuggur,
with the exception of a part of Candeish
(which was held as an independent princi-
pality by the sultan of Boorhanpoor) , of the
northern Concan belonging to Guzerat, and
the possessions of the Portuguese.* At that
period Golconda was the third important
Mohammedan state in the Deccan, Beder
(the seat of the Bahraani dynasty) and Berar
having been annexed to the dominions of
their more powerful neighbouring states,
which, as we have seen, were themselves in
turn extinguished by the encroachments of
Sevajee on the one side, and the levelling
policy of Aurungzebe on the other. The six
Mogul subahs or provinces of the DECCANt
were, in 1741, in so far as the Delhi emperor
was concerned, an independent government,
under the irresponsible rule of the old nizam,
Asuf Jah, who divided the revenues with
the Mahrattas; the advantage being, as has
been shown, increasingly on their side. The
fixed possessions of the Mohammedans, for
many centuries after their first invasion of
the peninsula, did not extend south of the
Kistna ; and, indeed, the term of " the
Deccan," by writers of this religion, and
even by Wilks and other English authorities,
is commonly used to denote the countries
lying between the Nerbudda and Kistna;
the territory below the latter river being
distinguished as the south op India. It is
with this portion of the continent that we
* See pp. 43 and 140. Hindoo writers differ ma-
terially as to the extent of Maharashtra, which they
designate one of the five principal divisions of the
Deccan. According to the Tutwa (one of the books
of the Jotush Shastra or Hindoo Astronomy), Maha-
rashtra extends no farther than the Chandore range
of hills, where Kolwun, Buglana, and Candeish are
represented as its northern boundaries ; and all be-
yond those countries is indiscriminately termed
Vendhiadree. Dutf adds, " that the tract between
Chandore and Eroor Manjera, on the Kistna, is
certainly the most decidedly Mahratta, and in it there
is the least variation in the language ; but follow-
ing the rule adverted to in its more extended sense,
Maharashtra is that space which is bounded on the
north by the Sautpoora [? Vindhya] mountains, and
extends from Naundode, on the west, along those
mountains to the AVync Gunga, east of Nagpoor."^ —
(i., 3.) A waving line from Mahoor to Goa, with the
ocean on the westward, form the chief remaining
limittt. Wilki states, that the Mahratta language
are more particularly concerned, from its
having been the scene of the first struggle
for supremacy between European powers.
Previous to the battle of Talieot, in 1565,
the whole of this territory was, more or less,
under the sway of the government of Beeja-
nuggur, or Vijeyanuggur ; but many dis-
tricts were held by families who ruled as tribu-
taries or feudatories, with hereditary power.
The defeat and slaughter of the brave old
Rama Rajah, and the destruction of his
capital by the conjoined exertions of the
four Mohammedan sovereigns of the Deccan,
were not followed by any systematic attempts
for the annexation of Beejanuggur by the
conquerors to their own dominions, private
jealousies and international disputes pre-
venting any permanent arrangement between
them regarding the division of the spoil.
Venkatadri, the brother of the late rajah,
established himself at Penconda, about 140
miles south-east of the former capital, and
from thence the seat of government was
shortly afterwards transferred toChandragiri.
About the year 1597, a descendant of the
ancient Hayeeh (as the rajahs of this dynasty
were called) ruled with some degree of
magnificence at Chandragiri and Vellore,
where he still held at least nominal sway
over the governors or naiks of Jinjee, Tan-
jore, Madura, Chennapatam, Seringapatam
(Mysoor), and Penconda; and in 1640, the
last representative of this ancient house,
Sree Ranga Raya, sanctioned the establish-
ment of the English at Chennapatam, or
Madras. About six years afterwards, he
was driven by the forces of Golconda from
his occasional places of residence and nominal
capitals at Chandragiri and Chingleput, and
compelled to take refuge with the chief
spreads from Beder to the north-west of Canara,
and of a line which, passing considerably to the
eastward of JJowlatabad, forms an irregular sweep
until it touches the Taptco, and follows the course
of that river to the western sea, on which the dis-
trict of Sedashegur, in North Canara, forms its south-
ern limit. In the geographical tables of the Hin-
doos, the name o^ Maharashtra — and by contraction,
Mahratta dasum (or country) — seems to have been
more particularly appropriated to the eastern por-
tion of this great region, including Raglana, part of
Berar, and Candeish: the western was known by its
present name of Concan. ^[Historical Sketches of
the South of India, or History of Mysoor, i., 5-6.)
t 1st. Candeish, capital Burhanpoor. 2nd. Aurun-
gabad, which comjirised the territory formerly called
the state of Ahmednuggur, governed by the Nizam
Shahi dynasty, .'ird. Beejapoor or Viziapoor, the
capital of the Adil Shahi dynasty. 4th. Beder.
5th. Berar. 6th. Hyderabad, capital of the Gol-
conda or Kootb Shuhi dynasty.
ACCOUNT OF CAENATIC BALA GHAUT AND PAYEEN GHAUT. 251
of Bednore or Nuggur (now included in
Mysoor.) Sera, Bangalore, and Colar, with
the important fortresses of Vellore and Jinjee,
were seized by Beejapoor, the ambitious
and short-sighted rulers of that kingdom
continuing, to their last gasp of power, to en-
deavour to increase a superstructure already
too extensive for its slender and tottering
base. Aurungzebe's great political error, in
destroying states it was his interest to uphold
in dependence upon him, brought both them
and him a fitting reward for the ungovern-
able lust of conquest. It levelled the only
barrier to the rapid spread of Hindoo power ;
and in a short period of years, the supre-
macy of the Mahratta state wa« acknow-
ledged, more or less decidedly, over all the
south of India; and this, notwithstanding
the incongruities of its internal constitution
with its capitals of Sattara, where the rajahs
lived (kings in name, captives or pageants
in reality) ; and of Poona, where the peish-
was (ministers in name, sovereigns in reality)
held their now sumptuous courts and exer-
cised sway, checked however materially by
the private designs and unsleeping watch-
fulness of the Dhabaray family, Rugojee
Bhonslay, and other noted leaders. With
these turbulent chieftains, the peishwas
were glad to compromise matters, by suffer-
ing them to invade Guzerat, Bengal, and
other Mogul provinces on their own ac-
count; the authority of the rajah being a
convenient pretence, occasionally resorted to
in confirmation of such arrangements, and
which, strange to say, still carried consider-
able weight in the minds of the people, it
being quite inconsistent with the character
of the Brahminical cast to govern, except
after the fashion of an English " lord-pro-
tector" or a French cardinal.
The death of Bajee Rao, the famous antago-
nist of the nizam, in 1740, has been narrated
(p. 169), as also the events which attended
the accession to the peishwaship of bis son
Ballajee Bajee Rao. It is not necessary to
enter further into the Mahratta history of
this period, save in so far as it is connected
with that of the various distinct principali-
ties now fast rising into importance beneath
the sway of native rulers or usurping go-
• History of Mysoor, i. 8.
t Situated on the western coast of the Indian
peninsula, between the Conean and Malabar (for-
merly named Kerala.)
X The great geographical feature of the south of
India is a central eminence of 3,000 to 5,000 feet in
height, above the level of the sea, separated by
abrupt declivities from the low flat countries to the
vernors. Under the latter head may be
classed Toolava, the region (formerly part
of Dravida) distinguished in European maps
as theCARNATic — a tract, says Colonel Wilks,
which " by a fatality unexampled in the
history of nations, neither is nor ever was
known by that name to the people of the
province, or of any part of India."* The
misnomer originated in the conquest of
Toolava by .the government of Canara
Proper,t not long before the partition of
the dominions of that state between the
kings of Golconda and Beejapoor. These
sovereigns, in dividing a country of whose
condition and history they were wholly
ignorant, were satisfied with the sweeping
designations of the Carnatic Bala Ghaut
and Payeen Ghaut (above and below the
Ghauts) J — appellations which were trans-
ferred with the dominion over the region
thus arbitrarily renamed — when all other
Mohammedan goveruments were swallowed
up in Mogul supremacy. In 1706, a chief
named Sadut Oollah Khan (through the influ-
ence of Daud Khan Panni,§ then viceroy of
the Deccan), was appointed by the emperor
nabob of the Carnatic Bala Ghaut and Payeen
Ghaut, II and he continued to fill that position
after the death of his patron and the acces-
sion of the nizam. Sadut Oollah is supposed
to have fixed the seat of his government at
Arcot about the year 1716, no inscription
or authority (says Colonel Wilks) having been
discovered to prove the previous existence
of a capital on that site. He died in 1732,
leaving no issue male ; but through the pre-
cautions taken in behalf of his nephews and
adopted sons. Dost Ali and Bakir Ali, the
latter continued to be governor of Vellore,
while the former succeeded in establishing
himself as nabob of the Carnatic, despite the
opposition of the nizam, whose jealous in-
terference prevented his procuring an au-
thentic commission from Delhi. At the
period of his accession, the new nabob had
two sons ; the elder, Sufder Ali, had reached
manhood : he had also several daughters,
one of whom was married to a distant rela-
tive, the afterwards famous Chunda Sahib,
who first acquired notoriety by his treache-
rous acquisition of Trichinopoly. This little
east and west, which form a belt of small and un-
equal breadth between the hills and the ocean. This
central eminence is usually named the Bala Ghaut;
and the lower belt, the Payeen Ghaut — Ohaut sig-
nifying a momtain pass or break.
§ See page 156.
II Called also the Carnatic Beejapoor Bala Ghaut,
and the Carnatic Hyderabad Payeen Gha\it.
252
PRINCIPALITIES OF TANJORE AND MYSOOR— 1740 to 1745.
state, like the neighbouring principality of
Tanjore, although at times subject to the
exactions of the Mohammedan rulers of
Beejapoor and Golconda, had maintained its
independence from a remote date. The
death of the rajah, in 1736, gave rise to dis-
putes concerning the succession. Minakshi
Amman, the reigning queen, upheld the
cause of her adopted son against a rival
claimant, and was actively supported by
Chunda Sahib. Grateful for his assistance,
and unsuspicious of any sinister motive, the
queen was induced to give her ally free
access to the citadel, and he abused her
confidence by taking possession of the
government in his own right, and im-
prisoning the ill-fated lady, who soon died
of grief. This unworthy conduct excited
strong dissatisfaction throughout the neigh-
bouring states. The nabob viewed with
alarm the ambitious and unscrupulous
temper of his son-in-law, and the nizam
was exceedingly annoyed by the growing
power of a family, whose members, though
•disunited among themselves, would, he well
knew, at any time coalesce against him as
their common foe. The Hindoo princes
participated in the jealous feelings of the
nizam, and were likewise, it may be sup-
posed, moved with honest indignation at the
cruel treatment sustained by their fellow-so-
vereign. The result was, the invasion of the
Carnatic by a Mahratta army under Rugo-
jee Bhonslay, in 1740, and the defeat and
death of Dost Ali; followed, in 1741, by the
siege of Trichinopoly and the capture of
Chunda Sahib, who was carried prisoner to
Sattara. Sufder AH, the new nabob, was
assassinated at the instigation of his cousin,
Murtezza Ali, the governor of Vellore ; * and
the murderer, after vainly endeavouring to
take advantage of his crime, by establishing
himself as ruler of the province, shut him-
self up in his own citadel.
The nizam having determined on quitting
Delhi, arrived at Arcot in 1743. He found
that the infant son of Sufder Ali had been
proclaimed nabob ; and the popular feeling
on the subject was so decided, that not
caring openly to dispute the hereditary suc-
cession tacitly established in the family of
Sadut OoUah, the wily politician affected to
* Murtezza Ali is described by Orme as the model
of a cruel and suspicious tyrant : he " never moved,
not even in his own palace, without being surrounded
by guards, nor ever ventured to taste anything that
was not brought to him in a vessel to which his wife
had affixed her seal." He is stated to have procured
the assassination of his unsuspicious relative, by the
intend confirming the boy in office so soon
as he should arrive at years of discretion.
In the interim, he placed two of his own
followers in the government. The first of
these, Khojeh Abdulla, died in a very short
space of time — it was supposed from the
effects of poison administered by his succes-
sor, Anwar-oo-deen : shortly afterwards, the
youthful expectant of the nabobship, who
had been very improperly committed by the
nizam to the care of this same person, so
notoriously unfit for such a charge, was
mortally stabbed at a public festival, by a
guard of Patau soldiers, under pretence of
revenging the non-payment of arrears due
to them by the father of their victim.
Anwar-oo-deen and Murtezza Ali were sus-
pected of having conspired for the com-
mission of this new crime — an opinion which
gained strength by the efforts each of them
made to cast the odium wholly on the
other. The nizam would not listen to the
accusations brought against Anwar-oo-deen
by the friends of the unfortunate family of
Sadut Oollah, but ca.used him to be formally
installed as nabob of the Carnatic, notwith-
standing the opposition of the people of the
province, who found in the arbitrary and par-
simonious administration of the new gover-
nor additional cause to remember the lenient
and liberal conduct of their former rulers.
It has been necessary to enter thus far into
the domestic history of the Carnatic, in
elucidation of its condition at the period
when this very Anwar-oo-deen became an
important personage in Indo-European
history. For the same reason, a few words
must be said regarding the native state of
Tanjore — a relic of the ancient Hindoo king-
dom of Madura — which, owing to domestic
dissensions, had fallen into the hands of a
Mahratta ruler. The sovereignty became
an object of contest to the grandsons of
Venkajee, the half-brother of Sevajee. One
of these, named Pertab Sing, the son of a
concubine, succeeded in gaining possession
of it, in 1741, to the exclusion of Syaj.ee,
the legitimate heir of the late rajah. Syajee,
someyears after, sought help from theEnglish.
The Mysoob state, long a dependency of
the kingdom of Beejanuggur, was founded
under romantic circumstances,t by a youth
hand of a Patan officer whom Sufder Ali had deeply
injured by the seduction of his wife, and who availed
himself of the opportunity of wreaking a deadly
revenge by entering the tent of the nabob at midnight,
and stabbing him while attempting to escape. —
{Military Transactions, i., 46 — 18.)
% Two brothers left the court of Beejanuggur to
- I
SOUTH CANAUA, MALABAR, TRAVANCORE, TANJORE, &c. 253
of the famous tribe of Yedava, ■which boasts
among its eminent characters, Crishna (the
celebrated Indian Apollo), one of the incar-
nations of Vishnu. The first chieftain or
rajah of this family whose date is established,
succeeded to power in 1507, and was sur-
named Arbiral, or the six-fingered, from the
personal trait thus described. A fort was
constructed or repaired in 1524, at Mahesh
Asoor,* contracted to Mysoor ; but it was
not till after the battle of Talicot (forty
years later), that its petty chieftains began
to assume any importance among the princes
of the south. In 1610 they acquired pos-
session of Seringapatam, which thenceforth
became the seat of government ; and from
this period their territories increased rapidly,
and continued to do so, even after becoming
avowedly tributary both to the Mogul em-
peror and to the Mahratta rajah Shao.
South Canara, Malabar, and Travan-
CORE remain to be noticed, having as yet
escaped Mohammedan invasion. In the first
of these was situated the country of Bed-
NORE, under the sway of a family, who from
a small establishment at Caladee,in 1499, had
gradually extended their limits to the sea-
coast of Onore, and southward to the limits
of Malabar, over the dominions of the former
ranee of Garsopa, the "pepper queen" of
Portuguese authors; while, on the north,
they successfully opposed the further advance
of the forces of Beejapoor along the sea-
coast. Sree Ranga Raya, when expelled from
his last fortress, Chandragiri, took refuge
here; and the Bednore rajah, formerly a
servant of his family, avaUed himself of the
pretence of re-establishing the royal house
of his liege lord, as a cloak for his own am-
bitious designs. The district belonging to
Sumbajee, the Mahratta chief of Kolapoor,
seek their fortunes, and having in the course of their
wanderings alighted near the border of a tank, be-
side the little fort of Hadana, a few miles from the
site of the present town of Mysoor, they overheard
some women, who had come to fetch water, bewail-
ing the fate of the only daughter of their wadeyar
(i.e., lord of thirty-three villages), who was about to
be given in marriage to a neighbouring chief of in-
ferior cast, as the only means of preserving her
family from immediate hostilities, which, owing to
the mental derangement of the wadeyar, they were
quite unprepared to resist. The young knights-
errant ofl'ered their services to rescue the afflicted
damsel from the impending disgrace ; and after slay-
ing the bridegroom and his companions at the mar-
riage feast, marched, at the head of the men of
Hadana, upon his territory of Caragully, which hav-
ing captured, the conquerors returned in triumph to
Hadana; and one of them, Vijeya, married the lady,
nothing loth, and by the general voice of her people
2 L
formed the limits of Bednore on one side ;
and to the southwards, lay the mountainous
principality of Coorg, between the coast of
Malabar and Mysoor. Malabar itself brings
us to the familiar territory of Calicut, go-
verned by the zamorin or Tamuri rajah,
bounded to the southward by Cochin, on
the opposite side of which, at the extreme end
of the Peninsula, was the state of Tanjore,
once an integral part of Malabar, known in
the records of the E. I. Cy. as the country
of the queen of Attinga,t by whose permis-
sion an English factory was formed at An-
jengo, in 1694. Since then Tanjore had
become famous in the annals of the Dutch,
through the determined opposition of its
rajah to their encroachments and oppression.
Besides the states enumerated in the above
sketch, there were many others of less note ;
such for instance as those formed by the
rajah of Soonda and the dessaye of Carwar,
(who had taken part with the Portuguese in
their late conflict with the Mahrattas) ; also
by the Patau chiefs of Kurnoul, Kubpa,
and Savanoor, descendants of governors
under the dynasties of Beejapoor and Gol-
conda. The three last-named were closely
connected with some of the leading Mahratta
chieftains, and had been for some time nearly
independent.
Struggle for supremacy between Eng-
land and France. — Allusion has been made
to the commercial crisis which convulsed
these nations in 1720, brought on by im-
prudence and the absence of sound principle
on the part of their respective governments.
A quarter of a century later we find them
exchanging declarations of war; and after
being, in the first instance, drawn into the
vortex as auxiliaries in the disputed Austrian
was elected wadeyar, first changing his creed from
that of a disciple of Vislmu to ajungani or limjwunt
— Hindoo terms, which will be hereafter explained.
• Mahesh Asoor, " the buffalo-headed monster,"
whose overthro.w is the most noted exploit of Cali,
the consort of Siva. This goddess is still worshipped
under the name of Chamoondee (the discomfiter of
enemies) on the hill of Mysoor, in a temple famed at
one period for human sacrifices. (Wilks'itfysoor, i. 34.)
t Hamilton states, that from remote antiquity the
male offspring of the tamhuretties, or princesses of
Attinga, had inherited the sovereignty of Travan-
core, and continued to do so until the middle of the
eighteenth century, when the reigning " tamburetty"
was prevailed upon to transfer the authority to the
male line. The conquests made by tlie Tanjore ruler,
between 1740 and 1755, are attributed to tlie effi-
ciency of a body of troops disciplined after the Euro-
pean manner by Eustachius de Lanoy, a Flemish
officer. — {East India Gazetteer, ii., 674.)
254 ENGLAND AND FRANCE STRUGGLE FOR GENERAL SUPREMACY.
successioiij becoming themselves fired with
the fierce excitement, they continued the
contest as principals, on one pretext or an-
other ; the actual end desired by either party
being the attainment of complete mastery in
all points, whether as regarded political as-
cendancy in Europe, transatlantic dominion,
trading monopolies, or maritime power.
In this unhallowed rivalry both kingdoms
lavished unsparingly life and treasure, deeply
injuring each other's resources, and griev-
ously retarding their mutual growth in Chris-
tian civilisation and commercial prosperity.
Spain, then a great colonial and naval power,
sided with France, while England had to
withstand their united force, and, at the
same time, to bear up against the disturb-
ances connected with the Hanoverian succes-
sion, and the long struggle which terminated
in the independence of the United States.
Sea and land witnessed the strife. In North
America — at Quebec, Louisberg, and on the
Mississippi; in the West Indies — at Marti-
nique, Guadaloupe, and the Caribbee Islands ;
in Africa — at Goree and Senegal; in the
Mediterranean and Atlantic — at Minorca and
Belleisle; and on the European continent, "pro-
longed hostilities were waged : while in India
acontest commenced which lasted sixty years,
the prize there fought for being nothing less
than the establishment of a powerful Euro-
pean dominion in the very heart of Asia.
It is not to be supposed that the trading
societies who first gained a footing amid the
confusion of falling dynasties and usurping
chiefs, foresaw from the commencement of the
conflict the marvellous results with which their
operations were to be attended. With the ex-
ception, perhaps, of the brothers Child, none
of the officers of the old-established English
company had any desire for the acquisition
of sovereignty, nor had they the inducement
which might have been afforded by an insight
into the actual condition of India. The gene-
ral indifference manifested by the servants of
the various European companies towards the
attainment of Asiatic languages, long tended
to prevent their acquiring this knowledge,
even when the course of events plainly de-
monstrated its importance. Moreover, the
English and French associations were both
poor, and extremely unwilling to enter upon
a costly warfare, respecting the issue of
which no reasonable conjecture could be
formed. The representatives of the latter
body became first inspired with an irrestrain-
able desire to take part in the strife and in-
trigue by which they were surrounded ; and
the connection which subsisted between the
government and the French company, en-
abled La Bourdonnais and Dupleix to obtain, j
through the influence of Orry the minister, a [
sanction for their daring adventures, which
the partners of a purely mercantile association
would, if they could, have withheld. Even
had the two states in Europe continued at
peace, it was next to impossible that their
subjects in India should bear a share in the
disputes of neighbouring princes without
soon coming to open hostility with each
other ; and the national declarations of war
brought matters to an immediate crisis.
The English were the first to receive
reinforcements from home. A squadron of
four vessels appeared oflf the coast of Coro-
mandel, in July, 1745, having previously
captured three richly-laden French vessels
on their voyage from China. The garrison of
Pondicherry contained only 436 Europeans,
and the fortifications were incomplete.
Dupleix, fearing that the place would be
taken before La Bourdonnais could answer
his appeal for succour, made earnest repre-
sentations to the nabob, Anwar-oo-deen,
and succeeded in inducing him to interfere
for the protection of Pondicherry, by threat-
ening to revenge upon Madras any injury
which should be inflicted upon French pos-
sessions within the limits of his government.
At the same time, the nabob declared his
intention of compelling the French, in the
event of their acquiring additional strength,
to abstain equally from ofiensive proceedings.
Mogul power had not yet lost its prestige :
that of England was still to be won ; conse-
quently the determined language of the
nabob intimidated the Madras presidency,
and induced them to prevent the fleet from
attacking Pondicherry, and to confine their
operations to the sea. In the June of the
following year a French squadron arrived
in the Indian ocean, under the command of
La Bourdonnais, who had equipped the ships
with great difiiculty at the Mauritius ; and
when afterwards dismantled by a hurricane,
had refitted them at Madagascar. An inde-
cisive action took place between the rival
fleets, after which the French commander
proceeded to Pondicherry, and there re-
quested a supply of cannon, wherewith to
attack Madras. The hearty co-operation of
Dupleix and his council was, at this mo-
ment, of the highest importance ; but
jealousy of the renown which would attend
the success of the enterprise, induced
them to receive the soUcitations of their
MADRAS CAPTURED BY THE FRENCH— 1746.
255
colleague with haughty and insulting in-
difference. La Bourdonnais, already se-
verely tried by the miserable unfitness of
the greater portion of his crews, consisting
of sailors for the first time at sea, and
soldiers who needed instruction how to fire
a musket — their ineflBciency increased by
sickness, by which he was himself almost
prostrated — had now to struggle against the
aggravating tone adopted towards him by
those to whom he looked for aid and sym-
pathy. Under these circumstances, he be-
haved with singular discretion and forbear-
ance, and having at length obtained a scanty
reinforcement of guns, set sail for Madras,
against which place he commenced opera-
tions on the 3rd of September, 1746.*
The fortifications of the city had been
neglected, owing to the financial embarrass-
ment of the E. I. Cy. There was little
ammunition in store, and the soldiers
were few, and of a very indifferent descrip-
tion. The total number of Europeans in
the settlement did not exceed 300, and of
these about two-thirds were included in the
garrison. As might be expected, no very
determined resistance was offered. The
town was bombarded for several days, and
four or five of the inhabitants were killed by
the explosion of shells, after which a capitu-
lation was agreed upon, by virtue of which
the assailants entered Madras as victors,
without the loss of a single man, but on the
express condition that the settlement should
be restored on easy and honourable terms.
This arrangement was in strict accordance
with the instructions laid down by the
French directors, who expressly forbade
the extension of territory until their exist-
ing settlements should be more firmly esta-
blished, and ordered their servants, in the
event of capturing the possessions of any
foreign foe, to abide by the alternative of de-
struction or a ransom. The very day of
the surrender of Madras, a messenger, dis-
* The forces destined for the siege comprised
about 1,100 Europeans, 400 sepoys, and 400 Mada-
gascar blacks; 1,700 or 1,800 European mariners
remained to guard the ships. — (Orme, i., 67.)
t Military Transactions, i., 73.
j Fron thence La Bourdonnais returned to France
to vindicate himself from the complaints preferred by
the family of Dupleix, some of whom being inti-
mately connected with the E. I. Cy., had warmly
espoused the quarrel of their relative against his
more worthy adversary. He took his passage in a
ship belonging to Holland, which, in consequence of
the declaration of war, was forced into an English
harbour. The distinguished passcngerwas recognised;
but his conduct at Madras procured him an honour-
patched for more expedition on a camel,
arrived at Pondicherry with a letter from
Anwar-oo-deen, expressing his great sur-
prise at the conduct of the French in at-
tacking Madras, and threatening to send an
army there if the siege were not immediately
raised. Dupleix returned a deceitful an-
swer, promising that the town, if taken,
should be surrendered to the nabob, with
liberty to make favourable terms with the
English for the restitution of so valuable a
possession. Meanwhile, La Bourdonnais,
relying on his own commission, proceeded
to arrange the treaty of surrender without
regard to the remonstrances or threats of
Dupleix, who, notwithstanding the recent
assurance given by him to the nabob, now
insisted that Madras should be either re-
tained as a French settlement, or razed to
the ground. Three men-of-war arrived at
this period at Pondicherry; and, thus in-
creased, says Orme, the French force " was
suflicient to have conquered the rest of
the British settlements in Hindoostan."-j-
La Bourdonnais had resolved on making the
attempt, but his plans were contravened by
Dupleix ; and after much time having been
wasted in disputes regarding the evacuation,
of Madras, a storm came on which materially
injured the fleet, and compelled its brave com-
mander to return in haste, before the change
of the monsoon, to his own government at
the Mauritius,! without staying to complete
the shipment of the seized goods, which was
to be followed by the restoration of the
town. The machinations of Dupleix had
thus succeeded in thwarting the views he
ought to have promoted, and at the same
time in acquiring an important addition of
1,200 trained men, left behind in conse-
quence of the damage done to the squadroa
by the late tempest : accessions of strength
were also received from other quarters, which
raised the number of European troops at
Pondicherry, in all, to about 3,000 men.
able reception ; and the proposition of an East India
director to become surety for him in person and
property, was declined by government, on the ground
that the word of La Bourdonnais was alone suffi-
cient. This circumstance may have served to soothe
the bitter trials which awaited his arrival in France, i
He was thrown into the Bastile, and remained in that
terrible state prison for three years ; at the expira-
tion of which time his published vindication, sup-
ported by authentic documents, manifested not only
the injustice of the charges brought against him, but
also the ardour and ability of his services. Though
liberated, he appears to have obtained no redress, and
did not long survive his acquittal, which took place
when he was about fifty-three years of age.
256 FRENCH UNSUCCESSFULLY ATTACK FORT ST. DAVID— 1746.
These additions were needed to combat
the force dispatched by Anwar-oo-deen for
the recapture of Madras, so soon as he per-
ceived the hoUowness of the professions by
which he had been induced to violate his
pledge to the English, of compelling the
French to abstain from hostile proceedings
throughout the Carnatic.
An army, commanded by the son of the
nabob, invested Madras, and made some
clumsy attempts to imitate the proceedings
which had proved successful in the previous
instance. The French encountered them
with a greatly inferior numerical force ; but
the skilful and rapid management of their
artillery, abundantly compensated for this
disproportion, and enabled them to acquire a
decisive victory. The event is memorable,
as marking the commencement of a new
phase of Indian history. The triumphs of
the Portuguese were, for the most part, two
centuries old : of late years Europeans had
bowed submissively before the footstool of
Mogul arrogance ; and the single attempt of
.the English (in 1686) to obtain independent
power, had only reduced them to a yet
more humiliating position. The utter in-
ability of unwieldy and ill-disciplined masses
to contend with compact bodies of well-
trained troops, was a fact which the French
had again brought to light, together with
another of equal importance — namely, the
facility with which natives might be enrolled
among the regular troops, and the reliance
to be placed upon them. Already there
were four or five disciplined companies at
Pondicherry; but the English had not yet
adopted a similar procedure. Dupleix fol-
lowed up the defeat of the nabob's force,
by declaring the treaty with the English
annulled, and giving orders for the seizure
of every article of property belonging to
the unfortunate inhabitants, excepting their
personal clothes, the movables of their
houses, and the jewels of the women — com-
mands which were executed with avaricious
exactness. The governor and leading persons
were carried prisoners to Pondicherry, and
there exhibited before the native public in a
species of triumph.
Fort St. David, twelve miles south of
Pondicherry, next became an object of am-
bition, and a body of 1,700 men, mostly
Europeans, was dispatched for the attack
of its garrison, which, including refugees
from Madras, comprehended no more than
200 Europeans and 100 Topasses. The un-
expected advance of a large force, sent by
Anwar-oo-deen to the relief of the fort,
took the French by surprise while resting
from a fatiguing march, and exulting in the
prospect of an easy prey. They retreated
at once, with the loss of twelve Europeans
killed and 120 wounded. An attempt was
next made upon the native town of Cuddalore,
which was situated about a mile from Fort St.
David, and inhabited by the principal Indian
merchants, and by many natives in the em-
ployment of the company. Five hundred
men were embarked in boats, with orders
to enter the river and attack the open quarter
of the town at daybreak. But on this, as
in the case of the fleet of La Bourdonnais,
the tuibulence of the elenients preserved
the English from the assault of their
foes : the wind rose, and the raging surf
forbade the prosecution of the hostile enter-
prise.
Dupleix, finding that he could not expect
to cope successfully with the united strength
of the nabob and the English, directed
all his powers of intrigue and cajolery to
break ofi" their alliance ; and at length suc-
ceeded, by exaggerated representations of
the accessions of force received and ex-
pected by the French, in inducing the vacil-
lating nabob to forsake the garrison of Fort
St. David, who were described as a con-
temptible handful of men, abandoned even
by their own countrymen to destruction.
The falsity of this last assertion was proved
at a critical moment; for just as a French
force had succeeded in overcommg the re-
sistance offered to their crossing the river,
and were marching on the apparently de-
voted town, an English fleet was seen ap-
proaching the roadstead, upon which the
assailants hastily recrossed the nver and
returned to Pondicherry.
In January, 1748, Major Lawrence arrived
in India with authority over the whole of
the company's forces. In the following
year, the addition of a squadron dis-
patched under the command of Admiral
Boscawen,* rendered their fleet more for-
midable than any previously assembled by
a single European power in India. Dupleix
trembled; the nabob would, he feared, again
change sides, so soon as the superior strength
of the enemy should be manifest, and the
French settlements be cut off from supplies
both by sea and land. The English, on
their part, hurried on the operations of
* Consisting of ten ships of the royal navy, and
eleven belonging to the company, carrying stores,
and troops to the amount of 1,400 men.
MADEAS RESTORED TO THE ENGLISH— 1748.
257
Boscawen, nothing doubting by the capture
of Pondicherry, to retaliate the heavy sacri-
fice attendant on the loss of Madras.* Their
expectations were disappointed. Major Law-
rence was taken prisoner during the assault
of the little fort of Ariancopang, two miles
to the south-west of Pondicherry ; and when,
after much valuable time spent in acquiring
and occupying this position, the admiral ad-
vanced upon the city, ignorance of the loca-
lity, disease in the camp, and probably also
the unfitness of the brave and active sea-
captain to direct the complicated proceed-
ings of a land attack, resulted in the raising
of the siege by the fiat of a council of war,
assembled thirty-one days after the opening
of the trenches. The rejoicings of Dupleix
at this unlooked-for triumph, were, as might
be expected, boastful in the extreme. He
sent letters to the different neighbouring
rulers, and even to the Great Mogul him-
self, informing them of the formidable
assault which he had repulsed, and received
in return high compliments on his prowess
and on the military genius of his nation, which
was now generally regarded as far superior
to that of the English. His schemes were,
however, contravened by a clause in the
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in which the
French government agreed to restore Ma-
dras; and this stipulation was enforced,
notwithstanding the expense incurred by him
in strengthening a possession obtained by a
glaring breach of faith. On reoccupying
their ancient settlement, the English like-
wise established themselves at St. Thomas,
or Meliapoor, a town mostly inhabited by
the descendants of the ancient Christians,
whom the imperious Portuguese archbishop
and viceroy Menezes had, with the aid of
" the Holy Inquisition," brought into com-
pulsory submission to the Romish pontiff".
Since then it had sunk into obscurity, and
would hardly have excited the notice of any
European power, had not its position with
regard to Madras, from which it was but
four miles distant, enabled the ever-intrigu-
ing Dupleix to gain from the Romish priests
much important information regarding the
state of that settlement. St. Thomas was
therefore occupied by the English, and the
obnoxious portion of the inhabitants ordered
to withdraw.
While these events were taking place in
the Madras presidency, that of Bombay,
• That event entailed a loss of £180,000 on the
company. — (Auber's British Power in India, i., 48.)
t Mill's British India, iii., 83, (edited by Wilson.)
\ At Surat, for instance, in addition to the fixed
and the inferior but independent one of
Calcutta, enjoyed tranquillity. Ali Verdi
Khan, the viceroy of Bengal, had con-
sistently maintained the determination at
first expressed by Anwar-oo-deen, in the
Carnatic, of compelling the hostile nations to
keep the peace in his dominions. At the
same time he exacted from both parties con-
tributions, in return for the protection which
he bestowed. The sums demanded from
the English are stated f as not exceeding
£100,000, which, considering the heavy ex-
penses incurred in repelling Mahratta in-
roads, cannot be deemed immoderate.
The restoration of peace between their
respective governments left the servants of
the rival companies in India no pretence
for continuing hostilities on any national
ground. But extensive military prepara-
tions had been made : nothing but a casus
belli was wanting; and it was not to be
supposed that the commanders of consider-
able bodies of troops, who, having been
levied, must be paid and fed, would wil-
lingly keep them in idleness for so slight
a reason. The quarrels of neighbouring
states aff'orded a ready pretext for armed
interference, and offered to both French
and English the immediate advantage of
remunerative employment for spare force,
together with the prospect of establishing
a degree of independent, if not paramount
authority, which might enable the factories
to withhold the large sums it had been
heretofore found necessary to pay to local
officials, in order to secure the enjoyment
of the privileges conceded by imperial
firmauns.J Neither party showed much
anxiety about the character or claims of the
candidates under whose banners they took
post, the scarcely disguised motive being-
how best to serve themselves and weaken
their rivals. Indeed, at this period, power
in the Deccan had so greatly fallen into the
hands of usurpers, that had the Europeans
really desired to support no pretensions
save such as were strictly legitimate, they
must have commenced by setting aside
almost the whole of the claimants who now
pressed upon their notice. But this ad-
mission cannot exculpate the English from
the heavy charge of indiscretion and vena-
lity— in first unsheathing the sword against
a sovereign with whom they had long carried
on a friendly correspondence, and then suffer-
custom dues of 3j per cent, no less a sum than
1,365,450 rupees are stated, in the records of the
E. I. Company, as having been paid from 1061 to
1683, simply to facilitate business.
258
CHARACTEE AND EARLY EXPLOITS OF ROBERT CLIVE.
ing themselves to be bought off from the
cause they had unsuccessfully advocated.
The case was simply this : Syajee, the
ex -rajah of Tanjore (see p. 252), craved their
assistance to regain the throne from which he
had been driven by his half-brother, Pertab
Sing. He declared that the people were well-
affected towards him, and promised, in the
event of success, to bestow upon the English
the territory of Devicotta — a position ren-
dered valuable by its proximity to the mouth
of the river Coleroon, which was considered
to offer advantages, as a harbour, beyond any
other situation between Masulipatam and
Cape Comorin. His solicitations produced
two attempts for the invasion of Tanjore.
The first by Captain Cope, undertaken
with a view to the re-establishment of
Syajee, proved a complete failure. The
second, led by Major Lawrence, succeeded in
the object for which it was expressly de-
signed— the capture of Devicotta— owing,
under Providence, to the ingenuity and
dauntless bravery of a common ship's carpen-
ter* and — Lieutenant Robert Clive. This
name, destined to stand first in a long line
of Anglo-Indian conquerors, was then borne
by a young man whose previous career
afforded small promise of usefulness, though
fraught with evidences of misdirected energy.
Some twelve years before the siege of Devi-
cotta, the inhabitants of Market-Drayton,
Shropshire, had viewed with terror the
exploits of the audacious son of a neigh-
bouring squire.f On one occasion they
beheld the daring boy climb the lofty
church steeple, and quietly take his seat
on a projecting stone spout near the summit,
fashioned in the form of a dragon's head,
from whence he desired to obtain a smooth
stone, for the pleasure of flinging it to the
ground. At home the youth was noted for
an immoderate love of fighting, and for a
fierce and imperious temper; out of doors
he displayed the same propensities by form-
ing the idle lads of the town into a preda-
tory army, and extorting a tribute of pence
and trifling articles from the shopkeepers,
guaranteeing them, in return, from broken
• The fort of Devicotta was situated on a marshy
shore covered with wood, and surrounded by tlie
Tanjore army. The English batteries were erected
on the opposite side of the river, and after three
days' firing a breach was effected ; but before ad-
vantage could be taken of it, a broad and rapid
stream had to be crossed in the face of the
enemy. This was done by means of a raft, sufficient
to contain 400 men, constructed by the carpenter,
John Moore. The last difficulty — how to get the raft
windows and the effects of other mis-
chievous tricks. The character of an ex-
ceedingly naughty boy accompanied Bob
Clive from school to school, including the
celebrated London seminary of the Mer-
chant Taylor's Company. One of his early
masters, it is said, had the sagacity to
prophesy that the self-willed, iron-nerved
child would, if he lived to be a man, and
had opportunity to exert his talents, make a
great figure in the world ; but this was an
exception to the general opinion formed of
his slender parts and headstrong temper;
and his family, seeing no good prospect for
him at home, procured for the lad, when in
his eighteenth year, a writership in the ser-
vice of the E. I. Company, and " shipped him
off, to make a fortune or to die of a fever." {
For some time after the arrival of Clive
at Madras, the former alternative appeared
highly improbable. The ship in which he
sailed was detained for nine months at the
Brazils, and the young writer expended all
his ready-money, but picked up, in return,
a knowledge of the Portuguese language,
which proved useful to him in after-life.
The salaries of the junior servants were
then barely sufiicient for their maintenance.
Clive, who it may be readily imagined was
no economist, soon became involved in
debt ; and this circumstance, combined with
his isolated position and uncongenial em-
ployment (in superintending the taking of
stock, making advances to weavers, shipping
cargoes, and guarding the monopoly of his
employers against the encroachments of pri-
vate traders), aggravated by the depressing
influence of a tropical climate, so affected
a mind unsupported by religious prin-
ciple, that the rash youth, in one of the
wayward, moody fits to which he was all his
life subject, made an ineffectual attempt
at self-destruction. A fellow-clerk entered
his room (in Writers'-buildings) imme-
diately after, and was requested to take up
a pistol which lay at hand, and fire it out
of the window. He did so ; and Clive
sprang up, exclaiming — " Well, I am re-
served for something; that pistol I have
across — he removed by swimming the stream by
night and fastening a rope to a tree, unperceived by
the foe, wliose attention was diverted from the spot
by the well-directed manoeuvres of the artillery. The
troops were disembarked on the opposite bank.
t A landed proprietor, who practised the law, and
resided on a small estate which had been enjoyed
by his family since the twelfth century.
% T. B. Macaulay's brilliant critique on Malcolm's
Life of Lord Clive. — {^Critical and Bistorkal Essays.)
DEVICOTTA TAKEN.— INTRIGUES OF MADAME DUPLEIX. 259
twice snapped at my own head." * He was
reserved for many things which the world
calls great and glorious, and even (by a
strange perversion of the term) heroic ; but
his earthly career was not the less destined to
terminate by the very act which he had
once been specially held back from accom-
plishing. That act even worldlings brand
with the name of moral cowardice ; while be-
lievers in revealed religion view it as the last
and deepest offence man can commit agaiast
his Maker. In the case of Clive, such
a termination of life was rendered pecu-
liarly remarkable by his previous frequent
and extraordinary escapes from perishing
by violence.
On the capture of Madras, in 1746, he,
with others, gave his parole on becoming a
prisoner of war, not to attempt escape ; but
the breach of faith committed by Dupleix
was considered by many of the captives to
justify their infraction of the pledge given
to M. de la Bourdounais ; and Clive fled by
night to Fort St. David, disguised in dress
and complexion as a Mussulman. Con-
tinued hostilities afforded him an opportu-
nity of quitting the store-room for the camp ;
and Major Lawrence, perceiving the military
ability of the young aspirant, gave him an
ensign's commission, which, after the unsuc-
cessful attack of Pondicherry, in 1748, was
exchanged for that of a lieutenant. At De-
vicotta he was, at his own solicitation,
suffered to lead a storming party, consisting
of a platoon of thirty-four Europeans and a
body of sepoys. Of the Europeans only
four survived ; but the determination of their
leader, and the ordei'ly advance of the se-
poys, checked the opposition of the Tanjore
horse, and gave the signal for the advance of
Major Lawrence with his whole strength,
which was speedily followed by the capture
of the fort.
A treaty of peace was soon entered into
with the rajah, Pertab Sing, by which the
English were guaranteed in the possession
of Devicotta, with a territory of the annual
value of 9,000 pagodas, on condition of
their renouncing the cause of Syajee, and
guaranteeing to secure his person so as to
• Sir John Malcolm states, that in 1749, three
years after this event, Clive had a severe attack of
nervous fever, which rendered necessary " the con-
stant presence of an attendant ;" and he adds, that
even after his recovery, " the oppression on his spirits
frequently returned."- — {Memoirs, i., pp. 69-70.)
t Madame Dupleix is described in the Life of
Ciive as a Creole, born and educated in Bengal ; but
her parentage is not stated. The Christian name
prevent any further attempts on the throne of
his brother — a service for which 4,000 rupees,
or about £400, were to be paid annually.
The English had been completely misled
by the statements of Syajee respecting his
prospects of success ; but still, this treatment
of a person whom they had been endea-
vouring to re-establish as a legitimate ruler,
was highly discreditable. It is even said,
that the unfortunate prince would have been
delivered into the hands of his enemies, but
for the lively remonstrances of Admiral Bos-
cawen. As it was, he found means to make
his escape, though not to recover his throne.
In the meantime the French were engaged
in transactions of more importance. They
had far higher objects in view than any
yet aimed at by tlie English, and their
plans were more deeply laid. Dupleix, by
means of his wife,t had obtained considerable
acquaintance with the intrigues of various
Mussulman and Hindoo princes ; and this
knowledge had afforded him material assist-
ance on more than one occasion. The
disturbed state of the Carnatic now offered
a favourable opening for his ambition. The
protracted life of the old nizam was fast
approaching its termination ; and the nomi-
nal viceroyalty, but actual sovereignty, of
the Mogul provinces in the Deccan would,
it was easy to forsee, speedily become an
object of contest to his five sons. The
cause of Anwar-oo-deen, himself almost a
centenarian, would not therefore be likely
to meet with efficient support from his
legitimate superiors ; while among the people
a very strong desire existed for the restora-
tion of the family of Sadut OoUah. The
natural heir was the remaining son of Sufder
Ali, but his tender age forbade the idea of
placing him at the head of a confederacy
which needed a skilful and determined
leader. Murtezza Ali (governor of Vellore),
though wealthy and powerful, was deemed
too treacherous and too cowardly to be
trusted. The only relative possessed of
sufficient reputation, as a general, to direct
an attempt for the subversion of the power
of Anwar-oo-deen, was Chunda Sahib.
The utter absence of principle manifested
Jeanne, she converted into the Persian appella-
tion of Jan Begum (the princess Jeanne.) Her
intimate acquaintance with the native languages,
joined to a talent for intrigue little inferior to that
of Dupleix himself, enabled her to establish a very
efficient system of "espionage." At the time of the
French capture of .Vladias, and the attempts on Fort
St. David by the English, the Indian interpreter
was found to bive carried on a regular correspondence
260 THE FRENCH SET UP CHUNDA SAHIB IN THE CARNATIC— 1748.
in liis seizure of Tricliinopoly,* did not pre-
vent him from being " esteemed the ablest
soldier that had of late years appeared in
the Carnatic,"t uniting in every military
enterprise, " the spirit of a volunteer with
the liberality of a prince."t On him Dupleix
had early fixed his eyes as a fit coadjutor;
and throughout his protracted imprison-
ment at Sattara, had contrived to keep up
an intimate connexion with him, through
the medium of his wife and family, who
had taken refuge in Pondicherry — Madame
Dupleix acting as interpreter ; and at the
same time corresponding, in the name of
her husband, with various chiefs likely to
prove useful in the coming struggle. At
length all things seemed ripe for the enter-
prise. Through the intervention of Dupleix,
the release of Chunda Sahib was effected in
the early part of the year 1748, by means
of a ransom of seven lacs of rupees
(£70,000.) The nizam died shortly after ;
and notwithstanding the prior claims of his
numerous sons, another competitor for the
succession arose in the person of a grand-
son, the child of a favourite daughter.
With the young adventurer (generally known
by his title of Moozuffer Jung),§ Chunda
Sahib hastened to form an alliance, and in-
duced him to commence operations in the
Carnatic. Dupleix assisted the confederates
with a body of 400 Europeans, 100 Kafirs,
and 1,800 sepoys; and French valour and
discipline mainly contributed to bring the
storming of Amboor (a fort fifty miles west of
Arcot) to a successful issue. Anwar-oo-deen
was slain at the extraordinary age of 1 07 lunar
years ; his eldest son taken prisoner ; and
his second son, Mohammed Ali, with the
wreck of the army, escaped to Trichinopoly, of
which place he was governor. The victorious
leaders marched in triumph to Arcot, and
then to Pondicherry, from whence (after in-
creasing the limits and revenues of that set-
tlement by the grant of eighty-one villages)
they proceeded against Tanjore. It would
have been unquestionably better policy to
have advanced at once upon Trichinopoly ;
with Madame Dupleix in the Malabar tongue. He
and a Hindoo accomplice were tried, found guilty,
and hanged. — (Malcolm's Clive, i., 21 ; Orme's Mili-
tary 'Transactions, i., 88.)
* See p. 252. In addition to the facts already
stated, it may be noticed, as enhancing the perfidy of
Chunda Sahib, that one means adopted by him to set
aside any misgivings on the part of the ranee of
Trichinopoly, was by swearing that his troops, if
secretly admitted within the citadel, should be em-
ployed solely for the confirmation of her authority.
but supplies of money were urgently needed,
and the known wealth of the rajah of Tan-
jore would, it was believed, compensate for
the delay. The Tanjorine proved more than
a match for his enemies in cunning, though
inferior to them in force. Although at
length compelled to pay a certain sum,
claimed as arrears of tribute to the Mogul
empire, and likewise in compensation for
the expenses incurred in attacking him, the
rajah continued to procrastinate in every
possible manner, — one day sending, as part of
the stipulated contribution, old and obsolete
coins, such as he knew required long and
tedious examination; another time, jewels
and precious stones, the value of which it
was still more difficult to determine. Chunda
Sahib saw the drift of these artifices ; but the
want of funds induced him to bear with them
until the end of the year (1749) arrived, and
with it intelligence of the approach of a con-
siderable army under the command of Nazir
Jung, II the second son of the late nizam.
The allies, struck with consternation, pre-
cipitately retreated to Pondicherry, harassed
by a body of Mahrattas. Dupleix exerted all
his energies to reanimate their spirits ; lent
them £50,000, and increased the I'rench
contingent to 2,000 Europeans ; but, doubt-
ing greatly the ultimate success of the cause
which he had so sedulously promoted, he
sought to be prepared for any turn of cir-
cumstances, by opening a secret communica-
tion with Nazir Jung. In this treacherous
attempt he failed, the prince having pre-
viously formed an alliance with the English.^
On hearing of the defeat and death of
Anwar-oo-deen, Nazir Jung had marched
towards the Carnatic, where he was speedily
joined by Mohammed Ali, son of the late
nabob, and at the same time he sent to ask
assistance from the English at Fort St.
David. They were already filled with
alarm at the part taken by the French in
the recent hostilities, but possessed no
authority from the Court of Directors to
engage anew in the perils and expenses of
any military undertaking. The result of
This false oath he took on a false Koran — that is, on
a brick enveloped in one of the splendid coverings
used by Mohammedans to wrap round the volume
they revere as divinely inspired. — (Colonel Wilks'
History of Mysoor, i., 250.)
t Orme's Military Transactions, i., 119.
X Wilks' History of Mysoor, i., 250.
§ Victorious in War. || Triumphant in IFar.
^ Vide "Vindication," entitled Memoire pour Du-
pleix ; also 3Ienroire contre Dupleix, published by the
directory of the Fr. E. I. Cy.; quoted by Mill,iii., 105.
NAZIE JUNG AND MOHAMMED ALI SUPPORTED BY ENGLISH— 1749. 261
the Tanjore enterprise was not encouraging ;
the attempt to reinstate Syajee had proved
a complete failure; and Pertab Sing, by the
cession of Devicotta, had bought them off,
as he might have done a body of Malirattas,
—not so much from fear of their power, as
because he expected a more dangerous as-
sault on the side of Chunda Sahib and the
French. It was evidently no honest desire
for peace which dictated the miserable half
measures adopted by the Madras presidency.
Although Admiral Boscawen offered to re-
main if his presence should be formally de-
manded, he was suffered to depart with the
fleet and troops. A force of 120 Europeans
was sent to Mohammed Ali ; and the report
of the powerful army and extensive re-
sources* of Nazir Jung induced them to
send Major Lawrence, with 600 Europeans,
to fight under so promising a standard. The
rival armies, with their respective European
allies, approached within skirmishing dis-
tance of one another, and an engagement
seemed close at hand, when thirteen French
officers, discontented with the remuneration
they had received for the attack on Tanjore,
threwup their commissions; andM.d'Auteuil,
panic-struck by this mutinous conduct, re-
treated, with the remainder of the troops
under his command, to Pondicherry, accom-
panied by Chunda Sahib, while Moozuffer
Jung,t having received the most solemn as-
surances of good treatment, threw himself
upon the mercy of his uncle, by whom he
was immediately placed in irons.
Nazir Jung, relieved from immediate
peril, took no thought for the future ; but
at once resigned his whole time to the plea-
sures of the harem and the chase. The only
• Nazir Jung was at Boorhanpoor, in command of
the army, at the time of the death of his father; this
circumstance favoured his attempt at becoming su-
bahdar of the Ueccan, to the exclusion of his eldest
brother, Ghazi-oo-deen, who, he asserted, had frceljr
resigned his pretensions, being satisfied with the im-
portant position he held in the court of Delhi — a
statement which was wholly false. Ghazi-oo-deen
was by no means inclined to make any such renuncia-
tion, and had in justice nothing to renounce, the
government of the southern provinces being still, at
least in form, an appointment in the gift of the em-
peror. Mohammed All's claim to the government of
the Carnatic (urged, in the first instance, to the exclu-
sion of his elder brother, the only legitimate son of
Anwar-oo-deen) was based on the bare grounds that
Nizam-ool-Moolk had promised, and Nazir Jung
would confirm to him the possession of a patrimony
which had been in his family just five years. This
was the "rightful cause" maintained by English
valour in the field, and contended for, in many
volumes of political controversy, during a prolonged
paper warfare. The P'rench, on their part, upheld •
2 M
rival he feared (Ghazi-oo-deen) was fully
employed in the intrigues of the Delhi court ;
the other three brothers were held in close
confinement at Arcot; and the indolent
prince, in the haughtiness of imaginary
security, treated with disdain the claims of
those who Jiad joined him in the hour of
danger. The experience of past time might
have borne witness that Mogul rulers had
seldom offended their turbulent Patan fol-
lowers with impunity ; yet Nazir Jung now
behaved towards his father's old officers (the
nabobs of Kudapa, Kurnoul, and Savanoor)
as if they had been mere feudatories, who
as a matter of course had rallied around his
standard, instead of what they undoubtedly
were — adventurers who had hazarded their
lives for the chance of bettering their for-
tunes. The expectations of the English
were equally disappointed by the refusal of
a tract of territory near Madras, the pro-
mised reward of their assistance ; and Major
Lawrence quitted the camp in disgust.
Dupleix and Chunda Sahib soon learned the
state of affairs, and hastened to take ad-
vantage of it both by force and stratagem.
Masulipatam and the pagoda of Trivadi (fif-
teen miles west of Fort St. David) were cap-
tured ; the fort of Jinjee, deemed almost in.
accessible, was attacked by the famous
French commander Bussy, and the huge
insulated rock on which it stands, stormed
to the very summit. The bolduess of the
attempt, and especially its being commenced
at midnight, seems to have paralysed the
energies of its superstitious defenders ; and
even the victors, in conteraplatifag the natural
strength of the place, were astonished at
their success. Nazir Jung alaf-med, entered
with all the zeal of self-interest, bbtK with the sword
and the pen, the claims of the nval candidates.
The pretensions of Moozuffer Jung rested on the will
of his grandfather, which his adversaries declared to
be a forgery ; but if a veritable document, it was un-
lawful as regarded the emperor, and unjust in setting
aside the natural heirs. The sole plea urged by
Chunda Sahib, was the will of Moozufler Jung that he
should be nabob, 'i'he fact was, neither English nor
French had any justification for interference in hostili-
ties which were mere trials of strength among bands of
Mohammedan usurpers; and the subsequent conduct
of both parties in setting up pageants, because it was
inexpedient for them to appear as principals, is
nothing more than an additional proof that politicians,
as a class, agree everywhere in receiving diplomacy
and duplicity as convertible terms, maintaining, how-
ever, as much as possible, the semblance of honesty
in deference to the feeling which our Creator seems
to have implanted in the mind of almost every com-
munity— that the public safety is intimately connected
with the integrity of those who bear rule.
t This name is sometimes mis-spelt Mirzapha.
262 NAZIR JUNG ASSASSINATED, 1750— TRIUMPH OF DUPLJilX.
into negotiations with Dupleix. The French
deputies used their admission to his camp as
a means of treacherously intriguing with the
disaffected nobles. Major Lawrence heard
of the conspiracy, and endeavoured to convey
a warning to the subahdar at a public au-
dience ; but the interpreter employed dared
not venture a declaration which might cost
him his life, and the important information
was withheld from fear of the vizier, who
was falsely reported to be involved in the plot.
The etiquette which prevented any direct
communication with the subahdar, either
verbally or by writing, is given as a sufficient
reason for no determined effort to that effect
having been made.* Nazir Jung continued,
to the last moment, utterly unsuspicious of
danger. He ratified the treaty with the
French, and sent it to Pondicherry. They
advanced against him from Jinjee the very
next day; and the prince, while manfully
striving to animate his troops to repel what
he termed "the mad attempt of a parcel of
drunken Europeans," f w.as shot through
the heart by the nabob of Kudapa. The
army learned the fate of their late ruler by
the sight of his head fixed on a pole, and
were with little difficulty induced to transfer
their services to his nephew Moozuffer Jung,
who now, released from captivity, became
the gaoler of his three uncles. Dupleix was
appointed governor of the Mogul possessions
on the coast of Coromandel, from the river
Kristna toCapeComorin,J andChunda Sahib
his deputy at Arcot. The installation of the
subahdar was performed at Pondicherry
with much pomp. Salutes were fired from
the batteries, and J'e Deum sung in the
churches. Dupleix, dressed in the garb of a
Mussulman of the highest rank, entered the
city in the same palanquin with Moozuffer
Jung ; and, in the pageant which followed,
took precedence of every other noble. The
rank of a munsubdar of 7,000 horse was con-
ferred upon him, with permission to bear on
his banners the insignia of "the fish''§ — a dis-
tinction among the Moguls equivalent to the
coveted "blue ribbon" of the English court.
Honours and emoluments could be obtained
only by his intervention: the new ruler would
• Major Lawrence perhaps disbelieved the report,
otherwise his conduct was supine and neglectful.
t Orme's Military Transactions, i., 156.
\ Masulipatam and its dependencies were ceded
to the French K. I. Cj ., with other territories, valued
by them at £38,000 per ann., but, according to
Orme^ the revenues were considerably overstated.
§ The Mahi, or figure of a fish four feet long, in
copper-gilt, carried on the point of a tj)ear.
not even peruse a petition, unless indorsed
by the hand of Dupleix.
The triumph of the ambitious Frenchman,
though brilliant, was soon disturbed. The
chiefs, by whose perfidy the revolution had
been accomplished, demanded the fulfilment
of the extravagant promises made to them
while the prince, now on the throne, lay
bound in fetters. Dupleix endeavoured to
bring about an arrangement ; and, as an
incitement to moderation, affected to relin-
quish all claim to share in the treasure
seized upon the assassination of Nazir Jung,
notwithstanding which he received no less
than £200,000 in money, besides many va-
luable jewels. II The offers made to the tur-
bulent nobles were, however, so very large,
that if (as would appear) really accepted and
carried out, it is difficult to account for the
rapidity with which they again broke forth
into open revolt.^ After lulling all suspicions
by a semblance of contentment, accompanied
by oaths of allegiance sworn on the Koran,
the chiefs watched their opportunity; and,
during the march of the array to Golconda,
suddenly took possession of an important
pass, and, supported by their numerous fol-
lowers, opposed the advancing force. The
steady fire of the French artillery soon cleared
the way; but Moozuffer Jung, furious at find-
ing himself menaced with the fate of his
uncle, by the same double-dyed traitors,
rushed upon the peril he had nearly escaped,
by distancing his attendants in a reckless
pursuit of the fugitive nabob of Kurnoul,
whom he overtook and challenged to single
combat. The elephants were driven close to
each other; and the sword of Moozuffer
Jung was uplifted to strike, when the javelin
of his opponent pierced his brain. A moment
later, and the victor was surrounded and cut
to pieces : one of his fellow-conspirators had
already perished in a similar manner; the
third quitted the field mortally wounded.
What were the French to do now for a
puppet adapted by circumstances for the part
of subahdar? No time could be spared for
deliberation : a few hours, and the hetero-
geneous multitudes of which Indian armies
consist, would, under their respective leaders,
{{ Moozuffer Jung distributed £50,000 among the
officers and men engaged at Jinjee, and paid an
equal sum into the treasui-y of the French company,
in comjiensation for the expenses of the war.
^ Orme asserts, that besides various minor con-
cessions, thePatan nobles were promised by Du])leix
one-half the money found in the treasury of Nazir
Jung, wliich, in a subsequent page, is stated at two
million sterling. — {Military Transactions, i,, 160-'2.)
FRENCH POWER AT ITS HEIGHT IN INDIA— a.d. 1751.
263
»
after dividing the spoil of their late master, |
disperse in search of a new paA'master ; and, |
with them, would vanish the advantages i
gained by the murder of Nazir Jung. Bussy,
the commander-in-chief, was no less bold
and ready-witted than the absent Dupleix,
and his unhesitating decision exactly met the
circumstances of the case. The three uncles
of the newly-deceased subahdar were in the
camp, having been carried about as prisoners
in the train of their nephew, lest some con-
spiracy should be formed in their favour if
separated from his immediate superintend-
ence. In other words, it was convenient to
keep within reach all persons whose dan-
gerous consanguinity to the reigning prince
might incite an attempt for the transfer of
the crown ; such an endeavour being best
frustrated by cutting off the head for which
the perilous distinction was designed. Moo-
zuffer Jung left an infant son, whose claims
on the gratitude of the French were after-
wards recognised by Bussy,* though he set
aside the title of the boy to sovereignty, and
releasing the captive princes, proclaimed the
eldest, Salabut Jung, viceroy of the Deccan.
The army acquiesced in the arrangement, and
proceeded quietly on the road to Golconda.
Dupleix, on learning the late events, ad-
dressed the warmest congratulations to Sa-
labut Jung, who, besides confirming the ces-
sions of his predecessor, bestowed additional
advantages on his new friends.
The English watched with amazement the
progress of the French, but without any
efforts at counteraction. From some unex-
plained cause, Major Lawrence, the com-
mander of the troops, on whose character
and experience the strongest reliance was
placed in all military affairs, returned to
England at the very time his services were
most likely to be needed. The Madras pre-
sidency desired peace at almost any sacrifice,
and united with Mohammed Ali in ofiering
to acknowledge Chunda Sahib nabob of all
the Carnatic, except Trichinopoly and its
dependencies. The French, borne on the
tide of victory, rejected these overtures ; and
the English, stung by the contemptuous
tone adopted towards them, combined with
Mohammed Ali to oppose their united foes.
The opening of the campaign was not merely
unfortunate, it was (in the words of Major
Lawrence) disgraceful: "a fatal spirit of
* The stronghold of Adorii, with its dependencies,
which had been the original jaghire of the father,
were given to the son, with the addition of the terri-
tories formerly possessed by the treacherous nabobs
of Kurnoul and Kudapa.— (Orme, i., 249.)
division" prevailed among the ofHcers, and
the Europeans fled before the force of
Chunda Sahib, near the fort of Volconda.
while the native troops maintained the con-
flict. Driven from one position to another,
the English and their allies at length sought
shelter beneath the walls of Trichinopoly.
The enemy followed them without delay,
and took post on the opposite side of the
town,from whence they made some ineffectual
attempts for the reduction of the place.
The French had now reached the cul-
minating point of their power in India : the
English, their lowest state of depression ;
yet the latter were soon to ascend an emi-
nence, to which the position attained by
their rivals seemed but as a stepping-stone.
The young adventurer already noticed, was
selected by Providence as one of the chief
instruments in the commencement of this
mighty change. In the interval of peace
just ended, Clive had been appointed by his
steady friend. Major Lawrence, commissary
to the troops, with the rank of captain.
He was now five-and-twenty, in the full
strength and vigour of early manhood. The
present emergency called forth all his powers;
and, by earnestly representing the necessity
of some daring attempt to relieve Trichino-
poly, he succeeded in gaining the consent of
the Madras presidency to attack Arcot, as a
probable means of recalling Chunda Sahib to
his own capital. A little force, consisting
of eight officers (four of whom were factors
turned soldiers, like " special constables" for
the occasion), 200 Europeans and 300 sepoys,
sallied forth under the leadership of Clive.
The issue of this daring enterprise was
awaited by the English with intense anxiety.
It was no ordinary detachment, sent forth at
slight hazard to effect a diversion : the men
by whom it was undertaken were (at least in
a military point of view) the life-blood of
Fort St. David and Madras : in the event of
their being cut off, these settlements would
be left, the one with only 100, the other
with less than fifty defenders, against the
overwhelming strength of the Indo-Frencli
potentate Dupleix, and his satellites. On
two previous occasions a fierce and sudden
tempest had been the destined means of
preserving the English from the hands of
their foes. The fleet, assembled by the un-
flagging zeal of La Bourdonnais, shattered
and dispersed when bearing down, in the
pride of power, on the Coromandel coast ; the
stealthy, midnight assault of Dupleix on Cud-
dalore arrested by the rising surf; — these dis-
264 OCCUPATION AND DEFENCE OF ARCOT BY CLIVE— 1751.
pensations were now to be crowned by a third,
yet more remarkable in its consequences.
When Clive and his companions had ad-
vanced within about ten miles of Arcot, a
violent storm came on, through which they
continued their march with the habitual
bravery of European troops. The native
garrison, accustomed to regard with super-
stitious terror the turmoil of the elements,
learned with astonishment the continued
advance of their assailants; and, on be-
holding them approach the gates of Arcot
amid pealing thunder, vivid flashes of light-
ning, and fast-falling rain, panic spread from
breast to breast : the fort was abandoned,
and the English, strong in the supposed
possession of supernatural courage, entered
it without a blow. 1'he city had neither walls
nor defences, and no obstruction was offered
to the few hundred men who passed on
as conquerors, gazed upon with fear, admi-
ration, and respect, through streets crowded
by 100,000 spectators. They took posses-
sion of the citadel, in which was found a
large quantity of lead and gunpowder, with
eight pieces of cannon of small calibre. The
merchants had, for security, deposited there
effects to the value of £50,000 j but these
were punctually restored to the owners : and
"this judicious abstemiousness," adds Orme,
" conciliated many of the principal inhabit-
ants to the English interest. The fort was
inhabited by 3,000 or 4,000 persons, who,
at their own request, were permitted to re-
main in their dwellings."
There could be little doubt that vigorous
attempts would be made by Chunda Sahib
to recover the city which had thus strangely
slid from his grasp. Clive instantly began
to collect provisions, to throw up works, and
to make preparations for sustaining a siege.
It was a discouraging task, even to a man
whose genius ever shone most brightly amid
danger and difficulty. The walls of the fort
were ruinous ; the ditches dry ; the ramparts
too narrowto admit the gunsj the battlements
too low to protect the soldiers. The fugitive
garrison, ashamed of the manner in which
they had abandoned the place, assembled
together, and encamped close to the town.
At dead of night Clive sallied out with
almost his entire force, attacked the camp,
slew great numbers, and returned to his
• Fifteen Europeans perished in a subsequent
snlly against the force of Keza Sahib : amongst these
was Lieutenant Trenwith, who, perceivins; a sepoy
iron; a window takin;^ aim at Clive, pulled him aside
and was himself shot through the body.
quarters, without having lost a single man.*
A more dangerous enemy soon appeared,
consisting of about 10,000 men, including
150 French from Pondicherry, under the
command of Reza Sahib, son of Chunda
Sahib. t The garrison had but a slight pros-
pect of maintaining its ground against so
formidable an armament; and certainly the
retention of Arcot was little less marvellous
than its conquest, though accomplished by
wholly different means. In the first instance,
a scanty force took possession, without effort,
of a prize unexpectedly placed within their
reach ; in the latter case, although reduced
by casualties to 324 in number, they
showed themselves determiiied to sacrifice
even life in its defence. For fifty days the
assault continued ; but the courage of the
besieged never faltered : they held together
as one man ; and at length, when food began
to fail, and was doled out in diminishing
portions, the sepoys, in their exceeding de-
votion to their suffering comrades, came in
a body to Clive, and entreated that all the
grain in store might be given to the Euro-
peans who required a nourishing diet, — they
could subsist on the water in which the rice
was boiled. J The reputation of the gallant
defence of Arcot proved the immediate cause
of its success. An ineffectual attempt at
succour, on the part of the Madras govern-
ment, was followed by the approach of 6,000
Mahrattas, under the famous leader Morari
Rao. These troops had been enlisted in the
service of Mohammed Ali, but, deeming his
cause hopeless, had remained inactive on the
frontiers of the Carnatic. As a last resource,
Clive managed to convey to them an earnest
appeal for succour, and received an imme-
diate reply from the chief, that, being at
length convinced the English could fight, he
would not lose a moment in attempting their
relief. This circumstance coming to the
ears of Reza Sahib, he forthwith dispatched
a flag of truce to the garrison, with offers of
honourable terms of capitulation, and a large
sum of money to their commander, as the
alternative of the instant storming of the
fort and the slaughter of all its defenders.
Clive, in rejecting the whole proposition,
gave vent to his characteristic haughtiness,
by taunting Reza Sahib with the badness
of his cause, and the inefficiency of his "rabble
t Oime calls this leader Rajah Sahib ; Wilks (a
much better authority in a question of orthography),
Reza.
X This water, called Cunjee, resembhs very thin
gruel.
CLIVE, SURNAMED SABUT JUNG, THE DARING IN WAR. 265
force." Then, having taken all possible mea-
sures to resist the expected attack, he lay
down exhausted with fatigue, but was soon
aroused by the loud uproar of oriental war-
fare in its most imposing form.
It was the 14th of November — tlie period
allotted to the commemoration of the fearful
massacre on the plains of Kerbela, in which
the imaum Hussyn, the grandchild of " the
prophet," with his whole family and fol-
lowers, sufiFered a cruel death at the hands
of his inveterate foes. The recurrence of
this solemn festival is usually the signal for
the renewal of fierce strife, either by words
or blows, between the Sheiahs and the Son-
nites, or followers of the caliphs, by whom
All and his children were superseded. The
Mohammedans engaged in the siege seem to
have been Sheiahs ; and in the absence of
any sectarian quarrels, they directed the
full force of the fanaticism roused by the
recollection of the tragic catastrophe of
Kerbela, against the infidel contemners of
both imaums and caliphs, and even of their
founder himself. Besides the well-known
dictum of the Koran — that all who fall
fighting against unbelievers offer thereby
a sacrifice (accepted, because completed) for
the sins of a whole life, and are at once re-
ceived into the highest heaven, escaping all
intermediate purgatories — a peculiar blessing
is supposed to rest on those who perish
in " holy" warfare during the period con-
secrated to the memory of the venerated
imaums.* Stimulating drugs were called
in to heighten the excitement of the dis-
courses addressed by the priests ; and in a
paroxysm of mental and physical intoxica-
tion, the unwieldy host rushed furiously
against the gates of Arcot, driving before
them elephants with massive iron plates on
thir foreheads. The first shock of these
living battering-rams was a moment of im-
minent peril ; but the gates stood firm ; and
then, as in many previous instances, the
huge animals, maddened by the musket-
balls of the foe, became utterly ungovern-
able, and turning round, trampled down
hundreds of those who had brought forward
such dangerous auxiliaries, causing con-
* The other imaum (Hassan) likewise fell a victim
to the machinations of the caliph Mauwiyah. —
(■See previous pages, 58 — 62.)
t Orme states, that but few of these were Euro-
peans ; for most of the French troops were observed
drawn up and looking on at a distance. — (i., 195.)
X The personal exertions of Clive were very great.
Perceiving the gunners taking ineffectual aim at a
body of the enemy, who were striving to cross on
fusion throughout their whole ranks. About
an hour elapsed, during which time three
desperate onsets were made, and deter^
minedly resisted; the steady fire of the
garrison telling fearfully on the shriekk>g,
yelling mass beneath. The assailants then
retired beyond the partially dry moat, with
the loss of about 400 men,t and requested
a short truce, that they might bury their
dead. The English gladly complied : they
must have needed rest; for many of them
being previously disabled by wounds and
sickness, the labour of repulsing the foe had
fallen upon eight)' Europeans (officers in-
cluded) and 120 sepoys ; and these, besides
serving five pieces of cannon, had expended
12,(X)0 musket cartridges during the attack,
the front ranks being kept constantly sup-
plied with loaded guns by those behind
them. J The stipulated interval passed away ;
the firing recommenced, and continued from,
four in the afternoon until two in the morn-
ing, when it entirely ceased. The besieged
passed some anxious hours; even the four
or five men they had lost could be ill spared,
for they expected to fi:nd the foe in full force
at daybreak ; instead of which they beheld
the town abandoned, and joyfully took pos-
session of several guns and a large quantity
of ammunition left behind in the retreat.
The news of this extraordinary triumph
was received at Madras with the utmost
enthusiasm. Mohammed Ali, who now as.
sumed the privilege once exclusively con-
fined to the reigning emperor, of bestowing
titles, called Clive — Sabut Jung (the daring
in war), a well-earned designation which the
young soldier bore ever after on his Persian
seal, and by which he became known
throughout India.
A reinforcement of 200 English soldiers
and 700 sepoys joined Clive a few hours
after the raising of the siege. Leaving a
small garrison at Arcot, he set forth in pur-
suit of Reza Sahib ; and having succeeded
in effecting a junction with a Mahratta divi-
sion, overtook the enemy by forced marches,
and, after a sharp action, gained a complete
victory. § The military chest of the defeated
general fell into the hands of the con-
a raft the water which filled a portion of the ditch,
he took the management of a piece of artillery him-
self, and, by three or four vigorous discharges, com-
pelled the abandonment of this attempt.
§ A gallant exploit was performed on the part of
the enemy by a sepoy, who, beholding a beloved
commander fall in the breach, crossed the ditch and
carried off the body, passing unscathed through the
fire if at least forty muskets. — 'Orme, i., 194.)
266 CITY AND COLUMN OF DUPLEIX LEVELLED BY CLIVE— 1752.
querors, 600 of his sepoys joined their ranks,
and the governor of the neighbouring fort
of Arnee consented to abandon the cause of
Chunda Sahib, and recognise the title of
Mohammed AH. The great pagoda of Con-
jeveram, which had been seized and occu-
pied by the French during the siege of
Arcot, was regained after a slight struggle.*
Towards the close of the campaign of 1753,
Clive was recalled to Fort St. David. On
the march he arrived at the scene of the
assassination of Nazir Jung, the chosen site
of a new town, projected to commemorate
the successes of the French in the East.
Dupleix Futtehabad (the city of the victory
of Dupleix) was the name given to the place ;
and a stately quadrangular pillar, with in-
scriptions in various eastern languages,
recounted the short-lived triumph of the
ambitious builder. Clive and his followers
destroyed the newly-raised foundations,
levelled the column to the ground and went
their way in triumph, amid the wondering
natives, who had lately deemed the French
invincible.
Notwithstanding the brilliant exploits of
his allies, the position of Mohammed Ali
continued extremely precarious : many of
the strongholds of the province were in
hostile keeping; and the want of funds
wherewith to pay the army, daily threatened
to produce mutiny or desertion. Under
these circumstances he appealed to the gov-
ernment of Mysoor, and, by extravagant
promises in the event of success, prevailed
upon the regent to send supplies of money
and soldiers to Trichinopoly. The Mysoorean
• While reconnoitring the pagoda over a garden
wall, the companion of Clive, Lieutenant Bulkley,
was shot through the head close by his side.
+ A memoir, drawn up by the French E. I. Cy.,
in answer to one published by Dupleix, accuses him
of having more than once manifested a deficiency in
personal courage, and states that he accounted for
the care with which he kept beyond the range of a
musket-ball, by declaring that, " le bruit des armes
suspendait ses reflexions, et que le calme seul con-
venait 4 son g6nie."— (Mill's liritish India, iii., 83.)
X Orme's Military IVansactions, i,, 220.
§ Some difficulty arose regarding the appointment
of a junior captain to so important a command; but
this obstacle was removed by the express declaration
of Morari Rao and the Mysooreans — that they would
take no part in the expedition if dispatched under
any other leader than the defender of Arcot. — (Id.)
II M. d'Auteuil was dispatched by Dupleix with
supplies from Pondicheny. Owing to a double mis-
take on the part of Clive and d'Auteuil, the former
was led to believe that the information conveyed to
him regarding the French detachment was incorrect;
the latter, being informed that the English com-
mander was absent in pursuit of him, thought to
troops were 14,000 strong; the Mahrattas,
under Morari Rao, numbered 6,000 more;
and the Tanjore rajah, who had previously
remained neutral, now sent 5,000 men to
join the allies. These accessions of strength
were soon followed by the arrival of Major
Lawrence (then newly returned from Eu-
rope), with Clive at his right hand, accom-
panied by 400 Europeans, 1,100 sepoys,
eight field-pieces, and a large quantity of
military stores. Preparations were imme-
diately made to take the field. Dupleix
became alarmed at the altered state of affairs.
As a military commander he had never at-
tained celebrity.f Bussy was absent in the
train of Salabut Jung ; the remonstrances of
Chunda Sahib were unheeded; and the
entire force, although the Carnatic lay open
before them, took up a position in the forti-
fied pagoda of Seringham, on an island
formed by the branches of the Coleroon and
Cavery. All parties suff"ered severely from
the protracted duration of the war. The
mercantile affairs of the English company
were extremely distressed by the drain on
their finances ; and Major Lawrence, believ-
ing it to be an emergency which justified
" risking the whole to gain the whole,"J
sanctioned the daring proposal of his young
subaltern — to divide their small force, and
remaining himself at the head of one portion
for the protection of Trichinopoly, dispatch
the other, under the leadership of Clive, § to
cut off" the communication between Sering-
ham and Pondicherry. Complete success
attended the measure. || Chunda Sahib be-
sought M. Law, the commander of the
take advantage of the slightly-defended British post.
With this view he sent eighty Europeans and 700
sepoys. The party included- — to the sad disgrace of
our countrymen — forty English deserters, whose
familiar speech nearly procured the success of the
treacherous undertaking. The strangers, on pre-
tence of being a reinforcement come from Major Law-
rence, were suffered to pass the outworks without giv-
ing the pass-word. They proceeded quietly until they
reached an adjacent pagoda and choultry (place of
entertainment), w-here Clive lay sleeping, and there
answered the challenge of the sentinels by a dis-
charge of musketry. A ball shattered a box near
the couch of Clive, and killed a servant close beside
him. Springing to his feet he rushed out, and was
twice wounded without being recognised. A despe-
rate struggle ensued ; the English deserters fought
like wild beasts at bay. The pagoda was in posses-
sion of the French, and the attempt to regain it was
broken off until cannon could he obtained. Clive
advanced to the porch to offer terms : faint with loss
of blood, in a stooping posture he leant on two Ser-
jeants. The leader of the deserters (an Irish-
man) came forward, addressed Clive in opprobrious
language (apparently infuriated by some private
ASSASSINATION OF CHUNDA SAHIB— a.d.— 1752.
26?
French forces, to make a determined effort
to shake off the toils fast closing round them;
but all in vain. Provisions began to fail,
and men to desert ; at length the personal
safety of the nabob becoming in evident
danger, and his constitution rapidly giving
way under the combined effects of age and
anxiety, attempts were made to secure his
escape by intriguing with his foes. Nego-
tiations were opened with Monajee, the com-
mander of the Tanjore force, and a large
sum of money paid to him, in return for
which he swore "on his sword and dagger"
to protect the unhappy noble, aiid convey
him unharmed to the French settlement of
Karical. This adjuration a Alahratta rarely
violates; but Monajee did so in the present
instance. His motives are variously stated.
One eminent writer asserts, on native au-
thority, that he acted as the instrument of
Mohammed Ali :* Orme, that his treachery
originated in the disputes which took place
in the camp of the allies so soon as the
arrival of Chunda Sahib became known.
Fearing that his prize would be snatched
away, either by the English, the Mysooreans,
or the Mahrattas for their own ends, he
settled the dispute by causing the object of
it to be put to death. The event is still
regarded by Mohammedans as a remarkable
manifestation of divine vengeance; for, in
the very choultry where, sixteen years be-
fore, Chunda Sahib, by a false oath, deceived
the ranee of Trichinopoly, he was now cruelly
murdered while lying prostrate on the
ground, broken down by sickness and dis-
appointment.t The head was sent to Tri-
chinopoly; and Mohammed Ali, after gazing
for the first time on the face of his rival,
caused it to be exposed in barbarous triumph
on the walls of the city. The French at
Seriugham J capitulated immediately after
quarrel), and taking a deliberate aim, fired his mus-
ket. Clive asserts that the ball killed both his sup-
porters, while he remained untouched. The French-
men disowned any share in the outrage, and surren-
dered ; the enemy's sepoys were cut to pieces by the
Mahratta allies of the English. — (Life, 116.)
• Wilks' History of ilysoor. i.. 284. f ^>^™h 285.
I Under M. Law, a nephew of the Scottish schemer.
§ Yet, from fear of the designs of Nunjeraj and
Morari Kao, Major Lawrence afterwards suggested
to the presidency the seizure of their persons.
II " We wrote to the King of Mysoor that we were
merchants, allies to the circar (government), not
principals."— (Letter from Madras, Nov., 1 752.) The
Presidency found it as convenient to disavow the
semblance, while grasping the reality, of power, as
did the nabob to profess fealty to the emperor : at
the same time it must be remembered, they were
hoUy ignorant of the pl<^dge given by their ally.
the above occurrence; and the English, de-
sirous of continuing their successful careeir,
urged the nabob to proceed at once to Jinjee.
He hesitated, procrastinated, and at length
confessed that the aid of the Mysoor go-
vernment had been obtained by no less a
bribe than a signed and sealed agreement
for the cession of Trichinipoly and its de-
pendencies. Major Lawrence was bitterly
mortified at finding that the city to which,
at this period, an importance far above its
intrinsic value was attached, could not after
all be retained by the person with whose
interests those of his countrymen had become
identified, except by a flagrant breach of
faith which he honestly pronounced quite
unjustifiable. § The nabob would not see the
matter in this light; the Mysooreans, he
argued, never could expect the fulfilment of
such an unreasonable stipulation, especially
while the chief portion of the dominions
claimed by him as governor of the Carnatic
still remained to be subdued : abundant re^
muneration should be made for their valuable
services ; but, as to surrendering Trichinopoly
that was out of the question ; for, after all, it
was not his to give, but only to hold in trust
for the Great Mogul. This very convenient
after-thought did not satisfy the Mysooreans.
Both parties appealed to the Madras pre-
sidency, and received in return assurances
of extreme good-will, and recommendations
to settle the matter amicably with one an-
other. II Morari Rao, the Mahratta chieftain,
took a leading part in the discussion which
followed, and received gifts on both sides;
but it soon became evident that his impartial
arbitration, if accepted, was likely to ter*
minate after the fashion of that of the
monkey in the fable,— the shells for his
clients, the oyster for himself;^ and at length,
after much time spent in altercation, the
^ After the capture of Trichinopoly, in 1741, by
the Mahrattas, it remained under the charge of Morari
Kao, until its surrender to the nizam, in 1743.
Morari Rao, a few years later, managed to establish
himself in the Bala Ghaut district of Gooty, and be-
came the leader of a band of mercenaries. By careful
training and scrupulous exactitude in the stated
division of jdunder, these men were maintained in
perfect order; and from having frequently encoun-
tered European troops, could be relied on even to
withstand the steady fire of artillery. Morari Rao
and his Mahrattas were, consequently, very important
auxiliaries, for whose services tlie English and French
outbid one another. Wilks remarks, they were best
characterised by the Persian compound, Mufl-Khoor
(eating at other people's expense) : in the present
case they were acting as subsidiaries to the Mysoor
force, in the immediate pay of Nunjeraj. — {Mysoor,
i., 252.)
26S ENGLISH DEFEND TEICHINOPOLY AGAINST THE FRENCH— 1753.
nabob, glad of any pretext for gammg time,
promised to deliver np the fort in tw^o
months. NuDJeraj (the Mysoor general)
seemingly assented to this arrangement ; but
so soon as Mohammed Ali and Major Law-
rence had marched off to^vards Jinjee, he
commenced intriguing with the English
garrison for the surrender of the place. The
attempt afforded the nabob a flimsy pretext
for avowing his determination to retain pos-
session. The result was an open breach with
the Mysool-eans and Mahrattas. Dupleix,
aided as before by the knowledge and in-
fluence of his wife, entered into communica-
tion with the offended leaders, and exerted
every effort to form a powerful confederacy
against Mohammed Ali and his supporters.
The chief obstacle to his scheme arose from
a deficiency of funds and European troops.
The French company were much poorer
than the English body ; and their territorial
revenues formed the only available resource
for the support of the force at Pondicherry,
and that maintained by Bussy at Hyderabad :
little surplus remained for the costly opera-
tions planned by Dupleix ; but he supplied
all deficiencies by expending his ofrn princely
fortune in the cause. The want of trust-
worthy soldiers was a more iiTemediable
defect. The officers sent to India were, for
the most part, mere boys, whose bravery
could not compensate for their utter igno-
rance of their profession ; the men Vrete the
very refuse of the population.*
The attempt made by Major Lawrence
upon Jinjee failed; but the English cam-
* Addressing the French minister, in 1753, Du-
pleix described the recruits sent him as " enfans,
decroteurs et bandits" • * • n u„ rafnassis de
la plus vile canaille ;" and he complained bitterly
that, with the exception of Bussy, he never had an
officer on whose ability he could place the smallest
reliance. — (Mill, edited by Wilson, iii., 130.)
t The English forces, under Lawrence, were fflr
the most part of a very efficient description ; but the
only detachment which could be spared on this occa-
sion consisted of 200 recruits, styled by Maeaulay
" the worst and lowest wretches that the company s
crimps could pick up in the flash houses of London,"
together with 500 sepoys just levied. So utterly un-
disciplined were the new-made soldiers, that on at-
tacking Covelong, the death of one of them by a shot
from the fort was followed by the immediate flight
of his companions. On another occasion a sentinel
was found, some hours after an engagement, out
of harm's way at the bottom of a well. Clive,
nevertheless, succeeded in inspiring these unpromis-
ing auxiliaries with something of his own spirit; the
sepoys seconded him to the utmost. Covelong fell ;
a detachment sent to its relief was surprised by an
ambuscade, 100 of the enemy were killed by one fire,
300 taken prisoners, and the remainder pursued to the
paigh of 1752 terminated favourably, with a
victory gained near Bahoor, two miles from
Fort St. David, and the capture of the forts
of Covelong and Chingleput.t These last
eScploits were performed by Clive, who then
returned to England for his health, carrying
with him a young bride, an independent
fortune, and a brilliant military reputation. J
Early in January, 1753, the rival armies
again took the field. No decisive action
occurred; but in May, Trichinopoly was
again attacked, and continued, for more than
a twelvemonth, the scene of active hostility.
The assailants had not sufficient supe-
riority to overpower or starve out the gar-
rison, nor could the English compel them
to raise the siege. The introduction or
interception of supplies engaged the un-
wearied attention of both parties, and Uiany
severe conflicts occurred, without any deci-
sive advantage being gained by either.
Meantime the mercantile associations in
Europe, and especially in France, grew
beyond measure impatient at the prolon-
gation of hostilities. Dupleix, foreseeing the
unbounded concessions into which the desire
for peace would hurry his employers, him-
self opened a negotiation with the Madras
government, where Mr. Saunders, an able
and cautious man, presided. The deputies
met at the neutra:l Dutch settlement of
Sadras.§ The question at issue — whether
Mohammed Ali should or should not be
acknowledged nabob of the Carnatic, after
being for four years contested with the
sword — was now to be weighed in the balance
gates of Chingleput. The fortress was besieged and
a breach made, upon which the French commandant
capitulated and retired with the garrison.
X Clive married the sister of Maskelyne, the emi-
nent mathematician, who long held the office of
Astronomer Koyal. The amount of the fortune,
acquired as prize-money, during the few years
which had elapsed since he arrived in Madras a
penniless youth, does not appear; but it is certain
that he had sufficient to reclaim, in his own name,
the family estate, and to extricate his father from
pecuniary embarrassment, beside what he lavished in
an extravagant mode of life. Dress, equipages, and
more than all, a contested election, followed by a
petition, left Clive, at the expiration of two years, the
choice between a very limited income or a return to
India. He took the latter course. The E. 1. Cy., on
his arrival in England, had shown their sense of his
brilliant exploits by the gift of a sword set with
diamonds — a mark of honour which, through his in-
terference, was extended to his early patron and
stanch friend, Major Lawrence; and when Clive's
brief holiday was over, they gladly welcomed him
back to their service, and procured for him the rank
of lieut.-col. in the British army. — (Life, i., 131.)
§ Forty-two miles south of Sladras.
TREATY BETWEEN FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN INDIA— a.d. 1754. 269
of justice. Dupleix, as the delegate of the
nizam or subahdar of the Deccan, claimed
the right of appointment, which he had
at different times attempted to bestow upon
Reza Sahib and Murtezza Ali (of Vellore) ;
the English continued to plead the cause
of the candidate they had from the first
steadily supported : and both the one and
the other, in the absence of any more
plausible pretext, reverted to the stale plea
of imperial authority. Patents and grants
were produced or talked of, which were re-
spectively declared by the opposing parties
forgeries and mere pretences. After eleven
days' discussion, the proceedings broke off
with mutual crimination. Dupleix was cen-
sured (doubtless, with sufficient cause) as
haughty and overbearing : no arrangement,
it was asserted, would ever result from dis-
cussions in which he was allowed to take
part. The French ministry were glad to
free themselves of any portion of the blame
attached to the ill success which had attended
the arms of the nation in the late contest,
and to hold the company and its servants
responsible for all failures. The bold and
warlike policy of Dupleix had been deemed
meritorious while successful : his brilliant
and gainful exploits were, at one time, the
theme of popular applause ; but now, while
struggling with unflagging energy against
the tide of misfortune, his unbounded am-
bition and overweening self-conceit over-
looked in prosperity, outweighed the re-
membrance of zeal, experience, and fidelity
in the minds of the French Directory, and
in August, 1754, a new governor-general,
M. Godheu, arrived at Pondicherry, with
authority to conclude a peace.* The Eng-
lish were permitted to retain the services of
Mr. Saunders and others, well versed in
local affairs, instead of being compelled to
trust to commissioners newly arrived from
• Dupleix immediately returned to France. His
accounts with the French company showed a dis-
bursement of nearly £400,000 beyond what he had
received during the war. This claim was wholly
set aside, upon the plea that expenses had been in-
curred without sufficient authority. He commenced
a law-suit against the company for the recovery of
monies spent in its behalf; but the royal authority
■was exercised to put a summary stop to these pro-
ceedings; and all the concession made to Duplei.t
was the grant of letters of protection against the
prosecution of his creditors — which was nothing
better than atoning for one injustice by committing
another. The career of the proud governor — who had
compelled his own countrymen to kneel before him,
had threatened to reduce Madras to a mere fishing
village, and of whom it had been boasted that his
2 N
Europe. The decision arrived at, though
apparently equally fair for both sides, in-
volved, on the part of the French, the
sacrifice of all they had. been fighting for.
One clause of the treaty enacted, that all
interference in the quarrels of native princes
should be relinquished ; and thus tacitly
recognised Mohammed Ali as nabob of
the Carnatic; another provisof based the
territorial arrangements of the two nations
on the principle of equality, and if fulfilled,
would entail the resignation of the valuable
provinces called the Northern Circars,J
lately bestowed on Bussy by Salabut Jung.
This prince, it is true, was left subahdar of
the Deccan, but the English had never at-
tempted to oppose him. Indeed, the sudden
death (attributed to poison), § of Ghazi-oo-
deen, the eldest son of the old nizam, when
approaching at the head of a large army to
dispute the pretensions of his brother, had
left Salabut Jung in the position of lineal
heir, now that the Deccani viceroyalty, like
that of Bengal, had come to be looked upon
as an hereditary principality.
The treaty was infringed as soon as made.
The English proceeded to reduce to obedi-
ence to their nabob the districts of Madura
and Tinnivelly. The French, under Bussy,
retained the circars, and continued to sup-
port Salabut Jung. In so doing, they un-
willingly contributed to relieve Mohammed
Ali from one of his great difficulties — the
blockade of Trichinopoly by the Mysooreans.
Nunjeraj, justly repudiating the right of
the French to make peace on his behalf,
persisted in endeavouring to get possession
of the fort, until the rumoured approach of a
body of Mahrattas to levy contributions on
the Mysoor frontier, and the simultaneous
advance of Salabut Jung to demand tribute
in the name of the Mogul, induced him
suddenly to march homewards, to the infi-
name was mentioned with fear even in the palace of
ancient Delhi — terminated sadly enough in disputing
over the wreck of his fortune, and soliciting au-
diences in the ante-chamber of hisjudges. Such at
least is the account given by Voltaire, who adds em-
phatically, " II en mourut bientot de chagrin." —
{Precis du Siecle de Louis XIV., ch. xxxix.)
t "The two companies, English and French, shall
renounce for ever all Moorish government and dig-
nity, and shall never interfere in any differences that
arise between the princes of the country." — (First
article of Treaty, signed December, 1754.)
J Namely, Mustaphabad, Ellore, Rajahmundri, and
Chicacole (anciently Calinga) : these additions made
the French masters of the sea-coast of Coromandel
and Qrissa, in an uninterrupted line of 600 miles.
§ Prepared by the mother of Nizam Ali.
270 STATES OF SOUTHERN INDIA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
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CHARACTER OF SURAJAH DOWLAH— a.b. 1756.
271
nite relief of the nabob. While the treaty
was pending, a British squadron with rein-
forcements had been sent to India, under
Admiral Watson, and the decided superiority
thus given to the English probably accele-
rated the arrangement of affairs. Their
services were now employed in the sup-
pression of the systematic piracy carried
on by the Angria family for nearly fifty
years on the Malabar coast. The peishwa,
or chief minister of the Mahratta state,
viewed them in the light of rebellious sub-
jects, and united with the English for their
suppression. Early in 1755, the fort of
Severndroog, and the island of Bancoot,
were taken by Commodore James ; and in
the following year, Watson, in co-operation
with Clive (then just returned from England
with the appointment of governor of Fort
St. David), captured Gheria, the principal
harbour and stronghold of the pirates.
The English and Mahrattas both coveted
this position : the tactics of the former
proved successful. Booty to the amount of
iSl 50,000 sterling was obtained, and its dis-
tribution occasioned disputes of a very dis-
creditable character between the sea and
land services. The partial biographer of
Clive endeavours to set forth his hero on
this, as on other occasions, as generous and
disinterested ; but few unprejudiced readers
will be inclined to acquit him of fully
sharing, what Sir John Malcolm himself
describes as " that spirit of plunder, and
that passion for the rapid accumulation of
wealth, which actuated all ranks." — (i. 135.)
The scene of Anglo-Indian politics is
about to change ; the hostilities on the
Coromandel coast serving but as the pre-
lude to the more important political trans-
actions of which the Calcutta presidency
became the centre.
War op Bengal. — Ali Verdi Khan,
subahdar or viceroy of the provinces of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, died in 1756.
Though in name a delegate of the Mogul
emperor, he had long been virtually inde-
pendent, and his power recognised as here-
ditary. In the absence of any nearer relative,
this important government devolved on his
grandson, Mirza Mahmood, a prince better
known by his title of Surajah Dowlah.
Ali Verdi had no sons : his three daughters
married their cousins; and this youth, the
• Siyar ul Mulakhcrin, i., 646.
t The son of Mohaninied Ali made this remark as
a reason for employing Hindoo ofBcials in preferenne
to his fellow-believers, 'whom, he asserted, were like
ofi'spring of one of these alliances, from his
cradle remarkable for extraordinary beauty,
became the object of excessive fondness on
the part of his grandfather. Unrestrained
indulgence took the place of careful train-
ing, and deepened the defects of a feeble in-
tellect and a capricious disposition. To the
vices incident to the enervating atmosphere
of a seraglio, he is said to have added a
tendency for society of the most degrading
character ; and as few of the courtiers chose
to risk the displeasure of their future lord,
with little chance of any effectual inter-
ference on the part of their present ruler,
Surajah Dowlah was sufiered to carry on a
career of which even the annals of eastern
despotistn afford few examples. A Mo-
hammedan writer emphatically declares,
that " he carried defilement wherever he
went,"* and became so generally detested,
that people, on meeting him by chance,
used to say, " God save us from him !"t The
accession to irresponsible power of a youth
of this character, could not fail to inspire a
general feeling of apprehension. The Eng-
lish had special cause for alarm, inasmuch
as the new ruler entertained strong preju-
dices in their disfavour. Some authorities
state that Ali Verdi Khan, shortly before
his death, had advised his destined successor
to put down the growing military power of
this nation; more probably he had urged
the pursuance of his own gainful and con-
ciliatory policy of exacting, at different
times and occasions, certain contributions
from all European settlements under his
sway, taking care, at the same time, not to
drive them into a coalition against his
authority, or by any exorbitant demand to
injure his permanent revenues by rendering
their commerce unremunerative. Policy of
this character was far beyond the compre-
hension of Surajah Dowlah. The plodding
traders of Calcutta were, in his eyes, not as
in reality agents and factors of a far dis-
tant association, but men of enormous
private wealth, like the Hindoo soucars or
bankers, whom one of his countrymen de-
clared resembled sponges, which gathered
all that came in their way, but returned aU
at the first pressure. J This pressure the
English were now to receive : a pretext was
easily found. The impending outbreak of
European war would, it was evident, lead
sieves — "much of what was poured in, went through."
—{Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive, i., 222.)
X The one wife of Ali Verdi Khan steadily befriended
the English. — (Holwell's Historical Events, p. 176.)
272
SURAJAH DOWLAH BESIEGES CALCUTTA— a.d. 1756.
to hostilities in India : they had, therefore,
begun to take measures for the defence of
the presidency. Surajah Dowlah, with
whom a previous misunderstanding had
occurred,* sent them an imperative order to
desist, and received in return a deprecatory
message, urging the necessity of taking
measures against French invasion. The
subahdar, remembering the neutrality en-
forced by his grandfather, deemed the
excuse worse than the fault ; and, although
actually on the march against a rebellious
relative, he abandoned this object, and
advanced immediately to the factory at Cos-
simbazar, which at once surrendered, the
few Europeans there having no means of
offering any resistance. The tidings were re-
ceived at Calcutta with dismay. The defen-
sive proceedings, which had attracted the
attention of the subahdar, must have been
very partial ; for the works, stores of ammu-
nition, and artillery were all utterly insuffi-
cient to sustain a protracted siege. The
garrison comprised 264 men, and the militia,
formed of European and native inhabitants,
250 ;t but their training had been so little
attended to, that when called out, scarcely
any among them " knew the right from the
wrong end of their muskets."J Assistance
was entreated from the neighbouring Dutch
settlement of Chinsura, but positively re-
fused; and, in the urgent necessity of the
case, the probability of impending warfare
with the French did not deter the presi-
dency from appealing to them for aid. The
reply was an insolent intimation that it
should be granted if the English would quit
Calcutta, and remove their garrison and
effects to Chandernagore ; that is, put them-
selves completely into the powei of their
patronising protectors. The last resource
— an endeavour to purchase immunity from
Surajah Dowlah — failed, and an attempt at
resistance followed. The military officers
on the spot, of whom none ranked higher
than a captain, were notoriously incompe-
tent to direct a difficult defence ; the civil
authorities had neither energy nor presence
of mind to counterbalance the deficiencies
of their colleagues. To abandon the fort
and retreat to shipboard was the common
* An uncle of Surajah Dowlah died governor of
Dacca. His hopeful nephew at once resolved on
plundering the widowed begum, or princess his aunt,
with whom he had long been at open variance,
of the enormous fortune she was supposed to have
inherited, and sent orders for the imprisonment of
the receivers and treasurers of the province : one of
these — a Hindoo, named Kishendass, supposed to have
opinion; and, under the circumstances, no
dishonour would have attended such a
course, if judiciously carried out. But the
thunder of the enemy without the walls,
was less inimical to the safety of the inha-
bitants than the confusion, riot, and insu-
bordination within, which, in the words of
a modern historian, "made the closing
scene of the siege one of the most dis-
graceful in which Englishmen were ever
engaged." § The intention of a general
escape was frustrated by the miserable
selfishness of those on whom it devolved to
make arrangements for the safety of the
whole. The men sent off with the women
and children refused to return; and soon
after the governor and commandant, with a
select body of cowards, seized the last boats
which remained at the wharf, and joined
the ships which, partaking of the general
panic, had dropped down the river. The
inhabitants, thus abandoned to the power
of a despot whose naturally cruel temper
they believed to be inflamed by a peculiar
hatred towards themselves, elected Mr.
Holwell (a member of council) as their
leader, and for two days continued the de-
fence of the place, in the hope that some
of the ships would return to their sta-
tions and answer the repeated calls for aid
made by means of fiery signals thrown up
from all parts of the town. These were in-
deed little needed, for the continued firing
of the enemy proclaimed aloud their in-
creasing danger. Orme, who has minutely
examined the details of this discreditable
business, declares, that " a single sloop,
with fifteen brave men on board, might, in
spite of all the efforts of the enemy, have
come up, and, anchoring under the fort,
have carried away all" those who remained
to suffer a strange and terrible doom. No
stronger illustration can be found of the
manner in which selfishness and the greed
of gain corrupt and extinguish the gentler
instincts of humanity, and deprive men even
of physical courage, than this affair.
Mr. Holwell strove, by throwing letters
over the wall, to obtain terms of capitula-
tion ; but in vain. ■ An assault, in which
uiuety-five of the garrison were killed or
accumulated great wealth — escaped to Calcutta. The
subahdar sent to demand the fugitive j but the mes-
senger entering the town in a sort of disguise, was
treated by the president as an impostor, and dis-
missed with insult from the company's territory.
t Making 540 men, 174 being Europeans.
X Holwell's India Tracts, [iO'2.
§ Thornton's Britiih India, i., 190.
MASSACRE OF THE BLACK HOLE AT CALCUTTA— 1756.
273
r
wounded, was followed by direct insubordi-
nation on the part of the remainder of the
common soldiers. They broke open the stores,
and, all sense of duty lost in intoxication,
rushed out of one gate of the fort, intending
to escape to the river, just as the enemy
entered by another. The inhabitants sur-
rendered their arms, and the victors re-
frained from bloodshed. The subahdar,
notwithstanding his character for inhu-
manity, showed no signs of it on this occa-
sion, but took his seat in the chief apartment
of the factory, and received the grandilo-
quent addresses of his officers and atten-
dants with extreme elation ; all angry feel-
ings being merged in the emotions of grati-
fied vanity at the victory thus absurdly
overrated. The smallness of the sum found
in the treasury (50,000 rupees) was a great
disappointment ; but when Mr. Holvvell was
carried into his presence with fettered hands,
they were immediately set free; and notwith-
standing some expressions of resentment at
the English for the defence of the fort, he
declared, upon the faith of a soldier, not a
hair of their heads should be touched. The
conference terminated about seven in the
evening. Mr. Holwell returned to his com-
panions in captivity, and the question arose
how they were to be secured for the night.
No suitable place could be found; and while
the guards were searching about, the pri-
soners, relieved from fear by the unexpected
gentleness of Surajah Dowlah, stood in
groups, conversing togetb.er, utterly unsus-
picious of their impending doom. The chief
officer returned and announced that the
only place of security he could find was
the garrison prison. At this time (before
the philanthropic labours of Howard) gaols,
even in England, were loathsome dens ; that
of Calcutta was a chamber, eighteen feet long
by fourteen broad, lit and ventilated by two
small windows, secured by iron bars, and
overhung by a verandah. Even for a dozen
European malefactors this dungeon would
have been insufferably close and narrow.
The prisoners of the subahdar numbered
146 persons, including many English, whose
constitutions could scarcely sustain the
fierce heat of Bengal in this the summer
season, even with the aid of every mitigation
that art could invent or money purchase.
They derided the idea of being shut up
in the " Black Hole," as manifestly impos-
* The detachmant on guard had lost many men in
the siege, and the survivors were merciless.
t Mr. Holwell and Mr. Cooke, another of the
sible. But the guards, hardened to the
sight of suffering, and habitually careless of
life, forced them all (including a half-cast
woman, who clung to lier husband) into the
cell at the point of the sword, and fastened
the door upon the helpless crowd. Holwell
strove, by bribes and entreaties, to persuade
an old man of some authority among the
guards, to procure their separation into two
places. He made some attempts, but re-
turned, declaring that the subahdar slept,
and none dared disturb him to request the
permission, without which no change could
be made in the disposition of the prisoners.
The scene which ensued perhaps admits of
but one comparison in horror — that one
is the hold of a slave-ship. Some few indi-
viduals retained consciousness; and after
hours of agony, surrounded by sights and
sounds of the most appalling description,
rendered up their souls tranquilly to their
Creator and Redeemer, satisfied (we may
hope), even under so trying a dispensation,
that the dealings of Providence, though often
inscrutable, are ever wise and merciful.
Man, alas ! often evinces little of either
quality to his fellow-beings ; and in this
instance, while the captives, maddened by
the double torment of heat and thirst, fought
with each other like furious beasts to ap-
proach the windows, or to obtain a share in
the pittance of water procured through the
intervention of the one compassionate sol-
dier, the other guards held lights to the
iron bars, and shouted with fiendish laughter
at the death-struggles of their victims.*
Towards daybreak the tumult began to
diminish; shrieks and groans gave place to
a low fitful moaning ; a sickly, pestilential
vapour told the reason — the majority had
perished : corruption had commenced ; the
few who remained were sinking fast. The
fatal sleep of Surajah Dowlah at length
ceased ; the door was opened by his orders ;
the dead were piled up in heaps ; and twenty-
three ghastly figures (including the now
widowed woman before mentioned) stag-
gered one by one out of the charnel-house.
A pit was immediately dug, into which the
bodies of the murdered men, 123 in number,
were promiscuously flung.
No shadow of regret seems to have been
evinced by the subahdar for this horrible
catastrophe. t The first flush of exultation
had passed away, and feelings of pecuniary
sufforers, gave a painfully interesting account of the
whole catastrophe before a committee of the House
of Commons. — {Pari. Papers, E. I. Cy., 1772.)
274 TREATY BETWEEN ENGLISH AND SUKAJAH DOWLAH— 1757.
disappointment were now uppermost. Hol-
well, unable to walk, was carried into his pre-
sence, with some companions, and harshly
interrogated regarding the treasures of the
company. No satisfactory answer being ob-
tained, they were all lodged in miserable
sheds, fed on grain and water, and left to
pass as they might the crisis of the fever, in
which several who lived through the night
of the 20th June, 1756, perished. The release
of the survivors was eventually procured by
the intercession of the grandmother of the
prince,* and a merchant named Omichund.
A Moorish garrison of 3,000 men was
placed in Fort William, and with reckless
impiety the name of Calcutta changed to
that of Alinagore (the port of God.) Surajah
Dowlah then exacted from the Dutch a
tribute of £45,000, and ^35,000 from the
French ; better terms being accorded to the
latter, in consideration of their having fur-
nished 200 chests of gunpowder to the army
while on their march to Calcutta.
Tidings of the fall of the settlement and
the catastrophe of the Black Hole reached
Madras in August, and were received with a
general cry for vengeance. Even at such a
time the old jealousies between the land and
sea forces interposed to prevent immediate
action, and two months were spent in dis-
cussing how the command was to be divided,
and in what manner prizes were to be dis-
tributed. At the expiration of that time,
Clive and Watson sailed from Madras with
ten ships, having on board 900 European
troops and 1,500 sepoys. The fugitives
from Calcutta were found at Fulta, a town
some distance down the Ganges, and offen-
sive operations were commenced by the
attack of a fort called Budge-Budge, situated
on the river banks between the places above
named. An unaccountable piece of care-
lessness on the part of Clive nearly occasioned
the failure of the enterprise. While the
ships cannonaded the fort, a number of the
troops were to lay wait for the garrison, who
it was expected, would abandon the place ;
instead of which the ambuscade was itself
* The widow of AH Verdi Khan, before mentioned.
t Orme's Militarij Transactions, ii., 123. The
total loss of the English in this affair does not ap-
pear. Orme mentions thirteen men killed. Clive,
in a private letter to Mi-. Pigot, remarks, that " our
loss in the skirmish near Budge-Budge was greater
than could well be spared if such skirmishes were
to be often repeated.— (ii/i;, i., 153.)
X The attack was deferred on account of the
fatigue of the troops. A body of 250 sailors were
landed in the evening, and refreshed themselves by
becoming extremely drunk. One of them, about
surprised by a body of the enemy while
resting on the march, having neglected
even the common precaution of stationing
sentinels to keep guard in the broad day-
light. The presence of mind of Clive,
aided probably by his reputation for good
fortune, enabled him to rally the soldiers
with rapidity, and advance with steadiness
and success against the irregular ranks Oi
two or three thousand horse and foot who
had stealthily approached amid the thick
jungle. Monichund, governor of Calcutta,
led the attack, and on receiving a ball in his
turban, this commander, having "no courage,
but much circumspeetion,"t. turned his ele-
phant, and decamped with his entire force.
The fort was cannonaded by the ship (the
Kent) which first reached the spot, and a gene-
ral attack projected for the nest morning,
but prevented by the silent evacuation of the
place. J The other posts on the Ganges were
abandoned at the approach of the English,
and Calcutta itself recaptured, after a siege
of two hours. The merchandise belong-
ing to the company remained, for the most
part, untouched, having been reserved for
Surajah Dowlah; but the houses of indi-
viduals had been totally plundered. Hooghly
was next attacked, and a breach easily
effected; the troops mounted the rampart,
and the garrison took to flight, leaving in
the place a large amount of property.
Intelligence of the renewal of hostilities
between England and France, reached the
armament at this period. The French in
Bengal had a force of 300 Europeans and
a train of field-artillery. Their union with
Surajah Dowlah would give him an over-
powering degree of superiority; it was
therefore manifestly politic to take imme-
diate advantage of the desire for an accom-
modation with which the issue of the contest
had inspired him.
In February, 1757, a treaty was formed,
by which the subahdar — or, as he is com-
monly called, the nabob — consented to re-
store to the ISnglish their former privileges ;
to make compensation for the plunder of
duek, straggled across the moat, scrambled up the
rampart, and, meeting with no opposition in the de-
serted citadel, hallooed loudly to the advanced guards
in the village that he had taken the place, bepoys
were stationed round the walls. Others of the intoxi-
cated sailors coming up to share the triumph of their
comrade, mistook the sentinels for foes, and fired their
pistols. In the confusion an officer was killed. The
seamen, on returning to their ships, were flogged for
misconduct: the man who had discovered the flight
of the garrison did not escape ; upon which he swore
in great wrath never to take a fort again.
CIIAISIDERNAGORE CAPTURED FROM THE FRENCH— 1757. 275
Calcutta ; and to permit the erection of for-
tifications. This arrangement was speedily
followed by an alliance, offensive and de-
fensive, eagerly ratified by both parties.
The peace which followed was of short
duration. The English impatiently desired
to retaliate on the French their late con-
duct ; and demanded the consent, if not
the co-operation of their new ally, which he
long refused, declaring with truth, that hav-
ing no cause of enmity to either party, it
was alike a point of duty and interest to
prevent the outbreak of hostilities. Beneath
this ostensible reason, another existed in
his desire to preserve terms with the French
in the event of a rupture with the English.
The invasion and capture of Delhi by
Ahmed Shah Abdalli, and the fear of an
advance upon Bengal, for a time banished
all other schemes. The nabob clung to his
European allies as an efficient defence ; but
a restless inquietude nevertheless possessed
him ; for the ability to protect was accom-
panied by an equal power of destruction.
At length, the peremptory demand and
threats of Watson and Clive, backed by
the arrival of reinforcements, with well-
directed bribes to underlings, extorted from
him a reluctant permission to " act according
to the time and occasion."* This oracular
phrase was considered to imply consent to
the attack of Chandernagore, which was im-
mediately proceeded with, notwithstanding
subsequent direct and repeated prohibitions.
The French conducted the defence with
gallantry; but the combined force of the
land and sea divisions proved irresistible.
Admiral Watson evinced extraordinary sea-
manship in bringing two of his vessels (the
Kent and Tiger) abreast the fort ; and after
three hours' firing the besieged capitulated.
Chandernagore, like Calcutta, comprised a
European and native town with a fort, and
stretched over territory which, commencing
at the southern limits of the Dutch settle-
ment of Chinsura, extended two miles along
the banks of the river, and about one-and-
a-half inland. Clive was delighted at the
conquest, considering it of more conse-
quence than would have been that of Pondi-
cherry itself,t which he hoped would follow.
To " induce the nabob to give up all the
French factories," and " drive them out, root
• Orme's Military Transactions, ii., 140.
t Clive describes Chandernagore as " a most mag-
nificent and rich colony; the garrison consisted of
more than 500 Europeans and blacks, all carrying
arms: .300 ate prisoners, and nearly 100 have been
suffered to give their parole, consisting ol'cnil, mili-
and branch,"! — this and nothing less was
now attempted. But Surajah Dowlah was
never less inclined to so impolitic a proce-
dure, than after the taking of Chandernagore.
The exploits of the ships of war had filled
him with consternation: it is even asserted
that he had been made to believe they could
be brought up the Ganges close to his own
capital — an operation which he immediately
took measures to prevent, by causing the
mouth of the Cossimbazar river to be
dammed up.§ The idea of counterbalancing
the power of the English by that of the
French, was a natural and judicious one;
but he had neither judgment nor self-reliance
for its execution. Old in dissipation, he was
young in years and in all useful experience.
Vicious habits, |1 and an ungovernable tongue,
had alienated from him the afiections of the
chosen friends and servants of his grand-
father; and they viewed with disgust the
contrast afforded to the provident habits
and courteous bearing of their late ruler
by his profligate successor. Scarcely one
voice appears to have been raised up to warn
the unhappy youth of the growing disaffection
of his subjects. The haughty Mussulman
nobles were incensed by his insulting de-
meanour ; and the Hindoos had still stronger
grounds for estrangement. Under all Mo-
hammedan governments, the financial depart-
ments were almost solely entrusted to this
thrifty and calculating race. The Brahmini-
cal and mercantile classes were treated with
that solid respect, which those who wield the
sword usually pay to those who keep the
purse. By unwearied application and ex-
treme personal frugality, the seits or soucara
frequently accumulated immense wealth,
which they well knew how to employ, both
for purposes of augmentation and for
the establishment of political influence.
Their rulers lavished enormous sums on
wars and pageants ; and though sometimes
violent means were used to obtain stores of
hidden wealth, the more frequent course
adopted by princes to raise supplies was
through orders on the revenue, in the nego-
tiation of which the bankers contrived to
make a double profit. Ali Verdi Khan had
understood the value of these auxiliaries,
and the importance of conciliating their
confidence. Under his sway Hindoos filled
tary, and inhabitants. Nearly sixty white ladies are
rendered miserable by the loss of this place." — (Mal-
colm's Life of Clive, i., 196.) | Idem., p. 196.
§ Parker's Transactions in the East Indies, 57.
II He threatened Juggut Seit with circumcision,
the -worst insult that could be ollered to a Hindoo.
276 ENGLISH JOIN MEER JAFFIER AGAINST SURAJAH DOWLAH— 1757.
the highest offices of the state. Ram Narrain,
the governor of Patna, and Rajah Ram of
Midnapoor, were the chief of the managers
and renters. RoyduUub, the dewau or
minister of finance, was likewise a person
of great influence — the more so from his
intimate connection with Juggut Seit, the
representative of the wealthiest souear, or
banking firm in India. This last, by means
of his extended transactions, possessed
equal influence at Lucknovv,* Delhi, and at
Moorshedabad. Most of these persons, with
the addition of Monichund, the temporary
governor of Calcutta, Surajah Dowlah had
offended in different ways;t and he especially
resented the sense evinced by the Hindoos
generally of the rising power of the English.
The result was a determination to subvert
his government. The chief conspirator was
the bukshee, or military commander of the
army, Meer Jaffier Khan, a soldier of for-
tune, promoted by Ali Verdi to the highest
military rank, and further exalted by a
marriage with a member of the reigning
family. Omichund, a wealthy Hindoo mer-
chant, long resident in Calcutta, and inti-
mately associated by commercial dealings
with the E. I. Cy., became the medium of
conveying to the English cvci'tures to join
the plot. Clive at once advocated com-
pliance, on the ground that sufficient evi-
dence existed of the intention of the nabob
to join with the French for their destruction.
It certainly appears that a correspondence
was actually being carried on with Bussy, but
to little effect, since the precarious state of
politics at the court of Salabut Jung rendered
his continuance there of the first importance.
Still Clive argued that the conduct of the
nabob sufficed to release his countrymen
from their solemn pledge, and justified them
in entering into a plot with the treacherous
ministers ; and his strong will weighed down
the opposition offered in discussing the ques-
tion by a committee of the Calcutta presi-
dency. To oppose the vacillating, cowardly
intrigues of Surajah Dowlah with fraud and
perjury, was decided to be a more promising
course than to remain in the narrow path
* The capital of the viceroy of Oude.
+ The copy of a letter found at Moorshedabad,
after the fatal battle of Plassey, addressed by the
nabob to Bussy, contains allusions to the seizure of
Chandernagore, and offered co-operation against
"these disturbers of my country, Bileer Jung Ba-
hadur, the valiant in buttle (Watson), and Sabut
Jung (fllive), whom bad fortune attend!"
J Vide Stewart's History of the Deccan, ii., 498;
and the translation of the Siyar ul Mutakhcrin, pub-
lished at Calcutta in 1789.— (i., 758-'9.)
of honest dealing. Meer Jaffier promised,
in the event of success, large donations to
the company, the army, navy, and com-
mittee. Clive declared Surajah Dowlah to
be " a villain," and Meer Jaffier " a man as
generally esteemed as the other was de-
tested."—(Malcolm's Life of Clive, i., 263.)
The conduct of the chief person on this
occasion, strongly supports the much-cri-
ticised opinion of Mill — that deception never
cost him a pang. Vague rumours of the
plot reached the nabob ; and Clive, to dispel
his suspicions, wrote to him " in terms so
affectionate, that they for a time lulled the
weak prince into perfect security." J The
courier conveyed a second missive of the same
date, from the same hand, addressed to Mr.
Watts, the British resident at Moorshedabad
— in which, after referring to the "soothing
letter" § above alluded to, Chve adds, " Tell
Meer Jaffier to fear nothing; that I will
join him with 5,000 men who never turned
their backs; and that if he fails seizing him,
we shall be strong enough to drive him out
of the country. Assure him I will march
night and day, as long as I have a man left."||
The protestations of Clive gained force in the
mind of the deluded nabob, through a cir-
cumstance which occurred at this period.
The Mahrattas, who had long been en-
croaching on the fertile provinces of Bengal,
thought the unpopularity and known ineffi-
ciency of its present ruler afforded a favour-
able opportunity for an attempt at its com-
plete subjugation. The capture of Cossim-
bazar and Calcutta would, the peishwa Bal-
lajee Bajee Rao conceived, render the Eng-
lish willing to enter into a coalition against
the nabob, and the co-operation of the troops
in the invasion of Bengal was solicited ; the
compensation offered being the repayment of
double the amount of the losses sustained
from Surajah Dowlah, and the vesting of the
commerce of the Ganges exclusively in the
E. I. Cy. Some doubt was entertained as to
the authenticity of this communication. It
was even surmised to have been a trick on the
part of Surajah Dowlah ; and as'the assistance
of the Mahrattas was by no means desirable
§ The words of Macaulay, one of Mill's censurers.
II The following is an extract from one of Admiral
Watson's letters to the nabob ; — " Let us take Chan-
dernagore," he writes, "and secure ourselves from
any apprehensions in that quarter, and then we will
assist you with every man in our power, and go with
you even to Delhi', if you will. Have we sworn reci-
procally that the friends and enemies of the -one
should be regarded as such by the other ? and will
not God, the avenger of perjury, punish us if we do
not fulfil our oaths ?" — (Parker's East Indies, p. 78.)
SIGNATUllE OF WATSON FORGED BY ORDER OF OLIVE.
277
in the scheme already set on foot, the letter
was at once forwarded to the nabob as afford-
ing, in either case, evidence of the good faith
of his allies. It proved to be authentic;
and all the effect expected resulted from
its transmission. But the execution of a
plan in which many jarring interests were
concerned, necessarily involved numerous
dangers. At one moment a violent quarrel
between the nabob and Meer Jaffier threat-
ened to occasion a premature disclosure of
the whole plot. This danger was averted by
a reconciliation, in which that " estimable
person," Meer Jaffier, swore upon the Koran
fidelity to his master, after having a few
days before, given a similar pledge to his
English confederates in the projected usur-
pation. Clive had his full share of what
Napoleon would have styled "dirty work"
to do in the business. When all things
were arranged, Omichund suddenly declared
himself dissatisfied with the amount of com-
pensation* allotted to him in the division of
the spoil planned by the conspirators. His
services at this crisis were invaluable, and
his influence with the nabob had repeatedly
been the means of concealing the plot. The
demand of thirty lacs of rupees (j6350,000),
was accompanied by an intimation of the
danger of refusal. Whether Omichund really
intended to risk the reward already agreed on,
together with his own life, by betraying a
transaction in which he had from the first
borne a leading part, may well be doubted ;
but Clive took an easy method of terminating
the discussion by consenting to the exorbitant
stipulation. Omichund likewise insisted on
the agreement regarding himself being in-
• The position of Omichund, with regard to the
English, was peculiar. He had been connected with
them in the affairs of commerce about forty years,
and was looked upon as a person of great importance,
both on account of his mercantile transactions, which
extended to all parts of Bengal and Bahar, and the
magnitude of his private fortune. His habitation is
described by Orme as having been on a splendid
scale, anddivided into various departments, resembling
rather the abode of a prince than of a merchant.
Besides numerous domestic servants, he maintained
(as is frequent among eastern nobies) a retinue of
armed men in constant pay. When news of the ap-
firoach of Surajah Dowlah reached Calcutta, the
ocal authorities, among other vague fears, suspecting
Omichund of being in league with the enemy, seized
and imprisoned him. An attempt was made to cap-
ture the person of his brother-in-law, who liad taken
refuge in the apartments of the women ; but the
whole of Omichund's peons, to the number of 300,
rose in resistance, and the officer in command (a
Hindoo of high cast), fearing that some indignity
might be sustained by the females, set fire to the
harem, and killed no less than thirteen with his own
2o
serted in the treaty between the English and
Meer Jaffier. Clive seemingly complied.
Two treaties were drawn up, one on white
paper, the other on red ; in the former,
Omichund's name was not mentioned; the
latter, which was to be shown to him, con-
tained the specified proviso. The honesty
of Admiral Watson had nearly defeated this
manosuvre. He positively refused to sign
the false treaty. Omichund would at once
suspect some reason for this omission. Clive
removed the difficulty by causing a Mr.
Lushington to forge the important name.
Hostility to the nabob was now openly
professed. The English force marched
against him, sending forward a letter equi-
valent to a declaration of war. Surajah
Dowlah dispatched an appeal for aid to the
French, assembled his troops, and prepared
to encounter a foreign foe, unsuspicious of
the treachery at work within his camp. The
courage of Meer Jaffier failed; doubt and
fear, in the hour of danger, overpowered am-
bition : he hesitated; and instead of imme-
diately coming over to Clive, at Cossimbazar,
with his division, as had been agreed upon,
he advanced with the nabob to Plassy.
The position of the English became extremely
perilous : the strength of the enemy twenty
times outnumbered theirs. The ford of the
Hooghly lay before them, easily crossed ;
but over which not one man might ever
be able to return. Clive called a council of
war for the first and last time in his whole
career, probably as a cloak for his own mis-
givings, since he voted first, and doubtless
influenced the majority in deciding that it
would be imprudent to risk an advance.f This
hand, after which he stabbed himself, though (con-
trary to his intention) not mortally. This melancholy
catastrophe did not prevent Mr. Holwcll from soli-
citing the intervention of Omichund to procure
terms of capitulation from Surajah IJowlah j and
his conduct at this time totally removed the suspi-
cions previously entertained. On the capture of the
place, 400,000 rupees were plundered from his trea-
sury, and much valuable property of different de-
scriptions seized ; but his person was set at liberty,
and a favourable disposition evinced towards him by
the nabob, of which he took advantage to procure
the restoration of his losses in money, and likewise
in soliciting the release of the survivors of the mas-
sacre, who were fed by his charity, and in great mea-
sure restored to liberty through his entreaties.
t The following is a list of the officers of this coun-
cil, and the way in which they voted i — For dehiy —
Kobt. Clive ; James Kirkpatrick j Archd. Grant ;
Geo. Fred. Goupp ; Andrew Armstrong ; Thos. Kum-
bold ; Christian Firkan ; John Corneillei H. Fop-
ham. For inimediute attack — Eyre Coote, G. Alex.
Grant ; G. Muir ; Chas. Palmer ; Kobt. Campbell j
Peter Carstairs; \V. Jennings. — {Lifeof Vlwe,\.,15^.)
278 BATTLE OF PLASSY, 1757— DEFEAT OF SURAJAH DOWLAII.
was an unusual opinion for "Sabut Jung" the
daring in war, to form, and it was not a per-
manent one. Passing away from the meet-
ing, gloomy and dissatisfied, he paced aboxit
for an hour beneath the shade of some trees,
and, convinced on reflection that the hesita-
tion of Meer Jaffier would give place to re-
awakened ambition, he resolved to reverse
the decision in which he had so lately con-
curred; and, returning to the camp, gave
orders to make ready for the passage of the
river.* The army crossed on the following
morning, and, at a little past midnight, took
up its position in a grove of mango treesf
near Plassy, within a mile of the wide-spread
camp of the enemy.
The sound of drums and cymbals kept
Clive waking all night ; and Surajah Dowlah,
overpowered by vague fears and gloomy ap-
prehensions, passed the remaining hours of
darkness in upbraiding and complaint. J At
sunrise his army, marshalled in battle array,
commenced moving towards the grove in
which the English were posted. The plain
seemed alive with multitudes of infantry,
supported by troops of cavalry, and bearing
with them fifty pieces of ordnance of great
size, drawn by long teams of white oxen,
and propelled by elephants ai-rayed in scarlet
cloth and embroidery. Beside these, were
some smaller but more formidable guns,
under the direction of Frenchmen. § The
force to oppose this mighty host numbered,
in all, only 3,000 men, but of these nearly
1,000 were English. Conspicuous in the
ranks were the men of the 39th regiment,
who that day added to the inscriptions on
their colours the name of Plassy, and the
motto, Priraus in India. Of hard fighting
there was but little; treachery supplied its
place. The action began by a distant can-
nonade, in which some of the few officers,
still true to a falling cause, perished by the
skilfully-directed fire of the " hat-wearers,"
who, says Hussein Gholam Khan, " have no
equals in the art of firing their artillery and
musketry with both order and rapidity." ||
Several hours were spent in this manner.
• This is tlie account given by Orme, who proba-
bly heard tlie circumstances from Clive himself.
Scrafton attributes the colonel's change of mind to a
letter received from Meer Jaffier in the course of
the day. — {Reflections, p. 85.)
t Regularly planted groves or woods of tall fruit
trees are very common in India: that of Plassy was
a square of about two miles in circuit; but it has
been neglected, and is now much diminished.
X The despondency of the nabob, says Orme, in-
creased as the hour of danger approached. His
attendants, by some carelessness left his tent un-
At length Meer-meden, one of the two chief ]
leaders of the adverse force, was mortally j
wounded by a cannon-ball. He was carried i
to the tent of the prince, and expired while |
explaining the arrangements he had made
for the battle. Driven to desperation by
witnessing the death of his faithful servant,
Surajah Dowlah summoned Meer Jaffier to
his presence, and bade him revenge the
death of Meer-meden ; at the same time,
placing his own turban at the foot of his
treacherous relative — the most humiliating
supplication a Mohammedan prince could
offer — he besought him to forget past differ-
ences, and to stand by the grandchild of
his benefactor (Ali Verdi Khan), now that
his life, his honour, and his throne, were all
at stake. Meer Jaffier replied to this appeal
by treacherously advising immediate retreat
into the trenches; and the fatal order was
issued, notwithstanding the earnest remon-
strance of the Hindoo general, Mohun Lall,
who predicted the utter confusion which
would ensue. Meer Jaffier had unsuccess-
fully endeavoured to convey a letter to
Clive, advising the immediate attack of the
nabob's camp ; now, perceiving the fortune
of the day decided, he remained, as before,
stationary with his division of the array,
amid the general retreat. Surajah Dowlah,
on witnessing the inaction of so large a part
of the force, comprehended at once his be-
trayal ; and on beholding the English ad-
vancing, mounted a camel and fled to Moor-
shedabad, accompanied by 2,000 horsemen.
In fact, no other course remained to one in-
capable of taking the lead in his own person ;
for to such an extent had division spread
throughout the Mohammedan troops, that
no officer, even if wilhng to fight for his
rightful master, could rely on the co-opera-
tion of any other commander. The little
band of Frenchmen alone strove to confront
the English, but were rapidly carried away
by the tide of fugitives. Of the vanquished,
500 were slain. The conquerors lost but
twenty -two killed and fifty wounded ; they
gained not merely the usual spoils of war in
guarded, and a common person, either through igno-
rance, or with a view to robbery, entered unperceived.
The prince, at length recognising the intruder, started
from the gloomy reflecrions in which he had been
absorbed, and recalled his servants with the em-
phatic exclamation,—" Sure they see me dead !" —
(Military Transactions, i., 172.)
§ Orme states the force of the enemy at 50,000
foot, 18,000 horse, and fifty pieces of cannon.
Clive savs 35,000 foot, 15,000 horse, and forty pieces
of cannon.— (ie««r to Secret Committee of E. 1. Cy.)
l| Siynr iil Mutakherin, i., 76(5.
FLIGHT OF SURAJAH DOWLAH.— MEER JAFFIER MADE NABOB. 279
abundance — baggage and artillery-waggons J
elephants and oxen — but paramount autho-|
rity over a conquered province, larger andB
more populous than their native country. I
The conduct of Mecr Jaffier had been by'
no means unexceptionable, even in the sight
of his accomplices. He had played for a
heavy stake with a faltering hand — a species
of cowardice for which Clive had no sym-
pathy; nevertheless, it was expedient to
overlook all minor occasions of quarrel at this
critical moment, and proclaim the traitor
subahdar of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa.
Mecr Jaffier marched to Moorshedabad.
Surajah Dowlah learned his approach with
a degree of terror that prevented him from
forming any plan of defence : deserted on
all sides, he strove to conciliate the alienated
affections of the military commanders by
lavish gifts; and at length, after balancing
between the advice given by his counsellors
— to throw himself upon the mercy of the
English, or again try the fortune of war — he
renounced both attempts, and accompanied
by his consort, his young daughter, and
several other females, quitted the palace
at dead of night, carrying with him a
number of elephants laden with gold, jewels,
and baggage of the most costly description.*
Had he proceeded fearlessly by land in the
broad daylight, it is possible that many of the
local authorities would have rallied round
his standard ; but instead of taking a bold
course, he embarked in some boats for
Plassy, hoping to be able to effect a junction
with a party of the French under M. Law,
who, at the time of the battle of Patna, was
actually marching to his assistance. This
proceeding removed all obstacles from the
path of Meer Jaffier, and his installation
was performed with as much pomp as cir-
cumstances would permit. At the last mo-
ment, either from affected humility or a
misgiving as to the dangerous and trouble-
• Orme says that Surajah Dowlah escaped by
night from a window of the palace, accompanied only
by a favourite concubine and a eunuch ; but Gholam
Hussein, who, besides his usual accuracy, may be ex-
pected to be well informed on the subject, makes the
statements given in the text, and confirms them by
much incidental detail. — {Siyar ul Mutakkcrin, i., 7;
see also Scott's Bengal, ii., 371.)
t The interpreter of Clive — a renegade Frenchman,
called Mustapha, who translated the Siyar ul Mu-
takherin — states in a note (i., 773), that the English
never suspected the existence of an inner treasury
said to contain eight crores (eight million sterling),
kept, in pursuance of a custom common in India, in
the zenana or women's apartments. In corrobora-
tion, various circumstances are adduced in the history
some nature of power treacherously usurped,
he hesitated and refused to take pos-
session of the sumptuously-adorned mus-
nud, or pile of cushions, prepared for him.
Clive, having vainly tried persuasion, took
his hand, and placing him on the throne,
kept him down by the arm while he pre-
sented the customary homage — a nuzzur, or
offering of gold mohurs, on a salver. The
act was sufficiently significative ; thenceforth
the subahdars of Bengal existed in a degree
of dependence on the foreign rulers by
whom they were nominated, with which that
formerly paid to the most powerful of the
Great Moguls bears no comparison.
This public ceremonial was followed by a
private meeting among the confederates to
divide the spoil. Whether the extravagance
of Surajah Dowlah, during his fifteen months'
sway, had exhausted a treasury previously
drained by Mahratta wars and subsidies, or
whether Meer Jaffier and his countrymen
succeeded in outwitting their English asso-
ciates, and secretly possessed themselves of
the lion's share,t remains an open question ;
but it appears that the funds available,
amounted only to 150 lacs of rupees — a sum
far short of that which had been reckoned
upon in the arrangement previously made.
Oue large claim was repudiated in a very
summary manner. When Meer Jaffier, and
the few persons immediately concerned in j
the plot, adjourned to the house of Juggut
Seit, to settle the manner of carrying out
the treaty, Omichund followed as a matter \
of course. He had no suspicion of the deceit i
practised upon him ; for " Clive, with dis-
simulation surpassing even the dissimulation
of Bengal, had, up to that day, treated him
with undiminished kindness." J Not being
invited to take his seat on the carpet, Omi-
chund, in some surprise, withdrew to the
lower part of the hall, and waited till he
should be summoned to join the conference. §
of the individuals whom he asserts to have been par
ticipants in the secret, to prove their having derived
immense wealth from some hidden source. Among
others Mini Begum, the favourite wife of Meer
Jaffier Khan, who survived him, possessed an im-
mense fortune, although her husband was constantly
involved in disturbances with the soldiery from real
or affected inability to discharge their arrears of pay.
I Macaulay's Essay on Life of Clive, p. 50.
§ Admiral Watson was not of the party. He died
in the course of the year of a malignant fever which
prevailed on the coast. Captain Brereton, when
questioned before parliament regarding the deception
practised on Omichund, bore witness that the admi-
ral had stigmatised the conduct of Clive as " dishon-
ourable and 'niquitous." — (Pari, llcports, iii., 151.) j
280
DECEPTION AND FATE OF OMICHUND— 1757.
The white treaty was produced and read ;
its various stipulations (including the utter
expulsion of the French from Bengal) were
confirmed, and the pecuniary claims of the
English metby the immediate payment of one-
half — two-thirds in money, and one-third
in plate and jewels ; the other portion to be
discharged in three equal annual payments.*
At length Omichund became uneasy at
the total disregard evinced of his presence.
On coming forward, he caught sight of the
document just read, and exclaimed — " There
must be some mistake; the general treaty was
on red paper !" Clive, who during his long
residence in India never acquired a know-
ledge of any Indian language, turned to
Mr. Scrafton, one of the servants of the
company, then acting as interpreter, and
said — " It is time to undeceive Omichund."
This was easily done ; the few words in
Hindostanee, " The red treaty was a trick,
Omichund — you are to have nothing," were
soon spoken; but the bystanders could
scarcely have been prepared for the result.
The Hindoo was avaricious to the heart's
core; and this sudden disappointment, aimed
at the tenderest point, and aggravated by
feelings of anger and humiliation, came like
the stroke of death. He swooned, and was
carried to his stately home, where, after re-
maining many hours in a state of the deepest
gloom, he began to exhibit symptoms of
insanity. Some days after he visited Clive,
who, probably unwilling to recognise the
full extent of the ruin he had wrought,
strove to soothe the old man by promises
of procuring favourable terms with the
company regarding certain contracts which
• Clive, in a letter to the Secret Committee of the
Court of Directors, dated Moorshedabad, 26th July,
after giving some details of the battle, says — " The
substance of the treaty with the present nabob is as
follows : — 1st. Confii-mation of the mint and all other
grants and privileges in the treaty with the late
nabob. 2ndly. An alliance, offensive and defensive,
against all enemies whatsoever. 3rdly. The French
factories and eifects to be delivered up, and they never
to be permitted to resettle in any of the provinces.
4thly. One hundred lacs (£1,000,000) to be paid to the
company in consideration of their losses at Calcutta,
and the expenses of the campaign. Sthly. Fifty lacs
(£500,000) to be given to the English suflerers at
the loss of Calcutta. 6thly. Twenty lacs (£200,000)
to Gentooa, Moors, &c., black sufferers at the loss of
Calcutta. Vthly. Seven lacs (£70,000) to the Arme-
nian sufferers : these three last donations to be dis-
tributed at the pleasure of the admiral and gentle-
men of the council, including me. 8thly. The en-
tire property of all lands within the Mahratta ditch,
which runs round Calcutta, to be vested in the com-
pany : also 600 yards all round, without the said
ditch. 9thly. The company to have the zemindary
he held from them ; and even spoke of him,
in an official despatch, as " a person capable
of rendering great services, and therefore
not wholly to be discarded. "f This state-
ment is, however, quite incompatible with
the description of Orme, who declares that
Omichund, after being carried a senseless
burthen from the house of Juggut Seit,J
never rallied, but sank from insanity to
idiocy. Contrary to the custom of the
aged in Hindostan, and especially to his
former habits and strong reason, Omichund,
now an imbecile, went about decked in
gaudy clothing and costly jewels, until his
death, in the course of about eighteen
months, terminated the melancholy history.
Such a transaction can need no comment,
at least to those who believe that in all
cases, under all circumstances, a crime is of
necessity a blunder.§ In the present in-
stance there could be no second opinion on
the point, except as regarded the private
interests of the persons concerned in the
division of spoil found in the treasury of
the deposed prince. The commercial in-
tegrity of the English had laid the foun-
dation of the confidence reposed in them
by the natives, whether Mohammedan or
Hindoo : the alliance of Juggut Seit and
other wealthy bankers had been procured
chiefly by this means. Omichund, in his
endeavours to allay the suspicions of Sura-
jah Dowlah, had declared that the English
were famous throughout the world for their
good faith, inasmuch that a man in Eng-
land, who, on any occasion, told a lie, was
utterly disgraced, and never after admitted
to the society of his former friends and ac-
of the country to the south of Calcutta, lying be-
tween the lake and the river, and reaching asfarasCul-
pee, they paying the customary rents paid by the for-
mer zemindars to the government. lOthly. Whenever
the assistance of the English troops shall be wanted,
their extraordinary charges to be paid by the nabob,
llthly. No forts to be erected by the government
on the river side, from Hooghly downwards." Clive
carefully avoided all mention of the separate treaties
for the payment of monies in which he had the
chief share.- — (See Note in ensuing page.'^
t Life of Clive, i., 289.
X The amount of the reward received by Juggut
Seit does not appear. If at all in proportion to his
previous wealth, it must have been very large. At
the time of the plunder of Moorshedabad by the Mah-
rattas, in 1742, two million and a-half sterling in
Arcot rupees were taken from the treasury of himself
and his brother; notwithstanding which they con-
tinued to grant bills at sight, of one crore each.
§ " Using no arguments but such as Machiavelli
might have employed in his conferences with Borgia,"
remarks Macaulay, " Clive committed not merely a
crime but a blunder." — (Esmiy, p. 51.)
ENORMOUS SUMS OBTAINED BY CLIVE IN BENGAL.
281
quaintances.* This invaluable prestige of
honest dealing was placed in imminent jeo-
pardy by Clive ; and years afterwards, rank
and wealth failed to preserve him from
learning, with anger and bitter humiliation,
that forgery and lying were vices which, in
the sight of his countrymen at large, could
not be atoned for by the most brilliant suc-
cesses. "With regard to the enormous sums
accepted, or, in other words, seized by Eng-
lish officials, both civil and military, from
the treasury of Bengal, that also seems to
resolve itself into a very simple question.
If, like Morari Rao, they had been professed
leaders of mercenary troops, selling their
services to the highest bidder, there could
have been no doubt that, after their own
fashion of reasoning, they would have well
earned the stipulated reward. But Clive
and his compeers were not masters, but
servants ; the troops under their command
were, like themselves, in the pay of the
nation or the company ; and it was unques-
tionably from the government or the Court
of Directors (to the latter of whom Clive
repeatedly affirmed that he " owed every-
thing"),t and from them only, that rewards
should have been received.
Years afterwards, when sternly questioned
respecting the proceedings of this period,
Clive declared that on recollecting the heaps
of gold and silver coin piled up in masses,
crowned with rubies and diamonds, through
which he passed in the treasury of Moor-
shedabad, he could not but view with sur-
prise his own moderation in only taking
(as it appeared) J to the extent of twenty
to thirty lacs of rupees — that is, between
£200,000 and £300,000. This "modera-
tiou"§ was, however, of brief continuance;
for, some time afterwards, on the plea of desir-
ing means wherewith to maintain a Mogul
dignity conferred on him, he intimated to
Meer Jaffier the propriety of its being
accompanied by a jaghire (or estate for the
support of a military contingent.) || In their
relative positions a hint was a command, and
the quit-rent paid by the E. I. Cy. for the
• Ornie's Military Transactions, ii., 137.
t Malcolm's Jjife of Lord Clive, i., 182.
I Clive cautiously abstained from any explicit
statement of the sums acquired by him on various
pretences ; and his fellow-officials, as far as possible,
refrained from acknowledging the extent of his ex-
tortions or their own, even when sharply cross-
examined before parliament.
§ In a letter addressed to Mr. Pigot, dated Au-
gust, 1757, Clive speaks of his "genteel compe-
tence," and " a possible reverse of fortune," as rea-
sons for desiring to leave Bengal. Mr. Pigot pro-
extensive lands held by them to the south of
Calcutta, amounting to nearly £30,000
sterling per annum, was forthwith ceded.
To return to the general narrative. Su-
rajah Dowlah and his female companions
reached Raj Mahal on the third night after
leaving Moorshedabad. Exhausted with fa-
tigue, and famishing with hunger, they
landed, took refuge in a deserted garden,
and began to prepare a mess of rice and
pulse (called kichery), the common food of
the country. While engaged in this un-
wonted task, the fugitives were discovered
by a man of low condition, whose ears had
been cut off by order of Surajah Dowlah
a twelvemonth before. Dissembling his
vengeful feelings, he affected compassion
and respect for the prince, and assisted in
the preparation of the meal, but secretly
sent word to the soldiers engaged in pursuit
where to find the object of their search. At
this very time. Law and his detachment were
within three hours' march of Raj Mahal;
but they were driven from place to place
by a party under Major Coote, and even-
tually expelled from Bengal; while Surajah
Dowlah was seized by the emissaries of Meer
Jaffier, laden with chains, treated with every
species of cruelty compatible with the pre-
servation of life, and dragged through Moor-
shedabad, to the presence of his successor.
It was noon ; but Meer Jaffier, though seated
on the musnud, had taken his daily dose of
bang, ^ and was incapable of giving instruc-
tions regarding the treatment of the prisoner.
His son Meeran, a lad of about seventeen,
took upon himself to decide the question.
This mere boy, educated in the harem, and
remarkably effeminate both in dress and
speech, possessed a heart no less callous to
the gentler feelings of humanity than that
of an old and unprincipled politician, hard-
ened in the world's ways. " Pity and com-
passion," he said, " spoilt business." It
scarcely needed the murmuring and dissen-
sion which pervaded the army, when the
capture and ignominious treatment of their
late ruler became known, to decide his fate.
bably sympathised with him, for he himself accumu-
lated a fortune of £400,000, chiefly (according to
Mr. Watts) by lending money at high interest to the
nabob, the chiefs, and managers of {jrovinces — a prac-
tice, says Sir John Malcolm, then too common to be
considered as in anyway discreditable. — (ii., 251.)
II Vide his own evidence before the House of
Commons. Such a solicitation was clearly opposed to
the duty of a servant of tlie E. I. Cy. and a Lieu-
tenant-colonel in the British army. — (Pari. Papers,
vol. iii., p. 154.)
*\ \n intoxicating beverage, made from hemp.
282 MURDER OF SURAJAII DOWLAH.— REJOICING AT CALCUTTA.
Meeran caused liim to be confined in a small
chamber near his own apartments, and then
summoning his personal friends, asked which
of them would serve the existing admin-
istration, by removing the only obstacle to
its permanency. One after another pe-
remptorily rejected the dastardly office ; at
length it was accepted by a man under pe-
culiar obhgations to the parents of the des-
tined victim, in conjunction with a favourite
servant of Meeran's. On beholding the en-
trance of the assassins, Surajah Dowlah at
once guessed their purpose. " They will not
suffer rae even to live in obscurity !" he ex-
claimed ; and then requested that water might
be provided for the performance of the puri-
fication commanded by the Koran before
death. A large vessel which stood at hand
was emptied rudely over him, and he was
hewn down by repeated sabre strokes ; " se-
veral of which fell," says the Mohammedan
historian, "on a face renowned all over Bengal
for regularity of feature and sweetness of
expression." The memory of a past deed of
violence came over the prince iu this terrible
hour, and he died declaring, in allusion to an
officer whom he had tyrannically caused to
be executed in the streets of Moorshedabad,
" Hussein Kooli, thou art avenged I" *
The morning after this event Meer JafBer
visited Clive, and, in the words of the former,
" thought it necessary to palliate the matter
on motives of policy." Clive does not ap-
pear to have deemed any excuse necessary;
but the truth was, his own neglect had been
unjustifiable, in not taking precautionary
measures to guard at least the life of a ruler
deposed by a conspiracy in which the English
played the leading part. No effort was made
to protect even the female relatives t of the
murdered prince from cruel indignities at
the hands of Meer Jaffier and his son, and
his consort and infant daughter were robbed
of all the valuables about them, and sent
• The above account is, as befoi-e stated, chiefly
derived from the Siyar id Mutakherin. The author
is strongly prejudiced against Surajah Dowlah, to
whom he was distantly related. He had been taken
prisoner in an engagement between this prince and
Shaocat Jung, a rival pretender to the viceroyalty
of Bengal, who was slain during a fit of intoxica-
tion. The conduct of Surajah Dowlah on this oc-
casion, does not corroborate the statements made by
Orme and Stewart of his cruelty and violence, and
it is possible that these have been exaggerated ; but
unhappily, all the evidence comes from one side.
t Surajah Dowlah was five-and-twenty at the time
of his assassination. His mother, on beholding the
mangled remains dragged past her windows, rushed
into the street, without veil or slippers, and clasped
the body in her ar;as; but was forced back with blows.
into confinement in a manner calculated to
inflict indelible disgrace on Mohammedan
females of rank.
In Calcutta all was triumph and rejoicing.
Few stopped to think, amid the excitement
created by the tide of wealth fast pouring in,
of past calamities or future cares. It was a
momentous epoch ; the step once taken was
irrevocable; the company of traders had
assumed a new position — henceforth to be
rulers and lawgivers, with almost irrespon-
sible sway over a territory far larger and
more populous than their native land. It
may be doubted if the directors at home
gave much heed to these considerations;
their representatives in India certainly did
not, each one being fully occupied in gather-
ing the largest possible share of the spoil.
The monies stipulated for in restitution of the
damage infiictcd in Calcutta, with those de-
manded on behalf of the squadron, army, and
committee, amounted to £2,750,000, besides
donations to individuals. J The company re-
ceived property to the amount of £1,500,000,
and territorial revenues valued by Clive at
£100,000 a-year. A fleet of 100 boats, with
flags flying and music playing, bore to Fort
William £800,000 in coined silver alone,
besides plate and jewels, as the first instal-
ment of the promised reward.
Leaving the Bengal functionaries in the
enjoyment of wealth and influence, it is ne-
cessary to narrate the cotemporary proceed-
ings of the Madras presidency.
Affairs in the Carnatic and Coroman-
DEL Coast. — Upon the breaking out of war
between Great Britain and France in 1756,
the French ministry resolved to strike an im-
portant blow in India. A powerful armament
was fitted out, and entrusted to the charge
of Count Lally, an officer of Irish extraction,
who had shared the exile of James IL,
and was no less noted for personal courage
than for strong feelings against England.
t The army and navy had £500,000 for their
share, Clive coming in, as commander-in-chief, for
£20,000. As a member of tlie Secret Committee, he
received to the amount of £28,000, the others having
£24,000 each ; besides which every one of them ob-
tained a special gift from Meer Jaffier : that of Clive
is variously stated at from £160,000 to £200,000.
The General Council (not of the committee) received
£60,000. Among the individuals who profited
largely by what Clive termed the "generosity" of
Meer Jaffier, was Mr. Drake, the runaway governor
of Calcutta. Lushington (who forged the hand and
seal of Admiral Watson) had, Clive stated in reply
to parliamentary inquiry, "something very trifling,
— about ."iOiOOO rupees." — (Pari. Reports.) The di-
vision of tlie booty occasioned very serious disputes
between the army and the navy.
I
EXPEDITION TO THE CARNATIC UNDER COUNT LALLY— 1758. 283
He was accompanied by his own regiment of
Irish (1,080 strong), by fifty of the royal
artillery, and a great number of officers of
distinction. The court of Versailles looked
on the success of the expedition as a matter
of certainty, and directed the commencement
of operations by the siege of Fort St. David.
Their anticipated conquests were marred by
a remarkable series of disasters. The fleet
quitted Brest in May, 1757, and carried
with them the infection of a malignant fever
then raging in the port. No less than 300
persons died before reaching Rio Janeiro;
and from one cause or another delays arose,
which hindered the ships from reaching
Pondicherry until the end of April, 1758.
There new difficulties occurred to obstruct
the path of Lally. He had been especially
directed to put down, at all hazards, the dis-
sension and venality which prevailed among
the French officials, and to compel them to
make exertions for the benefit of their employ-
ers, instead of the accumulation of private
fortunes. The task was at best an onerous
one, and Lally set about it with an uncom-
promising zeal, which, under the circum-
stances, bordered on indiscretion. Perfectly
conversant with the technicalities of his pro-
fession, he was wilful and presumptuous :
his daring plans, if heartily seconded, might
have been crowned with brilliant success ; as
it was, they met the same fate as those of La
Bourdonnais, while he was reserved for a doom
more terrible, and equally unmerited. Some
of his early measures were, however, attended
with success. The English beheld with
alarm the overpowering additions made to
the force of the rival nation ; and when, after
a prolonged siege, Fort St. David capitulated,
serious apprehensions were entertained for
the safety of Madras. The want of funds
alone prevented Lally from making an im-
mediate attack. After vainly endeavouring
to raise suHicient supplies on credit, he re-
solved to direct to their attainment the next
operations of the war. The rajah of Tanjore,
when hard pressed, in 1751, by the united
force of Chunda Sahib and Dupleix, had
given a bond for 5,600,000 rupees, which
remained unredeemed at Pondicherry. To
extort payment of this sum an expedition
was now undertaken against Tanjore, and on
the march thither, many cruel acts of vio-
• At Kivaloor, the scat of a celebrated pagoda,
Lally, in the hope of findinp; hidden treasures, ran-
sacked the houses, dug up the foundations, drairgcd
the tanks, and carried away the brass idols; but to
very little purpose as far as booty was concerned.
Six Brahmins lingered about the violated shrines ; and
lence were committed.* The rajah, after
some resistance, offered to compromise the
matter by the payment of a sum much infe-
rior to that required. The French com-
mander was willing to abate his pecuniary
demand, provided he should be supplied with
600 cattle for draught and provisions, which
were greatly needed for the troops. The
rajah refused, on the plea that his religion did
not sanction the surrender of kine for the
unhallowed uses of Europeans, The impe-
tuous Lally had before excited strong feelings
of aversion in the minds of the natives by
obliging them to carry burthens for the army,
and other services which he enforced pro-
miscuously, without regard to the laws of
cast : he now treated the assertion of the
rajah as a mere pretext to gain time, similar
to those practised upon Chunda Sahib on a
previous occasion; therefore, making little
allowance for the invariable prolixities of
eastern negotiation, he declared that unless
an arrangement were forthwith agreed on,
the rajah and all his family should be
shipped as slaves to the Mauritius. The
Hindoos rarely indulge in intemperate lan-
guage; and the Tanjore prince, stung and
astonished by the outrage oiFered him, re-
solved to perish sooner than succumb to his
insulting foe. At his earnest request, an
English detachment was sent from Triehino-
poly to his assistance. Lally continued the
assault on Tanjore, and had effected a
breach, when news arrived that the English
fleet, after an indecisive engagement with
that of France,t had anchored before Karical,
from whence alone the besieging force could
derive supplies. Powder and provisions
were both nearly exhausted, and Lally, by
the almost unanimous opinion of a council
of war, withdrew from Tanjore, and hastened
to Pondicherry, with the intention of making
a simultaneous attack by sea and land on
Madras. This project fell to the ground,
owing to the determination of the naval
commander to quit India immediately, which,
notwithstanding the urgent entreaties of the
local government and the army, he per-
sisted in doing, on the ground that the dis-
ablement of the ships, and the disease and
diminution of the crews, rendered it impera-
tively necessary to refit at the Mauritius.
Lally thus weakened, directed his next en-
Lally, suspecting that they were spies, caused them
all to be shot off from the muzzle of his cannon, —
(Wilks' History of Mysoor, i., 397.)
t The English suffered most in their shipping ; the
French in their men.— (K«Ze Owen Cambridge's Ac-
count of the War in India, from 1750 to 1700, p. 123.)
284
LALLY INEFFECTUALLY BESIEGES MADRAS— 1758-'59.
deavours against Arcot, and succeeded in
gaining possession of that place through the
artifices of Reza Sahib (now dignified by the
French with the title of nabob), who opened
a correspondence with the governor placed
there by Mohammed Ali, and induced him
to make a pretended capitulation, and come
over with his troops to the service of the
enemy. About the time of entering Arcot,
Lally was joined by Bussy. This officer
had, by the exercise of extraordinary ability,
maintained his position in the court of
Salabut Jung, and dexterously threading
his way amid the intrigues of the Moham-
medan courtiers, headed by the brothers of
the subahdar (Nizam Ali and Bassalut
Jung), had contrived, with very slender
means, to uphold the power of his country-
men in connexion with the ruler they had
nominated.* Lally did not, or would not, see
that the authority of the French at Hydera-
bad— that even the important possessions of
the Northern Circars, rested almost wholly
on the great personal influence of one man ;
and notwithstanding the arguments and
entreaties of Bussy and Salabut Jung, the
troops were recalled to Pondicherry. It
appears that Lally, having heard of the large
sums raised by Dupleix ou his private credit,
hoped that Bussy might be able to do so
likewise ; and he listened with mingled sur-
prise and disappointment to the averment of
the generous and high-principled officer, that
having never used his influence with the
subahdar as a means of amassing wealth, he
was altogether incapable of affording any ma-
terial assistance in, pecuniary affairs. The
government of Pondicherry declared them-
selves devoid of the means of maintaining the
array, upon which Count d'Estaigne and
other leading officers agreed in council, that it
was better to die by a musket-ball, under the
ramparts of Madras, than by hunger within
the walls of Pondicherry, and determined to
commence offensive operations by endeavour-
ing to bombard the English settlement, shut
up the troops in Fort St. George, pillage the
Black Town, and lay waste the surrounding
country. The sum of 94,000 rupees was
raised for the purpose, of which 60,000 were
contributed by Lally himself, and the re-
* A detailed account of his proceedings occupies a
considerable part of Orme's Military Transactions.
t No attempt was made to defend the Black
Town ; but after its seizure by the French, tlie i^ng-
lish perceiving the intemperance and disorder of the
hostile troops, strove to profit by the op])ortunity,
and sallied out 600 strong. They were, however,
driven back with the loss of 200 men and six officers.
mainder in smaller sums by members of
council and private individuals. The force
thus sparely provided with the sinews of
war, consisted of 2,700 European, and 4,000
Indian troops. The English, apprised of
the intended hostilities, made active prepa-
rations for defence under the veteran general,
Lawrence, and their efforts were again fa-
voured by climatorial influences; for the
French expedition, though in readiness to
leave Pondicherry at the beginning of No-
vember, 1 758, was prevented by heavy rains
from reaching Madras till the middle of
December, and this at a crisis when Lally
had not funds to secure the subsistence of
the troops for a single week. The spoil of
the Black Townf furnished means for the
erection of batteries, and the subsequent
arrival of a million livres from the Mauri-
tius, led to the conversion of the blockade
(which was at first alone intended) into a
siege ; but, either from prudential considera-
tions or disaffection, J the officers refused to
second the ardour of their commander ; and
after nine weeks' tarry (during the last fort-
night of which the troops had subsisted
almost entirely upon some rice and butter
captured in two small vessels from Bengal),
the approach of an English fleet of six sail,
compelled the enemy to decamp by night
with all haste. The state of feeling at
Pondicherry may be easily conceived from
the assertion of Lally, that the disastrous
result of the expedition was celebrated by
the citizens as a triumph over its unpopular
commander. Their ill-founded rejoicings
were of brief continuance ; scoffing was soon
merged in gloomy apprehensions, destined
to find a speedy realisation. The arrival of
an important accession to the English force,
under Colonel Coote, in October, 1759,
decided for the time the struggle between
France and England for supremacy in India.
Wandewash was speedily attacked and car-
ried. Lally, while marching to attempt its
recovery, was met and defeated. Bussy
placed himself at the head of a regiment, to
lead the men to the charge of the bayonet,
as the only means of saving the battle ; had
his horse wounded under him, was aban-
doned by the troops, and taken prisoner.
X Orme says the former ; Lally, in his Memoirs,
the latter : at the same time he severely censures the
plots and whole conduct of the Pondicherry govern-
ment, declaring, in an intercepted letter, that he
" would rather go and command the Kafirs of Mada-
gascar, than remain in this Sodom ; which it is im-
possiblebutthe fire of the English must destroy sooner
or later, even though that of heaven should not."
FIEST APPEARANCE AND CAREER OF HYDER ALL
285
Chittaput, Arcot, Devicotta, Karical, Val-
dore, Cuddalore, and otlier forts, were suc-
cessively captured; and by the beginning
of May, 1760, the French troops were con-
I fined to the bounds of Pondicherry, and the
' English, having received further reinforce-
i ments, encamped within four miles of the
town. Lally shrank from no amount of
: danger or fatigue in liis exertions to rally
the troops and subdue the pervading spirit
of mutiny and corruption. As the last
chance of upholding the national interest,
he resorted to the policy of Dupleix, and
looked round for some native power as an
auxiliary. The individual ou whom he
' fixed was Hyder Ali,* a soldier of fortune,
who had risen to the command of the
* The great-grandfather of Hyder Ali was a reli-
gious person, named Bhelole, who migrated from the
Punjab and settled with his two sons at the town of
Alund, 110 miles from Hyderabad. Here he erected
a small mosque by charitable contributions, and
also what is termed a fakeer's mohan — that is a house
for the fakeer, who attends at the mosque and pro-
cures provisions for the use of the worshippers. By
this speculation, Bhelole raised some property, but
not sufficient to support the families of his sons, who
left him and obtained employment at Sera as reve-
nue peons. One of these, named Mohammed Ali,
left a son called Futteh, who having distinguished
himself for bravery, was promoted to be a Naik
or commander of twenty peons. From this position
he gradually rose to eminence, and married a lady of
a rank superior to his own. The circumstances at-
tending this union were altogether of a romantic
character. The father of the lady was robbed and
murdered near the borders of Bednore while travers-
ing the peninsula. His widow and two daughters
begged tlieir way to Colar, where they were relieved
from further difficulty by Hyder Naik, who married
l)oth the sisters in succession — a practice not for-
bidden by the Mohammedan law. Two sons, of
whom the younger was the famous Hyder Ali, were
horn to the second wife, and they had respectively
attained the age of nine and seven years, when their
father was slain in upholding the cause of the Mo-
hammedan noble whom he served, against the pre-
tensions of a rival candidate for one of the minor Dec-
cani governments in 1728. The patron of Hyder
Naik was defeated and slain; the family of the latter
fell into the hands of the victor, and on pretence of
a balance due from the deceased to the revenues of
the province, a sum of money was extorted from his
heirs by cruel and ignominious tortures, applied to
both the lads, and even. Colonel Wilks supposes, to
the widow herself. Hyder Ali waited thirty-two
years for an opportunity of revenge j and then, as will
be shown in a subsequent page, grasped it with the
avidity of a man retaliating an injury of yesterday.
Meanwhile his mother, being permitted to depart
after having, in the words of her grandson, Tippoo
Sultan, " lost everything but her children and her
honour," sought refuge among her own kindred.
Through the influence of a maternal uncle, the
elder boy was received into the service of a Hindoo
officer of rank, and gradually rose to a respectable
position ; but Ilydcr Ali attained the age of twenty-
Mysoor army. With him Lally concluded
an agreement, by which Hyder undertook
to furnish a certain quantity of bullocks for
the supply of Pondicherry, and to join the
French with 3,000 picked horse and 5,000
sepoys. In return he was to receive imme-
diate possession of the fort of Theagur — an
important station, about fifty miles from
Pondicherry, situate near two of the prin-
cipal passes in the Carnatic, with, it is alleged,
the promise even of Madura and 'I'innivelly,
in the event of the favourable termination of
the war. A detachment of the English
army, sent to interrupt the march of the
Mysoor troops, was defeated; but, after
remaining in the vicinity of Pondicherry
about a month, Hyder decamped one night
seven without entering on any profession, in utter
ignorance of the first elements of reading and writing,
absent from home for weeks together on some secret
expedition of voluptuous riot, or passing, as was the
custom of his whole life, to the opposite extreme of
rigid abstinence and excessive exertion — wandering
in the woods in pursuit of wild beasts, himself hardly
less ferocious. At length he thought fit to join his
brother's corps as a volunteer on a special occasion,
and having attracted the attention of Nunjeraj by
his singular bravery and self-possession, he was at
once placed in command of some troops, and from
that time acquired power by rapid steps. The
authority of the Mysoor state then rested wholly in
the hands of Nunjeraj and his brother Deoraj j but
the death of the latter, and the incapacity of the
former, induced an attempt on the part of the rajah
to become a king in reality as well as name. Hyder
at one time sided with, at another against, the rajah,
his object in both cases being purely selfish. An
invasion of Mysoor by the Mahrattas, in 1759, con-
tributed to his aggrandisement, by giving scope for
the exercise of his warlike abilities ; but he played a
desperate game ; for the queen-mother, perceiving
his daring temper, dreaded to find her son released
from the hands of one usurper only to fall into worse
custody, and laid a scheme, in conjunction with a
Mahratta chief, for the destruction of Hyder Ali,
who was then engaged at a distance from court.
Hyder escaped witli difficulty, and having travelled
ninety-eight miles in twenty hours (the first seventy-
five on the same horse), reached Bangalore, the fort
and district of which had been given him shortly
before as a personal jaghire, just in time to precede
the orders sent by the rajah to close the gates against
him. The strength of the Mahrattas was shattered
by the disastrous battle of Paniput, in I "GO; the ex-
hausting strife of the European power m the Car-
natic precluded their interference ; and Hyder found
means to reduce his nominal master to the condi-
tion of a state pensioner, and then looked round for
further food for ambition. As an illustration of the
cruelty of his nature, it is related that when after
the successful termination of the rebellion, Kundee
Rao, the brave and faithful general of the rajah, was
surrendered to the conqueroL with an earnest sup-
plication for kind treatment, Hyder replied, that he
would not only spare his life, but cherish him like a
paioquet; and the miserable captive was accordingly
confined in an iron cage, and fed on rice and milk.
286
EXTINCTION OF FRENCH POWER IN INDIA-1760.
with his whole force, on account of internal
proceedings which threatened the downfall
of his newly-usurped authority in Mysoor.
The English, so soon as the rains had ceased,
actively besieged Pondicherry. Insubordina-
tion, dissension, and privation of every de-
scription * seconded their efforts within the
■walls. Lally himself was sick and worn out
with vexation and fatigue. The garrison
surrendered at discretion in January, 1 760,t
and the council of Madras lost no time in
levelling its fortifications with the ground. J
The consequences predicted by Bussy,
from his compulsory abandonment of Salabut
Jung, had already ensued. An expedition
from Bengal, fitted out by the English against
the Northern Circars, had wrested from the
French these important possessions. Mahe
and its dependencies on the Malabar coast
had been likewise attacked, and reduced a
few months before the fall of Pondicherry.
Theagur capitulated after a feeble resistance ;
and the capture of the strong fort of Jinjee in
April, 1761, completed the triumph of the
English, and left the French without a single
military post in India.
The storm of popular indignation at this
disastrous state of affairs was artfully directed
upon the devoted head of Lally. On his
return to France the ministry, seconded by
the parliament of Paris, threw him into the
Bastille, and on various frivolous pretexts he
was condemned to die the death of a traitor
and a felon. Errors of judgment, arrogance,
and undue severity might with justice have
been ascribed to Lally ; but on the opposite
* When famine prevailed to an increasing extent
in Pondicherry, Lally strove to prolong the defence
by sending away the few remaining cavalry, at the
risk of capture by the English; by returning all
prisoners under a promise not to serve again ; and
also by expelling the mass of the native inhabitants,
to the number of 1,400, without distinction of sex or
age. The wretched multitude wandered in families
and companies to various points, and sometimes
strove to force a path through the hosts of the
enemy, or back within the gates from which they had
been expelled, meeting on either side death from the
sword or the bullet. Por eight days the outcasts
continued to traverse the circumscribed space be-
tween the fortifications and the English encamp-
ment, the scant-spread roots of grass affording their
sole means of subsistence. At length the English
commander suffered the survivors to pass; and though
they had neither home nor friends in prospect, de-
liverance from sufferings more prolonged, if less in-
tense, '.ban those endured in the Black-Hole, was
hailed with rapturous gratitude.— (Orme, ii., G99.)
An episode like tliis speaks volumes on the unjustifi-
able character of a war, between civilised and Chris-
tian nations, which is liable to subject heathen popu-
lations to calamities so direful and unprovoked.
side of the scale ought to have been placed un-
compromising fidelity to the nation and com-
pany he served, and perfect disinterestedness,
together with the uninterrupted exercise of
energy united to mihtary talents. It is re-
lated that he confidently anticipated a tri-
umphant issue to the proceedings instituted
against him, and was seated in his dungeon
sketching a chart of the Coromandel coast,
when tidings of the fatal sentence arrived.
" Is this the reward of forty-five years of
faithful service ?" he exclaimed ; and snatch-
ing up a pair of compasses, strove to drive
them to his heart. The bystanders prevented
the fulfilment of this criminal attempt, and
left to the representatives of the French
nation the disgrace of perpetrating what
Voltaire boldly denounced as " a murder
committed with the sword of justice." A few
hours after his condemnation, Lally, then in
the sixty-fifth year of his age, was dragged
in a dirty dung-cart through the streets of
Paris to the scaffold, a gag being thrust in
his mouth to prevent any appeal to the sym-
pathies of the populace.
La Bourdonnais, Dupleis, and Lally, were
successive victims to the ingratitude of the
French company. Bussy was more fortu-
nate. Upon his capture by the English he
was immediately released on parole, greatly
to the dismay and disappointment of Mo-
hammed Ali, the nabob of the Carnatic.
He subsequently returned to France, and,
strengthened by an aristocratic marriage
(with the niece of the Due de Choiseuil),
lived to enjoy a high reputation and a con-
t Tlie departure of Lally for Madras was marked
by a scene of a most discreditable character. The
French officers raised a shout of derision, as their late
commander passed along the parade a worn and de-
jected prisoner, and would have proceeded to violence
but for the interference of his English escort. The
same reception awaited Dubois, the king's commis-
sary. He stopped and offered to answer any accu-
sation that might be brought forward, upon which a
man came forth from among the crowd and drew his
sword. Dubois did the same : he was of advanced
age, with the additional infirmity of defective sight ;
and the second pass laid him dead at the feet of his
antagonist. The catastrophe was received with ap-
plause by the bystanders, and not one of them would
even assist the servant of the deceased in the re-
moval of the body. The unpopularity of Dubois
originated in his energetic protests against the dis-
order and venality of the local government.
X A sharp dispute took place between the officers
of the crown and of the company. Colonel Coote
claimed Pondicherry for the nation ; Mr. Pigot on
behalf of his employers ; and the latter gentleman
being able to enforce his arguments by refusing to ad-
vance money for the payment of the troops, unless the
point was conceded, gained the day. — (Orme, i., 724.)
AFFAIRS OF BENGAL PRESIDENCY, FROM 1757.
287
siderable fortune. The company itself was
soon extingnislied,* and the power of the
nation in India became quite inconsiderable.
Affairs of Bengal resumed from 1757.
— The first important danger which menaced
the duration of Meer Jaffier's usurped
authority, was the approach of the Shah-zada
or heir-apparent to the throne of Delhi, who
having obtained from his father formal in-
vestiture as subahdar of Bengal, Bahar,
and Orissa, now advanced to assert his
claims by force of arms. The emperor
(Alumgeer II.) was at this period completely
in the power of his intriguing vizier, Shaab
or Ghazi-oo-deen (the grandson of the
famous nizam); and the prince had only
escaped the toils of the imperious minister
by cutting his way, sword in hand, with
half-a-dozen followers, through the body of
guards stationed to retain him a close
prisoner within his own palace. The spirit
manifested by this daring exploit did not
characterise his after career, for he proved
quite incapable of grappling with the many
difficulties which beset his path. The gov-
ernors or nabobs of Allahabad and Oude,
both virtually independent powers, sup-
ported his cause at the onset ; and the prince
further endeavoured to obtain the support
of the English by large promises. His offers
were declined, and active co-operation with
Meer Jaffier resolved on. The Shah-zada
and his adherents advanced to Patna; but
the treachery of the nabob of Oude, in
i taking advantage of the privilege accorded
him of a safe place for his family, to seize
the fortress of Allahabad, compelled the ruler
of that province to march back for the pro-
tection or recoverv of his own dominions. t
The result of their disunion was to bereave
the Shah-zada of friends and resources. In
this position he solicited a sum of money
from the English general in requital for the
abandonment of his pretensions in Bengal,
and £1,000 were forwarded to the im-
poverished descendant of a powerful dynasty.
Through the influence of Shaab-oo-deen,
* French trade with India was laid open in 1770;
hut in 1785 a new company was incorporated, and
lasted until 1790, when its final abolishment, at the
expiration of two years, was decreed by the National
Assembly. — (Macpherson, pp. 275 — 284.)
t The Allahabad ruler, while marching homeward,
was met by M. Law with a French detachment, and
entreated to return to the Shah-zada and assist in
besieging Patna, which, it was urged, would occasion
but a very slight delay. The proposition was rejected ;
the nabob continued his march, but being eventually
persuaded by the rival subahdar to trust to his gen-
erosity, was made prisoner and put to death.
the emperor was compelled to sign a sunnud
(edict or commission), transferring the empty
title of subahdar of Bengal to his second
son, and confirming Meer Jaffier in all real
power, under the name of his deputy. Upon
this occasion Clive obtained the rank of a
lord of the empire, which afforded him a
pretext for extorting a jaghire amounting to
£30,000 per annum ; although, at the very
time, the treasury of Bengal was almost ex-
hausted, and the soldiers of the province
clamorous for arrears of pay: and moreover,
so doubtful a complexion had the alliance
between the English and Meer Jaffier already
assumed, that immediately after the departure
of the Shah-zada, the nabob was suspected of
intriguing with a foreign power for the expul-
sion of his well-beloved coadjutors. The
Bengal presidency learned with alarm the
approach of a great armament fitted out by
the Dutch at Batavia. Seven ships ascended
the Hooghly to within a few miles of Cal-
cutta, where 700 European and 800 Malay
soldiers disembarked, with the avowed in-
tention of marching thence to the Dutch
settlement of Chinsura. England and Hol-
land were at peace; but Clive, notwith-
standing the absence of any hostile mani-
festation on the part of the newly-arrived
force, obtained from the nabob a direct
contradiction to the encouragement he had
previously given, and a positive order for
the Dutch to leave the river. J An English
detachment was sent to intercept the march
of the troops to Chinsura, but the officer in
command (Colonel Forde) hesitated about
proceeding to extremities, and sent to head-
quarters for explicit instructions. Clive was
engaged at the card-table when the message
arrived. Tearing off a slip from the letter
just presented to him, he wrote in pencil :
" Dear Forde, — Fight 'em immediately, and
I'll send an order of council to-morrow."
Forde obeyed, and succeeded in completely
routing the enemy, so that of the 700
Europeans, not above fourteen reached
Chinsura, the rest being either taken pri-
X The dominant influence of Clive is illustrated by
an anecdote recorded in the Siyar ul Mutakherin.
A fray having- taken place between the soldiers of
Clive and those of one of the oldest and most at-
tached adherents of Meer Jaffier, the nabob re-
proached his officer for what had occurred, exclaim-
ing, " Have you yet to loam in what position heaven
has placed this Colonel Clive ?" The accused replied,
that so far from seeking a pretext of quarrel with
the colonel, he " never rose in the morning without
making three profound bows to his jackass ;" — a
speech which Scott {History of the Deccan, ii., 376)
explains as meant in allusion to the nabob himself.
288
DEFEAT OF DUTCH ARMAMENT IN BENGAL— 1759.
soners or slain. The attack upon the ships
was equally successful, the whole being cap-
tured. After this heavy blow, the Dutch,
to save their settlements in Bengal from
total destruction, made peace with their
powerful opponents by paying the expenses
of the war ; while Clive, aware of the irre-
gularity of his proceedings,* facilitated the
termination of the dispute by the restora-
tion of the captured vessels in December,
1759. Early in the following year he re-
signed the government of Bengal, and sailed
for England.
It has been asserted that Clive never suf-
fered his personal interests to interfere with
those of his employers. Had this been the
truth, he would certainly not have quitted
India at so critical a period for the E. I. Cy.
as the year 1760. It was not age (for he
was yet but fivc-and-thirty) nor failing
strength (for he declared himself "in excel-
lent health") that necessitated his departure ;
neither is it easy to find any less selfish
reasons than a desire to place and enjoy in
safety his immense wealth, leaving those at
whose expense it had been accumulated to
bear alone the brunt of the impending storm.
His opinion of Meer Jaffier was avow-
edly changed ; for though he continued
personally to address him as the most mu-
nificent of princes, yet in his semi-official
correspondence with his own countrymen,
the " generally esteemed" individual of two
years ago, becomes an " old man, whose days
of folly are without number." The English
in general attributed to the ruler of their
own nomination every vice previously al-
leged against Surajah Dowlah. It was
urged, that whatever soldierly qualifications
he might have possessed in the days of Ali
Verdi Khan, had passed with the vigour of
youth, leaving him indolent and incapable ;
but easily carried away by unfounded sus-
picions to perpetrate, of at least sanction,
deeds of midnight assassination against in-
nocent and defenceless persons of either
sex.f A native authorityj describes Meer
Jaffier as taking a childish delight in sitting,
decked with costly jewels, on the musnud,
which he disgraced by habitual intoxication,
• He remarked, with regard to these transactions,
that " a public man may occasionally be called upon
to act with a halter round his neck."
t The infant brother or nephew of Surajah Dow-
lah, on the accession of Meer Jaffier, is stated to have
been murdered by being pressed to death between
pieces of wood used in packing bales of shawls.
X Siyar ul Mutakherin, ii., 19.
5 Clive calU him " a worthless young dog," and
as well as by profligacy of the most un-
seemly description. The English he feared
and hated, but lacked energy and ability to
ofifer any systematic opposition to their
encroachments. The leading Hindoos be-
came objects of aversion to him on account
of their intimate connexion with the power-
ful foreigners, and plots were laid for the
destruction of several individuals, with vary-
ing success. The chief instigator of these in-
trigues was Meeran, the heir-apparent, who,
in spite of the inexperience of youth and a
merciless disposition, possessed a degree of
energy and perseverance which, together
with strong filial afifection, rendered him the
chief support of his father's throne. § The
"chuta" (little or young) nabob and the Eng-
lish regarded one another with scarcely dis-
guised distrust. The Begum (or princess) , the
mother of Meeran, betrayed excessive anxiety
for the safety of her only son ; and although
her aff'ectionate intercessions were treated
with contemptuous disdain by the servants
of the company, they were far from being
uncalled for; since it needed no extraordi-
nary foresight to anticipate that the ill-de-
fined claims, and especially the right of inter-
ference in every department of the native
government asserted by the English, must
end either in their assumption of all power,
in name as in reality, or, it was just possible,
in their total expulsion from the province.
Clive had quite made up his mind on the
matter; and while receiving immense suras
from the nabob on the one hand, and the
wages of the E. I. Cy. on the other, he
addressed a letter from Calcutta, as early as
January, 1759, to Mr. Pitt, urging upon
him the necessity of affairs in Bengal being
viewed as a national question, and a suffi-
cient force sent forthwith " to open a way for
securing the subahship to ourselves." The
Mogul would, he added, willingly agree to
this arrangement in return for a pledge for
the payment of fifty lacs annually — a sum
which might be easily spared out of revenues
amounting to £2,000,000 sterling ; and as
to Meer Jaffier, there need be no scruple on
his account, since he, like all other Mussul-
mans, was so little influenced by gratitude,
asserts his belief that he would one day attempt the
overthrow of the nabob, blaming " the old fool" at
the same time severely for " putting too much power
in the hands of his nearest relations ;" but there is
no evidence to warrant his assertion : on the con-
trary, Gholam Hussein Khan, though strongly pre-
judiced against both father and son, gives repeated
evidence of the unbroken confidence which sub-
sisted between them. — {Life, ii., 104; Siyar, ii., 86.)
DEATH OF MEERAN, THE " CHUTA" NABOB, BY LIGHTNING— 1760. 289
as to be ready to break with his best friends
the moment it suited his interests, while
Meeran was "so apparently the enemy of
the English, that it will be almost unsafe
trusting him with the succession/'*
This communication was forwarded to
Mr. Pitt by Mr. Walsh, the secretary of
Clive. In relating the discussion which fol-
lowed its presentation, Mr. Walsh writes,
that the able minister expressed his views a
little darkly (or probably very cautiously)
on the subject; mentioned that the com-
pany's charter would not expire for twenty
years ; and stated that it had been recently
inquired into, whether the conquests in
India belonged to the company or the
Crown, and the judges seemed to think to
the company ; but, he added, " the company
were not proper to have it, nor the Crown,
for such a revenue would endanger our liber-
ties ;■' therefore Clive showed " good sense by
the suggested application of it to the public."
Here the question dropped for the time,
and Clive returned to England, apparently
before learning the result of his memorial,
and at a time when events of the first im-
portance were taking placet
The Shah-zada, at the invitation of certain
influential nobles of Patna, had already re-
newed hostilities, when Clive and Forde
quitted the country in February, 1760. In
the previous December an English detach-
ment, under Colonel Calliaud, had been sent
from Calcutta to Moorshedabad, and this
force, in conjunction with 15,000 horse and
foot, under command of Meeran, marched in
the following month to oppose the Mogul
prince. Meanwhile the powerful king of the
Doorani Afghans was again on his way to
ravage Hindoostan. Shaab-oo-deen, the
vizier of the pageant-emperor, Alumgeer II.,
aware of the strangely-assorted friendship
which existed between his ill-used master and
Ahmed Shah, caused the former to be assassi-
nated, and seated another puppet on the
throne. The Shah-zada had entered Bahar,
when tidings of the tragical end of his father
* Life, ii. 120 — 122. Tho succession of Meeran had,
it should be borne in mind, been one of the primary
conditions made by Meer Jaffier with Clive.
f Mr. Scrafton, in a letter to Clive, states that
Meeran, on one occasion, became so excited by the
partiality evinced towards a Hindoo governor (Roy-
dullub) who was known to be disaffected to him,
that he declared, unless an express guarantee of
safety should be given, he would leave Moorshedabad
with those who were faithful to him, and, if necessary,
fight his way to the nabob, who was then at Patna,
Scrafton adds, that the " old Begum sent for Petrus
f the Armenian interpreter for the company), and fell a
reached the camp. He assumed the title of
Alum Shah, and secured the alliance of Shuja
Dowlah, the nabob of Oude, by the pro-
mise of the vizierat; conferred on Nujeeb-ad-
Dowlah (an able Rohilla chief, staunchly
attached to the imperial family) the dignity
of ameer-ool-omra;J and, with the assistance
of these leaders, assembled a considerable
force. An engagement took place near
Patna, between his troops and those of
Meeran and the English. The emperor was
defeated, and fled to Bahar, where he con-
tinued to maintain a feeble contest until the
campaign was abruptly concluded by the
death of one of the parties chiefly concerned
in its results. A heavy storm commenced on
the night of the 2nd of July, and Meeran,
the better to escape its violence, quitted his
spacious tent for one of less size, lower, and
of greater strength. According to eastern
usage, a story-teller stationed himself beside
the prince, striving to soothe the unquiet
spirit to repose, while a domestic chafed his
limbs, with the same view of inducing sleep.
Fierce thunder-claps long continued to break
over the encampment, alternating with vivid
flashes of lightnin g. The fury of the elements
at last abated, and some attendants, whose
turn it was to keep guard, entered and be-
held with dismay the lifeless bodies of
Meeran and his companions, all three having
perished by the same stroke. Colonel Cal-
liaud considered it impolitic to publish the
catastrophe, lest the consequence should be
the immediate dispersion of the army of the
deceased; he therefore, after certain neces-
sary precautions, caused the body to be
dressed, as if alive, and placed on an elephant;
marched to Patna with all possible expedi-
tion, and distributed the troops in winter
quarters. It is scarcely possible to avoid
attributing the fate of Meeran to an act of
Divine retribution, so cruel and bloodthirsty
had been his brief career.§ The previous
month had added to the list of victims sacri-
ficed by his father and himself, two aged
princesses, the surviving daughters of Ali
blubbering, saying that she had but that son, and
could not spare him." — (Malcolm's Life, i., 349.)
X See previous section on Mogul empire, p. 177.
§ Upon examination, five or six holes were found
on the back part of his head, and on his body streaks
like the marks of a whip. A scimitar which lay
on the pillow above his head had also holes in it,
and part of the point was melted. The tent pole ap-
peared as if rotted. Yet, notwithstanding these indi-
cations, a rumour arose that the death of Meeran had
been caused by the English ; -and to this unfounded
accusation Burke alludes in, his famous speech on
opening the charges against Warren Hastings.
290
VANSITTART APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF BENGAL— 1760.
Verdi Khan; and among his papers was found
a list of the names of persons whom lie had
resolved to cut off at the conclusion of the
campaign ; determined, as he said, " to rid
himself of the disloyal, and sit down in
repose with his friends."
The death of Meeran was a terrible blow
to his father. The slight barrier which
had heretofore in some measure kept down
the arrogance and extortion of the English
functionaries, and likewise the clamours of
the unpaid native troops being now removed,
the nabob was left alone to bear, in the weak-
ness of age and intellect, the results of his
unhallowed ambition. Clive, with others
who had largely benefited by sharing its first-
fruits, had gone to enjoy the wealth thus ac-
quired u!ider the safeguard of a free con-
stitution; and their successors would, it was
probable, be inclined to look to the expedient
of a new revolution as the best possible mea-
sure for their private interests, as well as
those of their employers. The excitement
attendant on the payment of the chief part
of the stipuliited sums to the Bengal treasury,
had before this time given place to depression;
that is, so far as the public affairs of the com-
pany were concerned. Individuals had ac-
cumulated, and were still accumulating large
fortunes, to which, in a pecuniary sense, no
drawback was attached; but the general trade
was in a much less flourishing condition.
On being first acquainted with the extent of
money and territory ceded by Meer Jaffier,
(of which, it may be remarked, Clive gave a
very exaggerated account,) the directors sent
out word that no supplies would be sent by
them to India for several ensuing seasons,
as the Bengal treasury would, it was ex-
pected, be well able to supply the civil and
military exigences of the three presidencies,
to provide European investments, and even
to make provision for the China trade. This
was so far from being the case, that in less
than two years after the deposition of Meer
Jaffier, " it was found necessary to take up
money at interest, although large sums had
" been received besides for bills upon the
Court of Directors." * The distress created
in England by these drafts was very great ;
and even in the year 1 758, the holders were
with difficulty prevailed upon to grant fur-
ther time for their liquidation.
The payment of the English troops en-
gaged in repelling the attempts of the Shah-
• Vansittart's Narraliva of Transactions in Ben-
gal, i., 22. The same authority states!, that in 1760 the
military and other charges in Bengal amounted to
zada, presented an additional difficulty. It
had been thought that the stipulated sum of
one lac of rupees (£10,000) per month, would
amply cover their expenditure; but expe-
rience proved that amount insufficient to
provide for the exigences of the augmented
establishment thereby necessitated, even had
the money been regularly paid; instead of
which, the nabob was greatly in arrears at
the time of Clive's departure.
In fact, his own forces were so costly and
extensive, that it is alleged they were alone
sufficient to absorb the entire revenue. The
death of Meeran was quickly followed by
an alarming mutiny. The palace was sur-
rounded, the walls sealed, and Meer Jaffier
threatened with instant death unless the
claims of the really distressed troops were
liquidated. Meer Cossim, who had married
the only surviving legitimate child of the na-
bob, interfered for his protection, and brought
about an arrangement by the advance of
three lacs from his own treasury, and a pro-
mise of the balance due in a stated period.
Mr. Vansittart arrived to fill the position
of governor of Bengal in July, 1760. An
empty treasury ; a quarrelsome and dicta-
torial council ; unpaid and disorderly troops ;
the provision of an investment actually sus-
pended ; — these were some of the difficulties
which awaited him.f Mr. Holwell, while in
the position of temporary governor, had
suggested to his fellow-officials, that the \
cruelty and incapacity of Meer Jaffier justi-
fied his abandonment, and proposed that
they should change sides — accept the re-
iterated offers of the emperor, and make
common cause with him. This project was
rejected ; but the necessity for some decisive
measure being pretty generally agreed upon,
it was at length resolved to offer Meer
Cossim Ali the limited degree of real power
still residing in the person of the nabob, on
condition of the title and a fixed income
being left with Meer Jaffier, and certain
additional concessions made to the English.
Mr. Vansittart acquiesced in the scheme
formed by Mr. Holwell and the select com-
mittee. One or two members of the general
council, when the intended change was first
hinted at, dissented on tlie ground that the
incapacity of Meer Jaffier was itself favour-
able to the interests of the company; but
the urgent need of fresh supplies of funds to
meet increased expenditure, combined per-
upwards of £200,000 per ann. ; while the net revenue
did not exceed £80,000— (p. 97.)
f Vansittart's Letter to E. I. Proprietors, p. 13.
MEER JAFFIER SUPERSEDED BY MEER COSSIM— 1760.
291
haps with less easily avowed motives on the
part of certain influential persons overpow-
ered this reasoning, and a treaty was en-
tered into by the governor and select com-
mittee with Meer Cossim, by which he
agreed to assign to the English the revenues
of the three districts of Burdwan, Midua-
pore, and Chittagong, in discharge of the
balance due from his father-in-law. On
the night on which the articles were signed,
Meer Cossim tendered to Mr. Vansittart a
note for the payment of twenty lacs of
rupees to the five members of the select
committee. Considering the large sums ex-
torted from Meer Jaffier on a previous oc-
casion, it was only natural to expect some
similar instance of " munificence" in the
present case ; though, from the impoverished
state of the revenues, the amount must of
necessity be greatly inferior. The note was,
however, returned, and the governor and
committee, if they had not the self-denial
wholly to reject the tempting offer, dis-
played at least a sufficient regard to de-
corum to refuse accepting any portion of
it, until Meer Cossim should be seated in
security on the musnud, and all the condi-
tions of the treaty fulfilled. In the meantime
they appear to have made no private agree-
ment whatever ; but, in lieu of itj to have
asked a contribution of five lacs for the
company, which was immediately paid and
employed in aid of the operations then in
progress against the French at Pondicherry.
The deposition of Meer Jafiier was efl^ected
with so much ease, that on the evening of
the day on which it took place, a stranger
entering Moorshedabad would scarcely have
suspected the revolution that had so recently
occurred. When first informed of his in-
tended supercession, the nabob manifested
an unexpected degree of energy — declared
that his son, Meeran, had warned him what
would happen, and even threatened to
oppose force by force, and abide his fate.
But this was the mere effervescence of im-
• Vansittart's Narrative, I, 100—138.
t Among the reasons stated by the governor and
committee for the deposition of Meer Jafiier, was a
massacre committed by his orders at Dacca in June,
1760, in wliich the mother of Surajah Dowlah, his
aunt, his widow and daughter, and a boy adopted
into the family, were taken from prison at midnight
and drowned, together with seventy persons of in-
ferior note. Such wholesale slaughter as this, if
actually perpetrated, would have cast into the shade
even the enormities which formed the steps to the
Mogul throne j yet it does not seem that any official
inquiry was instituted in the matter. So hardened
do the minds of Europeans become by familiarity to
potent rage. The palace was surrounded by
English troops, and he possessed few, if any,
on whose fidelity reliance could be placed ;
besides which, so "general a disaffection
against his government, and detestation of
his person and principles, prevailed in the
country amongst all ranks and classes of
people," that Mr. Vansittart declared, "it
would have been scarcely possible for the
old nabob to have saved himself from being
murdered, or the city from plunder, another
month."*
Scarcity alike of money and provisions
began to be painfully felt throughout
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa. Moorshedabad,
once the seat of unparalleled abundance,
had become the abode of poverty-stricken
multitudes; while Patna, exposed for two
years to the ravages of the imperial forces,
and threatened with renewed invasion, in-
stead of furnishing, as in times of peace, vast
stores of rice, was now almost a wilder-
nesss. Amid this wide-spread misery, the
man from whom aid was expected continued
to lavish sums extorted by oppression on
favourites of the most unworthy character;
and pleasures (if they deserve that name) of
the most disreputable description. The
measure of his iniquities was filled by the
sanction or direction given by him, in con-
junction with Meeran, for the midnight
assassination of Gassitee Begum and Amina
Begum, t which, in the case of the former
princess, was an act of peculiar ingratitude
as well as cruelty, since she had been ex-
tremely useful to him during the fifteen
months' sway of her nephew, Surajah Dowlah.
It must be remembered, that Colonel Clive
had viewed the assassination of that prince
with utter indifference ; and it is the less to
be wondered at that so sanguinary a com-
mencement having passed uncensured, Meer
Jaffier should have allowed his son to follow
out the same course until he was cut off as
one who, though unscathed by human laws,
yet " vengeance sufifereth not to live." The
the worst features of despotism, that Messrs. Amyatt,
Ellis, and Smyth, the three dissenting members of
council, in their minute complaining of not having
been duly consulted regarding the recent measures
adopted by the select committee, positively palliate
the charges brought against Meer Jaffier as cruelties
which would appear shocking to a civilised govern-
ment, but which were common to all despotic ones.
In fact, the transaction, infamous as it really was,
had been greatly magnified; for in October, 1765, it
was officially stated by the government of liengal,
that of the five principal victims named above,onlytwo
had perished ; tlie rest had been kept in confinement,
and were subsequently set at liberty. (Thornton's
292 ADMINISTHATION OE MEER COSSIM IN BENGAL— 1760.
death of Meeran formed a new feature in
the complicated question upon which Mr.
Vansittart was called upon to decide. The
prince was well known to have been the
chief counsellor and abettor of his father's
actions; and it may be doubted whether
Mr. Holwell's proposition (of abandoning
Meer JafBer and surrendering the govern-
ment to the emperor) being wholly set aside,
it would not have been wiser to have avoided
the questionable expedient of a supercession,
by suffering the present nabob to continue to
occupy the musnud, but with a very limited
degree of authority. It was evident things
could not remain as they Avere ; the power
of the English was too great and too little —
altogether too undefined to be stationary;
and though there is much reason to believe
that the course pursued in this difficult
crisis was really prompted by an honest
desire for the good of all parties, yet, like
most temporising measures, the result was
total and disastrous failure.
The resignation forced upon Meer Jaffier
appears, under the circumstances, rather a
boon tlian a punishment. The first out-
burst of rage having subsided, he listened
calmly to the proposals made to him —
prudently rejected the offer of continuing to
enjoy the empty semblance of power, while
the reality was to be vested in another
person ; and simply stipulated that he
should be suffered to proceed immediately
to Calcutta, and reside there under British
protection. It has been alleged that his
ambitious son-in-law objected sti'ongly to
such a procedure, and would have preferred
disposing of his predecessor after a raoi'e
summary fashion :* but be this as it may,
Meer Jaffier quitted Moorshedabad the very
Biiliah India, i., 387.) This does not free the English
' authorities from blame regarding the fate of those
who really perished, and the hazard incurred by the
survivors, who were left at the caprice of an apathetic
old man and a merciless youth. Hut so little con-
cern was manifested when human lives and not
trading monopolies were concerned, that Meeran,
being reproached by Scrafton (then British resident
at Moorshedabad) for the murder of one of the
female relatives of Ali Verdi Khan, did not take the
trouble of replying, as he truly might, that she was
alive, but asked, in the tone of a petulant boy who
thought he " might do what he willed with his own,"
" What, shall not I kill an old woman who goes about
in her dooly (litter) to stir up the jematdars (military
commanders) against my father ?" The perceptions of
the Bengal public were, happily, not quite so ob-
tuse as those of their Mohammedan or European
rulers; and the muider of the princesses (with or
without their alleged companions of inferior rank)
was held to be so foul a crime, that the fire of heaven,
evening of his deposition, bearing away, to
solace his retirement, about seventy of the
ladies of the harem, and " a reasonable
quantity of jewels." His only lawful wife
(the mother of Meeran) refused to accom-
pany him, and remained with her daughter
and Meer Cossim. Thus ends one important
though not very creditable page of Anglo-
Indian history in Bengal.
Administration of Meer Cossim Ali. —
The question uppermost in the mind of every
member of the Bengal presidency, whether
friendly or adverse to the new nabob, was —
how he would manage to fulfil the treaty
with the English, pay the sums claimed by
them, and liquidate the enormous arrears
due to his own clamorous troops ? Being,
an able financier, a rigid economist in per-
sonal expenditure, and a man of unwearying
energy, Meer Cossim set about the Her-
culean task of freeing himself from pecu-
niary involvements, and restoring the pros-
perity of the country by measures which
soon inspired the English officials with the
notion that, so far as their personal interests
were concerned, the recent revolution might
prove as the exchange of King Log for
King Stork. Strict accounts of income and
expenditure were demanded from the local
governors, from the highest to the lowest ;
the retrospect was carried back even to the
time of Ali Verdi Khan ; and many who had
long since retired to enjoy, in comparative
obscurity, wealth gotten by more or less
questionable means, while basking in the
short-lived sunshine of court favour, were
now compelled to refund at least a portion
of their accumulations. In short, according
to Gholam Hussein, the advice of Sadi the
poet — " Why coUectest thou not from every
which smote the jjerpetrator, was popularly believed
to have been called down by Amina Begum (the
mother of Surajah Dowlah), who in dying uttered the
vengeful wish, that the lightning might fall on the
murderer of herself, her child, and her sister. The im-
precation is of fearful meaning in Bengal, where loss
of lifeduring thunder-storms isof frequent occurrence;
and the tale ran, that the deaths of Meeran and his
victims were not, as stated in the text, a month
apart, but simultaneous, the fatal orders being exe-
cuted at Dacca on the same night and hour that
Meeran perished, several hundred miles away.
(Siyar ul Mutakherin, ii., 133.) The translator
adds, in a note, that the imprecation of Amina
Begum was mintioned in Moorshedabad full thirty
days before intelligence became public of the death
of Meeran.
* This charge will be found in Holwell's Indian
Tracts, 90 — 9) ; but in a subsequent page it is denied
by Mr. llolwell, the person to whom the proposition
is stated to have been made. — (Idem, p. 114.)
ADMINISTRATION OF MEER COSSIM IN BENGAL— 1761.
293
subject a grain of silver, that thou mayest
form a treasure?" — became the rule of
Meer Cossim; and, in the short space of
eight months, he wrought a wonderful
change for the better, though at a cost of
personal exertion which he described by de-
claring, that he had " scarce had leisure to
drink a little water, nor a minute's time to
eat or enjoy sleep."*
Such rigid supervision was sure to dis-
please those especially by whom it was most
needed; and the camp of the Mogul be-
came in consequence the rallying ground of
many discontented zemindars and petty
rajahs who were not strong enough to
rebel in their own names. Early in 1761
an engagement took place between the im-
perial forces and those of Meer Cossim and
the English under Major Carnac. The em-
peror was again defeated ; the small French
corps by which he had been supported quite
dispersed; and its indefatigable leader,
M. Law, taken prisoner.f Immediately
after the battle, overtures of peace were
made by the victors, through the interven-
tion of a brave Hindoo general, whose name,
whatever it may have been, has been angli-
cised into Rajah Shitabroy. The proposi-
tion was gladly accepted ; Shab Alum pro-
ceeded to Patna, and there bestowed on
Meer Cossim the investiture of the govern-
ment of the three provinces, on condition
of the annual payment of twenty-four lacs
of rupees. J The English commander then
escorted the emperor some distance on his
road to join Shuja Dowlah, the nabob of
Oude. External hostility had scarcely been
removed from the path of Meer Cossim, be-
fore obstacles of a domestic character took
its place. Several Hindoo officials of high
rank persisted in evading his just demands
for a settlement of outstanding accounts,
and screened themselves from punishment,
• Vansittart's Narrative, i., 214.
t After the fate of the day had been decided,
Law, though deserted by his countrymen, refused to
quit the field ; and vexed to the soul by the utter
failure of his attempts to uphold the interests of the
French nation, sat down astride a gun, ready to fling
away his life, when an attempt should be made to cap-
ture him. Major Carnac found him in this attitude,
accepted his surrender on parole without deliver-
ing up his sword, and subsequently, in common
with all the other British officers, treated the cap-
tive with marked consideration. Gholam Hussein
Khan highly extols this chivalrous behaviour, and
finds frequent occasion to applaud in the strongest
manner the military qualifications of the English ;
adding, that if they did but possess equal proficiency
.n the arts of government, and manifested as much
solicitude for the welfare of native communities
2 Q
or even from inquiry, through the interven-
tion of the English. Ram Narrain, the
governor of Patna, afforded a remarkable
example of this ill-judged partiality. He
had been placed in office by Ali Verdi
Khan, and was one of the few nobles whose
fidelity to Surajah Dowlah remained invio-
late. After the deposition and murder of
this prince, Meer Jaffier had urgently soli-
cited Clive to induce Ram Narrain to come
to Moorshedabad under the promise of Bri-
tish protection, in order, as the proposer of
this notable scheme did not hesitate to
avow, to obtain a convenient opportunity
for cutting off his head. The experience
of Clive in the art of writing "soothing"
letters to an intended victim, was, happily
for the national honour, not made use of
in the present case; on the contrary, the
ungenerous policy of maintaining a rival
party in the court of the nabob, induced
favourable terms to be made with Ram
Narrain, and he was confirmed in his gov-
ernment despite the opposition of his nomi-
nal master.
As might be expected under such cir-
cumstances, between constant warfare and
a disaffected ruler, the revenues of Patna
proved of little benefit to the exhausted
treasury of Moorshedabad. Ram Narrain
scarcely disguised the hatred and contempt
he felt for Meer Jaffier, and found no diffi-
culty in resisting or evading his demands ;
but Meer Cossim was a man of a different
stamp ; and a fierce and prolonged dispute
took place between the nabob and the
governor — the former demanding the im-
mediate settlement of all arrears ; the latter,
on one pretence or other, refusing even to
render the accounts justly demanded from
him. The refractory subordinate relied on
the protection of the English, and long
continued to be upheld in his unwarrantable
in time of peace, as they did forethought in war,
then no nation in the world would be worthier of
command. " But," he adds, "such is the little regard
they show to the people of these kingdoms, and such
their apathy and indifference to their welfare, that
the natives under their dominion groan everywhere,
and are reduced to poverty and distress." — (Sii/ar ul
Mutakherin, ii., 102.)
X Meer Cossim, aware of the strong personal pre-
judice of Major Carnac towards himself, refused to
enter the imperial camp, lest some design against
him^such as it appears was actually entertained by
Carnac and Ellis (Vansittart's Narrative, ii., 399) —
should be put in practice. Therefore the investi-
ture was performed in the hall of the English fac-
tory, a platform being made of two dining-tables
covered with cloth, on which to enthrone the falleq
majesty of the house of Timur.
294.
DISGRACEFUL QUAHRELS OF BENGAL OFFICIALS— 1762.
refusal to furnish any statement of his admin-
istration by the military commanders then
stationed at Patna; but at length the re-
presentations of Meer Cossim, regarding
the violent conduct of Colonel Coote* and
Major Carnac, occasioned their recall, and
left Ram Narrain in the hands of th& nabob,
by whom his person was seized and his effects
confiscated, on the charge of embezzlement.
The truth was, the whole affair had been
treated rather as a bone of contention among
the jarring members of the Bengal pre-
sidency, than as a question of justice. The
secret of their disunion appears to have been
sheer jealousy of the present offered by Meer
Cossim to the select committee previous to
his accession, which they refused receiving
until the claims of the company should be
satisfied, peace restored, and the long stand-
ing arrears of the native troops entirely liqui-
dated.f
These preliminaries having been fulfilled,
it was probably expected that Meer Cossim
would repeat his offer of the twenty lacs of
rupees to the individuals by whom it had
been temporarily rejected. The remaining
members of council (not of the select commit-
tee) became extremely violent on the subject,
and instead of pleading, as they might have
reasonably done, against being excluded from
all share in a transaction which they had about
as much, or as little right to benefit by as
their colleagues, the tone adopted was one
of disinterested zeal for the interest of their
employers, in whose name it was insisted
the twenty lacs should be immediately de-
manded from Meer Cossim. This motion
• For instance, Meer Cossim complained that on
one occasion Colonel Coote, accompanied by thirty-
five European horsemen and 200 sepoys, entered his
tent in a great passion with a pistol in either hand,
crying out, " Where is the nabob ?" and uttering " God
dammees !" Colonel Coote tacitly admitted the truth
of this statement, with the trivial exception that his
pistols were not cocked, as the nabob had declared.
— (Vansittart's Narrative, I, 238—244.)
t Soon after his accession, Meer Cossim took oc-
casion to present Mr. Vansittart with a present of
26,000 rupees on the birth of a son — an ordinary
eastern compliment, which the governor accepted,
but immediately paid into the company's treasury.
J. A receipt in fuj was given to ^feer Cossim in
March, 1762, from all pecuniary obligation to the Eng-
lish. A minute in council showed that he had paid
them twenty-six lacs of sicca rupees (valued at
2s. 8|i. each), together with fifty-three lacs of cur-
rent rupees (2s. 4d. each), derived from the ceded
districts. He had likewise satisfied the claims both
of his own and his predecessor's troops. — (Narrative.)
§ It appears, however, from the evidence given
before parliament, in 1772, by Colonel Calliaua and
Mr. Sumner, that the twenty lacs were actuaiiy paid
was brought forward by Mr. Amyatt, who,
as Governor Vansittart did not fail to remark,
had been of a different opinion some three
years before, or he would scarcely have
accepted a share in the golden harvest ob-
tained by the elevation of Meer Jaffier, with-
out exhibiting any such scrupulous regard to
the interests of the general body. The re-
sult of a subsequent nabob-making affair
proved that another stickler for the rights of
the company (Mr. Johnstone) was equally
willing, when practicable, to make a bargain
on his own account. The measure was,
however, carried by a majority of the entire
council, and a formal requisition to the above
effect made to Meer Cossim. The answer
was prompt and decisive. The nabob, afte>.
stating, " by the grace of God, that he had
fulfilled every article of the treaty,"J de-
clared, " I owe nobody a single rupee, nor
will I pay your demand." The sum intended
for the select committee had been, he said,
positively refused ; most of the gentlemen to
whom it was offered had left the country; and
as to the one or two still in India, " I do not
think," adds the nabob, " they will demand
it from me."§ The directors at home clearly
appreciated the motives of all concerned,
and expressed decided approbation of the
" spirited" refusal given to an unauthorised
encroachment.
But the fire of anger and distrust, far from
being extinguished by such well-merited
rebuffs, was fed by various concomitant
circumstances. An angry, if not insolent||
memorial, dictated by Clive immediately
before sailing for England, and addressed by
by Meer Cossim, and received in the following pro-
portions : — the governor, five lacs (£50,000) ; Hol-
well, Sumner, Calliaud, and M'Gwire, in diminishing
portions, according to seniority. This makes the
select committee to have consisted of five persons ;
but beside these, it appears there were others not
then present at Calcutta. The committee consisted
of the senior members of the council, and the coun-
cil itself varied in the number of members from six
to sixteen, according to the number of those absent
in their employments as chiefs of factories, &c.
II One phrase declares that a recent communica-
tion from the directors was equally unworthy of the
parties by whom it was written, or those to whom it
was addressed, " in whatever relation considered — as
masters to servants, or gentlemen to gentlemen ;"
and it is added, significantly, that from the partiality
evinced to individuals, "private views may, it is much
to be feared, take the lead here from examples at
home, and no gentlemen hold your service longer,
nor exert themselves further in it, than their own
exif/encies require." This remarkable specimen of
plain speaking boasts the signatures of Clive, liolwell,
Sumner, and M'Gwire, all of whom were dismissed
tne service, as also another councillor named PleydeU.
INLAND TRADE, 1762— MONOPOLY BY SERVANTS OP E. I. CO. 295
the Bengal oiBcials to their "honourable
masters," procured the dismissal of all by
■whom it had been signed. This measure failed
in producing the intended effect ; for of the
refractory members, the majority, like their
leader, had realised immense fortunes by the
use of more or less discreditablemeans; others
paid the penalty of sharing the violence of
their predecessors by expulsion from the
company's service. Although subsequently
reinstated, their temporary absence left
the governor in a minority in council,
and vested the personal opponents of the
nabob with overwhelming power. Mr. Van-
sittart, in rectitude of character, discretion,
and gentlemanly bearing, was infinitely su-
perior to his fellow-officials ; but he lacked
energy to control their unruly tempers, and
successfully oppose their selfish ends. It ap-
pears that he and the other four gentlemen
associated with him (that is, all the members
of the select committee then in Bengal), did
eventually receive from Cossim Ali the much-
canvassed twenty lacs. This single draw-
back on a general reputation for disinterest-
edness, afforded an opening of which his ene-
mies well knew how to take advantage, and
every effort made to check their illegitihaate
gains was treated as an act of corrupt and
venal partiality towards the nabob.
We have already seen that in the time of
Moorshed Kooli Khan, the English officials
had striven to construe the firmauns granted
by the emperor Feroksheer, as conferring
not only exemption from custom-dues on
all foreign commerce, but as including the
produce of the country, which they asserted
ought to pass untaxed, if accompanied by
their dustuchs or licenses, even from one
district to another. Now, as half the local
revenue was, by the system universally pur-
sued, obtained by innumerable petty dues
levied on merchandise, at frequent inter-
vals, in its passage from place to place, it
followed that such an unreasonable claim,
if granted, must prove highly injurious to
the income of the province, and ruinous to
the native traders, who, fettered by taxation,
could not hope to compete with their
favoured rivals. The manifest injustice of
the demand procured its speedy, and for a
• Vansittart's Narrative, ii., 153.
t Treaty with Surajah Dowlah ; vide Scrafton's
Reflections on the Government of Indostan, p. 63.
I Vansittart's Narrative, ii., 113.
§ The existence and notoriety of these practices is
evidenced in a letter from the directors, dated April,
1760, in which it is asserted, that the chiefs of subor-
dinate factories gained full twenty per cent, upon
time, complete abandonment. At a subse-
quent period the directors (in a dispute with
the Dutch regarding the right of the em-
peror to grant the English merchants a mo-
nopoly for the sole purchase of saltpetre,
notwithstanding the promise of free trade
conceded to their competitors) laid it down
as an axiom, that the design of all firmauns
granted to Europeans was to admit them
" to the same freedom of trading with the
Mogul's own subjects — surely not a better."*
In fact, the interests of the company were
in no manner concerned in the question of
inland traffic, because this had been entirely
resigned to their servants ; and every attempt
at encroachment made by them during the
strong administrations of Moorshed Kooli
and Ali Verdi Khan had been carefully
suppressed, until the latter ruler became
weakened by age, foreign wars, and domestic
sorrows. The previous efforts were recom-
menced and increased at the time of the ac-
cession of Surajah Dowlah — so much so, that
the articles signed by the English on the sur-
render of Cossimbazar in May, 1757, included
a specific promise to make good all that the
Mohammedan government had suffered from
the abuse of dustucks.f This pledge was
far from being redeemed, and the abuse
complained of rose to such an extent, despite
the repeated remonstrances of Meer Jaffier,
that not only every servant of the company,
together with their gomastahs or native
agents, claimed complete immunity in carry-
ing on inland trade in salt, betel-nut,
tobacco, bamboos, dried fish, &c., but even
the Bengalee merchants found it expedient
to purchase the name of some member of
the presidency ; and by virtue of " dustucks"
thus obtained, could laugh at the revenue
officers, and compel the natives, on penalty
of flogging or imprisonment,^ to buy goods
at more, or sell them at considerably less,
than the market price. §
Had Mr. Vansittart been a man of more
determination, he might probably have
averted a new revolution j but the compro-
mising character of his measures served only
to encourage his intractable associates. In
taking a firm stand on the justice of the
question, and insisting upon the proper pay-
goods supplied to private traders, often exclusive of
commission ; while the nativa merchants " apply to
our junior servants, and for valuable considerations
receive their goods covered with our servants'
names : even a writer trades in this manner for many
thousands, when at the same time he has often not
real credit for an hundred rupees. For the truth of
these assertiors we need only appeal to yourselves.'
296 MEER COS SIM ALI PROCLAIMS FREE TRADE IN BENGAL— 1763.
ment of taxes necessary to the maintenance of
the country government, he would doubtless
have been supported by the directors, who,
unbiassed by self-interest, would then, as on
a subsequent occasion, have given an honest
decision on so plain a case. But Vansittart,
aware of the extreme anxiety of the nabob
to preserve peace with the English, hoped
to bring about an arrangement by offering,
on their behalf, the payment of nine per
cent, (a rate not a quarter the amount of
that exacted from native traders) upon the
prime cost of goods at the time of purchase,
after which no further duties should be
imposed. These terms were settled at a
private interview between the nabob and
the governor, and the latter departed highly
pleased at having brought about an amicable
adjustment. But he did not understand
the blinding influence of the factious and
grasping spirit of the men with whom he
had to deal. The members of council, ab-
sent in their capacities of chiefs of facto-
ries, were called together: even majors
Adams and Carnac, though empowered to
give a vote only in military affairs, were
suffered to come and join a discussion in
which they were unprofessionally, and not
very creditably, interested as traders; and
the result was, the refusal of an overwhelm-
ing majority to ratify the pledge given by
their president. Warren Hastings, who
had lately been elevated to the council,
alone stood by Vansittart, and eloquently
pleaded the cause of justice, relating the
oppressions he had himself witnessed while
employed in an inferior capacity in different
factories, but with no beneficial result.*
Meer Cossim soon saw the state of the
case ; — a governor, willing but unable to pro-
tect him against the rapacity of subordinate
officials. He knew their vulnerable point ;
and instead of wasting more time in fruitless
complaints, aimed a well-directed blow by
proclaiming free trade among his own sub-
jects for the ensuing two years. It was
clearly the most equitable and statesmanlike
measure that could have been adopted ; but
the council, in their unbridled wrath at
having the native traders placed on a level
with themselves, denounced it as a shame-
less infringement on the company's prero-
gative; and, upon this flimsy pretext, sent
a deputation to the nabob, consisting of
• In the course of these discussions, Mr. Batson,
one of the council, struck Hastings a blow. The
injured party, with true dignity, left to his col-
leagues the charge of dealing with the offender. '
Mr. Amyatt and Mr. Hay, to demand its
immediate annulment. Meer Cossim re-
fused to discuss the subject, and, in com-
menting on the decision of the council — that
all disputes between English gomastahs
and his officers, should be referred to the
chiefs of the company's factories — he said
their justice consisted simply in this : — " they
abuse and beat my officers, and send them
away bound." Regarding the immediate
question at issue, he vindicated the aboli-
tion of customs on the plea of necessity,
the conduct of the English having titterly
prevented their realisation, and thus de-
prived him of one-half his revenues. The
remainder, he added, arose from land-rents,
which were diminished by the abstraction
of half the country, and were required
to pay his standing army. Under these
circumstances he would be well pleased to
be relieved of his irksome task, and see some
other person placed in his stead as nabob,
This proposition was probably made in re-
ference to the projects already canvassed in
council (and of which he doubtless had
some knowledge), for his supercession in the
event of the outbreak of hostilities. The
tone and bearing of Meer Cossim were, how-
ever, still on the whole so deprecating and
conciliatory, that no fear of the consequences
appears to have arisen in the minds of the
council to suggest the danger of driving
him to extremities. The governor explicitly
declares that, up to this period, the nabob
had not shown " any instance of a vicious or
a violent disposition ; he could not be taxed
with any act of cruelty to his own subjects,
nor treachery to us."t Of his troops a very
contemptible opinion had been formed ;
they were spoken of as " undisciplined
rabble," whom a single European detach-
ment could at once disperse : while Meer
Cossim himself was known to possess
neither taste nor talent as a military
leader ; and the chief warlike enterprise of
his administration (an invasion of Nepaul)
had proved a failure. But sufficient account
had not been made of the care with which
the native army had been gradually brought
to a state of unprecedented efficiency ; their
number being diminished by the payment
and dismissal of useless portions, while the
remainder were carefully trained, after the
European manner, by the aid of some mili-
tary adventurers who entered the service of
Meer Cossim. Among these the most cele-
brated was a man called by the natives
t Vansittart's Narrative, iii., 394.
"WAR BETWEEN MEER COSSIM AND THE ENGLISH— 1763. 297
Sumroo.* He was a German, Walter Reine-
hard by name, and came to India as a ser-
geant in the service of France. Military abili-
I ties raised him to high favour with Meer
Cossim, and he became the chief instigator
and instrument of the cruelties which dis-
graced the close of the struggle with the
presidency. The abuse of certain discre-
tionary powers vested in Mr. Ellis by the
council, despite the opposition of the gov-
ernor, precipitated matters. Patna was
seized by the English, and, to their surprise,
immediately regained by Meer Cossim.
Mr. Amyatt was at this time on his way
back to Calcutta ; Mr. Hay being detained
as a hostage for the safety of some of the
native oflBcials then imprisoned at Calcutta.
Orders were given for the capture of Mr.
Amyatt: he was intercepted, and, with several
of his companions, slain in the struggle
■which ensued. The council closed all
avenues to reconciliation with Meer Cossim,
by the restoration of the man who, three
years before, had been pronounced utterly
■unfit to reign. Suddenly annulling all that
had been said and done — setting aside the
imperial investiture, and everything else,
Meer Jaflfier, without even the form of a
fresh treaty, was, by a strange turn of the
wheel of circumstances, again hurried to the
musnud from whence he had so lately been
ignominiously expelled.
Vansittart, overpowered by bitter opposi-
tion, and sinking under ill-health, no longer
strove to stem the torrent. It was an emer-
gency in which he thought "justice must
give way to necessity,"t and accordingly he
signed the proclamation inviting the people
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa to rally round
the standard of Meer Jaffierj with other
documents, whose contents were wholly at
variance with his previous measures ; only
declaring that he would resign the govern-
ment so soon as Meer Cossim should be
subdued. This did not prove so easy a
task as had been expected. The ex-nabob
made a last effort at an accommodation by
a letter to the presidency, in which he
denied having given any order for the
destruction of Mr. Amyatt; but, at the
same time, referred significantly to the
number of English captured at Patna,
plainly intimating that their fate depended
on the terms made with him. The threat
was little heeded. So perfect and uniform
• His nom-de-ffuerre of Summer vias changed by
the French soldiers into Sombre, on account of his
dark complexion, pronounced by the natives Sumroo.
had been his self-control, that not even the
governor or Mr. Hastings (the two Euro-
peans who had most intimately known him)
ever suspected the fierce passions which lay
hid beneath the veil of a singularly dignified
bearing and guarded language. No deci-
sive measure was therefore taken for the
rescue of the prisoners, but only letters
written, threatening unsparing vengeance in
the event of any injury being inflicted upon
them. These communications did but add
fuel to fire. Meer Cossim well knew the
stake for which he played — independent
sway over at least a part of Bengal, or a
violent death, with the possible alternative
of poverty and expatriation in the dominions
of his powerful neighbour, Shuja Dowlah.
The English took the field in 1763, and
commenced operations by the successful
attack of the army stationed to protect
Moorshedabad. The city was captured;
and in the following month, the severest
conflict which the English had yet sustained
took place on the plain of Geriah. The
battle lasted four hours, and the enemy at
one period broke the line, seized two guns,
and attacked the 84th regiment front and
rear. But the steadiness of the troops pre-
vailed over the impetuosity of their assail-
ants, and eventually procured a complete
victory. Meer Cossim was driven from
place to place ; defeat and disgrace dogged
his steps ; and after sending his family and
treasures to the stronghold of Rhotas, he
commenced a series of executions at once,
to gratify his revenge and intimidate his
foes. Ram Narrain, with ten relatives, and
other native prisoners of note, were the first
victims after the battle of Geriah. A no
less disastrous engagement, in September,
near Oodwa, was followed by the execution
of the celebrated bankers, Juggut Seit and
his brother (or cousin), of whose persons
the nabob had some time before obtained
possession. Finally, the treacherous sur-
render of Monghyr, which he learned at
Patna, occasioned an order for the imme-
diate execution of all prisoners confined
there, including fifty of the company's
servants, civil and military. Among the
number were Hay, Ellis, and Lushington
(the person before named as having counter-
feited the signature of Admiral Watson.)
Mr. Fullarton, a surgeon, in virtue of a pro-
fession more peaceful than his practice,|:
t Vansittart's Narrative, iii., 317.
I He is stated by Vansittart to have been mainly
instrumental in urging Mr. Amyatt, 'with whom he
298 CAPTURE OF PATNA, 1763— EXPULSION OF MEER COSSIM.
formed the sole exception to this savage
massacre, which was perpetrated by Sumroo
and two companies of sepoys. On the ad-
vance of the English, Patna was abandoned
by its ruthless master; but the capture was
not effected until the middle of November,
after a prolonged and resolute defence.
Meer Cossim, unable to offer further re-
sistance, crossed the Caramnassa as a fugi-
tive, and threw himself upon the protection
of his ally, Shuja Dowlah, the nabob of Oude,
who, from the nominal vizier, had by this
time become the gaoler, of Shah Alum.
Early in the following year, an army was
assembled at Benares by Shuja Dowlah,
who, it appears, desired to make the claims
of his froUgi a pretext for obtaining pos-
session of the three provinces for himself
The prospect of invasion was alarming —
less from the strength of the enemy than
from the mutinous and disaffected condition
of the British force. From the moment
when a division of booty, to a hitherto un-
heard-of extent, commenced at the taking
.of Geriah in 1756, a marked deterioration
had, as Clive truly observed, taken place in
their health and discipline. Large numbers
perished from sheer debauchery ; and the
survivors, imitating the civilians, were con-
stantly on the watch for Bome new source
of irregular gain. " A gratification to the
army" had been one of the articles canvassed
in council, as a point to be insisted on in
case of Meer Cossim's supercession ; but
war had come on them at the last so suddenly,
and had been attended with such an unex-
pected amount of danger and expense, that in
the terms dictated to Meer Jaffier, after his
reinstatement on the musnud,the council had
scarcely leisure to do more than stipulate
for thirty lacs on behalf of the company ;
for the reimposition of taxes on the oppressed
natives ; for their own total exemption, ex-
cept a duty of two-and-a-half per cent, upon
salt,* which, in their liberality, they offered
to pay as a gratuitous assistance to the
nabob ; and, lastly, for complete reimburse-
ment to individuals who might suffer loss by
the stoppage of the inland trade. It is easy
to understand who these individuals were,
but difficult to conceive to what an extent
a clause so indefinite as this might enable
them to carry their extortions. Even Meer
Jaffier seems to have had a notion that, in
had great influence, to aflopt the policy which led to
60 melancholy a termination. — {Narrative, i., 164.)
• Even this rate was never levied. — ( Chve, iii., 103.)
t Evidence of Major Munro. — {First Jieport of
Parliamentary Comtnittee, 1772.)
return for these stipulations, he also might
put forward some peculiar claims; and he
now successfully urged, as a condition of re-
accepting the subahship, permission to em-
ploy, as one of his chief ministers, an intrigu-
ing Hindoo named Nuncomar, who was
actually in confinement for having intrigued
against the English with Shuja Dowlah
and the French governor of Pondicherry.
In these arrangements, all idea of a gratuity
to the army was lost sight of; nor was any
forthcoming, as expected, after the expulsion
of Meer Cossim, although a specific pledge
to that effect had, it appears, been given
to the troops through Major Adams. f
Under such circumstances little vigour
was displayed in opposing the invading
troops, until, after ravaging Bahar, they
penetrated as far as Patna. Here, however,
they were defeated. The English soldiers
and sepoys — but especially the latter, on
whom the principal weight of the attack
fell — behaved with great steadiness and
gallantry; and the vizier, perceiving that
his rude levies were quite unable to oppose
a disciplined European force, soon began to
evince an inclination for an amicable adjust-
ment of affairs. But the English would
make no terms that did not include the
surrender of the fugitive nabob and his
sanguinary instrument, Sumroo; and Shuja
Dowlah, on his part, looked for nothing
less than the surrender of the whole province
of Bahar : consequently the discussion pro-
duced no result ; and the tedious war dragged
on until the approach of the rainy season
compelled the vizier to conclude the cam-
paign by retreating with all speed to Oude,
The arrival of Major (afterwards Sir
Hector) Munro from Bombay, with Euro-
pean reinforcements, was the signal for an
outbreak of the dissatisfaction long at work
in the British army ; and a whole battalion
of sepoys, with their arms an'd accoutre-
ments, marched off to join the enemy. The
major detached a select body of troops in
pursuit. The fugitives were surprised by
night, while sleeping, and brought back as
prisoners. By the decree of a court-mar-
tial of their own countrymen, twenty-four
of the prisoners were condemned to die.
They were tied up, four at a time, to the
muzzle of as many guns, and blown away;
the first to suffer being some grenadiers,
who stepped forward and urged that, as
they had constantly been allowed precedence
in the hour of danger, so now it should be
granted them in death. The claim was
BATTLE OF BUXAK, 1764— STATE OF BENGAL.
299
tacitly admitted to be true, by being
granted, and the whole twenty-four were
executed, despite the earnest remonstrances
and even open opposition of their comrades.
Military men have applauded this trans-
action as a piece of well-timed and necessary
severity; those who, like myself, question
both the lawfulness and expediency of capi-
tal punishments, and deem war and stand-
ing armies the reproach and not the glory
of Christian nations, will probably view
the whole affair in a different light.
In the middle of September (1764) the
British troops again took the field, and having
crossed the Soue in spite of the opposition
of a corps of cavalry, advanced towards the
intrenched camp of the vizier at Buxar. A
sharp conflict took place, and lasted about
three hours ; the enemy then began to give
way, and slowly retired ; but an immediate
pursuit being commenced, Shuja Dowlah
procured its abandonment, though at an
immense sacrifice of life,* by destroying a
bridge of boats upon a stream of water two
miles from the field of battle. The emperor
seized the opportunity of escaping from his
tyrannical minister, pitched his tents beside
those of the English, and placed himself
under their protection. Renewed overtures
for peace, on the part of Shuja Dowlah, were
again met by a demand for the surrender of
Meer Cossim and Sumroo. The former,
fearing to trust his life any longer in the
hands of one who had already taken advan-
tage of his defenceless position to obtain
possession of the chief part of the gold and
jewels which he had brought from Bengal,
now fled to the Rohilla country, whither he
had fortunately caused some treasure to be
conveyed before the confiscation ordered by
his ungenerous ally, on pretence of paying
the troops. Sumroo, no less faithless than
cruel, had deserted him ; and, with a large
body of trained sepoys, had joined the force
of Shuja Dowlah before the battle of Buxar.
This piece of treachery nearly proved fatal
to its perpetrator ; for the vizier, anxious to
come to terms with the English, and yet to
avoid the infamy of delivering up the de-
serter, positively offered to procure his
assassination in presence of any two or
three witnesses chosen by Major Munro,
and evinced great surprise at the rejection
of this truly oriental proposal. It should
* Stated at 2,000 men drowned or otherwise lost ;
besides which, 2,000 men were left dead on the field,
with 133 pieces of cannon. The loss of the English,
in killed and wounded, was 847.
be remarked, however, in justice to Shuja
Dowlah, that though willing to plunder
Meer Cossim to the last rupee, he could not
be induced to surrender his person on any
terms; and even for the life and liberty of
the villain Sumroo, he would willingly have
paid a heavy ransom ; for it was not until
after the rejection of the offer of a sum of
fifty-eight lacs, in lieu of delivering up the
fugitives, that he made the treacherous sug-
gestion above narrated regarding Sumroo.
Whether he really intended to carry it out,
or if, on the contrary, some other stratagem
was designed in the event of the plan being
approved by the English, cannot be ascer-
tained. It is certain that his army was in
no condition to renew hostilities, and, in-
deed, never recovered the effects of the late
decisive engagement.
Meanwhile corruption, venality, and op-
pression reigned unchecked in Bengal. The
name of a nation, once highly honoured,
became alike hateful in the ears of Mussul-
mans and Hindoos. t The approach of a
party of English sepoys served as a signal
for the desertion of whole villages, and the
shopkeepers fled at the approach of the
palanquin of the passing traveller, fearing
that their goods might be seized for an
almost nominal value, and they themselves
abused and beaten for offering a remon-
strance. The people at large were reduced
to a state of unprecedented misery; the
ungenerous and impolitic advantage taken
of their weakness, having put it in the
power of every marauder who chose to style
himself an English servant, to plunder and
tyrannise over them without control. The
effect, Warren Hastings plainly declared to
be, " not only to deprive them of their own
laws, but to refuse them even the benefit of
any." Had all this wrong proceeded from
the will of a single despot, there can be
little doubt he would have been speedily
removed by a combination of his own offi-
cers, or, as Mohammedan history affords so
many instances, been smitten to the earth
by a private individual, in vengeance for
some special injury. But the tyranny of a
far-distant association, dreadful and incom-
prehensible beyond any bugbear ever painted
by superstition, possessed this distinguishing
feature above all other despotisms — that it was
exercised through numerous distinct agencies,
t Vide Hasting's letter ; — Narrative, ii., 78. Clive
declares the oppressions practised had made " the
name of the English stink in the nostrils of a Qentoo
or a Mussulman." — (Malcolm's Life, ii., 380.)
300 MEER JAFFIER DIES, 1765— SUCCEEDED BYNUJEEM-AD-DOWLAH.
of which the hundred hands and arms of the
Hindoo idols could convey but a faint and
feeble image.
Oppression reached a climax under the
second administration of Meer Jaffier. He
had previously complained in forcible lan-
guage* of the. injury done to the native
merchants, as ■vrell as to the provincial reve-
nues, by the abuse of the privileges conferred
by the firmaun ; but to this wrong he for-
mally assented when replaced on the musnud.
It soon, however, became manifest that it
mattered little what the terms of the agree-
ment had been ; for he was regarded simply
as " a banker for the company's servants,
who could draw upon him as often, and to
as great an extent as they pleased/'f The
clause for compensation to individuals proved,
as might have been foreseen, a handle for
excessive extortion. At the time of its in-
sertion the nabob had been assured that,
although it was impossible to specify the
particular amounts of claims, they would not
altogether exceed ten lacs; notwithstanding
which, the demand was increased to twenty,
thirty, forty, and at last reached fifty-three
lacs. Seven-eighths of this sum, according to
the testimony of Mr. Scrafton, then an E. I.
director, "was for losses sustained (or said
to be sustained) in an illicit monopoly of the
necessaries of life, carried on against the
orders of the company, and to the utter ruin
of the India merchants." He adds, that " half
of this sum was soon extorted from the
nabob, though the company were at that
time sinking under the burden of the war,
and obliged to borrow great sums of money of
their servants at eight per cent, interest, and
even with that assistance could not carry on
both their war and their investment, but
sent their ships half loaded to Europe." J
The military establishment of the English
had by this time increased to 18,000 horse
and foot, and its ill-regulated expenditure
soon swallowed up the thirty lacs paid by
Meer Jaffier, as also the further sum of five
lacs a month, which he had agreed to furnish
during the continuance of the war.
Pressed on all sides by extortionate claims,
despised and brow-beaten by the very men
who had used him as an instrument for their
private ends, the nabob sank rapidly to an
unhonoured grave. His death in January,
• " The poor of my country," said Meer Jaffier,
" used to get their bread by trading in salt, betel-
nut, and tobacco, which the English have now taken
to themselves ; by which my poor are starving, my
revenues ruined, and no advantage to the company."
176.5, had been shortly preceded by the de-
parture of Governor Vansittart aud Warren
Hastings for England ; and in the absence of
any restraining influence, the council were
left to conduct the profitable afi"air of en-
throning a new nabob after their own fashion.
The choice lay between the eldest illegiti-
mate son of Jaffier, Nujeem-ad-Dowlah, aged
twenty years, and the infant son of Meeran.
The claim of the emperor to appoint an
officer was considered far too inconvenient to
be acknowledged ; it would be easy to extort
his sanction when the selection was made.
Repeated ofiers had been made by him to
bestow on the English real power over the
revenues of Bengal, by vesting in them the
right of collection. This office, called the
dewannee, had been devised during the palmy
days of the empire§ as a means of prevent-
ing attempts at independence on the part of
the subahdar, the dewan being designed
to act as treasurer, appointed from, and ac-
countable to, the Delhi government, leaving
the subahdar to direct in all other matters.
This arrangement had been allowed to fall
into disuse ; for All Verdi Khan had usurped
the whole authority, both financial and ju-
dicial. Shah Alimi must have been too well
acquainted with the state of affairs, to doubt
that the English, if they accepted the de-
wannee, would be sure to engross likewise all
real power vested in the subahdar; but he
expected in return a tribute, on the re-
gular payment of which, dependence might
be placed. It did not, however, suit the
views of the representatives of the E. I. Cy.
to occupy a position which should render
them personally accountable for the revenues.
A nabob — i.e., a person from whom "pre-
sents" might be legally received — could not
be dispensed with. The child of Meeran was
old enough to understand the worth of sugar-
plums, but hardly of rupees ; and his claims
were set asideforthoseofNujeem-ad-Dowlah.
The new nabob consented to everything de-
manded of him : agreed to entrust the mili-
tary defence of the country solely to the
English, and even to allow of the appoint-
ment, by the presidency, of a person who,
under the title of Naib Subah, should have
the entire management of the affairs of gov-
ernment. He eagerly advocated the nomi-
nation of Nuncomar to fill this important
— (Vide Scrafton's Observations on Vansittart's Nar-
rative, printed in 1766, pp. 38-'9.)
t Olive's speech, 1772 ; — Almon's Debates, xiv.
t Scrafton's Observations, pp. 48-'9.
§ See preceding section on Mogul Empire, p. 117.
E. I. CO. INTERFERE TO CHECK THE AVARICE OP THEIR SERVANTS. 3G1
office, but in vaia ; and the selection of an
experienced noble, named Mohammed Reza
Khan, was perhaps the best that could have
been made. The other articles of the treaty
were but the confirmation of previous ar-
rangements ; and the whole affair wound up,
as usual, very much to the satisfaction of the
English officials concerned, among nine of
whom the sum of j6139,357 was distributed,
besides gifts extorted from leading Indian
functionaries, in all of which the chief share
was monopolised by Mr. Johnstone, the dis-
senting member of council, who had so ve-
hemently deprecated the conduct of the se-
lect committee of 1760, in receiving the
largess of Meer Cossim. The money thus
acquired was not destined to be enjoyed
without a contest; for the curb (so greatly
needed) was at length about to be placed on
the greediness of Bengal officials^
Ever since the deposition of Surajah Dow-
lah, the E. I. Cy. had been spectators rather
than directors of the conduct of their servants
in Bengal. Clive had quitted their service
with bitterness in his heart and defiance on
his lips ; and the example of insubordination,
ambition, and covetousness given by him,
had been closely imitated by men who could
not appreciate the energy and perseverance
which enabled him to swim where they must
sink. The representations of Mr. Vansittart,
the massacre at Patna, and the sharp contest
with Shuja Dowlah following that with
Meer Cossim, seriously alarmed the mass of
* Second Pari. Report on E. I. Cy., 1772.
f An Irish peerage was, after long delay, obtained
by Clive, who took the title of Baron of Plassy : an
English one, by his own account, might have been
purchased with ease [Life, ii., 189) ; but then the
enormous wealth which was to maintain its possessor
on a level, in a pecuniary point of view, with the
high-born aristocracy of England, rested on a preca-
rious footing. Clive, notwithstanding his extraordi-
nary facility of attributing to himself every possible
perfection, never doubted that his position in society
rested onhis "bags of money and bushelsof diamonds"
(ii., 168), rather than on any mere personal qualifi-
cations ; and when urged to exert his influence in
the India House, soon after his return to England,
for some special purpose, in contravention to the
directors, he peremptorily refused, declaring, " my
future power, my future grandeur, all depend upon
the receipt of the jaghire ; and I should be a mad-
man to set at defiance those who at present show no
inclination to hurt me." It must be remembered
that Clive, besides the jaghire, had avowedly realised
between three and four hundred thousand pounds
during his second sojourn in India — a circumstance
that greatly detracts from the effect of the fiery indig-
nation with which, when the right was questioned of
Meer Jaffier to bestow, or his own to accept, the quit-
rent paid by the company, he came forward to save
his " undoubted property from the worst of foes —
2 II
East India proprietors; — anxiety for their
own interests, and indignation at the wrongs
heaped on the natives in their name, for the
sole benefit of a few ungovernable servants,
conspired to rouse a strong feeling of the ne-
cessity of forthwith adopting measures cal-
culated to bring about a better state of things.
Stringent orders were dispatched in February,
1764, forbidding the trade in salt, betel-nut,
tobacco, and all other articles whatsoever,
produced and consumed in the country ; *
and in the following May it was directed that
new covenants should be executed by all the
company's servants (civil and military), bind-
ing them to " pay over to their employers
all presents received from the natives, which
should exceed 4,000 rupees in value." The
above orders, and the unsigned covenants,
were actually lying at Calcutta when the treaty
with the new nabob was made, and the sum
above stated extorted from him. Probably
the directors were not unprepared for dis-
obedience, even of this flagrant character.
The execution of orders so distasteful needed
to be enforced in no common manner; and
reasoning, it would seem, on the ground that
it was one of those cases in which " the chil-
dren of this world are wiser than the children
of light," it was suggested that Clive (now a
lord) was of all men the best fitted to root
up the poisonous tree he had plan ted. f
The inducement was , not wanting ; for
his jaghire had been called in question ; and
to ensure its continuance for the next ten
a combination of ungrateful directors" (ii., 229.)
" Having now," says Sir John Malcolm, " no choice
between bartering his independence to obtain secu-
rity for his fortune," Clive commenced hostilities
after the old fashion, sparing neither bold strokes in
the field, nor manceuvres in the closet. Upwards of
£100,000 were employed by him in securing support
by a means then commonly practised, but afterwards
prohibited — viz., that of split votes. He had, how-
ever, some powerful opponents, with the chair-
man, Mr. Sulivan, at their head. This gentleman
and Clive were at one period on intimate terms ; but
according to the latter, their seeming good-fellow-
ship had been sheer hypocrisy, since, in reality,
they " all along behaved like shy cocks, though at
times outwardly expressing great regard and friend-
ship for one another." The issue of the conflict in
London was materially influenced by the critical
state of affairs in Calcutta. The court of proprietors
took up the matter in the most decided manner.
Clive availed himself of the excitement of the mo-
ment, and besides the confirmation of his jaghire for
ten years, obtained as a condition of his acceptance
of the office of governor and commander-in-chief in
the Bengal Presidency, the expulsion of Mr. Suli-
van from the direction. The four persons associated
with him, under the name of a select committee —
Messrs. Sumner, Sykes, Verelst, and General (late
Major) Carnac — were all subordinate to his will
802
CLIVERS SECOND ADMINISTRATION IN BENGAL— 1765.
years to himself or liis heirs, he agreed to
return to India for a very limited period —
signed covenants to refrain from receiving
any presents by which he became pledged
from native princes ; and, invested with
almost despotic power, reached Calcutta in
May, 1765. Here he found matters in a
widely different condition to that which had
caused the E. I. Cy. so much well-founded
apprehension. Meer Cossim had been ex-
pelled ; the emperor had thrown himself
upon the English for protection ; and Shuja
Dowlah was so reduced as to be on the eve
of deprecating their wrath by a similar expe-
dient of placing his person at their mercy.
The majority of the reasons for which such
extraordinary powers had been vested in
Clive, in conjunction with a select committee
of four persons devoted to his will, had
therefore ceased to exist; but he persisted
in retaining these powers, and with suffi-
cient reason ; for the task he had to perform,
if conscientiously fulfilled, would have pro-
bably required their exercise. As it was,
he excited a general storm of rage, without
effecting any permanent good — at least so
far as the civil department of the presidency
was concerned. The general council, in all,
included sixteen persons ; though probably
not half that number assembled at ordinary
meetings. Among them was Mr. John-
stone, who had played so leading a part in
the transactions of the last few years. He
was a person possessed of advantages, in
regard both of ability and connexions, which
rendered him not ill calculated to do battle
with Clive ; and he scrupled not to retort
the severe censures cast upon himself and
his colleagues, by asserting that they had
only followed the example given by the
very man who now lamented, in the most
bombastic language, the " lost fame of the
the first-named had been ignominiously expelled
the company, for signing the violent letter quoted
at p. 294, but subsequently reinstated.
• These sentiments Lord Clive accompanies with
an adjuration which too clearly illustrates the con-
dition of his mind regarding a future state. " I do
declare," he writes, "by that Great Being who is the
searcher of all hearts, and to whom we must be
accountable if there must he an hereafter, that I am
come out with a mind superior to all corruption."
Yet at this very time Clive scrupled not to employ
his private knowledge of the state of affairs, and of
the increased value of stock likely to result from the
acceptance of the dewannee, to write home directions
in cipher (so that, if falling into strange hands, no other
person should benefit by the information), desiring
that every shilling available, or that could be bor-
rowed in his name, should be invested in E. I. stock
" without loss of a minute." Mr. Rous (a director)
British nation," and declared himself to have
" come out with a mind superior to all cor-
ruption," and a fixed resolution to put
down the exercise of that unworthy prin-
ciple in others.*
The events of the next twenty months,
though of considerable importance, can be
but briefly narrated here. Immediately
upon his arrival. Lord Clive, and the two
members of the select committee who had
accompanied him from England, without
waiting for their destined colleagues, assumed
the exercise of the whole powers of govern-
ment, civil and military, after administering
to themselves and their secretaries an oath
of secrecy. Mr. Johnstone f made a despe-
rate resistance to the new order of things,
but was at length defeated and compelled to
quit the service. The other members, for
the most part, submitted, though with the
worst possible grace ; and the vacancies were
supplied by Madras officials. The cove-
nants forbidding the acceptance of presents
were signed ; then followed the prohibition of
inland trade by the company's servants. This
was a more difficult point to carry. Clive
well knew that the salaries given by the
E. I. Cy. were quite insufficient to maintain
the political rank obtained by recent events. J
Poverty and power, side by side with wealth
and weakness, would, as he himself declared,
offer to the stronger party temptations
"which flesh and blood could not resist."
With a full appreciation of this state of
affairs, it was a plain duty to press upon
the directors (as the clear-sighted and up-
right Sir Thomas Roe had done in the
early part of the preceding century) § the
necessity of allotting to each official a liberal
income, which should hold out to all a
reasonable prospect of obtaining a compe-
tency, by legitimate means, within such
and Mr. Walsh acted with promptitude, by proceed-
ing forthwith, though on a Sunday, to obtain the
key of the cipher, which it seems they very imper-
fectly understood. — {See Thornton's India, i., 492.)
t Johnstone and hiscolleagues, when vainly pressed
to make over to the company the monies received
from Nujeem-ad-DowIah; replied, that when Clive
surrendered the money he had obtained from the
father, they would yield in turn the gifts of the son.
X The salary of a councillor was only £250 ; the
rent of a very moderate house in Calcutta, £200.
§ " Absolutely prohibit the private trade," said he,
" for your business will be better done. I know
this is harsh. Men profess they come not for bare
wages. But you w'ill take away this plea if you
give great wages, to their content ; and then you
know what you part from." No amount of legiti-
mate emolument will, however, assuage the thirst for
gain inherent in many clever, unprincipled men.
ENGLISH ASSUME THE DEWANNEE OF BENGAL— 1765.
303
stated term of years as experience had
proved could be borne by an average Euro-
pean constitution. ButClive,instead of stren-
uously urging a policy so honest and straight-
forward as this, took upon himself to form a
fund for the senior officers of the presidency,
from the governors downwards, by resolving,
after consultation only with Mr. Sumner
and Mr. Verelst, that a monopoly should be
formed of the trade in salt, betel-nut, and
tobacco, to be carried on for their exclusive
benefit, with the drawback of a duty to the
company estimated at £160,000 per annum.
Monopolies are odious things at best : this
one was of a peculiarly obnoxious and op-
pressive character ; and the directors wisely
and liberally commanded its immediate
abandonment. The arrangements of Clive
could not, however, be so lightly set aside ;
and they continued in operation until 1768.
With regard to Shuja Dowlah, it was
deemed expedient that he should be replaced
in the government of Oude, although a spe-
cific promise had been made that, on pay-
ment of fifty lacs of rupees for the expenses
of the war, real power over the dominions of
his tyrannical vizier should be given to the
emperor, in the event of the English being
triumphant. But this pledge, which had been
needlessly volunteered, was now violated ;
the vizier being deemed (and with reason) a
better protection against Mahratta and
Afghan invasion, on the north-western fron-
tier, than his gentle master. In another mat-
ter the claims of Shah Alum were treated in
an equally arbitrary manner. The arrange-
ments concluded with him by the Calcutta
government were now revised, or, in other
words, set aside by Clive. The emperor was
given to understand, that since it was in-
convenient to put him in possession of the
usurped dominions of Shuja Dowlah (com-
monly called the "nabob-vizier"), the dis-
tricts of Corah and Allahabad (yielding
jointly a revenue of twenty-eight lacs) must
suffice for a royal demesne; and, at the
same time, some large sums of money un-
questionably due from the company to the
indigent monarch, were withheld on the plea
of inability to pay them.* Shah Alum re-
monstrated warmly, but to no purpose : he
was compelled to cancel all past agreements,
and bestow on the company complete posses-
sion of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, under the
* Thirty lacs deficit of annual tribute, besides jag-
hires or lands in Bengal now withdrawn, amount-
ing to five lacs and a-half of rupees per ann. — (Mill.)
I t Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive, iii., 125.
name of the " perpetual Dewannee," clogged
only by a yearly tribute of twenty-six lacs
of rupees. The formal confirmation of the
English in their various scattered settlements
throughout the nominal extent of the empire,
was likewise obtained ; nor was the jaghire
of Lord Clive, with reversion to his em-
ployers, forgotten in the arrangement. As
a precautionary measure against the French
(who, by virtue of a recent European treaty,
had been reinstated in their Bengal settle-
ments, with the proviso of neither erecting
fortifications nor maintaining troops), it was
deemed expedient to obtain from the emperor
a free grant of the five Northern Circars,
over which Nizam Ali, the brother and suc-
cessor (by usurpation and murder) of Sala-
but Jung, then exercised a very precari-
ous authority. In 1760, the Nizam (as
he is commonly called) had proffered these
Circars to the Madras government in re-
turn for co-operation against the Mahrattas
and Hyder Ali ; but his overtures were re-
jected, because the forces required could
not be spared. In 1766, an arrangement
was brought about by dint of no small
amount of bribery and intrigue, by which
four of the Circars were surrendered, and
the reversion of the fifth, or Guntoor Circar,
which was held by a brother of the Nizam,
Bassalut Jung, was promised to the com-
pany, on condition of the payment of a rent
of nine lacs of rupees, together with a most
imprudent pledge to furnish a body of troops
whenever the Nizam might require their
aid in the maintenance of his government.
The imperial firmaun, of which the chief
articles have been just recited, took away
the scanty remains of power vested by the
Bengal presidency in Nujeem-ad-Dowlah.
The weak and dissolute character of this
youth rendered him an easy tool ; and when
informed by Clive that every species of
control was about to pass from him, and
that a stipend of fifty-three lacs would be
allotted for the family of Meer Jaflier, out
of which a certain sum would be placed at
his disposal, this worthy prince uttered a
thankful ejaculation, adding, " I shall now
have as many dancing-girls as I please."t
A leading feature in the second adminis-
tration of Clive remains to be noted — one
of the most important, as well as the most
interesting in his remarkable career. The
other " reforms" effected by him were no-
thing better than a change of evils ; but, in
checking the spirit of insubordination and
rajiacity which pervaded the whole Anglo-
304
STATE OF THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY IN 1765.
Indian army, he served both the company
and the state well and bravely. Clive was
essentially a military genius :* he scrupled
not to declare in after-times, that all he
had in the world had been acquired as the
leader of an army ; and when questioned re-
garding the very exceptionable trading regu-
lations instituted under his auspices, he de-
clared, with regard to an article under notice,
that " of cotton he knew no more than the
pope of Rome." He might have pleaded
equal ignorance of the state of the immense
native population of Bengal. But the con-
dition of the troops was a subject he would
naturally study con amore. Dissension,
luxury, and profligacy, attended with alarm-
ing mortality, had immediately resulted from
the large booty ^divided at Geriah under the
auspices of himself and Admiral Watson.
Since then excessive and extortionate gain,
under pretence of trading, had become the
predominant evil ; and the severity of Major
Muuro, though it might for a time check,
by the influence of terror, the insubordina-
tion of the sepoys, or even that of the Euro-
pean rank and file, left untouched the root
of the evil — namely, the eagerness of the
officers in the pursuit of trade, at the ex-
pense of professional duty. Now, Clive was
the last person in the world to expect men to
be content with honourable poverty, when
they might acquire wealth without the cost
of toil, or the stigma of indelible disgrace
attached to certain heinous crimes; and this
circumstance, together with not unnatural
partiality, induced him to take measures
for the introduction of a better system
among the military servants of the com-
pany, with far more gentleness than he
had evinced in dealing with the civilians.
The officers were to be compelled to re-
nounce all trading pursuits: this was the
first reform to be carried out by Clive ; the
second was the final and uncompensated
withdrawal of an extra allowance, called
batta, given since an early period, but now
to be abolished, excepting at some par-
• In Chatham's words, " a heaven-bom general."
t Previous to the capture of Calcutta by Surajah
Dowlah, the Bengal establishment consisted of one
small company of artillery, about sixty European
infantry (including oiReers), and 300 Portuguese
half-caste, called topasses ; out of the above, three
captains, five lieutenants, and four ensigns perished
in the Biack-Hole. On the recapture of Calcutta, a
battalion of sepoys was raised and officered from the
detachments Which had been sent from Madras to the
relief of Fort William ; and others were subsequently
formed in like manner ; until, at Plassy, in 1 757, the
British force comprised 3,000 sepoys. In 1760 there
ticular stations where, on account of the
dearness of articles necessary to Euro-
peans, it was to be either wholly or par-
tially continued. The allowance originally
granted by the company had been doubled
by Meer Jaffier, who, at the instigation
of Clive, paid the additional sum out of
his own pocket, besides the regular ex-
pense of the English troops engaged in
his service, but ostensibly as a boon revo-
cable at pleasure. His successor, Meer
Cossim Ali, made over to the company the
districts of Burdwan, Midnapoor, and Chit-
tagong, in lieu of certain monthly payments ;
aad although the revenues of these terri-
tories more than covered the cost of the
army, including the double batta, the direc-
tors, considering the large profits of their
servants and their own necessities, strin-
gently ordered the discontinuance of this
allowance. Their repeated injunctions, the
civil government, overawed by the mili-
tary, had never dared to enforce ; and even
Clive did not . bring forward the question of
double batta until the restoration of peace
had enabled him to remodel the army by
forming it into regiments and brigades, with
an increased number of field-officers.f These
improvements were effected without opposi-
tion, and the prohibition of officers receiving
perquisites, or engaging in certain branches
of trade, was compensated in Clive's plan by
allowing them a liberal share in the mono-
poly of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco. The
proportions to be received by the senior ser-
vants of the company, independent of their
fixed salaries, according to the lowest calcu-
lation, were £7,000 sterling per annum to a
councillor or colonel, j63,000 to a lieutenant-
colonel, £2,000 to a major or factor. Some
scanty amends for the shameless oppression
of taxing the natives thus heavily, was made
by placing the management of the trade in
their hands instead of under the guidance
of European agents ; but even this measure
was adopted from the purely selfish motive
of saving expense.J
were sixty European officers, viz. — nineteen captains,
twenty-six lieutenants, and fifteen ensigns. In 1765,
Clive found the amount raised to four companies of
artillery, a troop of hussars, about 1,200 regular
cavalry, twenty-four companies of European infantry,
and nineteen battalions or regiments of sepoys — in
all, about 20,000 men — whom he divided into three
brigades, each comprising one European regiment,
one company of artillery, six regiments of sepoys,
and one troop of native cavalry. The brigades were
respectively stationed at Monghyr, Bankipoor (near
Patna), and Allahabad. — (Strachey's Bengal Mutin)/.)
I Even Clive admitted that by his arrangement the
DOUBLE BATTA— MUTINY OF BENGAL OFFICERS— 1766.
305
As yet all had proceeded smoothly, so
far as the military were conceraed, and
Clive, with his usual self-reliance, consider-
ing the time at length arrived when the
double batta might be safely abolished, with-
drew it at the close of the year 1765. The
remonstrances of the officers were treated
as the idle complaints of disappointed men,
and several months passed without any
apprehension arising of serious consequences,
until towards the end of April a misunder-
standing among the parties concerned sud-
denly revealed the existence of a powerful
and organised combination,* formed by the
majority of the leading commanders, aided
and abetted by many influential civilians,
to compel the restoration of the extra al-
lowances. It was a great and formidable
emergency, but " Frangas non flectes" had
been ever the motto of Clive, and now, re-
jecting all temporising measures, or idea of
a compromise, he came forward with a deep
conviction of the danger with which the pre-
cedent of military dictation would be fraught,
and a firm resolve to subdue the mutiny or
perish in the attempt. And there was real
danger in the case ; for his imperious bearing,
combined with the unpopular regulations he
came to enforce, had rendered him an object
of strong personal ill-feeling to many in-
dividuals of note ; yet, when told of threats
against his life, alleged to have been uttered
by one of the officers, he treated the report
as an unworthy calumny, declaring that the
mutineers were " Englishmen, not assassins."
The dauntless courage which had distin-
guished the youthful defender of Arcot again
found ample scope for exertion : it was no
longer the over-dressed baron of Plassy f —
the successfijl candidate for power and pelf —
price of salt had been made too high for the natives,
and the profit to the monopolists unreasonably large.
— (Malcolm's Life of Lord Clive, iii., 259.)
* From the month of December, 1765, consulta-
tions had been held and committees formed im-
der the veil of Masonic lodges, and no less than 200
officers pledged themselves to resign their commis-
sions on 1st of June, 1766, but agreed to proffer their
services for another fortnight, by the expiration of
which time it was expected the extensive defection
would compel Clive to consent to the restoration of
tne double batta. In the event of cajjital punish-
ment being decreed by courts-martial, they swore to
prevent the execution of any comrade at the cost of
life ; and each one signed a penalty bond of £500
not to re-accept his commission if offered, unless
the object of the confederacy were gained.
•j- Like most biographers. Sir John Malcolm and
his coadjutors have endeavoured to set forth the
character of their hero in the most favourable light,
and by this means have drawn a picture which every
the head of the then generally detested class of
Anglo-Indian " nabobs," — but plain Robert
Clive, who now, in the full vigour of man-
hood, his heavy, overhanging brow express-
ing more forcibly than words a stern pur-
pose, set forth, not in the palanquin of the
governor, but, soldier-like, on horseback, to
face the disafl'ected troops. There were still
some few officers on whom reliance could be
placed ; others were summoned from Madras
and Bombay : commissions were liberally
scattered throughout the ranks ; the services
of civilians were used to supply vacancies;
and increase of pay, for a fixed period, was
promised to the common soldiers, whom the
officers, to their credit, had made no attempt
to corrupt. The danger was in some sort
increased by a threatened incursion of the
Mahrattas, under their chief minister, the
peishwa Mahdoo Rao; yet, on the other
hand, this very circumstance aroused in the
breasts of many of the malcontents a feeling
of shame at the thought of deserting their
colours in the face of the foe. The Monghyr
brigade, under Sir Robert Fletcher, was the
one in which the determination to resign had
been most general ; and Clive, after a long
harangue, perceiving indications of a dis^
position to resist his orders, took advantage
of the steady obedience of the sepoys, by
directing them to fire on the officers unless
they dispersed immediately. A general subr
mission followed ; courts-martial were held,
and many of the delinquents cashiered : among
others Sir Robert Fletcher, the head of the
Monghyr brigade, who, although active in
subduing the confederacy, was found to have
been gravely implicated in its formation.
No blood was shed iu these proceedings, and
the result proved that such severity would
impartial reader must feel to be incomplete and one-
sided. The termination of the life of Clive by his
own hand is not even hinted at ; and there is much
reason to believe the same partiality to have chiefly
guided the selection of letters for publication.
Nevertheless, a very amusing one has crept in, ad-
dressed by Clive to his intimate friend and agent, Orme
the historian, filled with commissions as numerous
and minute in detail as any ever received by a London
lady of fashion from a country cousin. Among the
items, all of which were to be " the best and finest to
be got for love or money," were 200 shirts, with wrist-
bands and ruffles, worked to order. The dress of
Clive at the durbar (or Oriental levee) was a " fine
scarlet coat with handsome gold lace," which one of
his purveyors. Captain Latham, considered preferable
to "the common wear of velvet." The thick-set
figure of Clive, arrayed in a scarlet coat litied with
parchment that the cloth might not wrinkle, must
have presented a strange contrast to the graceful
forms and picturesque attire of the Indian nobles.
306
MERCENARY CONDUCT OF LORD CLIVE— 176G.
have involved a needless sacrifice ; but the
merit of moderation does not rest with Clive,
who declared that his endeavours were not
wanting to get several of the mutinous ring-
leaders shot ; but his efforts were neutralised
by some wholesome doubts in the minds of the
judges regarding the extent of the company's
authority. In the words of Sir John Mal-
colm " a misconstruction of the mutiny act
inclined the court-martial to mercy." It is
a singular ending to the affair, that Sir Robert
Fletcher, after this narrow escape, returned
to India as commander-in-chief for the
Madras presidency ; while one John Petrie,
sent home by Clive with a rope round his
neck, came back to Bengal with a high civil
appointment, through the influence of his
* The conduct of Clive, in respect to pecuniary
gain, during his second administration, is too im-
portant to be left unnoticed ; yet the facts neces-
sary to place it in a clear light, can be ill given
within the compass of a note. It should be remem-
bered, that by his agreement with the E. I. body, the
famous jaghire was to be continued to him for ten
years, and provided he should survive that period,
was to become the property, not of Meer Jaffier,
but of the company. Now jaghires, by the consti-
tution of the Mogul government, in which they
originated, were simply annuities, given for the most
part expressly for the support of a military contin-
gent. A jaghire was like an office of state, revo-
cable at pleasure : so far from being hereditary, an
orarah, or lord of the empire, could not even be-
queath his savings without special permission ; and
we have seen that the Great Moguls — Aurungzebe
for instance — never scrupled to exercise their claim
as heirs to a deceased noble, leaving to the bereaved
family a very limited maintenance as a matter of
favour. Clive had solicited this jaghire simply to
support his position as an omrah, and had no right
whatever to expect its continuance for the purpose of
building palaces and buying up rotten boroughs in
England. The company might therefore well ques-
tion the right of Meer Jaffier to bestow, or of their
powerful servant to accept, as a perpetual jaghire
the quit-rent paid by them for their territory in
Bengal. But the question was altogether a per-
plexed one, inasmuch as Meer Jaffiers claims were
wholly founded on the usurpation which had been
accomplished by English instrumentality. Shah Alum
was the only person who could have rightfully de-
manded a quit-rent from the company when bestow-
ing on them the dewannee j but the truth was, that
every advantage was taken of his necessitous posi-
tion, regardless of the dictates of justice. The con-
firmation of the jaghire to Lord Clive, with rever-
sion to the company in perpetuity, was exacted from
the emperor; and in thus obtaining a boon for his
employers, Clive was far from being uninfluenced by
selfish motives; for, on coming to India, he was dis-
tinctly told that the strict observance of his pledge —
of refraining from every description of irregular gain
— should be acknowledged in a manner which must
satisfy the expectations even of a man who, after a
most extravagant course of expenditure, had still an
income of £40,000 a-year. And when, on his return
to England, the term of the jaghire was extended
friends the Johnstones. Soon after this dis-
persion of one of the most dangerous storms
which ever menaced the power of the E. I.
Company, the health of Clive failed rapidly,
and though earnestly solicited to continue
at least another year, and apparently not
unwilling to do so, bodily infirmity prevailed,
and he quitted Bengal for the third and last
time in January, 1767. Shortly before his
departure, the young nabob, Nujeem-ad-
Dowlah, died of fever, and his brother Syef-
ad-Dowlah was permitted to succeed him. In
a political point of view the change was of
less importance than would have been that of
the chief of a factory, but it was advantageous
to the company in a pecuniary sense, as afford-
ing an opportunity for reducing the stipend.*
for ten years, or, in other words, £300,000 were
guaranteed to him or his heirs, Clive had surely
reason to admit that " no man had ever been more
liberally rewarded." Nevertheless, his administra-
tion, even in a pecuniary point of view, had not been
blameless. On arriving in India, it appeared that
Meer Jaffier had bequeathed to Clive five lacs of
rupees, which were in the hands of Munnee Begum,
the mother of the reigning prince. Whether Meer
Jaffier really left this sum either from friendship to
Clive, or from a desire to propitiate him in favour of
his favourite concubine and children, or whether they
themselves offered a present in the only form in
which he could have any excuse for accepting it, is
not known ; but it was no one's interest to examine
into the affair, since Clive thought fit to set the
matter at rest by employing the money as a fund
greatly needed for the relief of the disabled officers
and soldiers of the Bengal establishment, with their
widows, and thus laid the foundation of the present
establishment at Poplar. Even, however, in this
case Clive took care of his personal interests, by
inserting a clause in the deed providing that in case
of the failure of his interest in the jaghire (then only
guaranteed for ten years, of which a considerable
portion had expired), the whole five lacs should
revert to him. He moreover contrived to make
the fund a weapon of political power, by threatening
to exclude from it all persons whom he might think
"undeserving in any respect soever." — (iii., 43.)
With regard to the large sums of money avowedly
received by him during his second administration, it
certainly appears that he did not apply them to the
increase of his fixed income, but systematically ap-
propriated the overplus of such gains to the benefit
of certain connections and friends (i.e., his brother-in-
law, Mr. Maskelyne ; his physician, Mr. Ingham ;
and a Mr. Strachey, his secretary), " as a reward,"
he writes, in his grand-bashaw style, " for their ser-
vices and constant attention upon my person." —
(iii., 136.) On his arrival in India he at once em-
barked largely in the salt trade, and thereby realised
in nine months a profit, including interest, of forty-
five per cent. ; his share in the monopoly of salt,
established in defiance of the repeated orders of the
company, was also greatly beyond that of any indi-
vidual ; and it is certain he employed these and
other irregular gains for purely private purjjoses.
Besides this, he sanctioned the unwarrantable con-
duct of many favoured officers in continuing to re-
STATE OF ENGLISH SOCIETY IN BENGAL— 17G0 to 1770.
307
It is hardly necessary to remark that the
Bengal presidency did not assume a loftier
tone of feeling in questions regarding re-
ligion or morality under the auspices of
Lord Clive. The priestly office was not
then deemed inconsistent with mercantile
pursuits ; and the saving of souls gave
place to the engrossing cares of money-
making. As to the general state of society,
Clive's own account affords abundant evi-
dence of the aptitude with which cadets and
writers, fresh from public schools, or, it may
be from the pure atmosphere of a quiet
home, plunged headlong into a career of
extravagance and notorious profligacy, of
which the least revolting description would
have made their mothers sicken with disgust.
One walk about Calcutta would, it appears,
suffice to show a stranger that the youngest
writers lived in splendid style, which Lord
Clive explains, by saying "that they ride upon
fine prancing Arabian horses, and in palan-
quins and chaises ; that they keep seraglios,
make entertainments, and treat with cham-
pagne and claret ;" — the certain result being,
to become over head and ears in debt to
the banyan, or native agent, who, for the
ceive presents after they had been required to sign
covenants enjoining their rejection. For instance,
liis staunch adherent, General Carnac, after his col-
leagues had executed the covenants, delayed a cer-
tain time, during which he received a present of
70,000 rupees from Bulwant Singh, the Hindoo
rajah of Benares, who joined the English against
Shuja Dowlah ; and he appears to have afterwards
obtained permission to appropriate a further sum of
two lacs of rupees, given by the emperor, whose un-
questioned poverty did not shield him from the
extortions of British officers. It has been urged that
Clive made atonement for the doubtful means by
which he acquired his wealth by its liberal distri-
bution ; and the act chiefly insisted upon is the grant
of an annuity of £500 a-year to General Lawrence,
when he left India enfeebled by asthmatic com-
plaints and the increasing infirmities of age, and
returned in honourable poverty to his native land.
Considering that Clive acknowledged that to the
patronage and instructions of Lawrence he owed all
his early success, the extent of the allowance was no
very remarkable evidence of a munificent disposition.
The dowries of three or four thousand pounds each
to his five sisters, with an injunction " to marry as
soon as possible, for they had no time to lose" (ii.,
161), evince a strong desire to get them off his
hands. The princely estates purchased by him, in
various parts of the country, were undisguised mani-
festations of his ostentatious mode of life : among
them may be named the noble property of Claremont
(obtained from the Duchess of Newcastle), Walcot,
Lord Chatham's former residence at Bath, and a house
in Berkeley-square. No description of expense was
spared to render these aristocratic dwellings fitting
exponents of the grandeur of the Indian milUonnaire ;
and the smaller accessories of picture galleries and
sake of obtaining the cover afforded by the
bare name of a servant of the powerful
English company, supplied the youths with
immense sums of money, and committed
" such acts of violence and oppression as his
interest prompts him to."* It may be re-
membered that Clive commenced his own
Indian career by getting into debt ; and
there is reason to believe that for all the
proceedings mentioned by him in the above
quotation, the company's servants might
have pleaded his lordship's conduct in ex-
tenuation of their own.f
After the departure of Clive, a select
committee continued, by his advice, to pre-
side over the affairs of Bengal, the chair of
the governor being filled by Mr. Verelst
until December, 1770. During the admin-
istration of this gentleman and his tempo-
rary successor, Mr. Cartier, no changes
were made in the system of the " double
government:" that is to say, of a sway
carried on in the name of a nabob, but in
reality by English ofiicials. Mill forcibly
describes the utter want of any efficient
system, or of well-known and generally re-
cognised laws, which formed the prevailing
pleasure-grounds did not hinder Clive from carefully
following out his leading object — of obtaining parlia-
mentary influence. Six or seven members were
returned at his expense, and their efforts doubtless
did much to mitigate, though they could not wholly
avert, the storm which burst over his head in 1772.
The decision of the committee employed in examining
his past conduct pronounced, as was fitting, a sen-
tence of mingled praise and condemnation. He had
notoriously abused the powers entrusted to him by
the nation and the company; but he had rendered
to both important services. Such a decision was
ill calculated to soothe the excited feelings of Clive,
whose haughty nature had writhed under proceed-
ings in which he, the Baron of Plassy, had been
" examined like a sheep-stealer." The use of opium,
to which he had been from early youth addicted,
aggravated the disturbed state of his mind, without
materially alleviating the sufferings of his physical
frame; andhe died by his own handin Nov., 1774, hav-
ing newly entered his fiftieth year. — (Malcolm's Life.)
* Clive's speech on East Indian Judicature Bill,
March, 1722.— (Hansard's Pari. Hist, 355.)
•j- The French translator of the Si;/ar ul Mutah-
herin (who was in the service of the Bengal presi-
dency and well acquainted with Clive, to whom he
occasionally acted as interpreter) explains a forcible
denunciation by Gholam Hussein, of the conduct of
certain persons who were tempted by the devil to
bring disgrace on families, as an allusion to the
violation of all decorum committed by Meer Jaffier,
in giving to Clive " ten handsome women o.ut of his
seraglio — that is, out of Surajah Dowlah's." Had the
donation been conferred on a good Mussulman, in-
stead of a disbeliever in the Koran, the sin would, it
seems, have been thereby greatly diminished. — {Siyar
ul Mutakherip, i., 722.)
308 INDIA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
feature of this period. The native tribunals
retained scarce the shadow of authority ; the
trade of the country -was almost ruined by
the oppressions committed on the people; and
the monopoly of the inland traffic in salt,
betel-nut, and tobacco, when at length un-
willingly relinquished by the English offi-
cials, did not prove the relief to the Bengalee
merchants that might have been expected,
owing to the heavy pressure of tyranny and
extortion to which they were subjected. In
fact, there were so many channels by which
the natives could be wronged and the com-
pany plundered, that closing up one or two
might change the direction of the flood, but
could not diminish its volume. Clive was
naturally unwilling to acknowledge how
much of the task for which he had been
munificently rewarded had been left unful-
filled; and it was not till after long and
bitter experience that the E. I. Cy. learned
to appreciate, at their proper value, his ex-
aggerated account of the revenues* obtained
through his aggressive policy. And here it
may be well to pause and consider for a
moment the nature of our position in
Bengal, and, indeed, in the whole of the
south of India. The insatiable ambition
of Aurungzebe had urged him onwards
without ceasing, until every Mohammedan
kingdom in the Deccan had become absorbed
in the Mogul empire. The impolicy of this
procedure has been before remarked on. The
tottering base forbade the extension of an
already too weighty superstructure ; but the
emperor persevered to the last. Beejapoor
and Golconda fell before him, and the gov-
ernments establishedby their usurping dynas-
ties were swept ofiF by a conqueror who had
time to destroy institutions, but not to replace
them. The result was the rapid rise of the
many-headed Mahratta power, and the equally
rapid decay of Mogul supremacy, even
while Aurungzebe, his sons, grandsons, and
great-grandsons were all in arms together
for its support. The death of the emperor,
well nigh hunted down by the foes who
from despising he had learned to hate,
followed as it was by repeated wars of
• In addressing the House of Commons, in 1772,
Clive described Uengal as " a country containing fif-
teen millions of inhabitants, a revenue of £4,000,000,
and trade in proportion." The extreme distress then
existing he treated as a temporary effect of dissen-
sions in the company at home, and misgovemment
in India, dating of course from his departure ; and
he spoke of the venality that prevailed, equally
among high and low, with a bold assumption of dis-
interestedness, declaring, " that in the richest country
succession and intestine feuds, red need his
descendants, step by step, until their last
representative. Shah Alum, became nothing
better than the pageant of every successful
party. The disastrous battle of Paniput
(1761) left the Mahratta state thoroughly
unhinged, and', together with internal strife,
incapacitated its rulers for assuming that
dominant position in India under which
such men as Sevajee, Bajee Rao, or the first
peishwa, Maharashtra, would doubtless have
aspired. In fact, India in the middle of
the eighteenth century, resembled, in a poli-
tical point of view, a vast battle-field strewn
with the fragments of ruined states, and
affording on every side abundant evidence
of a prolonged and severe conflict, from
which even the victors had emerged irre-
trievably injured. In the Deccan this was
especially the case ; and the only relics of
legitimate power rested with a few small
Hindoo states (Tanjore, Mysoor, Coorg,
&c.), whose physical position or insignifi-
cance had enabled them to retain inde-
pendence amid the general crash of mon-
archies. The representatives of the E. I. Cy.
in India understood the state of affairs, but
very imperfectly : it appears that, in 1756,
they did not even clearly know who Ballajee
Bajee Rao (the actual ruler of the Mahratta
state) might be; but at the same time, they
had been too long anxious spectators of the
proceedings of Aurungzebe and his succes-
sors, to be ignorant of the thoroughly dis-
organised state of the empire. The suc-
cessful manoeuvres of Dupleix and Bussy
must have sufficed to remove any lingering
doubt on the subject ; while the jealousy of
the two nations in Europe rendered it evi-
dent, that in the absence of a native power
(Mussulman or Hindoo) sufficiently strong
to compel their neutrality, a contest for
supremacy must, sooner or later, take place
between the French and English, especially
as the former had all along assumed poli-
tical pretensions ill at variance with the
peaceful pursuits of trade. Without enter-
ing on the difficult question of the general
proceedings of the English company, far
in the world, where the power of the English had
become absolute, where no inferior approached his
superior but with a present in his hand, where there
was not an officer commanding H.M. fleet, nor an
officer commanding H.M. array, nor a governor, nor
a member of council, nor any other perso^n, civil or
military, in such a station as to have connection with
the country government who had not received pre-
sents, it was not to be expected the inferior officers
should be more scrupulous." — Almon's Dehale&, 1772.
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY INTERFERENCE WITH E. I. CY.— 1766 309
less attempting to vindicate the special ag-
gressions and tricky policy of Clive and his
successors, it seems, nevertheless, of absolute
necessity to bear in mind the hopeless com-
plication of affairs through which Anglo-
Indian statesmen had to grope their way at
this critical period ; nor do I feel any incon-
sistency, after employing the best years of
my life in pleading — faintly and feebly, but
most earnestly — the rights of native British
subjects (made such by the sword), in avow-
ing, in the present instance, my conviction,
that having once taken a decided course by the
deposition of Surajah Dowlah, it would have
been better to have assumed at once all power,
in name as in reality, over Bengal, and given
the natives the benefits they were entitled
to expect under a Christian government,
instead of mocking their hopes by placing
on the musnud a Mussulman usurper of
infamous character, — deposing, reinstating,
and after his death continuing the pretence
in the person of his illegitimate son. Such
an unworthy subterfuge could answer no
good purpose ; it could deceive no one —
certainly not the European governments of
Spain, Portugal, Holland, and France ;
for they were severally experienced actors
in the theatre of oriental policy. The native
population knew, to their cost, that all real
authority was now vested in the English
presidency ; but its members were far too
eagerly employed in gathering up spoil for
themselves, to heed the cries of the poor in
Bengal, or the remonstrances of the com-
pany in England. The consequence was,
the " middle-men" reaped an abundant har-
vest, heedless of the ruinous effects of their
negligence and venality alike on those they
served and those they governed. The direc-
tors in London, buoyed up by the represen-
tations of Clive, and the flattering promises
of their servants abroad, augmented their
dividends, fully expecting to find this step
justified by largely increasing remittances
from India. On the contrary, the anarchy
which prevailed, and the additional expenses
of every department of government, with the
abuses that crept in,* swallowed up the di-
minishing revenues ; and though every ship
brought home individuals who had amassed
wealth as if by magic, yet heavy bills con-
tinued to be drawn on the company; the
• Clive, in allusion to the charges of contractors,
commissioners, engineers, &c.| said — "Everyman now
who is permitted to make a bill, makes a fortune."
During his own administration, he found soldiers
charged for in the hospital-list, whose funeral ex-
penses had been long paid. — (Life, iii., 137 — 288.)
2 S
bullion sent for the China trade was wholly,
or in part, appropriated; and the invest-
ments continued to diminish alike in quantity
and quality. The British government had
before set forth a claim to control both
the revenues and territorial arrangements
of India. The subject was warmly con-
tested in parliament; and in 1767, a bill
passed obliging the E. I. Cy. to pay the
sum of £400,000 per annum into the
public treasury,! during the five years for
which alone their exclusive privileges were
formally extended. In 1769, a new term of
five years was granted, on the same con-
dition as that above stated, with the addi-
tional stipulation of annually exporting Bri-
tish manufactures to the amount of ^6300,000
and upwards. The directors, in the following
year (1770), declared a dividend at the rate
of twelve per cent ; but this improvident pro-
cedure was taken in the face of a failing reve-
nue and an increasing debt. In the Carnatic,
the ill-advised pledge of co-operation with
the Nizam had brought the Madras presi-
dency in collision with Hyder Ali ; and in
Bengal, affairs grew more and more involved,
until the necessity for a change of policy
became evident to save the country from
ruin and the company from bankruptcy.
Mr. Vansittart (the ex-governor), Mr. Scraf-
ton, and Colonel Forde, were sent out in
1769, to investigate and arrange the business
of the three presidencies : but this measure
proved of no effect ; for the Aurora frigate,
in which they sailed, after doubling the Cape
of Good Hope, was never more heard of, and
probably foundered at sea.
The loss of Mr. Vansittart was a new
disaster to the native population of Bengal,
since he well knew the ruinous condition to
which they had been reduced by the baneful
influence of the monopolies so cruelly en-
forced by his countrymen; and notwith-
standing the perverse proceedings of Clive,
and his adherents in the E. I. House in
associating with him as fellow-commis-
sioner his sworn foe, Luke Scrafton, still
some comprehensive measure might have
been expected to have been devised by a
man generally considered kind-hearted, to
relieve the overwhelming misery in which
he would have found the native population
involved, had he been permitted to reach
t The E. I. Cy. themselves proposed to purcliase
the extension of their privileges by suffering the
public to participate in the territorial acquisitions
gained with the aid of the army and navy. The
government interfered (ostensibly at least) to check
the simultaneous increase of debt and dividend.
810
AWFUL FAMINE IN BENGAL— a.d. 1769-'70.
Calcutta in safety. The miseries of a land
long a prey to oppression and misgovern-
ment, had been brought to their climax by
drought. The rice crops of December,
1768, and August, 1769, were both scanty,
and the absence of the heavy periodical
rains, usual in October, produced an almost
total failure of the harvest earnestly desired
in the following December. The inferior
crops of grain and pulse ordinarily reaped
between February and April, were dried to
powder by the intense heat, and Bengal, for-
merly the granary of India, became the scene
of one of the most awful famines on record.
Not merely whole families, but even the
inhabitants of entire villages were swept oiF
by this devastating scourge.* The bark and
leaves of trees were eagerly devoured by
thousands of starving wretches, who there-
with strove — too often in vain — to appease
the gnawing pangs of hunger, happy if
their sufferings did not goad them to seek
relief by more unnatural and loathsome
means; for the last horrors that marked
the siege of the Holy City were not want-
ing here ; the child fed on its dead parent,
the mother on her offspring. The people
thronged the towns in the hope of obtaining
succour, the highways were strewed with the
corpses of those who had perished by the
way, and the streets of Moorshedabad and
Calcutta were blocked up with the dying
and the dead. Day after day the Hooghly
rolled down a pestilential freight of morta-
lity, depositing loathsome heaps near to the
porticoes and gardens of the English resi-
dents. For a time a set of persons were
regularly employed in removing the ra-
pidly accumulating masses from the public
thoroughfares; but the melancholy office
proved fatal to all employed in it : exposure
to the effluvia was certain death ; and during
the worst period, dogs, vultures, and jackals
were the only scavengers. The hot, un-
wholesome air was filled with shrieks and
• The anonymous but ■well-informed author of
English Transactions in the East Indies, published
at Cambridge in 1776, states, that the duty laid by
Clive on salt was thirty-five per cent. ; the previous
tax, even under the monopolies established by Mo-
hammedan nabobs, having been only two-and-a-half.
He adds, that the five gentlemen who signed resolu-
tions regarding trading monopolies in India, to levy
taxes upon necessaries of more than one-third their
value, instead of the fortieth penny with which they
■were before charged, were all, on their return to Eng-
land, chosen as members of parliament to co-operate
in arranging the national assessments. — (143.)
t Vide Sixjar ul Mutakherin, ii., 438. Hamilton's
Gazetteer, i,, 214. Macaulay's Clive, 83.
lamentations, amidst which arose the voices
of tender and delicate women, nurtured in
all the refinements of oriental seclusion,
who now came forth unveiled, and on their
knees besought a handful of rice for them-
selves and their children. f
Large subscriptions were raised by the
presidency, the native government, and in-
dividuals of all ranks and countries. In
Moorshedabad alone, 7,000 persons were
fed daily for several months; and fearful
scenes, involving the destruction of large
numbers of the weak and the aged, took
place at these distributions, from the fierce
struggles of the famished multitudes. Of
the total amount of life destroyed' by this
calamity, no trustworthy estimate has ever
been given. { Mr. Hastings — perhaps the
best authority — supposes Bengal and Bahar
to have lost no less than half their inhabit-
ants : other writers state the depopulation
at one-third ; and even the lowest calcula-
tions place the loss at three million of
human beings — or oue-fifth the inhabitants
of the three provinces (including Orissa.)
The question of how far the Bengal au-
thorities were to blame for this calamity, was
warmly discussed in England. Their ac-
cusers went the length of attributing it
wholly to a monopoly of rice by them; but
this was so far from being the case, that,
with the exception of the necessary measure
of storing a sufficient quantity (60,000
maunds) for the use of the army, all trading
in grain was strictly forbidden by an order
of council in September, 1769. If, as was
asserted, certain functionaries did — as is
very possible, in defiance of prohibitions,
enunciated but not enforced§ — make enor-
mous profits of hoards previously accumu-
lated, these were but exceptional cases ; and
it may be added (without any attempt to
exculpate those who, in the face of misery
so extreme, could bargain coolly for exorbi-
tant gains), that the reason for regret was
\ Gleig's Life of Warren Hastings, i., 309. Mal-
colm's Clive, iii., 253. Grant's Sketch, 319.
§ The author of English Transactions, recently
quoted, concurs with many writers of the period in as-
serting, that some of the company's agents, finding
themselves conveniently situated for the collection
of rice in stores, did buy up large quantities, which
they so managed as to increase immensely the sell-
ing price to the people, for their private gain (p. 145);
and Dr. Moodie, in his Transactions in India (pub-
lished anonymously in London in 1776, but of
which a copy bearing his name, with many MS. ad-
ditions, is in the possession of the E. I. Cy.), men-
tions the case of a needy English functionary at the
court of the nabob, who made £60.000 in a few months.
DISTRESS OF BENGAL AGGRAVATED BY INSUFFICIENT CURRENCY. 311
not that some few persons had had the
forethought to make provision for the day of
want, but that a poHcy of evident necessity
should have been neglected by the rulers of a
population mainly dependent for subsistence
on so precarious a staple as rice. The true
cause of complaint against the Bengal
presidency — and it is a heavy one — rests on
the systematic oppression and utter mis-
government which their own records reveal
as having existed, despite the orders of the
directors in England. These again, deceived
by the gross exaggerations of Clive, looked
upon Bengal as a fountain fed by unseen
springs, from which wealth, to an immense
extent, might be perpetually drawn, without
the return of any considerable proportion to
the country from whence it was derived.
Clive, during his second administration, had
promised the company a net income from
Bengal of £2,000,000 per annum, exclusive
of all civil or military disbursements ; and
he declared in parliament, in 1772, that
India continued to yield " a clear produce
to the public, and to individuals, of between
two and three million sterling per annum.'"*
It is certain that the Bengal investment
of 1771, amounting in goods alone to
£768,500, was " wholly purchased with the
revenues of the country, and without im-
porting a single ounce of silver"t— a^ fact
which abundantly confirms the declaration of
Hastings, — that the sufferings of the people,
during the famine, were increased by the
• Malcolm's Life of Clive, iii., 287.
f Verelst's State of Bengal, f-ee\n^. 81 — 85.
j Gleig's Life of Warren Hastings, i., 310.
§ A cotemporary English writer, reviewing the evi-
dence given before parliament in 1772, remarks, that
from 1757 to 1771, it is acknowledged or proved,
that the E. I. Cy. and their servants received be-
tween twenty-nine and thirty millions sterling from
Indian princes and their subjects, besides a sum not
known, arising from trading monopolies. — (Parker's
Evidence, 281.) Of the amount above staled, the
company received nearly twenty-four million, and
their servants upwards of five-and-a-half as presents,
which were, however, but one form of what Clive
termed the " long track of frauds under the custo-
mary disguise of perquisites," which annually brought
lacs to junior servants whose salaries were mere
pittances. — [Life of Clive, iii., 84; Life of Hastings,
i., 300.) No estimate could be formed of the for-
tunes thus accumulated, because the prohibition of
the directors to send remittances home, exceeding a
certain limited amount, by bills drawn on them in
England, led Clive and the whole body of officials
who, at a humble distance, followed in his footsteps,
to invest their wealth in the purchase of diamonds,
or to transmit vast sums through the medium of the
Dutch and French compani(^s, by which means these
inferior settlements had money in abundance, while
the investments at Calcutta were often procured by
violent measures adopted to keep up the
revenues, especially by an assessment termed
na-jay, " a tax (in a word) upon the survivors,
to make up the deficiencies of the dead."J
Besides this, when the immense and abso-
lutely incalculable • amount of specie ex-
ported, from the time of the deposition of
Surajah Dowlah to the epoch of the famine,
is considered in connexion with the notorious
deficiency of the circulating medium, and
the abuses and erroneous policy connected
with the coinage, § it is easy to understand
how fearfully scarcity of money must have
aggravated the evils of failing harvests ; and
how, when rice rose from a standard of
price (already permanently augmented
under British supremacy to four, six, and
even ten times the usual rate), it became of
little importance to the penniless multitudes
whether it might or might not be purchased
for a certain sum, when all they had in the
world fell short of the market value of a
single meal. In England, the rates of labour
are always more or less influenced by the
price of provisions ; but when the Bengal
merchants endeavoured to raise the manu-
facturing standard, their attempts were
soon forcibly put down by the local authori-
ties, who well knew that Indian goods,
purchased at a premium consistent even
with a Bengalee's humble notion of a " fair
day's wages for a fair day's work," would
not, when sold in the European markets,
indemnify the company for prime cost, for
loans, of which eight per cent, was the lowest interest
taken for a long series of years. Among the charges
brought against Clive, when examined before parlia-
ment in 1772, were frauds in the exchange and the
gold coinage. According to Ferishta, no silver coin
was used in India as late as A.D. 1311 ; and Colonel
Briggs, in commenting on this passage, remarks, that
up to a very late period, the chief current coin in the
south of India was a small gold fanam, worth about
sixpence. — (i., 375.) Since then, however, gold hav-
ing been entirely superseded by silver, measures were
instituted to bring the former again into circula-
tion ; and on the new coinage Clive received a heavy
per-centage, as governor. The ill-fated bankers —
Juggut Seit and his brother^had introduced a tax
on the silver currency during the short reign of
Surajah Dowlah, which the English very improperly
adopted. , It consisted in issuing coins called sicca
rupees, every year, at five times their actual value,
and insisting on the revenues being paid in this coin
only, during the period of its arbitrary value — that
is, during the year of coinage. In three years it
sank to the actual value of the silver; but its pos-
sessor, on payment of three per cent., might have it
recoiiied into a new sicca rupee of the original exag-
gerated value. Vide Dow's account of this ingenious
method of yearly " robbing the public of three per
cent, upon the greater part of their current specie."
— {History of Hindoostan, i., Introduction, p. cxlvii.)
313
E. I. Cy. on the verge OF BANKRUPTCY IN 1772.
duties and other expenses, exclusive of the
profit, which is the originating motive of all
commercial associations. Now, it is a well-
known fact, that many men who, in their
private capacity, would sooner face ruin than
inflict it on the innocent, will, as members
of a senate or corporation (under the influ-
ence of a vague notion of state-necessity or
the good of proprietors, whose interests it is
their acknowledged duty to consult), insti-
tute proceedings of a character utterly
opposed to the simple principles of action
which guide them in the daily intercourse
of domestic life. Flagrant wrong they
shrink from with unaffected disgust; but
still there are few men who do not, with
strange inconsistency, manifest by their
practice that public affairs require a constant
sacrifice of integrity to expediency, which
once admitted as justifiable in their private
career, must inevitably destroy the mutual
confidence which forms the basis of that
distinguishing national characteristic — an
English home. The ignorance of the E. I.
Cv. of the actual state of affairs (in great
measure the result of the newness of their
position), was doubtless the leading cause of
their suffering the continuance of many un-
questionably faulty practices, from the diffi-
culty of providing efficient substitutes. The
course of events was well fitted to teach
them the great lesson— that there is no
course so dangerous to rulers as a persis-
tance in tyranny and misgovernment. The
misery of the mass, aggravated by the
shameless extortions of English function-
aries, necessitated a large increase of mili-
tary expenses :* taxes were literally enforced
at the point of the bayonet; " bur-jaut," or
the compulsory sale of articles at less than
their actual cost, became a notorious prac-
tice ; and, simultaneous with these iniquitous
proceedings in India, were the pecuniary
involvements of the company in London ;
and, what was yet more disgraceful, the
fierce strife between the proprietors and
directors, and again between both these and
his majesty's ministers.
"While the sums obtained from Meer
Jafiier and Cossim Ali were in pr6cess of
payment, the affairs of the company went
on smoothly enough : annual supplies were
furnished for the China trade, and likewise
for the Madras presidency (which was always
in difficulties, notwithstanding the various
• Dow asserts, that " seven entire battalions were
added to our military establishment to enforce the
collections." — (Hindoostan, i., cxxxix.)
sums obtained from Mohammed Ali, the
nabob of Arcot), while five lacs or more were
yearly drawn by the Bombay presidency. f
The dividend of the E. I. Cy., from Christ-
mas, 1766, to Midsummer, 1772, averaged
eleven per cent, per annum; during the last-
named year it had reached twelve-and-a-
half per cent., and this notwithstanding the
stipulated payment to government of
i6400,000, in return for the continuance of
the charter. Meantime the bonded debt of
Bengal increased from £612,628, in 1771,
to £1,700,000, in 1772 ; and the company,
though most unwillingly, were obliged to
throw themselves upon the mercy of the
ministry (of which the Duke of Grafton and
Lord North were at the head), and confess
their utter inability to furnish their annual
quota ; and further, their necessity of soli-
citing from the Bank of England a loan of
above a million sterling to carry on the
commercial transactions of the ensuing
season.
The government, thus directly appealed
to, had ample grounds for instituting an in-
quiry into the condition of an association
which, notwithstanding its immense trading
and territorial revenues, had again become
reduced to the verge of bankruptcy. It
was argued, that the hitter complaints of
venality and mismanagement, freely recipro-
cated by the directors and the servants of
the company, were, on both sides, founded
in truth. Moreover, the representations
made on behalf of Mohammed Ali by his
agents, particularly Mr. (afterwards Sir
John) Macpherson, had considerable effect,
not only generally in producing an un-
favourable opinion of the dealings of the
E. I. Cy. with Indian princes, but specially
by inducing the sending to Arcot of a royal
ambassador, Sir John Lindsay, and sub-
sequently of Sir Robert Harland, between
both of whom and the local government the
most open hostility existed. These pro-
ceedings have had too little permanent
effect to need being detailed at length, but
they illustrate the state of feeling which
led to the parliamentary investigations of
1772, and resulted in the first direct con-
nexion of the ministry with the management
of East Indian affairs, by the measure com-
monly known as the Regulating Act of 1773.
A loan was granted to the company of
£1,400,000 in exchequer bills,J and various
t Original Papers, sent from India and published
in England by Governor Vansittarl. — (ii., 74.)
J The conditions of the loan were, that tlie sur-
" REGULATING ACT" FOE INDIAN GOVERNMENT— 1773.
313
distinct provisions were made to amend the
constitution of that body, both at home
and abroad, and to ameliorate the condition
of the native population newly brought
under their sway. ■ A governor -general
(Warren Hastings) was nominated to preside
over Bengal, and to some extent control the
presidencies of Madras, Bombay, and Ben-
coolen (in Sumatra) ; the number of coun-
sellors was reduced to four; and these,
together with the governor-general, were
appointed for five years :* the old Mayor's
Court at Calcutta was set aside, and a Su-
preme Court of judicature, composed of a
chief justice and three puisne judges (all
English barristers) established in its place,
and invested with civil, criminal, admiralty,
and ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all British
subjectst resident in the three provinces
(Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa) ; but the gov-
ernor-general and members of council
were exempted, unless indicted for treason
or felony. Europeans were strictly for-
bidden to enter into the inland trafiic in
salt, betel-nut, tobacco, and rice ; and the
governors, counsellors, judges, and revenue-
collectors, were rigidly prohibited all trade
whatever. Not only the covenanted ser-
vants of the company, but also the civil and
military officers of the crown, were for-
bidden to receive presents from the na-
tives; and the maximum of the legal rate
of interest in Bengal was fixed at twelve
per cent, per annum. Specific punishments
were affixed to the violation of the above
plus of the clear revenue of the company should be
paid half-yearly into the exchequer, till the liquida-
tion of the debt ; that in the interim, their annual
dividend should not exceed six per cent. ; and that
until the reduction of their total bond-debt to
£1,500,000, the dividend should not exceed seven
per cent.— (13 George III., c. 64.) Among the
alterations made by this enactment in the internal
arrangements of the association, was a decree for the
annual election of six directors for the term of four
yean , the interval of a year to be then suffered to
elapse before the same person could be again eligible ;
•whereas the directors had been previously annually
chosen for a single year, at the close of which they
might be at once re-elected. The qualification for a
vote -was raised from £500 to £1,000 slock, and re-
gulations were framed to prevent the collusive
transfer of stock for electioneering purposes.
* The salary of the governor-general was fixed at
£25,000 per ann. ; the counsellors, £10,000 each ;
chief justice, £8,000 ; puisne judges, £6,000 each; to
be received in lieu of all fees or perquisites.
t Notwithstanding the absolute nullity of any
Eower in the youth on whom the title of nabob had
een last conferred, the natives of Bengal were not
yet viewed as British subjects ; and by the Regulat-
ing Act, could not be sued in the Supreme Court,
enactments, on conviction before the Su-
preme Court.
The majority of these regulations were
of a nature which, from the political cha-
racter of the English constitution, could be
enforced against British subjects only by
the express authority of their national
rulers.} The privity of the Crown thus of
necessity established in the affairs of the
company, was further secured by a proviso,
that all financial and political advices trans-
mitted from India, should, within fourteen
days after their arrival, be communicated to
the administration by the Court of Direc-
tors ;§ and any ordinance of the governor-
general in council might be disallowed by
the Crown, provided' its veto were pro-
nounced within two years after the enact-
ment of the obnoxious measure.
The state of Bengal, at the period at
which we have now arrived, has been suffi-
ciently shown in the foregoing pages. The
only events still unnoticed with regard to
the Calcutta Presidency, are the death
of the nabob, Syef-ad-Dowlah, of small-pox ;
the accession of his brother, Mobarik-ad-
Dowlah, a boy of ten years old; and the
departure of Shah Alum from Allahabad
to take possession of his own capital of
Delhi. After the retreat of the Doorani
invader, the government of this city had
been assumed by Nujeeb-oo-Dowla (the
Rohilla chief frequently alluded to in pre-
vious pages), and, together with such autho-
rity, territorial and judicial, as yet remained
(except upon any contract in writing, where the object
in dispute exceeded 500 rupees in value), unless they
were themselves willing to abide by the decision of
that tribunal. This protective clause was set forth
only in the directions for civil proceedings, and (pro-
bably from inadvertence) not repealed in those which
regarded the penal court. The omission enabled the
chief justice to adjudge the celebrated Nuncomar to
death for forgery, at the suit of a native.
I The preamble to the act states it to have been
a necessary measure, because several powers and
authorities previously vested in the E. 1. body had
" been found, by experience, not to have sufficient
force and efficacy to prevent various abuses which
have prevailed in the government and afiairs of the
said company, as well at home as in India, to the
manifest injury of the public credit, and of the com-
mercial interests of the said company."
§ The regulations and ordinances decreed by the
governor-general in council, were invalid unless
duly registered and published in the Supreme Court
of judicature. Appeals against any of them might
be laid before the king in council by any person in
India or in England, if lodged within sixty days
after the publication of the act complained of, either
at the Supreme Court or the E. I. House, where
notices of all such measures were to be affixed.
814 EMPEROR ENTERS DELHI UNDER MAHRATTA PROTECTION— 1771.
connected therewith, was exercised by him
in the name of the young prince, Jewan
Bukht, the eldest son of Shah Alum, who
had been left behind at the period of his
father's flight in 1758. The encroachments
of the Jat Rajah, Sooraj Mull, into whose
hands Agra had fallen after the battle of
Paniput, in 1761, resulted in a regular con-
flict between him and Nujeeb-oo-Dowla,
in 1764. The rajah was killed at the very
commencement of hostilities; and the en-
deavour of his son and successor, Jowher
Sing, to prosecute the war by the assistance
of the Mahratta chieftain, Mulliar Rao
Holcar, proved ineffectual. In 1769, the
peishwa's army crossed the Chumbul, and
after desolating Rajast'han and levying
arrears of chout from the Rajpoot princes,
they proceeded to overrun the country of
the Jats, which at this time extended from
Agra to the borders of Delhi on the north-
west, and near to Etawa on the south-east,
and afforded a revenue of nearly £250,000.
The Mahrattas gained a decided victory
near Bhurtpoor, and made peace with the
Jats on condition of receiving a sum of
about £75,000. They then encamped for
the monsoon, intending at its expiration to
enter Rohilcund, and revenge on the leading
chiefs the part played by them in concert
with the Afghan victor at the bloody field
of Paniput. Nujeeb^oo-Dowla took advan-
tage of the interval to negotiate a treaty on
behalf of himself and the Rohillas in gene-
ral ; and his overtures were favourably re-
ceived, on account of the mutual need each
party had of the other to obtain an object
desirable in the sight of both, the withdrawal
of the emperor from the immediate influ-
ence of the English, and his re-establishment
in Delhi. The arrangement was marred
by the death of Nujeeb-oo-Dowla, at the
close of 1770. His son, Zabita Khan, who
appears to have inherited the ambition, un-
checked by the loyalty or prudence of his
father, assumed the charge of affairs, and
showed no inclination to procure the return
of his liege lord. In the following year,
Rohilcund was overrun by the Mahrattas;
the strong fortress of Etawa fell into their
hands; Delhi was seized by them, and
Zabita Khan fled to Seharunpoor, the
capital of his own patrimony in Rohilcund.
• Etal Rao .ay encamped on the banks of the
Jumna, when the emperor (then heir-apparent) fled
from Delhi. He received the fugitive with the
utmost kindness. — syore on the holy waters of the
Ganges not to betray him ; and more than redeemed
The prince, Jewan Bukht, was treated with
marked respect, and the emperor given to
understand, that if he did not think fit to
accept the repeated invitations made to him
to return to his capital, his son would be
formally placed on the throne. In an evil
hour. Shah Alum yielded to a natural desire
of taking possession of the scanty remains
of imperial power which formed his ill-
omened inheritance. The darkest hour he
had hitherto encountered had afforded him
experience of the fidelity of a Mahratta
general ;* nor does there seem to have been
any sufficient reason for his anticipating the
mercenary and unprincipled conduct which
he eventually received at their hands, which,
however, never equalled in treachery the
proceedings of his professed friend and
nominal servant, but most grasping and re-
lentless foe, Shuja Dowlah, the cherished
ally of the English. In fact, the insidious
counsels and pecuniary aid furnished by this
notable schemer, were mainly instrumental
in resolving Shah Alum to quit Allahabad,
which he did after receiving from the Bengal
presidency a strong assurance " of the readi-
ness with which the company would receive
and protect him, should any reverse of for-
tune compel him once more to return to his
provinces."t The commander-in-chief (Sir
Robert Barker) and Shuja Dowlah attended
the royal march to the frontier of the Corah
district, and then took leave with every de-
monstration of respect and good-will; the
latter declaring that nothing but the pre-
dominant influence of the Mahrattas at
court prevented his proceeding thither and
devoting himself to the performance of the
duties of the vizierat. Shah Alum reached
Delhi in December, 1771, and entered
its ancient gates amid the acclamations of
the populace. Happily, his enjoyment of
this gleam of prosperity was unmarred by a
knowledge of the almost unexampled mise-
ries which awaited him during the chief
part of the ensuing six-and-twenty years.
Could but a passing glimpse of coming
sorrows have been foreshadowed to him,
the lowliest hut in Bengal would have
seemed a blessed refuge from the agonies
of mind and body he and his innocent
family were doomed to endure within the
stately walls of their ancestral home.
his pledge, in spite of threats and bribes, by guard-
ing the prince for six months, and then escorting
him to a place of safety. — (Francklin's Shah Alum.)
t Official Letter from Ben<;al, 31st August, 1771.
Auber's British Power in India, i., 287
PRESIDENCIES OF BOMBAY AND MADRAS— 1761— 1774.
315
The Bombay Presidency, so far as its
finances were concerned, continued to be a
heavy tax on the E. I. Cy., the net revenue
not sufficing to defray a third of its civil
and military expenditure.*
In the Madras Presidency, events had
taken place which the superior importance
and interest of Bengal affairs have pre-
vented from being noticed in chronological
succession. Reference has been made to
the ill-feeling which sprang up between
the E. I. Cy. and Mohammed Ali (the
nabob of their own nomination.) The cause
was twofold — first, the English expected to
find the province, of which Arcot was the
capital, a mine of wealth, and hoped to
derive from the nabob, when firmly estab-
lished there, considerable pecuniary advan-
tage. They soon discovered their mistake
as to the amount of funds thus obtainable,
and still more with regard to the expendi-
ture of life and treasure to be incurred in
establishing the power of a man who, though
of very inferior capacity, was inordinately
ambitious, and yet distrustful — not perhaps
without cause — of the allies, by whose assis-
tance alone his present position could be
maintained, or his views of aggrandisement
carried out. The chief points in the long-
continued hostilities, undertaken by the
presidency to enforce his very questionable
claims to sovereignty or tribute, may be
briefly noted, nor can the painful admission in
justice be withheld — that many expeditions
dispatched under the auspices of Mr. (after-
wards Lord) Pigot, whatever their osten-
sible motive, were really prompted by a
desire to replenish a treasury exhausted by
military expenses, especially by the long
war with the French, which commenced
in 1746, and terminated with the reduction
of Pondicherry in 1761. The miseries of
the native population must have been too
great to admit of much increased exaction.
Since its first invasion by Aurungzebe,t the
Carnatic had been, almost without interrup-
tion, the scene of rapine and disorganisa-
tion ; imperial agents, usurping nabobs, and
chout-collecting Mahrattas had claimed
revenues, and exacted contributions, as each
• In the Report of Select Committee, June, 1784,
the net revenue of BombHy for the year ending April,
1774, is stated at £109,163; civil and military charges,
£347,387 : leaving a deficiency of £238,224.
t During the nineteen years preceding the death
of Aurungzebe, in 1707, his favourite general, Zul-
feccar Khan, was employed in the Carnatic in cease-
less and destructive hostilities; and it is recorded
that nineteen actions were fought, and 3,000 miles
found opportunity ; and the commanders of
districts and forts maintained their often ill-
gotten authority, by resisting or cbihplying
with the demands made upon them, accord-
ing to the urgency of the case. But the
great load of suffering fell ever on the
unarmed and inoffensive peasantry, whose
daily sustenance was to be procured by
daily work. This suffering was not of a cha-
racter peculiar to the epoch now under
consideration : it would seem that, from
time immemorial, the working classes of
Hindoostan had practically experienced fhe
scourge of war ; for every one of the multi-
farious languages of the peninsula has a
word answering to the Canarese term Wulsa,
which, happily, cannot be explained in any
European tongue without considerable cir-
cumlocution. The Wulsa denotes the entire
population of a district, who, upon the ap-
proach of a hostile army, habitually bury
their most cumbrous effects, quit their
beloved homes, and all of them, even to the
child that can just walk alone, laden with
grain, depart to seek shelter (if, happily, it
may be found) among some neighbouring
community blessed with peace. More fre-
quently the pathless woods and barren hills
afford their sole refuge, until the withdrawal
of the enemy enables them to return to
cultivate anew the devastated fields. Such
exile must be always painful and anxious :
during its continuance the weak and aged
die of fatigue ; if long protracted, the strong
too often perish by the more dreadful pangs
of hunger. Colonel Wilks affirms, that the
Wulsa never departed on the approach of a
British army, when unaccompanied by In-
dian allies ;J but this is poor comfort re-
garding the measures taken on behalf of
Mohammed Ali, since there is no reason to
suppose his troops more scrupulous than
their fellows, or less feared by the unhappy
peasantry. The fort and district of Vellore
were captured for him, in 1761, from
Murtezza Ali,§ with the assistance of the
English, after a three months' siege; but
the treasure taken there ill repaid the cost
of the conquest. The latter part of 1763, and
nearly the whole of the following twelve-
marched by this officer in six months only. Famine
and pestilence — the direct consequences of prolonged
and systematic devastation — followed, and even ex-
ceeded in their ravages the scourge of war. The terri-
ble sufferings of the people, during this melancholy
period, are affectingly described in many of the me-
moirs comprised in the valuable Mackenzie collection.
i Wilks' History of Mysoor, i., 309.
§ See previous pages, especially Note f, p. 252.
316 FATE OF MOHAMMED ESOOP, 1763— PROGRESS OF HYDER ALL
months, were taken up in a struggle with
Mohammed Esoof, a brave and skilful
officer, who had long and faithfully served
the English as commandant of sepoys. He
had been placed in command of Madura, as
renter; but the unproductive condition of
the country rendered it, he declared, impos-
sible to pay the stipulated sum. The excuse
is believed to have been perfectly true;
but it was treated as a mere cloak to cover
an incipient attempt at independence. An
army marched upon Madura, and Esoof,
faii4y driven into resistance, commenced a
desperate contest, which occasioned heavy
loss of life on the side of the English, and
the expenditure of a million sterling, before
hostilities terminated by the seizure and be-
trayal of his person into the hands of Mo-
hammed Ali, by whom he was condemned
to die the death of a rebel, and actually
executed as such.
His betrayer was a man named Marchand,
who had joined him among a body of French
troops sent to his aid by the Mahratta rajah
of Tanjore, from whom a heavy sum had re-
cently been extorted on the plea of arrears
of tribute due to the general government of
the Carnatic. The acquisition of the Nor-
thern Circars, in 1766, and the treaty made
by Lord Olive with Nizam Ali, has been
noticed, as also the impolicy of engaging to
hold a body of troops in readiness to do the
will of so belligerent and unscrupulous a
leader. It was not long before tlie fulfil-
ment of this pledge was insisted on, and the
immediate consequence proved the com-
mencement of a long and disastrous series of
wars with Hyder Ali. Since his sudden
• The districts of Great and Little Balipoor were
included in the province of Sera : the former was held
as a jaghire by Abbas Kooli Khan, the i)ersecutor
of Hyder in childhood. Bassalut Jung wished to
exclude this territory from that over which he as-
sumed the right of investing Hyder with authority, —
(a right, says W'ilks, which could only be inferred
from the act of granting) ; but the latter declared the
eirrangement at an end, if any interference were
attempted with the gratification of his long-smoulder-
hig revenge. Abbas Kooli Khan fled to Madras,
leaving his family in the hands of his bitter foe ; but
Hyder showed himself in a strangely favourable
light; for in remembrance of kindness bestowed on
him in childhood by the mother of the fugitive, he
treated the captives with lenity and honour. This
conduct did not, however, embolden Abbas Kooli to
quit the protection of the English, or throw himself
on his mercy; and, some years later (in 1769), when
Hyder presented himself at the gates of Madras, he
embarked in a crazy vessel, and did not venture to
land until the hostile fores had reascended the
mountain-parses. — (Wilks' Mysoor, i., 440.)
t The last actual rajah of Bednore died in 1755,
separation from the French, in 1760, his
road to eminence had been short and san-
guinary. Force and fraud, used indif-
ferently, according to the nature of the
obstacle to be overcome, had raised Hyder
to the supreme authority in Mysoor ; and a
skilful admixture of the same ingredients,
enabled him gradually to acquire possession
of many portions of Malabar and Canara,
until then exempt from Moslem usurpation.
The strife at one period existing between
Nizam Ali and his elder brother, Bassalut
Jung, induced the latter to make an attempt
at independence, in prosecution of which
he marched, in 1761, against Sera,* a pro-
vince seized by the Mahrattas, and separated
by them from the government of the Deccan,
of which it had previously formed a part.
The resources of Bassalut Jung proving
quite insufficient for the projected enter-
prise, he gladly entered into an arrange-
ment with Hyder Ali; and, on receiving
five lacs of rupees, made over his intention
of conquering Sera to that chief, on whom
he conferred the title of nabob, together
with the designation of Khan Bahadur —
" the heroic lord." Sera was speedily sub-
dued, and its reduction was followed, in
1763, by the seizure, on a most shameless
pretext, of Bednore,t a territory situated on
the loftiest crest of the Ghauts, 5,000 feet
above the level of the sea, abounding in
magnificent forests, and fertilized by copious
rains, which produce harvests of remark-
able abundance. The sequestered position
of this little kingdom, had hitherto pre-
served it from Mohammedan invasion, and
enabled successive rulers to accumulate
leaving an adopted heir, of about seventeen years of
age, under the guardianship of his widow. The
youth animadverted with severity on the conduct of
the ranee, with regard to a person named Nimbeia,
and the result was his own assassination by a jetti
or athlete, who watched an opportunity to dislocate
his neck while employed in shampooing him in the
bath. The guilty ranee selected an infant to fill the
vacant thone; but, about five years after, a pre-
tender started up, claiming to be the rightful heir,
and describing himself as having escaped the in-
tended doom by means of a humane artifice practised
by the athlete. Hyder readily availed himself of
the pretext for invading Bednore, though he probably
never entertained the least belief of the ti-uth of the
story ; and the whole army treated the adventurer
with the utmost derision, styling him the " Rajah of
the resurrection." So soon as Bednore was cap-
tured, Hyder, setting aside all conditions or stipula-
tions previously entered into, sent the ranee and her
paramour, with his own pmti'ye, to a common prison
in the hill-fort of Mudgherry, whence they were
liberated on the capture of the place by the Mahrattas
in 1767. The ranee died directly after her release.
CONQUESTS OF HYDER.— BEDNORE AND MALABAR— 1763-'6. 317
much treasure. The mountain capital
(eight miles in circumference) fell an easy
prey to the Mysoorean chief; " and the
booty realised may," says Colonel Wilks,
" without the risk of exaggeration, be esti-
mated at twelve million sterling, and was,
through life, habitually spoken of by Hyder
as the foundation of all his subsequent
greatness."* The subjugation of the coun-
try was not, however, accomplished without
imminent danger to the life of the invader.f
Hyder now assumed the style of an inde-
pendent sovereign, and struck coins in his
own name. Having completed the neces-
sary arrangements for the occupation of the
lesser districts included in his new do-
minions (which comprehended two places
often named in the history of early Euro-
pean proceedings on this coast, — Onore and
Mangalore), he next seized the neighbouring
territories of Soonda and Savanoor, and
then rapidly extended his northern frontier
almost to the banks of the Kistnah. Here,
at length, his daring encroachments were
• History of Mysoor, i., 452. Mill says — " More
likely it was not a third of the sum" (iii., 469) ;
but native testimonies and the reports of the French
mercenaries in the service of Hyder, with other cir-
cumstances, tend to confirm the opinion of "Wilks.
In a life of Hyder Ali, written by the French leader
of his European troops, whose initials {M.M.D.L.T.)
are alone given, it is stated that two heaps of gold,
coined and in ingots, and of jewels, set and unset,
were piled up until they surpassed the height of a
man on horseback. They were then weighed with a
com measure. Hyder gave a substantial proof of
the extent of his ill-gotten booty, by bestowing on
every soldier in his service a gratuity equal to half a
year's pay. — {History of Ayder Ali Khan, Nabob
Bahader; translated irom the French; Dublin, 1774.)
t The ministers of the late dynasty entered into
an extensive conspiracy for his assassination and the
recovery of the capital. Some vague suspicions in-
duced Hvder to cause inquiry to be made by his
most confidential civil servants. The persons so em-
ployed were, strangely enough, all concerned in the
plot. They performed their commission with appa-
rent zeal, and read the result to the dreaded despot
as he lay on a couch shivering with ague. His keen
perceptions were undimmed by bodily infirmity; but
affecting to be duped by the garbled statements
made by the commissioners, he detained them in
consultation until he felt able to rise. Then, enter-
ing the durbar, or hall of audience, he examined and
cross-examined witnesses until the mystery was quite
unravelled. The commissioners were executed in his
presence, many unhappy nobles of Bednore arrested,
and, before the close of the day, 300 of the leading
confederates were hanging at the different public
ways of the city. Hyder, we are told, retired to rest
with perfect equanimity, and rose on the following
morning visibly benefited by the stimulating effect of
his late exertions. Peace of mind had, however,
fled from him ; and, notwithstanding the terrible
perfection which his inquisitorial and sanguinary
2 T
arrested by Mahdoo Rao, the young and
energetic Mahratta peishwa, who (taking
advantage of the accommodation with
Nizam Ali, which had succeeded the
partial destruction of Poonahby the latter in
1763) crossed the Kistnah, iii 1764, with a
force greatly outnumbering that of Hyder.
A prolonged contest ensued, in which the
advantage being greatly on the side of the
Mahrattas, and the army of Hyder much re-
duced, he procured the retreat of the peishwa,
in 1765, by various territorial concessions,
in addition to the payment of thirty-two
lacs of rupees. When relieved from this
formidable foe, he fortliwith commenced pre-
parations for the conquest of Malabar, which
he succeeded in effecting after an irregular
war of some months' duration with the proud
and liberty-loving Nairs, or military cast;
for the disunion of the various petty princi-
palities neutralised the effects of the valour
of their subjects, and prevented any com-
bined resistance being offered. Cananore,J
Cochin, Karical — all fell, more or less com-
police system subsequently attained, the dagger of
the assassin was an image never absent from his
sleeping or waking thoughts, save when banished by
the stupor of complete intoxication, which became
to him a nightly necessity. One of his most inti-
mate associates relates, that after having watched
over him during a short interval of convulsive sleep,
snatched in his tent during a campaign, Hyder ex-
claimed on awaking — " The state of a yogee (reli-
gious mendicant) is more delightful than my envied
monarchy : awake, they see no conspirators ; asleep,
they dream of no assassins." — [WiWis' Mysoor, i., 143.)
X The Dutch possessions on the Malabar coast
had been materially lessened during the interval
between the last mention made of them in 1740
(p. 245), and the invasion of Hyder Ali in 1766.
The expensive trading establishments maintained
there proved a heavy drain on the finances of the
company, which Stavorinus, on the authority of
Governor Mossel, alleges to have been occasioned
by the continual disputes and wars in which they
had been engaged with the native princes, " and not
a little by the infidelity and peculation of the servants
who have been employed here." Mossel declares, " it
would have been well for the Dutch company had
the ocean swallowed up the coast of Malabar an
hundred years ago." Under these circumstances, the
best thing was to get rid of such unfortunate acqui-
sitions. Cranganore was sold to the rajah of Travan-
core ; and Cananore, in 1770, for the sum of 100,000
rupees, to a recently established potentate, styled by
Stavorinus the Sultan of Angediva or Anchediva, a
little rocky isle, two miles from the coast of North
Canara. This chief belonged by birth to the mixed
class, the offspring of intercourse (after the Malabar
custom) between native women and Arabian immi-
grants : they bore the significant appellation of
Moplah or Mapilla (the children of their mothers) ;
but were mostly believers in the Koran. Ali llajah,
the purchaser of Cananore, had risen by trade to
wealth, and thence to political importance : he took
318 FATE OP THE ZAMOUIN, 1766.— TIPPOO MENACES MADRAS— 1767.
pletely, into the power of Hyder ; and Maan | tiou of the invaders been less absorbed in
Veeram Raj, the Zamorin, or Tamuri ra- 1 the accumulation of plunder, they might
jah of Calicut, disgusted by the faithlessness 1 have seized as their prize the whole of these
of his unprincipled opponent, and terrified i functionaries, and dictated at leisure the
by the cruel and humiliating tortures in-
flicted on his ministers to extort money,
set fire to the house in which he was con-
fined, and perished in the flames.* Shortly
after this event, Hyder was recalled to
Seringapatam by the alarming intelligence
that the English and Mohammed Ali
had united with the Nizam in a confede-
for the reduction of his dangerous
racy
ascendancy. Hyder was a complete master
of every description of intrigue. He suc-
ceeded, by dint of bribery, in withdrawing
Nizam Ali from the alliance into which the
English had unwisely entered, and the very
corps which had accompanied the Nizam
into the dominions of Hyder, sustained in its
retreat an attack from their united forces. f
Madras was imperilled by the unlooked-for
appearance of 5,000 horse, under the nomi-
nal command of Tippoo, the eldest son of
Hyder Ali, then a youth of seventeen. The
president and council were at their garden-
houses without the town ; and had the atten-
an early opportunity of propitiating the favour of
Hyder, at the expense of the high-born Hindoo
princes in his vicinity. When Stavorinus himself
visited India, in 177o-'8, the Dutch possessions on
the Malabar coast nominally extended a distance of
about thirty-two leagues; but, excepting the little
island of Paponetty, and a few insignificant villages
on the shore, the company had "no other actual
property in the soil than in that upon which their
fortifications are constructed." — (Stavorinus' Voyages,
iii., chapters xiii. and xiv.)
* Several of the personal attendants of the Zamo-
rin being accidentally excluded when the doors were
fastened, threw themselves into the flames, and
perished with their master. This catastrophe had
no effect in softening the heart of Hyder, or inducing
him to show compassion to the ministers. The
Nairs, rendered desperate by his cruelty, rose against
him repeatedly, and were, if captured, either be-
headed or hanged, until the idea struck their perse-
cutor of preserving them to populate certain other
portions of his dominions. The experiment proved I
fatal to the majority of the unhappy beings upon
whom it was tried: of 15,000 who were subjected to
this forced emigration, only 200 survived the fatigue
and hardships of the way and tlie change of climate,
which Indians in general — and particularly the na-
tives of Malabar — can ill bear under every possible
circumstance of alleviation. — (Wilks' Mysoor, i.,477.)
+ Either from generosity or policy, five English
companies, attached to the Nizam as a guard of
honour, were sufiered by him to depart and join
the force under Colonel Smith three days before the
commencement of open hostilities by the new allies.
X Hyder prevailed on the Nizam to give the order
to retreat, and was himself clearly perceived by the
English issuing directions for that purpose, in the
midst of a select body of infantry, whose scarlet
terms of general peace and individual ran-
som. But they delayed until news arrived
of a decisive victory gained by Colonel Smith,
at Trincomalee,! over Hyder and Nizam
Ali, which being closely followed by other
advantages on the side of the English (in-
cluding the successful defence of Amboor),§
brought the campaign to an end. Hyder re-
treated within his own frontier, and the Ni-
zam concluded a peace with the English in
February, 1768, by which he agreed to re-
ceive seven lacs per annum for six years, as
temporary tribute for the Circars, instead of
the perpetual subsidy of nine lacs per annvim
previously promised. Hyder was himself
equally solicitous of forming a treaty with the
Madras presidency. He did not scruple to
avow his inability to oppose at once both
them and the Mahrattasj and he candidly
avowed that disinclination to make common
cause with the latter people, was the leading
incentive to his repeated overtures for al-
liance with the English. His offers were,
dresses, with lances eighteen feet long, of bamboo,
strengthened by bands of polished silver, rendered
them no less picturesque in appearance than for-
midable in reality. The retreat was, for the moment,
delayed by a singular incident. Nizam Ali invari-
ably carried his favourite wives in his train, even to
the field of battle. On the present occasion, directions
were given to the di'ivers of the elephants on which
they were seated, to decamp forthwith, — an undigni-
fied procedure, which was firmly opposed by the fair
occupant of one of the howdahs. " This elephant,"
slie exclaimed, " has not been instructed so to turn ;
he follows the imperial standard :" and though the
English shot fell thick around, the lady waited till
the standard passed. A considerable body of cavalry,
roused to action by the sense of shame insjjired by
this feminine display of chivalry, made a partial
charge upon the enemy. — (Wilks' Mysoor, ii., 38.)
§ The assault lasted twenty-six days, at the expi-
ration of which time, the besieged were relieved by
the approach of the British army. In honour of the
steady courage there manifested, the 1st battalion of
the 10th regiment bear " the rock of Amboor" on
their colours. Hyder had a narrow escape during this
enterprise; for while examining the fortifications,
under cover of a rock which sheltered him com-
pletely from the direct fire of the fort, a cannon-shot
rebounded from a neighbouring height, and cut in
two his only companion, leaving him unhurt. The
Mysoorean court were, according to Colonel Wilks,
the most unscientific in all India; and being ignorant
of the simple principle by which a ball would rebound
amid the rocks which limited its influence, until its
force was spent, they attributed the fate of Khakee
Shah to a miracle of vengeance, wrouglit to punish his
I'ecent offence of taking a false oatli on a false Koran,
to aid Hyder in deceiving and entrapping his ancient
and much-injured patron, Nunjeraj. — (Wilks.)
IIYDEE, DICTATES A PEACE TO THE ENGLISH AT MADRAS— 1769. 319
however, haughtily rejected. Driven to despe-
ration, he put forth all his powers, ravaged
the Carnatic, penetrated to Trichinopoly,
laid waste the provinces of Madura and
Tinnevelly, and finaUy, after drawing the
English army, by a series of artful move-
ments, to a considerable distance from
Madras, he selected a body of 6,000 cavalry,
marched 120 miles in three days, and sud-
denly appeared on the Mount of Saint
Thomas, in the immediate vicinity of the
English capital. The presidency were struck
with consternation. The fort might un-
doubtedly have held out till the arrival of
the army under Colonel Smith, but the
open town with its riches, the adjacent
country, and the garden-houses of the offi-
cials, would have been ravaged and de-
stroyed; moreover, the exhausted state of
the treasury afforded little encouragement
to maintain hostilities with a foe whose
peculiar tactics enabled him to procure abun-
dant supplies for his troops in a hostile
country, and to surround his enemies with
• Hyder, throughout his whole career, displayed a
peculiarly teachable spirit in every proceeding rela-
tive to his grand object in life — the art of war.
Kunde Rao, a Brahmin, early instructed him in
Mahratta tactics ; and by their joint endeavours a
system of plunder was organised, which Sevajee
himself might have admired. The Beder peons
(described by Colonel Wilks as "faithful thieves")
and the Pindarries (a description of horse who re-
ceive no pay, but live on the devastation of the
enemy's country), were among the most effective of
Hyder's troops. The general arrangement seems
to have been, that the army, besides their direct
pay, should receive one-half the booty realised ; the
remainder to be appropriated by their leader ; and
the whole proceeding was conducted by a series of
checks, which rendered the embezzlement of spoil
almost impossible. Moveable property of every de-
scription, obtained either from enemies or (if prac-
ticable without exciting suspicion) by simple theft
from allies, was the object of these marauders; — from
convoys of grain, cattle, or fire-arms, down to the
clothes, turbans, and earrings of travellers or vil-
lagers, whether men, women, or children. Kunde
Rao at length became disgusted by the uncontrolled
ambition and covetousness of Hyder. Unwilling
to see the ancient Hindoo institutions of Mysoor
swept off by an avowed disbeliever in all religion,
he went over to the side of the unfortunate rajah, and
was, as befoie stated, in the hour of defeat delivered
up to his fierce and relentless foe, who retained him
two years exposed in an iron cage in the most public
thoroughfare of Bangalore; and even when death
at length released the wretched captive, left his
bones to whiten there in memory of his fate. (See
Wilks' History of My mo r, i., 434, the French Ltfe
of Aydc.r, and Dr. Moodie's IVdnsactions in India
from 1758 to 1783, for an account of this almost
unexampled act of barbarity.) In his later career,
Hyder declared, that the English were his chief
tutors in military stratagems ; and for Colonel Smith
he expressed particular respect, calling him his pre-
devastation and scarcity in the heart of their
own domains.* A treaty was concluded
with him in April, 1769, of which the
principal conditionsf were a mutual restora-
tion of conquests and a pledge of alliance,
defensive but not offensive. The distinction
involved in the latter proviso was, as might
have been foreseen, of little avail; for the
foes against whom Hyder especially desired
the co-operation of the English troops, were
the Mahrattas, who periodically invaded his
territories ; and on the expected approach of
MahdooRao, he urgently appealed to the pre-
sidency for the promised aid, which they
withheld on the plea of complicated political
relations, and thus excited, with too just
cause, the vindictive passions of their ally.
The military abilities of the peishwa were
of no common order : and he approached
with the determination of materially circum-
scribing the power of a rival whose pro-
ceedings and projects, after long under-
valuing, he began to appreciate correctly.
Seizing one by one the conquests^ of Hyder,
ceptor in the science of war, and having his picture
suspended in the palace of Seringapatam.
t Other clauses provided, that the company were
to be allowed to build a fort at Onore, and to have
the sole right of purchasing pepper in the dominions
of Hyder Ali; payment to be made to him in guns,
saltpetre, lead, gunpowder, and ready money. The
directors strongly reprobated the supply of offensive
implements to so dangerous a potentate, and likewise
the cannon afterwards sold to him, and the shipping
built by his orders, — remarking, that such a procedure
could not conduce to the welfare of the presidency,
although it might suit the views of individuals.
X The battle of Chercoolee, which occurred while
the Mysooreans were retreating to Seringapatam,
was attended by some incidents singularly illustra-
tive of the character of Hyder, who, though well able
to be courtly on occasion, was habitually fierce in
his anger and coarse in his mirth, and in either case
equally unaccustomed to place any restraint on his
tongue or hand. When under the influence of in-
toxication, his natural ferocity occasionally broke out
in the most unbridled excesses ; but he rarely drank
deeply, except alone and at night. On the eve of
this disastrous battle, the alarms of war prevented
him from sleeping off the effects of his usual pota-
tion ; and in a state of stupid inebriety he sent re-
peated messages desiring the presence of Tippoo,
which owing to the darkness and confusion, were
not delivered until daybreak. When Tippoo at length
appeared, his father, in a paroxysm of rage, abused
him in the foulest language, and snatching a large
cane from the hand of an attendant, inflicted on the
heir-apparent a literally severe beating. Burning
with anger, and smarting with pain, the youth, when
suffered to retire, hastened to the head of his divi-
sion, and dashed his sword and turban on the ground,
exclaiming, " My father may fight his own battle ; for
I swear by .\llah and the Prophet, that I draw no
sword to-day." Then throwing aside his outer gar-
ment of cloth of gold, he tied a coloured handker-
chief round his head, and assumed the guise of one
320 STATE OF MYSOOR, MAHARASHTRA, AND RAJAST'HAN— 1772.
he marched onward until the Mysoor state
shrank into narrower limits than it had
occupied under the native government at
the beginning of the century. The autho-
rity of the usurper tottered ; and the Hindoo
rajah, thinking the conjuncture of affairs
favourable to the assertion of. his claims,
strove to open a communication with the
Mahratta general ; but the proceeding being
detected, the unhappy prince was imme-
diately strangled while in the bath. Still
Hyder cared not, at this crisis, openly to
seat himself on the ivory throne of Mysoor :
double governments were in fashion through-
out India, and the brother of the late rajah
was proclaimed his successor. He did not
long survive this perilous distinction ; and
Hyder, with unblushing effrontery, affected
to choose from the children of the royal
lineage, for the next pageant, a boy of sense
and spirit — qualities which would necessarily
unfit him to be the tool of the deadly foe
of his family.* The retreat of the Mah-
rattas was secured on more favourable terms
than could have been expected, by reason
of the fast-failing health of the peishwa,
who, in the same year (1772), died of con-
sumption. He left no child, and his widow,
who had renounced the world. After the ensuing
complete victory of the Mahrattas, Tippoo was ad-
vised by his faithful friend, Seyed Mohammed (who
related the adventure to Colonel Wilks), to make his
way to Seringapatam as a travelling mendicant; and
they contrived to reach the capital that night, to the
great relief of Hyder, who believing his son lost,
had refused to enter the city, and was awaiting
further intelligence in a small mosque, probably un-
able to bring himself to encounter the burst of
anger and sorrow to which his wife, the mother of
Tippoo, who had great influence with him, w-ould
give vent on learning the circumstances which he
knew, and the issue he feared. — (Mj/soor, ii., 146.)
* Hyder assembled the children in the royal hall
of audience, which he had previously caused to be
strewn with fruits, sweetmeats, flowers, books, coin,
and toys of all description : each took what struck
his fancy ; one boy seized a brilliant iittle dagger,
and soon afterwards a lime with the unoccupied
hand. " That is the rajah," said Hv'der ; " his first
care is military protection ; his second, to realise the
produce of his dominions." — (Idem, ii., 163.)
t History of the Mahrattas, ii., 237. The actual
revenue of the Mahratta state, at this period (in-
cluding the jaghires of Holcar, Sindia, Janojee
Bhonslay, and l)um.majee Guicowar, together with
tribute, fees, fines, and extra revenue of everv de-
scription), amounted toebout seven million sterling per
ann., including Mahdoo Rao's personal estate, which
seldom exceeded £30,000 per ann. He was, how-
ever, possessed of twenty-four lacs of private property,
wliich he bequeathed to the state, and which indeed
was much needed. At the time of his accession, a
large outstanding debt existed ; and although at his
death, reckoning sums due, the value of stores and
otlier property, a nominal balance existed, yet the
to whom he had been devotedly attached,
burnt herself with his body. Maharashtra
is described as having greatly improved
under his sway, and as being, in proportion
to its fertility, probably more thriving than
any other part of India, notwithstanding the
inherent defects of its administrative system,
and the corruption which Madhoo Rao
restrained, but could not eradicate. His
death, says Grant Duft", " occasioned no
immediate commotion: like his own disease,
it was at first scarcely perceptible; but the
root which invigorated the already scathed
and wide-extending tree, was cut off from
the stem ; and the plains of Paniput were
not more fatal to the Mahratta empire, than
the early death of this excellent prince. "t
The above sketch illustrates, so far as the
limits of this work will permit, the position
of the three presidencies and of the leading
neighbouring states, at the period when great
and rapid changes were about to be effected
in the whole scope and tenor of Anglo-
Indian policy. The princes of Rajast'han were
engaged in holding their own against the
marauding Jats and Mahrattas, under Hol-
car and Sindia,J who, for their own ends,
thought fit to interfere in a disputed suc-
treasury itself was empty. The ordinary army of
the peishwa comprehended 50,000 good horse ; and
calculating the contingent which Guicowar and
Bhonslay were bound to furnish at from ten to fifteen
thousand, Holcar and Sindia's army at 30,000, and
allowing 3,000 for the Puars of Dhar, his total force
at command must have amounted to about 100,000
fine cavalry, exclusive of Pindarries. No wonder
that Hyder Ali should have been ever solicitous to
shun contact with, and form alliances against, such
a force under such a leader. By otticial records, it ap-
pears that of 449 officers under Mahdoo Rao, ninety-
three w^re Brahmins, eight Rajpoots, 308 Mahrattas,
and forty Mohammedans. — {Idem., p. 270.)
t Holcar and Sindia both acquired valuable terri-
torial possessions (or rather the mortgage of them)
in Mewar, which, like most of the Rajpoot princi-
palities, was about this time a prey to internal
miseries, — its fields, mines, and looms all unworked,
and hordes of " pilfering Mahrattas, savage Rohillas,
and adventurous Franks" let loose to do their
wicked will in its once fruitful valleys. Oudipoor
had nearly fallen before Sindia, but was bravely and
successfully defended by Umra Chund, the chief min-
ister of Rana Ursi, who, in 1770, succeeded in com-
pelling Sindia to accept a ransom, and raise the
siege. This excellent minister fell a victim to court
intrigues ; but hU death, says Tod, " yielded a flat-
tering comment on his life : he left not funds suffi-
cient to cover the funeral expenses, and is, and will
probably continue, the sole instance on record in
Indian history, of a minister having his obsequies
defrayed by subscription among his fellow-citizens."
They yet love to descant upon his virtues; and "an
act of vigour and integrity is still designated Umra-
chunda — evincing, that if virtue has few imitators in
this country, she is not without ardent admirei-s."
BIRTH AND EARLY HISTORY OF WARREN HASTINGS— 1733 to 1773. 321
cession to the throne of Amber or Jeypoor.
Pretexts, more or less plausible, were put
forth by other Mahratta leaders for the
same course of invasion and plunder. The
state of the Rohillas will be more particu-
larly mentioned in a subsequent page. The
far-distant Seiks had gradually increased in
number and povyer, and could now furnish
80,000 men fit to bear arms. They pos-
sessed all the fertile country of the Punjaub
between Sirhind and Attoe.
Administratio.v of Warren Hastings.
— This celebrated governor superseded Mr.
Cartier in the Bengal presidency in April,
1772. He had accompanied Mr. Vansittart
to England in 1764, and was at that time
in the enjoyment of a moderate indepen-
dence, and a reputation for ability and dis-
interestedness of no common order. Presi-
dents and counsellors, commanders military
and naval — in a word, the whole body of
European officials, of any rank in the ser-
vice— are recorded as having received costly
presents from the native princes. In this list
the name of Warren Hastings is alone want-
ing; and as it is certain his position in the
court of Meer Cossim must have afforded
more than average opportunities for the
accumulation of wealth in a similar manner,
the exception tends to prove that the love
of money formed no part of his " sultan-
like and splendid character."* On the con-
* Bishop Heber's Journal (London, 1828), i., 330.
t The pedigree of the young writer can, it is
affirmed, be traced back to the fierce sea-king, long
the terror of both coasts of the British channel,
whose subjugation called forth all the valour and
perseverance of the great Alfred ; and in tracing the
political career of the Indian governor, one is tempted
to think that not a few of the piratical propensities
of Hastings the Dane, were inherited by his remote
descendant. The more immediate ancestors of
Warren Hastings were lords of the manor of Day-
lesford, in Worcestershire, and retained considerable
wealth up to the time of the civil war in which
King Charles I. lost his crown and life, and their
existing representative all his possessions, except
the old manor house, which being from poverty un-
able to retain, they sold in the following generation
to a London merchant. To regain the ancient home
of his family was the aspiration of Warren Hastings,
while still a child of seven years old ; and the hope
which first dawned on his mind as he lay on the
bank of the rivulet flowing through the lands of
Daylesford to join the Isis, never passed away, but
cheered him amid every phase of his chequered
career, from the time when he learned his daily
tasks on the wooden bench of the village school,
or laboured at a higher description of study at the
next school to which he was sent, where he was well
taught, but so scantily fed, that he always attribnted
to that circumstance his stunted growth and emaci-
ated appearance. From Newington Butts he was
trary, he was generous even to prodigality;
by which means, a brief sojourn in Eng-
land, surrounded by family claims, reduced
his finances to a condition little above that
in which they had been fifteen years before ;
when, through the influence of a distant
relative in the E. I. direction, the impo-
verished scion of a noble house had been
dispatched, at the age of seventeen, as a
writer to Calcutta.f There, as we have seen,
he had risen from the lowest grade of office
to a seat at the council-board, aided by gen-
eral talent and application to business, but
especially by the then rare advantage of
acquaintance with the Persian language — the
medium through which official correspon-
dence in India was mainly conducted. The
evidence given by him during the inquiiy
instituted by parliament in 1766, regarding
the system of government adopted by the
E. I. Cy., afforded a fair opportunity for
the exposition of his views on a subject of
which he was well calculated, both by expe-
rience and ability, to form a correct opinion ;
and although the hostility of the Clive party
in the India House, prevented — happily for
Hastings — his being suffered to accompany
his former chief, Mr. "Vansittart, in the pro-
jected mission to Bengal, no objection was
made to his appointment to the station of
second in council at Madras, whither he
proceeded in 1769. Here his measures
transferred to Westminster school, where Churchill,
Colnian, Lloyd, Cumberland, Cowper, and I?npey,wete
fellow-students. His comrades liked and admired
the even-tempered boy. who was the best of boatmen
and swimmers; and so high were his scholarly ac-
quirements, that upon the sudden death of the uncle,
who had placed him at Westminster, Dr. NichoU,
tlien head-master, ofiered to bear the expense of
sending his favourite pupil to Oxford. But the
distant relative on whom the responsibility of the
decision devolved, persisted in sending the youth to
India, and he was shipped off accordingly. Some
seven years after, when about four-and-twenty, he
married the widow of a military officer. She soon
fell a victim to the climate, leaving Hastings one
child, who was sent to England for health and edu-
cation. The death of this son, to whom he was
fondly attached, was the first intelligence received
by the bereaved father on his arrival in 1764, and it
rendered him more than commonly indifferent to the
management of his pecuniary affairs. On leaving
India, the chief part of his savings remained vested
there, the high rate of interest being probably the
inducement ; but great advantages of this description
are usually of a precarious character, and Hastings
lost both principal and interest. This calamity did
not hinder him from providing liberally for an aunt,
for an only and beloved sister, like himself, the off-
spring of an early and ill-starred marriage, and for
other pensioners, although his own Indian equip-
ment had to be purchased with borrowed money.
322
STATE OF THE CIVIL SERVICE IN BENGAL— 1772.
were especially directed to improve the
investments on vehich the dividends of the
company mainly depended, and these ex-
ertions were instrumental in procuring his
promotion to the station of governor of the
Bengal presidency.*
Affairs there had reached the last stage
of disorganisation. Seven years had elapsed,
since the acquisition of the dewannee, with-
out the establishment of any efficient system
for the government of the people, and the
result was the total absence of "justice or
law, or adequate protection to person or
property anywhere ifi Bengal, Bahar, and
Orissa, except at Calcutta; the boys of
the service being sovereigns of the coun-
try, under the unmeaning title of super-
visors, collectors of the revenue, adminis-
trators of justice, and rulers, heavy rulers,
of the people." These youths — whom
Hastings elsewhere describes as " most of
them the agents of their own banyans
(native managers), and they are devils" —
occupied more lucrative positions than the
governor himself, obtaining from one to
three lacs a-year; but they were a dan-
gerous class to meddle with, being " gene-
rally sons, cousins, or dives of directors."t
The new governor was not the man to risk
provoking a powerful opposition to his ad-
ministration by their recall, but contented
himself with some indirect and partial at-
tempts to retrench their power, and pave
the way for its gradual withdrawal.
Meanwhile, the measures dictated by the
Court of Directors were to be carried out,
and the task was one of much greater deli-
cacy and importance than persons imper-
fectly acquainted with the constitution of
Indian society could possibly conceive. The
company were extremely dissatisfied with
the amount of revenues levied by the native
officials, and were well disposed to attribute
* Among the fellow-passengers of Hastings, during
his voyage, was a German baron named Imhoff, who,
in the hope of finding remunerative employment as
a portrait painter, was proceeding to India, accom-
panied by his wife, a very beautiful and accomplished
woman, a native of Archangel, and their children.
The result of some months of constant intercourse
between two persons of high intellectual acquire-
ments, and feelings stronger than their principles,
may he conjectured. Hastings was taken danger-
ously ill ; the lady nursed him (according to the Kev.
Mr. Gleig) "with a sister's care ;" and before the
vessel reached !Madras, it was arranged that a di-
vorce should be sued for in the Franconia courts
by the baroness, who, during the long years which
might and did elapse pending the decision of the
judges, was to continue to live with the baron. This
arrangement was actually carried out • the Imhoffs
to their mismanagement and venality the
ruinous condition both of their own finances
and of the trade of the country. This frame
of mind procured a ready reception to the
charges brought before them through irre-
gular channels, by means of the long purse
and restless intrigues of Nuncomar, against
Mohammed Reza Khan, who, it was alleged,
had been guilty of extensive embezzlements
of revenue, and likewise of an illicit mono-
poly of rice duritig the recent famine.
Hastings was consequently directed to put
in immediate execution the resolve of the
company — " to stand forth as dewan, and to
take upon themselves the entire care of the
revenues;" and, likewise, to institute a
public examination into the conduct of the
ex-dewan. These instructions were ad-
dressed by the secret committee of the
company, not to the council, but privately
to the governor, and were received by him
in the evening of the tenth day after his
accession to office. On the following morn-
ing, orders were dispatched to Moorshedabad
for the seizure of Mohammed Reza Khan,
which was efifected with the utmost secrecy in
the silence of midnight. The Mussulman, with
characteristic composure, upon being unex-
pectedly made a prisoner, attempted neither
resistance nor expostulation, but bent his
head and submitted to the will of God. It
was considered necessary by the presidency
to subject to a like arrest and examination
the brave Hindoo chief, Shitabroy, whose
distinguished services had been rewarded by
a similar appointment in Bahar to that
given to Mohammed Reza Khan in Bengal,
although the directors had given no order
on the subject, nor was any accusation what-
ever on record against him. The inquiry
into the conduct of these ex-officials and
their subordinates was delayed for some
months, on the plea of giving time for the
followed Hastings from Madras to Calcutta ; and
when the marriage was at length formally dis-
solved, the baron returned to his native country with
wealth to purchase and maintain the position of a
landed proprietor, leaving the governor-general of
India to marry the divorced lady, and adopt her two
sons. Whether from ignorance of these facts, or a
politic desire to overlook the antecedents of the
union of a distinguished public servant, it appears
that Queen Ciiarlotte welcomed Mrs. Hastings with
especial affability to a court remarkable for its high
standard of female character. It is but justice to
state, that Mr. and Mrs. Hastings remained devot-
edly attached to each other ; and that the affectionate
attentions of her son and daughter-in-law. Sir Charles
and Lady Imhoff, were the solace of Hastings under
the many self-sought sorrows of his old age.
t Zi/c of Warren Hastings, pp. 147, 235, 269.
HASTINGS' METHOD OF RAISING LAND REVENUE— 1772. 323
deposition of complaints. In the mean-
while, the Khalsa, or government revenue
establishment, was transferred from Moor-
shedabad to Calcutta; the office of naib-
dewan was abolished both for Bengal and
Bahar; the British council formed into a
board of revenue ; and a native functionary
or assistant dewan, under the old Hindoo
title of roy-royan,* appointed to act in the
Khalsa, to receive the accounts in the Bengal
language, and make reports. The great ob-
stacle to an equitable and satisfactory ar-
rangement of the revenues, was the utter
ignorance of the law-makers regarding the
tenure of land; but Hastings, influenced
by the necessity of a speedy decision, and
considering it better " to resolve without de-
bate, than to debate without resolving,"f cut
the Gordian knot by determining to let the
lands in farm for a period of five years. J
In many instances, the hereditary Hindoo
rulers of districts had sunk into the con-
dition of tributaries, and in tliat character
had been forcibly included by their Moslem
conquerors in the large class of zemindars
or middle-men, by whom the village autho-
rities of the old system of numerous inde-
pendent municipalities were gradually sup-
planted in Bengal. By the present regula-
tions, when the zemindars, and other middle-
men of ancient standing, ofl'ered for the
lands, or rather land-rents, which they had
been accustomed to manage, terms whicli
were deemed reasonable, they were pre-
ferred ; when their proposals were considered
inadequate, a pension was allotted for their
subsistence, and the lands put up for sale — a
proceeding which, of necessity, involved the
repeated commission of glaring injustice and
impolicy ; for many men who had nothing to
lose were installed, to the expulsion of pre-
vious zemindars, who only offered what they
could realise with ease to their tenants (for
so these must be called, for want of a proper
term to express a false position) and remu-
neration to themselves. To the ryots, or
actual cultivators, leases or titles were given,
enumerating all the claims to which they
* The roy-royan had before been the chief officer
under the naib-dewan, having the immediate charge
of crown lands, and the superintendence of the ex-
chequer.— (Auber's British Power in India, i., 369.)
t Gleig's Life of Warren Hastings, i., 301.
+ Under Mohammed Reza Khan's management,
the system followed was the ruinous one introduced
by Mohammedan nabobs, of farming out the lands
annually.— (Dow's Hindoostan, vol. i., p. cxxxv.)
§ No European was permitted, directly or indi-
rectly, to hold lands in any part of the country.
II Halhed's Digest of Hindoo Laws was drawn up
were subject, and prohibiting, under penal-
ties, every additional exaction. These ar-
rangements, however fair-seeming in theory,
were founded on incorrect premises, and
proved alike injurious to the interests of
the company and the welfare of the people. §
Regarding the administration of justice,
Hastings exerted himself with praiseworthy
zeal. Aware of the intention of the home
government to take this portion of Indian
affairs under their especial consideration,
he feared, not without reason, that their
deliberations might issue in an endeavour to
transplant to India the complicated system
of jurisprudence long tlie acknowledged
and lamented curse of lawyer-ridden Eng-
land. In the hope of mitigating, if not
averting this evil, he caused digests of the
Hindoo and Mohammedan codes to be pre-
pared under his supervision, and forwarded
them to Lord Mansfield and gther legal
functionaries, with an earnest entreaty that
they might be diligently studied ; and iu
such changes as the altered state of affairs im-
mediately necessitated, he was careful, by
following the plain principles of experience
and common observation, to adapt all new
enactments to the manners and understand-
ing of the people, and the exigencies of the
country, adhering as closely as possible to
ancient usages and institutions. ||
There was justice as well as policy in this
procedure ; and it is only to be regretted
that it was not carried out with sufficient
exactitude. All attempts to force a code of
laws, however excellent, upon people un-
fitted by antecedent circumstances to receive
the boon, have proved abortive : a heathen
nation must be educated — and that often
very gradually— iu the principles of truth
and justice brought to light by the Gospel,
before they can rightly appreciate the prac-
tical character of these virtues. The thief
will not cease to steal, the perjuror to for-
swear, or the corrupt judge abstain from
bribery at mere human bidding ; a stronger
lever is requisite to raise the tone of
society, and produce a radical change in its
in Sanscrit by certain pundits (Hindoo doctors
of law), translated from Sanscrit to Persian, and
thence to English. The Mohammedan code, such as
it is, has but one legitimate source — the Koran ;
nevertheless, an immense mass had been written on
the subject, of which a digest called the Hedaya,
filling four large folio volumes, was framed by order
of Aurungzelje ; and of this work a precis was now
executed under the supervision of Hastings. The
Brahmins would accept nothing for themselves but
bare subsistence during their two years' labour.
Promises were made of endowments for their colleges,
824 ACQUITTAL OF MOHAMMED EEZA KHAN AND SHITABROY^1773.
whole spirit, before public virtue could flourish
iu a moral atmosphere so deeply vitiated as
tliat of Bengal. After centuries of oppres-
sion and venality, the new rulers felt that
their safest policy was to commence a
course of gradual amelioration, rather than
of abrupt changes — abolishing only punish-
ments openly at variance with the common
dictates of humanity, such as torture and
mutilation. Stipendiary English magistrates
were appointed to act with native colleagues ;
civil and criminal tribunals were established
in each district, under the check of two
supreme courts of appeal — the Suddur De-
wannee Adawlut, and the Nizamut Suddur
Adawlut. In these arrangements one great
error was, however, committed, in over-
looking, or wilfully setting aside, the system
of punchayets, or Indian juries, which had,
from time immemorial, been the favourite
and almost unexceptionable method of de-
ciding civil disputes.
The immediate difficulties of the presi-
dency at this period were, how to raise funds
wherewith to provide the investments, which
were expected to be regularly furnished
from the revenues ; and to obtain relief from
a bond-debt, varying from a crore* to a
crore and a-half of rupees, the interest of
which alone formed an item of ten lacs in
the yearly disbursements. In a pecuniary
point of view, the cessation of the enormous
salary of nearly ^100,000, paid to Moham-
med Reza Khan, was an advantage. He
had filled, during the preceding seven years,
the double office of naib-subah (properly
subahdar) and naib-dewan; that is to say,
he had been entrusted with the exercise of
all the higher powers of government, judi-
cial and financial (comprehended in the
nizamut), and likewise with the charge of
the education and management of the house-
hold affairs of Mubarik-ad-Dowlah ; the ex-
penditure of the yearly stipend of £320,000
having been entrusted exclusively to him.
Hastings now resolved on reducing the na-
bob's allowance by one-half — a diminution
which, together with the stoppage of the sala-
but not performed. — (Hastings, iii., 1.58.) * A
crore of rupees, according to the existing standard,
amounted to much above a milHon sterling.
t The charge of oppressing the people, and apply-
ing the most cruel coercion to delinquent renters,
was certainly not disproved. Dow, who was in Ben-
gal during the early part of the administration of
Mohammed Reza Khan, declares that, on the plea of
their inability to fulfil their contracts being a pre-
tence, many of the zemindars were bound to stakes
and whipped with such uiirelenting barbarity, that
" not a few of them expired in agonies under the
ries of Mohammed Reza Khan and Shita-
broy, effected, it is asserted, a clear yearly
saving of fifty-seven lacs of rupees, equiva-
lent, at the then rate of money, to be-
tween six and seven hundred thousand
pounds. The youth and inexperience of
Mubarik-ad-Dowlah rendered it necessary
to nominate a new superintendent for his
establishment; and the selection made was
so strange, that it gave rise to much subse-
quent criticism, as to the real motive for
choosing a female, and yet setting aside the
mother of the prince. Hastings thought fit
to appoint to the post of gouvernante Mun-
nee Begum — a person who, previous to her
entrance into the seraglio of Meer Jaffier,
had been a dancing-girl, but who was now
possessed of great wealth ; the ostensible
reason for the choice being " the awe" with
which she was regarded by the nabob, and
the improbability of her forming any plots
against the English rulers. There were, of
necessity, many affairs which eastern customs
forbade to be transacted by a woman ; and
the coadjutor chosen for her was Rajah Goor-
dass, the son of Nuncomar, who, because he
inherited neither the ability nor the guile of
his father, would, Hastings alleged, prove a
safe instrument of conferring favour on the
latter, and inducing him to make every
effort for the establishment of the guilt of
Mohammed Reza Khan. The Hindoo,
however, needed no incentive to stimulate
his deep-rooted animosity against his Mus-
sulman rival ; yet, with all his ingenuity, he
failed to establish the justice of the charges
of embezzlement and monopolyf brought
against the ex-dewan, or to prevent his
acquittal, after prolonged examination before
a committee, over which the governor pre-
sided. The innocence, and more than
that, the excellent conduct, of Shitabroy,
and the gre<it exertions made by him to
mitigate the sufferings of the people during
the famine, were clearly proved at an early
stage of the inquiry. A forma] apology was
made for the restraint to which he had been
subjected ; and a sirpah, or costly state
lash j" and many of the ryots, reduced to despair, fled
the cQMnlry .^{Himlonstan, i., cxxxvi.) These state-
ments derive corroboration from the reasons given by
the directors for ordering the trial of the dewan. In
the same communication, allusion is made to the re-
peated accusations brought against the agents of
English officials, " not barely for m<mopolising
grain, but for compelling the poor ryots to sell even
the seed requisite for the next harvest." — (Letter to
Bengal, 1771.) See ])r. Moodie's Tinnsactiona in
India for important information regarding the con-
duct of Mohammed Keza Khan during the famine.
DEATH OF SHITABROY.— BREACH OP FAITH WITH EMPEROR— 1773. 825
dress, with jewels, and an elephant richly
caparisoned, were presented, to adorn his
triumphant return to Patna, to fill the office
of roy-royan — the highest to which a native
functionary could, by the recent regulations,
be appointed. No small degree of humilia-
tion was therefore blended with these marks
of returning favour, which, even if unalloyed,
would probably have arrived too late to
repair past wrongs. Above a twelvemonth's
detention in the uncongenial climate of
Calcutta, aggravated by the workings of a
proud spirit subjected to unmerited indig-
nity, inflicted a mortal injury on the health
of the brave chief, who died shortly after his
acquittal. The appointment of roy-royan
was, in testimony of his worth, transferred
to his son Callian Sing, to whom the
English, by the oddest assumption in the
world, thought fit "to confirm the title of
Maha Rajah."* But the recent changes,
notwithstanding the diminution of expendi-
ture with which they were attended, did
not furnish ready money to cover the cur-
rent outlay of the civil and military ser-
vices of the presidency, which had risen
to an enormous height ; much less to meet
the demands of the company at home.
Hastings was deeply impressed with the
exigencies of the case; and although the
Court of Directors — however strongly they
urged the adoption of measures to procure
relief from the bond-debt by which their
movements were fettered— uniformly stated,
in the most forcible language, their desire
for the merciful government of the people
over whom they had assumed sway, and
urged the adoption of an houest and straight-
forward policy on all occasions, yet their
representative, on looking round him, and
perceiving the difficulties attendant on the
strict fulfilment of the various duties en-
joined, thought it best, whatever else he
slighted, to obey the leading injunction of
getting money, comforting himself with the
belief that his employers would gladly re-
ceive the fruits of his success, without caring
to question the manner in which they had
* Letter from Bengal, Nov., 1773. The ancient
title of Maha Kajah (the great king), borne by the
highest InSian potentates before the Christian era,
was not, it appears, usurped by Hindoos in modern
times until the later Mogul emperors took upon them-
selves to confer titles, which their own usurpations
had rendered unmeaning, and which by Hindoo laws
could be obtained only by inheritance. Under the
English, " Maha Rajahs" became very frequent j and
Nuncomar held this title, which descended to his
son Goordass. I have been unable to trace the origin
of this celebrated man, or to find the authority upon
2u
been acquired. In this resolution he was,
no doubt, strengthened by the exceptional
instance in which, deviating from their
usual tone of instruction, they suggested
the policy of taking a shameful advantage
of the condition of the emperor, by with-
holding from him the annual subsidy of
about £300,000, guaranteed by them in re-
turn for the perpetual grant of the dewan-
nee.f So flagrant an inconsistency was quite
enough to inspire Warren Hastings with a
general distrust of the sincerity and good
faith of his employers, and to incite him
to grasp at immediate and unjust gains,
rather than frankly set forth the actual
position of affairs, and trust to the common
sense and humanity of the company to give
him time to develope the resources of the
country, invigorate its wasted trade, cheer the
drooping spirits of its industrious population;
and, by these legitimate means, together
with reformatory measures for the reduction
of the illicit gains of European officials, to
restore the commerce and revenue of Ben-
gal to a healthy and flourishing condition.
But such a course of conduct required
an amount of sturdy independence — or, better
far, oT stanch religious principle — rarely
manifested by public men of any age or
country. Warren Hastings, gifted as he
was in many respects, had no pretensions of
this nature. A long series of years spent
in the company's service, had rendered
their interest a primary consideration with
him. Though lavish in his expenditure, he
had, as has been before shown, no avarice in
his composition. " He was far too en-
lightened a man to look upon a great empire
merely as a buccaneer would look on a gal-
leon." J The love of power and fame burned
strong within him ; and in taking possession
of the highest appointment in the gift of the
E. I. Cy., he expressed his disgust at the
possibility of the government of Bengal
continuing " to be a mere chair for a trien-
nial succession of indigent adventurers to
sit and hatch private fortunes in;"§ and
urged the advisability of being entrusted
which Macaulay speaks of him as the " head of the
Brahmins of Bengal." — (Essay on Hastings, 36.)
t As early as Nov., 1768, the select committee, in
a letter to Bengal, began to speculate on finding a
plea for breaking faith with the emperor ; remarking,
among other contingencies — " If he flings himself into
the hands of the Mahrattas, or any other power, we
are disengaged from him ; and it may open a fair
opportunity of withholding the twenty-six lacs we
now pay him." — (Thornton's British India, ii., 37.)
I Macaulay's Essuy on Warren Hastingt, p. 10.
§ Gleig's Li/e of Bastings, i., 377.
326 HASTINGS SELLS ALLAHABAD AND CORAH TO VIZIER— 1773.
with sufficient authority to carry into execu-
tion, without check or hindrance, the ambi-
tious schemes which filled his mind, and to
the fulfilment of which he was ready to de-
vote his life. The constitution of the presi-
dency was a subject of grave complaint with
him ; for, saving a certain prestige attached
to the chair, and the single privilege of a
casting vote, the governor had no superiority
over any other member of the board, except
the invidious description of exclusive au-
thority, occasionally conferred by private
communications, as in the case of Moham-
med Reza Khan.
A change was at hand, but by no means
such as Hastings desired; in the mean-
while, during the continuance of the old
system, the majority of the councillors sided
with him, and enabled him to pursue his
own policy, despite the opposition and re-
monstrances offered by the minority on
various occasions, especially with regard to
his summary method of dealing with the
emperor. The removal of this unfortunate
prince from the immediate sphere of British
protection, was asserted to be sufficient justi-
fication not only for the withdrawal of the
yearly subsidy (to which the faith 6f the
company had been unconditionally pledged) ,*
but even for the repudiation of the arrears
which Shah Alum had been previously as-
sured were only temporarily kept back by
reason of the pecuniary difficulties occa-
sioned by the famine. Nor was this all : the
emperor, while at the mercy of the arrogant
Mahrattas, was compelled to sign sunnuds,
or grants, making over to them Allahabad
and Corah. The governor left by him in
charge of these districts, knowing that the
order for their relinquishment had been
forcibly extorted, asked leave to place them
under British protection. Hastings agreed
with the Mogul officer in the impropriety of
obeying a mandate issued under compulsion ;
but that same mandate was not the less set
forth by him as conveying a formal renun-
ciation, on the part of Shah Alum, of these
districts, which were forthwith formally
* The very sunnuds which form the title-deeds
of the company, distinctly set forth the annual pay-
ment of twenty-six iacs to the emperor, Shah Alum,
as a first charj^e on the revenues of Bengal.
t Col. Smith attested that, in 1768, Shuja Dowlah
came to him, expressed his desire to possess Allaha-
bad and Corah, and " proffered four lacs of rupees
in ready money, and to swear secrecy on the Ko-
ran, if he would aid in its accomplishment." The
same officer bore witness, that the emperor sen-
sibly felt the conduct of the vizier, and had de-
clared, with emotion, that it seemed as if he " did
resumed in the name of the company ; and
as their distance from Calcutta rendered
them too expensive possessions to be re-
tained without an addition of military force
quite disproportioned to the revenue deriv-
able therefrom, they were openly sold to
the man who had once before obtained them
by treachery and murder, and who (p.
287), after his defeat by the English, had
spared neither intrigue nor bribery for their
regainment. t It was an act quite unworthy
the representative of a great English asso-
ciation, to let the paltry sum of fifty lacs
induce him to sacrifice the last remnants of
dominion to which the unfortunate emperor
had been taught to look as a refuge from
the worst evils that could befall him, to
the ambition of his faithless and ungrateful
servant. Sir Robert Barker remonstrated
earnestly against this procedure, which was
arranged after repeated private conferences
at Benares, held between Shuja Dowlah
and Mr. Hastings, during nearly three
weeks of • close intercourse. He declared
it to be a flagrant breach of the treaty
of Allahabad of 1765, by which the de wan-
nee of Bengal was granted to the com-
pany ; and said that the emperor might, and
probably would, if opportunity offered,
bestow the sunnuds on a rival nation.
Hastings treated the possibility with scorn ;
declaring, "the sword which gave us the
dominion of Bengal, must be the instrument
of its preservation :" if lost, he added —
"the next proprietor will derive his right
and possession from the same natural char-
ter." Even had the imperial grants been
worth no more than the parchment they
were written on, the company would have
been unjustifiable in withholding the pur-
chase-money they had pledged themselves to
give : but the truth was, the sunnuds had a
real, though not very definite value, of which
Hastings was fully aware, though he now chose
to ridicule them as much as his predecessor
Clive had exaggerated their importance ; and
for precisely the same reason — of tempo-
rary expediency. J It is difficult for the
not wish him to have an habitation of his own on the
face of the earth." — (Auber's India, i., 191-'2.)
X In 1784, when arguing in favour of" aiding, in-
stead of oppressing the emperor, Hastings writes,
that he demanded assistance from the English on the
right of gratitude; asserting, " that when the French
and Hyder earnestly solicited his grants of the Car-
natic, and offered large sums to obtain them, he
constantly and steadily refused them. We know, by
undoubted evidence, that ibis is true." These fir-
mauns had therefore a market.ible value very differeot
to that of " waste paper."— (ii/e, iii., 192.)
TREATY OF BENARES BETWEEN ENGLISH AND SHUJA DOWLAH. 327
English reader to appreciate the feelings
which, in the minds of the Indian popula-
tion, lent a peculiar degree of legality to
grants unquestionably issued by the Great
Mogul. The powerful and arrogant ruler
of Gude ventured not on assuming the
style of a sovereign : he knew the temper
of neighbouring communities, and possibly
of his subjects, too well to attempt this
innovation ; and his successor earnestly so-
licited, and at length with difficulty ob-
tained from Shah Alum the title of vizier,
or first subject of an empire which had little
more than nominal existence, while he was
himself undisputed master of an indepen-
dent state as large as Ireland.
The sale of Allahabad and Corah was
only one portion of the treaty of Benares.
The counterpart was an arrangement for
the hire of the British force to Shuja Dow-
lah, in the novel and degrading character of
mercenary troops; and this, notwithstand-
ing the repeated orders of the directors to
refrain from all participation in aggressive
warfare, and the recent (July, 1772) and
unanimous declaration of the council, when
called upon to assist their ally against the
invasions of the Mahrattas — " that no object
or consideration should tempt or compel
them to pass the political line which they
had laid down for their operations with the
vizier, which were to be defensive only;"
adding, that " not a single sepoy was to
pass the frontiers of his territories."*
The people against whom Hastings agreed
to co-operate, in violation alike of the
orders of his employers and the resolutions
of his colleagues, were the Rohilla rulers of
the country lying N.W. of Gude and E. of
the Ganges. The establishment of this mili-
tary colony had been, as we have seen,
forcibly eifected during the decline of the
empire, partly by the retention of lands as
hereditary property, which had been origi-
nally granted on the ordinary jaghire tenure,
but chiefly by the aggressions of Ali Mo-
hammed Khan,t the adventurous leader of
an ever-increasing body of Afghans, whose
title was avowedly that of the sword. Suc-
cessive rulers of the Gude province — them-
selves usurpers of equally short standing —
had made various attempts to subdue Rohil-
• Auber's Briiish Puwer in India, i., 385.
t Ali Mohammed is said to have been the son of
a Hindoo aheer or shepherd, adopted in infancy by
a Rohilla chief, and treated in all respects as his own
child. — [Siyar ul Muiakherin, iii., 20.)
I The possessions of IlaSz EehmetKhan joined
ihe western limits of Oude, and were situated en-
cund, and annex it to their own dominions,
but without any permanent result. The
country was, at the present time, divided into
numerous petty principalities, under inde-
pendent chiefs or sirdars, all of whom de-
rived their origin from the same stock, being
of one tribe — that of Ali Mohammed Khan.
The very nature of their power rendered
their union improbable for any other pur-
pose except temporary coalition against an
invading force; but in that event — if all
were true to the common cause — they could,
it was estimated, bring into the field 80,000
effective horse and foot. Still it was less
their number than their bravery, dexterity
with the sword, and skill in the use of war-
rockets, that had heretofore enabled them
to hold their ground against the imperial
troops, the rulers of Gude, and their worst
foes — the Mahrattas. Against the latter
they had fought with relentless fury on the
plains of Paniput ; and though, for a time, the
prudence of Nujeeb-oo-Dowla had averted
the threatened vengeance, the danger was
delayed, not dissipated. The open hostility
displayed by his son, Zabita Khan, to Shah
Alum, and the evident preparations made by
him for war at Seharunpoor, were followed
by the invasion of his territories by the
imperial troops, under a brave commander
named Nujeeb Khan, in conjunction with
the Mahrattas ; but the latter contrived to
reap all the benefit of the enterprise.
Shuja Dowlah did not view without un-
easiness the prospect of the subjugation of
Rohilcund by the Mahrattas. To have a
territory he had long coveted seized and
occupied by the most dangerous people all
India could furnish for neighbours, was a
calamity to be averted at any hazard ; and
he gladly entered into an alliance with the
Rohillas, in 1773, to which the English
became a party, to make common cause
against the invaders. The leading Rohilla
chief, Hafiz Rehmet, whose territories formed
the western boundary of Gude, J though
compelled by dire necessity to consent to
co-operate with the nabob-vizier, as the sole
means of defence against an immediate and
overpowering foe, was so distrustful of his
ultimate designs, that he positively refused
to take the field against the Mahrattas until
tirely on the north side of the Ganges, except Etawa
and one or two straggling districts. Those of Zabita
Khan commenced on the Jumna, about fourteen miles
from Delhi, and were bounded by Sirhind on the
west ; and those of Ahmed Khan Bungush, bordered
on the Corah country — Furruekabad being the
capital. — (Auber's India, vol. i., 189.)
328 PROCEEDINGS OF HAFIZ REHMET, THE ROHILLA. CHIEF— 1773.
assured by Sir Robert Barker, on the faith
of the English, that no ungenerous advan-
tage should be taken of his absence from
his own frontier by their mutual ally. This
temporary and precarious confederacy of
powers, strong only if heartily united, did
not prevent the hostile force from crossing
the Ganges and committing great ravages
in Rohilcund ; but their withdrawal was at
length purchased by a bond for forty lacs,
given by Hafiz Rehmet, on behalf of himself
and his fellow-chiefs, to Shuja Dowlah, who
became guarantee for the gradual payment
of the money to the Mahrattas. The suc-
ceeding events are very confusedly, and
even contradictorily, related by different
writers. The native, and apparently least
inconsistent version, is given in the narra-
tive of the son of Hafiz Rehmet, who states
that the Mahratta leaders, Holcar and
Sindia, subsequently negotiated with his
father to join them against Shuja Dowlah,
offering, as an inducement, to surrender to
him the bond given on his behalf, and a
share of such conquests as might be made
in Oude. The Rohilla chief, whom all autho-
rities concur in describing as of upright
and honourable character, refused to listen
to this proposition, and warned his ally
of the intended attack, which, however, the
Mahrattas were prevented by intestine strife
from carrying into execution. The ever-
treacherous and ungrateful vizier, relieved
from this danger, immediately demanded
the payment of the bond which he held
simply as a guarantee against loss, for the
benefit, not of the Mahrattas, but of him-
self and the English; and he had the art to
persuade the latter people that the deed in
question had actually been drawn up for the
express purpose of providing for the ex-
penses incurred in resisting the common
foe. Hafiz Rehmet, however disgusted by
this shameless demand, was not in a con-
dition to offer effectual resistance, having
lost many of his bravest commanders in
the recent hostilities. He therefore for-
warded his own share of the required
sum, and entreated his fellow-chiefs to fol-
low his example ; but they refused to sub-
mit to such extortion ; and after many
ineffectual attempts at compromise, he
reluctantly prepared for the inevitable con-
flict, observing, "that as he must die
• Life of Hafiz Rehmet, English abridgment,
published by Oriental Translation Fund, pp. 112 —
113. Also Sir Robert Barker's evidence in 1781.
Thornton's Britith Einpire in India, ii., 44.
some time, he could not fall in a better
cause."*
Shuja Dowlah, notwithstanding the pains
he had taken to win over some of the minor
sirdars or governors, the indefensible cha-
racter of the country, and the vast numerical
superiority of his own troops, was little
disposed to confront, without extraneous
assistance, the small but hardy Afghan
bands, who were resolved to struggle, even
unto death, in defence of their hearths
and homes in the fair valleys of Rohilcund.
There were soldiers in India whose steady
disciplined Valour might be depended upon
when fighting as hired mercenaries against
such combatants as these. A single English
battalion was to native armies as the steel
to the bamboo : with this addition they
became all-powerful ; without it, the death
of a favourite leader, the outburst of a
thunder-storm, a few wounded and ungov-
ernable elephants, or a hundred other pos-
sible and probable contingencies, might
change in an instant the shout of victory
and the eager advance, into the yell of
defeat and the headlong flight, amidst which
even the commanders would lack presence
of mind to issue any better orders than the
very watchword of panic — chellao ! chellao 1
(get on ! get on !)f The deceitful represen-
tations made by Shuja Dowlah regarding
the reason for which he had been intrusted
with the Rohilla bond, was intended to give
the English a plausible pretext to aid him in
punishing an alleged breach of treaty. At
the same time, he was too well acquainted
with the wants and difficulties of the Cal-
cutta presidency, and with the character of
the governor, to feel any necessity for circum-
locution in intimating his desire of seizing
Rohilcund, and his readiness to pay a large
sum for the assistance of a British force in the
accomplishment of the projected usurpation.
Neither regard for the honour of his
nation, nor the dignity of his own position
as the representative of a great commercial
body, nor even for the private reputation
which he often declared " it had been the
study of his life to maintain unblemished,"
withheld Hastings from receiving this pro-
position with favour, and even encouraging
it by dwelling on the advantages to be
derived by the projector from its execution.
The result was the insertion of a clause in
t Vide Colonel Wilks' graphic narrative of the
battles of Hyder Ali, especially of his defeat by the
Mahrattas at Chercoolee, and Hight to Seringapatam.
— {History of Mysoor, ii., 144.)
ENGLISH TROOPS HIRED TO EXTIRPATE ROHILLAS— 1774. S29
the treaty of Benares, by which the English
governor agreed to furnish troops to assist
the ruler of Oude in "the reduction" or
expulsion of their late allies the Rohillas, fof
a gratuity of forty lacs of rupees, to be paid
when the " extermination" should be com-
pleted, the vizier to bear the whole charge
(computed at 210,000 rupees a month) of the
British force employed in the expedition.*
In the spring of 1774, the second of the
three brigades into which the Bengal army
was divided — viz., that of Allahabad, f joined
the forces of Shuja Dowlah, and the com-
bined troops entered the Rohilla country^
The English commander was possibly already
prejudiced against Hastings, on account of
the determination manifested by the latter
to keep the military under the complete
control of the civil authority 5 but this cir-
cumstance was not needed to deepen the
natural disgust excited by being employed
in an undertaking deservedly stigmatised as
" infamous.^' The conduct of the nabob-
vizier was, from first to last, as bad as
cruelty, cowardice, and rapacity could make
it. The Rohillas, astounded by the ap-
proach of English troops, anxiously strove to
make terms of peace; but the demand of
the invader for two crore of rupees, evinced
his uncompromising resolve to proceed to
extremities. Hafiz Rehmet took post near
the city of Bareilly, with an army of 40,000
Inen. The English commenced the attack
by a cannonade of two hours and a-half,
the rapidity and persistance of which de-
feated the frequent attempts of the enemy to
charge; at length, after Hafiz RehmetJ and
one of his sons, with several chiefs of note,
had been killed whilst rallying their dis-
pirited followers, the rest turned and fled.
Shuja Dowlah had heretofore remained a
* Hastings avowed himself " glad of any occasion
to employ the E. I. Cy's forces, which saves so much
of their pay and expenses" {Life, i., 359) ; and
regrets being unable to derive " some advantage from
the distractions of the Maliratta state." — (i., 397.)
I The Allahabad brigade, established by Clive,
drew from Fort William no less than two million
sterling in five years. The sum of 30,000 rupees per
month, paid according to agreement by Shuja Dow-
lah, during that period, was scarcely felt as a relief,
for the officers in command contrived to reap the
chief benefit therefrom. — (Oleig's Life of Warren
Hastings, i., 343.)
X The old warrior, conspicuous from his long white
beard, stately bearing, and noble charger, when all
was lost, was seen to gallop forward to perish (to
our shame) on English bayonets. — (Heber, i., 434.)
§ Warren Hastings remarked, that Colonel Cham-
pion had little reason to express indignation regard-
ing the destruction of the villages ; and he quoted a
quiet spectator of the fight, surrotinded by
his cavalry and a large body of artillery ;
but the fortune of the day being decided,
his troops made up for their past inactivity
by pursuing, slaughtering, and pillaging the
fugitives and the abandoned camp, " while
the company's troops, in regular order in
their ranks, most justly observed," (says
their commander), " we have the honour of
the day, and these banditti the profit."
Then followed a fearful destruction of vil-
lages, the whole country being overspread
with flames for three days after the battle.
Colonel Champion vainly besought Shuja
Dowlah to give orders for the cessation of
these atrocities ; and he also appealed to
Hastings§ to plead the cause of the unhappy
family of Hafiz Rehmet; but the answer
was, that such interference would probably
aggravate the sufferings it was designed to
alleviate: and this rebuff was accompanied
by an intimation that it was the business of
Colonel Champion to fight and not to diplo-
matise, and that it was especially incumbent
on him to refrain from any line of conduct
which should afford the nabob-vizier a pre-
text for refusing to pay the forty lacs — lite-
rally, the price of blood.
Thus sharply admonished. Colonel Cham-
pion was compelled to abide by the " great
political maxim," till then utterly disre-
garded in Anglo-Indian policy, — " that no
power which supports another as the mere
second in a war, has the smallest right to
assume a prominent place in the negotia-
tions which are to conclude that war."||
Shuja Dowlah was therefore suffered to
finish the affair entirely to his own satisfac-
tion ; which he did by following up the
slaughter of about 2,000 Rohillas on the
field of battle, with the expulsion of 18,000
letter written by this officer during the war with the
vizier, in 1764, in which he declared, that according
to his instructions he had been ravaging the enemy's
country, and had "destroyed upwards of 1,000
villages." This barbarous system was unhappily
employed, without scruple, by European commanders;
and Clive especially, as a favourite measure, sub-
sidised bands of Mahrattas for the express purpose
of spreading devastation round the French settle-
ments and encampments. Orme's work contains
irrefragable testimony of the desolating hostilities of
even Europeans, practised at the expense of the
wretched peasantry, who beheld every art of a
boasted civilisation employed in strife and blood-
shed, and their fields not only ravaged by rival in-
vaders with fire and the sword, but even the mounds
reared with unwearied labour thrown down, and
the waters let loose to destroy the cultivations pre-
viously irrigated with unavailing toiL
II Life of Hastings, i., 439.
330 HASTINGS CAUSES CHILDREN OF ROBBERS TO BE SOLD AS SLAVES.
of their countrymen, who, with their wives ]
and children,* were driven forth to beg,
steal, or starve. The Hindoo peasantry,
who formed the mass of the population,
were unfavourably affected by the change. It
was at first attempted to show that they
had experienced a great benefit by being
delivered from the "grinding tyranny" of
the Rohillas ; but other and more trust-
worthy accounts, describe the case differ-
ently, and assert that these people, unlike
their race in general, encouraged agricul-
ture, while in another point they shared the
Afghan characteristic — of freedom from any
passion for the accumulation of wealth. The
population over whom they had usurped
sway, being left in the undisturbed posses-
sion of their religion and customs, were
therefore probably better situated under
the immediate sway of these independent
chiefs, than beneath the delegated despotism
of the Mogul emperors.f Their expulsion
was, however, not quite complete; for one
chief, Fyzoolla Khan, continued to resist
the power of the usurper, and took post
with the remains of the army on the skirts
of the mountains near Pattir Ghur. After
some ineffectual attempts to dislodge him,
the vizier found his own troops becoming so
discontented from arrears of pay, that he
was glad to bring hostilities to a close, by
entering into an agreement with Fyzoolla
Khan, who agreed to surrender half the
treasure which he had contrived to carry
off, on condition of receiving a grant of
Rampoor and certain dependent districts in
Rohilcund, yielding a revenue of above
£150,000 per annum.
This arrangement was, however, hurried
to a conclusion more by a consideration of
the failing health of the vizier, than even
from the discontent of the troops. The
cause of his rapid decline was ostensibly
attributed to a cancerous disease; but the
Mussulman historian of these times alludes
to a current report — that it was the direct
consequence of a wound inflicted by the
hand of the daughter of Hafiz Rehmet, who,
when the murderer of her father filled up
the measure of his crimes by an attempt to
dishonour her, stabbed him with a small
dagger she had concealed for the purpose.
The unhappy girl was immediately put to
• Stated by Colonel Champion at 100,000 souls.
t Mafiz Kehmet is said to have been " an excel-
lent sovereign" (Heber, i., 434), and Fyzoolla Khan
" a liberal landlord." — (Report on Rohilcund 1808.)
X Siyar ul Mulakherin, iii., 2G8.
death; but the wound she had inflicted,
though slight, proved mortal, the dagger hav-
ing been previously poisoned by her mother.
Such is the story told by Gholam Hussein
and his translator. The former denies, the
latter affirms, its truth, and adduces certain
circumstances — such as the friendship of
the author for the sons of Hafiz Rehmet,
his aUiance with the English, and other
causes, for a desire to pass slightingly over
so painful a matter. J This at least is cer-
tain,— that ShujaDowlah, immediately after
the accomplishment of his much-desired
object, the possession of Rohilcund, was
seized by mortal sickness, while yet strong
iu the full energy of middle life ; that he
lingered through many months of intense
bodily anguish, and then died, leaving his
usurped dominions to a youth whose addic-
tion to the most hateful forms of sensuality
rendered him an object of general contempt.
The Rohilla war was the last transaction
of importance which marked the career of
Hastings as governor imder the old system.
Among the other measures of this epoch,
was one of a quite unexceptionable charac-
ter— the removal of a tax on marriage. He
likewise exerted himself vigorously for the
suppression of gangs of thieves and plun-
derers, who, under the name of decoits,
committed terrible ravages in Bengal.
Troops of senassies, or religious mendicants,
(the pilgrim-gipsies of Hindoostan), did
great mischief under the cloak of fanatical
zeal. The truth was, that during the late
season of anarchy, crime of all descriptions
had been greatly augmented; and many
who had first laid violent hands on food, at
the instigation of ravening hunger, con-
tinued as a trade what they had yielded to
as a momentary temptation. The measm'es
adopted for suppressing gang-robbery were,
however, of a character so flagrantly unjust,
that no Christian governor could be justi-
fied in adopting, far less in initiating them.
Each convicted criminal was to be executed
in his native village, of which every member
was to pay a fine according to his substance;
and ]the family of the transgressor were to
become slaves of the state, to be disposed of
at the discretion of government. These
iniquitous regulations were enacted, not-
withstanding the avowed knowledge of the
presidency, that the custom of selling slaves
was alike repugnant to the doctrines of the
Koran and the Shastras. Moreover, it was
at this very time found necessary to take
measures to check the kidnapping of chil-
ARRIVAL OF COUNCILLORS APPOINTED UNDER NEW SYSTEM— 1774. 331
dren, and carrying them out of the country I
in Dutch and French vessels, — a practice
which " had greatly increased since the
estabhshment of the English government."*
Hastings Governor-general. — The great
change in the constitution of the Bengal
presidency, decreed by the Regulating Act
of 1772-'3, was unwelcome intelligence to
the governor, who justly considered the actual
though ill-defined supremacy vested in the
Calcutta presidency, with the high-sounding
but empty title given to its head, poor
compensation for having his movements
fettered by four coadjutors, each one scarcely
less powerful than himself. The erection
of a Supreme Court of judicature, to be con-
ducted by Englishmen after the national
method, he knew to be an innovation likely
to produce considerable dissatisfaction in
the minds of the natives; and the result
proved his surmise correct: but no small
pqrt of the blame attaches to the individuals
of whom it was composed, their ignorance
of the customs of the people they came to
judge being aggravated by a haughty indif-
ference to the deep-rooted and undeviat-
ing adherence to ceremonial observances
and the rights of sex and caste, which form
80 prominent a feature in the manners of
the whole native population, both Hindoo
and Mohammedan. Hastings, indeed, con-
soled himself for the dangerous character of
the new legal courts, because the chief jus-
tice. Sir Elijah Impey, his old schoolfellow
at Westminster, was the best man that
could have been chosen for tiie office " in all
England. "t Most authorities have formed
a very different estimate of the same person ;
and Macaulay has not hesitated to declare,
that " no other such judge has dishonoured
the English ermine since Jefferies drank
himself to deatli in the Tower." J
Towards the new councillors — General
Clavering, Colonel Monson, and Mr. (after-
wards Sir Philip) Francis§ — Hastings was not
favourably disposed. They knew this, and
came prepared to resent any semblance of
disrespect. The occasion offered itself be-
fore they set foot in Calcutta : the salute
• Revenue ConstiHatirms of April and May, 1774 j
and official letters from Bengal of this date, quoted
in Auber's British Power in India, i., 432.
t Life of Hastings, i., 471.
\ lissay on Warren Hastings, p. 50. ''
§ Pronounced very decidedly by Macaulay to be
the author of the Letters of Junius. — {Idem, p. 30.)
The strongest argument on the other side, is the
steady denial of Francis himself, which he reiterated
so late as 1817 — that is, the year before his death, at
the advanced age of eighty-eight.
from Fort William consisted of seventeen,
instead of twenty-one, discharges; and the
expected guard of honour did not await
their landing. The governor-general under-
stood the effect of these apparent trifles on
the minds of the natives of all ranks, and
had calculated the degree of respect abso-
lutely necessary to be shown to his colleagues :
so, at least, they reasoned ; and within six
days after their arrival in October, 1774,
a struggle commenced, which rendered the
council-chamber of Calcutta a scene of
stormy debate for the space of four years.
Mr. Barwell, the fourth member nomi-
nated by the Regulating Act, was an ex-
perienced Indian official. He had not always
been ou good terms with Hastings ; but
he now steadily, though with little effect,
adhered to him against the new-comers.
Hastings himself possessed a remarkable
degree of self-control, || and rarely suffered
the violence of Clavering, the pertinacity of
Monson — or, worse than all, the sharp
tongue and ready pen of Francis — to drive
him from the 'vantage ground of equanimity,
or tempt him to lay aside the quiet tone of
guarded cynicism, to which the eloquent
enthusiasm of his earlier and purer life had
long since given place.
The Benares treaty and the Rohilla war
were the first subjects of discussion. On
the plea of keeping faith with the political
agent^ placed by him at the court of Shuja
Dowlah, Hastings refused to produce the
correspondence ; and this circumstance, com-
bined with other manifestations of a desire
to crush or evade inquiry into matters in
which he was personally concerned, gave
rise to many grave imputations on his cha-
racter. The Rohilla war was deservedly
denounced by the majority as a shameful
expedient to raise money ; but, unhappily,
party feeling against Hastings alloyed their
zeal, and ensured defeat by its own violence.
In diplomacy, all three combined were no
match for him, as they soon learned with
bitter mortification. The clause in their in-
structions which directed examination to be
made into past oppressions, was ample war-
II In the council-chamber at Calcutta hangs a por-
trait of Hastings, bearing the legend — " Mens aqua in
arduis ;" and no better comment need be desired to
accompany the semblance of the pale face, slight
frame, singularly developed brow, penetrating eye,
and thin, firmly-closed lips of the man of whom
it has been said, " hatred itself could deny no
title to glory — except virtue." — (Macaulay's iHssay
on Warren Hastings, p. 92.)
11 The Mr. Middleton mentioned under such sus-
picious circumstances in the next page.
832 SPECIFIC CHARGES OF PECUI.ATION URGED AGAINST HASTINGS,
rant for the inquiries instituted by them
into various complaints urged by natives of
rank against the governor.* No doubt,
many of these were well founded ; for it is
not likely that a person, so indifferent to
the common rules of honesty and humanity
in all matters of foreign policy, would be scru-
pulously just in his internal arrangements.
But the most puzzling point in the quarrels
of this epoch, is the repeated accusation
brought against him of venality — urged with
a degree of vehemence which may be illus-
trated by a single extract from the official
records, in which the " gentlemen of the
majority" (as Hastings sarcastically called
them) complain, in plain terms, of the " for-
midable combination of reciprocal interest"
which he had established, " by accepting
unwarrantable advantages himself, and con-
niving at those which were received by the
company's servants."t To this heavy charge
is added : — " In the late proceedings of the
revenue board, there is no species of pecula-
tion from which the honourable governor-
general has thought it right to abstain."J
It has been before stated, that Hastings
was not avaricious — far from it : he had
neither taste nor talent for the accumulation
of wealth, and appears to have habitually
mismanaged his pecuniary affairs. For that
very reason, the high salary attached to his
office proved insufficient to cover his ill-
regulated expenditure : and this circum-
stance may account for his having availed
himself of means to recruit his own ex-
chequer, closely resembling in character
those simultaneously employed by him on
behalf of the company.
Many specific accusations were urged
against him. Among others, the extra-
ordinary appointment of Munnee Begum
as guardian to the nabob, was now distinctly
• Among these was the ranee of Burdwan, the
relict of the late rajah, Tillook Chund, whose an-
cestors had governed their rightful heritage as a
zemindarree during the whole period of Moham-
medan rule. The ranee complained that she had
been set aside from the government during the mi-
nority of her son, a boy of nine years old, to make
room for a corrupt agent. Another accusation
brought against Hastings was that of unduly favour-
ing his native steward, named Cantoo Baboo (a
former servant of Clive's), who had been not only
allowed to farm lands to the value of £150,000 per
annum, but also to hold two government contracts,
one in his own name, and the other in that of his
son, a boy of ten or twelve years of age, amounting
to a still higher sum. — (Dr. Hoodie's Transactions
in India, p. 241.)
f The majority steadily refused even the customary
presents or nuzzuis (of comparatively amall value,
stated to have been purchased by her in the
first instance, and subsequently retained by
bribery ; and it was alleged in corroboration,
that in the examination of her receipts and
disbursements, a large sum remained unac-
counted for. She was placed under restraint,
and on being closely questioned as to the
cause of the defalcation, she pleaded having
given three lacs of rupees to the governor-
general and his immediate retainer, Mr.
Middleton.§ The receipt of this sum was
not denied ; but Hastings vindicated his
own share in the transaction, by asserting
that the lac-and-a-half taken by him had
been used as "entertainment money," to
cover the extraordinary outlay necessitated
by his visit to Moorshedabad, over and above
the charge of upwards of 80,000 rupees made
by him on the Calcutta treasury for travelling
expenses; together ■vyith a large additional
sum for his companions and attendants.
This explanation is quite insufficient as re-
gards the exaggerated scale of expenditure
adopted by the governor-general during his
absence from Calcutta ; far less can it justify
so large a deduction from the income of the
nabob, immediately after his allowance had
been cut down to the lowest point. The
result of the investigation was the removal
of Munnee Begum from office, and her
supersession by Rajah Goordass, the son of
Nuncomar, by whom the accusation of col-
lusion between the begum and the governor
had been preferred. The appointment was
the act of the majority, conferred — not, of
course, for the sake of Goordass, who was
deemed incapable of doing much good or
harm — but as a strong mark of the feelings
entertained by them to his father ; although,
at this very time, as Hastings savagely de-
clared," the old gentleman was in gaol, and
in a fair way to be banged." ||
offered by the natives of rank), as a dangerous prac-
tice ; and commented severely on the reasons adduced
by Hastings for receiving and paying them into the
company's treasury, and by Barwell for receiving and
retaining them. — (Letter from Bengal, Octoher,}'!^.)
I Consultations of Bengal Council, May, 1775.
§ Of the lac-and-a-ha!f of rupees (wliich, by the
existing standard, considerably exceeded £15,000 in
value) no account was ever rendered, or defence set
up, by Mr. Middleton.— (Mill's India, iii., 633.)
II The concentrated bitterness of this expression
appears in a striking light when contrasted wit! the
singular moderation of Hastings at the lime of the
trial of Mohammed Keza Khan, on the charges of
wholesale plunder anil sanguinary oppression. He
then remarked on the little chance of capital punish-
ment being inflicted, let the trial end how it would ;
giving as a reason — " On ne pend pas des gens qui
ont un million dans ieur poche." — [Life, i., 264.)
NUNCOMAR HEARD IN COUNCIL AGAINST HASTINGS— 1775. 333
The means by which the most dangerous
and deadly foe ever encountered by Hastings
was dashed to the ground at the very moment
when his hand was uplifted to strike, are of
a nature which must ever leave some degree
of uncertainty as to the degree of culpability
attributable to the chief actors.*
The antecedent circumstances require to
be rightly understood before any clear con-
ception can be formed on a matter which
created no ordinary degree of interest in
the mind of the English public, and afforded
to Burke a fitting theme for some of the
most thrilling passages in his eloquent
speeches, in the long subsequent impeach-
ment of Hastings. It will be remembered
that Nuncomar, previous to his appointment
as naib-dewan to Meer Jaffier, had been
detained at Calcutta by order of the direc-
tors, on the ground of being a dangerous
intriguer, whose liberty might endanger the
safety of the state ; and this conclusion was
arrived at mainly through evidence brought
forward by Hastings, who conducted the
examination, and was known to entertain a
very unfavourable opinion of Nuncomar.
At the period of the trial of Mohammed
Eeza Khan, the governor-general took great
credit for the manner in which, notwith-
standing his private feelings, he had entered
freely into all the complaints brought for-
ward by the Brahmin ex-dewan against his
Mussulman successor. He even showed
Nuncomar considerable personal attention
until the termination of the affair, when
the accusations not being established,
were pronounced malicious and libellous.
Nuncomar felt that he had been used as a
mere tool ; and, stung to the soul by the
disgrace in which his ambitious schemes
had terminated, he retired into temporary
obscurity, and eagerly waited an oppor-
tunity of revenge.
The dissensions which took place in the
council, speedily afforded the desired op-
portunity; and just four months after the
establishment of the new government, Nun-
comar presented a memorial to the council,
which contained a formal statement of
bribes, to a great extent, received by the
governor-general from Mohammed Reza
Khan, as the price of bringing the inquiry
into his conduct to a favourable termination.
Francis read the paper aloud : a stormy
• One of the most moderate and unprejudiced
authorities on this subject truly remarks, that
" opinions may, indeed, differ as to the extent of
Hastings' culpability ; but he must be a warm parti-
2x
altercation followed. Hastings, for once,
lost all temper; called his accuser the basest
of mankind ; indignantly denied the right of
the councillors to sit in judgment on their
superior ; and, upon the request of Nun-
comar to be heard in person being granted
by the majority, he left the room, followed
by Barwell. General Clavering took the
vacant chair, — Nuncomar was called in,
andj in addition to the previous charges, he
alleged that two crore and a-half of ru-
pees had been paid by Munnee Begum to
Hastings, and that he had himself pur-
chased his son's appointment, as her col-
league in office, with another crore.
Hastings felt the ground giving way be-
neath his feet. The arrangement (to use
the most lenient epithet) between him and
Munnee Begum, regarding the " entertain-
ment money," would, if other testimony
were wanting, suffice to prove that he had
not scrupled to obtain, in a more or less
surreptitious manner, large sums in addition
to the regular salary (j625,000 per annum),
and allowances attached to his position of
governor-general. The probability was a
strong one, that the various and specific
charges which the vindictive Brahmin was
prepared to maintain at the hazard of hi4
life, would contain at least sufficient truth
to enable the adversaries of Hastings to
triumph over him, by the ruin of the repu-
tation he had, from early youth, spent
laborious days and anxious nights in ac.;
quiring. To lose this was to lose all : he
had no extraneous influence with the
crown, the ministers, in parliament, or even
with the company, sufficient to prop up his
claims to the high position which credit for
personal disinterestedness, still more than
for great and varied talents, had obtained
for him. With a mind depressed by gloomy
apprehension, he prepared for the worst;
and, to avoid the last disgrace of dismissal,
placed in the hands of two confidential
agentsf in London his formal resignation, to
be tendered to the directors in the event of
a crisis arriving which should render this
humiliating step of evident expediency.
Meanwhile he met his foes with his usual
undaunted mien, and carried the war into
the enemy's country, by instituting pro-
ceedings in the Supreme Court against Nun-
comar and two kinsmen, named Fowke, in
san, indeed, who will go to the length of declaring
that the hands of the governor-general were alto-
gether clean." — (Thornton's British India, ii., 71.)
t Col. Macleane and Mr. Graham.
834 NTJNCOMAR TRIED BEFORE SIR ELIJAH IMPEY FOR FORGERY
the company's service, for an alleged con-
spiracy to force a native, named Camul-oo-
deen, to write a petition reflecting falsely
and injuriously on himself and certain of
his adherents, including his banyan Cantoo
Baboo, on whom he was known to have
conferred undue privileges. Clavering, Mon-
son, and Francis, after hearing the evidence
adduced at an examination before the
judges, placed on record their conviction
that the charge was a fabrication, and had
no foundation whatever in truth. Within
a few days from this time a more serious
offence was alleged against Nuncomar —
he was arrested on a charge of forging a
bond five years before, and thrown into the
common gaol. The ostensible prosecutor
was a native of inconsiderable station; but
Hastings was then, and is still, considered
to have been the real mover in the busi-
ness. The majority manifested their con-
victions in the most conspicuous manner :
they dispatched urgent and repeated mes-
sages to the judges, demanding that Nun-
comar should be held to bail; but to no
purpose. The assizes commenced; a true
bill was found; Nuncomar was brought
before Sir Elijah Impey, and after a pro-
tracted examination, involving much con-
tradictory swearing, was pronounced guilty
by a jury of Englishmen, and condemned to
death.
The animus of the whole affair could not
be mistaken : all classes were infected by a
fever of excitement; and Clavering, it is
said, swore that Nuncomar should be
rescued, even at the foot of the gallows.
Impey behaved throughout the trial with
overbearing violence, and not only refused
to grant a reprieve until the pleasure of the
home authorities should be known, but even
censured the counsel of Nuncomar, in open
court, for his laudable attempt to prevail on
the foreman of the jury to join in recom-
mending his client to mercy.* Hastings,
who might, had he chosen, have set his cha-
racter in the fairest light by procuring the
respite of his accuser, remained perfectly
• Thornton's British India, ii., 84. Burke pub-
licly accused Hastings of having " murdered Nunco-
mar, through the hands of Impey." Macaulay views
the matter more leniently as regards Hastings ; but
deems the main point at issue quite clear to everyone,
" idiots and biographeis excepted," and considers any
lingering doubt on the subject quite set aside by the
strong language in which Impey was subsequently
described by Hastings as the man " to whose sup-
port I was at one time indebted for the safety of my
fortune, honour, and reputation." — (ii., 265.) But this
quiescent, and thereby confirmed the general
conviction that he dared not encounter the
charges of Nuncomar.
The sufficiency of the evidence by which
the act of forgery was established, is a '
question of secondary importance when
compared with the palpable injustice of
inflicting capital punishment for a venial
ofifence on a person over whom the judges
had but a very questionable claim to exer-
cise any jurisdiction at all.f Forgery in
India was the very easiest and commonest
description of swindling — a practice which
it was as needful, and quite as difficult, for
men of business to be on their guard against
in every-day life, as for a lounger in the
streets of London to take care of the
handkerchief in his great -coat pocket.
The English law, which made it a capital
offence, was just one of those the introduc-
tion of which into Bengal would have been
most vehemently deprecated by Hastings,
had he not been personally interested in its
enforcement. The natives, both Mussul-
man and Hindoo, were astounded at the
unprecedented severity of the sentence ;
many of them, doubtless, remembered the
notorious forgery of Clive, and the fate of
Omichund : and now an aged man, a Brah-
min of high caste, was sentenced to a
public and terrible doom for an act, a little
more selfish in its immediate motive, but
certainly far less dreadful in its effects.
The offence which had not barred an Eng-
lishman's path to a peerage, was now to
doom a Hindoo to the gallows. And yet
not so; the ostensible reason deceived no
one ; and even the warmest partisans of
Hastings could not but view Nuncomar
rather as the determined opponent of the
governor-general, about to pay with life the
forfeit of defeat, than as a common felon,
condemned to die for a petty crime. The
Mussulmans were mostly disposed to view
with exultation the fate of the inveterate foe
of Mohammed Reza Khan ; but the Hindoos
waited in an agony of shame and doubt the
dawn of the day which was to witness the
evidence is not unexceptionable, since it is very pos-
sible that these words referred to the important de-
cision of the judges, at a subsequent crisis in the ca-
reer of Hastings, when his resignation was declared
invalid, and Clavering reluctantly compelled to relin-
quish his claim to the position of governor-general.
t Inasmuch as Nuncomar was not a voluntary in-
habitant of Calcutta at the time when the offence
was said to have been committed, but a prisoner
brought and detained there by constraint, under
the circumstances referred to in the preceding page.
EXECUTION OP THE MAHA-RAJAH, NUNCOMAR— 1775.
335
ignominious end of a Brahmin who, by their
laws, could, for the darkest crime ever
pictured by the imagination of man, only
be punished with loss of caste. The fatal
morning of the 5th of August arrived, and
Nuncomar stepped into his palanquin with
the dignified serenity so often displayed by
his countrymen when brought face to face
with a violent death, and was borne through
countless multitudes, who beheld the melan-
choly procession with an amazement which
swallowed up every other feeling. Calmly
mounting the scaffold, the old man sent a
last message to the three councillors who
would, he knew, have saved him if possible,
commending to their care his son. Rajah
Goordass. He then gave the signal to the
executioner. The drop fell, and a loud and
terrible cry arose from the assembled popu-
lace, which immediately dispersed — hun-
dreds of Hindoos rushing from the pol-
luted spot to cleanse themselves in the
sacred waters of the Hooghly.
The majority in council, thus publicly
defeated, sympathised deeply with the fate
of this victim to political strife; and the
older English officials could not but remem-
ber for how many years Nuncomar had
played a part, of selfish intrigue it is true,
but still an important and conspicuous part
in Anglo-Indian history; for his co-opera-
tion had been gained at a time when gover-
nors and members of council, then mere
commercial factors, paid assiduous homage
to native functionaries.* The feelings of
Hastings may be conjectured from an ex-
* Nuncomar was governor of Hooghly in 1756.
He -was induced by the English to take part with
them against his master, Surajah Dowlah, whose
orders of affording aid to the French when besieged
in Chandernagore he disobeyed, to serve his secret
allies, to whom on several occasions he rendered con-
siderable service, and in so doing incurred the sus-
piqions of the nabob, and was dismissed from office.
His subsequent career has been shown in previous
pages ; its termination adds another name to the list
of remarkable deaths which awaited the chief actors
in the conspiracy that was carried into execution on
the field of Plassy. At the division of spoil which
took place in the house of the Seit brothers, nine
persons were present. Of these, three (the Seits
and Roy-dullub) were murdered by Meer Cossim
All ; the fourth (Clive) died by his own hand ; the
fifth (Meeran) perished by lightning; the sixth
(Scrafton) was lost at sea ; the seventh (Omichund)
died an idiot; the eighth (Meer Jaffier) went to his
grave groaning under every suffering which pecu-
niar)-difficulties, domestic sorrows,and bodily diseases,
resulting from debauchery, could inflict. Of the
death of Mr. Watts I have seen no record. Gassitee
Begum, and several confederates not present on the
occasion above referred to, were put to death at
pression which escaped him many years
later, that he had never been the personal
enemy of any man but Nuncomar,t " whom
from my soul I detested even when I was
compelled to countenance him." He like-
wise foresaw the effect the fate of his fallen
foe would produce in the minds of the na-
tives. To contest with a fortunate man, was,
in their sight, especially in that of the Mo-
hammedan population, like fighting against
God himself — as futile, and, in some sort,
as impious. As to the power of the ma-
jority in council, its prestige was gone for
ever; although, how the right of making
war and peace, levying taxes, and nomi-
nating oflficials, came to be vested in one
set of men, and the exclusive irresponsible
infliction of capital punishments in another,
was a question quite beyond the comprehen-
sion of the Bengalees. The governor-general
felt relieved from the danger of any more
native appeals, pecuniary or otherwise ; J and
whilst the air was yet filled with weeping
and lamentation, he sat down to write a
long and critical letter to Dr. Johnson about
the Tour to the Hebrides, Jones' Persian
Grammar, and the history, traditions, arts,
and natural productions of India. From
this time he renounced all idea of resigning
his position, and repeatedly declared, in
both ofiicial and private communications,
that nothing short of death or recall should
hinder him from seeing the result of the
struggle with his colleagues. That result
may be told in his own words — "his adver-
saries sickened, died, and fled,"§ leaving him.
various times. Meer Cossim himself died poor and
in obscurity.
t Life, iii., 338. This speech needs qualification ;
for Hastings, on his own showing, entertained for
Francis, Clavering, and many minor functionaries,
a feeling for which it would be difficult to find
any other name than personal enmity. One gentle-
man, appointed by the majority to supersede a fa-
vourite nominee of his own as resident at Oude, he
speaks of as " that wretch Bristowe ;" and entreats bis
old friend Mr. Sulivan (the ancient opponent of Clive,
and the chairman of the Court of Directors) to help
rid him " from so unworthy an antagonist," declaring
that he would not employ him, though his life itself
should be the forfeit of refusal.- — (ii., 336.)
X Francis, when examined before parliament in
1788, declared, that the effect of the execution of
Nuncomar, defeated the inquiries entered into re-
garding the conduct of Hastings ; " that it impressed
a general terror on the natives with respect to pre-
ferring accusations against men in great power ;" and
that he and his coadjutors were unwilling to expose
them to what appeared to him and his fellow-coun-
cillors, as well as to the Bengalees, a manifest
danger.— (Mill, iii., 641.)
§ Life of Hastings, iii., 305. ■
336 HASTINGS REPUDIATES EESIGNATION TENDERED BY HIS AGENT.
■the undisputed master of the field. The
first to fail was Colonel Monson, who, after
two months' sickness, fell a victim to the
depressing influence of climate, and the wear
and tear of faction. The casting vote of
Hastings, joined to the undeviating support
of Barwell, restored his complete ascendancy
in council, which he exercised by reversing
all the measures of his adversaries, displacing
their nominees to make way for officials of
his own appointment, and by reverting to
his previous plans of conquest and dominion,
of which the leading principle was the
formation of subsidiary alliances with the
native princes, especially of Oude and Berar,
— a policy which, in skilful hands would, he
foresaw, act as a powerful lever wherewith to
raise England to a position of paramount
authority in India. But once again his
ambitious career was destined to receive a
.severe though temporary check. The ac-
.counts sent home by the Clavering party,
furnished both the government and the
.directors of the E. I. Cy. with strong argu-
ments for his immediate recall. "With the
proprietors he had been, and always con-
tinued to be, a special favourite, and they
vehemently opposed the measure. Still
there seemed so little chance of his con-
tinuance in ofiice, save for a limited time,
and on the most precarious and unsatisfac-
tory tenure, that his agents and friends, after
much discussion, thought themselves war-
ranted in endeavouring to effect a compro-
mise, by tendering his voluntary resignation
jn return for a private guarantee on the part
.of government for certain honours and advan-
tages not clearly stated. The resignation was
profiered and accepted, but it appears that
the conditions annexed to it were not ful-
filled; for the negotiators sent Hastings
word, by the same ship that brought an
order for the occupation of the chair by
General Clavering (pending the arrival of
the newly-appointed governor-general, Mr.
Wheler), that they hoped he would not
abide by the pledge given on his behalf,
since the stipulations made at the same time
had been already flagrantly violated.*
On receipt of this varied intelligence,
Hastings was, or affected to be, at a loss
• See Letters of Macleane and Stewart. — (Life,
ii., 95.) The " gross breach" of agreement so loudly
complained of, was the investment of General Claver-
ing with the order of the Bath. This same " red
ribbon" created as much spleen and envy among the
Bnglish functionaries, as the privilege of carrying
a fish on their banners did among the ancient Mogul
pobility J and a strange evidence of the consequence,
how to act; but the violence of General
Clavering in attempting the forcible assump-
tion of the reius of government, afi"orded
him an inducement or a pretext to repu-
diate the proceedings of his representatives
in London, and declare that his instructions
had been mistaken; that he had not, and
would not resign. Clavering insisted that
the resignation which had been tendered
and accepted in England, could not be
revoked in India: he therefore proceeded,
with the support of Francis, to take the
oaths of oflice, issue proclamations as gover-
nor-general, hold a council, and formally
demand the surrender of the keys of the
fort and the treasury. But Hastings had
the advantage of that possession which an
old adage pronounces to be " nine-tenths of
the law :" he warned the ofiicers of the gar-
rison at Fort William, and of all the neigh-
bouring stations, to obey no orders but his
at their peril, and altogether assumed so
daring an attitude, that his adversaries
shrank from the alternative of civil war,
and consented to abide by the decision of
the judges. The notorious partiality of the
chief justice left little doubt of the issue;
but apart from any such bias, the decree
was sufficiently well-grounded. The right
of Clavering rested on the resignation of
Hastings, and Hastings would not resign.
In such a case the most reasonable course
was to let things remain as they were, pend-
ing the decision of the home authorities.
The defeated party, and especially Francis,
behaved with unexpected moderation; but
the victor, not contented with his triumph,
strove to prevent Clavering from reassuming
his place in the council, on the ground that
it had been formally vacated, and could not
be reoccupied except with the combined
sanction of the ministers and directors.
This absurd proposition Hastings maintained
with all the special pleading of which he
was an unrivalled master; but the judges
could not, for very shame, support him, and
Clavering was suffered to resume his former
position. These proceedings occurred in June,
1777. They had a most injurious effect on
the health of the high-principled but hasty-
tempered general; so much so, that Hastings'
attributed to the intriguing nabob of Arcot at the
English court, was afforded by the knightly insignia
being sent to him, with authority to invest therewith
General Coote, and the royal ambassador. Sir John
Lindsay. — (Auber's India, i., 306.) The greatest
wonder is, that the honest and plain-spoken general
did not flatly refuse to receive the honour by th«
hand of one he so thoroughly despised.j
THE SUPREME COURT OF CALCUTTA IN 1780.
337
prophecy that he would soon die of vexa-
tion, was realised in the following August.*
Mr. Wheler, on his arrival in November,
was compelled to content himself with the
rank of a councillor, instead of the high
office he had expected to fill. National
difficulties fast following one another, en-
gaged the whole attention of English poli-
ticians; and war with America, conjoined to
the hostility of France, Spain, and Holland,
with the armed neutrality of the Baltic,
and growing discontent in Ireland, left the
ministry! little inclination to begin reforms
in India, which must commence with the
removal of a man whose experience, energy,
and self-reliance might be depended upon
in the most perilous emergency for the de-
fence of British interests in India ; although,
in less critical times, his aggressive policy
necessitated an amount of counter-action
quite inconsistent with the unchecked
authority he so ardently desired to obtain,
and which, for many reasons, it seemed
advisable to vest in the governor-general.
These considerations procured for Hastings
a temporary confirmation in office after the
expiration of the term originally fixed by
the Regulating Act. In 1779, a new par-
liamentary decree announced that the
j61,400,000 borrowed of the public, having
been repaid by the company, and their bond-
debt reduced to jgl,5(X),000, they were
authorised to declare a dividend of eight
per cent. The raising of the dividend seems
to have been an ill-omened measure; for
once again it was followed by an increase
of pecuniary distress, which not even the
inventive brain and strong arm of the gover-
nor-general could find means to dissipate,
although the departure of Francis freed
him from the restraining presence of a se-
vere and prejudiced, though public-spirited
censor. Before their final separation, a
partial and temporary reconciliation took
place, effected under peculiar circumstances,
through the mediation of Mr. Barwell, who,
having amassed an ample fortune, returned
to enjoy it in England in 1780. Unanimity
in the council was indeed of the first neces-
sity to meet a great and instant danger —
namely, the alarming excitement occasioned
among the native population by the perse-
• It was about this period that the news of the
much-desired divorce arrived, which enabled the
Baroness Imhoff to become Mrs. Hastings. The
Mussulman chronicler, in relating the splendid fes-
tivities with which the marriage was celebrated,
asserts that the governor general, vexed at the ab-
sence of Clavering, went himself to his house, and j
vering attempts of the Supreme Court to
extend its jurisdiction over the whole of the
company's territory, and to exert a control-
ing power even over the council itself.
Macaulay has drawn a picture of this period
in language too vivid and graphic to be
condensed, and which has a peculiar value
as proceeding from the pen of one who him-
self filled the position of councillor in the
Bengal presidency, in an expressly legal
capacity. In enumerating the evils at-
tending the new tribunal, he states that it
had " collected round itself," —
" A banditti of bailiffs' followers compared with
whom the retainers of the worst English spunging-
houses, in the worst times, might be considered as
upright and tender-hearted. Many natives highly
considered among their countrymen were seized,
hurried up to Calcutta, flung into the common gaol,
not for any crime even suspected, not for any debt
that had been proved, but merely as a precaution
till their cause should come to trial. There were in-
stances in which men of the most venerable dig-
nity, persecuted without a cause by extortioners, died
of rage and shame in the gripe of the vile alguazils
of Impey. The harems of noble Mohammedans,
sanctuaries respected in the east by governments
which respected nothing else, were burst open by
gangs of bailiffs. The Mussulmans, braver, and less
accustomed to submission than the Hindoos, some-
times stood on their defence ; and there were in-
stances in which they shed their blood in the door-
way, while defending, sword in hand, the sacred
apartments of their women. Nay, it seemed as if
the faint-hearted Bengalee, who had crouched at the
feet of Surajah Dowlah — who had been mute during
the administration of Vansittart, would at length
find courage in despair. No Mahratta invasion had
ever spread through the province such dismay as
this inroad of English lawyers. All the injustice of
former oppressors, Asiatic and European, appeared
as a blessing when compared with the justice of a
Supreme Court." • » • « xhe lapse of sixty
years, the virtue and wisdom of many eminent
magistrates who have during that time administered
justice in the Supreme Court, have not effaced from
the minds of the people of Bengal the recollection of
those evil days." — {Es!:ay, p. 49.)
The power of the Supreme Court con-
tinued to increase, until it seemed as if
every other function of government would
be swept away in the vortex created
by its ever-growing circles. Not satis-
fied with treating with the utmost con-
tempt the magistrates and judges of the
highest respectability in the country, the
" black agents," as the chief justice con-
at length brought him in triumph to pay homage to
the bride. The fatigue and excitement, perhaps,
accelerated a crisis, for the general died a few days
later. — {Siyar ul Mutaliherin, ii., 477.)
t The dissolution of the Rockingham ministry, by
the sudden death of its chief, in 1782, was one of the
circumstances which prevented Hastings' recall.
338
RECALL OF SIR ELIJAH IMPEY— 1782.
temptuously termed them,* he at length
fairly ventured upon a distinct assumption
of dominant authority in Bengal, by sum-
moning the governor-general and council
individually to defend themselves against a
suit for trespass committed by them in their
official capacity. Hastings could bear much
from his "respectable friend. Sir Elijah
Impey ;" but there were limits even to his
tolerance ; and Francis, who had long vehe-
mently remonstrated against the tyranny of
the Supreme Court, willingly shared the
responsibility of releasing various persons
wrongfully imprisoned by the judges, and
of preparing to resist the outrageous pro-
ceedings of the sheriif's officers, if necessary,
by the sword. But before matters had pro-
ceeded to the last extremity, a compromise
was effected between the governor- general
and chief justice, by means of an offer which
the former had clearly no right to make,
and the latter no shadow of excuse for ac-
cepting. It will be remembered, that before
the Regulating Act came into operation in
India, a court of appeal had been projected,
under the title of Sudder Dewannee Adawlut,
to consist of the governor- general and
council in person ; but this arrangement
had not been carried out, because the in-
tended members feared to find their deci-
sions set aside by the overweening authority
assumed by the "king's judges," as the
officers of the Supreme Court delighted to
style themselves, in contradistinction to the
company's servants. It was precisely this
independence (in itself so just and neces-
sary, though misused in unworthy and in-
discreet hands) that Hastings desired to
destroy; and he did so, for the time at
least, most effectually, by offering Impey,
in addition to the office already held by
him, that of chief justice of the Sudder De-
wannee Adawlut, with a salary and fixed
emoluments amounting to nearly j68,000
a-year, to be held during the pleasure of the
governor-general and council. Francis and
Wheler united in opposing this arrange-
ment, and stated, in plain terms, that the
idea of establishing peace upon the ground
of adverse claims still unrelaxed, and which
nothing even appeared to reconcile but the
lucrative office given to the chief justice,
could be maintained only upon suppositions
highly dishonourable to the public justice
* Letter of Impey to Lord Weymouth. — (Mill.)
t Report of Committee, 1781.
% Sir E. Coote,who had taken the place of Barwell,
seconded Hastings, though with doubt and hesitation.
and to the executive administration of
Bengal. This view of the case was per-
fectly just. Even as far as the rival func-
tionaries (executive and judicial) were con-
cerned, it could produce only a temporary
pacification, while its worst effect was-^as a
parliamentary committee afterwards affirmed
— that it gave the governor-general an as-
cendancy by which he was " enabled to do
things, under the name and appearance of a
legal court, which he would not presume to
do in his own person."t The measure was
carried by Hastings and Coote,t in defiance
of Francis and Wheler; and the chief jus-
tice entered on his double functions, and
the receipt of his double salary, with much
alacrity, but considerably diminished arro-
gance, and continued to give undeviating
allegiance to his patron, until news arrived
of an act of parliament, passed in 1782, for
the limitation of the powers of the Supreme
Court of judicature ; accompanied by the re-
call of Impey, to answer before the House
of Commons the charge of having " accepted
an office not agreeable to the true intent
and meaning of the act 18 Geo. III."
The ascendancy of Hastings afforded
some relief to the natives against wanton
outrage, and the subsequent restraint laid
on Anglo-Indian jurisdiction, contributed to
their further relief. But the terrible pres-
tige given by the unwarrantable proceedings
of these times could not easily pass away.
Moreover, even when its first terrors had
been set aside, the labyrinth of innu-
merable and inexplicable forms, aggravated
by the difficulties of a foreign language, in
which a native found himself surrounded when
brought within the mysterious circle of an
English court of law, was calculated to
deepen rather than remove the prejudices
of persons who might be impelled by suffer-
ing to seek relief from present injury or
redress for past wrongs, by a course of liti-
gation .which experience could scarcely fail
to prove so tardy and expensive in its pro-
gress, as frequently to neutralise the benefit
of an upright and unprejudiced decision.
I can speak from personal experience of the
fear entertained, by both Mussulmans and
Hindoos, of being by any hook or handle
involved in the harassing intricacies of a
lawsuit; and even to the present day, many
natives from the interior habitually fix their
abodes on the safe side of the Mahratta
ditch — the boundary of chancery and other
civil branches of the Supreme Court.
The uncompromising opposition of Francis
DUEL BETWEEN HASTINGS AND FRANCIS— 1783.
339
to the scheme of Hastings^ together with
differences on points of foreign policy, ter-
minated in the renewal, and even increase,
of former ill-feeling. The governor-general
recorded, in an official minute, his disbelief
in the " promises of candour" made by his
opponent, and declared his public, like his
private conduct, "void of truth and honour."
Francis, whose health and spirits had been
for some time visibly failing, and who, in
the words of his opponent, had lost all self-
control, and needed to be dealt with like " a
passionate woman,^'* could ill bear this un-
merited taunt. After the council had risen,
he placed a challenge ifi the hands of
Hastings. It had been expected, and was
immediately accepted. The example had
been previously given by General Clavering
(the commander-in-chief) and Mr. Barwell ;
and now the governor-general of India and
the senior councillor, with remarkable dis-
regard for the interests of their employers at
a very critical period (not to speak of higher
principles, which were quite out of the ques-
tion), proceeded to edify an assemblage of
women and children, by fighting a duel, as the
Mussulman chronicler has it, " according to
the established custom of the nation."t At
the first exchange of shots, Francis fell,
severely but not mortally wounded. He
recovered slowly, and resumed his seat at
the council board; until, wearied with the
unequal contest, he threw up his position
and returned to England at the close of
1782, leaving to Hastings the undisputed
supremacy. Wheler had gradually been
relaxing in his opposition. After the de-
parture of his unbending colleague, he
sided almost invariably with the governor-
general, who spared no efforts to conciliate
him by every possible means, especially by
" providing handsomely for all his friends." J
Yet, however great the triumph of Hastings,
and undisguised his delight at the successful
termination of a six years' conflict, abundant
cause for anxiety remained, on every side,
to lower the exulting tone he might have
otherwise assumed. The ministers of the
• Life of Hastings, ii., 384.
•{• Siyar ul Mutakherin, ii., S18.
\ Wheler's support was not, however, quite un-
deviating; and his despotic chief complained of his
attachment to " the lees of Mr. Francis, and his
practice of a stranije policy of hearing whatever
any man has to say, and especially against public
measures." — (Life of Hastings, ii., 384.)
§ Idem, iii., 31.
II He himself acknowledged how little he allowed
an " expression dictated by the impulse of present
crown and the directors of the company
suffered his retention of the highest office in
India simply as a measure of temporary
expediency ; and even his stanch friends, the
proprietors, failed not to give occasional
and qualified censure to the unscrupulous
deeds of the man on whose abilities and ex-
perience they relied for the fulfilment of
those financial expectations which he had
made it his great object to realise. But the
very uncertainty of his position tended to
encourage his innate propensity for tem-
porising measures, and induced him to pur-
chase golden opinions from his fellow-officials
by conniving at innumerable illicit proceed-
ings, for the interest of individuals, to the
manifest injury of the revenues of the com-
pany and the prosperity of the provinces.
Reforms are generally most unpopular
where most needed ; and Hastings, after
forming plans for a large reduction of ex-
penditure, set them aside until, as he re-
marked, he should be more certain of his,
own fate ; " for I will not," he adds, " create
enemies in order to ease the burdens of my
successors." § This very natural feeling,
though somewhat inconsistent with the exces-
sive zeal expressed by the writer for the pecu-
niary interests of the company, is quite in
accordance with the unscrupulous manner
in which he dealt with native princes —
treating their rights and claims as valid or
invalid, as substantial or mere empty-seeming,
just as it suited his immediate object. ||
Such habitual double-dealing, however con-
venient the weapons it might afford for an
immediate emergency, could not fail to
render his publicly-recorded opinions a
tissue of the most flagrant contradictions ;
and it tended materially to produce the
evils which he endeavoured to prove had
resulted solely from the opposition made to
his measures by the ex-majority. Those evils
are thus enumerated by his own pen : — ■
"An exhausted treasury; an accumulating
debt ; a system charged with expensive
establishments, and precluded, by the mul-
titude of dependents and the curse of patron-
emergency," to impose upon him " the obligation of
a fixed principle." And one of his ablest and not
least partial advocates, in the present day, admits
that his determination to hold " his post and his
purposes" in defiance of the directors, led him " to
devise arguments and assign motives intended to
meet the exigency of the moment, and, therefore,
sometimes as much at variance with themselves as
were the arguments of those by whom he was so
vehemently and invariably opposed." — (Professor
Wilson's Note on Mill's India, iv., 30.)
840
PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY— 1772.
age, from reformation ; a government de-
bilitated by the various habits of inveterate
licentiousness ; a country oppressed by
private rapacity, and deprived of its vital
resources by the enormous quantities of
current specie annually exported in the
remittance of private fortunes, in supplies
sent to China, Fort St. George, to Bombay,
and lately to the army at Surat, and by an
impoverished commerce j the support of
Bombay, with all its new conquests ; the
charge of preserving Fort St. George, and
recovering the Carnatic from the hands of a
victorious enemy ; the entire maintenance
of both presidencies; and lastly, a war,
either actual or depending, in every quarter
and with every power of Hiudostan."*
Before proceeding to describe the manner
in which Hastings, now alone at the helm,
steered his way through this troubled sea of
dangers and difficulties, and likewise through
personal trials of his own seeking, it is
necessary to narrate, as briefly as possible,
the leading events which, since his promo-
tion to the station of governor-general in
1772, had taken place in the minor or sister
presidencies of Bombay and Madras.
Bombay, 1772 to 1780. — The possession
of the little island of Salsette and the fort
of Bassein had long been earnestly coveted
by the E. 1. Cy., and in 1768, they strongly
urged on their Indian representatives the
additional security to Bombay to be de-
rived from the annexation of these places ;
which, however, they desired to see effected
"rather by purchase than war." Under
the strong government of Madhoo Rao, the
latter experiment would have been suffi-
ciently hazardous ; and the result of nego-
tiations opened in 1772, clearly proved the
small chance that existed* of a voluntary
surrender of territories no less valued by
the one party than desired by the other.
The death of the Mahratta peishwa pro-
duced dissensions in the state which, by
destroying unity of interest even in Poona
itself, offered to the English a prospect of
obtaining, in the character of mediators or
partisans, the concessions vainly sought for
by more legitimate means. Madhoo Rao,
always patriotic and unselfish, had diligently
striven to avert the calamities by which his
early death was likely to be attended. Per-
ceiving his end approaching, he caused his
uncle Ragoba to be released from confine-
ment, and in the most aflfecting and im-
* Life of Hastings, ii., 329.
t Grant Duff's Mahrattas, ii., 249.
pressive manner entreated him to guard and
guide the person and counsels of his brother
and successor Narrain Rao, a youth of seven-
teen. Ragoba appeared kindly disposed to
the nephew thus committed to his charge,
and the new peishwa was formally invested
by the pageant-rajah with the insignia of
office. But before long, dissensions arose
between the chief ministers of Narrain
(Sukaram Bappoo, Nana Furnuvees, and
others, appointed by Madhoo Rao) and
Ragoba, the result of which was his con-
finement to certain apartments in the palace.
While smarting under the check thus given
to his ill-regulated ambition, Ragoba, stimu-
lated by the evil counsels of his tale-bearing
wife, Anundee Bye, was induced to gratify
the jealous hatred entertained by her against
Gopika Bye, the mother of Madhoo and
Narrain, by giving a written sanction for
the seizure of the young peishwa, which she
wickedly converted into an order for his
assassination, by changing the word dhu-
rawe (to seize) into marawi (to kill.) A
domestic, who had been publicly flogged by
order of the destined victim, was a chief
mover in the plot, which was carried out by
working on the discontent of a body of un-
paid infantry. They had been extremely
turbulent during the afternoon of the 30th of
August, 1 773, and in the night the ringleader,
Somer Sing, entered the palace by an un-
finished doorway newly opened to make an
entrance distinct from that of the portion
inhabited by Ragoba. Narrain Rao, on
starting from sleep, fled, pursued by Somer
Sing, to his uncle's apartments, and flung
himself into his arms for protection. Ragoba
interfered, but Somer Sing exclaimed — " I
have not gone so far to ensure my own
destruction ; let him go, or you shall die
with him." Ragoba was too deeply com-
promised to give way to remorse : he disen-
gaged himself from the grasp of his nephew,
and got out on the terrace. Narrain Rao
strove to follow him, but was seized by the
leg and flung to the ground by the vengeful
servant before named. At this moment
one of the personal attendants of the peishwa
entered, unarmed, and flew to his rescue ; but
his fidelity cost him his life, for both mas-
ter and servant were dispatched by the
swords of the assassins.f The unfortunate
Narrain Rao appears to have manifested a
degree of indecision and timidity, on this try-
ing occasion, remarkable in one of his caste
and nation; but these failings were probably
not radical defects, but rather incidental
ENGLISH ESPOUSE CAUSE OF MAHRATTA CHIEF RAGOBA— 1775. 341
to an unformed character.* A searching
investigation was instituted into the affair
by Ram Shastree, the celebrated judge,
■whose integrity and ability had reflected so
much honour on the administration of his
beloved disciple Madhoo Rao. To him
Ragoba confessed his partial participation
in the crime, and asked what atonement he
could make. " The sacrifice of your own
life," replied the uncompromising judge;
" for neither you nor your government can
prosper ; and, for my own part, I will neither
accept of employment, nor enter Poona
whilst you preside there."t He kept his
word, and retired to a sequestered village,
from whence he witnessed the fulfilment of
his prediction ; for Ragoba's "ill-luck" be-
came proverbial, and communicated itself, in
a greater or less degree, to every enterprise
in which he was concerned. At the onset,
the total absence of a rival claimant enabled
him to obtain, without difficulty, the con-
firmation of the rajah of Sattara to his
assumption of the rank of peishwa ; but his
title was subsequently rendered invalid by
the posthumous birth of a son, the rightful
heir to Narrain Rao. Considerable doubt
was thrown upon the legitimacy of the child
by the means adopted by the ministers
(Nana Furnavees, Sukaram Bappoo, and
others), to provide a male substitute, in the
event of their influence being endangered
by the birth of a girl ; but, as the case hap-
pened, the manoeuvre only served to en-
danger their own cause, and afford Ragoba
a pretext for resisting the claims of the
son of his murdered nephew, who was
• Madhoo Rao, whose generous nature rose su-
perior to the unworthy considerations which induced
the Mogul emperors to treat their near relatives as
dangerous rivals, and confine them from infancy to
state prisons, delighted in cherishing and drawing
public attention, to the good qualities of his in-
tended successor. The Mahrattas relate, that the
brothers were witnessing an elephant-fight from a
small hill in the environs of Poona, when one of
the animals becoming excited, rushed furiously to-
wards the spot where they were seated. The com-
panions and attendants of the peishwa, forgetting all
courtly etiquette, took to their heels, and Narrain
jumped up to run off with the rest. " Brother," said
Madhoo Kao, " what will the ukbars [native news-
papers] say of you ?" The boy instantly resumed his
seat, and retained it until the danger, which became
imminent, had been averted by the bravery of a by-
stander, who, arawmg nis aagget, sprang in front of
the peishwa and turned the animal aside by wound-
ing It in the trunk. — (Duffs 3Iahrattas, ii., 251.)
t History of Mahrattas, ii., 249. An interesting
feature in the intercourse of Madhoo Kao and Ram
Shastree, is related by Duff. The peishwa devoted
himself, at one period, to the practice of " Jhep" or
2 Y
proclaimed peishwa when only forty days
old. The English authorities appear to
have been quite misled by the representa-
tions which accompanied his appeal for
their assistance; and even when compelled
to recognise the utter futility of attempting
to establish his supremacy in defiance of the
general feeling of the Mahratta nation, they
seem never to have rightly understood the
nature of his claims, or the basis on which
they rested. The cession of Bassein and
Salsette, with the payment of a large sum
of money, formed the leading stipulations
on the part of the Bombay authorities ; but
as Ragoba was very unwilling to consent to
any sacrifice of territory, they took advan-
tage of the plea afforded by an inclination
manifested by the Portuguese to regain their
ancient possessions, to forcibly occupy them
with British troops, protesting, nevertheless,
that they held them only on behalf of
Ragoba, until he should himself settle the
arrangements of the pending treaty. The
part taken by Sindia and Holcar, in siding
with the ministers, left him no choice but
to comply with the demands of the English ;
and, in return for his concessions, J 2,500 men
were landed at Cambay, under Colonel Keat-
ing, in the early part of the year 1 775, to aid
his own mob-like assemblage of about 20,000
men. Thecampaignwassuccessful,though at-
tended with considerable lossof life;§ but pre-
parations for the renewal of hostilities, at the
close of the monsoon, were suddenly arrested
by the interference of the Bengal presidency.
The Bombay authorities were sharply repri-
manded for disregarding the recent regu-
religious meditation, to a degree which interfered
with his public duties. Ram Shastree told him,
that if he were inclined to revert to the condition of
devout and austere poverty, which by the Hindoo
doctrine was the especial duty of a Brahmin, he
would gladly do the same ; but if, on the contrary,
Madhoo intended to follow the example of his pre-
decessors, and retain the position of an earthly poten-
tate, the duties incumbent on the assumed office
ought to be his first consideration. " The musnud, or
a life of self-denial in the holy city of Benares, — which
you will," said the honest Mentor ; " I will abide with
you in either station." Happily for Maharashtra, Mad-
hoo Rao remained its ruler, and Ram Shastree its
leading judge, — an unimpeachable one, for he had
no thirst for power, and all his habits were consistent
with his characteristic rule — to keep nothing more
in his house than sufficed for the day's consumption.
I Ragoba, or Rugonath Rao, having no other funds,
deposited with the company, jewels valued at up-
wards of six lacs. These gems were, about twenty-
eight years later, freely presented to Bajee Rao on
his restoration to the oflSce of peishwa, in 1813.
§ In the small detachment of Colonel Keating,
222 persons perished, including eleven officers.
342 TREATY OF POORUNDER— 1776. MAHRATTA WAR RENEWED— 1778.
lations, which placed the control in matters of
foreign policy in the hands of the governor-
general and the supreme council ; and, be-
sides being blamed for insubordination,
they were informed that an envoy (Colonel
Upton) would be sent direct from Bengal
to conclude a treaty of peace. This latter
proceeding could not fail to irritate the Bom-
bay officials, and to lower their authority,
and, indeed, that of the English in general,
in the eyes of the Mahratta ministers, than
whom no men living were better able to
appreciate the weakness arising from divided
counsels. The consequence was, that after
a negotiation conducted, on the part of the
Mahrattas, with more than characteristic
procrastination. Nana Furnavees and the
ministers of the infant peishwa. concluded a
treaty at Poorunder, by which Colonel Upton
promised that the English should relinquish
the cause of Ragoba, and guarantee the dis-
bandment of his army on certain stipulations
quite contrary to the views of that individual.
Of Salsette Island they were to retain pos-
session, but to relinquish certain cessions in
Guzerat, made by the Mahratta chief Futteh
Sing Guicowar. No sooner had this hu-
miliating agreement been entered into than
the home despatches arrived, highly ap-
plauding the conduct of the Bombay autho-
rities, and bidding them, in any and every
case, retain all their late acquisitions, espe-
cially Bassein, if it were included in the
number; which was not the case. The
mandate came late, but its effects were soon
manifested in a partial breach of faith, by
continued though guarded favour shown to
Ragoba, and a decided inclination to break
with the Poona ministry. Nana Furnavees,
a politician of much ability and more cun-
ning, strove to prevent the renewal of hos-
tilities, by affecting to encourage the pre-
tensions of a French adventurer, named
St. Lubin, who, after imposing upon the
Madras government in the character of an
agent of the court of Versailles, had re-
turned to France, and by exaggerated repre-
sentations of the influence acquired by him
at Poona, had induced the minister of ma-
rine to intrust him with a sort of clandestine
commission, as an experiment for ascertain-
ing if any footing might be gained (the port
of Choul being especially desired.)
No one had less inclination to suffer the
introduction of French power into Maha-
rashtra than Nana Furnavees ; and by the
little favour shown to the avowed agent of
another European state (Austria), then at
Poona, it seems that he considered St.
Lubin as a mere impostor, and encouraged
him simply as a means of alarming the
English government by an affected alliance
with France. These proceedings served, on
the contrary, to incite immediate opera-
tions before the anticipated arrival of
French auxiliaries at Poona. Even Has-
tings was dissatisfied with the treaty of
Poorunder ; and notwithstanding the cen-
sure bestowed on the previous " unwar-
rantable" interference of the local authori-
ties, they were now directed " to assist in
tranquillising the dissensions of the Mah-
ratta state." Ostensibly for the promotion
of this object. Colonel Leslie was dispatched,
with a strong detachment, to march across
the centre of India, from Bengal to the
western coast. The Bombay presidency,
delighted with this indirect admission of the
advisability of their former measures, deter-
mined not to wait the arrival of reinforce-
ments, but to make war at once, upon the
strength of their own resources ; and Mr.
Carnac, who had the lead in council, was
himself placed at the head of a committee,
to aid in the direction of military operations.
In fact, despite the oddity of making war
under the superintendence of civilians, the
infirm health and inexperience in Indian war-
fare of Colonel Egerton, the officer on whom
the command devolved by right of seniority,
rendered such a step of absolute necessity
to the carrying out, with any prospect of
success, the wild plan of advancing with a
force (including a few straggling horse under
Ragoba) of less than 4,500 men, to at-
tack the ministerial party in their own
capital. So bold a design imperatively
needed rapidity in execution; yet, after
crossing the Ghaut (mountain-pass), the
array, without any reason for such ill-timed
tardiness, advanced only eight miles in
eleven days. The enemy had fully prepared
for thoir reception ; and the deliberate
progress of the English was but slightly
opposed, until, at about sixteen miles from
Poona, they found themselves face to face
with the Mahratta host. Mr. Carnac and
Colonel Cockburn (who had taken the lead,
in consequence of the sickness of Colonel
Egerton) seem to have been panic-struck
by the imminent danger which they had
wantonly incurred, and they immediately
issued orders for a silent midnight retreat.
In vain the junior officers and Ragoba,
whose military experience was treated with
undeserved contempt, urged that, from the
CONVENTION OF WURGAUM WITH THE MAHRATTAS— 1779. 343
well-known tactics of the enemy, such an
attempt, made in defiance of clouds of
trained cavalry, was more perilous than the
boldest advance. And so the event proved;
for the first retrograde movement of the
English gave the signal for attack to the
whole hostile force. The bravery and skill
of Captain Hartley, the officer in command
of the rear-guard,* together with his extra-
ordinary influence with the native troops,
conduced materially to save the invading
army from total destruction. After several
furious charges, the enemy desisted, without
having made a serious impression on any part
of the line. But the loss of 300 men, includ-
ing fifteen officers, had so completely dis-
pirited the military leaders, that they now,
in continued opposition to the arguments and
entreaties of Hartley and others, declared
advance and retreat alike impossible, and
that nothing remained but to make peace
with the Mahrattas on any terms, — in other
words, to confess themselves caught in their
own trap, and consent to such a ransom
as their captors might dictate. They were
even prepared to give up Ragoba to his
foes, the ministers ; but he, aware of the un-
generous intention, made private terms of
i surrender with Sindia. The almost indepen-
j dent power of this chief, and the jealousy
I existing between him and the Poena au-
thorities, enabled the English, by a direct
application to him, to obtain more favour-
able terms than might otherwise have been
conceded ; but despite the moderation of the
victors, the Convention of Wurgaum formed
a fitting ending to one of the few disgrace-
ful campaigns recorded in the annals of the
Anglo-Indian army. Every point in dispute
was yielded ; all acquisitions made since the
death of Madhoo Rao (of course including
Salsette) were to be relinquished, as also
the revenue raised by the company in
Broach, -j- and even in Surat, which the Mah-
rattas had never possessed. Hostages (Mr.
Farmer and Lieutenant Stewart) were left
with Sindia for the performance of the treaty :
nevertheless, the first act of the committee
by whom the whole afiair had been so
terribly mismanaj^^'', on descending the
Ghaut in safety, w^s to countermand the
• Sindia loudly extolled the conduct of the rear-
guard, which he compared " to a red wall, no sooner
beat down than it was built up again." — (Duff.)
t A petty Mogul nabob held Broach, in subordi-
nation to the Mahrattas until 1772, when it was
captured by a British force under General Wedder-
bume, who was killed in the a'^sault.
order dispatched in agreement with the
recent convention forbidding the advance of
the troops from Bengal. J
The presidency were indignant beyond
measure at this discreditable conclusion of
their attempt to show Calcutta what Bombay
could do. Hastings was, on his part, no
less irritated by a series of rashly-planned
and ill- executed measures, which nothing
but " success, that grand apology for states-
men's blunders," § could excuse. His own
long-cherished hopes of taking advantage
of the dissensions of the Mahratta state
proved equally fruitless. A mistaken idea
of the connexion of Moodajee Bhonslay,
the ruler of Berar, with the house of Seva-
jee, led Hastings to stimulate Moodajee to
assert his supposed claim to the raj, or
sovereignty, upon the death of Ram Rajah
in 1777, and the appointment, under the
name of Shao Maharaj, of a distant rela-
tive, adopted as his son, and heir to his
gilded captivity by the deceased prince.
The effort proved fruitless, for Moodajee
retained a lively recollection of kindness
received from the grandfather of the infant
peishwa, and despite the promptings of am-
bition, was reluctant to interfere with the
power of that family. These kindly feel-
ings, one of the Hindoo guardians of the
child (either Nana Furnavees or Sukaram
Bappoo) had taken pains to cherish, by
placing his infant charge in the arms of
young Raghoo, the son of Moodajee, and
styling him the protector of the peishwa.
Hastings himself remarks that acts of this
description establish in the minds of the
Mahrattas " obligations of the most solemn
kind," and aflbrd " evidence of a generous
principle, so little known in our political
system." II The powerful minister. Nana
Furnavees, was, however, actuated by less
generous principles, his chief object being
to use the little peishvpa as an instrument
for his own aggrandisement and that of his
family, to whom he designed to transmit
his paramount authority over the puppet
minister of a puppet rajah. These designs
were not likely to escape the notice of
his colleagues in office, and dissensions
arosp, of which Sindia took full advantage
t The hostages were, nevertheless, generously re-
leased by Sindia, who did not even demand the parole
of Lieutenant Stewart not to fight against him, but,
on the contrary, said — " Resume your place in the
army ; your sword is your subsistence." — (Wilks.)
§ Duif's Mahrattas, ii., 379.
II Life of. Hastings, ii., 361.
344 GWALIOR FORTRESS, AHMEDABAD, AND BASSEIN CAPTURED— 1780.
for the establishment and increase of his
own power, by interfering as much as pos-
sible in the garb of a mediator.* Under
the pressure of external hostilities, internal
disputes invariably gave way to co-operation
for mutual defence ; and such was the imme-
diate effect produced by the repudiation by
the governor-general of the Convention of
Wurgaum, which he declared invalid, inas-
much as the English committee had far
exceeded the powers vested in them. This
was actually the case ; and Mr. Farmer had
informed Sindia that they had no power to
enter on any treaty without the sanction of
the supreme government. The Mahratta
chief treated this excuse as a mere pretence
to avoid giving an inconvenient pledge, and
scornfully asked, if their authority was so
limited, by whose order thej' had ventured
to break the treaty concluded by Colonel
Upton? The question was unanswerable;
the danger imminent ; and Mr. Carnac,
consoling himself with the idea that if, after
what had passed, the Mahrattas were duped,
the fault was their own, dispatched a pleni-
potentiary to the camp of Sindia for the
avowed purpose of concluding a treaty,
which he confirmed by every outward mark
of good faith, under a mental reservation
of the invalidity of the whole transaction.
On their return to Bombay, Mr. Carnac,
Colonel Egerton, and Colonel Cockburn (a
brave and steady soldier, but totally unfit
for so arduous a command), were dismissed
the service, and the recall of Colonel Leslie
was only prevented by his death of fever.
The ofience of the latter officer was the
* Sukaram Bappoo, the chief rival of Nana Fur-
navees, at length became his victim, and was secretly
removed from one fortress to another, till he perished
miserably under bodily suffering created rather by
the effects of unwholesome food and harsh treat-
ment, than the slight infirmities of a green old
age. Among his various prisons was that of Pertab-
gurh, on the western side of which lay an abyss
formed by 4,000 feet of rugged rock. From the
eastern side the spot was plainly visible where his
Brahrnin ancestor, 120 years before, won over by
Sevajee, swore the treacherous, midnight oath to
deliver up his master, Afzool Khan, to planned
assassination. — (Duff's Mahrattas, ii., 396.)
t This little principality, situated on the north-
eastern bank of the Nerbudda, was formed by the
usurpations of Dost Mohammed, an Afghan in the
service of Aurungzebe. During the troubles that
succeeded the death of the emperor, he assumed the
title of nawab (anglice nabob), and rallied round him
bands of adherents whom he had invited from Ben-
gal. His successors contrived to extend their sway,
and, what was more difficult, to gain the good-will of
the intractable Gonds, or people of Gondwarra, the
inhabitants of the southern portion of the Bhopal
slowness of his march from Bengal, and his
mistaken policy in allowing some Rajpoot
allies of the Mahrattas to engage him in
petty hostilities, and hinder the accomplish-
ment of his main object — namely, speedy
arrival at the seat of war. General God-
dard was chosen by Hastings for the com-
mand, and his progress was altogether as
speedy and fortunate as that of his predeces-
sor had been slow and unsatisfactory. After
receiving great kindness, bestowed under
circumstances of much doubt and difficulty
by the Afghan ruler of Bhopal,t Goddard
marched boldly on, manifested his good
sense by cordial co-operation with the
Bombay government, carried out their plan
of attacking Guzerat (notwithstanding the
almost independent authority with which
he was invested), and having, by extra-
ordinary expedition, avoided the snares laid
to interrupt his progress, crossed the Taptec
on the 1st of January, 1780, and before
the end of the month, carried by storm
Ahmedabad, the great but decayed capital
of the province. The famous fortress of
GwaliorJ was captured on the night of the
3rd of August, by a force of 3,400 men,
sent direct from Bengal by Hastings ; and
the year terminated with the conquest of
Bassein by Goddard. But these successes
were counterbalanced by disasters in other
quarters, which rendered the English anxious
to conclude a speedy peace with the Mah-
rattas on almost any terms. The aspect of I
afiTairs was indeed alarming; for, at this !
period, Hyder Ali and the Nizam had merged,
for the moment, their mutual animosities,
territory, chiefly through the instrumentality of an
able Hindoo minister, Bejee Ram, and a lady of re-
markable ability, who for more than half a century
greatly influenced, if she did not control, the coun-
cils of the principality, under the name of Mahjee
Sahiba, the " lady-mother," an appellation descriptive
of her benevolent character only, for she was child-
less. Hindoos and Mohammedans agree in cherish-
ing the memory of this beloved princess, and vie
with one' another in citing anecdotes illustrative of
her judgment and integrity. She attained the age
of eighty. — (.Major Hough's Bhopal Principality.)
t Gwalior, the famous state-prison of Akber and
Aurungzebe, had, upon the dismemberment of the
Delhi empire, fallen into the hands of a Jat chief,
known as the rana of Gohud. It was taken by
Sindia in 1779, and captured, in turn, by the British
troops under Major Popham, the scarped rock on
which the citadel stood being ascended at daybreak
by means of wooden ladders. Hastings had formed
a very exaggerated idea of the power of the rana of
Gohud, to whom he restored the fortress ; but on
discovering his mistake, he changed his policyj
and sanctioned its recovery by Sindia, in 1784 — con-
duct which formed an article in his impeachment.
PROCEEDINGS OF MADRAS PRESIDENCY— 1769 to 1772.
345
and confederated with their sworn foes, the
Poona ministers, for the express purpose
of expelling the English and the nabob
Mohammed Ali from the Carnatic. The
causes which led to this alarming coalition
of Hindoo and Mussulman powers, are
closely interwoven with the history of the —
Madras Presidency from 1769 to 1780.
— The principles which guided the counsels
of this government were so avowedly bad,
that their ruinous consequences seem to
have been the natural fruit of the tree they
planted. In 1772, the presidency made
war upon the poligars or chiefs of certain
adjacent districts called the Marawars, not
that they had any quarrel with them, but
simply because the tyrannical nabob had
"made them his enemies, and therefore,"
the Madras councillors add, " it is necessary
they should be reduced. It is necessary,
or it is good policy they should. We do
not say it is altogether just, for justice and
good policy are not often related."* Hosti-
lities were commenced on the above not
"altogether just" grounds, and they were
carried on, to adopt the same smooth-tongued
phraseology, in a not altogether merciful
manner. The poligar of the greater Mara-
war (a boy of twelve years of age), was
taken at the capture of his capital of Ram-
nadaporam, in April, 1772, after brave but
unskilful resistance on the part of its native
defendants (the tribe called Coleries by
Orme.) The poligar of the lesser Marawar
was slain after a treaty of peace had been
actually concluded, owing to a misunder-
standing between the English commander
and the son of the nabob, Oradut-al-Omrah.
The peasantry, as usual, remained passive
during the siege of the various forts : they
expected to be little aflfected by the change
of one despot for another; but the grinding
exactions of the new conqueror, which are
said to have surpassed even those of Hyder
Ali in the amount of misery inflicted, soon
convinced them of their error ; and on being
turned out of their lands, many took up
arms in sheer despair— the inverted plough
• Pari. Papers, quoted by Mill, iv., 100.
t Mill's India, iv., 103.
J Col. Wilks describes the sway of Hyder as one
fuccession of experiments as to how far extortion
could be practised on the fanner without diminish-
ing cultivation. When his subjects claimed justice
at his hands, he punished the offenders by a heavy
fine, but pocketed the money himself, declaring that
this appropriation was, by restraining oppression,
nearly as good for the people, and a great deal better
for the sovereign. Nevertheless, Wilks states that
being the general symbol of revolt. The
English officer. Colonel Bonjour, who had
been ordered to superintend the settlement
of the country in the manner desired by Mo-
hammed Ali, remonstrated forcibly against
an object which, being in itself oppressive to
the last degree, would require for its accom-
plishment " extremities of a most shocking
nature."t For instance, the impossibility of
seizing the armed and watchful foe, must,
he said, be met by such reprisals as the
complete destruction of the villages to which
they belonged, the massacre of every man
in them, and the imprisonment (probably
to end in slavery) of the women and children ;
with other "severe examples of that kind."j
Colonel Bonjour received an answer very
similar to that given by Hastings to Colonel
Champion in the case of the Rohillas, to
the effect, that these things were the natu-
ral consequences of war, and that the worthy
Mohammed Ali must not be affronted by
impertinent interference. In fact, the ma-
jority of the Madras council, at this period,
were the nabob's very humble and obedient
servants, although some trouble was taken
to conceal the fact from their " honourable
masters" in Leadenhall- street. Subser-
viency of so manifestly degrading a cha-
racter, could scarcely be the result of any
but the most unworthy motives ; and the
simple truth appears to have been, that the
leading English councillors entered upon
the extension of the power of the Moham-
medan nabob of Arcot, as a particularly
safe and promising speculation, since if
their efforts succeeded, great part of the
profit would be their own; and in the event
of failure, the expenses must be borne by
the company. So early as 1769, three
members of council held a large assignment
of territorial revenue, which the Court of
Directors subsequently discovered; and many
official and private persons received from
the nabob, bonds for the repayment of
money lent and not lent, the true conside-
ration given or promised being of a descrip-
tion which neither party cared to specify.
the misrule of Mohammed Ali " left at an humble
distance all the oppression that had ever been prac-
tised under the iron government of Hyder." — {Mt/-
soor, ii., 103.) Swartz corroborates this statement
by his remarks on the regularity and dispatch with
which the government of Mysoor was conducted.
" Hyder's economical rule is to repair all damages
without losing an instant, whereby all is kept in
good condition, and with little expense. The Euro-
peans in the Carnatic leave everything to go to
ruin." — ^Idem, p. 572.)
346 CAPTURE AND RESTORATION OF TANJORE— 1772 and 1776.
When Englishmen of a certain rank " could
make open and undisguised offers of their
services to become directors of the E.I. Cy.,"*
and even stoop to occupy seats in the Bri-
tish parliament purchased with his funds,
avowedly for the promotion of his interests,
little cause for surprise remains that Anglo-
Indian functionaries, placed for the time
beyond the reach of that public opinion
which with so many men stands in the
stead of conscience, should, by degrees,
lose all sense of shame, and scarcely take
ordinary pains to conceal their venality.
Even had they been more on their guard,
the conduct of Mohammed Ali could scarcely
have failed to provoke recriminations calcu-
lated to expose the whole nefarious system.
His love of money, though it fell far short
of his thirst for power, was still excessive :
he never willingly parted with gold, but
accumulated large hoards, giving bonds to
his real and pretended creditors, until they
themselves became alarmed at the enormous
amount of private debts with which the
revenues of Arcot were saddled. Mean-
while, the legitimate expenditure of govern-
ment was narrowed within the smallest
possible limits; the troops, as usual, were
in arrears of pay, and the promises made
to the E. I. Cy. remained unfulfilled. The
booty obtained by the seizure of the Ma-
rawars had only served to whet the appetite
of Mohammed Ali and the party of whom
he was at once the tempter and the dupe.
There was a neighbouring state better worth
attacking — that of Tanjore, a Mahratta
principality against which the nabob of
Arcot had no shadow of claim, except that
of having, by dint of superior strength, ex-
acted from thence an occasional subsidy.
Its late ruler, Pertap Sing, had, it is said,
more than once purchased the mediation of
the leading English officials by borrow-
ing from them large sums of money at
exorbitant interest : but his son and succes-
sor, Tuljajee, forsaking this shrewd policy,
applied to the Dutch at Negapatam, and the
Danes at Tranquebar, for the means where-
with to pay a heavy sum which he had been
compelled to guarantee to the Arcot autho-
rities as the price of peace, so late as 1771.
• Vide Wilks' Mysoor, ii., 213; and Burke's ad-
mirable speech on the Carnatic debts, in which he
affirmed that the nabob of Arcot had returned eight
members to one British parliament.
t Lord Pigot went out as a writer to Madras in
1736; was promoted to the government in 1754
went home, in 1763, with an immense fortune ; ana
successively obtained the rank of a baronet and of
Some small portion of this agreement re-
mained unfulfilled, and it served to aflford
a sufficient pretext for the invasion of Tan-
jore. In fact, such a formality could only
be necessary for the sake of preserving ap-
pearances with the company and the British
public. George III. had, it was well known,
been prepared, by wilful perversions of the
truth, to take a generous and manly, but
wholly mistaken and prejudiced view of all
matters regarding Mohammed Ali, whom
he had been induced to regard as an in-
dependent sovereign of high principle and
ability, whose plans the English were, in
gratitude and duty, bound to further to the
uttermost. Existing disputes between the
governments of Poona, Guzerat, and Berar,
prevented the chiefs of the Mahratta confede-
ration interfering to protect the rajah ; there-
fore, taking advantage of the opportunity,
hostile proceedings were commenced, and
ground broken before Tanjore on the 20tli
of August; on the 6th of September a
breach was efiFected ; and on the following
day, during the intense heat of noon, while
the garrison were for the most part at rest,
in expectation of an evening attack, the
English troops were, with the least pos-
sible noise, marshalled for the assault. The
stratagem was entirely successful ; the fort
was captured almost without loss, and the
rajah and his family fell into the hands of
Mohammed Ali, by whom his dominions
were formally occupied. The indignation
of the company was naturally roused by a
procedure which lacked even the thread-
bare excuse of zeal for their service. Orders
were issued (though somewhat tardily, owing
to the disturbed state of aff'airs at home) for
the restoration of the rajah of Tanjore;
and Lord Pigot,t his proved friend, was
sent out as governor, in 1775, for their en-
forcement. This act of justice was not car-
ried through in a purely disinterested man-
ner, for stipulations were made for the main-
tenance of an English garrison within the
citadel, and the payment of tribute to the
nabob. The latter clause failed to reconcile
Afohammed Ali to the surrender of Tanjore :
he even formed a plan for its forcible de-
tention,! which was forestalled by the prompt
an Irish peer. A treaty with the rajah of Tanjore, in
1 762, was one of his favourite measures, and he felt
naturally annoyed by its shameless violation.
t Vide Wilks' Mysoor, ii., 225. Mohammed Ali
had secretly ordered a large amount of military
stores from the Danish authorities at Tranque-
bar, but they arrived too late for the purpose de-
signed. The Danes had no great reason to rejoice
MR. PAUL BENFIELD— ARREST OF LORD PIGOT-177G.
347
and decisive measures of Lord Pigot, who
proceeded in person, in the spring of 1776,
to reinstate Tuljajee in his former dignity.
The council took advantage of his absence
to consider the delicate question of the pecu-
niary claims of individuals, especially those
of Mr. Paul Benfield. The case of this in-
dividual may serve to illustrate the character
of the nabob's debts, the majority of which
were similar in kind, though less in degree,
in proportion to the opportunities, audacity,
and cunning of the parties concerned. Mr.
Benfield was a junior servant of the com-
pany, with a salary of a few hundred pounds
a-year, which, as all old Indians know, could
leave little margin for extravagance; never-
theless, this clever adventurer, having in
his own scheming brain a talent for money-
making scarcely inferior to that vested in
the fairy purse of Fortunatus, contrived
not only to support a splendid establishment
and equipages, unrivalled at Madras even
in those days of luxury and ostentation, but
also to obtain certain assignments on the
revenues of Tanjore, and on the growing
crops of that principality, to the enormous
extent of £234,000, in return for £162,000
ostensibly lent to the nabob of Arcot, and
£72,000 to individuals in Tanjore. Such
was the leader of the party arrayed on the
side of Mohammed Ali, who had actually
signed bonds to the amount of nearly a
million and a-half sterling, backed by as-
signments on the revenues of Tanjore ; and
the very nature of these claims caused
them to be urged with peculiar acrimony
and violence. In Calcutta, the character
of the majority by whom Hastings was at
this very time so fiercely opposed, was wholly
different to that with which Pigot had to
struggle. Clavering, Monson, and Francis
might be reproached with party spirit, but in
all pecuniary matters their reputation was
unblemished, and their public proceedings
were, consequently, free from the baneful
in the transaction, for Hyder made them pay a fine
of £14,000 sterling for furnishing his inveterate foe
with warlike weapons ; and Mohammed Ali, despite
his desire to keep the affair quiet, liquidated but a
small portion of the stipulated price. The whole
matter came to light in 1801, when the E. I. Cy. took
possession of the Carnatic, and on the production of
the secret correspondence with the nabob, paid the
Danish Cy. a balance of £42,304.— (Wilks, ii., 10.)
* The scale on which bribery was carried on, may
be conjectured from the fact, that Admiral Pigot
declared in the House of Commons, in 1778, that his
brother, the late governor, had been offered a bribe,
amounting to £600,000 sterling, only to defer for a
time Ihe reinstatement of the rajah of Tanjore.
and narrowing influence of self-interest.
At Madras the case was wholly different;
the majority consisted of men of deeply
corrupt character, who, in return for accu-
sations of venality in abetting the aggressions
of the nabob, reciprocated the charge against
all the upholders of the rajah, from the
governor downwards.* The previous career
of Lord Pigot did not facilitate the per-
formance of the invidious task he had under-
taken. Like Clive, he had formerly accumu-
lated an immense fortune by questionable
means, and had returned to root up abuses
which, at an earlier stage, might have been
nipped in the bud. Even his present visit to
Tanjore, and the part played by him in the
struggle for the appointment of a resident
at that government, was far from being
free from all suspicion of private ends and
interests, either as regarded himself or his
immediate retainers. But, however alike in
their views and motives, the positions of Clive
and Pigot were very different. The latter,
instead of possessing supreme authority, was
subordinate to a governor-general by no
means inclined to afford cordial support to
any reformatory measures, save of his own
introduction ; and Lord Pigot, trusting too
much in his own strength, by a haughty
and violent line of conduct,t soon brought
matters to a crisis he was unprepared to
meet. The imprisonment of Sir Robert
Fletcher, with the attempted suspension of
two of the leading members of council, was
retaliated by his own arrest, performed in
a very unsoldier-like style by the temporary
commander-in-chief of the army. Colonel
Stuart, with the aid of a coachman in the
pay of Mr. Paul Benfield. J Having thus
unceremoniously disposed of their chief, the
majority proceeded to enact a series of legal,
or rather illegal forms, and assumed the
whole power of government. § They did not
long enjoy their triumph ; for the home
authorities, astonished and alarmed by such
f Swartz, commenting on the proceedings of which
he was an eye-witness, remarks: — "Probably his in-
tentions were laudable, but he began not with God."
X Col. Stuart was on terms of close intimacy with
Lord Pigot ; had breakfasted and dined w ith him on
the day of the arrest, and was ostensibly on the way
to sup with him, when the carriage of the governor,
in which they were both seated, was, by the appoint-
ment of the colonel himself, surrounded and stopped
by the troops. — (Mill, iv., 1.'34.) The governor was
dragged out, made a prisoner, and thrust into Ben-
field's chaise. — ( Vide Abstract of Trial of Stratton,
Brooke.Floyer, and Mackay. Murray; London, 1780.>
§ Hastings "persuaded his colleagues to acquiesce
in the new arrangements." — {Life, ii., 106.)
34S
GOVERNOR PIGOT DIES A PRISONER— MADRAS~1 777.
strange excesses, recalled both the de-
posed governor and his opponents, that the
whole matter might be brought to light.
Before these orders reached India, Lord
Pigot had sunk under the combined effects
of mental suffering and imprisonment for
nine months in an ungenial climate. His
death terrified all parties into a compro-
mise. The chief civil servants concerned
in the affair returned to England ; the four
members of council paid the to them very
trifling fine of J1,000 each, and the su-
bordinates crept back into the service.
Colonel Stuart was tried by a court-martial,
and, unhappily for the company, acquitted.
The new governor. Sir Thomas Rumbold,
reached Madras in 1778, and applied himself,
with much energy, to the improvement of his
private fortune. The council cheerfully fol-
lowed so pleasant an example ; and unwonted
tranquillity prevailed within the presidency,
the predominant feature being wilful blind-
ness to the storm gathering without. Yet even
Mohammed Ali beheld with alarm that the
utterly inconsistent, hesitating, yet grasping
policy long persisted in, was about to issue
in the conjoined hostilities of Hyder Ali,
the Nizam, and the Mahrattas, to each of
whom distinct occasions for quarrel had been
given ; and to these dangers the fear of
French invasion, owing to the outbreak of
European war, was added. Hyder Ali, their
most formidable foe, had been made such by
their own misdoings. He had earnestly de-
• Hyder entered Coorg in 1773. The rajah (Di-
vaia) fled, and was afterwards captured ; but the
people hastily assembled on a woody hill, which was
immediately surrounded by the enemy. Seating
himself with much state, Hyder proclaimed a reward
^f five rupees for each head that should be brought
to him. After receiving about 700, two were de-
fiosited on the heap of such singular beauty, that,
ooking earnestly at them, he ordered the decapita-
tion to cease. Ihe remaining Coorgs were not, how-
ever, disposed to submit tamely to the usurper
notwithstanding the tribute paid to the finely-formed
heads of their murdered countrymen ; and when he
proceeded to raise the assessment on produce from
the ancient tenth to a sixth, they rose as one man, but
were again reduced to submission by a sweeping mas-
sacre of nearly every individual of note. — ( Wilks.)
t Gooty is almost impregnable under ordinary
circumstances ; but the number of refugees from the
town, and the quantities of cattle driven into the
citadel, had exhausted the reservoirs of water ; and
Morari Rao, after above three months' siege, was re-
luctantly compelled to treat for peace, which Hyder
guaranteed on condition of receiving eight lacs of
rupees in coin, or that amount in jewels, immediately,
and a hostage for the subsequent payment of four
more. The hostage, a brave but inexperienced
youth, won by the praise bestowed on his chief and
himself by the conqiieror, imprudently boasted that
sired to keep the Mahrattas at bay by means
of an alliance with the English, whose enmity
he dreaded, fearing, above all things, the
unseen resources of the E. I. Cy. The
Madras government temporised with him
for years, and he bore all manner of neglects
and slights, waiting, in sullen silence, an
opportunity of revenge. After the death
of Madhoo Rao, he regained his previous
conquests, and largely increased them. The
little principality of Coorg,* and Gooty,
the eagle's nest of Morari Rao, fell succes-
sively: the first, before a sudden invasion,
most barbarously carried through ; the other
under peculiar circumstances of treachery.f
The Mahratta chieftain soon perished under
the influence of the insalubrious climate of
a hill-fort, called Cabal Droog, aggravated
by food of so unwholesome a character as to
be almost poisonous. His family, being sub-
jected only to the first of these evils, survived
him fifteen years, and then perished in a gene-
ral massacre of prisoners, ordered by Tippoo,
in 1791.
At the close of the year 1770, Hyder con-
templated with delight the fertile banks of the
Kistna, newly become the northern boundary
of the empire he had erected; but still
unsatisfied with its extent (as he would pro-
bably have been had it comprised all In-
dia), he proceeded in person to besiege the
fortress of Chittledroog,t which, amid the
chances and changes of previous years, had
fallen into the hands of a brave Hindoo
nothing short of being reduced to three days' water
would have induced Morari Rao to capitulate.
Hyder forthwith resumed the blockade, which he
maintained until the garrison, in an agony of thirst,
consented to an unconditional surrender, and then
such as escaped with life and liberty were robbed
of every other possession ; even the women being
despoiled of their accustomed ornaments, for the ex-
clusive benefit of the perfidious invader.
X The second siege of Chittledroog lasted three
months, and was attended with immense loss of life.
The garcison believed the place invested with super-
natural strength as the site of a famous temple dedi-
cated to the goddess Cali, so long as her rites were
duly performed. Unlike Hindoo deities in general,
Call was supposed to delight in blood, and conse-
quently her worshippers, despite the rashness of such
a proceeding, regularly sallied forth, after performing
their devotions, on every successive Monday morn-
ing during three months; and notwithstanding the
warning to the besiegers, given by the loud blast of a
horn as the signal for the outburst, and the fore-
knowledge of all except the exact point of attack,
the Beders never once returned without carrying off
the specific number of heads to be offered to their
tutelary deity, upon whose shrine about 2,000 of
these bloody trophies were found ranged in small
pyramids after the fall of the place. — (Colonel Wilks'
History of 3fi/soor, ii., 182.)
CHANDERNA.GORE AND OTHER FRENCH SETTLEMENTS SEIZED_1778. 34£
poligar or chief. The native garrison de-
fended the place with the fearless zeal of fana-
ticism, but were betrayed by a corps of Mo-
hamtnedan mercenaries, whom Hyder found
means to corrupt through the medium of
their spiritual instructor, a hermit of reputed
sanctity, who resided unmolested on the
plain below, near the hostile encampment.
The natives of the surrounding territory
(chiefly of the Beder tribe) had manifested
unconquerable attachment to the fallen chief
In vain Hyder had seized all the visible
property, and consumed all the provisions on
which his practised pilferers could lay hands ;
neither these measures, nor the infliction
of the most cruel punishments on every
person engaged in the conveyance of sup-
plies to the besieged, could deter men, women,
and even children from sacrificing their lives,
in continued succession, in the attempt to
support the garrison. Hyder at length de-
termined to sweep off the whole remainder
of the population, whose fidelity to their be-
sieged countrymen had alone prevented their
following the general example of flight to the
woods, or other provinces. About 20,000
were carried away to populate the island of
Seringapatam ; and from the boys of a cer-
tain age, Hyder formed a regular military
establishment of captive converts, in imita-
tion of the Turkish janissaries (new soldiers.)
These regiments, under the name of the
" Chelah"* battalions, were extensively em-
ployed by Tippoo Sultan. The reduction
of the small Patan state of Kurpa and
several minor places, next engaged the at-
tention of the Mysoorean. One of these
expeditions nearly cost him his life, by
rousing the vengeance of a party of Afghan
captives, who having overpowered their
guards in the dead of night, rushed to his
tent, and the foremost having succeeded in
effecting an entrance, aimed a deadly blow
at the rich coverlid which wrapped what he
took to be the body of the sleeping despot.
But Hyder himself had escaped to the protec-
tion of the nearest corps. On first hearing the
uproar he guessed its cause; for it was a por-
tion of his earthly punishment that, sleeping
orwaking, the dagger of the assassin was never
absent from his thoughts. Despite the bur-
den of advancing years, his mental and
physical energies were wholly unimpaired.
* Chelah was a softened name for slave ; first em-
plojed by Akber, who disliked the harsh term,
but not the odious thing denoted. Slavery has,
however, habitually assumed a milder form in the
East than the West Indies, under Hindoo and Mo-
hammedan, than under Christian masters; and the
2z
Springing from his couch, he performed the
favourite feat of the nursery hero, Jack the
Giant-killer, by stealthily laying his long
pillow in the place of his own body. Then
cutting a passage through the side of the
tent, he effected a safe and unsuspected re-
treat. The wretched Afghans were slain or
disarmed ; those taken alive were reserved
for various cruel deaths, such as having their
hands and feet struck off, or being dragged
round the camp tied to the feet of elephants,
until, and even long after, life had left their
mangled bodies.
Such was the barbarous character of the
foe whom the English had so long braved
with impunity, that, from the sheer force of
habit, they continued to treat him with con-
temptuous superiority, even after the unpro-
mising state of their own affairs, in various
quarters, rendered it obviously advisable to
adopt a conciliatory policy. The renewal of
European war, would, it was probable, prove
the signal for an attempt, on the part of the
French, to regain their lost possessions in
India, by the co-operation of some of the
more powerful native states. It was notorious
that St. Lubin and other adventurers, had es-
sayed to ingratiate themselves as representa-
tives of their nation, with the Mahrattas and
also with Hyder. But both these powers
were bent on avoiding any intimate con-
nexion with European states, whose tendency
to become supreme they justly dreaded,
though they were ever desirous to purchase,
at a high rate, the services of foreigners to
discipline their troops. Hyder especially
dreaded the effect of French influence, and
would certainly have had no dealings with
that government, save as a counterpoise to
the English and Mohammed Ali, whom
he cordially detested. Affairs were in a very
precarious condition, when intelligence oi
the renewal of war in Europe reached Ben-
gal (July, 1778) ; and, though somewhat
premature in character, Hastings thought
the information suflSciently authentic to
warrant the immediate seizure of the whole
of the French settlements before reinforce-
ments should arrive from England, or time
be given for the adoption of any concerted
plan of defence. Chandernagore, with the
factories at Masulipatam and Karical, sur-
rendered without resistance. Pondicherry
bondsmen of the palace, even beneath the sway o.
Hyder,had so much the air of "children of the house,"
that the good missionary, Swartz, praises the care
evinced for orphans, in total ignorance that Hyder's
protection had been purchased by the severance of
every natural tie of family, country, and creed.
350 PONDICHERRY AND MAHE TAKEN, 1779— HYDER AND SWARTZ.
was captured after a combined attack by seA
and land. The Erench squadron, under M.
TronjoUy, was worsted by the English admiral
Sir Edward Vernon, and quitted the coast
by night ; but the garrison, under M, Belle-
combe, held out bravely, and availed them-
selves of every advantage derivable from the
strong defences, which had been restored
since their destruction in the course of the
last war. A breach having been effected,
and a combined assault planned by the
troops under Sir Hector Munro, in con-
junction with the marines and seamen, fur-
ther resistance became hopeless; the place
capitulated, and its fortifications were
r?ized to the ground. The fortress and
port of Mahe alone remained to the
French. The territory in which they were
situated (on the ^Malabar coast), beside
being included in the recent conquests of
Hyder, was the depot for the military stores
which he obtained from the Mauritius ; he
was therefore extremely anxious for its re-
tention by its French possessors, and dis-
patched a vakeel (ambassador or envoy) to
Madras, threatening the invasion of Arcot
in the event of any hostile attempt on Mahe.
The fortress was nevertheless besieged and
taken in March, 1779, although the colours
of Mysoor were hoisted on the walls with
those of the French, and its troops assisted
in the defence. The presidency were not
without misgivings regarding the hazard
incurred by these multiplied provocations,
and Sir Thomas Rumbold made an effort
to discover the intentions of Hyder, by dis-
patching to his court the missionary Swartz,
the only ambassador he would consent to
receive. " Send me the Christian," said
Hyder ; " he will not deceive me."* The
reward of the envoy was to be some bricks
• Swartz had exerted his great personal influence
very successfully for the peaceful and equitable set-
tlement of Tanjore. Hyder had probably heard
much in his favour ; and his own opinion, formed from
subsequent observation, was forcibly shown by the
order issued in the Carnatic war, "to permit the
venerable Father Swartz to pass unmolested and
show him respect and kindness, for he is a holy
man, and means no harm to my government."
t Private resources Swartz had none ; little help
could be expected from the Europeans of Madras,
who, he says sorrowfully, could contribute 10,000
pagodas for a playhouse, "but to build a pray-
hcuse people had no money." The immorality of
nominal Christians, he considered the most serious
obstacle to the conversion of the heathen ; especially
in the case of the rajah of Tanjore. — (Wilks, ii., 569.)
X PerhapG two more opposite characters never en-
gaged in familiar converse than when the vindictive,
ambitious, and merciless Hydersat and talked with the
and mortar, to build a church, from the
stores at Tanjore.f These Had been already
promised for service rendered to govern-
ment in his capacity of a linguist, but
withheld from time to time. Hyder, who
had ever been distinguished by discrimi-
nation of character, fully appreciated the
singlemindedness and unaffected piety of
his visitor, with whom he held frequent in-
tercourse,J and suffered him to convey reli-
gious instruction to the European soldiers
in his service, and to hold unrestricted com-
munication, not only with them, but also
with the native troops, through the medium
of the Persian, Tamul, Mahratta, and Hin-
doostanee languages. Swartz refused to
accept any gift from Hyder, even for his
church, and on taking leave, stated with
earnestness, that a desire for the prevention
of war was the sole motive that had induced
him to undertake a political mission, which,
under the circumstances, he considered as
in nowise derogatory to the office of a
minister of God, who is a God of peace.
" Very well, very well," said Hyder ; " if
the English offer me the hand of peace and
concord, I shall not withdraw mine."
Swartz returned to Madras and related
the verbal assurance, which qualified the
written communication of which he was
the bearer, wherein the various grievances
sustained by the IMysoorean state, as well as
by Hyder personally, from the time of the
breach of faith regarding Trichinopoly in
1754, down to the recent offence of attempt-
ing to march an army, without even asking
his sanction, through his recently acquired
territory of Cudapah to that of Bassalut
Jung at Adoni, were enumerated; with the
ominous conclusion — " I have not yet taken
revenge ; it is no matter."
gentle, self-denying, peace-loving missionary, in one
of the stately halls of the palace of Seringapatam,
overlooking gardens adorned w^ith fountains, cypress
groves, trees gi-afted so as to bear two kinds of fruit,
and every refinement that luxury could suggest.
Hyder appears to have made no attempt to disguise
his barbarous system of administration ; for Swartz
speaks with horror of the dreadful tortures inflicted
on the collectors of revenue if thty failed, under any
circumstances, to collect the stated revenue. " Al-
though Hyder sometimes rewards his servants, yet
the principal motive is fear. 'J' wo hundred ])eople,
with whips, stand always ready to use them. Not a
day passes on which numbers are not flogged.
Hyder applies the same cat to all transgressors
alike, — gentlemen, horsekeepers, tax-gatherers, and
his own sons ;" but they are not dismissed, but con-
tinued in office ; for Hyder, adds Swartz, " seems to
think that almost all people who seek to enrich
themselves are void of all principles of honour."'
CONFEDERACY OF NATIVE POWEF.S AGAINST ENGLISH— 1780. 351
The authorities, immersed in the deadly
stupor of indolence and venality, conducted
themselves as if wholly indifferent to the
threat thus significantly conveyed. Swartz
found that he had been a mere tool, and
that Hyder had appreciated more justly
than himself the selfish duplicity of Sir
Thomas Rumbold and his colleagues. Still
persevering in the insulting affectation of
a desire to preserve amity, they actually
sent to the magnificent court of Mysoor —
to a sovereign enriched with the spoil of
principalities and provinces — a private per-
son of no note as ambassador (Mr. Gray),
bearing with him an ill-made English saddle
(hogskin to a Mussulman !) and a rifle which
loaded at the breech. The presents were
declined as unworthy the giver or intended
receiver; neither would Hyder grant a pri-
vate audience to the envoy ; but on learning,
through one of his nobles, the desire of the
presidency to form an alliance with him, he
sent word that he had at one period ear-
nestly and repeatedly solicited it without
effect, but was now strong enough to stand
alone.
The most alarming part of this defiant
message is said to have been withheld by
Sir Thomas Rumbold,* whose policy was
at the time directed to carrying off an
immense fortune safe to England. Taking
leave of the council, he congratulated them
oh the pi'ospect of peace at a moment when
every nerve ought to have been strained to
prepare for defence against invasion, and
took his departure in time to avoid the
receipt of the recall then on its way to
India.t Among the political errors urged
against him was the offence given to Nizam
Ali, by compelling his brother and subject,
Bassalut Jung, to make over the Guntoor
Circar to the company in 1779, instead
of suffering him to enjoy it for life, as
agreed upon by the treaty of 1768; and
then using this extorted concession as a
means of gratifying the cupidity of Mo-
hammed Ali, to whom this fine district was
to be let in farm. Both the London direc-
tors and the Bengal authorities strove to
assuage the anger of the Nizam at conduct
which he was both able and willing to resent ;
but the Madras officials persisted in justify-
ing their conduct in this respect, and also
• Vide Captain James Munro's Coromandel Coast,
p. 130. Br. Hoodie's MSS., in library of E. I. Cy.
t A criminal prosecution was commenced against
him in 1782, in the House of Commons, but ad-
journed from time to time, and eventually dropped.
in endeavouring to repudiate the arrears of
peshcush, or tribute, due for the other Circars,
as warranted by their pecuniary necessities,
and far less faulty in principle, than the
breach of faith committed in withholding
the tribute pledged to the emperor as a first
charge upon the revenues of Bengal.
Hyder Ali had spies everywhere. He
was perfectly aware of the ill-feeling exist-
ing between the controlling and subordinate
governments, and made no secret of the hos-
tile intentions and utter contempt he enter-
tained towards the latter. The extraordi-
nary apathy of the majority of the council,
together with the violent measures used to
stifle the representations of the few who
advocated the adoption of immediate mea-
sures for the defence of the Carnatic, gave
weight to his assertions that the time had
arrived for all Indian powers to unite in ex-
pelling the one great European state which
threatened to engulph every other. Now, in
its moment of weakness, when the reins of
authority were vested in incapable and selfish
hands, a short and decisive struggle might,
by the conjoined strength of Mohammedans
and Hindoos, brought to bear against the
common foe, be attended with such com-
plete success as " to leave not a white face in
the Carnatic." The confederacy advocated
by Hyder was actually formed, and a plan
laid down which, if all parties had carried
out their pledge as he did his, might have
gone far to realise the desired object. Mo-
hammed Ali, for once a true prophet, fore-
told the coming storm; but in vain. The
presidency persisted in declaring that the
dark clouds which they could not deny
overshadowed the political horizon, would
pass away or be dissipated by the precau-
tions of the Bengal council ; — days, weeks,
months elapsed, at a time when even hours
of continued peace were of incalculable im-
portance, without any attempts for reinforc-
ing weak garrisons in important positions,
or for making arrangements for the pro-
visioning of troops, notwithstanding the
obvious necessity of the latter measure in
all cases of threatened invasion, especially
by a foe whose desolating and destruc-
tive mode of warfare was proverbial. Yet
the very man who had once before dictated
terms at the gates of Madras, was treated
as a mere braggart, even after he had
actually crossed the frontier, and was ap-
proaching, with his two sons, at the head
of above 80,000 men, supported by a large
train of artillery and a considerable body of
352
INVASION OF THE CARNATIC BY HYDER ALI— 1780.
Europeans (chiefly French), constituting,
without doubt, the best-disciplined army
ever marshalled by a native Indian power.
At length the burning of Conjeveram, the
largest village in the Carnatic (sixty miles
from Fort St. George, and thirty-five from
Arcot), and the testimony of numerous ter-
rified and bleeding fugitives, closely followed
by the sight of the much-dreaded predatory
horse of the foe, prowling about amid the
garden-houses round Mount St. Thomas,
changed doubts, sneers, and cavils into un-
speakable dismay, which the tidings of every
successive hour tended to increase. Hyder
pursued his favourite policy of creating a
desert about the places he desired to con-
quer. Round Fort St. George he drew a
line of merciless desolation, extending from
thirty to thirty-five miles inland, burning
every town and village to the ground, and
inflicting indiscriminate mutilation on every
individual who ventured to linger near the
ashes. The wretched peasantry, victims of
the quarrels of usurping powers, whose
actions they could neither understand nor
influence, were sacrificed by thousands by
fire or the sword, while multitudes, doomed
to more protracted suffering, were driven
off" in a whirlwind of cavalry into exile or
slavery, frequently to both united; — the
father torn from his virgin daughter; the
husband from the wife; the mother borne
away in the torrent, unable so much as to
snatch her shrieking infant from the tramp-
ling hoofs of the snorting horses. Yes !
Hyder was indeed at hand : dense clouds
of smoke, mingled with flame, were the sure
harbingers of his approach. The country-
people fled, wild with terror, to Madras ;
and no less than 300,000 were suflered to
take up their abode in the black town in
the space of three days.
The assembling of the troops was evi-
dently of the first importance. There was
no lack of men or ammunition ; but a
grievous deficiency of discipline, and gene-
ral discontent, engendered by the severe
suflfering inflicted by the non-payment of
arrears.* A strong and united efibrt, by
the local authorities, to relieve their wants
• The force of the nabob alone, in 1776, was stated
by Col. Matthews, before a Pari. Committee, to
amount to 35,000 effective men. That of the presi-
dency comprehended about 30,000; but even the Eng-
lish forces were on the brink of mutiny for want of
pay. In 1777, a regiment completely equipped for
service, and stationed a few miles from Hyder's
frontier, seized Captain Campbell and their other
officers, and were only brought to release them by
and inspire confidence, was, however, all
that was needed to restore their wonted
efiiciency ; but so far from any decisive
measures being taken, delays and disputes
arose; for the commander-in-chief. Sir
Hector Munro, could not be spared to take
the head of the army, because his vote
alone insured the supremacy in council of
his own opinions and those of the president,
Mr. Whitehill. Lord Macleod,t who had
recently arrived from England with a high-
land regiment 1,000 strong, was desired to
assume the command, but he positively
refused to accept the responsibility of car-
rying out the hazardous plan devised by
Munro, of uniting the main body with that
absent in the Guntoor Circar, tinder Colonel
Baillie, at the distant site of Conjeveram,
and strongly urged the adoption of the more
reasonable course suggested by the minority,
of marshalling the forces with the least pos-
sible delay on St. Thomas' Mount. Munro,
wedded to his project, determined to take
the field in person, and actually proposed
and carried that he should appoint a
nominee to occupy his seat in council so
long as it continued vacant. The opposi-
tion members indignantly reprobated this
arrangement ; and one of them (Mr. Sad-
leir) so provoked the majority, that they
decreed his suspension, which was followed
up by a challenge from Sir Hector.
The subsequent conduct of the campaign
corresponded with this inauspicious com-
mencement. In the very face of the enemy,
when from Cape Comorin to the Kistna
all was plunder, confusion, and bloodshed,
the civil and military authorities continued
to quarrel with each other. Munro per-
sisted in attempting the junction of the
troops in the centre of a country occupied
by an enemy. He marched to Conjeveram
with the main body, which comprised 5,209
men, of whom 2,481 were European infantry
and 294 artillery, and there awaited the
arrival of Colonel Baillie, whose force con-
sisted of about 150 Europeans and 2,000
sepoys. Hyder was at the time engaged in
besieging Arcot ; but his invariable policy —
from which the English general might have
the interference of Col. James, the commandant of
Trichinopoly, who made himself personally respon-
sible for the utmost extent of arrears he could pro-
vide funds to meet. The European officers and na-
tive troops under Colonel Fullarton, were, at a
subsequent period, twelve months in arrear, and
obtained their very food on credit.
t Lord Macleod afterwards quitted India, in con-
sequence of Col. Stuart being placed over him.
(
HYDER ALI CUTS OFF COL. BAILLIE'S DETACHMENT— 1780. 353
learned a useful lesson — of directing his
chief energies to the most prominent
danger, induced him to send the flower of
the army, under Tippoo, to intercept the
detachment under Baillie, which was ac-
complished at a spot about fifteen miles
distant from Conjeveram.
After a severe conflict of several hours,
Baillie succeeded in repelling his assailants,
but with so much loss, that he sent word to
the general he could not join him unless
reinforced in such a manner as to be capable
of resisting the opposition of the enemy.
He suggested that Munro himself should
advance to the rescue; instead of which,
the general thought fit again to divide his
small army by sending forward a detach-
ment under Colonel Fletcher, to strengthen
that threatened by Tippoo.
The intelligence of Hyder regarding the
plans and proceedings of the English, was
as speedy and reliable as their information
concerning him was tardy and misleading.
His plot to surprise and destroy Colonel
Fletcher on the march was, happily, neu-
tralised by the discreet change of route
ordered by that officer ; and it is considered,
that had the junction of the detachments
been followed up, after a few hours' rest,
by speedy movement, the conjoined troops
might have made their way safely to Conje-
veram. But needless delay gave time for
Tippoo to fix cannon at a strong post on
the road, and, worse still, for Hyder him-
self to advance in person and oppose their
passage. The little band, both Europeans
and sepoys, sustained furious and repeated
assaults with extraordinary steadiness, in-
spired with the hope that Munro would
take advantage of the opportunity to relieve
them by attacking the foe in the rear.
Hyder was not without apprehensions on
this score, which were heightened by the
representations of the French oflScers in his
service, especially of Lally and Pimorin.*
The fate of the day hung in suspense until
two of the tumbrils blew up in the English
lines, and at once deprived them of ammu-
nition, and disabled their guns ; they never-
theless maintained the contest for another
hour and a-half. At the end of that time
but 400 men remained, many of them
wounded yet they still rallied round their
* Lally was the commander of a small body of
European mercenaries who had successively served
Nizam AH and Bassalut Jung, before entering the
gervice of Hyder. Pimorin was a French officer.
t Of eighty-six officers, thirty-six were killed,
thirty-four wounded, and sixteen surrendered unhurt.
leader, desiring to cut their way through
the hostile ranks or perish in the attempt.
But Colonel Fletcher lay dead on the field
of battle, and Colonel Baillie, willing to
save the lives of his brave companions, and
despairing of relief from head-quarters, held
up his handkerchief as a flag of truce. An
intimation of quarter being given, the Eng-
lish laid down their arms; but had no
sooner done so than a fierce onslaught was
made by the enemy, and the whole of
them would have been slain in cold blood,
including even the native women and chil-
dren who had accompanied the detachment,
but for the interference of the French mer-
cenaries. Baillie was brought, stiff" with
wounds, into the presence of his barbarous
conqueror, and eventually perished in the
prison of Seringapatam. About 200 Euro-
peans were taken, of whom fifty were oflfi.-
cers.f They were destined to linger long
years in a captivity more terrible than death.
When tidings of this disaster reached
Conjeveram, Munro threw his heavy guns
and stores which could not be removed,
into a tank, and retreated from that place
to Chingleput, where he hoped to procure a
supply of rice for the army ; but being dis-
appointed by the conjoined effect of Hyder's
alertness and his own want of precautionary
measures, he retreated to Madras. Here
general consternation and alarm prevailed,
aggravated by the utter want of provisions,
military stores, or funds even to pay the
troops, European or native ; the latter, in
the service of Mohammed Ali, deserted
in whole regiments simply for that reason.
The state of things seemed hopeless, when
the vigorous measures of the supreme gov-
ernment at Bengal gave a new turn to
affairs. The unfaltering courage and clear
perceptions of Hastings were never ex-
erted more advantageously than at this
crisis. He had already instituted a nego-
tiation with the Nizam for the restoration
of the Guntoor Circar, the chief bone of
contention ; and he maintained a correspon-
dence with the Mahratta ruler of Berar,
Moodajee Bhonslay, which had the effect
of rendering that chief unwilling to co-
operate actively with his countrymen against
the English, though he did not care openly
to refuse joining the general confederacy.
But these measures were manifestly insuffi-
cient to meet the present crisis. Hyder
had followed up his success at Conjeveram
by the siege and capture of Arcot. Wan-
dewash, Vellore, Chingleput, and other bul-
354 SIR EYRE COOTE DEFEATS HYDER NEAR PORTO NOVO— 1781.
warks of the Carnatic, were wretchedly
provisioned and closely blockaded ; while
the numerous forts under the direct control
of the nabob, Mohammed Ali, were, for the
most part, surrendered without a blow, from
the various and often concurrent causes of
disgust at an incapable and extortionate
master, corruption, and despondency. Such
was the news brought to Calcutta by a swift-
sailing ship, flying before the south-west
monsoon. In twenty-four hours the gov-
ernor-general's course was taken. Supplies
of every description — of men, money, and
provisions — were gathered in, and dispatched
under the charge of the veteran general
Sir Eyre Coote, whose very name was a
host, and to whom the sole conduct of the
war was to be entrusted; for Hastings,
rightly deeming the emergency a justifica-
tion for exerting the utmost stretch of
authority, took upon himself to suspend
Mr. Whitehill, the venal and incapable
governor of Fort St. George.
On reaching Madras, Coote found at his
disposal a force numbering altogether 7,000
men, of whom only 1,700 were Europeans.
Despite the manifest disparity of numbers,
he earnestly desired to bring Hyder to a
regular engagement, believing that the
danger to be incurred by such a proceeding
would fall far short of that resulting from
the waste of resources and dispiriting effects
of the harassing hostilities carried on by his
opponent in a country already desolated.
The wary Mysoorean well knew the foe with
whom he had now to cope, and neither taunts,
threats, nor manoeuvring, could induce him
to risk a pitched battle. This very circum-
stance enabled the English to relieve Wan-
dewash,* Permacoil, and other besieged
places; but |only for a time: the indefati-
gable foe marched off uninjured to bloc-
kade a different fortress, and Coote followed
till his troops were well-nigh worn out.f
At length a seeming evil procured the long-
desired engagement ; for Hyder, encouraged
by the presence of a French fleet on the
coast, intrenched his army in a strong post
near Cuddalore, close to the village called
by Europeans Porto Novo, and strove to
• Wandewash was most gallantly defended by
Lieut. Flint, who, notwithstanding very deficient re-
sources, and without a single artilleryman, not only
held his ground during seventy-eight days of open
trenches against the flower of Hyder's army, but
raised a little corps of cavalry, and procured provi-
sions for his garrison and supplies for the main army.
t When urged by the British coram.ander to de-
cide the fortune of war by a pitched battle, Hyder
intercept and cut off the supplies of the
English, who had recently been repulsed
in an attack on the pagoda of Chillambrum.
Coote advanced boldly, and having dis-
covered a means of approach for a portion
of the troops by a passage through a ridge
of sand-hills, formed by Hyder for his own
use, the general contrived, by a series of
simple yet skilful and admirably executed
movements, to marshal his forces in the
face of several heavy batteries, and finally
succeeded, after a close and severe contest,
in forcing the line of the enemy and fairly
putting them to flight.
At the commencement of the battle
(about nine o'clock on the morning of the
1st July, 1781), Hyder took up his position
on a little hill commanding the scene of
action, and there he sat until four in the
afternoon, cross-legged, on a low stool,
watching every movement made by or
against the English, and so enraged by the
unexpected progress of affairs, as to become
stupid with vexation. Fourteen years be-
fore, when defeated by Colonel Smith, J he
had been observed by the English officers,
with cool self-possession, issuing orders for
a retreat, in the manner of one who could
afford to wait and bide his day of triumph.
But Hyder was an old man now; a pam-
pered tyrant, accustomed to tread on the
necks of his fellow-beings ; and he believed
the time at length arrived to triumph over
the power of the people by whom he
had been long braved with impunity. The
cup of revenge was at his lips; was it to
be flung to the ground almost uutasted?
Considerations of this nature shut out from
view all thought of personal danger, and
rendered him deaf to the arguments offered
to induce him to quit a position rapidly be-
coming extremely perilous. The nobles in at-
tendance were silenced by the obscene abuse,
always lavishly bestowed by their imperions
master when out of temper; their horses
and servants had disappeared in the general
flight before the advancing foe ; but Hyder
remained seated until a groom, who through
long and faithful service was in some
sort a privileged man, came forward, and
is said to have replied — " What ! put my chargers, ■
worth more than one hundred rupees each, in com-
petition with your cannon-balls, that only cost a
few pice (halfpence.) No, no: you shall hear of
me often, but see me never. I will keep you march-
ing until your legs are as big as your bellies, and
your bellies the size of your legs j and then you shall
fight when I choose, not when you please."
X At Trincomalee. in 17<37. (See p. 318.)
BATTLE OF POLLILOOR— MACAETNEY BEACHES MADEAS— 1781. 356
drawing the legs of Hyder from under him,
thrust his shppers on his feet, and with
blunt fidelity prevailed on him to rise,
saying, " we will beat them to-morrow ; in
the meanwhile mount your horse." Hyder
complied, and was out of sight in a few
moments, leaving the discomfited group,
around bis stool of repentance, to save
themselves as they best could. Luckily
for them, the English had no cavalry where-
with to carry on the pursuit. The victory
was, however, fraught with important con-
sequences. It induced the hostile force to
fail back upon Arcot. Sir Eyre Coote fol-
lowed, and encouraged by previous success,
ventured to attack Hyder near Polliloor,
in a position which, besides great natural
advantages, was held by the superstitious
Mysoorean in particular estimation as a
lucky spot, being that on which he had cut
off the detachment under Baillie in the
previous year. The British troops became
furious at the sight of the unburied re-
mains of their fallen comrades ; but insur-
mountable obstacles retarded their advance.
They could not get at the enemy ; two tum-
brils broke (as on the previous occasion) ;
and to make the confusion greater, Sir
Hector Munro, having received a hasty
rebuke from Coote, sullenly seated himself
beneath the only tree in the plain, and
refused to issue a single command. The
loss of the English was about 500 killed,
including some officers ; and the action would
probably have terminated in a defeat, had
their wily adversary suspected the existence
of the dissension and confusion which tem-
porarily prevailed iu an army characterised
by united action and steady discipline. The
campaign ended with the surprise of the
Mysooreans at the pass of Sholingur, on
the road to Vellore : their loss was estimated
at 5,000 men; while that of the English
fell short of 100.
Meanwhile, an important change had taken
place at Madras in the nomination of Lord
Macartney as governor and president of Fort
St. George. The appointment of a man of
acknowledged talent and strict integrity was,
doubtless, a great step towards abolishing
the systematic venality which had long dis-
graced the presidency ; and the earnest and
straightforward manner in which the new
ruler applied himself to his arduous and in-
vidious task, justified the expectations en-
tertained on his behalf. But the difiBculties
which surrounded him were great beyond
expectation. Disastrous nevfs awaited his
arrival in June, 1781. First, that theCarnatic,
which Sir Thomas Eumbold had represented
in a most peaceful and promising condition,
was actually occupied by a ruthless foe ;
secondly, that the means of defence had
been vainly sought for by men possessed
of the local experience in which he was of
necessity wholly deficient ; and thirdly, that
the increasing scarcity which prevailed
through the Carnatic, threatened to termi-
nate in a terrible famine. Macartney was
called on to decide how best to meet these
difficulties without clashing with the extra-
ordinary powers vested in the brave and in-
defatigable, but peevish and exacting General
Coote, and still more with the supreme
authority wielded by the seemingly concilia-
tory, but really dictatorial and jealous
Hastings.
Lord Macartney brought to India intel-
ligence of war with Holland ; and despite the
objections of Coote, who desired to see the
whole force concentrated for the reconquestof
Arcot, the Dutch settlements were attacked ;
Sadras, Pulicat, and Negapatam successively
taken ; after which the troops of Hyder be-
gan to evacuate the forts which they had
occupied in Tanjore. But these successes
were soon followed by renewed disasters.
A French fleet arrived on the Coromandel
coast in January, 1782, and after intercept-
ing several vessels bound to Madras with
grain, landed 3,000 men at Porto Novo,
where Tippoo speedily joined them with a
large body of troops. An English and
native detachment, about 2,000 strong, star
tioned in Tanjore, under Colonel Brathwaite,
misled by a system of false information car-
ried on by the spies of Hyder, were surprised
by a conjoiaed force under Tippoo and
Lall)', and after maintaining a desperate re-
sistance for six-and-twenty hours, against an
enemy who outnumbered them twenty to
one, were at length completely surrounded,
and either slain or captured. The conclu-
sion of a peace with the Mahrattas being
officially announced at Madras in the month
of June, gave an opportunity for opening a
similar negotiation with Hyder. The terms
on which it had been obtained were not,
however, of a nature to induce so wary a
politician to make important concessions.
The English, he well knew, had purchased
peace by the surrender of almost all they
had been fighting for — that is, by reverting
to the terms of the indignantly repudiated j
treaty of Poorunder; and even these condi
tions had been made through the instrumen
856
DEATH OF HYDER ALI— DECEMBER, 1782,
tality of the formidable and intriguing
Sindia.* But Hyder desired an interval of
tranquillity in which to settle a plan of com-
bined operations with the French admiral
Suffrein ; he therefore proceeded to treat
with Sir Eyre Coote, who remained in sus-
pense until the vakeel from Mysoor was
suddenly withdrawn, and the old general
discovered that his whole stock of provisions
had been consumed, while the troops were
kept in a state of inactivity by the artifice
of Hyder. The subsequent attempts of the
English to force a battle were unavailing ;
and matters grew from bad to worse, until
towards the close of the year, Coote, who
had previously sustained a fit of apoplexy,
now suffered afresh seizure, which compelled
him to resign the command to general
Stuart, and retire to Bengal. Madras was
by this time reduced to a terrible condition.
The ravages of famine, after spreading over
the whole Carnatic,t at length became felt
in the presidency, and increased with alarm-
ing rapidity, until the number of deaths
amounted to, and continued for several
weeks, at from 1,200 to 1,500. The French
appear to have been ignorant of the state of
affairs; for they made no attempt to bloc-
kade the coast ; and supplies from Bengal
and the Northern Circars came in time to
aid in preventing the scourge of pestilence
from following the ravages of famine. Hyder
Ali had ever been accurately informed re-
garding the condition of every leading Eng-
lish settlement, and would doubtless have
not failed to take advantage of the condition
of the capital of the presidency, but that his
marvellous energies of mind and body, so
long vouchsafed, so terribly misused, were
fast failing. His health had been for some
time declining, and, in November, symptoms
* The price paid to Sindia was the surrender of
the city of Broach and its dependencies. The ar-
rangements referred to (commonly known as the
Treaty uf Salbye) were concluded in May, 1782.
+ An eye-witness pathetically describes the man-
ner in which the nf tives, " whose very excess and
luxury, in their most plenteous days, had fallen short
of our severest fasts — silent, patient, resigned without
sedition or disturbance, almost without complaint,"
jjerished in multitudes.^ — (Moodie's Transactions.)
X It is said that Hyder, like Hamilcar, swore his
son to wage incessant war against the English ;
but the truth of this assertion is doubtful.
§ The age of Hyder is very differently stated.
Wilks (the best general authority regarding My-
soor) states that he was seven years old in 1728,
which would make him about sixty at the time of
his death ; but Mill and other writers unanimously
speak of him as attaining a far more advanced
age; and the careful and accurate Thornton
appeared of a mortal disease described as
peculiar to natives of high rank, and there-
fore called the raj-poora, or royal boil. He
died at Chittore, in December, 1782, | leaving
Tippoo§ to prosecute hostilities with the Eng-
lish. The defalcation of the Mahrattas had,
it is said, led him to regret the confederacy
he had formed, and even to regard it as the
most impolitic act of his whole career. " I
have committed a great error," he exclaimed
with bitterness; " I have purchased a draught
of seandee|| (worth about a farthing) at
the price of a lac of pagodas. I can ruin
their resources by land, but I cannot dry up
the sea."^ It would have been well for his
successor had he profited by this dear-bought
experience; but Tippoo, fierce, headstrong,
and bigoted, was the last person in the
world to gain wisdom on such easy terms.
A leading characteristic of Hyder had been
i)erfect toleration to every religious sect.
Though quite capable of respecting the
genuine piety of such a man as Swartz, he
appears to have been himself devoid of any
belief whatever; and alternately counte-
nanced and joined in the ceremonial obser-
vances of the Mohammedans and Hindoos,
and even the grossest forms of idolatry, super-
stition, and magical iucantation performed
by the latter, simply from motives of policy.
His cruelties, great and terrible as they
were, resulted from the same cause, except-
ing only those prompted by his unbounded
sensuality. Tippoo Sultan, on the contrary,
had all the insatiable ferocity of the wild
beast whose name he bore, when the fear-
ful relish for human blood has once been
acquired ; and none of his victims could have
suggested a more appropriate badge than
the stripe of the royal tiger, which formed
part of his insignia.** With him, the fiendish
describes him. as little younger than Aurungzebe.
II Date wine, a cheap but very intoxicating liquor.
% Mysoor, ii., 373. Col. Wilks gives this strange
confessioti on the authority of Poornea, the Hindoo
minister, to whom it was addressed. Hyder, it must
be recollected, had no ally on whom he could rely.
The Mahrattas had forsaken him, and from the
French he could only receive very partial aid, since
he had predetermined, under no circumstances, to
admit them in force to Mysoor.— ( Idem, 374.) At a
very critical period (March, 1782), Hyder resented
the attempt of a French officer to take possession of
Chillambrum, by turning him out of the fort, and
the troops, having no bullocks, were actually com-
pelled to drag their artillery back to Porto Novo !
•* Tippoo Sultan is thought to have been named
after a famous ascetic for whom Hyder Ali had a
regard, and who had assumed this strange designa-
tion to signify sovereignty obtained over the tiger-
like passions of the flesh. — (Wilks' Mysoor, ii., 567.)
CHARACTER OF TIPPOO SULTAN— DEATH OF COOTE— 1783. 357
delight of inflicting pain and degradation,
physical and moral, seems to have been an
instinct developed even in early boyhood.
In vain the stern reprimands of his
dreaded father were frequently sounded
in his ears ; in vain the repeated infliction
of corporal punishment by the long whips,
which Hyder declared to be better security
for good government than all the reading
and writing in the world ; — Tippoo could
never be restrained from indulging the
vicious tendencies which subsequently found
vent in the form of religious persecution. He
persisted in inflicting the outward mark of
Islam on such Christians as fell in his
power,* and insulted the peaceful Hindoo
subjects of his father by wantonly defiling
their places of worship, and slaying the
animals they hold most sacred, especially
the sacred bulls, which he recommended to
his associates as the best possible beef. Yet
Tippoo, stanch Mussulman as he deemed
himself, and sworn foe to idolatry, was not
the less a slave to the gross superstitions of
which the Brahminical creed of modern
times is so largely composed ; and, like Hyder
himself, he rarely failed, in commencing a
diflBcult and dangerous undertaking, to have
the jebbum — a strange species of magical
incantation — performed on his behalf by
the Hindoos, simultaneously with the offer-
ing up of prayers for success in the mosques.f
Add to these characteristics that of an irre-
pressible tendency for pilfering and lying,
and we have, perhaps, about as detestable a
person as can well be conceived. In acti-
vity in battle, he is said to have surpassed
his father, and to have equalled him in
personal daring; but in every other more
needful capacity of a despotic ruler, he was
immeasurably inferior. His uncontested
succession was ensured by the manoeuvres of
two Brahmins, the chief ministers of Hy-
der,t who concealed the death of the
sovereign as long as possible, in order to
give his heir time to return from his post on
the western frontier of Mysoor, whither he
* When a youth, his father punished him severely
for having inflicted circumcision on an English sol-
dier, at a time when he was anxious to conciliate
the good-will of the Madras presidency.
t The Jebbum, though purely a Hindoo cere-
monial, was frequently resorted to by Mohamme-
dans ; one, of which the details are on record, is
said to have cost Mohammed Ali £5,000, which he
did not grudge, since it killed Lord Pigot ; and
another, after several failures, produced the death
of Hyder himself. — (Wilks' Mysoor, ii., 255.)
X The chief ministers, relatively speaking; for Hy-
der was himself the acting head of every department.
3a
had proceeded to repel the incursions
of the English under Colonel Humber-
stone. Lord Macartney, on learning the
late event, earnestly pressed the comman-
der-in-chief (General Stuart) to take im-
mediate advantage of the confusion likely
to arise from a change of ruler. But
here again the spirit of disunion, which pre-
vailed to so remarkable an extent in the
Madras presidency, forbade speedy and com-
bined action. The general claimed to be
allowed to exercise the same independent au-
thority bestowed by the supreme government
on Sir Eyre Coote, and the governor con-
tended, as Hastings had done in Bengal,
for the entire subordination of the military
to the civil authority. The general, to vin-
dicate his alleged right, took the course
natural to an opiniated and narrow-minded
man, of acting in direct opposition to the
instructions given by the presidency ; and
during the remainder of this the first war
with the new ruler of Mysoor, the very
spirit of discord ruled in the senate, the
camp, and the field, neutralising every suc-
cess, and aggravating every disaster. By
the urgent solicitations of Hastings, Coote
was again induced to return to the Carnatic ;
although, before his departure from thence,
some serious disputes had taken place be-
tween him and Lord Macartney, notwith-
standing the care evinced by the latter to act
in the most conciliatory manner. But the
ill-defined authority vested in the Supreme
Council of Bengal, in conjunction with the
personal misunderstanding which unhappily
existed between Hastings and Macartney, §
tended to mingle personal feelings with
public questions ; and the dissensions be-
tween them increased in violence, until the
governor-general took the resolve not only
of delegating to Sir Eyre Coote the uncon-
trolled conduct of the war, but also, in the
event of determined resistance at Fort St.
George, of enforcing that measure by the
deposition of the president. The death of
Coote, four days after landing at Madras, ||
§ The spotless integrity of Lord Macartney was a
standing reproach to Hastings, who in dealing with
him completely lost his temper. Thus, in a commu-
nication dated 13th of April, 1783, he desires Lord
Ma/ artney to explain some misunderstanding which
had arisen on an official subject, adding as a reason,
" if you consider the estimation of a man [the gov-
ernor-general of India writing to the head of a
subordinate presidency !] so inconsiderable as I am
deserving of attention." — {Life, ii., 63.)
II During the voyage, Coote was chased for two
days and nights by a French ship of the line; and
the agitation caused thereby accelerated his death.
358 BEDNORE CAPTURED PROM, AND REGAINED BY, TIPPOO— 1783.
perhaps prevented intestine strife ; for Lord
Macartney, though courteous and moderate,
was by no means inclined to submit tamely
to the lot of his predecessor, Lord Pigot. In
all other respects the loss of the experienced
general was a severe calamity. Despite the
irritation and excitability consequent on ill-
health, with other failings less excusable —
such as extravagance as a commander, and
covetousness in his private capacity — he pos-
sessed a degree of activity, precision, and
experience far beyond any of his compeers ;
besides which, a frank soldierly manner,
aided by the charm of old association, and
his own strong attachment to the troops,
rendered him beloved by the army in gene-
ral, and especially by the native soldiers.
Many a white-haired sepoy, in after times,
loved to dwell on the service they had seen
under "Coote Bahadur;" and offered, with
glistening eye and faltering voice, a grateful
tribute to his memory, while making a
military salutation to the portrait of the
veteran, suspended in the Madras exchange.
•The death of Coote was nearly simultaneous
with the arrival of M. de Bussy. He had
been long expected ; but his plans had been
twice disconcerted by the capture of the
convoy destined to support him, by Admiral
Kempenfelt, in December, 1781. A similar
disaster occurred in April, 1782; and when,
after much delay, he reached the Carnatic in
the following June, he found a conjuncture of
affairs awaiting him by no means favourable
to his views. Hyder was dead, and Tippoo
absent on an expedition for the recovery of
Bednore, which had surrendered to an Eng-
lish force under General Matthews. This
enterprise, which unforeseen circumstances
alone rendered successful, had been under-
taken for the express purpose of withdraw-
ing the Mysooreans from Arcot. The object
was accomplished, but the expected advan-
tages were greatly lessened by the previous
ill-advised destruction of the forts of Wan-
dewash and Carangoli, which had been
demolished by the for once united decision
of Lord Macartney and General Stuart,
although almost every military opinion,
from that time to the present, has pro-
nounced the measure premature, if not
* The governor was a chelah, or slave, named Sheik
Ayaz, to whom Hyder had been so strongly attached,
that he repeatedly declared he wished he had be-
gotten him instead of Tippoo. The consequence was,
Tippoo cordially hated Ayaz, and had arranged to
put him to death ; but the letter being intercepted,
the intended victim hastened to make his escape.
t Bernadotte, afterwards Crown Prince of Swe-
wholly inexpedient. Considerable pecuniary
acquisitions were expected to be realised
from the capture of Bednore ; but these an-
ticipations proved delusive, — whether owing
to the large sums carried off by the native
governor (himself the intended victim of
Tippoo),* or whether from the peculation
of English officers, is a disputed question.
The place was only retained about three
months, at the end of which time it was
captured by Tippoo, who having (by his own
account) discovered that the English officers,
in violation of the terms of capitulation dic-
tated by him, were carrying away treasure
and jewels to a large amount, caused them
all to be marched off in irons to different
prisons, where they endured a rigorous and
dreary captivity, terminated, in the case of
Matthews and several others, by a cruel death.
Meanwhile Bussy, disappointed in the hope
of joining the main body of the Mysoorean
army under Tippoo, concentrated his force
at Cuddalore, which was subsequently in-
vested by General Stuart. It was of evident
importance to use the utmost expedition in
order to forestal the large reinforcements ex-
pected from France, and which did eventually
arrive. Nevertheless, Stuart, although com-
pelled to some degree of obedience to the Ma-
dras government, contrived to neutralise their
plans by marching at the rate of three miles
a-day, and thus occupied forty days, instead
of the usual period of twelve, in reaching
Cuddalore. The siege,t when commenced,
proved long and sanguinary ; and in an
attack which took place on the 13th of June,
1783, the English lost upwards of 1,000
men. M. de Suffrein arrived shortly after,
and landed a body of 2,400 men to
strengthen the garrison; but Stuart had
recklessly determined to carry out the
commands of the presidency as literally as
possible; and all the British troops en-
trusted to his charge, including a detach-
ment Under Colonel FuUarton, which had
marched to his aid from Taiijore, would
probably have been sacrificed to the spleen
of one unprincipled man, but for the arrival
of orders for the immediate cessation of
hostilities, in consequence of the peace
newly concluded between France and Eng-
den, was captured in a midnight sally made by the
garrison. He was treated with great kindness by
General Wangenheim, commandant of the Hano-
verian troops in the English service; and in later
life, when their relative positions were strangely
altered, the general had ample reason to remember,
with satisfaction, the comjjassion he had evinced
towards the wounded sergeant.— (Wilks, ii., 442.)
PEACE SIGNED WITH TIPPOO SULTAN— MAY, 1784.
359
land. This intelligence, at an equally oppor-
tune moment, reached the troops engaged in
the defence of Mangalore, which, though
a place of very inferior strength, had stood a
siege of fifty-six days, the defence being
directed by Colonel Campbell, the attack
by Tippoo himself, ■ivho had proceeded
thither with the main body after taking
Bednore. The French envoy, Peveron, is
accused of having kept back the intelli-
gence he came to bring, in order to enable
Tippoo to retain the aid of Cossigny (the
French engineer), Lally, and Boudenot. The
declaration could, at length, be no longer
withheld. Cossigny quitted the Mysoor
army, and insisted on his companions with-
drawing likewise. Tippoo was beyond mea-
sure enraged by what he considered nothing
short of treacherous desertion; and his late
allies, as the sole means of escaping unhurt
by his resentment, were glad to avail them-
selves of the protection of the English.
After some unsuccessful attempts to carry
the place by his own unassisted strength, he
agreed to an armistice, to extend over the
coast of Malabar. One leading condition
was the supply of a stated monthly allowance
of provisions to Mangalore, sufficient for the
use of the garrison without trenching on their
previous stock. This stipulation was broken
by his furnishing articles deficient in quan-
tity and deleterious in quality : no salt was
sent, and many of the sepoys, Colonel Wilks
affirms, became actually blind, as well as
affijcted by various other ailments, in conse-
quence of being compelled to eat rice in its
simple, undigestible state, without the addi-
tion of any of the usual condiments. The
Madras government were extremely anxious
to conclude a peace ; and to this circum-
stance, as also to the want of union among
those in command, may be attributed the
supineness of General Macleod and the
scruples which prevented his eflective inter-
position for the succour of Mangalore, which,
after nearly a nine months' siege, fell before
its cruel and perfidious foe. Colonel Campbell
died soon after, overwhelmed with fatigue
and disappointment. Tippoo had succeeded
in his immediate object of proving to the
native Indian powers his sufficiency to
eft'ect that which had baffled the skill and
discipline of his French auxiliaries : in every
other respect he had little reason to con-
gratulate himself on the conquest of an in-
considerable place, purchased by a long and
costly siege, which, besides having hindered
his attention to the afiairs of his own
dominions, had left the English free to
gain considerable advantages in other quar-
ters. The misconduct of General Stuart, in
the expedition to Cuddalore, had filled the
measure of his offences, and induced the
governor and council to order his arrest and
forcible embarkation for England.* After
this decisive measure matters took a differ-
ent and far more favourable turn.
The abilities of Mr. Salivan, the resident
at Tanjore, and of colonels Lang and Ful-
larton, had been successfully exerted in
various ways. Caroor and Dindegul, Pal-
gaut and Coimbatore, were captured; and
Colonel Fullarton was even preparing to as-
cend the Ghauts and march on Seringapa-
tam, when he received tidings of a treaty of
peace concluded between Tippoo Sultan and
the Madras government, on the basis of a
mutual restoration of conquests. The so-
called peace was, however, but a hollow
truce, to which nothing but fear of the
Mahrattas and the Nizam had driven the
sultan. Throughout the whole of the ner
gotiations he behaved in the most insulting
manner to the British commissioners,t
who had been inveigled to his court to be
held up in the light of suitors for peace;
and even when the treaty was concluded^
the fulfilment of his pledge of restoring his
captives to liberty, gave fresh occasion for
resentment, by revealing the treatment to
which they had been subjected. Hyder
had shown little humanity in his dealings with
English prisoners, whom he kept in irons,
chained in pairs, because "they were unruly
beasts, not to be kept quiet in any other
way." But Tippoo Sultan far surpassed his
father in barbarity, and the English learned,
with horror and indignation, that many
officers distinguished by rank, skill, or
bravery, had been poisoned or assassinated
in their dungeons ; that others, especially the
younger of these unfortunates, had suffered
torture and ignominy of a revolting descrip-
tion ; aiid that even the most fortunate among
the captives had sustained close confinement
in loathsome dens, their beds the damp
ground ; with food so miserably insufficient,
as to give scope for the untiring fidelity and
self-devotion of their native companions in
affliction, to show itself by the frequent
sacrifice of a portion of the scanty pittance
* One of the sons of Mohammed AH expressed his
view of the matter in broken English, by declaring
" General Stuart catch one I,ord [Pigot], one Lord
[Macartney] catch General Stuart."
t Messrs. Sadleir, Staunton, and Iludleston.
360 HISTORY OP CHEYTE SING, RAJAH OF BENARES— 1778-1781.
allowed for their maintenance, in return for
unremitting labour, to mend the fare of the
European soldiers.*
The treaty entered into with Tippoo by
the Madras authorities was transmitted to
Bengal, and signed by the Supreme Council,
on whom the full powers of government had
devolved, owing ' to the absence of Mr.
Hastings at Lucknow. On his return to
Calcutta, Hastings found much fault with
the treaty, especially because it made no
mention of the nabob of Arcot. He drew
up a new one, and peremptorily commanded
the Madras authorities to forward it to
Tippoo. Macartney positively refused com-
pliance ; Hastings could not compel it ; and
80 the matter ended.
Close of Hastings' Administration. —
Before the commencement of the war with
Hyder, the financial condition of every one of
the three presidencies had become seriously
embarrassed. In August, 1780, the Supreme
Council had been under the necessity of
contracting a new debt, and when to this
heavy burden on the Bengal revenues an
additional one was added by the costly
military operations required for the defence
of the Carnatic, the governor-general felt
compelled to announce to the directors the
probability of a total suspension of the in-
vestment, unless the purchase-money were
sent from England. Nothing short of the
most absolute necessity could, however,
induce Hastings to endanger his standing
with the Court of Proprietors, by the execu-
tion of so unpopular a measure, while any
source of supply remained available ; yet
such as there were had been already severely
taxed. The nabob of Oude and the rajah of
Benares were tributary princes. Viewed in
this light, they were bound in all cases of
difficulty to furnish assistance to the superior
and protecting state. The degree of co-
operation to be afforded was an open ques-
tion, which Mr. Hastings, who now held un-
disputed sway in Bengal, thought fit to
decide in person, and, with that intent, pro-
ceeded to the wealthy, populous, and venera-
ted city of Benares. The rajah, Cheyte Sing,
was the son and successor of Bulwunt Sing,
whose alliance the English had courted
during the war with Shuja Dowlah. The
• Their exemplary conduct is the more deserving
of admiration from the severe trials to which their
fidelity had been recently exposed, as recorded in
the pages of Wilks, Fullarton, and other military
authorities. The mismanagement of the finances of
the Carnatic had told fearfully on the condition of
the army ; even veteran sepoys, who had served un-
usurping nabobs of Oude had asserted the
claim of the sword over the district of which
Benares forms the capital, on the plea of its
being a district dependent on their govern-
ment. Bulwunt Sing made common cause
with the English ; and on the conclusion of
peace, an article was expressly inserted to
secure him from tiie vengeance and cupidity
of the nabob-vizier. This proved increas-
ingly difficult; until at length, in 1774, it
was proposed by Mr. Hastings, as the sole
mode of protecting the rajah, to insist on
his being declared independent of Oude, and
tributary to Bengal. A stated sum was
fixed to be paid annually, and the Supreme
Council unanimously decreed that no more
demands of any kind should be made upon
him on behalf of the company. Cheyte
Sing forwarded the tribute to Patna with
remarkable regularity; nevertheless, in 1778,
the necessities of the presidency were consi-
dered to justify a demand for a heavy con-
tribution (five lacs of rupees) to be furnished
immediately. The rajah pleaded poverty,
and asked for time; but troops were sent
against him, and he was compelled to furnish
the sum originally demanded, with a fine of
£2,000 for military expenses. He had, un-
happily, incurred the personal enmity of the
governor-general, by courting Clavering and
Francis during their brief day of power; and
the ofience was one Hastings was little dis-
posed to let pass unpunished. In 1780, the
system of exaction commenced against Cheyte
Sing, was continued by a new demand ol
five lacs, from which he endeavoured to gain
relief by arguments and suppUcations, en-
forced by a private oflfering of two lacs,
which Mr. Hastings accepted, not as a part
of the contribution, but as a distinct item,
and then proceeded as before to exact the
five lacs, with an additional mulct or fine of
£10,000, for the trouble of compelling pay-
ment. In 1781, the unfortunate rajah was
again im.portuned for supplies of money and
troops ; . but this time unreasonable demands
appear to have been made, simply with the
object of provoking conduct which was to
serve as a plea for the complete confiscation
of his whole possessions. The amount now de-
manaed was not to be less than fifty lacs, with
a contingent of 1,000 men. The rajah be-
der Clive, were but imperfectly, if at all provided for.
Colonel Fullarton expressly states, that the natives
under his command were nearly twelve months in
arrear, and that many were driven to such extremities
as to be compelled to sell their children into slavery
to save themselves from starvation. — ( View of Engr
lish Iniereiti in India, 1782 to 1784 ; pp. 98—201.)
DEPOSITION OF CHEYTE SING, RAJAH OF BENARES— 1781. 361
haved with remarkable moderation : he doubt-
less guessed the views entertained by Has-
tings— either the seizure of his forts with
their contents, or the sale of his dominions
to the ruler of Oude ; and he left no means
untried to avert, by submission, evils which
it was hopeless to combat by force. On the
approach of the governor-general, he went
to meet him with every demonstration of
respect ; and, in token of entire submission,
laid his turban on the lap of the reserved
and impassive Englishman, the last act of
humiliation in a country, where, to be bare-
headed, is considered unspeakable degrada-
tion. This conduct did not check, per-
haps it accelerated the extreme measures
adopted by Hastings, who asserted that be-
sides falsely pleading poverty, the rajah was
really plotting to become perfectly indepen-
dent of the presidency ; but to this charge
his youth and inexperience aflford the best
contradiction, when viewed in conjunction
with the unresisting manner in which he
sufifered the governor-general to take pos-
session of Benares, though attended by a
very slender escort, and even to go the
length of arresting and confining him to his
own palace. The two companies of sepoys
placed on guard there, were not provided
with ammunition, so little was any resis-
tance anticipated on the part of this incipient
rebel. The people were expected to witness,
with indifference, the change of rulers. On
the contrary, they were rendered desperate
by an aggression which involved the downfall
of one of their own race and religion, to be
followed by the transfer of the sacred city
and its fertile environs into the hands of
aliens, who had no sympathies with their
creed, and no interest in their welfare.
Great crowds assembled round the palace
and blocked up all the avenues; and before
reinforcements with ammunition could ar-
rive to support the sepoy guard, a furious
attack had been made, in which the greater
part perished. The rajah, so far from com-
ing forth to head the mob, took advantage
of the confusion to make his escape, and
was let down the steep bank of the Ganges,
by means of turbans tied together, into
a boat which conveyed him to the oppo-
site shore. The multitude rushed after
him, leaving the palace to be occupied by
the English troops. Had they at once pro-
ceeded in search of Hastings, no effective re-
sistance could have been offered, since he had
no protection beyond that of the thirty gen-
tlemen of his party and fifty armed sepoys.
Cheyte Sing had, however, no thought of
organised operations against his persecutor,
and he sent repeated apologies, and offers
of the most complete submission, all of
which were treated with contemptuous dis-
regard. The numbers of the insurgents
continued to increase ; the building in which
the English party had taken up their abode
was blockaded, and the sole means of con-
veying intelligence to Bengal was by the
subtlety of native messengers, who, taking
advantage of the custom of laying aside in
travelling their large golden earrings, because
•tempting to thieves, placed on this occasion
not the ordinary quill or roll of blank paper
in the orifice, but dispatches from Has-
tings to the commanders of British troops to
come to his rescue. Before these orders
could be executed, affairs assumed a still
more menacing aspect. A slight skirmish,
brought on by a premature attack made
by an English officer, at the head of a
small body of men, on Ramnagur, a for-
tified palace beyond the river, terminated
in the death of the leader, and many of his
followersby the hands of the people of Be-
nares. The survivors retreated; and Has-
tings, alarmed for his own safety, fled by
night to the fortress of Chunar, leaving the
wounded sepoys behind. The excitement
spread for hundreds of miles ; the husband-
man quitted the field, the manufacturer his
loom, and rallied round Cheyte Sing; the
oppressed population of Oude rose against
the misgovernment of Asuf Dowlah and his
English allies ; and eVfen Bahar seemed ripe
for revolt. The rajah at length assumed a
haughty and defiant tone; but the absence
of skill or discipline rendered the tumuU
tuary force thus voluntarily assembled utterly
incapable of taking the field against a Euro-,
pean army, and the troops, under Major
Popham, were everywhere victorious. The
fastnesses of the rajah were stormed, his
adherents, to the number of 30,000, forsook
his standard, and returned to their ordinary
avocations, while their late ruler quitted the
country for perpetual exile. Benares was
annexed to the British dominions. To
save appearances, a relation of the banished
ruler was appointed rajah, but, like the
na,bob of Bengal, he became a mere stipen-
diary, removable at the pleasure of the pre-
sidency. This tyrannical procedure com-
pletely failed in promoting the avowed ob-
ject of Hastings — the attainment of a large
sum of ready money ; for, notwithstanding
the indignities used in searching even the
363 MORTIFYING RESULT OP EXPEDITION TO BENARES— 1781.
persons as well as the wardrobes of themother, ]
wife, and other females of the family of Chey te
Sing (in violation of the articles of capitula-
tion), the booty realised was not only un-
expectedly small (.€250,000 to .€300,000),
but was wholly appropriated as prize-money
by the army.* Thus the immediate effect
of the expedition was to enhance the diffi-
culties it was intended to relieve, by the
expenses attendant on putting down a re-
volt wantonly provoked ; and So far from
meeting the approbation of the company,
the conduct pursued towards the rajah was
denounced as " improper, unwarrantable,
and highly impolitic." Nevertheless, the
war ihto which Cheyte Sing had been driven
was held to justify his expulsion from Be-
nares ; and the positive declaration of Has-
tings, that an order for the reinstatement of
the rajah would be regarded by him as the
signal for his own instant resignation of
office, probably prevented any step being
taken to make amends for past wrongs.
The next expedient adopted to fill the
empty treasuiy of Calcutta, was more suc-
cessful in its results, but, if possible, more
discreditable in character. Asuf-ad-Dow-
lEth, the successor of Shuja Dowlah, was
a young man, not devoid of a certain
description of abilityt and kindly feeling ;
but his better qualities were neutralised
by an amount of indolence and sensuality,
which rendered him a political nobody in
the sight of the presidency, and a severe
scourge to his subjects by reason of the ex-
tortions and cruelty perpetrated in his name
by unworthy favourites. Already sundry
concessions (such as the Benares tribute)
had been extorted from him, which Has-
tings would never have so much as pro-
posed to his father; and these, together
with general misgovernment and extrava-
gance, had reduced the treasury of Oude
to a condition which left its master little to
fear from the rapacity of his neighbours.
Continued drought had heightened his dis-
tress, by diminishing the power of the
people to meet the heavy taxation demanded
• Hastings Would seem to have outwitted himself
in this matter. The wife of Cheyte Sing was a per-
son of high character, much-beloved and esteemed,
and safety and respect for lier person, together with
those of the other ladies of the family of the ill-fated
rajah, were among the express terms of capitula-
tion. Yet Hastings was unmanly enough to ques-
tion the " expediency of the promised indulgence to
the ranee," and to suggest that she would " contrive
to defraud the captors of a considerable portion of the
bodty, by being suffered to retire without examina-
from them ; and he found himself unable to
pay any portion of the arrears of his own
mutinous troops, much less to maintain the
costly detachment and the long train of
officials, civil as well as military, forced
upon him by the English.
In an evil hour he sought counsel with
the governor-general at Chunar, pleaded
poverty, and gave as one, among many
reasons for inability to fulfil the heavy con-
ditions into which he had been led to enter,
the large proportion of his father's wealth
bequeathed to his mother and grandmother.
These princesses had been uniformly treated
by Shuja Dowlah with the highest con-
sideration and respect : his wife, especially,
had won his entire confidence by repeated
evidences of energetic and devoted affection.
During his lifetime the chief direction of
his pecuniary affairs had been entrusted to
her management, and, after his death, the
two ladies remained in possession of certain
extensive jaghires, with other property, to a
large extent; not for their exclusive use,
but for the maintenance of the rest of
his family and those of preceding nabobs,
amounting (including female retainers of all
kinds) to about 2,000 persons. The profli-
gate prince had early coveted the inheri-
tance of his relatives, and he continued to
exact contributions from them, until his
mother, wearied and alarmed by his impor-
tunities and injurious treatment, consented to
surrender an additional sum of thirty lacs, on
condition of his signing a formal pledge, gua-
ranteed by the Supreme Council of Bengal,
that she should be permitted to enjoy
her jaghires and effects exempt from fur-
ther persecution. This covenant, effected
through the mediation of Bristowe, the
English resident at Lucknow, was approved
of and confirmed by the majority then
dominant in Calcutta. Hastings disap-
proved, but being in the minority, could
offer no effective opposition. In 1781, when
his authority became again (for a time) su-
preme, he scrupled not to set aside all
former promises by empowering the nabob
tion." The intimation did not pass unheeded. The de-
fenceless ladies were subjected to the insulting search
of four females, but with what effect does not ap-
pear ; and their persons were further insulted by the
licentious people and followers of the camp. But
the officers and soldiery maintained that Hastings
had expressly made over to them the whole profits of
this nefarious transaction, and would not so much as
lend a portion to government. The share of the com-
mander-in-chief was £36,000. — (Mill, Moodie, kc.)
t Vide the charming stanzas translated by Heber.
I
TREATY OP CHUNAR, 1781— BEGUMS OF OUDE TORTURE— 1783. 363
to take possession of the jaghires of both
princesses, as a means of paying his debts
to the company; and, as a further assistance,
the English troops, whose maintenance
pressed heavily on the Oude revenues, were
to be withdrawn. Mr. Hastings asserted,
in justification of his conduct, that the
begums had evinced an inclination to take
part with Cheyte Sing; but the accusa-
tion is improbable in itself, and unsup-
ported by any reliable evidence : their other
alleged fault — of embarrassing the gov-
ernment of the nabob — was contradicted by
the statements repeatedly forwarded by the
English resident, of the persecutions endured
by them at the hands of the local authori-
ties. Asuf-ad-Dowlah (who, ever since the
covenant signed in 1775, had been repeatedly
violating it in different ways) was at first
delighted at having his refractory relatives
deprived of the protection to which they
had constantly appealed; but on quitting
Chunar, and regaining his own dominions,
he began to consider the matter in a dif-
ferent light. Unsupported by the plausible
reasoning of Hastings, the proposed plan of
despoiling his mother and grandmother
appeared fraught with ignominy ; and Mr.
Middleton (who had been recently restored
to the position of British resident) described,
in the strongest terms, the almost uncon-
querable repugnance evinced by the nabob
towards the violent measures agreed on at
Chunar. He was peremptorily informed,
that in the event of his continued refusal, the
seizure of the jaghires and personal property
of the begums would be accomplished by
the English without his co-operation. The
weak and vacillating prince, fearful of the
effect such an assumption of authority by
foreigners might produce on the minds of
his subjects, reluctantly consented to ac-
company the expedition sent to attack the
princesses in their own territory, in the
• Middleton'g defence. Vide House of Commons
Papers, March, 1781 ; and Mill's India, vol. iv.
t The account of these disgraceful proceedings is
very fragmentary, but amply sufficient to warrant the
assertions made in the text. Three principal facts
are on record. The first is a letter from Middleton
to the English officer on guard, dated January, 1782,
desiring that the eunuchsshould " be put in irons, kept
from all food," &c. The second is a letter from the
same officer to the president, pleading the sickly
condition of his prisoners as a reason for temporarily
removing their chains, and allowing them to take a
little exercise in the fresh air. This was refused,
and the captives were removed to Lucknow. The
third communication, addressed still by one com-
pany's servant to another, is a direct order for the ad-
mission of torturers to " inflict corporal punishment"
commencement of the year 1782. The
town and castle of Fyzabad (the second
place in Oude) were occupied without blood-
shed, the avenues of the palace blocked up,
and the begums given to understand that
no severities would be spared to compel
the complete surrender of their property.
But here a serious obstacle presented itself.
Even Middleton doubted what description
of coercion could be effectually adopted,
without oflfering an offence of the most un-
pardonable description to the whole native
population; for the ladies were hedged in
by every protection which rank, station, and
character could confer, to enhance the force
of opinion which, on all such occasions, is
in the east so strong and invariable, " that
no man, either by himself or his troops, can
enter the walls of a zenana, scarcely in the
case of acting against an open enemy, much
less the ally of a son acting against his own
mother."* In this dilemma it was deemed
advisable to work upon the fears and sym-
pathies of the begums in the persons of
their chief servants, two eunuchs, who had
long been entrusted with the entire manage-
ment of their affairs. There is, perhaps, no
page in Anglo-Indian history so deeply
humiliating to our national feelings, as that
which records the barbarities inflicted on
these aged men, during a period of nearly
twelve months. Certainly no other instance
can be found equally illustrative of the false
varnish which Hastings habitually strove
to spread over his worst actions, than the
fact that, after directing the mode of dealing
with the eunuchs — by rigorous confinement
in irons, total deprivation of food, and,
lastly, by direct torture ;t after inciting
the indirect persecution of the princesses
and the immense circle of dependants left
to their charge by the nabob-vizier, by
cutting off their supplies of food and neces-
saries ; J — after quarrelling with and dismiss-
on two aged prisoners accused of excessive fidelity to
their mistresses; and lest the feelings of a British
officer should rise against the atrocities about to be
inflicted, an express injunction was added, that the
executioners were to have " free access to the pri-
soners, and to be permitted to do with them what-
ever they thought proper." — {Idem.)
X The women of the zenana were at various times
on the eve of perishing for want ; and on one occasion
the pangs of hunger so completely overpowered the
ordinary restraints of custom, that they burst in a
body from the palace and begged for food in the
public bazaar, but were driven back with blows by
the sepoys in the service of the E. I. Cy. — (Dr.
Moodie's Transactions, p. 455.) Major Gilpin, the
commandant of the guard, humanely advanced
10,000 rupees for the relief of these unfortunates.
364 PARTIAL RESTORATION OP THEIR JAGHIRES TO THE BEGUMS.
ing his favourite employe Middleton, for hav-
ing been backward in conducting a business
from which a gaoler of Newgate prison
might turn with disgust, — he, nevertheless,
when it became advisable to adopt lenient
measures (since no further payments could be
extorted by cruelty), had the consummate
hypocrisy to remove the guard from the palace
of the begums, and release the eunuchs, on
the express understanding that their suffer-
ings had proceeded from the nabob and
his ministers, but their release from his
own compassionate interference. The pre-
vious ill-feeling justly entertained by the
princesses and their adherents against Asuf-
ad-Dowlah, probably lent some counte-
nance to this untruth ; and the commanding
oiBcer by whom the eunuchs were set at
liberty, described, in glowing terms, the
lively gratitude expressed by them towards
their supposed liberator. " The enlargement
of the prisoners, their quivering lips and
tears of joy, formed," writes this officer, " a
truly affecting scene." He adds a remark,
which could scarcely fail to sting the pride,
if not the conscience, of one so susceptible
of censure in disguise — " If the prayers of
these poor men will avail, you will, at the
last trump, be translated to the happiest
regions in heaven."* In the benefits to be
derived from the recent despoliation,
Hastings hoped to share largely, for he
expected that the E. J. Cy., in gratitude for
an accession of j6600,000 to their exhausted
treasury, would cheerfully assent to his
appropriation of the additional sum of
£100,000, which he had actually obtained
bonds for from Asuf-ad-Dowlah at Chunar.
An extortion like this, committed at a time
when the excessive poverty and heavy debts
of the nabob-vizier, the clamours of his
unpaid troops, and the sufferings of the
mass of the people, were held forth in ex-
tenuation of the oppression of his mother
and grandmother, together with other acts
of tyrannous aggression, needs no comment.
The directors positively refused to permit
his detention of the money, and, moreover,
commanded that a rigorous investigation
should be instituted into the charges of
disaffection brought against the begums ;
and that, in the event of their innocence
being proved, restitution should be made.
• Pari. Papers, quoted by Mill, iv., 458.
t Letter of Hastings to council, 1784. They gave
rich gifts to Mrs. Hastings, in the fonn of chairs
and couches of exquisitely cpj-ved ivory, &c.
I Except a heavy exaction from FyzooUa Khan.
Hastings strongly deprecated this equitable
measure. He urged that the evidence
offered under such circumstances would be
sure to be favourable to persons whose cause
should be so manifestly upheld by the com-
pany ; and supported his views on the sub-
ject by many characteristic arguments, such
as its being unsuitable to the majesty of
justice to challenge complaint. A compro-
mise was effected ; the nabob, at his own
urgent desire, was permitted to restore the
jaghires wrested from his relatives; while
the 'idies, on their part, thankful for even
this scanty justice, " made a voluntary con-
cession of a large portion of their respective
shares" of the newly -restored rents, f
This transaction is the last of any impor-
tance in the administration of Warren
Hastings. J Various causes appeared to have
concurred to render him as anxious to re-
sign as he had once been to retain his post.
The absence of his wife, to whom he was
tenderly attached, and his own failing
health, had doubtless their share in ren-
dering him weary of a task, the difficulties of
which had been lately increased by a change
in the council-board calculated to destroy
the despotic power essential to the policy of
a ruler, whose measures, however cleverly
planned and boldly executed, were rarely of
a character to bear impartial, much less
hostile criticism. Beside these reasons, his
opponents suggested that of recent private
extortions from the nabob-vizier; and it can-
not be forgotten, that although he pleaded
urgent necessity as an inducement for the
directors to suffer him to appropriate the
bonds obtained at Chunar, yet, about three
years later, he was enabled, notwithstand-
ing his habitual extravagance, to bring
home a fortune avowedly not far short of
j6100,000, apart from the costly jewels
exhibited by Mrs. Hastings, and the well-
furnished private purse which there are
grounds for believing her to have possessed.
The prolonged administration of Hastings,
his winning manner, and conversance with
native languages, together with the im-
posing effect of tlie state by which he had,
from motives of policy, thought fit to sur-
round himself, made a deep impression on
the minds of the Indian population. I have
myself met with ballads, similar to those
alluded to by Heber and Macaulay, which
commemorate the swift steeds and richly-
caparisoned elephants of " Sahib Hushting;"
they likewise record his victory over Nun-
comar who refused to do him homage.
HASTINGS RETURNS TO ENGLAND, 1785— HIS IMPEACHMENT. 365
The Indian version of the story makes,
however, no mention of the accusation of
forgery, but resembles rather the scripture
Btory of Haman and Mordecai, with a differ-
ent ending. The Bengalees possibly never
anderstcod the real and lasting injury done
them by Hastings, in fastening round their
necks the chains of monopoly, despite the
opposition of his colleagues, and contrary
to the orders of the company. Once fully
in operation, the profits of exclusive trade
in salt and opium* became so large, that its
renunciation could spring only from philan-
thropy of the purest kind, or policy of the
broadest and most liberal character. Witli
his countrymen in India, Warren Hastings
was in general popular. It had been his
unceasing effort to purchase golden opinions ;
and one of the leading accusations brought
against him by the directors, was the wilful
increase of governmental expenses by the
creation of supernumerary offices to provide
for adherents, or to encourage those already
in place by augmented salaries. His own
admissions prove, that attachment to his
person, and unquestioning obedience to his
commands, were the first requisites for
subordinates; and the quiet perseverance
with which he watched his opportunity of
rewarding a service, or revenging a " per-
sonal Imrt," is not the least remarkable fea-
ture in his character.
He quitted India in February, 1785.
Notwithstanding the unwarrantable mea-
sures adopted by him to raise the revenues
and lessen the debts of the company, he
failed to accomplish these objects, and, on
the contrary, left them burdened with an
additional debt of twelve-and-a-half mil-
lion, and a revenue which (including the
provision of an European investment) was
not equal to the ordinary expenses of the
combined settlements. t Doubtless, great
allowance must be made for the heavy drain
occasioned by the pressing wants of the
Bombay and Madras presidencies, and de-
cided commendation awarded for the ener-
getic steps taken to avert the ruin in which
the Mahratta war and the invasion of Hyder
• The 12th article of impeachment against Has-
tings set forth, " that he granted to Stephen Sulivan,
son of Lawrence Sulivan, chairman of the Court of
Directors, a contract for four years for the provision
of opium ; that in order to pay for the opium so pro-
vided, he borrowed large sums at an interest of eight
per cent., at a time when he declared the drug could
not be exported with profit ; and yet he sent it to
(;hina, which was an act of additional criminality, as
he knew that the iynportatiott of opium teas prohibited
3 ]i
threatened to involve these possessions :
but it is equally true, that the double-faced
and grasping policy of the governor- general
tended to neutralise the benefit of his cou.
rage and decision, and, as in the case of
Lord Pigot, fomented, instead of allaying,
the evils of dissension and venality, which
were more destructive to the interests of
the E. I. Cy. than any external opposition.
Had Hastings resolved to abide by the
conviction which led him on one occasion to
exclaim, that he " wished it might be made
felony to break a treaty," the consequences
would have been most beneficial both to
India and to England, and would, at the
same time, have saved him long years of
humiliation and anxiety. He little thought
that the Rohilla war, the sale of Allahabad
and Oude, and the persecution of the begums,
would rise in judgment against him on
his return to his native land, — bar his path to
titles and offices of state, and compel him to
sit down in the comparatively humble posi-
tion which had formed the object of his
boyish ambition, as master of Daylesford,
the ancient estate of his family.
But Francis, now a member of parliament,
had not been idle in publishing the evil
deeds which he had witnessed without power
to prevent; and Burke, whose hatred of
oppression equalled his sympathy for suffer-
ing, brought forward the impeachment as a
question which every philanthropist, every-
one interested in the honour of England or
the welfare of India, was bound to treat as
of vital importance. Political motives, of
an exceptionable character, on the part of
the ministers, favoured the promoters of the
trial; and after many tedious preliminaries,
Warren Hastings appeared at the bar of the
House of Lords, and knelt before the tri-
bunal of his country, in presence of one of
the most remarkable assemblages ever con-
vened in the great hall of William Rufus.
Of the brilliant aristocracies of rank, talent,
wealth, and beauty, of which England then
boasted, few members were absent. The
queen and princesses had come to witness
the impeachment of a subject known to
hy the Chmese." Sulivan sold the contract to a Mr.
Benn for £40,000; Benn to a Mr. Young for £60,000;
and the latter reaped a large profit. — (Mill.)
t A comparison of the receipts and disbursements
of the year ending April, 1786, exhibited a deficit
of about £1,300,000. The arrears of the army
amounted to two million ; and " the troops at Madras
and Bombay were in a state of utter destitution,
and some of them in open mutiny." The ascertained
Bengal debt alone was about four million sterling.
366 DEATH OF HASTINGS— CORNWALLIS'S ADMINISTRATION— 1786.
have enjoyed no ordinary share of royal
favour, and to listen to the charges urged
against him by the thrilling eloquence of
Burke, the solid reasoning of Fox, and
the exciting declamation of Sheridan. The
trial commenced with a strong feeling
on the part of the public against the ac-
cused ; but it dragged on, like most state
proceedings, until people ceased to care how
it ended. At length, after seven years
spent in law proceedings of a most tedious
character, the wrongs inflicted in a distant
clime, and at a distant period, became
almost a matter of indifterence : a sort of
sympathy, such as is often felt for acknow-
ledged criminals, took the place of lively
indignation; and when the inquiry ended
in the acquittal of Hastings, he was
generally believed to have been sufficiently
punished by the insuperable obstacles which
his peculiar position had imposed to prevent
his selection for any public office, and by
the ruinous condition to which his finances
had been reduced by the costly expenses,
.legitimate and illegitimate, of the painful
ordeal through which he had passed. The
law charges alone exceeded £76,000. Pro-
bably still larger sums were expended in
vrious kinds of secret service — " in bribing
newspapers, rewarding pamphleteers, and
circulating tracts;"* beside £12,000 spent
in purchasing, and £48,000 in adorning,
Daylesford: so that Hastings, when finally
dismissed, turned from the bar of the House
of Lords an absolute pauper — worse than
that — an insolvent debtor. The company
came to his relief with an annuity of £4,000
a-year, and a loan of £50,000, nearly half
of which was converted into a gift; and
they continued to aid him at intervals, in
his ever-recurring difficulties, up to the
period of his death, in 1818, aged eighty-six.
* Macaulay's Essay on Hastings, p. 100.
t Lord Macartney, on taking possession of the
office of president of Madras, made a formal state-
ment of liis property, and on quitting office presented
to the company a precise account of the increase
effected during the interval. The E. I. Cy. met him
in the same frank and generous spirit by the gift
of an annuity of £1,600. It is to be regretted that
he lent the sanction of example to the vice of duel-
ling, then frightfully prevalerit, by a meeting with a
member of council (Mr. Sadleir) with whom a mis-
understanding had arisen in the course of official
duty. On his return to England he was challenged
by General Stuart, and slightly wounded. The
leconds interfered, and the contest terminated, tliough
Stuart declared himself unsatisfied.
X The establishment of a Board of Control, with
other important measui'es, respectively advocated by
Fox or Pitt, will be noticed in a subsequent section.
Administration of Loud Coenwallis. —
The government of Lord Macartney termi-
nated in Madras about the same time as
that of Mr. Hastings in Bengal ; and a high
testimony to the ability and unsullied integ-
rityt of the former gentleman, was afibrded
by the offer of the position of governor-
general, which he declined accepting, unless
accompanied by a British peerage. This
concession was refused, on the ground that,
if granted, it would convey to the public
an impression that a premium was neces-
sary to induce persons of consideration in
England to fill the highest office in India,
and the appointment was consequently con-
ferred on Lord Cornwallis. To him was
entrusted the charge of carrying into exe-
cution some important alterations contem-
plated by the act of parliament passed in
1784; and by means of an express provision
iu the act of 1786, the powers of com-
mander-in-chief were united in his person
with that of the greatly enlarged authority
of governor-general. J He arrived iu Cal-
cutta in the autumn of 1786, and immediately
commenced a series oi salutary and much-
needed reforms, both as regarded the collec-
tion of revenue and the administration of
justice. Mr. Macpherson, the senior member
of council,§ who had temporarily presided
over the affairs of government, had success-
fully exerted himself to diminish the waste
of the public finances connived at by his
predecessor; and Lord Cornwallis set about
the same task with a steadiness of principle
and singleness of motive to which both Eng-
lish officials and Indian subjects had been
long unaccustomed. The two great measures
which distinguish his internal policy, are the
establishment of a fixed land-rent through-
out Bengal, in exact accordance with the
opinions of Francis ; and the formation of a
§ Mr. Wheler was dead. Mr. (afterwards Sir
John) Macpherson went to India, in 17C6, as purser
in a vessel commanded by his uncle, contrived to
ingratiate lumself with tlio nabob of Arcot, and re-
turned to England as his agent. After a strange
series of adventures, which it is not necessary to
follow in detail, he rose to the position of acting
governor-general, in which capacity he obtained for
the company the valuable settlement of Penang or
Prince of Wales' Island, by an arrangement with the
King of Queda. His brief administration was like-
wise marked by a duel with Major Brown (on the
Bengal establishment.) Tlie Court of IJirectors, tired
of witnessing the peace of their territories endangered
by such proceedings, unanimously affixed the penalty
of dismissal from ttie company's service to any person
who should send a challenge on account of matters
arising out of the discharge of their oiKcial duties. —
(Auber's British India, ii., 39.)
J
IMMENSE DESTliUCTION OF LIFE BY TIPPOO SU-LTAN— 1785. 367
judicial system to protect property. The
necessity of coming to some speedy settle-
ment regarding the collection of territorial
revenue, whether under the denomination
of a rent or a tax, is the best apology for the
necessarily imperfect character of the system
framed at this period on the sound principle
of giving a proprietary right in the soil; but
even a brief statement of the different views
taken by the advocates of the zemindarree
settlement, and of the opposite arguments
of those who consider the right in the soil
vested in the ryots or cultivators, would
mar the continuity of the narrative.
The foreign policy of the governor-general
was characterised by the novel feature of the
reduction of the rate of tribute demanded
from a dependent prince. Asuf-ad-Dowlah
pleaded, that in violation of repeated trea-
ties, a sum averaging eighty-four lacs per
annum had been exacted for the company
during the nine preceding years ; and his
arguments appeared so forcible, that Lord
Cornwallis consented to reduce this sum to
fifty lacs per anniun, which he declared suffi-
cient to cover the "real expenses" involved
in the defence of Oude. Negligent, profuse,
and voluptuous in the extreme, the nabob-
vizier was wholly dependent on foreign aid to
secure the services of his own troops or the
submission of his own subjects; he had
therefore no alternative but to make the best
terms possible with the English, and might
well deem himself fortunate in finding the
chief authority vested in a ruler whose ac-
tions were dictated by loftier motives than
temporary expediency; and influenced by
more worthy considerations than the strength
or weakness of those with whom he had to
deal. The extreme dissatisfaction openly
expressed by Englishmen in India, regard-
ing the peace of 1784, and the insulting
conduct of Tippoo, led the Mahrattas and
the Nizam to believe that the E. I. Cy would
gladly take part with them ia a struggle
against one whose power and arrogance were
alarmingly on the increase ; but their over-
tures were met by an explicit declaration,
that the supreme government (in accor-
dance with the recent commands of the
British parliament) had resolved on taking
no part in any confederacy framed for pur-
poses of aggression. Tippoo and the Mah-
rattas therefore went to war on their own
• Wilks' Histm-y of Mi/soor, ii., 530.
t Mohammed Toghlak. See page 75.
X Tippoo, in his celebrated production, the Sul-
taun-vrTowareekh, or King of Histories, expresses
resources, and continued hostile operations
for about a year, until the former was
glad to make peace, on not very favourable
terms, in order to turn his undivided attention
to a portion of the territories usurped by his
father, and enact a new series of barbarities
on the miserable inhabitants of the coast of
Malabar. The first measure by which this
barbarian signalised his accession to despotic
sway, was the deportation of upwards of
30,000 native Christians from Canara. The
memory of the deeds of Cardinal Menezes,
and other stanch supporters of the " Holy
Inquisition," had not passed away; and
Tippoo affirmed, that it was the narrative of
the intolerance exercised by the "Portu-
guese Nazarenes" which caused " the rage
of Islam to boil in his breast,"* and induced
him to vent his wrath upon the present in-
nocent generation, by sweeping off the whole
of both sexes and every age into slavery,
and compelling them to observe and re-
ceive the external rites of the Moslem creed.
Of these unfortunates, not one-third are be-
lieved to have survived the first year of exile
and degradation. The brave mountaineers
of Coorg drew upon themselves the same
fate by the constant struggles for liberty, to
which they were incited by the odious tyranny
of the usurper. Tippoo at length dealt with
them in the manner in which a ferocious
and half-crazed despot of early times did
with another section of the Indian popula-
tion.f The dominant class in Coorg had as-
sembled together on a hilly, wooded tract,
apart from the lower order of the peasantry
(a distinct and apparently aboriginal race.)
Tippoo surrounded the main body, as if en-
closing game for a grand circular hunt ; beat
up the woods as if dislodging wild beasts ; and
finally closed in upon about 70,000 persons,
who were driven off, like a herd of cattle,
to Seringapatam, and " honoured with the
distiuctioa of Islam," J on the very day
selected by their persecutor to assume sove-
reign, or rather imperial sway, by taking
the proud title of Padsha, and causing his
own name to be prayed for in public in
place of that of the Mogul Shah Alum, as
was still customary in the mosques all over
India.
The Guntoor Circar, to which the English
had become entitled upon the death of
Bassalut Jung, in 1782, by virtue of the
great detestation for the immorality of the Coorgs,
who, he truly affirmed, systematically pursued a most
extraordinary system of polygandria, by giving to
several brothers one and the same woman to wife.
368 ENGLISH, MAHRATTAS, AND NIZAM UNITE AGAINST TIPPOO— 1790.
treaty of 1768, was obtained from Nizam
Ali iu 1788. The cession was expedited
by a recent quarrel between him and Tippoo
Sultan, which rendered the renewal of the
treaty of 1768 peculiarly desirable to the
former, inasmuch as it contained a proviso
that, in the event of his requiring assistance,
a British contingent of infantry and artil-
lery should march to support him against any
power not in alliance with the E. I. Cy. ;
the exceptions being the Mahrattas, the na-
bobs of Arcot and Oude, and the rajahs of
Tanjore and Travancore. The Nizam would
fain have interpreted the revived agreement
as warranting a united attack on Mysoor;
but his schemes were positively rejected by
Lord Cornwallis, on account of the recent
engagement entered into with that state,
which was still professedly at peace with the
English. Yet it was evident to every power
in India, that the sultan only waited a
favourable opportunity to renew hostilities.
The insulting caricatures of many of the
company's servants, held up to mockery
and coarse jesting on the walls of the houses
of Seringapatam, might have been an idle
effusion of popular feeling ; but the wretched
captives still pining in loathsome dungeons,
in violation of the promised general release
of prisoners, and the enrolment of a num-
ber of English children as domestic slaves
to the faithless tyrant, afforded, in con-
junction with various rancorous expressions,
uumistakeable indications of his deadly
hatred towards the whole nation.* The
inroad of the Mysooreans on the territory
of the rajah of Travancore, brought matters
to an issue. The rajah, when menaced by
invasion from his formidable neighbour,
appealed to the E. I. Cy. for their promised
protection, and an express communication
was made to Tippoo, that an attack on the
lines of defence formed on the Travancore
frontier, would be regarded as a declaration
of war with the English. The lines referred
to, constructed in 1775, consisted of a broad
and deep ditch, a strong bamboo hedge, a
slight parapet, and a good rampart, with
bastions on rising grounds, almost flanking
one another. They extended a distance of
thirty miles (from the island of Vaipeen to
the Anamalaiah range), but were more im-
posing than efi'ectual, as it was hardly pos-
sible to defend so great an extent. Tippoo
approached this barrier in December, 1 789,
• Col. Fullarton, writinp; in 1784, accuses Tippoo
of having caused '200 English to be forcibly circum-
cised and enrolled in his service. — ( View, 207.)
and proceeded to erect batteries. An un-
suspected passage round the right flank of
the lines, enabled him to introduce a body
of troops within the wall, and he led them
onward, hoping to force open the nearest
gate, and admit the rest of the army. The
attempt proved, not merely unsuccessful,
but fatal to the majority of the assailants.
They were compelled to retreat in confusion,
and, in the general scramble across the
ditch, Tippoo himself was so severely bruised,
as to limp occasionally during the remainder
of his life. His palanquin fell into the
hands of the enemy, the bearers having
been trodden to death by their comrades ;
and his seals, rings, and personal ornaments
remained to attest his presence, and contra-
dict his reiterated denial of having borne
any part in a humiliating catastrophe, which
had materially deranged his plans. More
than this, alarm at the probable conse-
quence of a repulse, induced Tippoo to
write, in terms of fulsome flattery, to the
English authorities, assuring them that the
late aggression was the unauthorised act of
his troops. Lord Cornwallis treated these
assertions with merited contempt, and
hastened to secure the co-operation of the
Nizam and the Mahratta ministers of
Poona, to which he would gladly have
added that of Sindia, had not the price de-
manded been the aid of British troops for
aggressive warfare in Rajpootana, which was
unhesitatingly refused. He proceeded to
make vigorous preparations for a campaign,
by assembling troops, collecting supplies,
and meeting financial difficulties in an open
and manly spirit. Further outlay for a Eu-
ropean investment he completely stopped,
as a ruinous drain on resources already
insufficient to meet the heavy expenditure
which must inevitably be incurred in the
ensuing contest, the avowed object of which
was to diminish materially the power of the
sultan; for, as Loi'd Cornwallis truly de-
clared, in a despatch to General Medows, if
this despot were " suffered to retain his
present importance, and to insult and bully
all his neighbours, until the French should
again be in a condition to support him, it
would almost certainly leave the seeds of a
future dangerous war." Meanwhile, Tippoo
confirmed these convictions, and justified
the intended procedure by a renewed at-
tempt upon Travancore, and succeeded in
razing the defences and spreading desola-
tion over the country. The invasion of
IMysoor compelled him to return for its
CORNWALLIS, IN PERSON, DIRECTS THE CAMPAIGN OF 1791. 369
defence; and the system of intelligence
established by his father, together with his
own activity, enabled him to take advantage
of the separation of the English army into
three divisions, to attack them in detail,
break through their chain of communica-
tion, and transfer hostilities to the Carnatic.
These reverses were partially compensated
by the success of a fourth detachment from
Bombay in obtaining possession of the
whole of Malabar. The second campaign
was opened in February, 1791, by Corn-
wallis in person. Placing himself at the
head of the army, he entered Mysoor by
the pass of Mooglee, and in the commence-
ment of March, laid siege to the fortress of
Bangalore. Though the troops had been
little harassed by hostile operations, they
were much enfeebled by the fatigues and
privations of a tedious march ; the cattle
were worn to skeletons, and their supplies,
both of food and ammimition, nearly ex-
hausted. The arrival of a Mahratta re-
inforcement had been long and vainly ex-
pected ; and affairs were in a most critical
state, when the successful assault, first of
the town, and subsequently of the citadel
of Bangalore (carried by a bayonet charge),
relieved the mind of the commander-in-
chief from the gloomy prospect involved in
the too probable event of defeat. Never-
theless, difficulties and dangers of no ordi-
nary character remained to be combated.
At the close of March the army moved
from Bangalore northward, for the purpose
of forming a junction with the auxiliary
corps of cavalry expected from the Nizam.
When, after being repeatedly misled by false
information regarding the vicinity of the
Hyderabad troops, the desired union was
at length successfully efffected, it proved a
fresh source of trouble and disappointment ;
for the 10,000 light troops so anxiously
awaited, instead of rendering good service
in the field, were so ill-disciplined and un-
trustworthy, as to be incapable of conduct-
ing even a foraging expedition, and there-
fore did but augment the distress and
anxiety they were sent to lessen.*
Though surrounded on every side by
• Their commander is said to have been influenced
by intrigues carried on between the mother of Tippoo
and the favourite wife of the Nizam. The former
lady successfully deprecated the wrath excited by
the gross insults lately offered by her son, in return
to solicitations addressed by some female members
of the family of Nizam All when in peril at Adoni.
t Twenty English youths, the survivors of the un-
happy band whom Tippoo, with malicious wantonness,
circumstances of the most depressing cha-
racter, Cornwallis, with undaunted courage,
made such preparations as the possession of
Bangalore placed in his power for the siege
of Seringapatam. An earnest desire to
bring to a speedy close hostilities, the pro-
longation of which involved a grievous
sacrifice of life and treasure, added to the
alarming information constantly arriving in
India regarding the progress of the French
revolution, induced him to advance at once
upon the capital of Mysoor, despite the
defective character of his resources. The
troops marched, in May, to Arikera, about
nine miles distant from Seringapatam,
through a country which, in anticipation of
their approach, had been reduced to the
condition of a desert. Tippoo Sultan took
up a strong position in their front, from
whence he was driven by Lord Cornwallis —
forced to action, defeated, and compelled to
retreat and take refuge under the works of
his capital, for the safety of which he now
became seriously alarmed. Recognising too
late the folly of wantonly provoking the
vengeance of a powerful foe, he gave orders
that the caricatures of the English should
be carefully obliterated from all public
places ; at the same time taking the savage
precaution of slaughtering, without distinc-
tion, such prisoners as he had privately de-
tained, lest they should live to afford incon-
trovertible evidence of his breach of faith
and diabolical cruelty. f
Lord Cornwallis was, however, quite un-
able to pursue his recent success. The
deplorable condition of the army, in which
smallpox was now raging, with diseases
immediately resulting from insufficient food
and excessive fatigue under incessant rains,
compelled him to issue a reluctant order for
retreat. It seemed madness to remain un-
der such circumstances in such a position,
still more to hazard further advance, on the
chance of the long-delayed succour expected
from the Mahrattas ; and after destroying
the battering train and other heavy equip-
ments, which the loss of cattlej prevented
them from carrying away, the English, in
deep disappointment and depression, corn-
had caused to be trained and dressed like a troop of
Hindoostanee dancing-girls, were first sacrificed to
his awakened fears ; but there were many other vic-
tims, including native state prisoners. A few Eng-
lishmen coritrived to eff'ect their escape, and one of
them wrote an account of the treatment received. —
(See Captiviti/ of James Scurry ; London, 1824.)
I Nearly 40,000 bullocks perished in this disastrous
campaign. — (Mill's India, v., 396.)
370
CAPTURE OF SAVENDROOG AND OTHER HILL FORTS— 179L
menced their homeward march. Orders
were dispatched to General Abercromby
(governor of Bombay), who was advancing
from the westward, to return to Malabar;
and Lord Cornwallis, having completed these
mortifying arrangements, was about six miles
en route to Bangalore, when a party of horse
unexpectedly rode in upon the baggage
flank. They were taken for enemies, but
proved to be forerunners of the despaired-of
Mahratta force, under Hurri Punt and Pur-
seram Bhow. In answer to the eager in-
terrogatories poured in upon them on all
sides, they replied that numerous messengers
had been regularly sent, at different times,
with accounts of their approach; every one
of whom had been cut off by the unsleeping
vigilance of the light troops of the enemy.
Their tardy arrival was in some measure
accounted for by the time spent by them in
co-operation with a detachment from Bom-
bay under Captain Little, in the siege of
Darwar, one of the great barriers of Tip-
poo's northern frontier. The place held out
against the unskilful and dilatory operations
of the assailants for twenty-nine weeks,
when the arrival of news of the capture of
Bangalore induced its surrender, which was
followed by the easy conquest of all the
possessions of the sultan north of the
Toombuddra.
The Mahrattas now declared themselves
unable to keep the field, unless the English
could give them pecuniary support; and
Lord Cornwallis, iinable to dispense with
their aid, was compelled to advance them a
loan of twelve lacs of rupees, to obtain which
he took the bold measure of ordering the
Madras authorities to coin the bullion sent
out for the China trade into rupees, and for-
ward it without delay. Tlie ample supplies of
draught cattle and provisions, together with
the innumerable miscellaneous contents of
the bazaar of a Mahratta army,* afforded a
most welcome relief to men half-famished
and wretchedly equipped. Still the advanced
season, and the return of General Aber-
cromby, compelled the continuance of the
. • The Mahrattas commenced by asking exor-
bitant prices for their goods ; but when compelled
by the diminished purses of the purchasers to reduce
their demands or stop the sale, they took the former
alternative; but still continued to realise immense
profits, since their whole stock-in-trade had been ac-
cumulated by plunder. Their bazaar is described by
Col. Wilks as comprising every imagina1)le article,
from a web of English broadcloth to a Birmingham
penknife ; from the shawls of Cashmere to the
secondhand garment of a Hindoo; from diamonds
of the first water to the silver earring of a poor
retreat to Bangalore; which was followed
up by the occupation of Oossoor, Rayacot-
tah, and other forts, whereby communica-
tion between the presidency and the Carnatic,
through the Policade Pass, was laid open.
By this route a convoy reached the camp from
Madras, comprising 100 elephants laden with
treasure, marching two abreast ; 6,000 bul-
locks with rice ; 100 carts with arrack ; and
several hundred coolies with other supplies.
The war was viewed by the British par-
liament as the inevitable consequence of
the cruelty and aggression of Tippoo. The !
energetic measures of Lord Cornwallis were
warmly applauded, and reinforcements of
troops, with specie to the amount of
i8500,000, sent to assist his operations.
Comprehensive arrangements were made for
provisioning the troops, by taking advantage
of the extensive resources and experience of
the £rinjarries,f or travelling corn-mer-
chants, who form a distinct caste, and enjoy,
even among the least civilised native states,
an immunity for life and property, based on
the great services rendered by these neutral
traders to all parties indiscriminately, from
a very remote period. Measures were like-
wise adopted for the introduction of a more
efficient system of intelligence. The gen-
eral campaign which opened under these
auspicious circumstances, was attended with j
complete success. The intermediate opera- i
tions were marked by the capture of the
hill-forts of Nundydroog, Savendroog, and
Ootradroog. All three were situated on \
lofty granite rocks, and deemed well-nigh in- ;
accessible — especially Savendroog {the rock
of death) ; and so implicit was the con-
fidence placed by Tippoo in the strength
of its natural and artificial defences, that he
received with joy the tidings of the assault,
making sure that the malaria for which the
neighbouring jungle had acquired a fearful
celebrity, would fight against the English,
and slay one-half, leaving the other to fall ;
by the sword. But the very character of
the place diminished the watchfulness of its
garrison, and tempted them to witness with
plundered village maiden; from oxen, sheep, and
poultry, to the dried salt-fish of the Concan. The
tables of the moneychangers, overspread with the
coins of every country of the east, were not wanting
in this motley assemblage ; and among the various
trades carried on with remarkable activity, was
that of a tanner, so that the English officers were
enabled to obtain, by means of ambulatory tan-pits,
what their own Indian capitals could not then pro-
duce, except as European imports— excellent sword-
belts.-— (il/ysoor, iii., 158-'9.)
f A Persian compound, designating their office.
LORD CORNWALLIS LEADS THE ATTACK ON SERINGAPATAM— 1792. 371
contemptuous indifference the early ap-
proaches of the besiegers, who, after a series
of Herculean labours (in which the utmost
exertions of human strength and skill,
were aided in an extraordinary manner by
the force and sagacity of some admirably-
trained elephants), at length succeeded in
effecting a practicable breach in what formed
the lower wall of the rock, although it rose
1,500 feet from a base of above eight
miles in circumference. Lord Cornwallis
and General Medows stood watching with
intense anxiety the progress of the assault,
which commenced an hour before noon on
the 21st December, 1791. The band of the
52nd regiment played "Britons, strike
home/' and the troops mounted with a
steady gallantry which completely unnerved
the native forces assembled to defend the
breach. A hand-to-hand encounter with
men who had already overcome such tre-
mendous obstacles, was sufficient to alarm
the servants of a more popular master than
Tippoo, and they fled in disorder, tumbling
over one another in their eager ascent of
the steep and narrow path which led to the
citadel. The pursuers followed with all
speed ; but the majority of the fugitives had
effected their entrance, when a sergeant of
the 71st regiment shot, at a distance, the
soldier who was closing the first gate. All
the other barriers the English passed together
with the enemy, of whom about 100 were
slain, while many others perished among
the precipitous rocks, in endeavouring to
escape. This impoi'tant enterprise, which
the commander-in-chief had contemplated
as the most doubtful operation of the war,
was effected in twelve days from the first
arrival of the troops. The casualties were
not numerous, and the actual assault only
lasted an hour, and involved the loss of no
single life on the side of the besiegers. It
was well-timed ; for even so much as half-an-
hour's delay would have sufficed to bring
to the scene of action the Mysoorean de-
tachment, then fast approaching to aid
their comrades.
The counter-hostilities of Tippoo were
* In detaining the garrison close prisoners, not-
withstanding a proviso for tlieir liberation. Bad
faith was the notorious cliaractcristic of Tippoo,
who, says Col. Wilks, could not be made to appre-
ciate the value of truth even as a convenience.
Among his letters, translated by Col. Kirkpatriek, is
one in which he desires the commander of an attack
on a Mahratta fortress to promise anything until he
got possession, and then to put every living thing —
man, woman, chiUl, dog, and cat — to the sword, ex-
cept the chief, who was to be reserved for torture.
feebly conducted ; but the irrepressible ten-
dency of the Mahrattas for freebooting on
their own account, led them again to de-
range the plans of Lord Cornwallis, by neg-
lecting to support General Abercromby, and
their misconduct facilitated the conquest of
the fort of Coimbatore by the Mysooreans.
The flagrant violation of the terms of sur-
render* (a besetting sin on the part of Tip-
poo), afforded a reason for rejecting his
overtures for peace; and on the 1st of Feb-
ruary, 1792, Lord Cornwallis, in conjunc-
tion with the Hyderabad and Poona armies,
advanced to the attack of Seringapatam,
under the walls of which the sultan, with his
whole force, lay encamped. Aware of his
inability to compete in the field with the
formidable confederacy by which he was
opposed, Tippoo hoped to be able to hold
out against their combined efforts in his
island-capital,t by keeping them at bay
until the want of supplies, in an already
exhausted country — or, in any case, the
recurrence of the monsoon — should compel
their retreat. The dilatory and unskilful
tactics of the native troops would probably
have contributed to realise these anticipa-
tions ; but the English commander-in-chief
correctly appreciated the danger of delay,
and chose to incur the charge of rashness by
attempting to surprise the tiger in his den,
rather than waste strength and resources
in the dispiriting operations of a tedious and
precarious blockade. It was deemed inad-
visable to await the arrival of expected
reinforcements from Bombay, or even to
divulge the plan of attack to the allies, who,
on the night of the 6th, were astounded by
the news that a handful of infantry, un-
supported by cannon or cavalry, were on the
march to attack the dense host of Tippoo,
in a fortified camp under the walls of
his capital ; and that Lord Cornwallis, in
person, commanded the division destined to
penetrate the centre of the hostile force ;
having gone to fight, as they expressed it,J
like a private soldier. The sultan had
just finislied his evening's repast when the
alarm was given. § He mounted, and beheld
t Seringapatam is situated on an island formed by
two branches of the C'auvery, which after separating
to a distance of a mile and a-half, again unites about
five miles below the point of division. A " bound
hedge" of bamboo and other strong shrubs sur-
rounded the capital, and Tippoo's encampment oc-
cupied an enclosure between this hedge and the river.
X There were two other columns, commanded by
Genei-al Medows and Colonel Maxwell.
§ TTie Indians usually attack at midnight or day-
break.
372 TIPPOO PURCHASES PEACE WITH HALF HIS KINGDOM— 1792.
by the light of the moon an extended column
passing rapidly through his camp, driving
before them a cloud of fugitives, and making
directly for the main ford of the stream
which lay between them and the capital.
This movement threatened to cut off the
retreat of Tippoo, who perceiving his danger,
hastened across " the ford in time to elude
the grasp of his pursuers and take up a
position on a commanding summit of the
fort, from whence he continued to issue
orders till the morning. His troops had
already deserted by thousands. One band,
10,000 strong (the Ahmedy Chelahs, com-
posed of the wretched Coorgs), wholly dis-
appeared and escaped to their native woods,
accompanied by their wives and children ;
and many of the Assud Oollahees (a similar
description of corps) followed their example.
A number of Europeans, forcibly detained
in the service of Tippoo Sultan, likewise
fled to the protection of the English, in-
cluding an old Frenchman, named Blevette,
who had chiefly constructed tlie six re-
.doubts which offered the most formidable
obstacles to the assailants. Two of these
were captured and retained by English de-
tachments, at the cost of much hard fight-
ing. The night of the 7th aff'orded an
interval of rest to both parties, and time to
ascertain the extent of their respective losses.
That of the British was stated at 535 men,
including killed, wounded, and missing ; that
of the enemy at 23,000, of whom 4,000
had fallen in the actual contest. On the
following morning operations were com-
menced against the strong triangular-shaped,
water-washed fort, in which the sultan had
taken refuge. His gorgeously furnished
garden-palace was turned into an hospital
for the wounded English, and the magnificent
cypress groves, and other valuable trees, cut
down to aflbrd materials for the siege. Gen-
eral Abercromby arrived in safety with the
Bombay army, having perfected a line of
communication with the Malabar coast; the
Brinjarries maintained such abundance in
the camp of Cornwallis as had not been
known since the commencement of the war ;
and the soldiers, stimulated by the hope of
speedily liberating, with their own hands, the
survivors of their murdered countrymen,
worked with unflagging energy at the breach-
ing batteries. Tippoo, seriously alarmed,
made overtures for peace, and after much
delay, occasioned by his treacherous and
unstable policy, and his unceasing efforts to
gain time, was at length compelled to sign a
preliminary treaty, the terms of which in-
volved the cession of half his territories to
the allies, and the payment of about three
million and a- half sterling. Two of his sons,
boys of eight and ten years of age, were
delivered up to Lord Cornwallis, as hostages
for the confirmation and fulfilment of the
agreement ; but despite this guarantee, Tip-
poo showed evident signs of an inclination
to renew hostilities, on finding that the
English insisted on his relinquishment of
Coorg, the rajah of which principality he
had hoped to seize and exhibit as a terrible
instance of vengeance. Lord Cornwallis,
who appears to have acted throughout the
war with equal ' energy and moderation,
endeavoured to conciliate him by the sur-
render of Bangalore — a fortress and dis-
trict which, in a military point of view, far
surpassed Coorg in value ; but on the latter
point he took decided ground, justly deem-
ing it a clear duty to reward the good ser-
vice rendered by the rajah, by preserving
him from the clutches of his relentless foe.
Preparations for a renewed siege at length
brought matters to an issue. The previous
arrangements were formally confirmed by
Tippoo on the 19th of March, and the treaty
delivered to Lord Cornwallis and the allies
by the royal hostages.
The total territorial revenue of the
sultan, according to the admitted schedule,
averaged from about two-and-a-half to three
million sterling, one-half of which was now
made over to the allies, to be divided by
them in equal portions, according to the
original terms of the confederation. By the
addition now made to their possessions, the
boundary of the Mahrattas was again ex-
tended to the river Toombuddra. The
allotment of the Nizam reached from the
Kistna beyond the Pennar, and included the
forts of Gunjecotah and Cuddapah, and the
province of Kurpa. The British obtained
Malabar and Coorg, the province of Dinde-
gul (a valuable accession to their southern
territory), together with Baramahl and the
Lower Ghauts, which formed an iron boun-
dary for Coromandel. The Anglo-Indian
army were ill-pleased with this termination
of the war. They had set their hearts on
nothing less than the storming of Seringa-
patam ; and when, in consequence of Tippoo's
overtures for peace, orders were given to
desist from further operations, they be-
came, says an officer who was present,
" dejected to a degree not to be described,
and could with difficulty be restrained from
THE GREAT MOGUL BLINDED BY ROHILLAS— 1788.
373
continuing their work." Their dissatisfac-
tion was increased by the miserable artifice
of Tippoo, who, desirous of assuming before
his own troops a defiant attitude, although
really a suitor for peace, gave secret orders
to fire on the English soldiery, both with
cannon and musketry. Under such circum-
stances, it needed all the weight of the public
and private character of Lord Cornwallis, to
enforce the admirable precept with which
the general orders to the victorious troops
concluded, — " that moderation in success is
no less expected from brave men than gal-
lantry in action." In acknowledgment of
their excellent conduct, a donation, equal to
twelve months' batta, was awarded them, out
of the money exacted from the sultan. The
disinterestedness of the commander-in-chief
and of General Medows was displayed in
their refusal to accept any portion of this
sum, or of the prize-money. Their cordial
co-operation and perfect confidence in each
other's zeal and integrity, had been con-
spicuous throughout the war, forming a
pleasing contrast to the divided counsels and
personal quarrels which had, of late years,
diminished the efficiency of the military and
civil services of the officers of the com-
pany. This unanimity enabled Lord Corn-
wallis to take full advantage of the influence
he possessed over the Nizam and the Mah-
rattas. Their mutual distrust, combined
with the respect inspired by the English
commander-in-chief, led them to entrust
to him the sole control of the late opera-
tions. These were no sooner terminated by
the treaty of Seringapatam, than occasions
of quarrel reappeared among the allies.
The Nizam, by far the weakest of the three
powers, petitioned to be allowed to retain
the services of a British detachment. His
request was granted, greatly to the annoy-
ance of the Mahrattas, whose discontent at
finding him thus favoured, was aggravated
by the refusal of Lord Cornwallis to suffer a
similar stipendiary force to be permanently
annexed to the army of the peishwa, or
rather of his ambitious guardian, Nana
Furnavees. In this case the concession
* De Boigne was a Savoyard by birth, and had
been an ensign in the service of tlie E. I. Cy.
t Among the few who faithfully adhered to the
cause of Shah Alum, was the widow of the notorious
Sumroo, who had entered the imperial service, or
rather that of Nujeef Khan, after quitting Oude, and
married the daughter of an impoverished Mogul
noble. The " Begum Sumroo" received Christian bap-
tism, at the request of her husband. After his death,
in 1778, she was suffered to retain the jaghire
3 c
must have provoked immediate hostilities
with Mahadajee Sindia, since it was to
oppose his large and formidable corps of
regular artillery (under De Boigne* and
other European officers), that the services of
an English detachment were especially de-
sired. Such a procedure would have been
inconsistent with the pacific policy by which
it was both the duty and inclination of Lord
Cornwallis to abide ; and Sindia was there-
fore suffered to retain, without interference
on the part of the only enemy he feared,
the dominant position which the time-serving
policy of Hastings had first helped him to
assume, as vicegerent of the Mogul empire.
His power, before reaching its present height,
had received a severe check, from the eftbrts
of other ambitious chiefs to obtain posses-
sion of the person, and wield authority in
the name, of the hapless Shah Alum,t who,
from the time of the death of his brave
general, Nujeef Khan, in 1782, had been
tossed about, like a child's toy, from one
usurper to another — a tool during their
prosperity, a scape-goat in adversity. Sindia
became paramount in 1785 ; but having
engaged in war with Pertab Sing of Jey-
poor, advantage was taken of his absence by
Gholam Kadir Khan, the son of Zabita
Khan, the Rohilla, to gain possession of
Delhi in 1788. This he accomplished
through the treachery of the nazir or chief
eunuch, to whom the management of the
imperial establishment was entrusted. The
inmates of the palace were treated by the
usurper with a degree of malicious barbarity
which it is hardly possible to conceive any
human being evincing towards his unoffend-
ing fellow-creatures, unless actually pos-
sessed by an evil spirit. After cruelties
of all descriptions had been practised to
extort from the members and retainers of
the imperial family every article of value
which still remained in their possession,
Gholam Kadir continued to withhold from
them even the necessaries of life, so that
several ladies perished of hunger; and others,
maddened by suffering, committed suicide.
The royal children;]: were compelled to
granted to bim for the support of five battalions of
disciplined sepoys and about 200 Europeans, chiefly
artillerymen, whose movements she directed from
her palanquin, even on the actual field of battle.
An imprudent marriage with a German, named
Vaissaux, for a time endangered her influence ; but
after his seizure by the mutinous troops, and death
by his own hand, she regained her authority.
I The Shahzada, Prince Jewan Bukht, had taken
refuge at Benares. Lord Cornwallis granted him a
374 LORD CORNWALLIS SUCCEEDED BY SIR J. SHORE— 1793.
perform the most humiliating offices ; and
wlien Shah Alum indignantly remonstrated
against the atrocities he was compelled to
witness, the Roliilla sprang upou him with
the fury of a wild beast, flung the venerable
monarch to the ground, knelt on his breast,
and, with his dagger, pierced his eve-balls
through and through. The return of
Siudia terminated these horrible scenes.
Gholam Kadir took to flight, but was cap-
tured by the Mahratta chief, who cut off
his nose, ears, hands, and feet, and sent
him in an iron cage to Shah Alum — a fear-
ful example of retributive barbarity. He
perished on the road, and his accomplice,
the treacherous nazir, was trodden to death
by an elephant. The condition of the im-
perial family, though ameliorated, remained
barely tolerable during the supremacy of
Sindia; for the stated allowance for the
support of the emperor and his thirty chil-
dren, though liberal in its nominal amount,
was so irregularly paid, that the royal
household often wanted the necessaries of
life.
The arrogance of Mahadajee increased
with his power ;* and not only the Nizam
and the Poona ministry headed by Nana
Furnavees, but even the English, began to
contemplate an approaching struggle as in-
evitable; when their apprehensions were
unexpectedly removed by his death, of fever,
in February, 1794, aged sixty-seven. He
left no male issue, but bequeathed his ex-
tensive territorial possessions to his great-
nephew and adopted son, Dowlut Rao, then
a youth of fifteen.
The administration of Lord Cornwallis
ended in the preceding year; its concluding
feature being the capture, once again, .of
Pondicherry and all the French settlements
in India, in consequence of the national
yearly stipend of four lacs (promised, but not paid,
by the vizier of Oude), which, after the death of tlie
prince, was continued to his family by tlie E. I. Cy.
* What a blow would have been inflicted on the
pride and bigotry of Aurungzebe, could it have been
foretold that one of his dynasty would be compelled,
by a Mahratta, to sign a decree forbidding the
slaughter of kine throughout the Mogul dominions.
Yet this was enforced by Sindia on Shah Alum.
•j- In the year ending April, 1793', the receipts of
the company in India amounted to £8,225,628 ; the
total expenses to £7,007,050 : leaving a surplus of
£1,218,578 clear gain. In the outgoings, were in-
cluded the interest of Indian debts (the principal of
which amounted to £7,971,665), and money sup-
plied to Bencoolen and other distant settlements ;
making a drawback of £702,443. The debts in
England, exclusive of the capital stock, were
£10,983,518. The capital stock had been increased
declaration of war. The charter of the
E. I. Cy. was at the same time (1793)
renewed for a term of twenty years.f Ar-
rangements were made for the relief of the
financial difficulties of Mohammed AH.
The management of the revenues of the
Carnatic, which had been temporarily as-
sumed by Lord Cornwallis during the war,
was partially restored to the nabob at its
conclusion, and the payments to his credi-
tors reduced from the twelve lacs of pagodas
(conceded to them most improperly by the
i3oard of Control in 1785), to somewhat
more than six lacs. Attempts were like-
wise made, but with little success, to induce
the profligate Asuf-ad-Dowlah to adopt
reformatory measures, to stay the ruin which
seemed about to overwhelm the fair province,
or rather kingdom, of Oude.
Administration of Sib John Shore. —
This gentleman (afterwards Lord Teign-
mouth) had been many years in the service
of the company, and was selected for the
high post of governor-general,J expressly on
account of the ability and perseverance
which he had brought to bear on the in-
tricate and little understood question of
Indian revenue. His pacific disposition
was likewise viewed as aflbrding a guarantee
for the fulfilment of the strict injunctions of
the British parliament — to shun every de-
scription of aggressive warfare on behalf of
the company, whether in the character of a
principal or an ally. Upon the death of
Mahadajee Sindia, preparations for hostili-
ties against the Nizam were carried on by his
young successor, Dowlut Rao Siudia, with the
co-operation of the Poona authorities and
all the leading Mahratta chieftains. § The
attempts of Sir John Shore at friendly
mediation were treated with insulting indif-
ference by the Mahrattas, so soon as they
in 1789, from four to five million, on which sum a
dividend of ten-and-a-half per cent, was now paid.
X General Medows had been offered the position
on the expected resignation of Lord Cornwallis; but
he declined it, declaring his intention of staying in
India just long enough " to lead the storming party
at Seringapatam, or until the war is over ;" and no
longer. He adds, that he had saved £40,000 out of
the liberal appointments of the company, and should
feel amply compensated if they pronounced " the la-
bourer worthy of his hire." — (Auber's India, ii., 121.)
§ Tookajee Ilolcar and the rajah of Berar, with
the representative of the Puar and other influential
families, took the lield ; while the Guicowars from
Guzerat, and others, sent detachments to join the gen-
eral assembly of Mahrattas, gathered together for the
last time under the nominal authority of the peishwa,
Madhoo Kao II., who was himself completely con-
trolled by Nana Furnavees. — (Duff, iii., 111.)
LORD TEIGNMOUTH (SHORE) RESIGNS.— STATE OE INDIA— 1798. 375
perceived his determination of preserving a
strict neutrality. The Nizam advanced to
Beder, where the enemy hastened to give
him battle. After an indecisive action, he
retreated by night to Kurdla, a small fort
surrounded by hills. He was besieged,
closely blockaded, and compelled to pur-
chase peace by the most ignominious eon-
cessions, which, if carried out, would have
completely crippled his resources, and left
him at the mercy of his old foe, Nana
Furnavees. But at this crisis the " Mah-
ratta Machiavelli " overreached himself.
The severity and excess of his precautionary
measures wrought upon the high spirit of
the young peishwa (then one-and-twenty
years of age) with unexpected violence,
and, in a moment of deep depression,
caused by the indignity to which he was
subjected, he flung himself from a terrace of
the palace, and expired in the course of
two days, after expressing a strong desire
that his cousin, Bajee Rao, should succeed
to the authority of which he had been
defrauded.* This arrangement would have
been generally popular ; for Bajee Rao, then
about twenty years of age, bore a high cha-
racter for skill in manly and military exer-
cises, and was besides deeply read in ancient
Brahminical lore, and a studious follower of
the intricate observances of caste. Beneath
this fair surface lay, as Nana Furnavees
truly declared, the weakness of his father
Ragoba, and the wickedness of his mother
Anuudee Bye, as yet undeveloped.
The talents of Bajee Rao, even had they
been likely to be used for good instead of
for evil, would probably have been equally
opposed to the views of the minister, who
wanted a mere puppet to occupy the musnud
on public occasions, and then return to his
gilded prison. With this intent he caused
the widow of the late Madhoo Rao II.
(herself a mere child) to adopt an infant,
whom he proclaimed peishwa. Sindia
espoused the cause of Bajee Rao, and the
dissensions which followed enabled Nizam
Ali to procure a release from three-fourths
of the cessions and payments stipulated for
by the treaty of Kurdla.
The remaining events during the admin-
istration of Sir John Shore may be briefly
• Bajee Rao liad endeavoured to open a secret in-
tercourse with Madhoo Kao, which being discovered
by Nana Furnavees, drew severe reproaches and
more strict surveillance on both cousins. — (Duff.)
t In this year the Calcutta bench, and orientalists
in general, sustained a heavy loss in the death of the
upright judge and distinguished scholar. Sir AVilliam
noted. FyzooUa Khan, the Rohilla ruler of
Rampore and its dependent districts, died in
1794.t His eldest son, Mohammed Ali,
succeeded to the government, but was
seized and murdered by his younger brother,
Gholam Mohammed Khan, who was in turn
deposed by the conjoined troops of the
English and the vizier. A jaghire of ten
lacs of revenue was conferred on Ahmed
Ali, the youthful son of the murdered ruler ;
provision was made for the maintenance of
Gholam Mohammed, who came to reside at
Benares, under the protection of the Bri-
tish government ; and the treasures and
remaining territory of the late Fyzoolla
Khan, were delivered up to the wasteful
and profligate Asuf-ad-Dowlah.
Mohammed Ali, of Arcot, died in 1795,
aged seventy-eight, and was succeeded by
his eldest son, Omdut-al-Omrah. In the
same year the English eflfected the com-
plete reduction of the Dutch settlements
in Ceylon, Malacca, Banda, Amboyna,
Cochin, and the Cape of Good Hope. J Asuf-
ad-Dowlah died in 1797. A dispute con-
cerning the succession arose between his
brother Sadut Ali, and his alleged son
Vizier Ali, a youth of seventeen, said to be
of spurious descent. § Sir John Shore
eventually decided in favour of the former,
with whom he entered into a new treaty, by
which the fort of Allahabad was made over
to the English, the annual subsidy increased
to seventy-six lacs of rupees, twelve lacs
guaranteed by the vizier as compensation
money for the expenses incurred in the
recent interference, and an annual pension
of a lac and a-half of rupees settled on
Vizier Ali, beside other arrangements re-
garding the support of the company's troops,
deemed necessary for the defence of Oude.
In the beginning of 1798, the governor-
general, who had been raised to the peerage
with the title of Lord Teigumouth, resigned
his position on account of ill-health, and
returned to England. Despite his high
character as a financier, the pecuniary re-
sults of his four years' sway were disastrous,
and the scourge of war was but temporarily
delayed. Tippoo evidently waited an oppor-
tunity to renew hostilities ; and the expen-
sive preparations made to invade Mysoor, in
Jones, aged forty-eight. He was the first president
of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Warren Hastings
the patron, and Charles Wilkins a member.
I These conquests Avere mainly effected through
the zeal of Lord Uobart, governor of Madras.
§ On inquiry, it appeared that the alleged children
of Asuf-ad-Dowlah were all supposititious.
376 ADMINISTRATION OF LORD MORNINGTON (WELLESLEY)— 1798.
the event of his taking part with the Dutch,
together with the requirements of the presi-
dencies of Madras and Bombay, obliged the
supreme government, in 1796, to open the
treasury for a loan bearing twelve per cent,
interest. In the following year, increasing
involvements compelled a considerable re-
duction in the investments — a step never
taken, it will be recollected, except under
the stern pressure of necessity.
Administration of Lord Mornington
(Marquis Wellesley.) — An impending
war with Mysoor, intricate political rela-
tions based on the temporary interest of
other native powers, an exhausted trea-
sury, and an increasing debt, — such were
the difficulties that awaited the successor of
Lord Teignmouth. After some delay, the
choice — happily for England and for India —
fell upon a nobleman no less distinguished
for decision of purpose than for deliberation
and forethought in counsel, gifted with a
mind alike capable of grasping the grandest
plans, and of entering into the minute de-
tails so important to good government.
Lord Mornington was but seven-and-thirty
when he was selected for the arduous office
of exercising almost irresponsible authority
over British India ; but he had been early
called to play an important part in public
life, and had, from circumstances, been led
to regard Indian affairs with peculiar interest,
even before his appointment as one of the
six commissioners of the Board of Control,
• The Earl of Mornington (afterwards Marquis
Wellesley) was descended from an ancient family,
whose founders went over to Ireland with Strong-
bow, and held (on the tenure of bearing the royal
standard " quando opusfuerit") the castle and manor
of Dangan, in the county Heath, where the future
governor-general of India was born in 1760. The
name of his father fills an honoured place in the
musical annals of England, as the composer of some
of the finest chants and glees in the language : his
mother, the Countess of Mornington, was highly
gifted both in person and in intellect, and especially
remarkable for force of character, which she retained
unimpaired even to advanced age, and transmitted
to at least three of her sons — the subject of this
notice, " the Iron Duke," and Baron Cowley. The
death of Lord Mornington, in 1781, arrested the
college studies of his young successor, and called
him when scarcely of age, to relinquish the classic
pursuits by which he might else have become too
exclusively engrossed, for the severer duties of pub-
lic life. Close intimacy with the Cornwallis family,
doubtless contributed to direct his attention to In-
dian affairs ; and the influence of the Eton holidays
regularly passed with Archbishop Cornwallis at Lam-
beth Palace, from 1771 to 1779, had probably its
effect in producing, or at least strengthening the love
of justice and high sense of honour for which the
young lord became distinguished, as well as in ira-
in 1793.* In this position he continued
for the ensuing five years, attending sedu-
lously to its duties, and availing himself to
the utmost of the opportunities it afforded
of becoming intimately acquainted with the
condition of the E. I. Cy., the mode of gov-
ernment adopted in the three presidencies,
and the position and history of neighbouring
powers. The subject was, to the highest
degree, attractive to a statesman who con-
sidered that " the majesty of Great Britain
was her trade, and the throne of the com-
merce of the world the fittest object of her
ambition." The able and indefatigable, but
prejudiced historian of India, was probably
but imperfectly acquainted with the cha-
racter and antecedents of Lord Morning-
ton, when he remarked that he came out
as a war-governor : still less ground existed
for the assertion, that his lordship had
" possessed but little time for acquainting
himself with the complicated affairs of
India, when all his attention was attracted
to a particular point."t The remarkable
letter, addressed to Lord Melville from the
Cape of Good Hope, in 1798,} abundantly
attests the extraordinary amount of infor-
mation already accumulated by the writer,
as well as the profound and far-sighted
views which he had been enabled to form
therefrom. The mental qualifications of
Lord Mornington were rendered generally at-
tractive by the dignified and courteous bear-
ing, and the sweet, yet powerful utterance
planting the deep and clear views of religion which
formed the solace of his honoured age. His first
care was the voluntary liquidation of his father's
debts ; the next, a most liberal provision for the edu-
cation of his brothers and sisters, especially for that
of Arthur, whose capacities he early appreciated. A
brilliant career in the Irish House of Parliament,
was speedily followed and surpassed by his success
as an orator in the British House of Commons, where,
strangely enough, his first speech was in reprobation
of the conduct of Lord North in making Warren
Hastings governor-general of India, after his un-
principled conduct regarding the Rohillas. The
opinions delivered by him on the questions of war
with the French republic, the disputes regarding the
regency, the abolition of the Irish parliament, and
Catholic emancipation, have their page in history ; but
none occupy a higher place in the memory of those
who cherish the name of the Marquis Wellesley,
than his unwavering and indignant denunciation of
the slave-trade, which he declared to be an "abomi-
nable, infamous, and bloody traffic," the continuance
of which it was a disgrace to Great Britain to sanc-
tion, even for an hour. ( Vide Debate on motion
of Mr. Dundas for gradual abolition, April, 1792.)
t Mill's India ; edited by Prof. Wilson, vi., 73.
I Despatches, Minutes, and Correspondence of the
Marquis Wellesley : edited by K. Montgomery
Martin, i., 1 — 15. Murray: London, 1836.
TIPPOO SULTAN INTRIGUES WITH THE FRENCH REPUBLIC— 1798. 377
which enhanced the effect of his rare elo-
quence. His small but perfectly symmetrical
figure, formed a worthy model for the chisels
of Bacon and Chantry; while the easel
of Lawrence rendered the delicate but clearly
defined outline of the nose and mouth, the
soft, gazelle-like* eyes and dark arched
brows, in contrast with the silver locks
which clustered round his lofty forehead —
scarcely less publicly known, in his own
time, than the remarkable profile and eagle-
eye of his younger brother are at present.
On his arrival in JIadras, in April, 1798,
Lord Mornington was accompanied by his
younger brother Henry, afterwards Lord
Cowley, in the capacity of private secre-
tary. The future duke, then Lt.-Col. Wel-
lesley, with his regiment (the 33rd), had
been already some months in India. After
a brief stay at Madras (of which presidency
Lord Clive, the son of the hero of Arcot,
was appointed governor). Lord Mornington
proceeded to Calcutta, and commenced a
series of civil reforms ; but his attention
was speedily arrested by the intrigues of
Tippoo and some French adventurers, who,
though in themselves of small importance,
might, he well knew, at any moment give
place to, or acquire the rank of powerfully
supported representatives of their nation.
In fact, schemes to that effect were in pro-
cess of development ; though the success of
the British by sea and land, the victories of
Nelson on the Nile, and that of Acre by Sir
Sidney Smith, in conjunction with Lord
Mornington's own measures, eventually pre-
vented Buonaparte from putting into execu-
tion his cherished plan of wresting from Eng-
land her growing Indian empire. The re-
publican general and his great adversaries,
the brothers Wellesley, had a long series of
diplomatic hostilities to wage in distant
hemispheres, before the last fierce struggle
which convulsed the European continent
with the death-throes of the usurped au-
thority of the citizen emperor! Their
battle-fields and council-chambers, as yet,
lay wide apart ; but the letters of Buona-
parte to Tippoo Sultan and to Zemaun Shah,
the successor of the fierce Doorani conqueror
of Paniput, who had threatened to renew
the incursions of his grandsire in Hindoo-
stan, served to convey an impression to the
* This expression may savour of exaggeration or
affectation to persons unacquainted witli Lord Wel-
lesley. Those who have watched him while speak-
ing on subjects which touched his feelings, will, on the
contrary, consider the comparison a poor compliment
native princes that a European power did
exist, eagerly waiting its opportunity to fight
the English with their own weapons. So
strongly impressed was Tippoo with this con-
viction, that he sent ambassadors to the
French governor of the Mauritius (M. Ma-
lartic), with proposals for an offensive and
defensive alliance against their mutual rival,
offering to bear the whole expenses of the
French auxiliary force to be sent to his as-
sistance, and to furnish them with every ac-
customed allowance except wine and spirits,
with which he declared himself entirely un-
provided. The truth was, that Tippoo, in
laudable conformity with the ordinance of
his standard of action, the Koran, forbade
his subjects to use any description of intox-
icating plants or beverages; and, as far as
possible, caused the white poppy and the
hemp-plant to be destroyed even in private
gardens. Those only who, like Colonel Tod
and other travelled historians, have had the
opportunity of searching out for themselves
authentic records illustrative of the condi-
tion of the people of India at different
epochs, can fully appreciate the political
importance of this measure, and its proba-
ble effect in tending to stay the moral and
physical degradation which the abuse of all
intoxicating compounds never fails to pro-
duce, especially of that valuable medicine,
but when misused, detestable drug, opium.
The offer of the sultan was warmly wel-
comed by the French governor, and a small
detachmentt of volunteers sent to Malabar,
and received as an earnest of further assist-
ance. Lord Mornington addressed repeated
remonstrances to Tippoo respecting this no-
torious breach of faith ; and received, in re-
turn, the same empty professions of good- will
which had been previously made to Lord
Cornwallis. There was but one course to
be taken with a man who met all argu-
ments regarding the hostile operations in
which he was engaged by positive denial
or wilful silence; and the governor-general,
despite the exhausted treasury and financial
involvements which even a peace-governor
had been unable to avoid, now found him-
self compelled to prepare for the renewal of
war. He proceeded to Madras, where, by
infusing his own spirit into this heretofore
venal and incapable presidency, he procured
to eyes gifted with the power of reflecting every vary-
ing phase of thought and feeling, but ever tender
and gazelle-like in repose.
t About 160; composed of convicted criminals and
the refuse of the rabble of the island. — {Despatches.)
378 LORD WELLESLEY DISBANDS NIZAM'S FRENCH CORPS— 1798.
the adoption of measures for the complete
equipment of the armies on the coasts of
Coromandel and Malabar. The conduct of
Nizam Ali, the subahdar of the Deccan,
afforded much ground for uneasiness. The
refusal of Sir John Shore to suffer the Eng-
lish subsidiary detachment to fight against
the Mahrattas/ had induced him to raise
a large corps, trained and officered by
French adventurers, under the immediate
superintendence of a M. Raymond, who was
justly suspected of being in communication
with Tippoo. Ijord Mornington felt that
the course of events might render this
body a nucleus for all powers and persons
jealous or envious of British supremacy.
He therefore hastened to make overtures
for a closer alliance with the Nizam ; and on
the 1st of September, a new treaty was con-
cluded, by which the subsidiary detachment
in his service was increased from two to six
battalions, and the E. I. Cy. became pledged
for his protection against any unjust de-
mands on the part of the Mahrattas. The
Nizam consented to the immediate dis-
bandment of Raymond's corps, and the
surrender of their officers as prisoners of
war; but as he manifested some hesitation
regarding the fulfilment of these stipula-
tions, the French cantonments were unex-
pectedly surrounded by the whole English
force, in conjunction with a body of the
Hyderabad cavalry. The men, already dis-
affected,* upon a promise of continued
employment and the payment of arrears, laid
down their weapons; the officers were
quietly arrested, and, in a few hours, 14,000
men, possessing a train of artillery and a
well-supplied arsenal, were completely dis-
armed and disorganised. The private
property and arrears due to the officers were
carefully secured to them by the governor-
general, and arrangements made for their
honourable treatment and speedy transport
to their own country.
The primary importance of neutralising
the danger of French influence at the court
of the Nizam, did not blind Lord Morning-
ton to the advisability of avoiding hostilities
with the Mahrattas. The supremacy of
* M. Raymond, a man of considerable talent, died
a few months before these events, and a struggle for
ascendancy had induced disunion among the troops,
who, it may be added, were avowed red republicans.
■(■ Words of Lord Coi'nwallis.
X Wellesley Despatches, v., 15.
§ The army assemhled at Velloro exceeded iO,000
men, including 2,63o cavalry, and 4,381 Europeans ;
to which was added the 6,500 men serving with the
Nana Furnavees and his baby peishwa, had
given place to that of Sindia and Bajee
Rao, v/ith whom Nana had become partially
reconciled ; and through his influence, a
pledge of co-operation, in the event of a
war with Mysoor, was given by them, but
apparently with the most treacherous intent.
These precautionary measures concluded.
Lord Mornington felt himself in a position
to bring matters to an issue. The "violent
and faithless "t character of the sultan, ren-
dered it necessary to take summary steps
for the reduction of his power and arro-
gance, which had again become alarming.
The abandonment of his French connexions
was at first all that was desired; but the ex-
pense of military preparations having been
incurred — the cession of the maritime pro-
vince of Canara, with other territory and a
large sum of money, the establishment of ac-
credited residents on the part of the E. I. Cy.
and their allies at his capital, and the expul-
sion of all Frenchmen from his service and
dominions, were now demanded. Tippoo
resorted to his old plan of evasion, hoping to
procrastinate until the season for attacking
Seringapatam should be past; and when hard
driven, wrote a tardy consent to receive an
English envoy to negotiate terms of more
intimate alliance with that nation, while, at
the same time, in his capacity of citizen and
wearer of the red cap of liberty, he dispatched
an embassy to the French Directory, solicit-
ing speedy assistance " to attack and anni-
hilate for ever our common enemies."J
As on a previous occasion, his duplicity
was met by a declaration of war ; and on the
5th of March, the British force, under
General (afterwards Lord) Harris, and that
of the Nizam under his son Meer Alum,
entered the Mysoor territory, with the intent
of marching directly upon the capital. Lord
Mornington truly declared, "that an army
more completely appointed, more amply and
liberally supplied in every department, or
more perfect in its discipline and in the
acknowledged experience, ability, and zeal
of its officers, never took the field in India."§
The very abundance of the equipments of
the invaders formed, in some sort, an im-
Nizam, and a large body of Hyderabad cavalry.
The army of the western coast, assembled at Cana-
nore, under General Stuart, amounted to 6,420
men, of whom, 1,617 were Europeans ; while a third
corps, under Colonels Kead and Brown, from the
southern districts of the Carnatic, at once threat-
ened the enemy in flank, and secured abundance of
provisions to liie main body of the invaders. A Bri-
tish fleet, under Admiral Kainier, lay off the coast
WAR WITH TIPPOO SULTAN.— INVASION OF MYSOOR— 1799. 379
pediment to their speedy progress j and
this circumstance, together with the cum-
brous baggage of the Nizam's troops, and
the innumerable camp followers, tended to
produce so much confusion, that the forces
were repeatedly compelled to halt, and
destroy a part of the mass of stores with
which they were encumbered; until at
length, the loss of powder, shot, and other
military stores, became sufficiently con-
siderable to excite alarm. Nearly the whole
of the draught and carriage bullocks, com-
prising upwards of 60,000, died in the
march to Seringapatam, although it was
scarcely retarded a day by the opposition of
the ensmy. In the meantime. General
Stuart, with the force from Bombay, had
crossed the western frontier, and been at-
tacked on the 6th of March, by the sultan
with a superior force, near Periapatam.
After a brisk action, in which the rajah of
Coorg eifectively seconded the English
general by personal bravery and commis-
sariat supplies,* Tippoo, being worsted,
drew off his army, and hastened to meet
the main body of the enemy under General
Harris. This he accomplished near Mala-
velly, on the Madoor river, but was again
defeated with heavy loss. His subsequent
attempts to impede or harass the progress
of the invaders, were frustrated by their un-
expected changes of route ; and he learned
with dismay, that the battering train, with
the last of the army, liad actually crossed
the Cauvery fifteen miles east of Seringapa-
tam, while he was yet at a distance, keep-
ing guard in an opposite direction, — an
indubitable proof how greatly his system
of intelligence fell short of that maintained
by his father. Deeply disappointed, he
summoned his chief officers to his pre-
sence. " We have arrived," he said, " at
our last stage ; what is your determina-
tion?" " To die with you," was the unani-
mous reply ; and the assembly separated,
• The rajah of Coorg had collected 6,360,000 lbs.
of rice, and 560,000 lbs. of grain, for the use of the
troops J and his whole conduct during the present
war, wan-anted praise equal to that awarded him on
the previous occasion, of having been " the only ally
who had performed all his obligations with fide-
lity, efficiency, and honour." — {Mysonr, iii., 247.)
It is no disparagement to the acknowledged merits
and peculiarly chivalrous character of the rajah, to
add, that he had the deepest wrongs, both as re-
garded family and national relationshij), to avenge
upon the usurping dynasty. The reduction of Coorg
had been at first effected by Hyder, througli trea-
cherous interference, during a contested succession.
Of the two families, one was destroyed; the repre-
sentative of the other (Veer Kajunder) escaped
after a tearful farewell, having resolved to
intercept the expected passage of the
English across the stream to the island on
which Seringapatam is situated, and make
death or victory the issue of a single battle.
The equipments of the sultan were in order,
and his troops well placed to contest the
fords; but the advancing foe did not ap-
proach them, but took up a position on, the
south-western side of the fort, on the 5 th of
April, exactly one month after crossing the
Mysoor frontier, having advanced at the
rate of not seven miles a-day on hostile
ground, and not five from the commence-
ment of the march. The consequence of
this unexpected tardiness, and of great loss
of stores, was, that despite the extraordi-
nary supplies assembled by the governor-
general, it was ascertained, on the 18th of
April, that but eighteen days' provision for
the lighting men, at half allowance, re-
mained in store.t The siege was of necessity
carried on with the utmost diligence. The
sultan made overtures for peace, but re-
jected the terms of the preliminary treaty
now proposed — namely, the surrender of
his remaining maritime territories, and of
half his entire dominions, with the pay-
ment of two crore of sicca rupees, and the
total renunciation of Prench auxiliaries.
Every hour's delay rendered the position of
the allies more critical; and on the 28th,
when the sultan renewed his proposals for a
conference, he was informed that no ambas-
sadors would be received unless accom-
panied by four of his sons and four of his
generals (including SeyedGhofar) as hostages,
with a crore of rupees, in token of sincerity.
No answer was returned. Tippoo's he-
reditary aversion to the English had been
raised to the highest pitch by the represen-
tatives of the French adventurers about his
person. Naturally sanguine, he had buoyed
himself up with expectations of the arrival
of succours direct from France, from Egypt,
from the hands of Tippoo, and upon the out-
break of the previous war, hastened to join the Eng-
lish. Notwithstanding the ruthless manner in which
the population and resources of his country had
been treated, lie was able, by his intelligence and
activity, to aid materially the operations of the
Bombay army. Mill, who is little inclined to bestow
praise on Indian princes, speaks of hira as possess-
ing a remarkable "enlargement of mind, and dis-
playing a generosity and a heroism worthy of a
more civilised state of society." — (v., 453.) Col.
Wilks narrates many actions which confirm this tes-
timony. So, also, does Major Dirom's Narrative.
t There must have been, also, much disgraceful
jobbery, the effects of which were liappily neutral-
ised by a public tender of 1,200 bullock-loads of rice.
380
STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM— MAY 4th, 1799.
or from the Mauritius ; and when at length
the progress of the siege drew from him a
sincere attempt at negotiation, his haughty
spirit could not brook the humiliating con-
ditions named as the price of peace, and he
suffered hostilities to proceed, comforting
himself with the idea that Seringapatam
was almost invincible ; that the failure of
suppUes would probably even now compel
the enemy to withdraw; and that, at the
worst, " it was better to die like a soldier,
than to live a miserable dependent on the
infidels, in the Hst of their pensioned rajahs
and nabobs." Despite the manliness of
Tippoo's words, his deeds evinced a strange
mixture of indecision and childish credulity.
For years he had shown himself the bigoted
and relentless persecutor of his Hindoo
subjects ; and so effectual had been his
measures, that only two Brahminical tem-
ples remained open throughout his domi-
nions. Yet now, those very Brahmins,
whom he had compelled to violate the first
rules of their creed, by fleshing their
weapons on the bodies of sacred animals,
were entreated to put up prayers on his
behalf, and the jebbum* was performed at
great cost by the orders of a Mussulman
sovereign, to whom all kinds of magical
incantation were professedly forbidden,
and who^ simultaneously put up earnest
and reiterated prayers in the mosque, re-
questing thereto the fervent amen of his
attendants. Then he betook himself to the
astrologers, and from them received state-
ments calculated to deepen the depression
by which his mind was rapidly becoming
unhinged. The evident progress of affairs
might well furnish them with a clue to
decypher the predictions of the stars, and
a set of diagrams were gravely exhibited as
warranting the conclusion, that so long as
Mars should remain within a particular
circle, the fort would hold out: he would
touch the limit on the last day of the lunar
month, the 4th of May ; then it would be
advisable to offer the oblations prescribed by
law to deprecate an expected calamity. It
is possible that the true movers in this
singular scene may have been certain faith-
ful servants of Tippoo Sultan, who, as the
danger increased, beheld with grief his
accustomed energy give place to a sort
of despairing fatalism, alternating with
bursts of forced gaiety, which were echoed
• See previous p. 357.
t Baird was taken prisoner with the Eurvivors of
Col. Baillie's detachment, and not released until 1784.
back by the parasites by whom he had
become exclusively surrounded. Seyed
Ghofar was one of the most zealous and
able of the Mysoorean commanders. Al-
though wounded at an early period of the
siege, he did not relax his exertions for the
defence of the capital, or his efforts to
awaken its master to action, despite the
despairing exclamation — " He is surrounded
by boys and flatterers, who will not even
let him see with his own eyes. I do not
wish to survive the result. I am going
about in search of death, and cannot find
it." On the 3rd of May, a practicable
breach (100 feet wide) was effected. On
the morning of the 4th, the sultan offered
the oblation before arranged ; and after an
attempt to ascertain the aspect of his des-
tiny by the reflection of his own face in a
jar of oil, returned to his accustomed
station on the fortifications. Seyed Ghofar,
seeing the trenches unusually croM'ded, sent
word that the attack was about to com-
mence; but the courtiers persuaded their
infatuated lord that the enemy would never
dare the attempt by daylight; and he re-
plied, that it was doubtless right to be on the
alert, although the assault would certainly
not be made except under cover of night.
Excited by such mistaken security, the
brave officer hastened towards the sultan.
" I will go," said he, " and drag him to the
breach, and make him see by what a set of
wretches he is surrounded : I will compel
him to exert himself at this last moment."
The arrival of a party of pioneers, to cut off
the approach of the foe by the southern
rampart, induced him to delay his intention
for the purpose of first giving them their
instructions; and, while thus engaged, a
cannon-ball struck him lifeless to the
ground, and saved him from witnessing the
realisation of his worst anticipations.
Tippoo was about commencing his noon-
day repast, when he learned with dismay
the fate of his brave servant. The meal was
scarcely ended before tidings were brought
of the actual assault, and he hastened to the
breach along the northern rampart.
The leader of the storming party was
Major-general Baird, who had, at his own
request, been deputed to head the attack on
the fortress, within whose walls he had been
immured in irons for three years and a-half.f
The hope of releasing captives treacherously
detained, and of preventing such faithless
outrages for the future, would, apart from
less commendable feelings, have been suffi-
THE DEATH OF TIPPOO SULTAN— 1799.
381
cient to excite to the utmost a less ardeut
temperament. Mounting the parapet of
the breacli, in view of both armies he drew
his sword, and, in a voice which thrilled
through every heart, called to the columns
into which the assaulting force* had been
divided, "to follow him and prove them-
selves worthy the name of British soldiers."
A forlorn hope, composed of a sergeant
and twelve men, led the van of either
column, followed by two subaltern detach-
ments, and were met on the slope of the
breach by a small but resolute body of My-
sooreans. Nearly the whole of the first com-
batants perished, but their place was rapidly
supplied by the forces led by Baird ; and in
six minutes after the energetic call to arms,
the British colours were planted ou the
summit of the breach. This important step
accomplished, much danger and diflBculty
remained ; for the traverses, especially along
the northern rampart, were stronger than
had been expected, and the sultan in
person animated the exertions of his de-
fenders. After much hard fighting, the
British columns overcame all intermediate
obstacles, and menaced Tippoo and his sup-
porters both in front and rear. The confu-
sion then became complete : the Mysooreans
fled iu various directions; some through a
gateway in the rampart opening on the
palace, some over the fortifications, and others
by a water-gate leading to the river. The
sultan, after long fighting on foot, being
slightly wounded, was seen to mount his
horse, but what he had next done, no one
knew. It was conjectured that he had taken
refuge within the palace ; and the chief per-
sons admitted to his confidence during the
last few perilous days, alleged that obscure
hints had escaped him of an intention to fol-
low the ancient Indian custom, by putting to
death the females of his family, destroying
certain private papers, and then sallying
forth to perish on the swords of his foes.
According to instructions previously framed.
Major Allan was deputed to proceed to the
palace with a flag of truce, and ofier protec-
tion to Tippoo and every one in it, on the
proviso of immediate and unconditional sur-
render. The major laid aside his sword, in
evidence of his peaceable intentions, and
prevailed upon the attendants to conduct
him and two brother officers to the presence
• Comprising 2,494 Europeans, and 1,882 natives.
t The fact was subsequently ascertained by ex-
huming the bodies. The rumour being in itself
sufficiently probable, mav palliate, but cannot justify,
■3 D
of the two eldest sons of Tippoo, from whom
he with difficulty obtained warrant for the
occupation of the palace, within which
many hundred armed men were assembL d;
while, without the walls, a large body of
troops were drawn up, with General Baird
at their head. The fierce excitement of a
hard-won field had been increased by the
horrible and only too well authenticated
information of the massacre of about thir-
teen Europeans taken during the siege ;t
yet the torrent of execration and invective
was hushed in deep silence when the sons of
the hated despot passed through the ranks as
prisoners, on their way to the British camp.
The royal apartments were searched, due
care being taken to avoid inflicting any
needless injury on the feelings of the ladies
of the harem, by removing them to distinct
rooms ; but still the important question re-
mained unanswered — what had become of
the sultan?
At length it was discovered that private
intelligence had reached the killedar, or
chief officer in command, that Tippoo was
lying under the arch of the gateway open-
ing on the inner fort. General Baird pro-
ceeded to the spot, and searched a dense
mass of dead and dying, but without suc-
cess, until a Hindoo, styled Ilajah Khan,
who lay wounded near the palanquin of
the sultan, pointed out the spot where his
master had fallen. Tippoo had received two
rausket-balls in the side, when his horse
being wounded sank under him. Ilajah
Klian, after vainlj' striving to carry him
away, urged the necessity of disclosing his
rank as the sole chance for his preservation.
This Tippoo peremptorily forbade, and con-
tinued to lie prostrate from the loss of bloed)
and fatigue, half-buried under a heap tif
his brave defenders, until an English soldier
coming up to the spot, strove to seize the
gold buckle of his sword-belt, upon which
he partly raised himself, seized a sabre that
lay beside him, and aimed a desperate blow
at his assailant, who, iu return, shot him
through the temple.
Thus perished Tippoo Sultan, in the
forty-seventh year of his age. The body,
when eventually dragged forth, was found
to have been rifled of every ornament except
an amulet on the right arm, immediately
below the shoulder. The head was un-
the threats used by General Baird to the princes and
others, who had surrendered on the, faith of the
assurances of Major Allan, to draw from them the
■whereabouts of Tippoo. — ('i'hornton's India, iii., 69.)
382
GOVERNMENT AND ARMY OF TIPPOO SULTAN— 1799.
covered, and, despite tlie ball which had
entered a little above the right ear and
lodged in the cheek, and three wounds in
the body, the stern dignity of the counte-
nance,* its glowing complexion, the expres-
sion of the dark full eyes unclosed and sur-
mounted by small arched eyebrows marred
by no distortion, were altogether so life-
like, that the effect, heightened by the rich
colouring of the waistband and shoulder-
belt, almost deceived the bystanders; and
Colonel Wellesley and Major Allan bent
over the body by the uncertain and flicker-
ing glare of torch-light, and felt the pulse
and heart, before being convinced that they
were indeed looking on a corpse.f The
remains were deposited beside those of
Hyder Ali, in the superb mausoleum of Lall
Bang, with every ceremonial demanded by
Mussulman usage. The minute-gun and
other military honours, practised by Euro-
peans, were paid by order of the com-
mander-in-chief, a ceremonial which, how-
ever well intended, was misplaced. It
would have been better taste to have suf-
fered the bereaved family of the sultan,
who had died in defence of his capital, to
bury their dead, undisturbed by the presence
of his triumphant foes. Terrific peals of
thunder and lightning, f to an extent re-
markable even in that tempestuous district,
burst over the island of Seringapatam, and
formed a fitting close to the funereal rites
of the second and last representative of a
brief but blood-stained dynasty. The pre-
diction of Hyder was fulfilled : the empire
he had won liis son had lost, and with it
life itself. The romantic circumstances
attendant on the death of Tippoo may tend
to throw a false halo over his character ; but
admiration for his personal bravery, or even
better -grounded praise for his excellent
* The sultan was about five feet ten inches in
height, had a short neck and square shoulders; liis
limbs were slender, feet and hands remarkably small,
and nose aquiline. His dress consisted of a jacket of
fine white Imen, loose drawers of flowered chintz, a
crimson girdle, with a handsome pouch slung over
his shoulder by a belt of red and green silk.
■)• This expression, says Col. "VVilks, was noticed
only by those who saw Tippoo for the first time ; it
wore off the more speedily owing to his excessive
garrulity and harsh, inharmonious voice.
\ Two ofBcers and several privates were killed.
§ History of My soar, iii., 269.
II On the 4th of May, there were in the fort
13,739 regular troops, and 8,100 outside and in the
intrenchments, with 120 Frenchmen, under the com-
mand of a chef tie brigade, M. Chapuis. In the as-
sault, 8,000 Mysooreans were killed, including twenty-
four principal officers killed and wounded, beside
measure in striving to put down the use of
intoxicating preparations, which had become
a very curse to India, must not be permitted
to disguise the fact that, with few excep-
tions, his career was one of blood and rapine,
beside which that of Hyder appears just and
compassionate.
Tippoo manifested remarkable industry in
his endeavours to establish the reputation
of a reformer; but the regulations framed
for the government of his dominions, were
enforced by penalties of so revolting a cha-
racter, as alone to prove the lawgiver
unfit to exercise authority over his fellow-
men ; equally so, whether these were
prompted by diabolical wickedness, or the
aberrations of a diseased intellect. " His-
tory," says Colonel Wilks, "exhibits no prior
example of a code perverting all possible
purposes of punishment as a public example,
combining the terrors of death with cold-
blooded irony, filthy ridicule, and obscene
mutilation — the pranks of a monkey with
the abominations of a monster."§ Such a
despotism, based on usurpation and fraud,
and exercised with unparalleled ferocity,
Britain may well rejoice in having been per-
mitted to abolish.
The total military establishment of
Tippoo was estimated at about 100,000,
including matchlockmen and peons (revenue
oSicers or police) ; his field army at 47,470
effective troops. The granaries, arsenals,
and magazines of all kinds in Seringapatam,
were abundantly stored ;|| but a very exag-
gerated idea had, as is commonly the case,
been formed of the amount of his treasure
iu gold and jewels, the total value of which
did not reach a million and a-half sterling,
and was entirely appropriated by the con-
quering army. In acknowledgment of the
energy and forethought displayed by the
numbers of inferior rank. The total loss of the
British, during -the siege, was twenty-two officers
killed and forty-five wounded (twenty-five of tliese
in the storming of the citadel) ; rank and file — Euro-
peans, 181 killed, 622 wounded, twenty-two missing:
natives, 119 killed, 420 wounded, and 100 missing.
In the fort were found 929 pieces of ordnance (373
brass guns, sixty mortars, eleven howitzers, 466 iron
guns, and twelve mortars), of which 287 were mounted
on the fortifications : there were also 424,400 round
shot; 520 lbs. of gunpowder, and 99,000 muskets,
carbines, &c. Within the fortress were eleven large
powder-magazines ; seventy-two expense magazines ;
eleven armories for making and furnishing small
arms ; three buildings with machines for boring
guns ; four large arsenals, and seventeen other store-
houses, containing accoutrements, swords, e*\:c. j afid
many granaries abundantly filled with provisions of
every description. — (Beatson's Tfar with Tippoo.)
L^
DIVISION OF NEWLY-CONQUERED TERRITORIES— 1799.
383
governor-general, in directing the whole
resources of British India to one point, and
thus, humanly speaking, ensuring success
in a single campaign, he was raised a step in
the peerage,* and informed that, by the con-
current authority of his majesty's ministers
and the Court of Directors, a portion of the
spoils of Seringapatam, to the value of
J 100,000, would be directed to be appro-
priated for his use, the remainder to be
divided among the troops. Lord Wellesley
was far from rich, but he unhesitatingly
refused this tempting offer, as an encroach-
ment on the claims of the army, and, more-
over, as being an injurious precedent, likely
to afford the future arbiters of peace and
war, in India, pecuniary temptations to a
belligerent policy. A star and badge of the
order of St. Patrick, composed of sd'me of
Tippoo's jewels, was all that he accepted
at the time. In 1801, an annuity of £5,000
was settled on him by the company.
Unfortunately, this memorable example
of disinterestedness did not prevent some
very discreditable proceedings with regard
to the distribution of the prize-money ; and
the commander-in-chief (Harris) and sis
general officers (Floyd, Baird, Popham,
Bridges, Stuart, and Hartley), were con-
sidered by the home authorities to have
appropriated to themselves a very undue
proportion; General Harris, in particular,
having received one-eighth instead of one-
sixteenth part of the whole. The command
of Seringapatam was entrusted by Harris
to Colonel Wellesley, much to the displea-
sure of General Baird, who exclaimed —
" Before the sweat was dry on my brow, I
was superseded by an inferior officer \" The
governor-general showed his conviction of the
propriety of the measure, by subsequently
investing his brother with the superinten-
dence of the civil government of Mysoor.
As, despite his strong family affection, Lord
Wellesley is universally acknowledged to
have been distinguished for a judicious and
impartial selection of particular men for
particular positions, perfect reliance may be
placed on his own assertion, that, despite
the jealousy to which the appointment made
* Rather a doubtful advantage in the sight of the
receiver, who was wont to allude to the merging of
an English earldom into an Irish marquisate, as hav-
ing changed his English ale into Irish buttermilk.
t Baird could not be trusted with such authority.
I Tlppoo left three legitimate and seventeen ille-
gitimate children ; twenty-four died before him.
§ The chiefs of districts submitted cheerfully to the
conquerors. The only opposition offered was that of
by Harris would give rise among the senior
officers, he confirmed, and would himself
have originated it if necessary, simply be-
cause, from his " knowledge and experience
of the discretion, judgment, temper, and
integrity" of Colonel Wellesley, he con-
sidered him " the most proper for the ser-
vice."t The generous warmth with which
Lord Wellesley cherished the abilities of his
younger brothers, was, it may be thought,
part of his private rather than public cha-
racter; but it was closely allied with the
active benevolence which formed the main-
spring of his whole career. The cadets of
the service found themselves, for the first
time, the objects of almost parental scrutiny.
Talent, zeal, and industry were found to
ensure a better welcome at government-
house, under an administration celebrated
for a singular union of oriental magnifi-
cence, patrician refinement, and scholastic
lore, than patronage, high birth, or the yet
more congenial aristocracy of talent could
obtain, unsupported by meritorious service.
The disposition made by Lord Wellesley
of the newly-conquered territory, was warmly
approved in England, and excited in India
a general feeling of surprise at its equity
and moderation. The fortress of Vellore,
in the Carnatic, was fitted up for the family
of Tippoo,t and an allowance made for their
support, more liberal than that previously
assigned by him ; his chief officers were all
provided for by jaghires or pensions, dis-
pensed with a well-considered munificence,
which furnished a striking contrast to the
parsimonious dealings of their late master.
The affections of the Hindoo population
were conciliated§ by an unlooked-for act of
generosity. Cham Raj, the pageant-sove-
reign placed by Hyder on the throne of
Mysoor in 1772, died of smallpox in 1796.
He had been regularly exhibited in public
at the annual feast called the Dussera; but
Tippoo chose to dispense with the cere^
mony of nominating a successor, and caused
the son of Cham Raj, a child of two years
old, to be removed with his great-grand-
mother (a woman of above ninety) , his grand-
mother, and other female relatives, from the
Dhoondea Wnugh, a Mahratta, who after serving
under Tippoo, set up for himself as leader of a pre-
datory band, was taken prisoner, and remained in con-
finement for years in the fortress of Seringapatam.
Amid the general confusion of the assault he managed
to escape, and soon collected round him a daring
band of freebooters ; nor was it until after several
months' hostilities, that he was at length defeated and
slain in a charge of cavalry led by Col. Wellesley.
384 ANCIENT HINDOO DYNAS I Y CF MYSOOR PARTIALLY RESTORED.
ancient Hiadoo palace to a miserable hovel,
■where they were found by tlie English
authorities, in 1799, in a state of deep
poverty and humiliation. Their sorrow was
turned into joy and gratitude on being in-
formed that the conquerors had resolved,
not simply to restore them to liberty, but
to place the young prince Kistna Raj
Oodaveer on the throne* of his fathers,
iu their ancient capital of Mysoor, with
a revenue exceeding that of the former
Hindoo kingdom. The English reserved to
themselves, by treaty, the right of inter-
posing with paramount authority, in the
event of any financial or political questions
arising similar to those which had long
distracted the Carnatic ; but so far from
employing their unquestioned supremacy to
vest (as had been the case on former occa-
sions) all power and profit in English func-
tionaries, nearly every office, civil and
military, was left to be filled by the natives
themselves. Poornea, the experienced and
trustworthy Hindoo chief minister under
the usurping dynasty, was continued in
oiSce with the decided approbation of the
female guardians of the young rajah. Colo-
nel Wellesley, in all respects, but especially
by judicious abstinence from needless inter-
ference, justified his selection for military
commandant; while the rectitude and abili-
ties as a linguist, of Colonel (afterwards
Sir Barry) Close, facilitated his satisfactory
fulfilment of the delicate position of politi-
cal resident. The result was, that the
Marquis Wellesley, at the close of his memo-
rable administration, was enabled to declare,
that the actual success of the arrangement
of Mysoor had realised his most sanguine
expectations.
* Literally so, for he was seated on the ancient
ivory throne, which Aurungzebe is said to have ex-
pressly sanctioned his ancestor in using, and which
was found in a lumber-room of the palace after the
siege. The throne of Tippoo was taken to pieces,
hs various parts forming splendid trophies of vic-
tory. The ascent to the musnud was by small silver
steps on each side, its sup])ort a tiger, somewhat above
the natural size, in a standing attitude, entirely cov-
ered with plates of pure gold, the eyes and teetli being
represented by jewels of suitable colours. A gilded
pillar supported a canopy fringed with pearls; from
the centre was suspended an image of the Uma,
a bird about the size and shape of a small pigeon,
formed of diamonds, rubies, and emeralds inlaid in
gold, and valued in India at 1,600 guineas. It was
presented to King George III., as a fitting tribute to
royalty, being generally regarded in the East as the
harbinger of victory and sovereign power to the
favoured individual whom it deigned to overshadow.
By a singular coincidence, a bird of this "august"
species (for such, according to M. d'Herbelot, is the
Of the usurpations of Hyder, besides
those restored to the Hindoo dynasty, to
the value of thirteen lacs of pagodasf per
annum; and after liberal provision for the
families of Hyder and Tippoo, and their
chief officers, a large overplus remained,
the division of which, between the English
and the Nizam, formed the basis of a new
treaty. J The former took possession of the
fortress, city, and island of Seringapatara,
the districts of Canara, including all the
sea-coast of Mysoor, together with Coim-
batore and Daramporam, the intervening
country between the territories of the E.
I. Cy. on the Coromandel coast, and on that
of Malabar ; of the forts and posts forming
the heads of the principal passes above the
Ghauts, on the table-land of ^Mysoor, and
the district of Wyuaad. To the Nizam were
given territories yielding an equal revenue
with those appropriated by the English in
the districts of Gooty, Goorumcondah, and
the tract of country situated along the
military line of Chittledroog, Sera, Nundi-
droog, and Colar, but without the forts,
which it was considered would strengthen,
to a dangerous extent, the position of a
fluctuating and doubtful ally. The cotirse
to be adopted with regard to the Mahrattas,
was a difficult question. The peishwa had
wholly failed in his engagements of co-opera-
tion against Tippoo ;§ nevertheless, the gov-
ernor-general deemed it politic to offer him
a share iu the conquered territory on cer-
tain conditions, which he looked upon as
necessary preliminaries to the establishment
of a solid and satisfactory peace ; especially
the reception of an English subsidiary force,
and an amicable adjustment, according to
English arbitration, of the claim of chout
meaning of its Persian name) built its nest in a grove
of trees, under the shade of which the governor-
general dictated his despatches while resident at
Madras, for the purpose of more conveniently super-
intending the conduct of the war. The natives
hailed with delight the prosperous omen, and re-
ceived the tidings of the capture of Seringapatam as
confirmation of the victorious augury conveyed bv
the presence of the Uma, which the marquis was
subsequently empowered to add to his crest, with
the motto, " Super Indos protnlit Iniperium."
t A pagoda was then above eight shillings in value.
J The whole of Tippoo's annual revenue was esti-
mated at yo,40,000 pagodas. To the rajah of Mysoor
was assigned 13,60,000; to Nizam Ali, 5,30,000; to the
E. I. Cy. 5,37.000 ; for the maintenance of the families
of Hyder and Tippoo (in charge of the British gov-
ernment), 2,40,000; and for Kummur-u-Deen, com-
mander of Tippoo's cavalry, and his family (in charge
of the Nizam), 7,00,00 pagodas.— (Duff, i'ii., 177.)
§ Bajee Kao had actually accepted a heavy brihe from
Tippoo to break faith with the English. — (Duff.)
SUBSIDIARY SYSTEM PROMOTED BY THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY. 385
long urged against the Nizam. These sti-
pulations were peremptorily rejected ; and
tiie reserved districts of Harponelly, Soonda
above the Ghauts, and others, equal in value
to between one-lialf an(l two-thirds of the
previously described portions, were thereupon
shared agreeably to the articles of the parti-
tion treaty by the company and Sadut Ali.
A fresh contract was entered into between
the latter parties in October, 1800, by which
the Nizam, who was notoriously incapable
of defending himself against the Mahrattas,
purchased the services of additional troops
from the company and the promise of their
aid against every aggressor, by the cession
of all acquisitions made from the dominions
of Tippoo, either by the late treaty or that
of Seringapatam in 1792. The proposition
originated with the minister of the Nizam ;
and the governor-general prudently hastened
to close an arrangement which placed the
maintenance of the previously subsidised, as
■well as additional troops, on a more satisfac-
tory footing than the irregular payments
of a corrupt government. The countries
thus ceded yielded a revenue of about
1,758,000 pagodas. By this arrangement,
says Mill, " the English acquired a small
territory, with the obligation of defending a
large one." This is not correct, inasmuch
as the company were previously bound, both
by considerations of honour and policy, to
protect their ally in time of need ; and by
the new compact they did but secure them-
selves against pecuniary loss in so doing.
Circumstances again altered their relative
positions; or, to speak more plainly, the Bri-
tish power, increasing in an eddying circle,
manifested in this as in other cases, its inhe-
rent tendency to absorb the misgoverned and
unstable principalities which sought and
found in its strength temporary support,
being driven by necessity, or induced by
ignorance or recklessness, to adopt a pro-
i cedure calculated to induce eventually their
political extinction. Lord Wellesley, like
many other great statesmen, anticipated but
very imperfectly the result of his favourite
measure. He hoped to find the subsidiary
i system instrumental in mitigating the
! turbulence of the native states of India,
t by controlling the sources of dissension, and
I encouraging and enabling minor chiefs to
i cultivate the arts of peace in the indepen-
dent enjoyment of their respective rights.*
But, in truth, the first elements of stability
■were wanting; and although the personal
• Wellesley Despatches, iv., 151.
rectitude and ability of a nabob or a rajah,
or their chief ministers, might for a time
hold together the incongruous elements of
Moslem and Hindoo communities, under
an efficient rule, distinct, so far as internal
regulations were concerned, from the para-
mount power, provided that were exercised
with rigid moderation ; yet the more fre-
quent consequence of becoming subsidiary,
was utter indifference on the part of the
sovereign to the progress of a principality
over which he had lost all absolute control;
and, on the part of his subjects, contempt
and indifference for his diminished power.
The oriental idea of authority is identified
with despotism ; exercised i:n every variety
of form, from the homeliest phase of patri-
archal sway, to the unapproached grandeur
of Solomon : still the same in essence — the
delegated government of God. In the
Christian world, despite the blinding in-
fluence of our sins and imperfections, we do
recognise, by the light of the Gospel, the
inestimable worth of civil liberty. The law
of the land, apart from the individual who
dispenses it, is the basis on -which the
nationality and independence of every Eng-
lish and American subject rests securely.
But to Asiatics this is still a hard saying,
and must remain so, until the same source
from which we learned to realise its prac-
tical importance, be laid open to them also.
If British supremacy prove, indeed, the in-
strument for the spiritual and moral rege-
neration of India, thrice blessed will be both
giver and receiver. Yet whatever be the re-
sult, the immediate duty is clear — to spread
the Gospel as widely as possible, and to en-
deavour by good government, by just laws
honestly administered, by lenient taxation
equitably assessed, to show our native sub-
jects the value of the tree by its fruits.
To return to the affairs of the subsidiary
states. The turbulent and dangerous cha-
racter of Vizier Ali, the rival candidate for
the dominion of Oude, rendered it advisable
to remove his residence from Benares to
Calcutta. The youth remonstrated strongly,
but without effect; and while visiting, by
appointment, the British resident Mr.
Cherry, he spoke in violent terras of the
hardship of the threatened coercion. The
resident is represented to have behaved with
much moderation ; but Vizier Ali, giving
vent to rage, started up and made a
thrust at him with his sword; an example
which, according to eastern custom, was
immediately followed by his attendants.
386 EXTENSION OF BRITISH POWER TO THE NORTH-WEST— 1800 to 1803.
Mr. Cherry was killed while attempting to es-
cape through a window, and two of his com-
panions shared his fate. The assassins, ap-
parently in the hope of heading a general
insurrection, hurried to the residence of the
English magistrate,* who, after sending his
wife and family to the terrace on the top of
the house, seized a long spear, took up his
position on a narrow staircase, and delayed
their ascent until a party of horse arrived
and put them to flight. Vizier Ali sought re-
fuge in the woody country of Bhootwal, and
being joined by several disaffected zemin-
dars, soon mustered a considerable preda-
tory force, wherewith to make incursions on
Oude. The parsimonious and timid admin-
istration of Sadut Ali had rendered him
extremely unpopular; and he urgently en-
treated that the English troops might be sta-
tioned immediately about his person to pro-
tect him, if need were, against his own
army, whose faithlessness and disaffection
likewise formed his excuse for not personally
taking the field, in co-operation with his
allies, against their joint foe. His assistance
was not needed ; Vizier Ali soon found him-
self abandoned by his followers, and was, in
December, 1800, delivered over by the rajah
of Jeypoor to the British government, and
detained prisoner in Fort William. f
At the close of hostilities, the marquis
pressed cyi the nabob the propriety of dis-
banding a force which, by his own showing,
was worse than useless. This proposition,
Sadut Ali met by a declaration of his
desire to resign a position which he found
full of weariness and danger. On the fur-
ther development of his views, it appeared
that the abdication in question was to be in
favour of his son ; and that in quitting the
musnud, he intended to carry away the trea-
sures and jewels inherited from Asuf-ad-
Dowlah, leaving his successor to pay the
arrears due to the E. I. Cy. and the native
troops as best he could. These conditions
were promptly rejected, and a long discus-
sion ensued, which terminated in the dis-
bandment of all the native troops (their ar-
rears being first wholly liquidated), and the
substitution of an additional European force
(numbering, in all, 13,000 men), in return for
which, the provinces of the Doab and Rohil-
• Mr. Davis, father of the present Sir J. Dans.
t Vizier Ali was afterwards removed to Vellore,
where his family were permitted to join him. He
died there, a natural death. — (Davis's Memoir.)
X The gross revenues of the ceded provinces
were one crore, thirty-five lacs, 23,474 rupees.
cundj were conceded in perpetuity. To
adjust the provisional administration of the
ceded districts, three of the civil servants of
the company were formed into a board of
commissioners, and the Hon. Henry Wel-
lesley nominated president and lieutenant-
governor. For thfs appointment Lord Wel-
lesley was blamed by the directors, as an
evidence of partiality towards his brother,
at the expense of the covenanted ofiBcials ;
but the propriety of the selection (as in
the ease of Colonel Wellesley in My-
soor) was amply justified by the result;
and the disinterestedness (as far as regarded
pecuniary motives) of both nominee and
nominator was apparent, from no emolu-
ment being attached to the delicate and
onerous office. By the late treaty, the tri-
bute paid to the ruler of Oude by the nabob
of Furruckabad (the Patan chief of a district
in the province of Agra), was transferred to
theE.I.Cy., and an arrangement made — it is
said with his perfect acquiescence — by which
he renounced political power, and was added
to the growing list of titled stipendiaries.
Several of the more powerful zemindars of
the ceded territories resisted the proposed
alterations, and made attempts at indepen-
dence ; especially Bugwunt Sing, who pos-
sessed the forts of Sasuee and Bidjeghur;
the rajah Chutter Sal; and the zemindar
of Cutchoura : but they were all overpowered
in the course of the years 1802 — 1803, and
compelled to seek safety in flight.
The character of Sadut Ali was strikingly
evinced, in the course of his negotiations with
Lord Wellesley, by an attempt to win from
the latter a sanction similar to that given
to his half-brother (Azuf-ad-Dowlah), for
the plunder of the begum, the grandmother
of both these hopeful rulers. The intima-
tion was met with merited disdain ; but the
old lady, fearing to be exposed to continuous
indirect persecution, took the prudent step
of ensuring the peaceable enjoyment of her
personal property, by offering to constitute
the company her heir — a proposition which
was gladly accepted.
While these changes were taking place in
Oude, others of a similar character were
carried out in Tanjore and Arcot. Rajah
Tuljajee died in 1787, leaving his adopted
son and heir, Serfojee, a boy of ten years
old, under the public tutelage of his half-
brother. Ameer Sing, and the private guar-
dianship of the missionary Swartz. Ameer
Sing succeeded for a time in persuading the
English authorities to treat the adoption of
ASSUMPTION OF TANJORE, CARNATIC, AND SURAT— 1799— 1801. 387
his young ward as illegal, and caused him
to be confineS and cruelly ill-treated. The
: vigilance and untiring exertion of Swartz*
occasioned a searching investigation, and
the evidence brought forward on the matter
led both Lord Cornwallis and Sir John Shore
to consider the claims of Serfojee as well
I founded. The oppression exercised by
I Ameer Sing over the widows of the de-
ceased rajah, was accompanied by general
maladministration. During the first war
with Tippoo, the management of Tanjore
had been assumed by the English, as the
sole means of rendering its resources avail-
able against the common foe; and on the
conclusion of peace, a prolonged discussion
arose concerning the propriety of restoring
to power a ruler whose legal and moral
claims were of so questionable a character.
The supreme government, fearing to incur
the imputation of excessive rigour, replaced
Ameer Sing in his former position : but the
home authorities do not appear to have
approved of this decision ; for iu June, 1799,
they expressly instructed Lord "Wellesley
not to relinquish possession of the territories
of Arcot and Tanjore, which, in the event
of hostilities with Tippoo, would " of course
come under the company's management,"
without special orders to that effect. The
measure thus taken for granted by the di-
rectors, had not been adopted by the
governor- general, who deemed the brief and
decisive character of the war a sufficient
argument against a step the immediate
effect of which " would have been a con-
siderable failure of actual resources, at a
period of the utmost exigency." The
disputed succession afforded a better plea
for the assumption of the powers of govern-
• Swartz spared no pains in implanting religious
principles, or in cultivating the naturally gifted in-
tellect of Serfojee. The death of the good mis-
sionary, in 1798, prevented liim from witnessing the
elevation of his grateful pupil, who honoured the me-
mory of his benefactor, less by the erection of a stately
monument, than by his own life and character.
Bishop Heber, in noticing the varied acquirements of
Serfojee, states that he quoted Fourcroy, Lavoisier,
Linnaeus, and Buffon fluently; that he had "formed
a more accurate judgment of the merits of Shaks-
peare than that so felicitously expressed by Lord
Byron," and was " much respected by the English
officers in the neighbourhood, as a real good judge
of a horse, and a cool, bold, and deadly shot at a
tiger." — [Journal, ii., 459.)
t The key to the cypher was found among the
private papers of the sultan. The English were de-
signated by the term new-comers ; the Nizam, by
that of nutltingness ; the Mahrattas, as despicable.
In commenting on the disclosure of these proofs of
faithlessness on the part of the nabobs of the Carnatic,
ment ; Ameer Sing was deposed, and Serfo-
jee proclaimed rajah, in accordance with the
terms of a treaty, dated October, 1799, by
which he renounced all claim to political
authority, in return for nominal rank, and
the more substantial advantage of a pension
of one lac of star pagodas, with a fifth of
the net revenues. The assertion of com-
plete authority over the Carnatic, was expe-
dited by the discovery, consequent on the
capture of Seringapatam, of a secret corre-
spondence, in cypher, -j- carried on between
Mohammed Ali and his successor, Omdut-
al-Omrah, with Tippoo, in direct violation of
the treaty of 1792. The conduct of the
nabob during the late war, in withholding
promised supplies, had given rise to suspi-
cions of treachery which were now confirmed.
His failing health induced Lord Wellesley
to delay the contemplated changes; but on
his death, in 1801, the dispositions made by
him in favour of his illegitimate son, Ali
Hoossein, a minor,! were set aside in favour
of Azim-ad-Dowlah, a nephew of the late
prince, who made over to the company all
claim to real power, on condition of receiving
the title of nabob, and the allotment of a
fifth part of the net revenues of the Car-
natic for his support. The company further
engaged to provide for the family of the
preceding nabobs, and to pay their debts.
The government of the extensive and
populous, though dilapidated city of Surat,
was assumed by the company in 1800 ; the
Mogul nabob, or governor, resigning his
claims on receipt of a pension of a lac of
rupees annually, in addition to a fifth of the
net revenues guaranteed to him and his
heirs.
The commencement of the nineteenth
as favouring the views of the directors. Mill e.\claims,
" Nothing surely ever was more fortunate than such
a discovery at such a time." Yet, although plainly
intimating the possibility of fabricating evidence to
prove a lie, he is compelled, by his own trutlifulness,
to bear witness to the character of the great man,
against whom he appears to be, on the whole,
strangely prejudiced. " With regard to Lord Wel-
lesley," he adds, " even his faults bear so little affinity
with this species of vice, and his most conspicuous
virtues are so directly opposed to it, that we may safely
infer it to be as unlikely in his case as in any that
can well be supposed, that he would fabricate evi-
dence to attain the objects of his desire." — (vi., 312.)
X The governor-general was disposed to confirm
the will of the late nabob in favour of Ali Hoossein,
despite his illegitimacy; but his refusal (too late
withdrawn) to accept the terms offered on behalf of
the E. L Cy., occasioned his being altogether set aside.
He was carried off' by dysentery in the following yesir.
Ameer Sing, the deposed rajah of Tanjore, died a
natural death in the commencement of 1802.
888
ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY JOIN BRITISH IN INDIA— 1801.
century, thus strongly marked by the ex-
tension of British power in India, is no less
memorable for the bold and decisive mea-
sures of foreign policy, planned and executed
by the governor-general. The threatened in-
vasion of Zemaun Shah had been no vague
rumour. A letter addressed by the Afghan
leader to Lord Wellesley, peremptorily de-
manding the assistance of the English and
their ally, the nabob vizier, in rescuing
Shah Alum from the hands of the Mah-
rattas, and replacing him on the throne of
his ancestors, had furnished ample reason
for precautionary measures against the re-
newed incursions, under any pretext, of the
dreaded Afghans. To avert this evil, there
appeared no surer method than to form a
close alliance with Persia ; and for this pur-
pose Captain (afterwards Sir John) Malcolm
was dispatched as British envoy, in Decem-
ber, 1799, to the court of Teheran, attended
by a magnificent embassy. The result was
completely successful. Ali Shah engaged
to lay waste the country of the Afghans
if ever they should invade India, and
to permit no French force to form a
settlement on any of the shores or islands of
Persia ; the English, on their part, pro-
mised to aid the Shah in the event of inva-
sion, whether from France or Cabool. In-
ternal dissension between Zemaun Shah aud-
his brother Mahmood, rendered the issue of
the above negotiation of less importance as
regarded the Afghans, whose turbulence
found vent in civil war ; but the danger of
French encroachments still pressed severely
on the mind of the governor-general. The
injury inflicted by the privateering force of
the Mauritius and Bourbon upon the Indian
coasting trade, and even upon that with
Europe, was of serious magnitude. Between
the commencement of hostilities and the
close of 1800, British property, to the amount
of above two million sterling, had been car-
ried into Port St. Louis. Lord Wellesley
resolved to attempt the extinction of this
fertile source of disasters, by the conquest
and occupation of the French islands ; and,
with this intent, assembled at Trincomalee*
in Ceylon, a force comprising three royal
regiments and 1,000 Bengal volunteers.
The project fell to the ground through the
pertinacity of Admiral Rainier, who declared
tliat he could not lawfully take part in the
• Trincomalee was taken from the Dutch in 1796.
t Lord Wellesley, with his usual foresiglit, gave
orders for the occu))ation of Perim, a small island in
the straits of Bub-ei-Mandeb, the possession of which
proposed expedition, without the express
sanction of the king. The favourable oppor-
tunity was lost ; and French privateers con-
tinued, during several subsequent years, to
harass and plunder the commercial naviga-
tion of the eastern seas. The troops as-
sembled by the zeal of Lord Wellesley, found
useful and honourable employ. He had
repeatedly suggested to the home govern-
ment the propriety of dispatching an Indian
armament for the reinforcement of the
British force in Egypt ; and on the receipt
of orders to thatefl'ect in 1801, 1,600 native
infantry were added to the body already
raised, and forwarded to Mocha as fast
as transports could be provided for them.f
Sir David Baird had command of the land
troops ; Rear-admiral Blankett, of a squad-
ron of the company's cruisers, sent on with
a small detachment as an advance guard,
but Sir Home Popham was dispatched from
England to direct the naval part of the ex-
pedition. The struggle was well nigh ended
before their arrival, by the defeat of the
French in Egypt on the 21st of March, with
the loss to tiie victors of their brave leader.
Sir Ralph Abercromby. General Baird
marched from Suez to Rosetta, at the head
of 7,000 men, in the hope of contributing
to the capture of Alexandria ; but the treaty
of surrender was already in progress ; and
with its ratification, hostilities were brought
to a close. The striking demonstration of
the power of England, made by bringing
togetiier numerous and effective arma-
ments from the east and west, to fight her
battles upon the banks of the Nile, was
doubtless calculated to " enhance her re-
nown, and confirm her moral as well as
political strength." Still, it is well added by
Mill, that had the Anglo-Indian army been
permitted to accomplish the purpose for
which it was first designed by the governor-
general, the conquest of the Mauritius and
Bourbon would have been a more sub-
stantial though less brilliant service.
Upon the restoration of Pondicherry (in
accordance with the treaty of Amiens), mea-
sures were taken by Buonaparte which
amply proved the wisdom of the energetic
precautions of the Marquis Wellesley against
attempts for the revival of French influence
in India. Seven general, and a proportionate
number of inferior officers, were sent from
would have effectuallyshutuptheFrench forces in the
lied Sea, even had ihey passed through Egy|)t. The
Earl of Elgin, then ambassador to the Porte, effec-
tively co-operated with the marquis iu various ways.
INDO-MOHAMMEDAN SWAY— USURPATION ON USURPATION. 389
France with 1,400 regular troops, and
£100,000 in specie. The renewal of war
in Europe afforded a reason for the reoccu-
pation of Pondicherry in 1803, and enabled
the E. I. Cy. to direct undivided attention to
the complicated hostilities then carried on
with the Mahrattas, the only Indian people
possessing in themselves resources to main-
tain unaided a long contest. The most
vulnerable part of the British frontier lay
contiguous to the country possessed by
Sindia. The death of Nana Furnavees, in
1800, left this enterprising cbief no formi-
dable rival at the court of Poona ; and
Bajee Rao the peishwa, appeared little
less entirely under his control than the
pageant- emperor of Delhi. In the event,
therefore, of a struggle for supremacy,
arising out of the numerous causes of quar-
rel abounding on both sides, the Mahratta
confederacy, including the rajah of Berar,
the representative of the Holcar family in
Malwa, and the Guicowar of Guzerat, with
other leaders of minor rank, led by Sindia
and the peishwa, and aided by the skill
and science of French officers, could collect
a force against their European rivals which it
would require a costly sacrifice of blood and
treasure to repel. The best mode of avert-
ing this dangerous possibility appeared to
be the formation of a strict alliance with one,
at least, if not with the whole of the
Mahratta chiefs. The error of Hastings, in
sanctioning the aggressions of Sindia in
Hindoostan Proper, had furnished expe-
rience which strengthened the convictions of
Lord Wellesley with regard to the policy of
forming connexions with native powers, only
on conditions calculated to secure an ascen-
dancy, more or less direct, in their councils.
Perfect neutrality amid scenes of foreign
and domestic warfare, venality, extortion,
and bloodshed, could scarcely have been
recommended by considerations of duty or
of policy ; and such a course, even supposing
it to have been practicable, must have in-
volved the infraction of old as well as
recent treaties, offensive and defensive,
with the Nizam and others. As for Lord
"Wellesley, his clear and statesmanlike view
of the case, formed after careful examination
of the actual state of British power in
India, was never marred by doubt or hesi-
tation in the moment of action. Fettered
by the parliamentary denunciation against
the extension, under any circumstances,
of the Anglo-Indian empire, yet, convinced
that its foundations must be largely in-
3e
creased before a state of secure and tranquil
authority could be reasonably expected, he
was often driven to adduce secondary causes
to justify measures, which might have been
sufficiently vindicated on the score of poli-
tical necessity, since they involved no moral
wrong. The wretchedness of the people of
the Carnatic and Oude, abundantly excuse
the steps taken to place them under the im-
mediate superintendence of the company,
in preference to employing, or rather con-
tinuing to employ, the military force of
England in riveting the chains of a foreign
despotism, founded on usurpation of the
worst kind, that of sworn servants betraying
their master in the hour of weakness. There
were no lawful heirs to these states; or, if
there were, they should have been searched
for in the ancient records of the Hindoos :
the Mohammedans were all intruders in the
first instance, and the existing leaders of
every denomination, with few exceptions,
rebellious subjects. Why, each one of the
African chiefs, whom English colonists and
Dutch boors have so unscrupulously exiled
from their native territories, had more of
hereditary right and constitutional privilege
on his side than all the Indo- Mohammedan
dynasties put together. The case of the
Hindoos is widely different; but in excuse, or
rather in justification, of the conduct of the
company, it may be urged that they found
the great majority of the native inhabitants
of India, under Moslem rulers, a con-
quered and much-oppressed people ; and
that, if England do her duty as a Christian
state, they will, and — with all her errors and
shortcomings, it may be added, they have
materially benefited by the change.
The Rajpoot states were the only ones
which, although brought in collision with
the Mogul empire, were never wholly ab-
sorbed in it. The Mahratta confederation
had been founded on the ruins of the vast
dominion won by the strong arm of Aurung-
zebe, and lost through persecuting bigotry
and the exactions consequent on unceasing
war. Sevajee and Bajee Rao (the first usurp-
ing peishwa, or prime minister) built up Mah-
ratta power. Madhoo Rao I. arrested its
dissolution; but Mahadajee Sindia, prompted
by overweening ambition, enlarged his
chiefdom until its overgrown dimensions
exceeded in extent the whole remainder of
the Mahratta empire, and threatened speedily
to destroy the degree of independence still
existing in Rajpootana. Dowlut llao pos-
sessed equal ambition and energy with his
390
RISE OP SINDIA AND HOLCAll PllINCIPALITIES.
predecessor, but far less judjjtnent and mode-
ration. The retirement to Europe, in 1796,
of the experienced and unprejudiced leader
of the European trained bands, De Boigne,
and the accession to authority of a French
leader named Perron, with strong national
feelings, gave a decidedly anti-English bias
to the counsels of Dowlut Rao. The peishwa
Bajee Rao, knew this, and had, in the time
of Sir John Shore, courted the protection
of the supreme government, as a means of
securing to himself some degree of authority.
The danger of provoking war, by giving
offence to Sindia, induced the refusal of
this request. The accession to ofiice of
Lord Wellesley was attended with a reversal
of the policy of both parties. Perceiving
the great advantage to be derived from the
permanent settlement of a subsidiary force
at Poona, the governor-general formally
offered the services of a body of the com-
pany's troops, for the protection of the
peishwa and the revival of the energies of
his government. The very circumstance of
. the boon, once urgently sought, being now
pressed on his acceptance, would have sufficed
to ensure its rejection by so capricious and
distrustful a person as Bajee Rao : but other
reasons — especially the meditated departure
of Sindia, to superintend his own disaffected
troops in Hindoostan, and the impending
war between Tippoo and the English — were
not wanting to confirm his determination.
The conquest of Mysoor again changed the
aspect of affairs ; but Bajee Rao, in ac-
cordance with the sagacious counsels of
Nana Furnavees,* even after the death of
the wary minister, continued to reject the
alliance pressed on him by the English,
until an unexpected chain of events com-
pelled him to look to them exclusively for
help and protection.
Sindia and Holcak. — A new actor had
recently come forward on the stage of
Mahratta politics, whose progress seemed
likely to diminish the authority of Sindia,
and enable Bajee Rao to exercise unques-
tioned supremacy at Poona. Of these
anticipated results only the former was
realised ; the predatory chief in question,
Jeswunt Rao Holcar, proving strong enough
not only to harass but to defeat the
• Nana Furnavees was imprisoned by Sindia;
but being released in 1798, on payment of ten lacs of
rupees, he accepted office under Bajee Itao.
f When the power of Ahalya Bye became es-
tablished, the beautiful but wicked wife of Uafroba
sent a female attendant to bring her an account of
the personal appearance of a princess so highly oele-
)
troops of Sindia, and drive Bajee Rao from
his capital. The founders of the Sindia and
Holcar families were, it will be remembered,
men of humble origin ; they became distin-
guished as leaders of Pindarries, a class
of the lowest freebooters who had from early
times infested the Deccan. Bajee Rao I.,
though always ready to avail himself of their
services for the invasion of Mogul provinces,
took care to exclude such dangerous subjects
from Maharashtra, by habitually stationing
them in Malwa, where the power of the two
leaders became paramount. The progress
and history of Mahadajee Sindia has been
incidentally told in previous pages ; but of
Mulhar Rao Holcar little mention has been
made since the battle of Paniput, in 1760,
when he was named as one of the few
leaders who escaped the carnage of that day.
Having retreated into Central India, he em-
ployed himself, during the remaining years
of his life, in settling and consolidating his
possessions in Malwa and the Deccan. He
had established considerable influence in
Jeypoor, and obtained from the rajah an
annual tribute of three lacs and a-half of
rupees. A considerable part of the province
of Candeish had been allotted to him for
the maintenance of his troops ; beside which,
several villages were granted, by the peishwa
and the Nizam, to the females of his family.
The only lineal descendant of Mulhar Rao,
a vicious youth of unsound mind, succeeded
his grandfather in 1766, but survived him
only nine months. His mother Ahalya
(pronounced Alea) Bye, a singularly gifted
woman, declared her intention, as the sole
representative of both the deceased rulers,
to select a successor. Ragobaf attempted
to interfere ; but Madhoo Rao, with charac-
teristic chivalry, directed his uncle to desist
from further opposition to the projects of a
person whose right and ability to manage
affairs were alike indisputable. With the
entire approbati6n of the leading military
commanders in the army of her deceased
relatives, Ahalya Bye took the reins of power
in her own hands. The Mohammedan cus-
tom of rigid seclusion had happily not been
imitated by Mahratta females ; Ahalya Bye
had therefore no conventional impediment
of any kind to check the free exercise of
brated, and so universally beloved. The description
of a small slight woman, with irregular features, but
" a heavenly light on her countenance," set the fair
intrigante at rest as to any rivalry in the attractions
by which she set most store ; and, without noticing
the last part of the description, Anundee Bye re-
marked, " But she is not handsome, you say."
AHALYA BYE.— SUTTEE OF HER DAUGHTER, MUCHTA BYE. 391
her physical or mental powers. Still there
were duties inconsistent with a woman's
sphere of action ; and to ensure their fulfil-
ment, she formally adopted as her son,* and
elected as commander-in-chief, TookajeeHol-
car, the leader of the household troops ; of the
same tribe, but no otherwise related to Mulhar
Rao. Like our great Elizabeth, the fitness of
her ministers proved the judgment of the se-
lector. The conduct of Tookajee, during a
period of above thirty years, justified the
confidence reposed in him. Ahalya Bye
died, aged sixty, worn out with public cares
and fatigues, aggravated by domestic sor-
rows ; but without having had, during that
long interval, a single misunderstanding with
her brave and honest coadjutor. The his-
tory of the life of this extraordinary woman,
given by Sir John Malcolm, affords evidence
of the habitual exercise of the loftiest virtues;
and it is difficult to say, whether manly
resolve or feminine gentleness predomi-
nated, so marvellously were they blended in
her character. The utter absence of vanity,
whether as a queen or a woman ;t the fear-
less and strictly conscientious exercise of
despotic power, combined with the most
unaffected humility and the deepest sym-
pathy for suffering ; learning without pe-
dantry, clieerfulness without levity, im-
maculate rectitude with perfect charity and
tolerance ; — these and other singular combi-
nations would almost tempt one to regard
Ahalya Bye as too faultless for fallen and
sinful humanity, but for the few draw-
backs entailed by her rigid adherence to
almost every portion of the modern Brahmin-
ical creed, in which, happily, persecution has
still no part, though self-inflicted austerities
and superstitious observances have gained a
most undue prominence. The declining
age of the princess was saddened by the reso-
lution taken by her only surviving child,
Muchta Bye, of self-immolation on the grave
of her husband. The battle-field had widowed
Ahalya Bye at twenty; yet — despite the
modern heresy of the Hindoos, that the
I voluntary sacrifice of life, on the part of the
bereaved survivor, ensures immediate re-
union between those whom death has di-
vided, and their mutual entrance into the
highest heaven, she had not been tempted
by this lying doctrine to commit suicide,
• Although Tookajee always addressed her by the
name of " mother," he was considerably her senior.
t A Brahmin wrote a book in her praise. Ahalya
Bye, after patiently hearing it read, remarked,
that she was " a weak, sinful woman, not deserving
but had lived to protect her children and
establish the independence of the Holcar
principality. Now, flinging herself at the
feet of Muchta Bye, she besought her child,
by every argument a false creed could sanc-
tion, to renounce her purpose. The reply
of the daughter was affectionate but de-
cided. "You are old, mother," she said,
" and a few years will end your pious life.
My only child and husband are gone, and
when you follow, life I feel will be insup-
portable ; but the opportunity of termi-
nating it with honour will then have passed."
Every effort, short of coercion, was vainly
practised to prevent the intended " suttee ;"X
but the unfaltering resolve of the devoted
widow remained unshaken, and her wretched
parent accompanied the procession, with
forced composure, to the funeral pyre : but
when the first vivid burst of flame told of
the actual consummation of the sacrifice,
self-command was lost in anguish ; the
agonising shrieks of their beloved ruler
mingled with the exulting shouts of the
immense multitude; and excited almost to
madness, the aged princess gnawed the hands
she could not liberate from the two Brah-
mins, who with difficulty held her back
from rushing to die with her child. After
three days spent in fasting and speechless
grief, Ahalya Bye recovered her equanimity
so far as to resume her laborious round
of daily occupations, including four hours
spent in receiving ambassadors, hearing pe-
titions or complaints, and transacting other
business in full durbar or court; and she
seemed to find solace in erecting a beautiful
monument to the memory of those she
lamented, and iu increasing the already
large proportion of the revenues devoted to
religious purposes and public works. Her
charity was not bounded by the limits of
the principality : it began at home (for she
fed her own poor daily), but it extended to
far-distant lands. The pilgrim journeying
to Juggernaut in Cuttack, in the far north
amid the snowy peaks of the Himalaya, or
south almost to Cape Comorin, found cause
to bless the sympathy for individual suffer-
ing, as well as the reverence for holy shrines,
manifested by Ahalya Bye with royal mu-
nificence; while the strange traveller, with-
out claim of creed or country, was arrested
such fine encomiums," directed the book to be
thrown into the Nerbudda, which flowed beneath
her palace window, and took no farther notice of the
author. — (Malcolm's Central India, i., 193.)
\ Suttee or sati, denotes the completed sacrifice.
392 SUCCESSFUL ADMINISTRATION OF THE PIOUS AHALYA BYE.
on his weary, dusty road, by water-bearers
stationed at intervals to supply the wants of
the passer-by ; and the very oxen near her
dwelling at Mhysir, were refreshed by
cooling draughts brought by the domestic
servants of the compassionate princess.
The beasts of the field, the birds of the
air, the fishes of the sea, had all their
allotted share of her bounty ; and however
puerile some of her minor arrangements
may sound to European ears, or fanatical
the habits of a sovereign who never dis-
carded the plain white weeds of Hindoo
widowhood, or touched animal food ; yet,
probably, these very traits of character con-
spired to add to the reputation her govern-
ment retains in Malwa as the best ever
known, the personal reverence paid to her
memory as more than a saint, as an Avatar,
or incarnation of the Deity.
A blessing rested on the efforts of Ahalya
Bye, despite the fettering power of hea-
then darkness. Indore grew, beneath her
sway, from a village to a wealthy city ;
bankers, merchants, farmers, and peasants,
all throve beneath her vigilant and foster-
ing care. Malcolm states, that he made
inquiries among all ranks and classes in the
countries she had governed, and could elicit
no information calculated to detract, in the
judgment of the most impartial inquirer,
from the effect of the eulogiums, or rather
blessings, poured forth whenever her name
was mentioned, except the large sums be-
stowed on -Brahmins, and the expenditure
of state funds in the erection and mainte-
nance of public works on foreign soil. The
remarks made by one of her chief min-
isters, when commenting on what Sir John
considered misdirected bounty, afford a
suggestive text alike to eastern and western
potentates. He asked, " whether Ahalya
Bye, by spending double the money on an
army that she did in charity and good
works, could have preserved her country
for above thirty years in a state of pro-
found peace, while she rendered her sub-
jects happy and herself adored? No person
doubts the sincerity of her piety; but if
she had merely possessed worldly wisdom,
she could have devised no means so admi-
rably calculated to effect the object. Among
tlie princes of her own nation, it would have
been looked upon as sacrilege to have become
her enemy, or, indeed, not to have defended
her against any hostile attempt. She was
considered by all in the same light. The
Nizam of the Dsccan and Tippoo Sultan
granted her the same respect as the peishwa,
and Mohammedans joined with Hindoos in
prayers for her long life and prosperity."*
After the death of Ahalya Bye, in 1795,
the sole authority centred in Tookajee
Holcar, who survived his excellent mistress
about two years. He left two legitimate
sons, Casee and Mulhar Rao. The elder
was of weak intellect and deformed person ;
the younger, able and active. Ahalya Bye
and Tookajee had hoped that the example
of their unanimity would be followed by
the brothers in the joint exercise of autho-
rity, but neither of the princes were capable
of the self-denial and lofty rectitude neces-
sary for such a course ; and preparations for
a war of succession were at once commenced,
but abruptly terminated by the treacherous
interference of Dowlut Rao Sindia, who
having inveigled Mulhar Rao to his camp,
caused him to be shot through the head;
and retaining possession of Casee Rao, not
only compelled him to pay the heavy price
stipulated for the murder of his brother,
but reduced him to the condition of a mere
tool. An avenger arose unexpectedly to
scourge the unprincipled ambition of Sindia.
Two illegitimate sons of Holcar, Jeswunt
llao and Etojee, survived their father; the
latter was seized and imprisoned bj' Sindia
and Bajee Rao. He escaped and joined a
body of freebooters ; but being recaptured,
was trampled to death by an elephant iu
the city of Poona. Jeswunt Rao sought
refuge at Nagpoor with Ragojee Bhonslay
of Berar. His confidence was betrayed;
and through the intrigues of Siudia and
the peishwa, he also was made a captive,
but succeeded in eluding his guard, and
reaching Candeish about a year and a-half
after the death of Mulhar Rao. Resolved to
make an effort to rescue the possessions of
his family from the hands of Sindia, he
took the name of assertor of the rights of
Kundee Rao, the infant son of Mulhar
Rao, then a prisoner at Poona, and assem-
bled a heterogeneous force of Pindarries,
Bheels, Afghans, Mahrattas, and Rajpoots.
In 1798, he joined his fortunes with those
of Ameer Khan, a Mohammedan adven-
turer, less daring and reckless, but quite as
unprincipled as himself, on whom he sub-
sequently conferred the title of nabob. A
terrible series of hostilities ensued between
Sindia and Holcar. From the appearance
of the latter chief, in 1800, the natives of
Central India date the commencement of
• Malcolm's Central India, L, 189.
TREATY OP BASSEIN ARRANGED WITH THE PEISHWA— 1802. 393
an epoch of eighteen years' duration, which
they emphatically designate " the time of
trouble." The trained battalions of Sindia
were defeated, and his capital, Oojein, and
other chief places, captured and rifled by
Holcar and Ameer Khan, with a barbarity
which was horribly revenged on the wretched
inhabitants of Indore by the instrumentality
of Sirjee Rao Ghatkay, the father-in-law of
Sindia, and the prompter as well as exe-
cutor of his worst actions. Between four
and five thousand persons are said to
have perished by the sword, or under tor-
tures inflicted by the ferocious Pindarries,
for the express gratification of their dia-
bolical leader; and the wells within the
limits of Indore were actually choked up
by the bodies of females, who had rushed
on death to avoid the lust and cruelty which
reigned unchecked for a period of fifteen
days, and ended only with the slaughter or
flight of almost every citizen, and the demo-
lition of every house, Jeswunt Rao, with
Indore, lost his only means of giving regular
pay to his soldiers. Without attempting
disguise, he told them the actual state of
the case, and bade such as chose follow his
fortunes in quest of plunder. The invita-
tion was accepted with acclamation, and
Jeswunt Rao became avowedly the leader
of an array of freebooters, whose worst licen-
tiousness he directed rather than curbed,
and whose turbulence he bent to his will
by the habitual display of the dauntless
courage which formed the distinguishing
characteristic of his family, and by the coarse
humour and inimitable cajolery peculiar to
himself.* His declared object was the restora-
tion of Mahratta supremacy over India by a
revival of the predatory system of Sevajee ;
but of this there was never any reasonable
prospect. Jeswunt Rao was not the man to
found a state even on the most precarious
basis ; he was " terrible as a destroyer," but
powerless to erect or consolidate dominion.
The marauding force increased daily.
Sindia renounced the cause of Casee Rao
(who became thenceforth a dependent on
* The following anecdote indicates that, with all his
vices, Jeswunt Rao was not what a modern writer de-
signates a sham. At an early period of his career, the
accidental bursting ofa matchlock deprived him of the
sight of an eye. When told of the irreparable injury
inflicted, he exclaimed, in allusion to the Indian pro-
verb that one-eyed people are always wicked — " I was
bad enough before, but now I shall be the very Gooroo
(high-priest) of rogues." lie had no religious scru-
ples, but would plunder temples and private dwellings
with equal indiflerence. The madness in which his ca-
reer ended, is regarded as the punishment of sacrilege.
his half-brother), and would have willingly
purchased peace by the surrender of the
infant Kundee Rao; but Holcar knew his
strength, and had, besides, gone too far to
recede with safety. A desperate contest
took place between the two chiefs near
Poona, in October, 1802, when the per-
sonal exertions of Jeswunt Rao, who had
staked his all on the event, with the deter-
mination of not surviving defeat, resulted
in a complete victory. By turning his own
guns on the ungovernable Patans of Ameer
Khan, who was quite unable to check their
violence, t Holcar saved the city from indis-
criminate pillage; not, however, from any
motive of justice or compassion, but only
that he might be enabled to plunder it
systematically and at leisure, for the pay-
ment of the arrears of his troops and the
replenishment of his private coft'ers. After
committing every description of extortion,
and giving, in his own person, an example of
hard-drinking, by unrestrained indulgence
in his favourite liquors, cherry and rasp-
berry brandy, he left Amrut Rao (Ragoba's
adopted son) in charge of the government,
and marched off' to pursue his marauding
avocations in Central India.
The triumph of Holcar completely changed
the relative position of Bajee Rao and the
English. Surrounded by a select body of
troops, the peishwa waited the result of the
contest ; and when it was decided, fled from
Poona, leaving with the British resident a
draft treaty for the company, requesting
the permanent establishment of a subsi-
diary force within his dominions, and prof-
fering in return the assignment of a certain
amount of territory, and a pledge to hold
no intercourse with other states, except in
concert with the English. The treaty of
Bassein, arranged on this basis, was con-
cluded in 1802. It entailed the subjection
of the claims of the peishwa on the Nizam,
and on Anund Rao Guicowar, the chief
of Baroda in Guzerat, with whom the
English had recently become closely allied ;
their interference having been solicited in
t Ameer Khan had little personal courage. After
the battle of Poona he came to Jeswunt Kao, who
was tying up his wounds, and boasted of good for-
tune in escaping unhurt; "for, see!" he said, point-
ing to the feather mounted in silver, which adorned
his horse's head, " my khuljee has been broken by a
cannon-ball." " Well, you are a fortunate fellow,"
retorted the Mahratta, with a burst of incredulous
laughter ; " for I observe the shot has left the ears
of your steed uninjured, though the wounded or-
nament stood betwixt them." — (^Central India,
i., 229.^
394
FAITHLESSNESS AND INDECISION OF BAJEE RAO— 1803.
favour of the legitimate heir in a case of
disputed succession. These concessions in-
volved a heavy sacrifice of political power;
but they were slight compared with those
which would have been exacted by Sindia
or Holcarj and Bajee Ilao could scarcely
fail to fall into the hands of one or other
of these leaders,' if not upheld by extraneous
support. Like his father, he had few per-
sonal friends, and so little deserving the
name of a party at Poona, that the governor-
general, on discovering his unpopularity, ap-
pears to have doubted what course to pursue
with regard to his reinstatement on the
musnud. The treaty had been entered
upon in the belief that the majority of the
jaghiredars, and the great mass of the
nation, would co-operate with the English
for the restoration of the peishwa. But if
his weakness or wickedness had thoroughly
alienated their confidence, the case was dif-
ferent ; and Lord Wellesley plainly declared,
that " justice and wisdom would forbid any
attempt to impose upon the Mahrattas a
ruler whose restoration to authority was
adverse to every class of his subjects."
In the absence of any general manifesta-
tion of disaffection, Bajee Rao was escorted
by an English force to the capital from
whence he had fled with so little ceremony.
Amrut Rao retired on learning his approach,
and eventually became a state pensioner, re-
sident at Benares. Tranquillity seemed
restored. There could be no doubt that
Holcar, Sindia, and Ragojee Bhouslay of
Berar, would all feel mortified by a treaty
which gave the English that very ascen-
dancy in the councils of Poona they, or at
least Sindia and Holcar, individually coveted.
Still Lord Wellesley considered that their
mutual deep-rooted enmity would prevent
a coalition for so desperate an object as
war with the English. Perhaps the result
would have realised these anticipations had
Bajee Ilao been true to his engagements;
instead of which, he behaved with accus-
tomed duplicity, and corresponded with both
Sindia and Ragojee Bhonslay, to whom he
represented his recent voluntary agreeraent
as wholly compulsory, and endeavoured to
incite them to hostilities, trusting to the
chapter of accidents for the improvement
of his own position. Yet, when the moment
• The day after the taking of Poona, Col. Close,
the British resident, was sent for by Holcar, whom
he found in a small tent ankle-deep in mud, with a
spear wound in the body and a sabre-cut in the
head ; which last he had received from an artillery-
for action came, his schemes were lost in
timidity and indecision : he would not trust
others ; he could not trust himself.
Holcar had heretofore expressly disavowed
any unfriendly feeling towards the English ;*
and they would willingly have mediated
between him and the peishwa, had the ran-
corous animosity of the latter suffered
them to enter upon the negotiation. Sindia
courted the co-operation of Holcar through
the instrumentality of Ragojee Bhonslay,
and went so far as to surrender the child
Kundee Rao, and acknowledge Mulhar
Rao as the representative of the Holcar
family, surrendering to him their territories
in Malwa, and recognising his various claims
throughout Hindoostan. Despite these con-
cessions, the robber-chief hung back; and
when pressed by the confederates to unite
his army with theirs in the Deccan, with a
view to making war upon the E. I. Cy., he
asked who was to take care of Northern
India? and withdrew to pillage the de-
fenceless provinces of friend and foe.
•The gathering storm did not escape the
observation of the governor-general. Hos-
tile preparations were commenced in every
part of British India, and a declaration of his
intentions demanded from Sindia ; who re-
plied curtly, yet candidly, that he could not
give any until after an approaching interview
with the Bhonslay ; but would then inform
the resident " whether it would be peace or j
war." This pledge was not redeemed; the i
meeting took place, and was followed by j
vague and general professions of good-will to '
the British government, mingled with com-
plaints against the peishwa for an undue
assumption of authority in signing the treaty
of Bassein. The civil expressions of the
chiefs ill accorded with the hostile and
menacing attitude occupied by their armies
on the frontiers of Oude. Major-general
Wellesley, to whom his brother had dele-
gated full powers, political as well as mili-
tary, either for negotiation or war, brought
matters to an issue with characteristic
frankness, by proposing as a test of the
amicable intentions of the two chiefs, that
they should respectively withdraw their
forces, pledging himself to do the same on
the part of the English. The offer being
rejected, the British resident was with-
nian while leading a charge on the guns of the
enemy. He expressed a strong wish to be on good
terras with the English, and, with reluctance, per-
mitted the withdrawal of the resident, after which
the worst outrages were committed at Poona.
MAHRATTA WAR.— BATTLE OF ASS AYE— AUGUST, 1803.
395
drawn, and preparations made on both sides
for an appeal to arms.
Mahkatta War. — Tlie governor-general
•vrell knew that the finances of his employers
were in no condition to endure the drain of
protracted warfare, and he resolved to follow
out the policy so brilliantly successful in the
Mysoor campaign, of bringing the whole
force of British India to bear on the enemy;
not, however, by concentration on a single
point, but by attacking their territories in
every quarter at the same time.
The army, by his exertions, was raised to
nearly 50,000 men. The troops in the
Deccan and Guzerat numbered 35,600, of
whom 16,850 formed the advanced force
under General Wellesley; in Hindoostan,
10,500 men were under the command of
General (afterwards Lord) Lake ; 3,500 were
assembled at Allahabad to act on the side
of Bundelcund; and 5,316 were destined
for the invasion of Cuttack. The armies
of Sindia and Ragojee were estimated at
about 100,000 men, of whom half were
cavalry; and 30,000 regular infantry and
cavalry, commanded by Europeans, chiefly
French, under M. Perron, the successor of
De Boigne. Himmut Bahadur, an influ-
ential Mahratta chief of Bundelcund,*
sided with the English against the rajah,
Shumsheer Bahadur. The campaign opened
by the conquest, or rather occupation, of
Ahmednuggur, the ancient capital of the
Ahmed Shahi dynasty, on the 1st of
August, 1803. The army under Major-
general Wellesley, by whom it was accom-
plished, after much marching and counter-
marching, fought the famous battle of
Assaye, so named from a fortified village
(near the junction of the Kailna and Juah
rivers, 261 miles north-west of Hydrabad),
before which the confederates had encamped
21st August, 1803. They numbered 50,000
men, and were supported by above a hundred
pieces of artillery. The British counted but
4,500 men; and their leader beheld with
anxiety the strength of the foe, even though,
on finding the Mahrattas at length drawn up
in battle array, the exulting remark re-echoed
through the ranks — " They cannot escape
us." While the British lines were forming,
the Mahrattas opened a. murderous can-
• The ancient Hindoo dynasty of Bundelcund, of
■which Cliutter Sfll was the last efficient representa-
tive, was overwhelmed by the Mahrattas about 1786.
Shumsheer Bahadur was an illegitimate descendant
of the first peishwa, Bajee Rao. Himmut Bahadur,
by a not unfrequent combination, was a (insaen
(religious devotee) and a soldier of fortune. — (D:ijf'.)
nonade. The 74th regiment sustained heavy
loss, and were charged by a body of the
enemy's horse. The 19th light dragoons
drew only 360 sabres, but they received the
order for a counter-charge with a glad
huzza; and being manfully seconded by
native cavalry, passed through the broken
but undismayed 74th amid the cheers of
their wounded comrades, cut in, routed the
opposing horse, and dashed on at the in-
fantry and guns. The troops of the line
pressed on after them, and drove the enemy
into the Juah at the point of the bayonet.
The victory was complete, but dearly pur-
chased ; for one-third of the conquerors lay
dead or wounded at the close of this san-
guinary action. Of the Mahrattas, 1,200
were slain; the bodies of the fallen were scat-
tered around in dense masses, and ninety-
eight pieces of cannon remained on the field.
Ragojee Bhonslay fled at an early period of
the action, and Sindia soon followed his
example. The cavalry evinced little incli-
nation to out-stay their masters; but the
infantry behaved with greater steadiness;
the artillerymen stood to the last, and
eight of the trained battalions of De
Boigne manifested unflinching determina-
tion. When resistance became hopeless,
the majority surrendered. f
In the meantime, success still more bril-
liant in its results had attended the army
under Lake, who was hinn,self the very
model of a popular commander, as brave
and collected in the front of the battle as
in a council of his own officers. The de-
struction of Siudia's force under Perron,
the capture of Agra and Delhi, with the
person of the emperor — these were the
leading objects to which he was to direct
operations ; and they were all so per-
fectly fulfilled, that the governor-general
declared, his most sanguine expectations
having been realised, he was unexpectedly
called on to furnish fresh instructions.
General Lake first came in sight of the
enemy's cavalry at Coel, near the fort of
Alighur, whither they retired after a slight
skirmish. Alighur, the ordinary residence
of M. Perron, was, in his absence, bravely
defended by the governor, M. Pedrons. It
was well garrisoned, and surrounded by a
t The fidelity of these mercenary troops is ren-
dered more remarkable by the fact, that a politic
proclamation, issued by the governor-general at the
commencement of the war, had had the effect of in-
ducing the British part of the European officers to
i quit the service of Sindia, on condition of the con-
tinuance of the pay previously received from him.
396 BATTLE OF ALIGHUB,.— GALLANT DEFENCE OF DELHI— 1803.
deep and wide moat, traversed by a narrow
causeway, which forraed the sole entrance
to the fort, and for which, by some strange
neglect, a drawbridge had not been sub-
stituted. One of the British officers who
had come over from the service of Sindia,
offered to head an attack on the gateway.
The daring enterprise was carried out. Of
four gates, the first was blown open by
troops exposed to a heavy fire ; the second
easily forced ; the third entered with a mass
of fugitives ; but the fourth, which opened
immediately into the body of the place,
resisted even the application of a 12-pounder.
In this extremity, a party of grenadiers, led
by Major M'Leod, pushed through the
wicket and mounted the ramparts. Oppo-
sition soon ceased, and the British found
themselves masters of the fortress, with the
loss of 278 men killed and wounded, in-
cluding seventeen European officers. Of
the garrison, about 2,000 perished ; many
of whom were drowned in the ditch while
attempting to escape.
From Alighur, Lake marched to the
north-westward, and on the 11th of Septem-
ber, encamped within six miles of Delhi.
The tents were scarcely fixed, when the
enemy appeared in front. Perron had just
quitted the service of Sindia, in conse-
quence of the well-founded jealousy mani-
fested towards him by that chief and the
leading native officers. M. Bourquin, the
second in command, took his place ; and on
learning the advance of the British against
Delhi, crossed the Jumna with twelve
battalions of regular infantry, and 5,000
cavalry, for the purpose of attacking Gen-
eral Lake, whose force, after providing for
the safety of his baggage, amounted to about
4,500 men. Bourquin took up a position
on rising ground, with swamps on either
side, defended in front by seventy pieces of
cannon, half-buried amid long grass. From
this secure station he was withdrawn by a feint,
which, with less highly disciplined troops,
would have been very hazardous. Lake
advanced to reconnoitre, and after having a
horse shot under him, fell back with the
cavalry in regular order upon the infantry,
who had been meanwhile ordered to ad-
vance. The enemy followed the retreating
cavalry, until the latter, opening from the
centre, made way for the foot to advance
to the front. Perceiving the trap into which
he had fallen, Bourquin halted, and com-
menced a deadly fire of grape, round, and
canister; amidst which the British troops
moved on without returning a shot until
within one hundred yards of the foe; they
then fired a volley, and charged with the
bayonet. Sindia's infantry, unequal to a
hand-in-hand encounter, abandoned their
guns, fled, and were pursued as far as the
banks of the Jumna, in which river numbers
perished. The total loss of the Mahrattas
was estimated at 3,000 ; that of the British
at 585, including fifteen European officers.
After being seventeen hours under arms,
the troops took up fresh ground towards
the river, and next morning encamped
opposite the city of Delhi. In three days
every show of resistance ceased, the fort
was evacuated, Bourquin ^nd five other
French officers surrendered as prisoners of
war, and the unfortunate Shah Alum thank-
fully placed himself under the protection of
the British commander, September 10th,
1803.* General Lake next marched against
Agra, where all was strife and confusion.
The garrison had been under the command
of British officers, who, on the breaking out
of the war, were confined by their own
troops. Seven battalions of Sindia's regular
infantry were encamped on the glacis, but
the besieged feared to adroit them, on ac-
count of the treasure which they wished to
reserve for themselves. The battalions were
attacked on the 10th of October, and de-
feated after a severe conflict; three days
afterwards, those who remained came over
in a body, and were admitted into the
E. I. Cy's service. The siege of the fort
was then commenced, and a breach effected,
when further proceedings were arrested by
the capitulation of the garrison, the im-
prisoned officers being released, in order to
make terms with their countrymen. The
surrender was accomplished on condition of
safety for life and private property, leaving
treasure to the amount of £280,000 to be
divided among the troops as prize-money.
It is almost impossible to sketch a cam-
paign carried on simultaneously by difi'erent
widely-separated armies, without losing the
thread of the narrative, or interfering with
the chronological succession of events.
Choosing the latter as the lesser evil, it
may be mentioned that, towards the close
of October, General Lake quitted Agra in
pursuit of a large force, composed of fifteen
General Lake found Shah Alum seated under a
small tattered canopy, his person emaciated by in-
digence and infirmity, and his countenance dis-
figured with the loss of his eyes, and bearing marks of
extreme old age, joined to a settled melancholy.
LAKE CONQUERS MAHRATTAS AT LASWAREE— NOV., 1803. 397
regular battalions, dispatched by Sindia
from the Deccan to strengthen his northern
army ; of which there now remained but
two battalions, the wreck of the Delhi
troops. The total was, however, formidable ;
being estimated at about 9,000 foot and 5,000
horse, with a numerous and well-appointed
train of artillery. Their design was sup-
posed to be the recovery of Delhi; but as
the British advanced, the Mahrattas re-
treated; and Lake, fearing they would escape
his vigilance, and suddenly reappear in some
unlooked-for quarter, followed with his cav-
alry by forced marches, until, on the 1st of
November, he found himself, after a night's
journey of twenty-five miles, in face of an
enemy in apparent confusion, but advan-
tageously posted, and refreshed by rest.
After an ineffectual and disastrous attempt
at attack, the British general was compelled
to withdraw his brigade out of reach of
cannon-shot, and await the arrival of the
infantry. The details of this portion of the
action are somewhat vaguely told. The
76th regiment, which was chosen to head
the attack, with some native infantry,* who
had closed to the front, first reached the
point from which the charge was to be made,
and stood alone, waiting until the remainder
of the column should be formed by their
comrades, whose march " had been retarded
by impediments in the advance,"t the nature
of which is not stated. So galling was the
fire opened by the enemy, that Lake, who
conducted in person every operation of the
day, and had already had one horse shot
under him, resolved to lead the van to the
assault, sooner than stand still and witness
its destruction. At this moment his second
horse fell, pierced by several balls. His son,
who oflBciated as aide-de-camp, sprang to the
ground, and had just prevailed on the general
to take the vacant seat, when he was struck
down by a ball. Lake had a singularly
afiectionate nature ; the fall of his child,
severely if not mortally wounded, was well
calculated to unnerve, or, in his own phrase,
" unman" him ; but he knew his duty, and
loved the troops, who, he writes with un-
affected modesty, " at this time wanted
every assistance I could give them." J
Leaving Major Lake on the field, the gen-
eral rode on with his gallant band, until, on
• The second battalion of the 12lh native infantr)-,
and five companies of the 16th. — (Thornton, iii. 338.)
t Despatch of Lake to the governor-general. —
( Welledey Despatches, vol. iii., 443.)
I Welleale.ij Despatches, iii., 446.
§ Idem, p. 446. General Lake, habitually so ready
3f
arriving within reach of the canister-shot
of the foe, their ranks were so rapidly thinned
as to render regular advance impracticable,
and tempt the Mahratta horse to charge.
But this "handful of heroes," as they
were gratefully termed by Lake, him-
self " le brave des braves," repulsed their
assailants, who withdrew to a little distance.
The order to the British horse to charge
in turn, was brilliantly executed by the 29th
dragoons. They dashed through both lines
of the opposing infantry, wheeled round upon
the cavalry, and, after driving them from
the field, turned the rear of the enemy's
second line. The British foot failed not to
take advantage of the opportunity thus
afforded. The whole force had by this
time arrived on the field of battle, and the
issue soon ceased to be doubtful; yet the
hardy veterans of De Boigne's regiments,
though deprived of almost all their experi-
enced officers, would not surrender. About
2,000 of them were broken, surrounded
and made prisoners, but the majority fell
with weapons in their hands. " The gun-
ners," writes the victorious general, "stood
by their guns until killed by the bayonet :
all the sepoys of the enemy behaved exceed-
ingly well; and, if they had been com-
manded by French ofiicers, the event would
have been, I fear, extremely doubtful. I
never was in so severe a business in my
life, or anything like it ; and pray to God I
never may be in such a situation again.
* * * These fellows fought like devils, or
rather heroes. "§
The battle of Laswaree was in all respects
memorable. It completed the overthrow of
the European disciplined brigades, and gave
to England undisputed mastery over Delhi
and Agra, with all Sindia's districts north
of the Chumbul. These advantages were
gained at a heavy sacrifice of life. The
English loss amounted to 172 killed and
C52 wounded : that of the Mahrattas was
estimated at. 7,000. ||
The detached expeditions had likewise
successfully accomplished their respective
missions. All Sindia's possessions in
Guzerat were captured by a division of the
Bombay troops under Lieutenant-colonel
Woodington. Broach was taken by storm
on the 29th of August ; and the strong hill-
to praise others, barely notices his own gallant deeds
or those of his son : but he mentions, the day after the
battle, that parental anxiety rendered him " totally
unfit for anything." Happily, Major Lake's wound
proved less severe than was at first expected.
II Memoir of the Campaign; by Major Thorn.
398 TREATY OF DEOGAUM WITH RAGOJEE BHONSLAY— DEC, 1803.
ibi-t of Powanghur, which overlooked the
towu of Champaneer, surrendered on the
17th of September.
The seizure of Cuttack was accomplished
by detachments of the Madras and Bengal
forces under Lieutenant-colonel Harcourt.
The Brahmins of Juggernaut placed their
famous pagoda under the protection of the
British on the 18th of September; and the
fall of Barabuttee, the fort of Cuttack, on
the 14th of October, completed the reduc-
tion of the whole province.
In the subjection of Bundelcund, Lieute-
nant-colonel Powell was materially aided by
Himmut Bahadur, the Hindoo leader pre-
viously mentioned, who joined the British
detachment in the middle of September,
with a force of about 14,000 men. The
army of Shumsheer Bahadur made but feeble
resistance, and on the 13th of October was
driven across the river Betwa. Their chief
eventually became a British stipendiary.
The concluding operations of the war
were performed by the army under Major-
general Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson.
A detachment under the latter leader took
possession of Boorhanpoor on the 15th of
October, and two days after marched to
besiege Aseerghur, called by the natives
"the key of the Deccan." The fortress
surrendered on the 21st, and with it the
conquerors became masters of Sindia's Dec-
cani possessions, including several depen-
dent districts in Candeish. After a short
time spent in pursuing the rajah of Berar,
who retreated to his own dominions, and
in receiving some overtures for peace, of an
unsatisfactory character, from Sindia, Gen-
eral Wellesley descended the Ghauts on
the 25th of November, with the intention of
assisting Stevenson in the projected siege of
Gawilghur. The junction was effected on
the 29th of August, near the plains of
Argaum, where the British commander, on
reconnoitring, perceived with surprise the
main army of the Berar rajah, comprising
infantry, cavalry, and artillery, regularly
drawn up, about six miles from the spot
where he had himself intended to encamp.
Sindia's force, consisting of one very heavy
corps of cavalry, a body of Pindarries, and
other light troops, supported those of Berar.
It was late in the day, and the English were
wearied with a long march under a burning
• The defence had been gallantly conducted by
two Kajpoot leaders, whose bodies were found amid
a hea|) of slain. Their wives and daugliters were
intended to have all shared their fate ; but the ter-
sun; yet their leader thought it best to
take advantage of the opportunity rarely
afforded of meeting the Mahrattas in a '
pitched battle. Forming two lines of in- |
fantry and cavalry, Major-general Wellesley
advanced to the attack. A body of 500
foot, supposed to have been Persian mer-
cenaries, rushed upon the 74th and 78th
regiments with desperation, and were de-
stroyed to a man. Sindia's horse charged
the British sepoys, but were repulsed ; after
which the ranks of the enemy fell into con-
fusion and fled, pursued by the British
cavalry, assisted by auxiliary bodies of My-
soor and Mogul horse. The loss of the
victors, in killed, wounded, and missing,
was 346 men; that of the Mahrattas is
nowhere stated, but must have been very
considerable.
The siege of Gawilghur, invested on the
5th of December, involved no ordinary
amount of labour and fatigue, in conse-
quence of the difficulty of carrying the guns
and stores to the point of attack. The
outer fort was taken by storm on the 15th;
the inner fort was escaladed by the light
company of the 94th, headed by Captain
Campbell, who opened the gates and ad-
mitted the rest of the assailants.*
The confederate chieftains had by this
time become extremely solicitous for the
termination of war. The rajah of Berar
dispatched vakeels or envoys to the
British camp the day after the battle of
Argaum ; but in consequence of the invete-
rate manoeuvring and procrastination of the
Mahrattas, even when really desirous of
concluding a treaty, affairs were not finally
arranged until the 17th of December. By
the treaty of Deogaum, then signed, the
rajah consented to surrender the province of
Cuttack, including the district of Balasore,
to the company, and to relinquish to the
Nizam certain revienues extorted from hira
on various pretences. He further pledged
himself to submit all differences which
might arise between him and the Nizam or
the peishwa to British arbitration, and pro-
mised to receive into his service no Euro-
pean or American subject of any state at
war with the English, nor even any English-
man, without the express sanction of the
governor-general.
Sindia had now no alternative but to
rible order had been imperfectly performed with steel
weapons, instead of by the usual method of fire ; and
though several died, the majority being carefully
tended, recovered of their wounds. — ( Wellesley Deqt.)
TREATY OF SURJEE ANJENGAUM WITH SINDIA— DEC, 1803. 399
make peace on such terms as the con-
querors thought fit to grant ; and on the
30th of December he signed the treaty of
Surjee Anjengaum in the British camp, by
which he ceded his rights over the country
between the Jumna and the Ganges (in-
cluding the cities of Delhi and Agra), and
to the northward of the Rajpoot principali-
ties of Jeypoor and Joudpoor ; also the forts
of Ahmedabad and Broach, with their de-
pendent districts. On the south he yielded
Ahmednuggur to the peishwa, and some
extensive distincts to the Nizam. In return,
the leading places conquered during the
war, not above named, were restored to
him. Shortly after this arrangement, Sindia
entered the general alliance of which the
British government formed the dominant
portion, and agreed to receive a subsidiary
British force, whose expenses were to be
furnished from the revenue of the territories
already ceded.
The leading objects of the war had been
fully carried out, in accordance with the
plans of the governor-general. Among the
less conspicuous but important services ren-
dered by Lake, were the formation of alli-
ances with the rajahs of Jeypoor, Joudpoor,
Boondi, and Macherry ; with the Jat rajah
of Bhurtpoor, the rana of Gohud, and
Ambajee Inglia, the unfaithful successor of
Perron in the service of Sindia.* Lord Wel-
lesley was anxious to maintain the indepen-
dence of the Rajpoot principalities against
Mahratta aggressions, both as a matter of
justice and policy. Their territories were
guaranteed to them against external ene-
mies, with immunity from tribute ; but they
were not to receive European officers into
their service without the sanction of the
British government, and were to defray the
expense of any auxiliary force required to
repel invaders from their dominions.
Wau with Holcar. — Despite so many
brilliant victories, attended with such sub-
stantial results, the British armies could not
quit the field. During the recent hostilities,
Holcar had remained in Malwa, levying
enormous contributions upon the adjoining
provinces. The success of the British arras
seems to have convinced him of his mistake
in neglecting to co-operate with cliiefs of
his own nation against a power whose
efforts were steadily directed to the sup-
• Sindia seized the Gohud province, and gave it
in chas|;e to Ambajee Injjlia, wlio went over to the
English. They kept Gwalior, and divided the rest
of the province between the rana and Inglia.
pression of the predatory warfare by which
he had reached, and could alone expect to
maintain, his present position. "When too
late he bestirred himself to negotiate with the
Rajpoots, the Bhurtpoor rajah, the Rohillas,
the Seiks, and finally with Sindia, whom he
recommended to break the humiliating treaty
he had recently formed, and renew the war.
But Sindia had suffered too severely in the
late hostilities to provoke their repetition;
and being, moreover, exasperated by the
time-serving policy of Holcar,t he commu-
nicated these overtures to Major Malcolm,
then resident in his camp. The inimical feel-
ings entertained by Holcar, had been already
manifested by the murder of three British
officers in his service, on a false charge that
one of them had corresponded with the
commander-in-chief. Still it seemed highly
improbable that he could seriously intend
flinging the gauntlet at a nation whose
military achievements had become the
theme of every tongue in India ; and the
English authorities, anxious to bring matters
to a speedy and amicable conclusion, invited
him to send commissioners to their camp, to
explain his views and desires. The Mah-
rattas are ever apt to treat conciliatory
measures as symptomatic of weakness ; and
Holcar was probably influenced by some
such consideration in framing the condi-
tions for which his vakeels were instructed
to stipulate with General Lake as the terms
of peace, and which included leave to col-
lect chout according to the custom of his
ancestors, with the cession of Etawa and
various other districts in the Doab and
Bundclcund, formerly held by his family.
Holcar had not without reason blamed
Sindia for too exclusive attention to the
rules of European discipHne, and the neglect
of the guerilla warfare which Sevajee and
Bajee Rao had waged successfully against
Aurungzebe. This was the weapon with
wliich he now menaced the English, in the
event of non-compliance with his demands.
" Although unable," he said, " to oppose
their artillery in the field, countries of
many coss should be overrun, and plundered,
and burnt; Lake should not have leisure to
breathe for a moment, and calamities would
fall on lacs of human beings in continued
war by the attacks of his army, which would
overwhelm like the waves of the sea."
■)• Ameer Khan was actually dispatched by Holcar
to co-operate with Sindia; but the news of the
battle of Assaye reached him on the march, and
ho returned as he came. — (Ameer Khan's 3Iemoua.)
400
ZALIM SING OF KOTAH, THE NESTOR OF INDIA.
Such a menace, from one of tlie most
reckless and powerful marauders by whom
the timid peasantry of Hindoostan were ever
scourged, was tantamount to a declaration of
war — a formality which, it may be remarked,
forms no part of Mahratta warfare. Yet it
was not till further indications appeared
of his intention to commence hostilities
at the first convenient moment, that the
negotiation, which Holcar desired to gain
time by protracting, was broken off, and
Lord Lake and Major-general M'^ellesley
directed to commence operations against
him both in the north and the south. The
governor-general entered on this new war
with unaifected reluctance. Once com-
menced, it could not be arrested by an
accommodation such as that entered into
with Sindia ; for a predatory power must,
he thought, be completely neutralised, in
justice to the peaceable subjects of more
civilised governments. It was important to
secure the cordial co-operation of the sub-
sidiary and allied states against the common
foe ; and this was effected by the declaration
of Lord Wellesley — that all territory con-
quered from Holcar should be divided among
the British auxiliaries without reserve.
The opening of the campaign was dis-
astrous. Major-general Wellesley could
not advance in consequence of a famine
which prevailed in the Deccan. Lake,
after storming the fort of Tlampoora (16th
May, 1804), was compelled to withdraw the
main army into cantonments for the rainy
season, leaving Colonel Monson, with five
sepoy battalions and 3,000 irregular horse,
to watch the movements of the foe. The
proceedings of this commander were most
unfortunate. Though " brave as a lion,"
he wanted decision of purpose and con-
fidence in the native troops. After making
an ill-advised entrance into the dominions
of the enemy, he became alarmed at the
reported approach of Holcar in person ; and
fearing the probable failure of supplies
before the British could join the Guzerat
force under Colonel Murray, he retreated
forthwith. A retrograde movement on the
part of British troops was proverbially more
hazardous in native warfare than the boldest
advance. Holcar eagerly followed, attacked
and defeated the irregular cavalry left in
the rear to forward intelligence of his pro-
ceedings, and summoned the main body to
surrender. This being indignantly refused,
furious and reiterated onsets were made
by him on the sepoy battalions at the
Mokundra pass, which they resisted with
steadiness and success, till, at evening,
their assailants drew off a few miles.
Monson, not considering his position ten-
able, continued the retreat ; the native
troops behaved admirably, and, though
harassed by the enemy, and exposed to
heavy rains, reached Kotah in two marches.
Kotah was a Ilajpoot principality, ori-
ginally formed of lands separated from
Boondi. It remained for above a century
and a-half of secondary importance, until it
fell beneath the sway of Zalim Sing, a Raj-
poot of the Jhala tribe, who governed under
the name of regent — it would appear, with
the full consent of the rightful prince or
rana, Oraeida Sing. Zalim Sing played
a difficult part with extraordinary ability,
and by dint of consummate art, perfect
self-control, and unfailing energy, so steered
the vessel of state, that while every other
Rajpoot principality tottered under the
effects of the furious attacks or undermin-
ing intrigues of the encroaching Mahrattas,
Boondi, though ever first to bend to the
storm, raised her head as soon as it had
passed over, as if strengthened by the trial.
Excessive humility and moderation formed
the disgirise beneath which the regent at-
tained the position of a general arbitrator
in the never-ceasing disputes of neighbour-
ing governments, which he fostered under
pretence of mediation. His deep duplicity
did not preserve him from incurring strong
personal hostility ; and Tod, after narrating
no less than eighteen attempts at his assas-
sination, represents him as sleeping in an
iron cage for security. At the time at
which we have now arrived, " the Mestor
of India" was about sixty-five years of age.
His position was one of peculiar difficulty.
To keep peace with Holcar he had paid
dearly, both in money and character, having
stooped to form an intimate alliance with
Ameer Khan as a means of averting the
scourge of indiscriminate plunder from the
fertile fields of Boondi, great part of which
were cultivated for his exclusive benefit ; yet
Colonel Monson, on his arrival with the
weary and half-famished troops, demanded
from the regent nothing less than their ad-
mission into the city, which could not be
granted without cre.iting great confusion
and insuring the deadly vengeance of the
Mahrattas. To the English, Zalim Sing was
yet more unwilling to give offence. Their
paramount authority was being daily aug-
mented and consolidated; nor could he
SIEGE OF BHURTPOOR.— DEFENCE OF DELHI.
401
doubt that Kotah, like other native princi-
palities, -vrould eventually do well to find in
a dependent alliance on the dominant power,
an alternative from complete extinction.*
Even now, he was ready to make common
cause with the retreating and dispirited
troops, or to do anything for their succour,
to the extent of his ability, outside the
walls of Kotah ; but the pertinacity of
Monson in demanding admittance was un-
availing, and the detachment marched on
to Rampoora, through an inundated country
barely traversable for the troops, and im-
practicable for cannon and stores, which
were consequently destroyed and aban-
doned. A reinforcement sent with supplies
by General Lake, gave temporary relief to
the harassed soldiers, but could not remedy
the incapacity of their commander; and
after many more struggles and reverses,t
attended with a complete loss of baggage
on the road to Agra, the confusion of one
very dark night brought matters to a
climax ; the troops fairly broke and fled
in separate parties to the city, where the
majority of the fugitives who escaped the
pursuing cavalry, found an asylum on the
31st of July, 1804-.
These proceedings increased the rabble
force of Holcar tenfold. Adventurers and
plunderers of all descriptions (including
the wreck of the armies of Sindia and the
Bhonslay) flocked to his standard ; and after
making the regent of Kotah pay a fine of
ten lacs for his partial assistance of the
English, J the Mahratta chief invaded their
territories, at the head of an immense army,§
in the character of a conqueror. At his
approach the British troops abandoned
Muttra with its stores; but the fort was
reoccupied by a detachment sent by Gen-
eral Lake, who had marched hastily from
Cawnpore, in hopes of bringing the enemy
to action. He was, however, completely
outwitted by Holcar, who occupied the
attention of the British general by ma-
noeuvring his cavalry ; while his infantry, by
• When Colonel Tod was employed in forming
an alliance between the supreme government and the
Kotah principality, he took an opportunity of assuring
Zalim Sing that the English desired no more terri-
tory. The old politician smiled, as he answered — "I
believe you think so ; but the time will come when
there will be but one sicca (stamp of sovereignty on
coin) throughout India. You stepped in at a lucky
time ; the p'foot (a sort of melon, which bursts
asunder when fully matured) was ripe, and you had
only tfvtake it bit by bit. It was not your power so
much as our flisunion that made you sovereigns, and
will keep you so." — {Rajast'han, i., 766.)
a rapid movement, succeeded in investing
Delhi. The city, ten miles in circum-
ference, had but a ruined wall, with scarcely
more than 800 sepoys, for its defence; never-
theless, these troops, headed by Lieutenant-
colonels Ochterlony and Burn, after nine
days' operations, compelled a force of 20,000
men to raise the siege. (| Holcar, with his
cavalry, withdrew to the Doab, whither he
was followed by Lake, who, after a long pur-
suit, by marching fifty-three miles in twenty-
four hours, eventually came up with the
enemy on the 17tli of November, under
the walls of Furruckabad. The Indian
horse never could stand a charge in the
field ; their leader knew this, and was him-
self the first to fly, followed by his panic-
struck adherents, of whom 3,000 were cut
to pieces by the victors, and the rest escaped
only by the superior swiftness of their horses.
The Mahratta chief made his way to Deeg, a
strong fort belonging to Runjeet Sing of
Bhurtpoor, a Jat leader, who, after the defeat
of the detachment under Monson, had quitted
the English, and joined the opposite interest.
The determined proceedings of Lake
induced the confederate chiefs to evacuate
Deeg and retreat to Bhurtpoor, a city not
very formidable in appearance, of six to
eight miles in circumference, defended by a
high mud wall, and a broad ditch not
easily fordable. But the rajah was skilful
and desperate. Holcar had little to boast of;
for while himself heading a defeated army
in the field, his strongholds, in various
quarters, had been reduced by the English ;
and a detachment of troops from Guzerat
had occupied Indore, and were preparing to
intercept his retreat. Still he was a ma-
rauder by profession, whose kingdom was in
his saddle; whereas the Jat rajah truly
declared he had no home but in his castle —
every hope was bound up in its battlements.
The defence was most determined ; and
even when a practicable breach had been
effected, attempts to take the place by
storm were neutralised by the ready inven-
+ When the younger European officers were heart-
sick, and well-nigh sinking with fatigue, the sepoys
were frequently heard bidding them be of good cheer ;
for they would carry them safely to Agra. — (Duff.)
% Zalim Sing and Holcar (both one-eyed men) met
in boats on the Chumbul, each fearing treachery.
§ According to Malcolm, Holcar's army comnrised
92,000 men (66,000 cavalry, 7,000 artillery, 19,000
infantry), with 190 guns. — (Central India, i., 238.)
II The sepoys were on duty day and night. To
keep up their spirits under incessant fatigue, Ochter-
lony had sweetmeats served out, and promised them
half a month's pay when the enemy was repulsed.
402 COLLEGE OF FORT WILLIAM.— INDIA-BUILT SHIPPING.
tion of the besieged. Stockades and bul-
warks rose as if by magic to blockade the
breach ; the moat was rendered unfordable
by dams ; and, during the attack, pots filled
with combustibles, and burning cotton-bales
steeped in oil, were flung upon the heads of
the assailants. The British were four times
repulsed, with a total loss of 3,203 men in
killed and wounded; nor did even their
highly-prized military reputation escape un-
impaired. On one occasion, the famous
76th, in conjunction with the 75th, refused
to follow their officers after the 12th Bengal
sepoys had planted the colours ou the top
of the rampart. The bitter reproaches of
their general recalled them to a sense of
duty, and, overpowered with shame, they
entreated to be led to a last attack, in which
they displayed much desperate but unavail-
ing courage. The operations of the siege
were for a time intermitted to procure
further reinforcements. The rajah, con-
vinced that his destruction, however tempo-
rarily retarded, was but a question of time,
offered twenty lacs of rupees, with other
concessions, as the price of peace, and the
proposal was accepted, although at the risk
of leaving on the minds of the natives a
dangerous example of successful resistance.
The advanced state of the season, the fear
of the hot winds, together with the me-
nacing attitude of Sindia, then under the
influence of his father-in-law, the notoi'ious
Shirjee Rao Ghatgay, were sufficient rea-
sons for refraining from engaging the flower
of the British army, at a critical period, in
a contest with a desperate man, who, if
mildly treated, might be neutralised at
once. The son of the rajah of Bhurtpoor
was therefore taken as a hostage for the
fidelity of his father, and the restoration of
the fortress of Deeg held forth as its reward.
The force of Holcar had been reduced by
desertion, more than by actual loss, to less
than a fourth of its number at the opening of
the campaign. The separate treaty entered
into by the rajah of Bhurtpoor left him no
hope but in the co-operation of Sindia, who
affected to be desirous of mediating with
the British government on his behalf. The
power of both chiefs was, however, broken,
and few obstacles remained towards a
general pacification, on terms very advan-
tageous to the English ; when their whole
policy was abruptly changed by the passing
of the office of governor-general from the
hands of the Marquis Wellcsley into those
of Lord Cornwallis, in 1805.
As early as January, 1802, Lord Welles-
ley had signified to the Court of Directors
his desire of quitting India. The motives
for the proffered resignation were various.
Tiiey included several acts, on the part of
the directory, which the marquis deemed
derogatory to the reputation of himself and
his brothers, as well as to that of his
stanch coadjutor, Lord Clive, the governor
of Madras; but the chief ground of com-
plaint was the disfavour shown to his
favourite scheme of founding a college at
Calcutta, for the express instruction of
young civilians in the description of know-
ledge absolutely requisite for the fulfilment
of their allotted duties. The glaring igno-
rance of native languages evinced by Euro-
pean rulers, had long been a manifest hin-
drance to the good government of the people
of India, as well as a bar to the kindly in-
tercourse which might otherwise have sub-
sisted. It was this primary defect which
the marquis hoped to rectify, and at the
same time to infuse into the youths of the
service something of the esprit de corps,
which he remembered with such vivid plea-
sure to have existed at Eton. The College
of Fort William was his favourite project.
The company did not deny the want of
systematic instruction, which was daily
more painfully felt; but they could not be
brought to consent to the expenditure which
Lord Wellcsley deemed absolutely needful
to fulfil the double object of educating
Europeans and afibrding encouragement to
native talcHt. The Board of Control sup-
ported the views of Lord Wellcsley; but
the project was, after all, but very imper-
fectly carried out, so far as the Indian popu-
lation was concerned : for the instruction
of civilians destined to serve the E. I. Cy.,
a college (Haileybury) was founded in Eng-
land a few years later. Another cause
which rendered the governor-general un-
popular with his emjiloycrs, was his delibe-
rate and avowed opinion in favour of the
extension of trade with England to India-
built shipping, instead of confining it solely
to the chartered vessels of the E. I. Cy.
Despite the obvious policy, as well as jus-
tice, of this measure, as the only means of
preventing Indian commerce from finding its
way to Europe by more objectionable chan-
nels, "the shipping interest," then greatly
predominant in the counsels of the com-
pany, violently opposed any alteration which
should trench on their monopoly, and (-on-
trived, in many ways, to render Lord Wei-
CLOSE OF THE WELLESLEY ADMINISTRATION— 1805.
403
lesley sensible of their unfriendly feelings.
Nevertheless, his proffered resignation was
deprecated by an entreaty to remain at least
another year, to settle the newly-acquired
territories, and concert with the home
authorities the foundation of an efficient
system for the liquidation of the Indian
debt. The renewal of war with the Mah-
rattas, despite the brilliant success with
which it was attended, could not but involve
an increase of immediate expenditure, though
compensated by a more than proportionate
augmentation of territory. But tlie invest-
ments were impeded; and a failure in the an-
nual supplies was ill borne by the company,
however advantageous the promise of ulte-
rior advantages; consequently, a clamour
arose against the marquis as a war-governor,
which decided his recall at the time when
all material obstacles were removed, and his
whole energies directed towards the attain-
ment of a solid and durable peace. He
had been sent out for the express purpose
of eradicating French influence, an object
which he had completely accomplished,
though, of necessity, at the cost of much
war and more diplomacy.*
The Wellesley administration — from 1798
to 1805 — formed a new era in the annals
of the E. I. Cy. Principles of honour and
public spirit were engrafted which bore
much fruit in after days ; and many a friend-
less cadet of the civil and military service
found in rapid promotion the direct reward
of talent and integrity. Nay, more ; there
are honoured veterans still with us, who,
after the lapse of half a century, delight to
attribute their success to the generous en-
couragement or kindly warnings of the
good and gifted Marquis Wellesley. f
Perfect toleration was his leading rule;
nevertheless, he did not hesitate to interfere
for the suppression of such heathen customs
as were manifestly incompatible with the
spirit of a Christian government; such as
the frightful amount of infanticide annually
* Into his minor measures, especially the restric-
tions placed on the liberty of the press; it is not
practicable to enter : the motives for some of them
were purely political — to check the conveyance of
dangerous information, or lying rumours to foreign
states ; while the edict forbidding the publication
of newspapers on Sundays, had the double object
of reverence for the sabbath and a desire to show
the nations, that not only the missionaries, but the
Europeans in general had a religion — a fact which
might well have been doubted.
t The rising talent of the civil service was called
out in a peculiar manner by Lord Wellesley. The
youths of the three presidencies, who had dislin-
coramitted at the mouth of the Ganges.
Neither was he withheld, by timid or sec-
tarian views, from affording liberal encou-
ragement to the able and zealous men
(Buchanan and Carey, for instance) who
had devoted themselves to the office of
Christian missionaries. To all around him
engaged in the cause of religion or good
government, he extended cordial sympathy
as fellow-workers; and if a shadow of blame
can be cast on his ever-discriminating
praise, it would be that of having been
sometimes too liberally bestowed. But the
full measure of love and confidence he gave
so freely, was returned into his own bosom.
Military and civil officials, of all ranks and
classes — from the Earl of Elgin, at Con-
stantinople, and Lord Clive, at Madras, to
the humblest clerk — vied in affording the
fullest and most correct information for the
use of the governor-general ; and the mer-
chants and bankers seconded his measures
in the most effective manner by furnishing
government loans on the lowest possible
terms. At the close of the administration
of Sir John Shore, it had been difficult to
raise money on usurious interest ; but the
Marquis Wellesley, on the eve of a hazardous
war, found men who could appreciate the
policy of his measures, and make them prac-
ticable, even at considerable pecuniary risk.f
The general feeling in India was, unhap-
pily, not appreciated or shared in England.
The marquis returned, after an arduous and
brilliantly successful administration, to find
the uncertain tide of popular feeling turned
against him. The British public were well
acquainted with the aggressive and grasp-
ing policy of Hastings, and the manner in
which he had made the weakness or wicked-
ness of native ))rince3 conduce to the ag-
grandisement of his employers or his own
personal interest. It was a very natural
conclusion to be arrived at by persons ig-
norant of the general disorganisation of
India, that a governor who had added hun-
guished themselves in their examinations at the
college of Fort Willimn, were placed in the secre-
tary's office of the governor-general, and educated
under his immediate care for the respective depart-
ments, for the duties of which they were best fitted.
Of those thus brought forward, three (Metcalfe,
Adams, and I'utterworth Bayley) became acting
governors-general; and the majority attained high
positions in India and in England.
if Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Forbes, the head of
the well-known firm at Bombay, was the chief of those
who, by taking up government paper at par, as well
as fianishing supplies, restored the confidence of the
wralthy natives in the stability of the E. I. Cy.
404 CHARACTER AND POLICY OF THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY.
dreds of miles and thousands of subjects
to an empire, which Hastings had been
stigmatised as an usurper and oppressor for
increasing by units and tens, must have
been guilty of the same sins in an aggra-
vated degree. Besides, the augmentation of
territory and population had been effected
in the teeth of a parliamentary prohibition
of the most decided character. The oldest
and ablest Indian politicians vainly strove to
show the utter impracticability of neutrality,
and argued that England, now the dominant
power, could not relinquish her high posi-
tion in measure, but must, of necessity,
abandon territorial sovereignty and com-
mercial advantage in almost equal degree.
The company were smarting beneath the
expenses of a war, which a little patience
would have brought to the most satisfactory
conclusion, by the prostration of the pre-
datory power, which was equally opposed
to all regular governments, foreign or native.
But no ! an immediate compromise was the
order of the day; the withdrawal of the
plundering Mahrattas from the company's
territories was a relief to be obtained upon
any terms, even by a direct violation of the
pledge voluntarily given to the Rajpoot states
to maintain their independence against their
marauding foes. M'^hat matter if all Rajast'-
han were overrun by these eastern Goths.
The company's investments would go on
meanwhile; and when Sindia and Holcar
had quite exhausted all outside the magic
circle, it would be time enough to devise
some other sop wherewith to engage them.
This selfish policy, disguised by the few who
understood the real state of the case by
much abstract reasoning regarding the ad-
mitted justice of non-interference in general,
deceived many good men and raised a
strong, though short-lived clamour, against
the champion of the opposite system. Tlie
feeling of certain leaders in the directory,
joined with party politics of a very discre-
ditable description in the ministry, found a
channel in the person of a ci-devant trader
named Paull, who, having accumulated a
large fortune in India, came to England
and entered parliament in the character of
impeacher of the Marquis Wellesley, to
whom, by his own account, he owed heavy
obligations, and entertained, in common
with the generality of Anglo-Indians,
"the highest respect." The leading accu-
sations were aggressions on native states :
extravagance and disregard of home autho-
rities,— at peculation or venality, not even
calumny dared hint. The first charge re-
garding Oude was thrown out by the Hous3
of Commons, and the accuser died by his
own hand, prompted by vexation or remorse.
Lord Folkstone strove to carry on the im-
peachment by moving a series of condemna-
tory resolutions, which were negatived by a
majority of 182 to 31, and followed by a
general vote of approbation. Thus ended,
in May, 1808, a persecution which cost the
noble marquis £30,000, and excluded him
from office during its continuance; for,
with rare delicacy, he refused repeated soli-
citations to re-enter the service of the Crown
until the pending question sliould be satis-
factorily settled. He lived to see the gene-
ral recognition of the wisdom of his policy;
and on the publication of his Despatches in
1834-5, the E. I. Cy. made the amende
honorable, by the unusual procedure of the
erection of his statue in the E. I. House,*
a grant of j620,000, and the circulation of
his Despatches for the instruction and guid-
ance of their servants in India. He died be-
loved and honoured, aged eighty-three ; hav-
ing twice filled the office of viceroy of Ireland
— been secretary of state for foreign affairs ;
beside other distinguished positions. This
is not the place to tell of the efficient man-
ner in which the illustrious brothers worked
together for the defeat of the national foe.
Napoleon: here we have to do with the
marquis as an Indian governor ; in that
character let the pea of the historian of
the E. I. Cy. speak his merits. " The
Marquis Wellesley was ambitious; but his
ambition sought gratification not in mere
personal aggrandisement, but in connecting
liis own fame with that of the land to which
he belonged, and of the government which
he administered, — in the diffusion of sound
and liberal knowledge, and the extension of
the means of happiness among millions of
men who knew not his person, and some
of them scarcely liis name. That name is,
however, stamped for ever on their history.
The British government in India may pass
away — its duration, as far as human means are
concerned, will depend on the degree in which
the policy of the Marquis Wellesley is main-
tained or abandoned — but whatever its fate,
or the length of its existence, the name and
memory of the greatest statesman by whom
it was ever administered are imperishable."t
* Lord AVellesley remarked, that to witness this
compliment (rarely paid until after death), was " like
having a peep at one's own funeral."
t Thornton's India, iii., 575.
SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF MARQUIS CORNWALLIS— 1805. 405
Second Administration of Lord Corn-
WALLis. — The new governor arrived at Fort
William in July, 1805, and immediately
assumed the reins of office. The interval of
thirteen years between his resignation and
resumption of authority in India, had told
heavily on his strength of mind as well as of
body, and the once indefatigable com-
mander-in-chief returned to the scene of his
former successes a worn and weary man,
fast sinking to the grave under the inflic-
tion of chronic dysentery. Yet the English
authorities, in accordance with popular
opinion, declared him to be the only man
fit to curb and limit the too extensive domi-
nion obtained by the late administration in
conjunction with the gallant Lake, whose
services, though their effects were denounced,
had been acknowledged by a peerage.
Lord Cornwallis had given proof of mode-
ration by suffering Tippoo to purchase peace
with a third of his revenues, and had rather
relaxed than straitened the connexion of the
E. I. Cy. with various native states. Despite
the unsatisfactory results of his arrange-
ments, and still more so of those formed by
Sir John Shore, the Directory and Board of
Control agreed in reverting to the non-
intervention system, and urged the arduous
office of effecting an immediate and total
change of policy upon the ex-governor-
general with so much vehemence, that he,
from self-denying but mistaken views of
duty, would not suffer failing health to
excuse the non-fulfilment of what, with
strange infatuation, was pressed on him as a
jjublic duty. It is not easy to understand
the process of reasoning by which Lord
Cornwallis was led to adopt such extreme
opinions regarding the measures to be
taken towards Sindia and Holcar. He had
warmly approved the arrangements of the
Marquis Wellesley regarding the occupation
of Seringapatam and the complete suppres-
sion of the usurping dynasty ; yet, now the
arrogant and aggressive Sindia, and the
predatory Holcar were to be conciliated,
not simply by the surrender of a succession
of dearly-purchased conquests, but by the
renunciation of alliance with the Rajpoot
and other states, who had taken part with
the British forces against the marauding
Mahrattas in the late crisis.
Sindia had suffered, if not caused, the
English residency attached to his camp to
be attacked and plundered by a body of
Pindarries, and had himself detained Mr.
Jenkins ; yet no reparation was to be de-
3 G
manded for this outrage : and the governor-
general, in his impatient desire to conclude
a peace, would even have waived insisting
upon the release of the resident ; but from
this last degrading concession the English
were happily saved by the intervention of
Lord Lake. Nothing could exceed the in-
dignation of the brave and honest general
on learning the nature of the proposed
treaty, which he felt to be based on the
unworthy principle of conciliating the
strong at the expense of the weak. The
territories conquered from Holcar had been
distinctly promised to be divided among the
allies of England; instead of which, they
were all to be restored to the defeated chief;
and the breach of faith thus committed
towards the only power able to resent it,
was to be repaired at the expense of the
powerless rana of Gohud, who had made
over Gwalior to the English on being
enrolled among the list of subsidiary princes.
He was now to be reduced to the condition
of a mere stipendiary, dependent on his
hereditary foe for subsistence; for all Gohud,
including Gwalior, was to be given to propi-
tiate the favour of Sindia — " an act," writes
the governor-general, " entirely gratuitous
on our part." Equally so was the renuncia-
tion of our connexion with the numerous
rajahs, zemindars, jaghiredars, and other
chiefs on the further side of the Jumna, for
whose protection the British faith had been
solemnly pledged. Lord Lake, who had been
mainly instrumental in forming the majority
of these alliances, and had, in his capacity
of commander-in-chief, received material
assistance from several of the parties con-
cerned, addressed an earnest remonstrance
to the governor-general against the proposed
repudiation, declaring that the weaker allied
princes never could be induced by any argu-
ment or temporary advantage to renounce
the promised support of the E. I. Cy., and
that the bare proposition would be viewed
" as a prelude to their being sacrificed to the
object of obtaining a peace with the Mah-
rattas." This communication bore date the
day following that on which Lord Corn-
wallis expired. For some time before his
death, he passed the morning hours in a
state of weakness amounting to insensibility ;
but the evening usually brought him suffi-
cient strength to hear despatches read, and
even to dictate replies. Had the energetic
appeal and arguments of Lake been sent a few
days earlier, they might perhaps have been
instrumental in delaying and modifying the
406 DEATH OF THE MARQUIS CORNWALLIS— OCTOBER, 1805.
■ungenerous and selfish measures which cost ]
England so dearly in character and blood
and treasure, by strengthening the predatory
power it was alike her duty and her interest
to abase. It is hardly possible that the
man who steadily befriended the rajah of
Coorg, even at the hazard of renewing a
perilous war with Tippoo, could seriously
intend to abandon the Rajpoot and other
princes to the shameless marauders against
whom they had recently co-operated with
the English, unless prejudice and ignorance,
aided by mental debility, had blinded him
to the plain facts of the case. But whatever
effect the honest exposition of Lake was cal-
culated to produce on the mind of Lord
Cornwallis, can be only surmised from his
habitual conscientiousness. He had been ex-
tremely desirous of personally superintend-
ing the progress of the negotiations, and
hoped by short and easy stages to reach head-
quarters ; but at Ghazipoor near Benares, an
accession of weakness stopped his journey,
and after lingering some time in the state
previously described, he died there October
5th, 1805, aged sixty-six years.
No provision had been made by the home
government to meet this highly probable
event.* Sir George Barlow, the senior
member of council, on whom the chief au-
thority temporarily devolved, had been asso-
ciated with Lord Wellesley throughout his
whole administration, and cordially seconded
his lordship's views regarding subsidiary
alliances. During the last illness of Lord
Cornwallis, while hourly expecting his own
accession to power. Sir George had expressed
in writing " his confident hope tliat an
accommodation would be eSected with
Sindia and with Holcar, on terms not differ-
ing essentially from those to which he was
aware that Lord Wellesley was prepared to
accede." Most certainly his lordship would
never have consented to an accommodation
which involved a direct breach of faith with
numerous weak states. Sir George must
have known this ; but his conduct was in
perfect accordance with the principle which
enabled a certain well-known individual "to
• Lord Grenville publicly stated, that it had been
generally supposed in London that Lord Cornwallis
would not bear the voyage; and, in any case, could
not long survive his arrival in India. — (Thornton.)
t One of the few concessions demanded from
Sindia was the exclusion from office of his father-in-
law; but even this was eventually renounced, and
Shirzee Kao became again paramount. Happily his
audacity at length grew offensive to Sindia, and an
altercation took place which enabled the attendants.
live and die vicar of Bray." The result was,
however, less satisfactory ; for though the
E. I. directors were inclined to reward
implicit obedience to their mandates with
the highest position in their gift, the min-
isters of the crown were not equally com-
pliant; and although they also were de-
sirous of purchasing peace on any terms,
the recent appointment was neutralised, and
a rule laid down that thenceforth no servant
of the company should fill the office of
governor-general. Sir George was placed
in charge of Madras; but before his removal
from Calcutta he had contrived to neutralise,
as far as possible, the effects of the measures
which he had assisted in enacting ; his
avowed expectation being that the native
states, when left to themselves, would forth-
with engage in a series of conflicts which
would, for the present at least, keep them
fully employed, and prevent the renewal of
hostilities with the English. Sindiaf and
Holcar received the proff'ered concessions
with unmixed astonishment at the timidity
or vacillation of their lately dreaded foe.
The Rajpoot and other princes indignantly
remonstrated against the renunciation of an
alliance pressed upon them by the British
government in her hour of need. The
rajah of Jeypoor, who had especially pro-
voked the vengeance of the Mahrattas, felt
deeply aggrieved by the faithlessness with
which he was treated, and his bitter re-
proaches were conveyed to Lord Lake
through the mouth of a Rajpoot agent at
Delhi. Disgusted at beinnj made the instru-
ment of measures which he denounced, and
at the almostj total disregard manifested
towards his representations. Lord Lake re-
signed his diplomatic powers in January,
1806, and after about twelve months spent in
completing various necessary arrangements
regarding the forces, and settling, agree-
ably to the instructions of the government,
the claims of various native chiefs, he
quitted India, leaving behind him a name
that will be honoured and beloved so long
as the Indian army shall subsist. § He died
in England, 21st Ecbruary, 1808, aged 64.
under pretence of securing the person, to take the
life of a miscreant whose memory is still execrated
in Poona for the cruel oppression practised there.
J Lord Lake was so far successful, that his repre-
sentations against the immediate danger, as well as
faithlessness, of dissolving the alliance with the rajahs
of Macherri and Bhurtpoor, induced Sir George to
delay the execution of a determination which he
nevertheless declared to be unchanged.
§ Major-general WeUesley, after receiving s
MUTINY OF TROOPS AT VELLORE— JULY, 1806.
407
Little difference of opinion now exists
regarding the accommodation effected with
the Mahrattas. The non-intervention policy
i j was soon abandoned; but its results justify
■ ' the declaration of Grant Duff, that the
measures of Sir George Barlow were no less
short-sighted and contracted than selfish
and indiscriminating. His provisional ad-
ministration terminated in July, 1807,* its
concluding event being an alarming mutiny
among the native troops in the Carnatic.
The immediate cause was the enforcement
of certain frivolous changes of dress, together
with other orders trivial in character, but
involving a needless interference with the
manners and customs of the soldiery, which
had been introduced without the knowledge
of Lord "William Bentinck, the successor of
Lord Clive in the government of Madras.
"The new regulations required the sepoys
to appear on parade with their chins clean
shaved, and the hair on the upper lip cut
after the same pattern, and never to wear
the distinguishing mark of caste, or their
earrings when in uniform. A turban of
a new pattern was also ordered for the
sepoys."t
These ill-advised changes might possibly
have been accomplished without occasioning
any serious disturbance, had a cordial under-
standing subsisted between the British and
the native officers. But this was not the
case ; and the consequence of the alienation
existing between them was, that the sons of
Tippoo Sultan, then resident at Vellore,
took advantage of the princely income and
unusual degree of liberty allowed them as
state prisoners, to assemble a large band of
adherents, who made it their business to
inspire the soldiery with aversion to their
foreign masters, on the ground that the
newly-devised turban, and its concomitants,
though ostensibly ordered for the sake of
convenience and unanimity, were really the
tokens and forerunners of a forcible conver-
sion to Christianity. The assertion was an
utter absurdity. The Hindoos themselves,
whose creed makes no provision for con-
knighthood of the Order of the Bath, quitted India
in 1803, ill-pleased -with the manner in which the
services of his brother and himself were received.
• Mill's History of British India terminates with
the peace with the Mahrattas. In an able, but pre-
judiced, and without the comments of Prof. Wilson,
misleading summary of the commercial results of
the Wellesley administration, the revenues are shown
to have been raised from £8,059,880, in 1805'-6, to
£15,403,409; but the war expenditure, with the in-
terest on the increased debt, which had been tripled,.
verts, were scarcely more devoid of prose-
lytising zeal than the English had shown
themselves, despite the opposite tendency of
a religion which directs its professors " to
preach the gospel to all nations." The
military officers had, as a body (for there
were exceptions), no need to defend them-
selves against any imputation of over-anxiety
to manifest the excellencies of their faith in
their lives and conversation, or by any en-
couragement of missionary labours. Of
Christianity the natives in the vicinity of
Vellore knew nothing, and were conse-
quently ready to believe just anything, ex-
cept that its divine Founder had enjoined
on all his disciples a code so fraught with
humility, chastity, and brotherly kindness,
that if observed it must infallibly render
Christians a blessing to every state, whether
as rulers or as subjects.
Rumours of the growing disaffection were
abroad, but excited little attention in the
ears of those most concerned. Unmistak-
able symptoms of mutiny appeared, and
were forciblyj put down, until, on the 10th
of July, 1806, the European part of the
Vellore garrison were attacked by their
native colleagues, and Colonel Fancourt and
112 Europeans had perished or been mor-
tally wounded, before Colonel Gillespie, at
the head of a body of dragoons, terminated
a contest which involved the destruction
of about 350 of the mutineers, and the
imprisonment of 500 more. Lord William
Bentinck became the sacrifice of measures
adopted without his sanction, and was re-
called, together with the commander-in-
chief. Sir John Cradock. The obnoxious
orders were repealed, the allowances of
the sons of Tippoo were diminished, their
place of imprisonment changed from Vellore
to Bengal ; and, by slow degrees, the panic
wore off. The captive insurgents were gra-
dually set at liberty ; the cheerful obedience
of the men, and their customary fidelity to
those whose salt they ate, returned ; and the
British officers " ceased to sleep with pistols
under their pillows." §
caused the annual charges to exceed the receipts by
above two million. This was a temporary addition,
but the revenues of the conquered territories were a
permanent gain, viewed as so certain, that Barlow
held forth the prospect of a million sterling as the
annual surplus, to follow immediately on the restora-
tion of peace. t Auber's India, ii., 432.
X The severe coercion employed may be conjec-
tured from the fact that 900 lashes each were in-
flicted upon two grenadiers for refusing to wear the
" hat-shaped" turban. § Bentinck's Meynoriai
408 MINTO ADMINISTRATION, 1806.— CRISHNA KUMARI OF OODIPOOR.
Administration OF Lord MiNTO — 1806 to
1813. — The new governor-general (formerly
Sir Gilbert Elliot) came to India strongly
prepossessed in favour of a neutral policy, but
was speedily compelled to modify his views,
Holcar, on his return to Malwa, found
occupation in quelling the disturbances
arising from the non-payment of arrears to
his turbulent followers, who made use of
the boy, Kundee Rao, to intimidate his
uncle into the liquidation of their claims.
The object being accomplished, the child
became, as he had himself predicted, the
victim of the wrath ''of Jeswunt Rao; and
Casee Rao died suddenly soon after, having
been likewise, it was supposed, assassinated
to prevent the possibility of the rights of
any legitimate descendant of Tukajee being
brought into collision with those of Jeswunt
Rao. These and other atrocities were the fore-
runners of madness,which appeared in tempo-
rary paroxysms, with intervals of partial sanity,
employed by Jeswunt in making extensive
military preparations, especially in casting
cannon, a work which he superintended
night and day, using stimulants to supply
the place of food and rest. It soon became
necessary to confine him; and twenty to
thirty men with difficulty succeeded in bind-
ing the despot fast with ropes, like a wild
beast. His fierce struggles gradually sub-
sided into speechless fatuity, and, at the
expiration of three years, during the
greater part of which he was fed like an
infant with milk, the dreaded freebooter
died a miserable idiot in his own camp, on
the 20th of October, 1811.* Before his
insanity, Holcar had taken advantage of
the withdrawal of British protection to
ravage and pillage the states of Rajast'han,
especially Jeypoor or Amber, under the old
pretext o'f exacting arrears of chout. The
quarrels of the Rajpoot princes gave full
scope for his treacherous interference. The
hand of Crishna Kumari, the high-born
daughter of the rana of Oodipoor, was an
object of dispute between Juggut Sing of
Jeypoor, and Maun Sing of Joudpoor.
Holcar was bought off by Juggut Sing, but
this arrangement did not prevent him from
suffering his general. Ameer Khan, to hire
his services to the opposite party. The chief
commenced his task by ridding the rajah of
Joudpoor of a rebellious feudatory, named
• Holcar was of middle height, remarkably strong
and active. A small but handsome mausoleum was
Sevaee Sing, whom he deluded, by oaths and
protestations of friendship, into visiting his
camp. The intended victim entered the
spacious tent of the Patau with a body of
friends and attendants, and was received
with every demonstration of respect. Ameer
Khan invented a plausible pretext for a
short absence, and caused the cords of the
tent to be suddenly loosened ; then, taking
advantage of the confusion, he ordered a
sharp fire of musketry and grape to be
poured indiscriminately on the whole of the
crowded assembly. The massacre was com-
plete ; and not only the companions of the
betrayed Rajpoot, but those of Ameer Khan
himself, with a party of dancing-girls and
musicians, were mercilessly sacrificed. The
rana of Oodipoor was seriously alarmed by
the enmity of so unprincipled an adversary.
He vainly appealed to the British govern-
ment, as possessing the paramount authority
in India, to interfere for the protection of
their oppressed neighbour: his entreaties,
like those of Zalim Sing, were disregarded,
and the proud representative of the Surya
race (the offspring of the sun) was compelled
to fraternise with the infamous Patau ad-
venturer by the exchange of turbans, as
well as to subsidise his troops at the cost of
a fourth of the revenues of the principality.
This was in itself deep abasement, but worse
remained behind. Ameer Khan, in con-
junction with Ajeet Sing, a Rajpoot noble,
whose memory is, for his conduct on this
occasion, execrated throughout Rajast'han,
succeeded in convincing the unhappy rana,
that the death of his child was absolutely
necessary to save the principality from de-
struction at the hands of the rival suitors.
With his consent, poison was mixed with the
food of the princess ; but she ate sparingly,
and its murderous purpose was not accom-
plished. The high-spirited girl, on dis-
covering the design thus temporarily frus-
trated, bade her father attempt no more
concealment, since, if his welfare and the
safety of the state required it, she was ready
to die by her own act. Accordingly, having
bathed and dressed, as if for a nuptial feast,
she drank off the poison. The first two
draughts proved harmless, for nature re-
volted, and the noxious beverage was re-
jected ; but the third time a more insidious
preparation was administered, and Crishna
this animal with enthusiasm, as the very model of a
Mahratta charger, with small and pointed ears, full
O..U avu.c. ^ rt. nmaii uui iioimsuiiie ijmusuieiim was ivianraita cnarger, witti ^ ,
erected to his memory near Rampoora, and his favou- protruding eyes, and a mouth that could drink out
rite horse ranged in freedom around it. Tod describes of a tea-cup. —{Rajast'han, ii., 720.)
CAPTURE OF THE MAURITIUS, BOURBON, AND JAVA— 1810-'ll. 409
slept to -wake no more in this life. Her
mother died of grief; her father survived to
endure the galling reproaches of some of
his most faithful chiefs; and Oodipoor, so
far fi'om benefiting by the unnatural crime,
lost from that hour its remaining glories.*
Ameer Khan, elated by success, grew
more daring in his plans ; and, attended by
large bodies of Pindarries, undertook, in
1809, an expedition against the indolent
and eflFeminate rajah of Berar. Lord Minto
became alarmed by the probable subversion
of the principality, and, departing from the
non-intervention policy, sent a strong de-
tachment for the defence of Nagpoor, and
notified to the invader that the territories of
the rajah were under British protection. A
blustering and defiant reply was returned,
upon which Colonel Close marched into
Malwa, and occupied Seronje, the capital of
Ameer Khan, with other of his possessions.
The strict commands of the home authori-
ties, together with considerations of finance,
prevented the governor-general from fol-
lowing up these vigorous measures by the
complete overthrow of " one of the most
notorious villains India ever produced ;"t
and the immediate safety of Berar having
been secured. Ameer Khan was suffered to
escape with undiminished powers of mis-
chief. Before the close of his administra-
tion, Lord Minto had reason to repent this
mistaken lenity, Berar was again invaded,
and one quarter of the capital burnt by the
Patau and Pindarry freebooters, a party of
whom proceeded to set at nought British
authority, by an irruption into the fertile
province of Mirzapoor. The advisability of
reverting to the bold and generous policy of
the Marquis Wellesley became evident;
and Lord Minto, whose term of office had
nearly expired, urged upon the directors the
necessity of vigorous measures. Indeed,
* Malcolm's Central India, i., 340. Tod's JRajast'-
han, i., 466. Malcolm states, that the circumstances
attending the death of the princess excited loud and
bitter wailing throughout the city of Oodipoor.
An aged chief, named Sugwan Sing, having heard
of the intended sacrifice, mounted his horse and rode
with breathless haste to the palace, He found the
rana and his counsellors seated in solemn silence ;
and to his impetuous inquiry, whether Crishna
were alive or dead, Ajeet Sing, the instigator of the
tragedy, replied by an injunction to respect the
affliction of a bereaved parent. Sugwan Sing un-
buckled his sword and shield, and laid them at the
feet of the rana, saying, " my ancestors have served
yours for more than thirty generations, but these
arms can never more be used on your behalf j" then
turning to Ajeet Sing, he reproached him with hav-
ing brought ignominy on the Kajpoot name, add-
the leading acts of Lord Minto himself were
neither of a strictly defensive nor neutral
character. Sir George Barlow's with-
drawal of protection from the petty chiefs
south of the Sutlej, had tempted a neigh-
bouring potentate, with whom the company
had heretofore no connexion, to extend his
conquests in that direction. The Jeader in
question was the famous Runjeet Sing,
rajah of Lahore, a Seik chief of Jat descent.
To prevent further aggression, the minor Seik
powers menaced by him were declared under
British supremacy, and a strong force as-
sembled for their defence. Runjeet Sing,
unwilling to provoke a contest, concluded a
treaty with the company, by which he con-
sented never to maintain a larger body of
troops on the left bank of the Sutlej than
was needful to support his authority already
established in that quarter. As a further
guarantee for his good faith, a detachment,
under Sir David Ochterlony,J took up a
permanent station at Loodiana, on the east-
ern side of the river.
The multiplied aggressions of France on
the vessels of the E. I. Cy., and the fear of
attempts to regain a territorial position in
India, induced the dispatch of embassies to
Persia§ and Cabool, for the sake of forming a
more intimate alliance with those kingdoms.
The Mauritius, Bourbon, and the Moluccas
were captured by the British in 1810; and
Java, with its dependencies, was conquered
by Lord Minto, in person, y in 1811. Of
these valuable acquisitions, Bourbon, the
beautiful island of Java, and the Moluccas,
were relinquished at the general pacifica-
tion in 1815.
Some few remaining incidents of im-
portance, which occurred in the time of
Lord Minto, remain to be chronicled. The
first of these is the death of the aged em-
peror Shah Alum, in 1806, aged eighty-
ing, as he quitted the assembly, " May the curse
of a father light upon you — may you die childless."
The malediction excited considerable attention, and
the successive deaths of all the children of the
guilty noble, were viewed as its fulfilment.
t tod's Rajas€han,\., 468.
X Sir David Ochterlony and Runjeet Sing, like
Holcar and Zalim Sing, were both one-eyed men.
§ Sir John Malcolm was sent to Persia by E. I. Cy. ;
Sir Harford Jones and Sir G. Ouseley, by the Crown.
II Lord Minto had been compelled to visit Madras
in 1809, in consequence of the strong dissatisfaction
which prevailed among the European officers, arising
from reduced allowances; but greatly aggravated by
the dogged and tyrannical proceedings of the gov-
ernor. Sir George Barlow. By a judicious blending
of firmness and conciliation. Lord Minto succeeded
in allaying an alarming tumult.
410
MOIRA, OR HASTINGS' ADMINISTRATION— 1813
three. He was succeeded in his titular
authority by his eldest son, Akber Shah,
who made some feeble attempts at the ac-
quisition of real power, but soon renounced
the futile endeavour. The exertions of the
Travancore authorities in 1809, to throw
off the yoke of the E. I. Cy., involved some
destructian of life, but terminated in the
principality becoming completely dependent
on Fort St. George. The tribute exacted
from. Cochin was also largely increased.
The last feature was an impending rup-
ture with the Goorkas, a tribe who had
come into notice about the middle of the
eighteenth century, and had gradually as-
sumed a dominant influence over the whole
of the extensive valley of Nepaul'. During
the second administration of Lord Corn-
wallis, they had completed the attainment
of territory (les? by violence than by fraud
and corruption) which presented, on the
side of the English, a frontier of 700 miles.
Disputes had arisen between the Goorkas
and certain chiefs, who, through the ces-
. sions made by the vizier of Oude, or other
arrangements, had become British feudato-
ries. The so-called pacific policy of Lord
Wellesley's successors had emboldened ag-
gression in all quarters ; and the seizure of
Bhootwal (a border district of the ancient
viceroyalty of Oude) was followed by re-
newed invasion; until, in 1813, a new turn
was given to affairs by the demand of the
English authorities for the immediate sur-
render of the usurped territories. Before
an answer could arrive from the court of
Nepaul, the reins of government passed from
the hands of Lord Minto, who returned to
England, where he died (June, 1814), aged
sixty-five. He was an able and energetic
man ; and the removal of his prejudices paved
the way for a similar change of feeling on
the part of his countrymen.*
MoiRA, OK Hastings' Administration,
1813 to 1833. — Lord Moira reached Calcutta
in October, and, in the following month,
received the tardy reply of the Goorkalese
sovereign to the demand of Lord Minto for
the evacuation of Bhootwal and Sheoraj.
It was complimentary in manner, but un-
compromising in substance. There were
many reasons for avoiding immediate hos-
tilities in this quarter, and attempts were
made to settle the question by amica-
* In 1813, an attempt to impose a house-tax occa-
sioned great excitement in the holy city of Benares :
the people practised a singularly combined, and even-
tually successful system, of passive resistance.
ble negotiation ; but the persistance of the
commissioners from Nepaul in reviving
points previously settled, being at length
silenced by a positive refusal to enter on
such discussions, the British agent was
warned to quit the frontier ; and the envoys
were recalled to Katmandoo, the capital of
Nepaul. Lord Moira was too anxious to
avert a frontier war, to give place to hasty
resentment; and he addressed aremonstrance
to the Nepaulese government regarding the
insulting manner in which the late negotia-
tion had been broken off. No answer being
returned to this communication, a detach-
ment was sent from Goruckpoor to occupy
the disputed lands, an object which was
effected without opposition. The British
troops placed the direction of affairs in the
hands of native officials, and withdrew, con-
gratulating themselves on the easy fulfilment
of an unpromising task.
The position of the northern mountaineers
was but very imperfectly understood by the
Calcutta functionaries, who now wielded the
sceptre of the Mogul. During the palmy
days of the empire, while the reins of gov-
ernment were held by too firm a hand for
servants to appropriate to themselves the dele-
gated sway of the sovereign, the plains at the
foot of the mountains, between the river
Teesta on the east and the Sutlej on the west,
had been possessed by numerous petty Hin-
doo rajahs, who became tributary to the em-
peror, and received, in return, protection from
the aggressions of the lawless hill-chiefs,
roost of whom maintained their indepen-
dence, though some were content to own a
sort of vassalage to the empire, in return for
the possession of a portion of the magnifi-
cent forest of Sdl trees, and of the rich
plain called the Turaee, lying between them
and Hindoostan. The old highland rajahs,
whose families had warred with their low-
land countrymen from time immemorial,
held their own during the continuance and
after the decline of Mohammedan power,
until one of themselves, an aspiring chief,
named Prithi Narayan Sah,t rajah of the
small state of Goorka, to the north-west of
Nepaul, incited by the early victories of the
English in Bengal, armed and disciplined a
body of troops after the European fashion,
and proceeded to absorb the surrounding
states, in a manner described as closely
+ According to Col. Kirkpatrick, the Goorka
dynasty claim descent from the ranas of Oodipoor.
Hamilton states, they belong to the Magar tribe,
which has but very partially yielded to Brahminism.
WAR WITH THE GOORKAS OR NEPAULESE— 1814,
411
resembling that which had rendered the na-
tion he imitated masters of India. The na-
bob of Moorshedabad, Meer Cossim Ali, at-
tempted to interfere on behalf of some of
the weaker chiefs in 1762-'3, but sustained
a signal defeat ; and an expedition, sent by
the Bengal government, in 1767, to succour
the rajah of Nepaul, proved equally unsuc-
cessful. Prithi Narayan died in 1771, but
his successors carried on the same scheme
of conquest, crossed the Gogra river, seized
Kumaon, and even strove to gain posses-
sion of the rich valley of Cashmere. The
lowland rajahs, when transferred by the ces-
sion of the vizier of Oude from Mussulman
to British rule, were suffered to retain un-
disturbed possession of their territories on
payment of a fixed land-tax. The Goork-
alese, on the contrary, as each hill-chieftain
was successively vanquished, exterminated
the family, and, with the conquered posses-
sions, took up the claims and contests of
their former lords, and were thus brought in
contact with numerous rajahs and zemindars,
actually occupying the position of British
subjects. The complaints laid before the
supreme government by these persons were
generally but lightly regarded; and, unless
under very peculiar circumstances, the
Goorkalese were treated as good neigh-
bours, whom it was desirable to conciliate.
Under a strong government at Calcutta,
outrages on the frontier were of compara-
tively rare occurrence, and, when firmly de-
manded, reparation was usually made ; but
the unfortunate measures of Sir George
Barlow incited aggressions which were not
to be so easily checked as heretofore. The
rajah (a prince with a long string of names,
dilFerently given by different authorities)*
was a minor. The chief authority rested
in the hands of a military aristocracy, headed
by a powerful family called Thappa, of
whom one member, Bheem Sein, exercised
the office of prime minister, with the title of
general, while his brother, Umur Sing, held
command of the army. The expediency of
war with the English was much canvassed
by the Goorkalese chiefs. The decision
arrived at was, that their native fastnesses
would always afford an invulnerable position,
and by issuing thence on predatory incur-
sions, a state of hostility could be made more
• Styled by Fraser, Jirban Joodeber Bheem Sah;
by Priiisep, Maharajah Kurman Jodh Bikram Sah
Bahadur Shumsheer Jung. His father was assassi-
nated by his own brother in full durbar, in 1805. The
fratricide was slain in the ensuing barbarous affray,
in which most of the chief nobles perished, and the |
advantageous, than peace purchased at the
sacrifice of their favourite system of encroach-
ment. The British, on their part, viewed
the approaching struggle with little appre-
hension. The Bengal officers, especially,
made sure of victory. From the days of
Clive to those of Lake, with scarcely an ex-
ception, they had but to take the field and
march straight against the enemy, to en-
sure his precipitate flight. The uncontested
occupation of Bhootwal and Sheoraj, seemed
the natural effect of their military reputa-
tion, and considerable surprise was excited
by tidings that the Goorkalese had set them
at defiance, by taking advantage of the with-
drawal of the troops to surround the three
police-stations in Bhootwal, where after kill-
ing and wounding twenty-four of the de-
fenders, the superior local officer of the
British had been murdered in a very bar-
barous manner. The governor-general de-
manded from the court of Katmandoo the
disavowal of any share in this outrage, and
the punishment of its perpetrators; but re-
ceived a menacing reply, which precluded
further hope of an amicable arrangement,
and occasioned the issue of a declaration of
war by Lord Moira in November, 1814.
The army destined for the invasion of the
enemy's frontier, formed four divisions, of
which the first, under Major-general MarJey,
comprised 8,000 men, and was intended to
march against Katmandoo. The other three
divisions, under Maj. -generals Wood, Gilles-
pie, and Oehterlony (4,500, 3,500, and 6,000
strong), were directed to attack different por-
tions of the hostile frontier; besides which.
Major Latter was furnished with a body of
2,700 men for the defence of the Purneah
frontier, to the eastward of the Coosy river.f
The campaign opened with the siege of the
petty fortress of Kalunga or Nalapanee, situ-
ated on an insulated hill, a few miles from
Dehra, the chief town in the Doon (or valley.)
The garrison consisted of about 600 men,
headed by a nephew of Umur Sing. The
English expected to carry the place by
storm according to custom, and the gallant
Rollo Gillespie, with fatal impetuosity, led an
assault, in which, while waving his hat to
cheer the troops, he was shot through the
heart. The siege was discontinued pending
the arrival of a battering train from Delhi ;
royal family was nearly extinguished. The present
rajah (then an infant) was secreted in the zenana.
t Major (now General) Latter rendered good service
by his negotiations with the rajah of Sikkim (a hill
state east of Nepaul), and his small detachment " ac-
complished more than it was destined to attempt."
412
INVASION OF NEPAUL— MALOUN BESIEGED— 1814-'15.
but even when a breach had been effected,
tlie soldiers, dispirited by their former re-
pulse, could not be induced to advance. It
was not until the assailants had sustained a
loss, in killed and wounded, considerably be-
yond the entire number of the garrison, that
measures were taken to shell the fort, and
cut off the supply of water obtained without
the walls. The besieged were compelled to
evacuate the place on the 30th November,
1814. The conquerors found in the mangled
bodies of hundreds of men and women, dead
ordyingof wounds and thirst, fearful evidence
of the determination of the foe with whom
they had now to deal. This inauspicious
commencement seems to have inspired three
out of four of the leaders of the British army
(includinjr Martindell, the successor of Gil-
lespie) with a degree of timidity and dis-
trust, which can scarcely be disguised be-
neath the name of prudence ; and General
Marley was struck off the staff for neglect
and incompetency. General Ochterlony
displayed a quickness and energy which,
combined with discretion, enabled him to
cope with difficulties of a new and unex-
pected order, and, although opposed by
Umur Sing in person, to obtain triumphs
to counterbalance the disasters which at-
tended the other divisions. He had formed
from the first a just estimate of the charac-
ter of the enemy, whom he met with their
own weapons, especially by the erection of
stockaded posts, before unknown in Anglo-
Indian warfare. The opening movements
of the English veteran were cautious and
laborious. The making of roads, and diplo-
matic proceedings with wavering chiefs, oc-
cupied much time before his masterly policy
could be developed ; but its effects were
manifested by the reduction of the Ramgurh
and other forts, and by the withdrawal of
Umur Sing, with his entire force, to the
strong position of Maloun. The stone fort
thus named, and that of Soorajgurh, formed
the extremities of a line of fortified posts,
erected on a lofty and difficult ridge project-
ing into the Sutlej. Of the intervening
peaks, all were occupied by stockades except
Ryla peak and Deothul. Of these two,
Ochterlony, on his approach, succeeded in
obtaining possession ; the first without diffi-
culty, the second after a sanguinary conflict
• The Goorkalese displayed throughout the cam-
paign an unexpected amount of chivalry, and ex-
hibited, in many ways, their confidence in the good
faith of the British. After the batlle of Deothul,
they asked for the body of Bhukti Sing, whose loss
they loudly bemoaned, declaring that the blade of
on the 15th April, 1815. Bhukti Thappa,
a famous leader, above seventy years of age,
who commanded at Soorajgurh, represented
to Umur Sing the necessity of dislodging
the British from Deothul ; and on the morn-
ing of the 16th, an attack was made by the
flower of the Goorkalese army on all acces-
sible sides.* Happily, the previous night
had been spent in throwing up defences in
expectation of a renewed struggle. The
enemy came on with such furious intre-
pidity, that several men were bayoneted or
cut to pieces within the works; and their
fire was directed so effectively against the
artillerymen, that at one time three officers
and one bombardier alone remained to serve
the guns. A reinforcement, with ammuni-
tion from Ryla peak, arrived at a critical
moment, and the British, after acting for two
hours on the defensive, became in turn as-
sailants ; Bhukti was slain, his followers put
to flight, and a complete victory obtained,
at the cost of 213 killed and wounded. The
enemy left about 500 men on the ground
before Deothul. The event afforded a great
triumph to the native troops, by whom it
was almost wholly achieved. It was followed
by the evacuation of Soorajgurh, and the
concentration of the hostile force in Maloun,
against which place a battery was raised by
the end of the first week in May.
In the meantime, the governor-general
had been actively employed in initiating a
series of spirited operations on the side of
Rohilcund. While visiting the north-western
provinces, he had learned that the inhabi-
tants of Kumaon were held in rigorous
subjection by the Goorkalese, who frequently
seized and sold their wives and children to
enforce the most arbitrary exactions. To
supply the place of regular troops, levies
were made from the warlike Patans of Rohil-
cund, under the auspices of two commanders
(Gardner and Hearsey), who had come over
from Sindia at the time of the Mahratta
war. The corps organised by Major Hear-
sey was dispersed by the enemy, and its
leader made prisoner ; but Lieutenant Gard-
ner succeeded in making his way into the
heart of the province of Kumaon, and took
up a position in sight of Almora, the capital,
where a force of regular infantry and artil-
lery, under Colonel Nicholls, joined him in
their sword was broken. Ochterlony complied with
the request, and sent the gory corpse, wrapped in
rich shawls, in acknowledgment of the bravery of the
fallen chief. His two widows sacrificed themselves ou
the funeral \n\e next day, in compliance with his in-
junction.— (H. T. Prinsep's Trans, in India, i., 170.J
SUCCESSFUL ISSUE OF NEPAULESE WAR— 1816.
413
the middle of April. The Setolee heights,
distant from the fort about seventy yards,
were gained after a severe contest ; and the
governor, thus closely menaced, and strait-
ened for want of supplies, signed terms of
surrender for the whole province, and for the
retirement of the Goorkalese troops to the
east of the Kalee river — articles which were
duly executed.
Tidings of the fall of Almora facilitated
the conquest of Maroun. The dispirited
Goorkalese entreated Umur Sing to make
terms for himself and his son Runjoor,
whom General Martindell had ineffectually
besieged in the fort of Jythuk. The old
chief refused, declaring, that the rainy
season, now close at hand, would compel
the British to withdraw ; and he used the
most severe coercion to retain the allegiance
of the troops. But in vain : the majority
of both officers and men came over to the
British camp as prisoners of war ; and Umur
Sing, with but 250 remaining adherents,
beheld the batteries ready to open upon the
walls of Maloun. Convinced of the hope-
lessness of prolonged resistance, the proud
chief resigned his last stronghold, together
with all the territory from Kumaon west-
ward to the Sutlej, including, of course,
Jythuk. Thus a campaign which, in Jan-
uary, promised nothing but disaster, termi-
nated in May with the conquest of the
whole hilly tract from the Gogra to the
Sutlej, a country hitherto deemed impene-
trable to Europeans. The triumph was, in
fact, mainly due to native troops ; of whom,
with the exception of a few artillerymen,
Ochterlony's division was exclusively com-
posed. It is important to add, that this
force was extremely well officered, and that
its operations were materially facilitated by
the ability of the field engineer. Lieutenant
Lawtie, who died, aged twenty-four, of
fever, brought on by excessive fatigue
and exposure endured before Maloun.*
Ochterlony received a baronetcy, and a
pension of £1,000 a-year in acknowledg-
ment of his services. The governor-general
was rewarded by a step in the peerage, being
created Marquis of Hastings. Various im-
portant arrangements attended the conclu-
sion, or rather interruption, of hostilities.
Many of the Goorkalese entered the Bri-
tish service, and were formed into what were
* General Ochterlony deeply lamented his brave
coadjutor. The whole army went into mourning,
-and afterwards erected a monument to the memory
of Lieut. Lawtie in the cathedral church of Calcutta.
3 H
termed the Nuseeree battalions ; a provincial
corps was also raised for civil duties in
Kumaon, which now became a British pro-
vince. The Doon was retained, and ulti-
mately annexed to the Seharanpoor district.
The remaining hill country was restored to
the several chiefs from whom it had been
wrested by Umur Sing, with the exception
of a few military posts ; and the whole terri-
tory was declared under British protection.
The Katmandoo government was not, how-
ever, yet sufficiently humbled to accept the
terms of peace offered by Lord Hastings.
Umur Sing and his sons strenuously advo-
cated the renewal of war, in preference to
suffering a British resident and military
establishment to be stationed at the capital.
Another object of dispute was the fertile
but insalubrious Turaee and the adjacent
Sal {shorea robusta) forest, of which, accord-
ing to a Goorkalese saying, " every tree is
a mine of gold."t The proposed treaty was
therefore rejected, and Sir David Ochter-
lony again took the field in January, 1816,
at the head of nearly 17,000 effective men,
including three European regiments. All
the known passes through the first range of
hills had been carefully fortified by the
enemy; but, happily, a route was dis-
covered through a deep and narrow ravine,
by which the Cherea heights were gained
without resistance, and the position of the
Goorkalese completely turned. The Bri-
tish general marched on to the beautiful
valley of the Raptee, and was moving up
to Mukwanpoor, when a skirmish of posts
paved the way to a general action, in which
he obtained a signal victory ; whereupon the
royal red seal was hastily affixed to the re-
jected treaty of Segoulee, and a duly quali-
fied envoy presented it on his knees at
the durbar of General Ochterlony, in pre-
sence of all the vakeels in the camp.
By a politic concession, a part of the
Turaee was surrendered to the Nepaulese.
The portion skirting the Oude dominions
was retained, and, together with Khyree-
gurh, a pergunnah of Rohilcund, was made
over to Ghazi-oo-deen, in payment of a
second loan of a crore of rupees obtained
from him during the war, and furnished out
of the hoards of his father, Sadut Ali, the
late nabob-vizier, who died in 1814.
During the Goorkalese war, indications
t The timber is used in ship-building, though
far inferior to the teak of Malabar and of tlie
Burman empire. The elephant, rhinoceros, and
buffalo abound in the forest, and ravage the plain.
414 PINDARRY IRRUPTIONS— MAHRATT A PROCEEDINGS— 1815-'16-'17.
of a desire to take advantage of any symptom
of weakness in the British government were
not wanting on the part of Sindia, or even
of the peishwa, who now began to think
himself strong enough to stand alone, and
was well inclined to kick aside the ladder
by which he had risen to fortune. The
triumphant conclusion of the late hostili-
ties checked the development of these feel-
ings, and left Lord Hastings at liberty to
direct his chief attention to the suppression
of the predatory bands of Pindarries and
Patans, who had arisen, " like masses of
putrefaction, out of the corruption of weak
and expiring states."* The chief difference
between them was, that the Patans were
military mercenaries, associated for the pur-
pose of invading or plundering such states
as they could overpower or intimidate ; while
the Pindarries vrere cowardly and desperate
banditti, whose object was universal rapine.
Against both these descriptions of marau-
ders the English authorities were compelled
to be continually on the alert. The most
effectual defensive measure was considered
to be the establishment of subsidiary troops
in Berar. The death of Ragojee Bhonslay
appeared likely to facilitate this arrange-
ment; for his only son Pursajee, being
paralysed and an idiot, the nephew of the
late rajah Moodajee, commonly called Appa
Sahib, assumed the regency; and the better
to establish his ascendancy, sought the re-
cognition of the English at the cost of
entering upon the defensive alliance which
they particularly desired. Appa Sahib was,
at heart, decidedly opposed to the establish-
ment of foreign influence at Nagpoor, and
no sooner felt himself firmly seated on the
gadi, than he sought the means of re-
covering the purchase-money of his position
by entering into negotiations with the court
of Poona, then the nucleus of a powerful
confederacy forming against the English — a
proceeding which he accompanied by the
precaution of causing his young and af^icted
ward to be strangled in the night of Feb-
ruary 1st, 1817.
• Malcolm's Central India, i., 431. Sir John, on
the authority of the Pindarry leader, Kureem Khan,
gives the etymology of the term Pindarry — from
Pinda, an intoxicating drink which they were con-
stantly imbibing. Kureem Khan was a Rohilla.
f No fewer than twenty-five women drowned
themselves to escape violation ; many sacrificed also
their young children. The ordinary modes of tor-
ture inflicted by the Pindarries were — heavy stones
placed on the head or. chest ; red-hot irons applied to
the soles of the feet; tying the head of a person into
a tobra or bag for feeding horses, filled with hot
Before this event, the incursions of the
Pindarries had alarmingly increased, and in
1816 they remained twelve days within the
British frontier, during which time they were
ascertained to have plundered 339 villages,
put 182 persons to a cruel death, severely
wounded 505, and subjected 3,603 others to
different kinds of torture. t The losses sus-
tained by individuals at Guntoor (in the Nor-
thern Circars) and elsewhere, were estimated
at about £100,000 sterling. The peishwa,
Sindia, and the divided authorities on whom
the management of the Holcar principality
had devolved, affected to desire the suppres-
sion of these enormities; but as it was
notorious they favoured the perpetrators,
it became necessary to take steps against
such deceitful governments.
The policy pursued by the peishwa toward
his English patrons, had become evidently
hostile since the accession to office, in 1815,
of one Trimbukjee Dainglia, a menial ser-
vant, who had found the path to power
by promoting the gratification of his mas-
ter's ill-regulated desires. The assassination
of Gungadhur Shastree,J the representative
of the Guicowar chief, who had come to
Poona to settle a question of finance, under
the express protection of the English, justified
the resident (Mountstuart Elphinstone) in
demanding the removal from office of the
instigator of the crime. Bajee Rao, with
characteristic indecision, first surrendered
his favourite, and then unceasingly solicited
his deliverance from the imprisonment which
was the only punishment the English autho-
rities desired to inflict. Artifice effected
the deliverance of the prisoner. The Mah-
ratta groom of one of the British officers
in the garrison of Tanna, in the island of
Salsette, while engaged in exercising his
master's horse, sang beneath the window
of Trimbukjee what appeared to be one of
the monotonous ballads of the country, but
which really communicated to the captive a
plan of escape, of which he took advantage
on the evening of the 12th of Septem-
ber, 1816. Having made an excuse for
ashes ; throwing oil on the clothes and setting fire
to them ; besides many others equally horrible.
Their favourite weapon was the long Mahratta spear.
J Gungadhur was the name of the ambassador ;
Shastree, a title denoting intimate acquaintance
with the Shastras, a portion of the sacred writings
of tte Hindoos. Bajee Rao was himself supposed
to have sanctioned the murder, to revenge an affront,
given by the Shastree in refusing to allow his wife
to visit the palace of the peishwa, then the scene of
licentiousness unparalleled during the sway of any of
his predecessors. — (Buff's Slahrattas, iii., 374.)
TREATY OF POONA, 1816— PATANS AND PINDAREIES.
415
quitting his rooms, he reached an embra-
sure, and lowered himself into the ditch by
means of a rope, secured to a gun by one
of his accomplices. This adventure greatly
increased the reputation of Trimbukjee with
his own countrymen, and he began to as-
semble troops on the Mahadeo hills to the
north of the Neera. The military prepa-
rations of the peishwa, and his secret cor-
respondence, and even interviews, with a
subject against whom he affected to desire
the co-operation of British troops, left little
doubt of his perfidious intentions ; and the
governor-general considered himself justified
in adopting a very summary mode of di-
! minishing the power which he expected to
see employed in counteracting his plans for
the destruction of the Pindarries. Bajee
Rao was treated as an avowed enemy, and
required, as the only means of averting war,
to surrender Trimbukjee, to renounce the
right of supremacy over the Mahratta con-
federation, and to surrender certain terri-
tories in Malwa, Guzerat, and the Deccan,
for the purpose of supporting a force of
5,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry, to be
maintained in lieu of the previous British
contingent. Other humiliating concessions
were exacted from Bajee Rao, by the treaty
of Poona ratified in June, 1816, which
in fact reduced him from the position of
an independent prince to that of a mere
vassal. The treaty of Bassein had been
censured for the sacrifices it entailed on the
peishwa ; and " the extension of the sub-
sidiary system in 1805, had led the way to
the retirement of the most enlightened
statesman who had ruled in India."* By
this time the weathercock of public opinion
had veered round, and the Court of Direc-
tors expressed themselves well satisfied with
the course of events, and convinced " of the
irrepressible tendency of our Indian power
to enlarge its bounds and to augment its
preponderance, in spite of the most peremp-
tory injunctions of forbearance from home,
and of the most scrupulous obedience to
them in the government abroad.^f
The sanction of the E. I. Cy. was likewise
• Auber'B British Power in India, ii., 528.
t Secret Letter of Directory to Bengal, Jan., 1818.
i Prinsep's Military Transactions, ii., 21.
§ Among the malcontents assembled under Ameer
Khan was I)ya Kam, a refractory talookdar, or ze-
mindar of the Doab, who, in 1816, had been ex-
pelled by British troops from his fort of Hatras.
II The peishwa had command over 28,000 horse ;
13,800 foot ; 37 guns. Sindia— 14,250 horse ; 16,250
foot; 140 guns. Holcar— 20,000 horse ; 7,940 foot;
given to offensive operations to the extent
requisite to drive the Pindarries from their
haunts on the Nerbudda and from Malwa.
The views of the Marquis of Hastings were
more comprehensive : he considered that the
peace of Central India demanded the total ex-
termination of these predatory bands; and to
that end " did not hesitate boldly to assume
the principle that, in the operations against
the Pindarries, no power could be suffered
to remain neutral, but all should be required
to join the league for their suppression."!
At this period (1817) the Pindarries, under
their respective leaders, were stated, by the
lowest computation, at 15,000 horse, 1,500
foot, with twenty guns. Other writers car-
ried the estimate as high as 30,000; but
authorities agreed, that when joined by
volunteers and adventurers from other na-
tive armies, they often exceeded the latter
amount. The Patans, under Ameer Khan,
were estimated at 12,000 horse, 20,000 foot,
and 200 guns. Supposing the contemplated
confederation between the four Mahratta
leaders (the peishwa, Sindia, Holcar, and
the Bhonslay), the Nizam, Ameer Khan,§
and the Pindarries, to have been carried
out, a force of above 130,000 horse, 87,000
foot, and nearly 600 guns might have been
brought into the field to dispute British
supremacy. ||
Measures had been already taken to
diminish the danger of hostility on the part
of the peishwa, and the subsidiary alliance
lately formed with Berar was expected to
ensure neutrality in that quarter. The
plan of the campaign, therefore, was princi-
pally formed with relation to the indepen-
dent states of Sindia, Holcar, the Rajpoots,
the nabob of Bhopal, and the chiefs of
Bundelcund. Something after the fashion
of the old " circular hunts" was to be at-
tempted, by assembling armies round these
countries which should, by simultaneous
movements, close in so as to encompass the
Pindarries and their abettors at all points,
provision being made for the defeat of the
project through the strength or cunning of
the enemy, as well as for the defence of the
107 guns. Bhonslay— 15,766 horse; 17,826 foot;
85 guns. Nizam— 25,000 horse ; 20,000 foot. The
Nizam himself was too weak and indolent, if not
incapable, to be suspected of any intention to in-
trigue against the English ; but his sons were tur-
bulent youths, whose vicious practices it had been
necessary to assist tlieir father in restraining ; and it
was difficult to judge what might be the conduct of
the numerous armed population of Hyderabad, in
the event of reverses attending our arms.
416 LORD HASTINGS MARCHES AGAINST THE PINDARRIES— 1817.
British territory. The forces destined to
carry out this extensive scheme comprised
above 91,000 regular troops, and 33,000
irregular horse,* divided and subdivided
in accordance with the plan of the cam-
paign. On the 20th October, 1817, the mar-
quis, in person, assumed command of the
grand army at Secundra (near Kalpee), and
after crossing the Jumna by a bridge of
boats, proceeded to occupy a position south
of Gwalior, where Sindia had established his
permanent camp ;t while another division of
the Bengal troops took up its station at
Dholpoor. Undoubted evidence had been
obtained that Sindia had not only pledged
himself to support the Pindarries, but had
even attempted a treacherous correspon-
dence with the Nepaulese. His intercepted
communications proved him to be only
wanting a favourable opportunity to take
the field, and thus give an example which
would assuredly have been followed by the
open appearance in arms of Ameer Khan
and his Patans, who were at present inclined
to hold back from their Pindarry friends.
Sindia had inherited the ambition without
the judgment or decision of his predecessor.
He had not anticipated the skilful move-
ment by which he found himself menaced
by a formidable force in front and in the
rear. To bide the event of a siege in
Gwalior, or to repair to his distant domi-
nions and join the Pindarries, with the
chance of being intercepted and compelled
to risk the event of a general engagement,
were both humiliating and dangerous mea-
sures, which he thought best to avoid by
agreeing to the demands of the English.
These involved active concurrence against
the Pindarries, and the temporary sur-
render of the forts of Hindia and Aseerghur,
as a pledge of fidelity. The treaty exacted
from Sindia was followed by the submission
of Ameer Khan, who agreed to disband his
army, if confirmed in possession of the terri-
tory of which he was in the actual tenure
under grants from Holcar. As this noto-
• The Deccan force, under Sir Thomas Hislop
(including a reserve corps, the Guzerat division,
and the troops left at Poona, Hyderabad, and Nag-
poor) numbered 57,000 regulars, of whom 5,255
were cavalry. The Bengal force comprised 34,000
regulars, including 5,000 cavalry. — (Col. Blacker.)
t Sindia seized Gwalior upon the death of Am-
bajee Inglia, in 1808, and established his army in
the neighbourhood, where he remained until his own
demise in 1827. A city sprang up there which
Boon rivalled Oojein, if not in the costliness of its
structures, at least in the amount of population.
rious chief was a mere adventurer, whose de- 1
mands could only be conceded by legalising
the usurpations on which they were founded,
it may be doubted whether temporary expe-
diency, rather than justice, was not the
actuating motive in the arrangement entered
upon with him. Treaties with Zalim Sing
of Kotah, and other minor potentates, were
made in a spirit similar to those formed by
Lake under the auspices of Lord Wellesley ;
and the nabob of Bhopal, especially, entered
cordially into the intended expedition against
the despotic freebooters from whose ravages
his small territories had sustained almost
irremediable damage. {
The Pindarry chiefs, meanwhile, aware of
the extensive preparations made against
them, employed themselves during the rains
in recruiting their respective durrahs or
camps. The want of cordiality between the
principal leaders — namely, Cheetoo, Kureem
Khan, and Wasil Mohammed — prevented
their forming any combined plan of resis-
tance. With the exception of some luliburs,
or plundering expeditions dispatched against
the unprotected territory of the British or
their allies, little attempt at opposition was
made; and losing their usual activity, the
majority of the Pindarries retreated pas-
sively before the advancing foe, fixing their
last hope on the secret assurances of support
received from Poona.
The governor-general does not appear to
have anticipated any struggle on the part of
the peishwa to recover his lost authority.
Mr. Elphinstone, in his capacity of resident,
had seen ample reason to take precautions
against this highly probable event; but
Bajee Rao, in an interview with the politi-
cal agent. Sir John Malcolm, had conducted
himself so plausibly, that Sir John, com-
pletely duped by professions of grateful
attachment for early support, mingled with
sad complaints of the harsh policy recently
adopted, forgot the, character of the arch-
hypocrite with whom he had to deal, and
actually advised the peishwa to continue
X In 1797, two Pindarry leaders, named Heeroo
and Burrun, who were also brothers, offered the
services of themselves and their 5,000 followers to
the state of Bhopal, as aiixiliaries in the war then
carried on with Berar. Being rejected, they went
off and made a similar proposition to Ragojee
Bhonslay, who received it favourably, and bade
them lay waste Bhopal, then in a most flourishing con-
dition. The order was obeyed with cruel and lasting
effect. The chiefs were plundered by their employer
the Berar rajah. Heeroo, the father of Wasil Mo-
hammed, died in prison; Burrun at Aseerghur.
BATTLE OF KIRKEE— BAJEE RAO DEFEATED— NOV. 5, 1817. 417
enlisting recruits for the laudable purpose of
co-operating with his good friends the Eng-
lish. Thus encouraged, Bajee Rao openly
levied troops from all quarters, and secretly
endeavoured to induce the British sepoys
stationed at Poona to desert their colours.
The native officers and regulars were, with-
out exception, proof against these solicita-
tions, which in many instances were made
known to their commanders. But the
irregular battalions, under Major Ford,
contained a large proportion of Mahrattas,
and these were naturally more subject to
temptation. It is asserted that the peishwa
desired, before proceeding further, to be rid
of the resident by assassination; but that
Bappoo Gokla, the chief Mahratta leader,
positively refused to sufler the perpetration
of so base a crime, the more especially since
he had received peculiar kindness from the
intended victim. Happily, Mr. Elphinstone
was on his guard alike against national and
individual hostility, and waited anxiously
the first symptom of undisguised hostility,
in anticipation of which a regiment had
arrived from Bombay. Thinking the can-
tonment in Poona too exposed, the station
was changed to the village of Kirkee, four
miles distant ; a step which, being attributed
to fear, greatly encouraged the Mahrattas,
who began to plunder the old cantonments.
At length, on the 4th of Nov., 1817, Moro
Dikshut, the minister of the peishwa, ac-
tuated by personal attachment, warned
Major Ford to stand neuter in the coming
struggle, and thus save himself and his
family from the destruction which was
shortly to overwhelm the whole British de-
tachment. Up to this moment the major,
though in daily communication with the
city, had been so completely hoodwinked by
Bajee Rao, as to entertain no suspicion of
intended treachery. On the following day,
news of the approach of a light battalion
from Seroor, determined the irresolute
peishwa to defer the attack no longer.
Efforts were continued to the last to throw
the British off their guard ; and an emissary,
bearing some frivolous message from the
court, had scarcely quitted the residency,
before intelligence arrived that the Mahratta
army was in movement. Mr. Elphinstone
and his suite had just time to mount and
retire by the ford of the Moola river, to join
their comrades at Kirkee, before the enemy
arrived and took possession of the residency,
which was speedily pillaged and burned.
The British brigade, leaving their canton-
ments, advanced to the plain between Kirkee
and the city, to meet the Mahratta troops.
The peishwa, disconcerted by this daring
movement, sent word to Gokla not to fire the
first gun. Gokla, seeing the messenger, and
suspecting the nature of his errand, waited
not his arrival, but commenced the attack
by opening a battery of nine guns, detach-
ing a strong corps of rocket camels, and
pushing forward his cavalry to the right and
left. A spirited charge was made under his
direction by Moro Dikshut, with a select body
of 6,000 horse, bearing the Juree Putka or
swallow-tailed golden pennon of the empire.
They came down like a torrent on the
British front, but were steadily encountered
by the 7th battalion. Colonel Burr had
"formed and led" this corps; and now,
though completely paralysed on one side,
he took his post by its colours, calm and
collected. One ball went through his hat,
another grazed the head of his horse, two
attendants were shot by his side; but the
infirm officer, unhurt and undismayed, con-
tinued to cheer and direct his men. The
advance of the assailants was happily im-
peded by a deep slough (the existence of
which was not previously suspected by either
party), situated immediately in front of the
British line. The cavalry, while scrambling
out of the mire, were exposed to the re-
served fire of Burr's detachment; Moro
Dikshut was killed, the force of the charge
broken, confusion spread through the Mah-
ratta ranks, and the advance of the English
proved the signal for a general retreat. The
battle of Kirkee must ever remain con-
spicuous among the hard-fought fields of
India, for the great disproportion of the
combatants. The Mahratta force comprised
18,000 cavalry and 8,000 foot: their loss
was 500 men in killed and wounded ;* beside
which, a considerable number of their valu-
able and highly-cherished horses were dis-
abled. The whole number of the British
troops engaged in this affair, including
Major Ford's battalion (part of which de-
serted), was 2,800 rank and tile, of whom
800 were Europeans. Their loss was 186
killed and fifty-seven wounded.
During the engagement, the peishwa re-
mained on the Parbuttee hill, with a guard
of 7,000 men. At the first outbreak of
hostilities, his orders were vindictive and
ferocious in tlie extreme ;t but he became
* Moro Dikshut was mortally wounded by a shot
from a gun attached to Captain Ford's battalion,
t Several Europeans were killed in cold-blood ;
418 BATTLE OF CORYGAUM— SURRENDER OF SATTARA— 1818.
alarmed by the unexpected turn of events,
and gave over all power into the hands of
Gokla, who was anxious to continue the
contest. " We may have taken our shrouds
about our heads," he said, "but we are
determined to die with our swords in our
hands."* This was not, however, the gen-
eral feeling of the Mahrattas. They had
little cause for attachment to the grasping
and incapable Bajee Rao; and he displayed
an utter want of confidence in their will or
ability to protect him, by taking the ap-
proach of a British reinforcement, under
General Smith, as the signal for a midnight
retreat towards Sattara. Poona, thus a
second time deserted by its sovereign, sur-
rendered on the following day; and the
necessary arrangements having been made
for its retention, General Smith started off
in pursuit of the peishwa, who, though a
fugitive, was still at the head of a formi-
dable army. He was further strengthened
by the open, adhesion of Appa Sahib, the
rajah of Berar, between whom and the
British force, under Colonel Scott, a severe
conflict took place on the heights near Nag-
poor, on the night of the 26th of November.
The rajah being defeated, made terms of
peace, for the fulfilment of which he was
himself to be the guarantee, as a sort of
prisoner in his own palace ; but Mr. (after-
wards Sir Richard) Jenkins, learning that
Appa Sahib was only waiting an opportu-
nity of escape, seized and sent him strongly
escorted towards Benares. The captive,
though treated heretofore without much
ceremony, was suffered to choose his own
escort; the result of which was, that the
British oiBcer on guard, having been made
to believe that his charge was an invalid,
gave a hasty glance at the bed on which
Appa Sahib usually slept, and turned away
after this slack performance of his nightly
duty, without discovering that a pillow had
been made to take the place of a person
who was already many miles distant.
General Smith followed the peishwa
through the Ghauts, but failed in bringing
him to action. This much-desired object
was, however, unexpectedly accomplished
on the 1st of January, 1818, by a detach-
ment proceeding to support Colonel Burr in
resisting an expected attack on Poona.
Captain Staunton, with one battalion of
N. I. 600 strong, 350 irregular horse, and
and the families of tlie native troops who fell into the
hands of the Mahrattas were cruelly maltreated
• Duff's Mahrattas, iiL, 429.
two 6-pounders, manned by twenty-four
Europeans, after a long night march, reached
the hills above Corygaum, a village over-
hanging the steep bank of the Beema river,
and beheld with surprise the whole force of
the peishwa, estimated at 25,000 to 28,000
men, encamped on the opposite bank. Both
parties pushed on for the village, and suc-
ceeded in occupying diff'erent portions ; but
the British gained possession of a small
choultry, or place of refreshment, which had
originally been a temple. Here the de-
tachment remained, under a burning sun,
cut off from the water from noon to nine
o'clock, disputing every foot of ground, and
repvdsing repeated attacks with the bayonet.
The peishwa ascended an adjoining emi-
nence, and, with the rajah of Sattara by his
side, awaited what seemed a certain vic-
tory. Gokla and Trimbukjee (who had now
joined his master) directed the attacks ; and
the Arab mercenaries, whose superior cou-
rage was acknowledged by superior pay,
at one time became masters of the choultry,
but it was soon recaptured. The struggle
seemed hopeless, but surrender was not
thought of. "See," said Captain Staun-
ton, pointing to the headless trunk of Lieu-
tenant Chisholm, lying beside a gun, " the
mercy of the Mahrattas ! " The troops,
though some were fainting and others nearly
frantic with thirst, declared that sooner
than fall into the hands of their foes, they
would die to a man : and the result seemed
probable. Happily, towards nightfall, a
supply of water was procured. The firing
gradually ceased ; and at daybreak, when
the brave band prepared to renew the con-
flict, the enemy was descried moving off on
the road to Poona, in consequence of the
rumoured advance of General Smith. Cap-
tain Staunton, who was unhurt, retreated to
Seroor; and the government, in commemo-
ration of this gallant affair, raised the corps
engagedf to the much-coveted rank of grena-
diers, and added " Corygaum" to the name
of " Man galore," previously borne by the
first regiment of Bombay native infantry.
Sattara was besieged by a combined force
under generals Smith and Pritzler, on the
9th of February, and capitulated on the fol-
lowing day. A manifesto was issued by
Mr. Elphinstone, on behalf of the British
government, taking formal possession of the
dominions of the peishwa, with the view of
t The battalion (2nd of 1st Bombay N. I.) lost 15.3
killed and wounded ; the artillerymen (26 in all), IS ;
cavalry, 96 ; ofBcers, 5 out of 8, including 2 surgeons.
BATTLE OF ASHTEE— SUBMISSION OF PEISHWA— CHOLERA. 419
retaining all except a small tract to be re-
served for the rajah of Sattara, who, with
his family, was still in the hands of Bajee Rao.
General Smith again started off in pur-
suit, and came up with the Mahratta force
at Ashtee, to the north-westward of Shola-
poor. Bajee Rao, as usual, thought only of
making good his retreat, and left Gokla, with
a body of eight or ten thousand horse, to
fight the English. General Smith,* though
in other respects a good oflBcer, is said to
have been ignorant of the art of manceuvring
cavalry, and he was opposed by a leader of
unrivalled skill in that favourite branch of
Mahratta warfare. The English chief was
cut down, and some confusion ensued; of
which before Gokla could take advantage, he
was himself slain — falling, as he had pro-
mised, sword in hand. There was no one
capable of taking his place, and the Mah-
rattas fled in wild dismay, leaving elephants,
camels, and baggage of all descriptions, to
the victors. t The rajah of Sattara, with
his mother and two brothers, voluntarily
threw themselves on British protection ; and
being placed under the care of Mr. Elphin-
• stone, and assured of the favourable inten-
tions of the British government, the rajah
assumed the state of a sovereign. The
wound of General Smith did not prove
dangerous, and he was soon enabled to re-
sume the pursuit of Bajee Rao, which the
excessive heat of the weather rendered an
extremely arduous and depressing task.
The "men fell beneath sun-strokes more
j surely and speedily than in the recent
I engagements, and the hospitals became
crowded. The fugitive peishwa had long
been desirous to make terms of peace ; and
! at length, when his intended passage across
' the Nerbudda was intercepted by Sir John
Malcolm, he made proposals which that
' officer considered as affording satisfactory
ground for an arrangement. The terms
finally agreed to were the complete renun-
ciation of every political -right or claim by
Bajee Rao, in return for an allowance of
not less than eight lacs of rupees a-year.
Beithoor, a place of sanctity near Cawnpore,
was appointed for his future residence.
Trimbukjee was soon after captured in his
lurking-place by a party of irregular horse
under Lieutenant Swanston (one of the vic-
* Afterwards Sir Lionel Smith, govr. of Jamaica,
t The British loss amounted to only nineteen
killed and wounded ; that of the enemy, to 200.
X Transactions in India, 1813 to 1823, i., 107—111.
Mr. Prinsep was present at head-quarters, and lost
seven servants and a moonshee in four days. During
tors at Corygaum), and sent prisoner to
the fort of Chunar, in Bengal.
To revert to the operations simulta-
neously carried on against the Pindarries.
Soon after the signing of the treaty of alli-
ance with Sindia, on the 5th of Nov., 1817,
the army under Lord Hastings was over-
taken by a violent pestilence, since known
as cholera,^ which traversed the whole of
India, from Nepaul to Cape Comorin. The
year was one of scarcity, the grain of in-
ferior quality, and the situation of the
British cantonments low and unhealthy.
For ten days the whole camp was an hospital ;
and the deaths in that short period amounted
to a tenth of the total number collected.
Towards the end of the month the troops
removed to a healthy station at Erich, on
the Betwa, and the epidemic had evidently
expended its virulence. Notwithstanding
this calamity, the object of Lord Hastings
in advancing to Gwalior, was fully answered
by the prevention of any co-operation
between Sindia and the Pindarries. The
latter, after being expelled from their haunts
in Malwa, were compelled to retreat in
various directions, and annihilated or dis-
persed, with the exception of those under
Cheetoo, who being pursued by Sir John Mal-
colm, took refuge in the camp of Holcar, near
Mahidpoor. The government of the Holcar
principality at this time rested in the hands
of Toolsae Bye, the favourite mistress of the
late Jeswunt Rao, who had exercised the
chief authority during his insanity. After
his death, she placed on the musnud his
infant son Mulhar Rao, and proceeded to
give vent to all the cruel caprices which could
suggest themselves to the imagination of a
woman of thirty years of age, handsome
and of fascinating manners, but of an im-
perious and merciless temper and most li-
centious morals. Her last favourite, who
assumed ex officio the reins of govern-
ment, was the Dewan, Gunput Rao. He
wavered between fear of the English and a
desire to take part with the peishwa, then
in arms. The commanders of battalions,
especially the Patans, were adverse to en-
tering upon any treaty by which their con-
sequence was likely to be lowered; and
fearing that the force under Malcolm, to
which the division under Sir Thomas Hislop
one week, 764 soldiers and 8,000 camp followers
perished. Total deaths of Europeans in camp in
Nov. — 148. The epidemic, called by the natives the
"black death," visited Calcutta in September, 1817,
and for a long time destroyed above 200 per diem
in that city. — (Prinsep : Wilson, ix., 253.)
420 MAHIDPOOR—ASEERGHUR— SUPPRESSION OF PINDAIlRIES-1818.
had since been added, would overawe their
vacillating rulers into submission, they
threw Gunput Rao into prison, enticed away
the child, Mulhar Rao, from the tent before
which he was playing, and carried off Toolsae
Bye, by night, to the banks of the Seepra,
where, despite her cries, she was decapitated,
and the body thrown into the river.*
On the following day (21st of December,
1817), a pitched battle took place, in which
the British were completely successful,
though at the cost of nearly 800 in killed
and wounded. The enemy lost 3,000 men,
chiefly in the flight to Mundissoor. The
mother of the child Mulhar Rao, though a
woman of inferior rank, being now the ac-
knowledged regent of the Mahratta state,
made full .submission to the English; and
in return for the cession of all claims in
Rajast'han and south of the Sautpoora
range, was confirmed in the actual posses-
sion of the remaining territories of the prin-
cipality, at the court of which a British
resident was to be established. Many of
the old leaders repudiated this engagement,
and set off to join Bajee Rao — an attempt in
which some succeeded, but others were
intercepted, and cut off or dispersed.f The
ministers, under the new order of things,
" did not deplore an event which disembar-
rassed a bankrupt state of a mutinous sol-
diery, and cancelled a number of old and
troublesome claims."
The struggles of the Pindarries were
nearly ended; Kureem Khan, and other
chiefs, surrendered on the promise of pardon
and a livelihood, and received small grants
of land. Wasil Mohammed poisoned him-
self. Cheetoo for some time contrived to
elude pursuit, but was surprised in Dec,
1817, with the main body of his followers,
and dispersed by a detachment from the
garrison at Hiudia. The Bheels (aboriginal
peasantry) and the Grassias (native land-
owners), remembering the outrages they
* The career of Toolsae Bye resembles that of the
heroine of a romance. She passed as the niece, but
was generally supposed to be the daughter, of Ad-
jeeba, an ambitious priest, who, though a professed
mendicant, rose to rank and influence. He spared no
pains in the education of Toolsae ; and she, Malcolm
not very gallantly remarks, was " tutored in more
than the common arts of her sex." Jeswunt Rao
became enamoured with the fair intrigante at first
sight. She was married, but that mattered little.
In a few days the lady was in the palace of Holcar,
her husband in prison, from whence he_ was re-
leased and sent home to the Deccan with some
presents. Toolsae Bye had an artful waiting-maid,
double her own age, who, after having attained high
had long passively sustained, now spared not
a Pindarry who fell into their hands ; but
Cheetoo, with about 200 followers, still re-
mained at large. J Though driven from place
to place, the daring freebooter bore up against
misfortune with a spirit worthy a better
cause ; till he suddenly disappeared — none,
not even his son and few remaining follow-
ers, knew how or where; for they had
parted from him to hunt the forest for food.
After some days, his horse was discovered
grazing near the jungles of Aseerghur
(where Appa Sahib had sought refuge), sad-
dled and bridled : at a little distance lay a
heap of torn and blood-stained garments,
and a human head, the remains of a tiger's
feast. It was a fitting death for the last of
the Pindarries — the last that is deserving
the name; for these bold marauders, de-
prived of their leaders, without a home or a
rendezvous, never again became formidable.
After the termination of the war with the
peishwa, they gradually merged into the
ordinary population, following the example
of their leaders. Many of them settled in
the Deccan and Malwa, as cultivators ; and
some, employing their energies to a right
use, became distinguished as active, im-
proving farmers. The remaining Patau
troops were conciliated or dispersed without
further bloodshed.
The flight of Appa Sahib caused much
anxiety, which terminated with the fall of the
fortress of Aseerghur (April, 1819), whence
the ex-rajah escaped disguised as a fakeer,
and soon sank into a state of insignificance,
from which he never emerged. An infant
grandson of Ragojee Bhonslay was chosen to
bear that name and fill the vacant gadi, or
throne of Berar, with the title of rajah,
under the nominal regency of his grand-
mother, the British resident being vested
with the actual control of affairs during the
minority. The remaining operations of the
war were chiefly directed to the expulsion
station and amassed large sums by extortion (thereby
exciting the envy of the minister on whom the fleet-
ing affections of her mistress for the moment rested),
was flung into prison, cruelly tortured, and driven to
end her agonies by taking poison. — (Malcolm.)
t An excellent account of the Mahratta and Pin-
darry campaigns of 1817-'18-'19, has been given by an
officer engaged therein — Lieutenant-colonel Blacker.
\ Conditions of surrender were discussed on behalf
of Cheetoo, but his terms were extravagant : moreover,
he feared treachery and transportation ; and even
when dreaming, used to talk with horror of the
sea, the hateful Cala pani, or black water. After his
tragical end, a few fields were allotted for the sub-
sistence of his son, a youth of weak intellect.
FIRM OF PALMER AND CO.— RESIGNATION OF HASTINGS. 431
of various Arab garrisons from Candeish, a
province which, thougli professedly under
the sway of the Poena government, had been
gradually usurped by Arab colonists. Malli-
gaum, the strongest fort in the Candeish
valley, was gained after an obstinate siege
in June, 1819, at a cost to the successful
besiegers of 200 killed and wounded.*
The E. I. Cy. evinced their sense of the
conduct of the governor-general during the
late " glorious and successful wars," by
granting him the sum of j660,000 from the
territorial revenues of India, for the purchase
of an estate in the United Kingdom. Few
remaining events in the administration of
Lord Hastings need here be mentioned.
Its commencement was marked by the
renewal of the company's charter for twenty
years ; by the opening of trade with India to
the nation at large ; and by the formation of
an ecclesiastical establishment for British
India.t The occupation of Singapore, in
1817, was effected through the efforts of
Sir Stamford Raffles, to whose zeal and dis-
cernment may be attributed the possession
of the British portion of the Indian Archi-
pelago. Protracted negotiations were carried
on with Holland by Mr. Canning, then
President of the Board of Control, which
terminated in the Netherlands' treaty of
1824, by which the Dutch settlements on
the continent of India, with Malacca, and
the undisputed right to Singapore, were
ceded to England in exchange for Sumatra,
which was needlessly surrendered.
The financial dealings with Oude have
been noticed. The pecuniary loans of the
nabob aided in enabling him to assume the
title of vizier without the sanction of the
emperor; and, in 1819, the style of vizier
was changed for that of king — an indis-
creet admission on the part of the E. I. Cy.
The chief blot upon the character of Lord
Hastings' administration, was caused by
the countenance lent by him to the ne-
farious transactions of certain persons who,
* In the course of the Mahratta war, considerahle
8er\ice was rendered by Sir Thomas Munro, who,
with a few hundred men, was deputed to take pos-
session of the country ceded by the treaty of Poona,
which was effected with some fighting, but chiefly
by conciliation. Sir David Ochterlony Uliewise played
a conspicuous part in the Pindarry war. His death,
in 1825, occurred under painful circumstances. He
was twice appointed resident at Delhi, and removed
each time against his inclination : on the last oc-
casion, vexation of spirit increased the morbid melan-
choly which hastened the close of his eventful career ;
and his last words, as he turned to the wall, wpre —
" I die disgraced."— (Kay's Life of Metcalfe, ii., 132.)
3 I
under pretence of mercantile dealings,
obtained the sanction of government to the
most shameless and usurious practices, car-
ried on at the expense of the weak and in-
competent Nizam. It was in fact a new
version of the "Carnatic debt," conducted in
the name of Messrs. Palmer and Co., one of
the confederates or partners being Sir
Thomas Rumbold, who stood almost in
the position of son-in-law to the governor-
general, having married a niece whom his
lordship had brought up from infancy, and
for whom he avowedly cherished the feelings
of a father. Strong domestic attachment
and excessive vanity conspired to induce
Lord Hastings to defend a course into
which he had been misled by the artifice of
covetous men ; and when his late secretary,
Charles Metcalfe, on entering upon the
duties of British resident at Hyderabad, set
forth in very guarded and moderate lan-
guage, the necessity of introducing a better
order of things, the marquis manifested
great annoyance, and subsequently addressed
a most intemperate letter to the directory,
in return for their very just animadversions
on the nature of a firm which, without
office or establishment, carried on "dealings
to the extent of nearly £700,000, occurring
under an imperceptible progress."]; Pay-
ments for real or imaginary loans, at sixteen
to eighteen per cent., were made by the
Hyderabad government, by cash and by
assignments of revenue; notwithstanding
which, £600,000 were claimed by Messrs.
William Palmer and Co., as the balance of
accounts with the Nizam in 1820.
During the course of his prolonged ad-
ministration, the Marquis of Hastings,
involved in numerous and intricate military
operations, found little opportunity to study
with success questions connected with the
civil administration of the empire, and the
complicated and anxious question of reve-
nue. § His lordship resigned his office
into the hands of the senior member of
t The first Bishop of Calcutta (Middleton) came
out in 1814. He died in 1822, and was succeeded
by Reginald Heber, who was cut off by apoplexy in
1826. Bishop James died in 1828. Turner in 1830.
t Auber, ii., 558 to 566. Thornton, iv., 583.
§ Sir Thomas Munro was sent to Madras in 1814,
at the head of a commission formed for the purpose
of revising the judicial system. He exerted himself
very efficiently in the decision of arrears of causes
which had been imffered to accumulate to a shameful
extent. In 1821, he became governor of Madras,
and carried out a settlement with a portion of the
individual cultivators, called the ryotwar assessment,
by which each small holder was not simply put in
422
ADMINISTRATION OF LORD AMHERST— 1823.
council, Mr. Adam, and quitted India in
January, 1823.* Though nearly seventy
years of age, pecuniary embarrassments pre-
vented him fi'om spending his remaining
days in his own country ; and he was ap-
pointed governor of Malta, where he died,
in consequence of a fall from his horse, in
1826.t
For six months the supreme authority
rested in the hands of Mr. John Adam, an
honest and able man, but somewhat pre-
judiced. He had uniformly dissented from
the conduct adopted by the late governor-
general with regard to the house of Palmer
and Co. ; and he was ready and willing to
carry out the orders of the court for
making the large advance to the Nizam
necessary to free him from the hands of his
rapacious creditors, who were forbidden to
have any further dealings with the court of
Hyderabad. The circumstances of the case
are involved in mystery; but it is certain
that the failure of the concern created a
great commotion in Calcutta, many persons
•being secretly interested in these transac-
tions whose names were never made public.
The proprietors of East India stock called
for documents calculated to throw light on
the whole affair; and, after much tedious
discussion during the next twenty years,
political influence procured a decision more
favourable to the claims of the European
money-lenders, against various native debtors
in Oude, than was consistent with the honour
of the British government.
This provisional administration was marked
by the deportation of Mr. Silk Buckingham,
the editor of the Calcutta Journal, for a
breach of the regulation forbidding editorial
comments on public measures. The suc-
cessful efforts of Mr. Adam for the reduc-
tion of expenditure, especially of the interest
of the Indian debt, were highly meritorious,
the position of a mere yearly tenant, but was com-
pelled to pay a fluctuating amount assessed annually
at the pleasure of the collector for the time being,
whose chief object was naturally the realisation of
an immediate amount of revenue', without regard to
the permanent welfare— indissolubly united — of the
governors and the governed. This system, much
praised at the time, reduced the Madras ryots to a
state of extreme depression. Munro died of cholera
near Gooty, in 1827.— (Fi(/e Life, by Gleig.)
• The revenues of India rose from £17,228,000,
in 181»-'14, to £23,120,000 in 1822-'3j but a con-
siderable share of this increase is attributable to the
accession of territory made under the Wellesley ad-
ministration. The more than proportionate aug-
mentation of military expense is no less clearly as-
cribable to the unjustifiable measures of Lord Corn-
wallis and Sir G. Barlow, and especially to the
as were also his unavailing attempts for
the extension of native education.
Amhekst Administration: 1823 to 1827.
— The place of Lord Hastings was at first
destined to be filled by Mr. Canning; but
the changes in the cabinet, consequent upon
the death of the Marquis of Londonderry,
opened more congenial employment to the
newly-appointed governor-general, and he
remained at home in charge of the foreign
office. Lord Amherst was selected for the
control of Indian aifairs, and arrived in
Calcutta in August, 1823. The first object
pressed on his attention was the open hos-
tility in which a long series of disputes with
the Burman empire abruptly terminated.
The power of the Burmese was of com-
paratively recent growth. The people of
Ava, after being themselves subject to the
neighbouring country of Pegu, revolted
under a leader of their own nation, in 1753.
Rangoon, the capital of Pegu, surrendered
to the Ava chief, who assumed the title of
Alompra,J and the style of a sovereign; and
during the succeeding eight years, laid the ,
basis of an extensive state, which was sub-
sequently enlarged by acquisitions on the
Tenasserim coast taken from Siam, and by
the annexation of the previously indepen-
dent states of Arracan, of Munnipoor, and
of Assam. Proceedings connected with the
conquest of Arracan, brought the Burmese
in contact with the British government;
for, at the close of the eighteenth century,
many thousand persons of the tribe called
Mughs, sought refuge from the insufferable
persecution of their oppressors in the
British province of Arracan. The numbers
of the immigrants excited apprehension,
and attempts were made to prevent any
more of them from crossing the boundary
line formed by the Naaf river. But this
was impracticable by means consistent with
sufferance long extended to the ferocious Pindar-
ries and the encroaching* Mahrattas. For five years
(1817 to 1822), the average annual militarv expendi-
ture was £9,770,000. In 1822-'3, the expenses still
reached £8,495,000. The Indian debt increased
from £27,002,000, in 1813-'14, to £29,382,000 in
1822-'3; showing an augmentation of £2,380,000.
An able and comprehensive summary of the Hast-
ings administration is given by Josiah Conder, whose
history terminates at this point.
t Lord Hastings married Flora Campbell, Countess
of Loudon, who lived with him in India in the full
blaze of vice-regal splendour. In 1827, the sura of
£20,000 was granted to the young marquis.
X Alompra (correctly, Alaong-h'hura), a term ap-
plied by the Buddhists of Ava to an individual
destined to become a Budd'ha, and attain the supreme
felicity of absorption into the divine essence.
IMMIGRATION OF MUGHS— FIRST BURMESE WAR— 182S
4;
ordinary humanity. In 1798, not fewer
than 10,000 Hughs rushed to the frontier
in an almost frenzied state, and were fol-
lowed by another body still more numerous,
leaving the capital of Arracan nearly de-
populated. They had fled through wilds
and deserts without any preconcerted plan,
leaving behind them abundant traces of
their melancholy progress in the dead bodies
of both old and young, and of mothers with
infants at the breast. The leader of one
party, when told to withdraw, replied that
he and his companions would never return
to Arracan : they were ready to die by the
hands of the English, or, if forcibly driven
off, would seek refuge in the jungles of the
great mountains, the abodes of wild beasts.
The wretched multitudes attempted no
violence, but sustained life as best they
could on "reptiles and leaves," numbers
daily perishing, until the British govern-
ment, taking pity upon their misery, pro-
vided the means of sustenance, and materials
for the construction of huts to shelter them
from the approaching rains. Extensive
tracts of waste lands, in the province of
Chittagong, were assigned to the refugees,
whom, perhaps, it would have been advisa-
ble to have settled in a more central posi-
tion, since a colony of 40,000 persons,
established under such circumstances, would,
as they grew stronger, be very likely to
provoke hostilities with the already incensed
and barbarous sovereign of Ava.
The surrender of the Hughs was repeat-
edly demanded by this potentate, but the
Marquis Wellesley returned a decided re-
fusal ; qualified, however, by an offer to
give up any proved and notorious criminals,
and by a promise to prohibit any renewed im-
migration of Burmese subjects. Some com-
munications took place of little importance ;
and the discussion might have passed off
without producing further hostility, but for
the restless spirit of the Hughs, and their
natural longing to regain possession of their
ancient rights and former homes. A chief,
named Khyen-bran (miscalled Kingberring),
arose among them inspired with an insatiable
desire of vengeance against the Burmese,
• The names of the kings of Ava, like those of
the zamorins of Calicut, were kept secret until
their deaths. The style of the Ava court, was to
speak of " the golden presence," to address " the
golden ear," or lay petitions hefore " the golden
foot;" and on state occasions, the royal head was
literally oppressed with the weight of a golden pyra-
mid, and the body clothed in wrought gold. —
(Trant's Jm!0 Year3inAi-a,2'10; Havelock's^fa,245.)
which he manifested by annual irruptions into i
Arracan. The Calcutta government strove
to check these aggressions, and Lord. Hast-
ings gave leave to the Burmese to pursue
the depredators to their haunts in Chitta-
gong; but this concession did not appease
the King of Ava, who attempted to form a
confederacy with Runjeet Sing and other
Indian princes, for the expulsion of the Eng-
lish from India. After the death of Khyen-
bran, in 1815, the border warfare greatly
diminished, and the British authorities, con-
sidering the chief cause of contention re-
moved, maintained a very conciliatory tone,
which being interpreted by the nameless*
majesty of Ava as significant of weakness,
only rendered his representatives more inso-
lent and overbearing. Still no actual rup-
ture took place until September, 1823, when
a thousand Burmese lauded by night on the
small island of Shahpoori, at the entrance
of the Tek Naaf, or arm of the sea dividing
Chittagong from Arracan. The islet was
little more than a sandbank, affording pas-
turage for a few cattle. The guard con-
sisted only of thirteen men, three of whom
were killed, four wounded, and the rest
driven off the island.
An explanation of this conduct was de-
manded, and given in the form of a vaunt-
ing declaration, that Shahpoori rightfully
belonged to the " fortunate king of the
white elephants, lord of the seas and earth,"
and that the non-admission of the claim of
" the golden foot" would be followed by
the invasion of the British territories. The
threat was carried into execution, and a
Burmese force actually took post within five
miles of the town of Sylhet, only 226 miles
from Calcutta. The governor-general en-
tered upon the war with unfeigned reluc-
tance, and its commencement was mate-
rially impeded by ignorance of the country,
its routes, and passes. The advance from
Bengal was at one time intended to have
been made through Arracan, but this plan
was set aside from regard to the health of
the troops; and the main part of the force
designed for the campaign, comprising about
11,000 men,t of whom one-half were Euro-
t This included the combined strength of Madras
and Bengal ; but the excessive repugnance mani-
fested by the native troops in the service of the
latter presidency to forsake their families and forfeit
caste by embarking on board ship, rendered it im-
possible to employ any considerable portion of them.
It appears, moreover, that great neglect existed on
the part of those enti'usted with the charge of the
comraissar'it, as in the case of the refusal to march
424 ENGLISH INVADE AVA BY THE IRAWADDY RIVER— 1824.
peans, assembled in May, 1824, at Port 1
Cornwallis, in the Great Andamaus. Major-
general Sir Archibald Campbell took com-
mand of the land, and Commodore Grant
of the marine portion of the expedition,
but the latter commander was speedily com-
pelled, by ill-health, to give place to Captain
Marryat. The forces safely reached Ran-
goon, the chief port of Ava, which was eva-
cuated after a very feeble attempt at resist-
ance.* On the 10th of June, a successful
attempt was made on the fortified camp and
stockades at Kemendine, on the Irawaddy
river. The outwork was taken by storm ;
the first man to gain the summit being
Major (afterwards Sir Robert) Sale. These
conquests were followed by a disastrous ex-
pedition, which involved not only loss of
life, but of character. A Burmese detach-
ment had formed stockades, under cover of
a fortified pagoda, at Kykloo, fourteen miles
from Rangoon, and a body of Madras infan-
try was dispatched to drive them off^ under
Lieutenant-colonel Smith. The Burmese
suffered the English to approach within
sixty yards of the pagoda, and then opened
their reserved fire with deadly effect. The
sepoys may well be excused for quailing
before the foe when British officers fairly
lost all self-control, and lay down to screen
themselves from danger. Colonel Smith
ordered a retreat, which soon became a
flight, and many lives would doubtless have
been sacrificed had not the approach of re-
inforcements ai'rested the progress of both
pursuers and pursued. A strong force was
sent by Sir A. Campbell to drive the Bur-
mese from Kykloo, but they had previously
absconded. This affair, which occurred in
October, 1824, was not calculated to cheer
the army, or encourage them in a position
daily becoming less endurable. No con-
sideration of pity for the unfortunate people
against the Burmese, made by the 47th regiment
(about 1,400 in number), at Barrackpoor, in 1825.
The men entreated to be dismissed and sufi'ered to
return to their homes, but without effect. The regi-
ment was paraded, and the refusal of the men to
march or ground their arms (which they held un-
loaded, though furnished with forty rounds of am-
munition), was punished by a murderous discharge
of artillery, which killed numbers of them. About
200 were taken prisoners, of whom twelve were
hanged, and the remainder condemned to labour in
irons. The court of inquiry appointed to report on
the whole affair, declared the conduct of the unhappy
soldiers " to have been an ebullition of despair at
being compelled to march without the means of
doing BO." — (Thornton's India, iv., 113.) How mili-
tary men can reconcile their consciences to such
proceedings as these, is perfectly incomprehensible.
of Rangoon had prevented the complete de-
vastation of the country by its sovereign,
and the invaders were consequently dis-
appointed in their hopes of obtaining sup-'
plies of fresh meat and vegetables, and
compelled to feed on putrid meat and bad
biscuit. The influence of dense jungle and
pestilential swamp, aggravated by intense
heat and deluges of rain, spread fever and
dysentery through the camp : scurvy and
hospital gangrene followed in their train; and
by the end of the monsoon scarcely 3,000
men were fit for active duty. The King of
Ava relied on the proverbial unhealthiness of
Rangoon to aid the efforts of his ill-disci-
plined troops, and facilitate the performance
of his command to drive the invaders into
the sea, or bring them to the capital to suffer
torture and ignominy. Notwithstanding
this vaunting language, his majesty of the
golden foot became extremely uneasy on
witnessing the pertinacity of the English,
and despite much affected rejoicing at their
having fallen into a trap by taking up a
position at Rangoon, he compared himself,
in an unguarded moment, to a man who,
having got a tiger by the tail, knew not
whether to hold on or let go.f He is said
to have been encouraged in " holding on,"
by an odd tradition (if any such did really
exist) that the capital would remain invin-
cible until a magical vessel should advance
against it without oars or sails !J
The Diana steamer, which accompanied
the flotilla on the Irawaddy, though pos-
sessed of no magic power, did great service
in capturing and destroying the war-boats
and fire-rafts sent out by the Burmese.
The arrival of reinforcements and supplies
from Bengal restored the number of troops
at Rangoon to about their original amount,
and infused new life into the survivors,
and spirit to resist the repeated but ill-
• Crawfurd's Emhassy to Ava in 1827 : App., p. 65.
t The Shwe-da-gon, a' Buddhist temple of great
size and remarkable sanctity, being deserted by its
priestly guardians, was used by Sir A. Campbell
as a military outwork. The building was of solid
brickwork, elaborately decorated, and coated with
gilding, whence its name — the Golden Pagoda. The
portion deemed peculiarly sacred, was a solid cone 300
feet high, which was supposed to enshrine, or rather
entomb, relics of the four last Budd'has — the staff of
Krakuchunda, the water-pot of Gunaguna ; the bath-
ing-robe of Kasyapa, and eight hairs from the head of
Gautama, or Sakyasinha. — (Wilson's Mill, ix., 50.
Also Hough, Symes, Snodgrass, Trant, and Havelock.)
\ Auber gives the tradition upon the authority of
Col. Hopkinson, who commanded the Madras artil-
lery in the Burmese war. — (ii., 579.) Trant also
mentions \i.-~{Two Years in Ava, 211.)
TRIUMPHANT TERMINATION OF BURMESE WAR— 1826.
425
directed attempts of the various forces dis-
patched against them from Ava.
The provinces of Assam and Cachar were
captured by troops sent from Hindoostan,
with the aid of native auxiliaries. In Jan-
uary, 1825, 11,000 men were assembled in
Chittagong, and dispatched, under General
Morrison, to Arracan, with instructions to
reduce that province, and then join Sir
Archibald Campbell on the Irawaddy. The
first object of the mission was fulfilled ; but
ignorance of the Aeng Pass rendered the
Youmadoung mountains an impracticable
barrier, and prevented the performance of
the latter order. By the close of the rainy
season one-fourth of the men were dead,
and more than half the survivors in hos-
pital, from the unhealthiness of the climate.
The remainder were therefore recalled, with
the exception of a few divisions left on coast
stations. Happily the war had been more
successfully prosecuted in Ava. The whole of
Tenasserim was conquered by detachments
from Rangoon* before the close of 1824;
and in the following February, General
Campbell prepared to advance, by land and
water, against Prome, the second city of
Ava. On the 25th of March, the troops
came in sight of Donabew, a fortified place,
where the flower of the Burmese army lay
encamped. Our flotilla was attacked with-
out success. Bandoola, the ablest and most
popular of the Burmese commanders, was
killed by a shell ; upon which Donabew was
abandoned by the enemy and immediately
occupied by order of General Campbell,
who advanced against Prome, which was
evacuated on his approach. The King of
Ava had not yet lost hope : levies were
raised in every part of the kingdom ; and in
November, a heterogeneous force marched
under the command of the prime minister
for the recovery of Prome. An engagement
took place on the 1st of December, which
terminated in the death of the Burmese
leader and the dispersion of the entire force.
The British general prepared to follow up
his victory by marching on the capital,
but his progress was delayed bj' overtures
of peace, which proved to be mere pretexts
to gain time. The same stratagem was
repeated more than once ; and even at the
last, when the evident futility of resist-
• Among the expeditions sent against the Eng-
lish at Rangoon, was one under the immediate
superintendence of the king's two brothers, and
numerous astrologers. A band of warriors termed
"invulncrablcs" by their countrymen, accompanied
ance seemed to attest the sincerity of the
defeated Burmese, the boast of a military
adventurer, that he would be answerable for
the discomfiture of the invaders if enabled
to lead an army against them, induced the
renewal of offensive operations by the King
of Ava. Troops to the number of 16,000
were assembled under the new leader, who
was dignified by the name of Nuring
Thuring, prince of Sunset (which our troops,
being poor linguists, translated as prince of
Darkness), and entrusted with the charge of
covering the capital against the approach of
the British army. The so-called " retrievers
of the king's glory" encountered about
1,300 men, under Colonel Campbell (two
brigades being absent on duty), and were
dispersed with greater loss than had been
sustained by their predecessors on any pre-
vious occasion. Their brave, though boast-
ful leader, ventured to prostrate himself
before the golden throne, and solicit a more
powerful force, but was immediately put to
death by the enraged and humiliated sove-
reign. No time could be spared now for
procrastinating schemes if Ava were to be
saved from the grasp of the English armv,
which marched on to Yandaboo, only forty-
five miles distant. Two American mission-
aries (Messrs. Price and Judson), "the only
negotiators in whom the king had any con-
fidence," were dispatched to the British
camp to conclude peace. General Camp-
bell made no increase on the terms already
stipulated for, and a treaty was finally con-
cluded in February, 1826, by which the
King of Ava ceded Arracan and Tenasserim
to the English ; agreed to pay them a crore
of rupees (about a million sterling), to re-
ceive a resident at his court, and to grant
to their ships the privileges enjoyed by
his own. He likewise renounced all claim
upon Asam, Jyntia, Cachar, and Munnipoor,
which were to be placed under princes
named by the British government.
The " peacock signet" was affixed to the
treaty, the provisions of which were ful-
filled, including the money stipulation, after
some delay and discussion j and thus ended
the first Burmese war. The dangers,
disasters, and heavy cost of life and treasure
involved therein, afforded strong arguments
to both parties in favour of a durable peace.
the princes, and were remarkable for the elaborate
tattooing of their bodies, which were covered with
figures of animals, and literally inlaid with precious
stones. Despite their name, and real though ill-
directed valour, they fled before European musketry.
426
SIEGE OF JAT FORTRESS OF BHURTPOOR— 1825-'6.
The main body of the invading force re-
turned as they came, by the line of the
Irawaddy; but a body of native infantry
succeeded in finding a practicable route to
the Aeng Pass, and thus clearly proved that
nothing but ignorance of the geography of
the country had, humanly speaking, been
the sole means of preventing " a portion of
General Morrison's army from wintering in
Ava, instead of perishing in the mountains
of Arracan."*
Before the termination of the Burmese
war, proceedings had occurred in another
quarter which involved a fresh appeal to
arms. The successors of Runjeet Sing of
Bhurtpoor, had faithfully observed the treaty
of 1805. The latter of these rajahs, Baldeo
j Sing, had taken pains to ensure the pro-
; tection of the supreme government for his
I son, Bulwunt Sing, a child of five years
old, by entreating the political agent at
I Delhi, Sir David Ochterlony, to invest the
! boy with a khelat, or honorary dress, which
I was the form prescribed by Lord Wellesley
|. as the official recognition necessary to legal
! succession on the part of all subsidiary and
; protected princes. The request of the rajah
was granted early in 1824, in consideration
of his infirm health ; and his death a year
after, not without suspicion of poison, was
followed by a train of events which proved
the justice of the precautions adopted on
i behalf of the heir. For about a month the
reins of government rested quietly in the
j hands of the guardian and maternal uncle
of the young rajah ; but at the expiration
of that time, the citadel was seized, the
uncle murdered, and the boy made pri-
soner by Doorjun Sal (a nephew of the late
Baldeo Sing), who assumed the direction of
affairs. This daring usurpation involved a
defiance to the British government, which
Sir David Ochterlony felt keenly ; he also
knew on how slender a thread hung the life
of the boy, for whose protection the honour
of England had been solemnly pledged.
An immediate demand for the surrender
of Bulwunt Sing was refused ; but the
promptitude and determination with which
it had been made, probably prevented an-
other name from being added to the long list
of Indian princes born too near a throne to
escape death by a poisoned opiate, or the
dexterous hand of an athlete. Sir David
• Trant's Tico I'earitre^i'o, 447. Prof. Wilson's
Documents Illustrative of Sunnese War,
t WiUon's Mill's India, ix., 191.
I See Note to p. 421
was anxious to waste no time in inconclu-
sive negotiation : he wished to march at
once against Bhurtpoor, before the enemy
should have opportunity to take measures
of defence. With this intent, the veteran
general, then in his sixty-eighth year (fifty
preceding ones having been spent in India),
set on foot the necessary preparations, which
were arrested by counter-orders from the
supreme government. The heavy pecuni-
ary cost, and numerous disasters attendant
on the early stages of the Burmese war,
combined with mortifying recollections of
the issue of the former siege of Bhurtpoor,
rendered Lord Amherst reluctant to enter
on an undertaking which,' if unsuccessful,
might, it was feared, add to existing embar-
rassments— that of " hostilities with every
state from the Punjab to Ava."t The suc-
cessful defence of this Indian fortress against
Lake, was still the favourite vaunt of every
secret and open foe to English supremacy :
the repetition of such an event was to be
avoided at any cost. The annulment of
the recent measures may be vindicated as a,
necessary act ; but there can be no excuse
for the harsh and peremptory manner iu
which it was enforced, to the bitter mortifi-
cation of Ochterlony, who after being before
deprived of the position of Delhi resident
by Sir George Barlow, was now compelled
to tender his resignation, which he sur-
vived only a few months. J
Doorjun Sal attributed the conduct of
the British government to fear, and was
consequently emboldened to drop the sub-
missive tone which he had adopted while
military preparations were in progress, and
assert his claims, not as regent, but as rajah.
The new Delhi resident. Sir Chai-les Met-
calfe, advocated the same policy as that
which had cost his predecessor so dearly;
and his representations, in conjunction with
the warlike proceedings of Doorjun Sal,
induced the supreme government to resolve
on espousing the cause of Bulwunt Sing.
An attempt at negotiation having failed, an
army, comprising about 21,000 men and
above a hundred pieces of heavy ordnance,
marched against Bhurtpoor in December,
1825, under the direction of Lord Comber-
mere. The garrison was believed to comprise
20,000 men, chiefly Rajpoots and Jats,
with some Afghans ; but the best defence of
the fortress consisted in its thick high walls
of indurated clay, rising from the edge of a
broad and deep ditch, flanked by thirty-five
I tower-bastions, and strengthened by the
CAPTURE OF BHURTPOOR, JAN., 1826— DUTCH CESSIONS. 427
outworks of nine gateways. Of these forti-
fications several had been added since 1805 :
one in particular, termed the Bastion of Vic-
tory, was vauntingly declared to have been
built with the blood and bones of English-
men there laid low. On the previous occa-
sion the besieged had, nevertheless, enjoyed
advantages far superior to those on which
they now relied. An immense number of
troops, stated, doubtless with exaggeration,
at 80,000,* were then assembled within the
walls, whence they could issue at pleasure
to draw supplies from the adjacent country;
for the limited number of Lord Lake's force
confined his operations to a single point.
Moreover, the English at that time trusted
too exclusively to hard fighting, and neg-
lected the resources of engineering skill,
especially the construction of mines — a mea-
sure now adopted by Lord Combermere, at
the suggestion of Major Gallowayf and
Lieutenant Forbes of the engineers, who
was on duty at the siege. The communica-
tion between the moat of the fortress and
the extensive piece of water by which it was
supplied, was cut off, the ditch nearly emp-
tied, and mines were carried across and
above it ; while the operation of powerful
batteries covered the approaches and kept
down the fire of the enemy. By the
middle of January the walls had been
effectively breached, and the army impa-
tiently waited the order to storm. It was
given on the 18th, the appointed signal
being the springing of a mine containing
10,000 lbs. of powder. The foremost of the
storming party, in their anxiety to advance
immediately after the explosion, crowded
too near the opening, and the quakings of
the earth, and the dull tremulous sound
beneath their feet, came too late to save
several of them from sharing the fate of
numbers of the enemy assembled to defend
the breach, who perished in the convulsion
which darkened the air with dense clouds
of dust and smoke, and hurled disjointed
masses of the hardened ramparts in all
directions. The fate of their comrades gave
a momentary check to the ardour of the
assailants; but the order to advance was
issued and obeyed — the troops scaled the
ramparts, and after overcoming a resolute
resistance at different points, gained pos-
session of the town and outworks, at the
cost of about 600 killed and wounded. The
* Creighton's Siege of Bhurtjmor in 1825-'6, p. 152.
t Better known as Major-general Galloway, the
author of a valuable work on the mud forts of India.
loss of the enemy was estimated at 14,000,
of whom 8,000 were slain in the assault ;
many being cut off by the British cavalry
while attempting to escape through the
gates on the western face of the fortress.
The citadel surrendered in the afternoon.
At the commencement of the assault,
Doorjun Sal had quitted the fortress with
his wife and two sons, escorted by forty
horsemen, and sought refuge in an adjoin-
ing wood, where he remained for several
hours, and then endeavoured to escape un-
perceived. The attempt failed ; the fugi-
tives were overtaken by a troop of native
cavalry, and secured without opposition.
Doorjun Sal was sent as a prisoner of state
to Allahabad, and the young rajah rein-
stated on the throne of his ancestors; but
though the nominal regency was made over
to the principal widow of Baldeo Sing, and
the partial management of affairs entrusted
to his leading ministers, the paramount
authority was vested in a British resident
permanently appointed to Bhurtpoor. The
army appropriated booty to the amount of
about £22,000. Before the fall of Bhurt-
poor, the conduct of the Ava war, though
not entirely approved, procured an earldom
for Lord Amherst. Lord Combermere was
created a viscount. The diplomatic arrange-
ments made during this administration were
of some importance. In 1824, Malacca,
Singapore, and the Dutch possessions on
the continent of India, were ceded by the
King of the Netherlands in exchange for
the British settlement of Bencoolen, in Su-
matra. Dowlut Rao Sindia died in March,
1827, leaving no son. His favourite, but
not principal wife, Baiza Bye, was, in ac-
cordance with his wish, suffered to adopt a
child and assume the regency — a procedure
for which the consent of the company was so-
licited and obtained, provision for the con-
tinued maintenance of a British contingent
being made by the advance of a loan or
deposit of eighty lacs of rupees, the interest
of which, at five per cent., was to be em-
ployed in the support of the troops.
Lord Amherst visited the titular king
of Delhi early in 1827, and then repaired
to Simla on the lower range of the Hima-
laya, which from that time became the
favourite retreat of the governors-general
of India, from its beauty and salubrity.
While there, hostilities broke out between
Russia and Persia, and the latter and
of course much weaker power demanded the
aid of the Calcutta government, in accord-
428 BENTINCK ADMINISTRATION, 1838— ABOLITION OF SUTTEE— 1829.
ance with the treaty concluded at Tehran
in 1814. The point at issue regarded the
boundary line between the two countries.
The cabinet of St. Petersburg positively re-
fused to accept the arbitration of British
officers ; and the result was, that a struggle
ensued, in which the British took no part ;
and the Persians, being worsted, were com-
pelled to make peace with Russia by the
surrender of the contested territory, in Feb-
ruary, 1828.
In the same month Lord Amherst re-
signed his position, and returned to Eng-
land. The restoration of tranquillity had
enabled him to pay some attention to civil
matters ; and the diffusion of education had
been promoted by the formation of col-
legiate institutions at Agra and at Delhi, as
also by the establishment of schools in
various provincial towns. The pressure of
financial difficulties impeded the full execu-
tion of these as well as of other measures
required to hghten the burdens and stimu-
late the commerce of the people of India.
.The war with Ava had necessitated heavy
disbursements. In two years (1824 and '25),
the sum of nineteen million sterling had
been raised j and at the close of the Am-
herst administration, "the financial prospects
of the country were of a most alarming com-
plexion."* Nearly eighteen months elapsed
before the arrival of a new governor-general,
and during that time the supreme authority
rested in the able hands of the senior mem-
ber of council, Butterworth Bayley, who
busily employed himself in laying the foun-
dation of various internal reforms, which
were carried out during the ensuing —
Bentinck. Administration, 1828 to 1835.
— After his recall from the government of
Madras, in 1807, Lord William Bentinck
had remonstrated forcibly against the injus-
tice of making him the victim of measures
adopted without his cognizance; and his
arguments being seconded by influential
family connexions (with Mr. Canning and
the Portland family), he eventually obtained
the appointment of governor-general, and
in July, 1828, arrived in Calcutta. At that
time unaccustomed tranquillity prevailed
throughout India, and the character of
Lord William Bentinck was considered the
best guarantee against its disturbance by
any aggressive or domineering spii-it on the
* Wilson's continuation of Mill, ix., 234.
t The altered tone of Calcutta society may be
conjectured, from the fact of Jacquemont's going on
Sunday to the house of the chief justice, Sir Charles |
part of the English. A vivacious French
traveller (Jacquemont) declared that the
actual possessor of the sceptre of the Great
Mogul thought and acted like a Pennsvl-
vanian quaker : yet some of the acts of this
administration would certainly not have
been sanctioned by the great American
coloniser. The influence of Lady Bentinck
was unquestionably of the best description ;
and the improved tone of thought and feel-
ing which pervaded the society of gov-
ernment-house, diff^used itself throughout
Calcutta and the British presidencies. t All
the support derivable from a manly and
conscientious spirit, was needed by one who
came out burdened with the execution of
immediate and sweeping retrenchments.
No opposition was made to the extensive
reduction of the army; but the old question
of batta (extra pay) which had called forth the
energies of Clive, became afresh the source
of bitter discontent. The total diminution,
on the present occasion, did not exceed
£20,000 per annum ; but it fell heavily on
individuals: and although the governor-
general could not avoid enforcing the ac-
complishment of stringent orders, he was
thereby rendered permanently unpopular
with the military branch of the service. The
press commented freely on the half-batta
regulations, and the discontented officers
were wisely suffered to vent and dissipate their
wrath in angry letters. The same forbear-
ance was not manifested when the excessive
flagellation, which at this period disgraced
the discipline of the army, became the theme
of censure ; for Lord W. Bentinck, " though
a liberal to the very core," held, as had
been proved at Vellore, very stern notions
on military afi"airs; and in this, as also in
some other cases, showed himself decidedly
" inclined to put a gag into the mouth of the
press. "J
In 1829, a regulation was enacted, by
which the practice of suttee — that is, of
burning or burying alive Hindoo widows
— was declared illegal, and the principal
persons engaged in aiding or abetting it,
became liable to trial for culpable homicide,
and were punishable with imprisonment
and fine. This enactment was far from ex-
citing the expected degree of opposition.
The same unlooked-for facility attended
another measure (denounced still more de-
Grey, to hear some music, play chess, and seek a
refuge from the general devotion of the English. —
I {Letters from India, i., 101.)
X Kaye's Life of Metcalfe, ii., 253.
EXTiRPATION OF THUGS-SUBJUGATION OP COORG— 1834. 429
cisively) in prospect, as a perilous innovation,
not on " the rights of women" only, but on
those of the entire Hindoo community ;
namely, the abrogation of the intolerant
laws which decreed the forfeiture of all
civil rights as the penalty of conversion to
Christianity. The convert not only became
an outcast, but an outlaw ; incapable of
inheriting personal or family property.
The wonder was that a Christian govern-
ment had not sooner put a stop to such
bigotry. Now, the necessary steps were taken
with much caution, and the alterations were
so mixed up with other ordinances, as to_
create little commotion or excitement even
when first published.
In 1831, active measures were adopted
for the extirpation of the numerous and
formidable gangs of depredators, known by
the name of Thugs or Phansi-gars; the
former term (signifying a cheat) being the
more common, the latter (denoting the
bearer of a noose or phansi, wherewith to
commit murder by strangulation) the less
general, but equally appropriate designa-
tion. The lasso was not, however, neces-
sary to these miscreants, whose horrible
dexterity enabled them, with a strip of
cloth, or an unfolded turban, to destroy the
unwary traveller speedily and surely ; —
the dead body was then buried in the
ground, and every trace of the crime care-
fully obliterated. Hundreds upon hundreds
of husbands and fathers perished none
knew how, save the members of this horri-
ble confederacy, who, whether of Hindoo or
Mohammedan origin, were usually thieves
and murderers by hereditary descent. Of
the doctrines of the Koran they were wholly
ignorant, and of Brahminism they knew
nothing but its worst superstitions; which
are those connected with the sanguinary
"worship of the goddess Doorga or Call, the
wife of Siva, whom they regarded as their
peculiar patroness, and looked to for
guidance and counsel, which they believed to
be communicated through the medium of the
flight and utterance of birds, beasts, and
reptiles. Fearful oMhs of secrecy were inter-
changed; and the difficulty of detection was
enhanced by the consummate art which
enabled the stealthy assassin to maintain
the bearing of an industrious peasant or
busy trader. Remorse seems to have been
well-nigh banished from this community by
the blinding influence of the strange pre-
destinarian delusion that they were born to
rob and kill their fellow-men — destined for
3 K
this end by Providence by a law similar to
that which impels the savage beast of the
forest to slay and devour human beings.
"Is any man killed from man's killing?"
was their favourite argument. " Are we
not instruments in the hand of God?"
The mysterious workings of that almighty
and ever-present power, which controls the
actions, but leaves the will free, was un-
thought of by these unhappy men, whose
excesses rendered them a by-word of fear
and loathing throughout India. Lord
Hastings made some efforts for their sup-
pression by military detachments, but with
little effect. Summary and organised mea-
sures of police were adopted by Lord Ben-
tinck, and ably carried out by Mr. Smith,
Major Sleeman, and other functionaries.
In the course of six years (1830 to 1835)
3,000 Thugs were arrested and tried at
Indore, Hyderabad, Saugor, and Jubbul-
poor, of whom about 1,500 were convicted
and sentenced to death, transportation, or
imprisonment. The strange esprit de corps
which for a time sustained them, at length
gave way; many purchased pardon at the
expense of full and free confession : formi-
dable gangs were thus reduced to a few scat-
tered and intimidated individuals; and the
Thugs became a bugbear of past times.
The most exceptionable feature in the
Bentinck administration was the deposition
of the rajah of Coorg, Veer Rajundra Wudi-
yar, and the conversion of his mountainous
principality into a province of the Madras
presidency. The immediate occasion ap-
pears to have been a domestic quarrel with
his sister and her husband, which led them
to seek the protection of the British resident
at Mysoor. The rajah was described as
fierce, cruel, and disposed to enter on in-
trigues against the supreme government
with the rajah of Mysoor. These vague
charges, together with some angry letters,
demanding the surrender of his fugitive
relations, and the imprisonment of a servant
of the company, were considered to justify
the dispatch of a powerful force for the sub-
jugation of Coorg. The British advanced
in four divisions, and entered the princi-
pality from as many quarters. The alleged
unpopularity of the rajah was contradicted
by the determination of his defenders,
despite a proclamation offering protection
to person and property as the price of
neutrality; but the eftbrts of the brave
mountaineers were rendered unavailing,
I less by the overwhelming superiority of
430 RAJAH OF COORG— ESTABLISHMENT OF OVERLAND ROUTE— 1830.
numbers and discipline on the part of the
invaders, than by the avowed disinclination
of Veer Rajundra to organised opposition
against the powerful protectors of his an-
cestors. Merkara, the capital of Coorg,
was captured in April, 1834, and the rajah,
with his familyj surrendered uncondition-
ally. A committee of inquiry was instituted
into the charges adduced against him, and
the search made after the seizure of Mer-
kara, brought to light the bodies of
seventeen persons, including three relatives
of the rajah, who had been put to death by
decapitation or strangling, and thrown into
a pit in the jungle. This was a melancholy
revelation; but such severities are unhap-
pily quite consistent with the ordinary
proceedings of despotic governments ; and it
may well be doubted whether, even if
proved beforehand, they could warrant the
interference of a foreign state for the depo-
sition of the prince by whom they were
committed, in opposition to the will of the
people he governed. Certainly the assump-
tion of sovereignty over the Coorgs could be
excused only by the most rigid adherence
to the promise given, " that their civil rights
and religious usages should be respected, and
that the greatest desire should invariably be
shown to augment their security, comfort,
and happiness. How far these objects have
been effected," adds Professor Wilson, " may
admit of question; but the province has
remained at peace, and the Coorgs have
shown no disposition to reassert their inde-
pendence."*
The rajah became a pensioner on the
E. I. Cy. Some few years ago he came to
England, bringing with him a daughter, a
lady-like and intelligent child, to be edu-
cated as a Christian. Queen Victoria, by a
graceful act of spontaneous kindness calcu-
lated to endear her to the vast Indian popu-
lation beneath her sway, officiated in person
as godmother to the young stranger, who,
it is to be hoped, will live to merit and
enjoy a continuance of the royal favour.
The rajah himself has no trace, either in
countenance or bearing, of the insane
cruelty ascribed to him; and the satisfac-
tory arrangement of the pecuniary questionf
* Continuation of Mill's India, ix., 359.
t Kelating to the proprietary right to a large
sum of money invested by the prince and his family
in the Anglo-Indian funds, the interest of which had
been regularly paid to the rajah, Veer Rajundra,
up to the time of his deposition, which the E. I. Cy.
now appear disposed to regard as confiscated.
I The efforts of Lord W. Bentinck were especially
now at issue between him and the E. I. Cy,
is desirable, as the best means of strength-
ening the confidence of Indian princes in
the good faith of the nation in general.
Whatever view may be taken of the con-
duct of Lord W. Bentinck in this case, and
of certain complex arrangements, of com-
paratively small interest, with Oude, My-
soor, Nagpoor, Jeypoor, and other Indian
states, there can be no doubt that the gen-
eral result of his administration was highly
beneficial to the cause of religious civilisa-
tion.! Public institutions, whether for edu-
cational or charitable purposes, were warmly
encouraged ; and the almost exclusive
agency of European functionaries, which
had been the radical defect of the Corn-
wallis system, was to some extent remedied
by the employment of natives in offices of
trust and emolument, — not, indeed, to the
extent which they have a right to expect
eventually, but as much perhaps as the cir-
cumstances of the time warranted. The
opening of the " overland route" by way of
the Red Sea, Egypt, and the Mediterranean,
and the consequent reduction of the length
of transit from four or five months to forty
or fifty days (an immense boon to the
Anglo -Indian community), was effected
mainly through the instrumentality of the
late Lieutenant Waghorn, R.N.
The navigation of the Ganges by steam-
vessels was attempted, and proved entirely
successful. § Measures were adopted to pro-
cure the unobstructed navigation of the
Indus, with a view to the extension of
British trade with the countries to the west-
ward as far as the Caspian Sea, and also in
the hope of establishing a commanding in-
fluence on the Indus, in order to counter-
act the consequences which might be an-
ticipated from the complete prostration of
Persia, and its subservience to the designs
of Russia against British India. The orders
of the cabinet of St. James were positive,
and Lord W. Bentinck must therefore be
acquitted of blame for the complex relations
formed with the Mohammedan states of
Bahawulpoor, Sinde, and Afghanistan, and
especially with the wily and ambitious Seik,
Runjeet Sing, to whom a present of several
directed to the diffusion of the English language
among the natives — a measure difficult indeed, but
highly desirable in the sight of all their well-wishers.
§ The first voyage between Bombay and Suez,
made by the J{u(/!i Lindsay in 1830, occupied thirty
days; the second, in the same year, only twenty-
two. The passage between England and India now
requires fewer weeks than it formerly did months.
METCALFE'S FREE-PRESS ACT, 1835— AUCKLAND ADMINISTRATION. 431
English horses, of unusual size and stature,
were presented by Lieutenant Burnes, in
the name of William IV., in October, 1881.
The renewal of the charter of the E.I. Cy.
for the term of twenty years (1833 to 1853),
was attended with a complete change in the
constitution of that powerful body, which,
after commencing in a purely commercial
spirit, now consented to place in abeyance
its exclusive privileges of trade with China
as well as with India, but retained its politi-
cal rights; and, in conjunction with the
Board of Control, continued to direct the
affairs of Hindoostan. The fixed dividend
guaranteed to the shareholders, and charged
upon the revenues of India, the means of
redeeming the company's stock, with other
arrangements then made, are set forth in the
opening page of this history. Lord William
Bentinck resigned his position on account
of ill-health, and quitted India early in
1835. The brief provisional sway of Sir
Charles Metcalfe was distinguished by a
measure which procured him much exagge-
rated applause and equally indiscriminate
censure. This act was the removal of the
restrictions on the public press of India,
which, though rarely enforced, were still in
existence. It is worthy of remark, that the
liability to government interference was
confined to Europeans; for native editors
could publish anything short of a direct
libel : and after the banishment of Mr. Silk
Buckingham by Mr. Adam, his paper was
continued by a successor of mixed race, an
Anglo-Indian, whom the law did not affect.
The views of Sir Charles Metcalfe, with
regard to the precarious nature of our In-
dian empire, were of a decidedly exag-
gerated and alarmist character. In 1825,
he had declared the real dangers of a
free press in India to be, " its enabling the
natives to throw ofi' our yoke;" and a
minute recorded by him in October, 1830,
expressed, with some sharpness, the incon-
venience attendant on the proceedings of
government finding their way into the
newspapers. Despite some apparent incon-
sistency, the strenuous advocacy of the
freedom of the press, at all hazards, would
have been a proceeding worthy his frank
and manly character ; but it would be diffi-
cult to justify his conduct in enacting a
measure, however laudable in itself, in op-
position to the will, and, as it was generally
supposed, to the interests of his employers.
The change could scarcely have been long
delayed ; for now that Englishmen were to
be suffered to settle at pleasure in India, it
was not likely they would tamely submit to
have summary deportation held over them
as the penalty of offending against the pre-
rogative of a despotic governor, in a time of
external and internal tranquillity.
Auckland Administration : 1835 to
1842. — The person first nominated as the
successor of Lord William Bentinck was
Lord Heytesbury ; but the brief interval of
power enjoyed by the Tory ministry having
expired before his lordship could quit Eng-
land, the appointment was cancelled, the
large sura granted as usual for outfitting
expenses being forfeited bj-^ the E. I. Cy.
The restored Whig cabinet, under Lord
Melbourne, bestowed the Indian vice-
royalty on Lord Auckland, a nobleman of
amiable character and business habits, who,
it was generally supposed, might be safely
entrusted with the charge of the supreme
government, which had certainly never been
assumed by any preceding functionary
under more favourable circumstances. Per-
fect tranquillity, a diminishing debt, and
increasing commerce, seemed to promise an
easy and honourable administration; un-
happily, it proved the very reverse. The
first event of importance was one which,
though vindicated by an author whose im-
partiality reflects equal credit on himself
and the E. I. Cy.,* nevertheless appears to
the writer of the present work an act of
cruel injustice, the blame of which rests
chiefly on the Bombay authorities ; for
the new governor - general gave but a
tardy and reluctant assent to their deci-
sion. The measure in question was the
deposition of the rajah of Sattara, the legi-
timate successor of Sevajee, who had been
placed on the musnud in 1819. The policy
or impolicy of his reinstatement need not
be discussed. Pertab Sein, then twenty-seven
years of age, showed unbounded delight at
his restoration to what he undisguisedly
viewed as real power, and diligently set
about improving his little sovereignty. Su«-
cessive residents at his court — Grant Duff,
generals Briggs and Robertson, and Colonel
Lodwick — bore witness to the general excel-
lence of his administration from 1819 to
1837-'8, the last gentleman with some
qualification, the specified drawback being
the new feature of weakness of mind mani-
fested by an excessive addiction to Brah-
minical superstitions, and the employment
• Mr. Edward Thornton, head of the statistical
department at the India House.
432 DEPOSITION OF PERTAB SEIN, RAJAH OF SATTARA— 1839.
of women in the management of elephants,
as guards, and in other unusual ofiBces.
These complaints were the first indication
of an altered tone on the part of the local
authorities, and were probably the earliest
results of a conspiracy formed against the
rajah in his own palace. The favourable
nature of the testimony regarding his
conduct previously sent to England, had
drawn from the Court of Directors repeated
expressions of warm and generous praise.
In 1829 he was declared to be " remarkable
among the princes of India for mildness,
frugality, and attention to business;" in
1831, " his disposition and capacity for gov-
ernment" are again noticed; and in De-
cember, 1835, a letter was addressed to
him, lauding the "exemplary fulfilment"
of his duties as " well calculated to pro-
mote the prosperity of his dominions and
the happiness of his people," and acknow-
ledging " the liberality displayed in exe-
cuting various public works of great utility,
which has so justly raised your reputation
in the eyes of the princes and people of
India, and gives you an additional claim to
our approbation, respect, and applause."
This testimony was accompanied by a hand-
some sword, the most marked tribute of
respect which could be ofi^ered to a Mah-
ratta. The letter and sword were arbitra-
rily detained by the Bombay government,
and never presented to the rajah, whose
feelings about this time became irritated by
a controversy with them regarding certain
jaghires to which he laid claim. A con-
spiracy was, it is believed, concocted against
him by a vindictive, ungrateful, and profli-
gate brother, and the rajah was accused of
endeavouring to procure the overthrow of
British power by three extraordinary mea-
sures : — first, by striving to corrupt the
entire Anglo-Indian army through two
native officers of a regiment stationed at
Sattara; second, by inducing the Portu-
guese at Goa to land 30,000 European
tfoops in India, who were to be marched
overland for the purpose; third, by cor-
responding with the fugitive ex-rajah of
Nagpoor, who had neither character, in-
fluence, nor ability, — not a shilling, nor an
acre of territory, — and was himself dependent
• Since the deposition of tne Sattara rajah, on the
evidence of forged documents and perjured wit-
nesses, a similar case has come to light. Ali Morad,
one of the Ameers of Sinde, having heen convicted
of forgery, had a large portion of his territories con-
fiscated by the British government. The accuser.
on charity. The seals of the rajah were
forged, pretended correspondence produced,
and other artful schemes successfully carried
through. There was at this time a vague
feeling of alarm throughout India relative
to a general rising against British supre-
macy : the press at home and abroad gave
countenance to the idea; and Sir Charles
Metcalfe declared he should not be surprised
" to wake some fine morning and find the
whole thing blown up." Sir Robert Grant,
then governor of Bombay, and some officials
around him, fell into the trap, and despatches
of several hundred paragraphs were written
regarding the alleged application of the rajah
for the aid of 30,000 Portuguese soldiers,
when, at that time, thirty would have been
an impossibility ; and great alarm was pro-
fessed lest 200,000 British soldiers— Mussul-
men as well as Hindoos, who had ever
proved themselves true to their salt — should
be seduced from their allegiance by this
petty prince, who was no warrior, but an
excellent farmer and landlord. The supreme
government of India at first treated the
aff'air with the contempt it merited : but
reiterated calumnies began to take effect;
and the alarm once given, the most
absurd stories, many of which carried with
them the proof of their falsehood,* were
believed by men who were afterwards
ashamed to confess their credulity. Sir R.
Grant died, and Sir James Camac, then
chairman of the Court of Directors, suc-
ceeded him. He went to Sattara in 1839,
and required the rajah to acknowledge his
guilt, sign a new treaty, and all would be
forgiven. Pertab Sein refused to declare
himself a traitor to the British government ;
asked for a copy of the charges against him,
and demanded a fair hearing and a public
trial. Sir J. Carnac was a kind and mode-
rate man; but the strong prejudices — not to
use a harsher term — of his associates warped
his judgment, and led him to view the con-
duct of the rajah as the continued contu-
macy of a rebel, instead of the off'ended
feelings of an innocent man. A body of
troops marched at midnight into the palace,
led by the successful plotter, Appa Sahib:
the rajah was made prisoner in his bed,
all his property seized; and ere morning
Sheik Ali Hussein, had been prime minister of the
chief, and was dismissed for malpractices : at his
death (8th May, 1853), he confessed that all he had
sworn against Ali Morad was untrue, and that h«
had given false evidence for purposes of revenge. —
{Bombay Gazette, 10th May, 1853.)
STATE OF AFGHANISTAN AND ADJACENT COUNTRIES.
433
dawned, the victim of a foul conspiracy was
ig;nominioiisly hurried away as a prisoner to
Benares, where he died. The brother who
had caused his ruin was placed on the
throne. After a few years of profligacj'
and indolence Appa Sahib died, leaving no
son, and the little principality of Sattara de-
volved, in default of heirs, upon the British
government. The whole transaction is pain-
ful, and reflects little credit on any con-
cerned therein : time, the revealer of truth,
has exposed the folly and injustice of the
procedure; and had the ex-rajah survived,
some measure of justice would probably
have been rendered him.*
The next and all-absorbing feature of the
Auckland administration is the Afghan
war, to understand the origin of which it
is necessary to explain the condition of the
territories on our western frontier. Zemaun
Shah, the Afghan ruler of Cabool, against
whom a treaty was negotiated with Persia
in 1801, by Sir John Malcolm, was deposed
and blinded in the same year by his brother
Mahmood — treatment precisely similar to
that bestowed by him on his immediate pre-
decessor, Humayun. Mahmood was, in turn,
displaced by a fourth brother, named Soojah-
ool-Moolk. With unwonted clemency the
conqueror refrained from inflicting ex-
tinction of sight, which, though not a legal
disqualification to sovereign power, usually
proves an insuperable bar to the claims of
any candidate. Soojah could not keep ti>e
throne he had gained; but being expelled
by the reviving strength of Mahmood,
sought refuge with Runjeet Sing, who plun-
dered him of all his valuables, including the
famous Koh-i-Noor (the gem of the English
Exhibition of 1851), and made him prisoner.
By the exertion of au unexpected amount
of skill and resolution. Shah Soojah suc-
ceeded in making his escape in the disguise
of a mendicant, and reached tiie British
station of Loodiana in September, 1816,
whither his family, together with Zemaun
Shah, had previously found refuge. Mah-
mood did not, however, possess the throne
in peace. His vizier, Futteh Khan, an able
chief, who had been mainly instrumental in
carrying out the late revolution, evinced
indications of a desire to elevate his nume-
rous brothers to almost exclusive authority,
and to make the Barukzye clan, of which
* Sir Charles Forbes, Bart., Mr. John Forbes,
M.P., and several leading directors of the E. I. Cy.,
■with Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., Arthur Lewis, of the
chancery bar, and many other inembers of the Court
he was hereditary chief, the governing class.
The youngest of his brethren, the after-
wards famous Dost Mohammed, treacherously
occupied the fortress of Herat, committed
great excesses there, and even profaned the
harem by seizing the ornaments of its in-
mates, and especially by violently tearing
away a jewelled girdle from the person of
one of the royal princesses.
The insulted lady sent the torn robe to
her relative, Prince Kamran, the son of
Mahmood Shah, with a demand for ven-
geance. Dost Mohammed fled to Cashmere,
where his brother, Azim Khan, was gov-
ernor. Futteh Ali was made prisoner, and
blinded by the dagger of Kamran. Subse-
quently, on his refusal to call upon his bro-
thers to surrender, the unfortunate vizier
was literally hacked to pieces by the courtiers
in attendance on the king and prince.
Dost Mohammed raised an army, and
made himself master of the city of Cabool, in
1818. Shah Mahmood and Kamran estab-
lished themselves in Herat, and the usurper
turned his attention to the aflfairs of gov-
ernment, and proved a much better ruler
than either of his predecessors. He had
many diflSculties to contend with, includ-
ing the jealous intrigues of his brothers,
several of whom became in fact indepen-
dent princes. Their hostility encouraged
Shah Soojah to attempt regaining posses-
sion of Cabool, but without effect. At the
commencement of Lord Auckland's ad-
ministration. Dost Mohammed reigned over
the chief remaining poi cion of the Doorani
kingdom founded by Ahmed Shah, which,
at the time of the death of that ruler, ex-
tended from the west of Khorassan to Sir- {
hind, and from the Oxus to the sea. Of the i
seventeen provinces it then comprised, only
six now remained — namely, Cabool, Ba-
meean, Glioreband, Ghuznee, Candahar,
and Jellalabad. Beloochistan had become
independent, under a chief named Moham-
med Khan, in 1802; Khorassan had been
recovered by Persia; Herat was retained by
Prince Kamran, after the death of Mah-
mood ; Balkh was taken by the King of
Bokhara, in 1823; and the Punjab, Mooltan,
Dci-a Ghaza Khan, Dera Ismael Khan, and
lastly Peshawur, fell to the share of llunjeet
Sing. Sinde was still nominally dependent
on Cabool; but its rulers — three brothers
of Proprietors, who were the warm friends of the ex-
rajah, never ceased to seek a hearing and trial for
him, and entertained a strong and permanent convic-
tion of his innocence.
434 TRIPARTITE TREATY— ENGLISH, RUNJEET SING, & SHAH SOOJAH.
who governed conjointly under the title of
"the Ameers" — generally needed the pre-
sence of an army to compel the payment of
their arrears of tribute. Cabool itself, and
a considerable portion of the Hazerah
country, was under the immediate sway of
Dost Mohammed; Candahar, and the adja-
cent territory, was held by his three brothers,
Kohen-dil-Khan, Rehem-dil-Khan, and
Mehir-dil-Khan, under the name of sirdars
or governors.
The divided and independent governments
beyond the Indus were in a condition well
calculated to secure our power, without any
infraction of the strict neutrality which the
English rulers so ostentatiously declared it
their desire to preserve, when, in 1838, an
attack was made on Herat by the Shah of
Persia, with the aid of Russian officers.*
Herat has been called the key of Afghanis-
tan : it is also the gate towards which all the
great roads from Central Asia to India con-
verge ; and the Calcutta authorities became
exceedingly alarmed at the probability of
its falling under the influence of Russia.
They became very solicitous that Afghanis-
tan should maintain entire independence,
and reject the proffered alliance with the
Muscovite court. Lieutenant Burnes was
dispatched on an embassy to Dost Moham-
med, or " the Dost," as he was commonly
called; but although the instructions of
Burnes were explicit regarding the non-
reception of Russian envoys, and other
demands to be exacted on the part of the
English, he had nothing beyond idle pro-
fessions of regard to offer in return; not
even mediation with Runjeet Sing for the
restoration of Peshawur, which the Seik
conqueror was willing to surrender to any
one except to the ruler of Cabool, from
whom it had been taken.
The contrast between the magnificent
presents brought by Mountstuart Elphin-
stone to Afghanistan, on a former occasion,
with the pistol and telescope, pins, needles,
and playthings, now offered to the Dost
for himself and the inmates of the zenana,
could not but be painfully felt; yet the
chief knew the value of British protec-
tion, and was not disposed to take offence
lightly. But he could not afford to re-
ject the direct offers of assistance, in
men and money, made by the secretary of
• One of the alleged reasons being the activity
with which the slave-trade was carried on at Herat.
t Mr. H. Torrens, and John Colvin, Lord Auck-
land's private secretary. — Kaye's War in Afghanistan.
the Russian legation, without some clear
guarantee against the evil effects of such
rejection; and as this was positively refused,
he had literally no alternative but to accept
the Russo-Persian alliance. It would have
been only common prudence, on the part of
the supreme government, to have waited
the issue of the siege of Herat, before pro-
ceeding further; but Lord Auckland was
unhappily enjoying the cool breezes of
Simla, away from his legitimate advisers at
Calcutta, and was, it is said, considerably
under the influence of two or three clever
and impulsive men, who may have been
excellent secretaries and amusing table-
companions, but were very ill-adapted for
wary counsellors.f It would have been an
easy matter to convert Dost Mohammed,
the sirdars of Candahar, and the whole
Barukzye clan, into firm allies; neverthe-
less. Lord Auckland, in an hour of weakness
and indecision, was induced to seek the co-
operation of Runjeet Sing for the restora-
tion of Shah Soojah; and, although the
defeat of the Persian army, and its with-
drawal, after a ten months' siege,J secured
the independence of Herat, and removed
one main incentive to war, the projected
invasion was carried out despite the apathy
of the Seik ruler (now fast sinking to his
grave, under the combined influence of age
and the most hateful excesses) and the
scarcely disguised distrust of Soojah, who
could not comprehend why the assistance
repeatedly refused by Lord W. Bentinck,
was bestowed unasked by Lord Auckland.
Perhaps so perilous an enterprise was
never more rashly and needlessly under-
taken. It was wrong in principle, weak in
execution, and appalling in its results.
Shah Soojah was not even presumptive
heir to the usurped dominions of his grand-
father; for Kamran, the son of the elder
brother Mahmood, had a prior claim. The
professed object of the Tripartite Treaty now
formed, viz., to restore a legitimate sove-
reign to the throne from whence he had
been wrongfully expelled, was therefore ab-
solutely false ; and as if to make the spirit
of the whole transaction more evident, Run-
jeet Sing aflSxed his signature to the treaty
at Lahore, June, 1838, with the ill-gotten
Koh-i-Noor gleaming on his arm.§ In re-
turn for furnishing a few thousand troops
J Lt. Eldred Pottinger cheered, counselled, and
fought with the garrison throughout the weary siege.
§ This famous stone is said by several modern
writers on the Afghan war to have formed part of
- I
MARCH OF THE "ARMY OF THE INDUS" TO SINDE.
435
to be paid by Shah Soojah, Runjeet Sing
was to be confirmed in possession of all the
territories (including Peshawur) wrested by
I him from Cabool.* As to the English,
they were willing to lavish men and money
on the trappings of war, and to get up " a
grand military promenade," for the sake of
terrifying Russia by a formidable demon-
stration of our power and energy. Thosef
who ventured to speak of the dreary defiles,
inclement climate, and, above all, of the
Warlike temper of the people upon whom a
rejected yoke was to be reimposed by Eng-
lish bayonets, were censured as timid, pre-
judiced, or misinformed; and the assem-
bling of the "army of the Indus" was a
source of agreeable excitement, fraught with
promotions and appointments, commissa-
riat contracts, and honours from the Crown ;
for, despite the neutral policy urged by the
home authorities, it was pretty evident
that a brilliant campaign was no less
certain to procure for its promoters rank
and emolument, than to inflict new burdens
on the Indian revenues, and increase the
pressure of taxes which it was alike the
duty and the interest of the government to
mitigate.
A declaration of war was issued from
Simla, in 1838, and a British force was
speedily gathered of 28,350 men, partly from
Bengal, partly from Bombay. It was deemed
advisable by the governor-general that the
Shah should " enter Afghanistan surrounded
by his own troops ;" and, for this end, about
Shah Jehan's peacock throne, which was carried off
from Hindoostan by Nadir Shah ; but there does not
seem evidence to support the statement. Several
diamonds of extraordinary value were seized by
different invaders, and one in particular was given
by the exiled Humayun to his ungracious host the
Shah of Persia.— (&e p. 91.)
• The concessions made to Runjeet Sing at this
period were no less undignified than unwise. At
the meeting which took place with Lord Auckland
at Ferozepoor, caresses were lavished on the " lion
of the Punjab," who though now a decrepit and
paralysed old man, continued to outrage public de-
cency by the practice of shameful sensualities.
There he sat in his golden chair, shaped like a hip-
bath, with his attenuated limbs gathered beneath him,
and his single restless eye flashing in rivalry of the
Koh-i-Noor (the only ornament he wore, except a
string of 300 pearls of the finest water and the size
of small marbles), listening to the civilities of the
English authorities, which happily did not extend
to compliance with his previous demand for an Eng-
lish wife. — (Osborne's Court and Camp of Runjeet
Sing, 199.) The fact that the old debauchee en.
tcrtained some at least of his official visitors with
the " burra tomacha" (great fun) of intoxicating
" nautch" girls, for the sake of seeing them beat and
abuse one another, gites force to the remark of a
4,000 camp followersj were levied from the
E. I. Cy.'s military stations, and placed
under the nominal command of Timur, the
eldest son of Soojah-ool-Moolk ; the whole
being led by British officers, and paid from
the British treasury. Runjeet Sing was to
supply a contingent of 6,000 men, and to
station 15,000 men as an army of observa-
tion in Peshawur. The commissariat ar-
rangements were extremely deficient, and
the enormous number of camp followers,
amounting to nearly 100,000 persons, im-
parted new difficulties to a march of extra-
ordinary length, through an almost un-
explored and hostile territory. The in-
vading force had only physical difficulties,
and the depredations of certain mountain
tribes, to encounter on the road to Candahar.
It was expected that the Ameers of Sinde
would offer opposition on the score of the
manifest infraction of the treaty of 1832, by
which the E. I. Cy., when desirous to open
the navigation of the Indus, expressly de-
clared that it would be employed by them
solely for mercantile uses. The Ameers,
however, saw the folly of remonstrating
with a powerful force thirsting for the plun-
der of the rich city of Hyderabad. They
paid £100,000 as an instalment of the
£280,000 demanded by Shah Soojah on the
favourite plea of arrears of tribute, and sur-
rendered the fortified island of Bukkur in
the Indus, the possession of which was
deemed necessary to the security of the
English force. The army of the Indus
British officer, who, commenting on the indulgence
evinced to the vices of Runjeet Sing, writes — " It was
impossible not to feel that this complaisance was
carried a little too far, when he was exhibited in the
character of a Bacchus or Silenus, in the presence of
an assemblage of English gentlewomen, and when
their notions of decency were further outraged by
the introduction, to whatever extent sanctioned by
culpable usage in other parts of India, of bands of
singing and dancing courtesans." — (Havelock's War
in Afghanistan, i., 87.) After all the Seiks were
not conciliated : tliey watched the Feringhees
(foreigners) with extreme suspicion ; and when their
infirm old chief, in his anxiety to examine a present
of two howitzers, fell prostrate before them, the ac-
cident was regarded as a fearful omen.
t In October, 1838, the author, deeply convinced
of the unjust and perilous nature of the war, drew
up a memorandum, which the Marquis Wellesley
transmitted to Sir John Cam Hobhouse, then Presi-
sident of the Board of Control. His lordship ad-
dressed a subsequent communication to Sir John
against the Afghan war, predicting that " our diffi-
culties would commence where our military successes
ended." The Duke of Wellington, Elphinstone,
Edmonstone, Metcalfe, and other Indian statesmen,
took the same view of the question.
X Col. Den.iie's Campaigns in Afghanistan, 51.
436 CAPTURE OF GHUZNEE— OCCUPATION OF CANDAHAR k CABOOL.
traversed the weary Bolan Pass, and the
dangerous and difficult Kojuck defile with
success, but at a fearful cost of life,* espe-
cially on the part of the camp followers, from
heat and want of water. Candahar (the
capital of "Western Afghanistan), was occu-
pied without resistance by Shah Soojah and
his allies, in April, 1839. Kohun-dil-Khan
and his brother sirdars fled as the foe ad-
vanced ; and English gold scattered lavishly
on all sides, enabled the returning monarch
to win the temporary suffrage of several
Barukzye chiefs. In the following June
the army under Sir John Keane and Shah
Soojah left a garrison at Candahar and set
out for Ghuznee. Tliis ancient fortress
proved stronger than had been expected;
but a nephew of Dost Mohammed deserted
from the garrison, and betrayed the im-
portant secret, that an entrance called the
Cabool gate had not, like the rest, been
built up with stone, but had been left slightly
barricaded in the expectation of supplies.
The besiegers, acting on this information,
fastened bags of gunpowder upon the wooden
door at night, and by setting them on fire
efiected a practicable breach, through which
a storming party, led by Colonel Dennie,
immediately secured an entrance, captured
the town, and, after some hours' resis-
tance, the citadel also, receiving little loss,
but slaying 1,000 Afghans: 3,000 more
were wounded or captured. Among the
prisoners were about fifty fanatics of all
ages, who had assumed the name of Ghazee,
in right of being engaged in holy warfare
against infidels. These men, the first taken
in arms against Shah Soojah, " were hacked
to death with wanton barbarity by the
knives of his executioners."t
So much for the magnanimity of the re-
stored monarch in his short hour of triumph.
The campaign thus successfully opened, was
to some extent overshadowed by tidings of
the death of Ruujeet Sing, in 1839; but
notwithstanding the jealous dislike evinced
towards the English by the new authorities
at Lahore, the Seik contingent, wretchedly
insufficient as it was, became serviceable in
the hands of Colonel Wade; and this ener-
getic officer, with his nominal coadjutor the
Shahzada (Prince Timur), who was "an
absolute cypher,"contrived, partly by fighting,
• Of 100,000 camp followers, only 20,000 reached
Candahar. — (Capper s llirce Presidencies, p. 212.)
t Vide John William Kaye's graphic and fearless
History of the War in Afghanittan, i., 445.
X Idem., 661.
partly by diplomacy, to traverse the formi-
dable Khyber Pass, at the head of a motley
assemblage of Hindoos, Seiks, and Afghans.
Akber Khan, Dost Mohammed's favourite
" fighting son," was recalled from his camp
near Jellalabad, to join his father at Cabool,
and the path being left open. Wade marched
on and seized Jellalabad.
The position of Dost Mohammed was
daily rendered more perilous by the deser-
tion of his relatives and followers. Very
shortly after the taking of Ghuznee, he at*
tempted to compromise matters by oflering
to submit to the restoration of Shah Soojah,
on condition of his own nomination to his
late brother Futteh Khan's position of
vizier. This proposition was of course re-
jected ; for so far from being inclined to
delegate authority to his opponent. Shah
Soojah desired nothing better than to " hang
the dog" — a procedure which the British en-
voy, Mr. Macnaghtan, does not appear to
have considered otherwise than advisable,
provided they could catch him.J
The Dost desired to give the invaders
battle at Maidan, on the Cabool river, but
treachery and disaffection surrounded him
on every side, and his camp at Urghundeh
fairly fell to pieces. The venal Kuzzil-
bashes (or Persian guard) forsook the
master whose salt they had eaten thirteen
years. In vain he entreated them to stand
by him in one charge against the Feringiiees,
that he might die with honour, — the spirit-
stirring appeal fell on the listless ears of men
determined to purchase safety by desertion;
and, attended by a few faithful followers,
Dost Mohammed in despair turned his
horse's head towards the Hindoo-Koosh,
leaving his guns standing.
Cabool opened its gates with " sullen, surly
submission;" and Shah Soojah entered the
Balla Hissar or palace-citadel in triumph,
while his British allieg sounded a long loud
note of triumph, the European echoes of
which were destined to die away in the very
saddest cry of anguish and humiliation ever
uttered by the proud conquerors of India.
The authorities at Cabool soon discovered
that the foreign bayonets and foreign gold
which had been the means of replacing Shah
Soojah on the throne of Afghanistan, were
likewise the sole method of keeping him
there. Lord Auckland desired the return
of the entire " army of the Indus ;"
but the unpopularity of the Shah was too
evident to admit of such a step, unless we
were willing to confess the whole affair a
SURRENDER OF THE AMEER, DOST MOHAMMED— 1840.
437
failure, and escort his majesty back to
Loodiana, or if he thought fit, leave him
to take his chance among his own country-
men. An open confession of error, how-
ever mortifying, would have been incal-
culably wiser than following up one false
step with a multitude of others. In 1839
a portion of the troops returned to Calcutta.
The commander-in-chief. Sir John Keane,
immediately proceeded to England, where he
was elevated to the peerage by the title of
Baron Keane of Ghuznee, and further re-
munerated by a pension of £3,000 per ann.
for himself and his two next heirs male. The
governor-general, from a baron, was made
an earl. Mr. Macnaghten was created a ba-
ronet, and orders of the Bath were bestowed,
not with the most discriminating hand.*
The winter of 1839 passed in tolerable
tranquillity. The British took military
possession of the country by establishing
garrisons in the cities of Cabool and Can-
dahar, and in the principal posts on the
main roads to Hindoostan — viz., Ghuznee
and Quettah on the west, Jellalabad and
Ali-Musjid on the east. Some minor de-
tachments were left in various other isolated
positions; thus dividing a force which, united,
was scarcely sufiBcient for its own protection.
Moreover, the military authorities in Cabool,
instead of retaining their position in the
Balla Hissar, were induced to build costly
and indefensible cantonments on the adja-
cent plain, in compliance with the scruples
of Shah Soojah, who soon began to feel his
throne somewhat too closely hedged in by
foreign troops. The first flush of triumph
over, he could not but find it a weary thing
to live shut up in a fortress, despised by his
own subjects ; and as he looked forth from
the Baila Hissar on the city beneath, he
said " everything appeared to him shrunk
small and miserable; and that the Cabool
of his old age in no respect corresponded
with the recollections of the Cabool of his
youth."
The yearnings of romance were soon
swallowed up in real dangers. Insur-
rections took place in various quarters.
Dost Mohammed again appeared in arms,
and several sharp encounters took place
in the course of the year 1840 ; but
the Afghans, despite some partial successes,
offered no combined or systematic resistance.
The Dost, after making a brave and suc-
cessful stand at Purwan in November,
thought the time had arrived when he
* Dennie's services at Ghuznee were overlooked.
3i, .
might, with a good grace, surrender him-
self to the English (into whose hands the
ladies of his family had already fallen.)
Turning from the field of battle in despair,
he galloped towards Cabool, and twenty-
four hours spent on the saddle, brought
him face to face with the British envoy,
who was returning homeward from an
evening ride. Dost Mohammed sprang to
the ground, tendered his sword, and claimed
protection as a voluntary captive. The
kindly peace-loving nature of Sir William
had been sadly warped since he had ex-
changed the ordinary routine of official
duties and scholarly recreations for the
arduous post of counsellor to Shah Soojah;
and immediately before this unlooked-for
greeting, he had been inquiring with regard
to the Dost — " Would it be justifiable to
set a price on this fellow's head ?" for " it
appears that he meditates fighting with us
so long as the breath is in his body." But
the chivalrous bearing of the defeated
Ameer banished all harsh thoughts. Sir
William refused the proffered sword; and
when the Dost was sent as a state prisoner
to Hindoostan, actually advocated his being
provided for by the British authorities
" more handsomely than Shah Soojah had
been," for the following memorable reason :
— " The Shah had no claim upon us. We
had no hand in depriving him of his king-
dom ; whereas, we ejected the Dost, who
never offended us, in support of our policy,
of which he was the victim." Lord Auck-
land tacitly admitted the fact by receiving
the deposed ruler with extreme courtesy,
and burdening the Indian population with
a new pension of two lacs, or about £20,000
per ann. for his support. At this time the
revenues of Cabool, gathered by force of
arms, did not exceed fifteen lacs, and barely
paid the ordinary expenses of government.
The Anglo-Afghan treasury was well-nigh
exhausted, and there were grounds for
doubting whether the E. I. Cy. would not
think a million and a quarter a-year too
dear a price to pay for the maintenance of
their nominee at Cabool. The reduction of
outgoings was attempted by the diminution
of the "black mail" paid to certain Khilji
chiefs for checking the excesses committed
by the predatory tribes who infested the
passes. The experiment proved very dan-
gerous ; the Khiljies assumed a haugh^^y
tone ; the Kojucks, and many tribrj of
whose very names the English had until
now remained in happy ignorance, rose in
438 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENGLISH IN AFGHANISTAN— 1841.
what was misnamed "rebellion" against
Shah Soojah. In Kohistan and the Khy-
ber, that region of snowy precipices and
roaring torrents, where every man is a
good marksman behind his native rock,
more than usual excitement prevailed. The
British envoy, considering with some reason
the state of Afghanistan to be at the best of
times one of chronic unrest, paid too little
heed to the numerous signs of an approach-
ing crisis which alarmed Shah Soojah.
The noses of the Dourani Khans (or lords)
had, Macnaghten said, been brought to the
grindstone, and all was quiet, from Dan to
Beersheba.* Impressed with this agreeable
conviction, he prepared to resign his posi-
tion, and return to Hindoostan to fill the
honourable station of governor of Bombay.
His intended successor. Sir Alexander
Burnes, had long ardently desired the office
of envoy ; but from the conflicting and con-
tradictory character both of his official and
private statements, it is difficult to say what
his actual opinions were concerning the
condition of the country and the feelings of
the people. He must have known that the
military occupation of Afghanistan (of ne-
cessity sufficiently unpopular) had been
rendered peculiarly hateful and galling by
his own unbridled licentiousness, and by
that of other officers, whose example was
closely imitated by the mass of the Euro-
pean soldiery. Lady Macnaghten, Lady
Sale, and other Englishwomen resided with-
in the cantonments, yet their presence
did not check the excesses, the terrible
retribution for which they were soon to
share. Shah Soojah, whom Macnaghten
declared to be " the best and ablest man in
his dominions,"t and whose fidelity was
evinced by the warnings he repeatedly gave
the English authorities of the impending
danger, and his entreaties that they would
take up their abode in the Balla Hissar,
remonstrated forcibly against the immo-
rality of the officers, and pointed out the
* News had arrived at Cabool, in the course of the
summer, which greatly relieved the apprehensions of
Macnaghten and Humes, both of whom had a
"tendency to look out for dangers from afar, rather
than guard against those by which they were imme-
diately surrounded. The raising of the siege of
Herat had only temporarily allayed their fears of
Russian aggression, which were soon aroused by the
dispatch of a powerful force, under General Peroffski,
ostensibly directed against the man-stealing, slave-
holding principality of Khiva, hut it was believed, in-
tended to act offensively against the English. What-
ever the true design may have been, it was frus-
trated by the intense cold and inaccessible character
indignation which it excited among his
countrymen. " I told the envoy,'"^ writes
the Shah to Lord Auckland, January, 1842,
" what was going on, and was not listened
to. I told him that complaints were daily
made to me of Afghan women being taken
to Burnes' moonshee (Mohun Lai), and of
their drinking wine at his house, and of
women being taken to the chaonce, and of
my having witnessed it." J Kaye states, " the
scandal was open, undisguised, notorious.
Redress was not to be obtained. The evil
was not in course of suppression. It went
on till it became intolerable; and the in-
jured then began to see that the only
remedy was in their own hands."§
That remedy was the death of the leading
offender, and the expulsion of the English
from Afghanistan. Warnings of various
kinds were not wanting; but they passed
unheeded. The week fixed for the depar-
ture of the envoy arrived, and preparations
were made for his journey, and for the
comfort of his successor in office, and of
the other functionaries during the coming
winter, which was expected to pass like the
two former ones, in a succession of pastimes,
including shooting, card-playing, drinking, ||
and various amusements, innocent or other-
wise, according to the tastes and habits of
those concerned. On the evening of tlie
1st November, 1841, Burnes formally con-
gratulated Macnaghten on his approach-
ing departure during a period of profound
tranquillity.^ At that very time a party of
chiefs were assembled close at hand dis-
cussing in full conclave the means of
redressing their national and individual
wrongs. At daybreak on the following
morning, Burnes was aroused by tlie mes-
sage of a friendly Afghan, informing him of
approaching danger, and bidding him quit
the city and seek safety in the Balla Hissar
or the cantonments. The vizier of Shah
Soojah followed on the same errand, but all
in vain ; the doomed marl sent to ask mili-
of the country, which, together with pestilence,
nearly destroyed the Russian army, and compelled
Peroffski to turn back without reaching Khiva.
t Kaye, i., 533. | Idem, ii., 364. § Idem, l, 615.
11 Dost Mohammed prohibited the sale of a fiery
spirit distilled from the grape. The English restored
the Armenian manufacturers to full employment.
^ It is asserted, that on the same day, intelligence
so clear and full of a hostile confederacy had been
given to Burnes, that he exclaimed the time had come
for the British to leave the country. Burnes was
impulsive, vacillating, ambitious, and unprincipled.
It is possible that he deceived himself sometimes :
it is certain that he constantly misled Macnaghten.
MASSACRE OF THE BROTHERS BURNES AND LIEUT. BROADFOOT. 439
tary support, and persisted iu remaining in
his own abode, which adjoined that of Cap-
tain Johnson, paymaster of the Shah's
forces. This officer was absent in canton-
ments, but the treasury was under the care
of the usual sepoy guard, and they were
ready and even desirous to fire on the in-
surgents. Burnes refused to give the neces-
sary orders, in the liope of receiving speedy
succour ; meanwhile the crowd of stragglers
grew into an infuriated mob, and his at-
tempted harangue from the balcony was
silenced by loud clamours and reproaches.
Two officers had slept that night in the
house of Sir Alexander : one of them. Lieu-
tenant Broadfoot, prepared to sell his life
dearly, and it is asserted, slew no less than
six of his assailants before a ball struck
him to the ground a corpse; the other.
Lieutenant Charles Burnes, remained beside
his brother while the latter offered redress
of grievances, and a heavy ransom to the
populace as the price of their joint lives.
But in vain ; the outraged Afghans loved
vengeance better than gold; and after setting
fire to the stables, a party of them burst
into the garden, where they were fired upon
by the sepoys under Lieutenant Burnes.
Sir Alexander disguised himself in native
attire, and strove to escape, but was recog-
nised, or rather betrayed by the Cash-
merian who had induced him to make the
attempt. A fearful shout arose from the
party in the garden on discovering his pre-
sence — " This is Secunder (Alexander)
Burnes!" and in a few moments both
brothers were cut to pieces by Afghan
knives. The sepoys in charge of the trea-
sury fought desperately, and surrendered
their charge only with their lives. Mas-
sacre followed pillage; every man, woman,
and child (Hindoo and Afghan) found iu the
two English dwellings perished':* finally,
the buildings were fired ; and all this with
G,000 British troops within half-an-hour's
march of the city. The only energetic
attempt made to check the insurrectionary
movement emanated from the Shah, and
was performed by one of his sons; but it
proved unsuccessful, and the British autho-
rities displayed an apathy quite inexplicable,
even supposing the outbreak to have been
directly occasioned by the ill conduct of its
chief victim. General Elphinstone, the
commander-in-chief, was an officer of high
character, and of brave and kindly bearing ;
1 • Moonshee Mohun Lai, who did "the dirty work of
the British diplomatists," made his escape. — (Kaye.)
but increasing physical infirmities pressed
heavily on him : and before the catastrophe
he had applied for his recall from Afghan-
istan, where, indeed, he ought never to have
been sent. Between him and Macnaghten
no sympathy existed : they could not under-
stand each other, and never acted in con-
cert. The one was despondent and procras-
tinating, the other hopeful and energetic,
but too much given to diplomacy. The
consequence of this tendency was the adop-
tion of various compromising measures when
the occasion loudly called for the most
active and straightforward policy. Post
after post was captured from the British in
the immediate vicinity of Cabool, and it
soon became evident that the out-stations
were iu extreme peril ; for the insurrection,
from being local, speedily became general.
The "frightful extent" of the cantonments
(erected before Elphinstone's arrival), the
loss of a fort four hundred yards distant,
iu which the commissariat stores had been
most improvidently placed, together with the
deficiency of artillery, so disheartened and
unnerved the general, that he suifered day
after day to pass without any decisive effort
to gain possession of the city, and began to
urge on Macnaghten the propriety of
making terms with the enemy. The king
remained shut up in the Balla Hissar, " like
grain between two millstones." He was a
man of advanced age and weak purpose, and
the hostility of his subjects being avowedly
directed against the Feringhees, he strove
to keep his crown upon his head, and his
head upon his shoulders, by a trimming
policy, which rendered him an object of
distrust to both parties, and cost him even-
tually life as well as honour. Avarice had
grown on him, and he beheld with extreme
annoyance the sums of money lavished by
the British envoy in the futile attempt to
buy off the more influential of the confede-
rate chiefs. The urgent solicitations of
Elphinstone, the growing difficulty of ob-
taining supplies for the troops, the unsatis-
factory results of daily petty hostilities, and
the non-arrival of the reinforcements of men
and money solicited by Macnaghten from
Hindoostan, at length induced him to offer
to evacuate Afghanistan on honourable
terms. The tone adopted by the chiefs was
so arrogant and offensive, that the confer-
ence came to an abrupt termination ; both
parties being resolved to resume hostilities
sooner than abate their respective preten-
sions. During the interview a strange
440 ENGLISH FORCE BELEAGUERED IN CABOOL CANTONMENTS— 1841.
scene took place outside the cantonments.
Thinking that a treaty of peace was being
concluded by their leaders, the British and
Afghan soldiery gave vent to their joy in
mutual congratulations. The Europeans
lent over the low walls (misnamed defences),
conversing familiarly with their late foes,
and even went out unarmed among them,
and thankfully accepted presents of vege-
tables. The result of the meeting between
the envoy and the chiefs was the renewal of
strife, and the men whose hands had been
so lately joined in friendly greetings, were
again called on to shed each other's blood
for the honour of their respective countries.
The English troops showed so little inclina-
tion for the work, that Macnaghtan angrily
designated them a " pack of despicable
cowards," and was soon compelled to reopen
his negotiations with the enemy. Affairs
were in this precarious condition when
Akber Khan returned to Cabool, after more
than two years of exile and suffering. His
reappearance caused no additional anxiety
to the beleagured English ; on the contrary,
the fact that the ladies of the family
of the young Barukzye were, with his
father, prisoners in Hindoostan, inspired a
hope that he might be made the means of
procuring favourable terms from the hostile
leaders who, on their part, welcomed the
return of the favourite son of the Dost with
extreme. delight. Akber (styled by Roebuck
the "Wallace of Cabool") was, beyond
doubt, a favourable specimen of an Afghan
chief, strikingly handsome in face and
figure, full of life and energy, joyous in
peace, fearless in war, freedom-loving, deeply
attached to his father and his country, sus-
ceptible of generous impulses, but unedu-
cated and destitute of self-control. For
some time he took no leading part against
the English, and neither aided nor opposed
the dominant party in formally setting aside
the authority of Shah Soojah, and proclaim-
ing as king in his stead the Nawab Moham-
med Zemaun Khan, a cousin of the late
Cabool chief. The selection was fortunate
for the English, the Nawab being a humane
and honourable man, well inclined to grant
them acceptable terms of evacuation ; and his
turbulent and quarrelsome adherents were,
after much discussion, induced to sign a
treaty, the stipulations of which, mutual dis-
trust prevented from being fulfilled by either
party. The English consented to sur-
render the fortresses they still retained in
Afghanistan, and their cannon, on con-
dition of receiving a supply of beasts of
burden from the enemy, to facilitate their
march. Shah Soojah was to be allowed to
return with them or to remain in Cabool,
with the miserable stipend of a lac of rupees
per annum; and one moment he resolved
on accompanying the retreating army, while
the next he declared it his intention to
remain where he was, and wait a new turn
of events. In either mood, he declaimed,
with reason, against the folly of his allies
in divesting themselves of the means of
defence, asking indignantly whether any
people in the world ever before gave their
enemies the means of killing them? The
officers in chargs of Candahar and Jellala-
bad (Nott and Sale) took the same view of
the ease ; and, arguing that the order of sur-
render must have been forcibly extorted
from General Elphinstone, positively re-
fused to abandon their positions. The treaty
was thus placed in abeyance, and the troops
in cantonment lived on from day to day,
frittering away their resources, and growing
hourly more desponding ; while Macnaghten,
Elphinstone, and the second in command,
Brigadier Shelton, passed the precious
hours in angry discussion. The ill-health
of the general, increased by a painful wound
caused by a musket-ball, obliged him to
delegate many duties to Shelton, an officer
of great personal courage, but overbearing
and prejudiced, with the especial defect of
being unable to sympathise with the suffer-
ings, or appreciate the noble devotion of the
much-tried native troops. The civilian is said
to have been the truest soldier in the camp ;
but he had no confidence in his colleagues,
and his own powers of mind and body were
fast sinking beneath the load of anxiety
which had so suddenly banished the delusion
(sedulously cherished by the unhappy Burnes
to the last day of his life) of the tranquil
submission of Afghanistan to a foreign
yoke. Never had day-dreamer a more terri-
ble awakening. Incensed -by the refusal of
the holders of inferior posts to obey his
orders, and by the non-fulfilment of the
promises made by the Barukzye chiefs of
carriage cattle, Macnaghten, chafed almost
to madness, was ready to follow any ifftiis
fatuus that should present a hope of escape
for himself and the 16,000 men whose lives
trembled in the balance. Although osten-
sibly bound by treaty with the Barukzyes,
he was ready to side with Doorani or
Populzye, Khilji or Kuzzilbash, or, in a
word, to join any native faction able to
MURDER OF SIR W. MACNAGHTEN AND CAPTAIN TREVOR— 1841. 441
afford cordial co-operation. In this mood
he lent a willing ear to a communication
made to him on the evening of 22nd Dec,
1841. The proposal was that Akber and
the Khiljies should unite with the British
for the seizure of the person of Ameeu-
oollah Khan, a leading Barukzye chief, and
a party to the late agreement, whose head,
for a certain sum of money, would be laid
at the feet of the envoy. Happily for his
own honour and that of his country, Mac-
naghten rejected the proposition so far as
the life of the chief was concerned,* but
was prepared to aid in his capture without
the preliminary measure of declaring the
treaty void. The envoy gave a written
promise for the evacuation of Afghanistan in
the coming spring; Shah Soojah was to be
left behind, with Akber for his vizier; and
the representative of the British govern-
ment further guaranteed to reward the ser-
vices of Akber by an annuity of £40,000
a-year, and a bonus of no less than £300,000.
On the following morning Macnaghten sent
for the officers of his staff (Capts. Lawrence,
Trevor, and Mackenzie), and, in an excited
but determined tone, bade them accompany
him to a conference with Akber : lastly,
he informed the general of his intentions,
desiring that two regiments might be got
ready for service, and, to some extent, ex-
plaining the matter in hand. Elphinstone
asked what part Nawab Zemaun Khan, and
other leading Barukzyes, were expected to
take ? " None," was the reply ; " they are
not in the plot." The old general was scru-
pulously honest, and the word grated on his
ear. ]3ut Macnaghten would listen to
neither remonstrance nor entreaty. Impa-
tiently turning aside from the feeble but
chivalrous veteran, he exclaimed — "I under-
stand these things better than you;" and rode
off to the fatal interview, — not, however,
without some misgiving as to its result ; for
he declared to his companions, that come
what would, a thousand deaths were prefer-
able to the life he had of late been leading.
The meeting commenced in apparent cour-
tesy; Macnaghten offered Akber a noble
Arab horse, which the young chief accepted
with thanks, at the same time acknowledg-
• The same right principle had not been inva-
riably adhered to during the Afghan war, and the
chiefs had good grounds for suspecting that blood-
money had been offered for their lives. John
Conolly (one of three brothers who followed the for-
tunes of their uncle, Sir W. Macnaghten, and like
him, never lived to return to India), addressed from
tne Balla Hissar repeated injunctions to Mohun Lai,
ing the gift of a pair of double-barrelled
pistols, sent on the previous day, which
he wore at his girdle. The whole party,
English and Afghans, dismounted, and
seated themselves on cloths spread on some
snow-clad hillocks, near the Cabool river,
and about 600 yards from the cantonments.
Macnaghten stretched himself at full length
on the bank ; Trevor and Mackenzie seated
themselves beside him ; but Lawrence knelt
on one knee, ready for action. There was
abundant cause for suspicion : the presence
of a brother of Ameen-ooUah, the excited
and eager manner of the Afghans, and the
numbers gathering round the English, drew
from Lawrence and Mackenzie a remark
that such intrusion was not consistent with
a private conference. " They are all in the
secret," said Akber; and, as he spoke, the
envoy and his companions were violently
seized from behind. Resistance was hope-
less : their slender escort of sixteen men
galloped back to cantonments to avoid
bemg slain, save one who perished nobly in
attempting to join his masters; the three
attaches were made prisoners; but Mac-
naghten commenced a desperate struggle
with Akber Khan, and a cry being raised
that the troops were marching to the rescue,
the young Barukzye, in extreme excitement,
drew a pistol from his girdle, and shot the
donor through the body. A party of fanati-
cal Ghazees came up, flung themselves on
the fallen envoy, and hacked him to pieces
with their knives. Trevor slipped from the
horse of the chief who was bearing him away
captive, and shared the fate of his leader;
and the other two officers were saved with
difficulty by Akber Khan, who, remorseful
for his late act, " drew his sword and laid
about him right manfully"t for the defence
of the prisoners against the infuriated crowd.
While the mangled remains of the victims
were being paraded through the streets and
great bazaar of the city, the military
leaders remained in their usual apathetic
state; nor was it until the morrow that
authentic information was received of the
catastrophe. Major Eldred Pottinger, on
whom the office of political agent devolved,
entreated the authorities assembled in
to ofl'er from ten to fifteen thousand rupees for the
heads of certain leading chiefs ; and, in the cases of
Abdoollah Khan and Meer Musjedee, the rewards
were actually claimed but not accorded ; nor do the
offers of Conolly appear to have been made with the
concurrence or even cognizance of Macnaghten, much
less with that of Elphinstone. — (Kaye, ii., 67 — 104.)
t Capt. Mafikenzie's words. — (Lt. Eyre's Journal.)
442 FATAL RETREAT OF ENGLISH TROOPS FROM CABOOL-JAN., 1841.
council, either to take refuge in the Balla
Hissar, or endeavour to force a way to Jel-
lalabad, and there remain until the arrival
of reinforcements from India, tidings of
which arrived within two days of the mas-
sacre. But his arguments were not re-
garded, and new terms were concluded, by
which the representatives of the Indian
government engaged to abandon all their
forts, surrender their guns, evacuate Af-
ghanistan, restore the deposed Dost, and
pay a ransom of £140,000 in return for the
supplies necessary for the retreat. Hos-
tages were demanded and given for the
performance of these humiliating condi-
tions; but Lawrence and Mackenzie were
released. Akber Khan desired that the
English ladies should be left behind, as se-
curity for the restoration of the female
members of hi.'^ family; but the married
officers refused the advantageous offers
made from head-quarters to induce them to
consent, and "some (says Eyre) declared they
would shoot their wives first." On the 6th
. of January, 1842, though deep snow already
lay on the ground, the troops quitted
the cantonments, in which they had sus-
tained a two months' siege, to encounter
the miseries of a winter inarch through a
country of perhaps unparalleled difficulty,
swarming with mountain tribes predatory
by profession, and bitterly incensed against
the foreign invaders. The records of that
terrible journey are written in letters of
blood. No circumstances could possibly
have occurred under which regularity and
discipline were more needed to ensure the
safety of the retreating force ; yet even the
semblance of it was soon abandoned in one
general attempt to keep on with the fore-
most rank : to lag behind was certain death
from Afghan knives or Afghan snows. In
the dark and terrible pass of Koord Cabool,
five miles in length, through which a roar-
ing torrent dashed on between blocks of
ice, while its heights were crowned by the
pitiless Khiljies, 3,000 persons perished.
The Englishwomen rode through, on horse-
back or in camel-paniers, uninjured, except
Lady Sale, who received a bullet in her
arm; but, brave-hearted as they were, it
' Some of them had just become, or were about to
become mothers. The widow of Capt. Trevor had
seven children with her, and an eighth was born at
Buddeeabad. The idea of a grand military prome-
nade was certainly carried out, when not only ladies
and children, but a pack of foxhounds, and one of
Broadwood's best pianos, were brought througli the
Bolan Pass. — (Fane's Five Years; Ex-political's Dry
seemed scarcely possible they and their in-
fant children could long continue to bear
up against the intense cold and incessant
fatigue.* The only alternative was to ac-
cept the protection of Akber Khan, who, it
is said, promised to convey them to Pesha-
wur ; and to him the whole of the married
Englishwomen, their husbands, and chil-
dren, with Lady Macnaghten and her
widowed companions, were confided. It
was a tempting opportunity for barbarian
revenge. The wives and babes of the proud
Feringhees were at the mercy of the Af-
ghans ; yet there is no record of any insult
having been ofiered to them, or any attempt
to separate them from theii* natural protec-
tors, now defenceless as themselves. On
the contrary, Akber Khan earnestly craved
the forgiveness of Lady Macnaghten, assur-
ing her he would give his right arm to undo
what it had done ; while, in many ways, he
strove to alleviate the hardships of the
march by bearing the weaker of the party
over fords on his own steed, binding up the
wounds of the officers with his own hands,
and sufiering the ladies to encumber the
march with the costly baggage which two
or three of them still retained. The volun-
tary surrender of such a prize was of course
not to be expected while his father, brothers,
and wives were retained in exile. As it
was, his " guests," as they were termed,
had every reason to rejoice at finding in
temporary captivity an alternative for the
loss of life. On the very next day (10th
January), the remnant of the doomed force
was intercepted on the road to Jellalabad,
in a narrow gorge between the precipitous
spurs of two hills, and the promiscuous
mass of sepoys and camp followers were
hewn down by the infuriated Afghans. El-
phinstone sent to Akber Khan, who, with
a body of horse, still hovered on the flanks
of the retreating force, to entreat him to
stop the massacre; but he replied, that it
was impossible, — at such times the Khiljies
were uncontrollable even by their imme-
diate chiefs : there was but one chance for
the English — an immediate and uncondi-
tional surrender of arms. The general
sadly resumed his march to the Jugdulluck
Leavei.) The troops in Cabool, though in many
respects needlessly encumbered, do not seem to have
bten attended by a single chaplain ; an omission
which tends to justify the description given by a
Beloochee of the Feringhee force, of whom one sort
(the Hindoos) were idolaters; the white (English) had
no religion at all j but the third were good Mussul-
raen, "and say their prayers as we do." — {Idem.)
MASSACRE IN THE JUGDULLUCK PASS— JANUARY 12th, 1842. 443
of the remaining leaders fell here. About
I
heights, and there the troops who remained — •
of ranks all but destroyed by death and de-
sertion— found a brief respite, and strove to
quench their burning thirst with handsful of
snow, and to still the cravings of hunger
with the raw and reeking flesh of three
newly-killed bullocks. The night was spent
at JugduUuck; on the following day Ak-
ber Khan requested a conference with the
General, Brigadier Shelton, and Captain
Johnson. It is strange, with the recollec-
tion of the Cabool plot fresh in their minds,
that the three military authorities should
have accepted this significant invitation ;
but they did so, were courteously received,
refreshed with food, provided with a tent,
and — made prisoners. They entreated their
captor to save the survivors of the force,
and he really appears to have exerted him-
self for that purpose, but in vain. Captain
Johnson, who understood the Persian lan-
guage, heard the petty chiefs of the country
between JugduUuck and Jellalabad declaim-
ing, as they flocked in, against the hated
Feringhees, and rejecting large sums as the
price of a safe conduct to Jellalabad. On
the evening of the 12th, the wreck of the
army resumed its perilous march. The
sepoys had almost wholly perished, and of
the Europeans only 120 of the 44th regi-
ment and twenty-five artillerymen remained;
but their movements were still impeded by
a comparatively large mass of camp fol-
lowers, who "came huddling against the
fighting men," thus giving free scope to
the long knives of the Afghans. The sol-
diers, after some time, freed themselves from
the helpless rabble, turned against their
foes with the bayonet, drove them off, and
pursued their way to the fatal JugduUuck
Pass, where their sufferings and struggles
found a melancholy termination. A bar-
ricade of boughs and bushes arrested fur-
ther progress; officers, soldiers, and camp
followers desperately strove to force a pas-
sage, though exposed to the deliberate aim
of the " jezails" (long rifles) of the enemy.
Anquetil, Thaui, Nicholl, and the chief
• A few straggling sepoys and camp followers
afterwards found their way to Jellalabad.
t The Nawab (or nabob) of Kurnoul was suspected
of entertaining hostile intentions against the English ;
the chief, though not very satisfactory evidence of
which rests on his having accumulated a large quan-
tity of warlike stores. He was likewise said to be
a very oppressive ruler. At the close of the year
1848, the capital was seized by a British force with-
out opposition, and the nabob, who had abandoned
the place, was pursued, taken prisoner, and became a
twenty ofiBcers and forty-five European sol-
diers cut their way through, hoping to gain
Jellalabad; but weak and woimded, with
only two rounds of ammunition left, they
could not make head against the armed vil-
lagers who came crowding forth against them
from every hut. The majority fell at Gun-
damuck; a few escaped and struggled on-
wards : but even they fell — one here, one
there ; until a single European (Dr. Brydon),
wounded and worn out by famine and fatigue,
mounted on a jaded pony, alone survived
to announce to the gallant garrison of Jel-
lalabad the total annihilation of the force
of 16,500 men which had quitted Cabool
only seven days before.*
The terrible tidings reached Lord Auck-
land at Calcutta while awaiting the arrival
of his successor in office. He had pre-
viously seen reason to regret bitterly that
ever British troops had crossed the Indus :
he knew that the E. I. Cy. had consistently
opposed the Afghan war, and that the Peel
cabinet, now in power, were of the same
opinion ; and he therefore refused to follow
up the abortive attempts already made for
the relief of the beleaguered garrisons by
any efBcient measures, lest his proceedings
should controvert the views and embarrass
the projects of his expected successor. The
arrival of Lord Ellenborough, at the close
of February, released Lord Auckland from
his painful position, and he quitted India
in the following month, leaving on record a
finance minute which proved the war to
have already inflicted a burden of eight mil-
lion on the Indian treasury. The only remain-
ing circumstances which occurred under his
sway, were the annexation of the little prin-
cipality of Kurnoulf and of Cherong, a for-
tified place in Bundelcund.
Ellenborough Administration : 1842
TO 1844. — The opinions held by the new gov-
ernor-general were well known. His lord-
ship had been for years president of the
Board of Control : he was a conservative,
and agreed with his party and the majority
dependent on the British government. He retired
to Trichinopoly, and became a frequent attendant on
the mission church. On the last occasion he was
mortally stabbed by one of his Mohammedan fol-
lowers. His eldest son, Uluf Khan, received a pen-
sion of £1,000 a-year until his death in 1848. The
English enjoy the entire revenues of Kurnoul, esti-
mated, in 1843, at £90,000 per annum, and control
over a territory between 2,000 and 3,000 square miles
in extent, with a pojjulation stated in a Pari, return
for 1851, at 273,190.— (Thornton's Gazetteer.)
444 SALE AND "THE ILLUSTRIOUS GARRISON" OF JELLALABAD— 1842.
of unbiassed men, in considering the Afghan
invasion " a blunder and a crime ;" but he
had likewise declared, that " India was won
by the sword, and must be kept by the
sword." These opinions, coupled with his
adoption of an axiom of unquestionable
truth, that "in war reputation is strength,"
served to convince the Indian public that
his policy would probably aim at the com-
plete and speedy evacuation of Afghanistan,
performed in such a manner as to prove
beyond question that England voluntarily
resigned a position which an erroneous view
of the feelings of the Afghans had induced
her to assume ; and this object, despite
some glaring errors and inconsistencies,
was, in the main, carried through by Lord
EUenborough. The first event in his ad-
ministration was the surrender of Ghuznee,
by Colonel Palmer, to Shums-oo-deen Khan,
nephew to Dost Mohammed, on the 6th of
March ; the fear of a failure of water and
provisions being the reasons alleged for the
relinquishment of this strong fortress and
the surrender of the officers,* who were
treated with faithless cruelty by the con-
queror. Nott and Sale still held their
ground at Candahar and Jellalabad, against
bitter cold, scarcity of fuel and provisions,
and repeated though unskilful assaults, as
did also the little garrison of Kelat-i-Khilji,
under Captain Craigie. At Jellalabad, re-
peated minor shocks of earthquake were
succeeded on the 10th February by a ter-
rible convulsion, which levelled with the
ground the defences which had been erected
and rendered efficient at the cost of three
months' intense labour of mind and body.
Akber Khan, with the flower of the Ba-
rukzye horse, was at hand, ready, it was
expected, to enforce the fulfilment of El-
phinstone's order of surrender. But " the
illustrious garrison," as Lord EUenborough
justly styled the brave band, did not abate
one jot of hope or courage. The spade and
pickaxe were again taken in hand, and the
work of restoration went forward so rapidly
that Akber, deceived as to the extent of the
damage sustained, declared that English
witchcraft had preserved Jellalabad from
the effects of the mighty shock. The Af-
ghans, having little inclination for a hand-
• Kaye says — " If there had been any one in
Ghuznee acquainted with the use and practice of
artillery, the garrison might have held out till
April." He adds, " That among the officers of Nott's
army [by whom the place was reoccupied in Sep-
tember], the loss of Ghuznee was considered even
less creditable than the loss of Cabool." — (ii., 428-'9.)
to-hand encounter with Sale's brigade, con-
tented themselves with striving to maintain
a rigid blockade; but the garrison sallied
forth under Dennie, and swept away sheep
and goats in the very front of the foe. The
political agent, Capt. Macgregor, an able and
energetic man, contrived to establish a system
of intelligence far superior to that gene-
rally maintained by the English. Tidings
arrived on the 5th of April, that General
Pollock, with 12,000 men and supplies of
all kinds, was fighting his way to their res-
cue through the Khyber Pass, opposed by
Akber Khan. The garrison gallantly re-
solved to assist their countrymen by issuing
forth to attack the Afghan camp. This
unlooked-for enterprise was attended with
complete success. The blockading troops
were completely routed, and fled in the di-
rection of Lughman. The victors lost only
thirteen men; but that number included
the gallant Colonel Dennie, who fell at the
head of the centre column. On the 11th
April, the army under General Pollock
reached Jellalabad, and the garrison, whose
five months' beleaguermenthad been already
so brilliantly terminated, sent the band of
the 13th light infantry to meet the troops,
and marched them in to the fort to the tune
of an old Jacobite song of welcome, of which
the refrain runs, " Oh ! but ye've been lang
o' coming." General England was not suc-
cessful in his early attempts to succour Nott
and his "noble sepoys"t at Candahar.
Having been repulsed in an attack on the
Kojuck Pass, he fell back upon Quetta, and
commenced fortifying that town ; but Gene^
ral Nott imperatively demanded his re-
newed advance, and sent the best part of
his force to aid England through the pass,
who thus assisted, marched to Candahar,
which place he reached with little loss;
for the Afghans, though strongly posted
at Hykulzie (the scene of his former dis-
comfiture), were rapidly dispersed by a vigo-
rous attack, and did not muster in any force
to oppose his further progress.
No impediment now remained to the
junction of the forces under Nott and Eng-
land with those of Pollock and Sale. The
only consideration was, what to do with
them. Lord EUenborough had wisely re-
t " My sepoys," Nott writes to Pollock in April;
" have behaved nobly, and have licked the Afghans
in every affair, even when five times their number."
In the same letter he states that they had had no
pay since the previous December. The fidelity and
privations of the native troops throughout the Afghan
war well deserve a special narration.
BATTLE OF TEZEEN— MURDER OF SHAH SOOJAH— APRIL, 1842. 445
solved on the evacuation of Afghanistan ;
but he left to the military authorities the
choice of " retiring" by the line of Quetta and
Sukkur, or by that of Ghuznee, Cabool, and
Jellalabad. Nott chose the latter alterna-
tive ; and in communicating his resolve,
repeated with quiet sarcasm his lordship's
phrase of " retiring" from Candahar to
India by way of Ghuznee, Cabool, and Jel-
lalabad ; the said retirement, says Kaye,
being like a man retiring from Reigate to
hondon vid Dover and Canterbury. Pol-
lock entirely sympathised with General Nott.
The former marched to Cabool, which he
reached on the 5th Sept., after having
encountered and put to flight the Afghans
under Akber,* in the valley of Tezeen and
the adjacent passes of Koord Cabool, where
the English had been slaughtered in the
previous January. General Nott proceeded
to Ghuznee, which was evacuated on his
approach ; and after destroying the town as
well as citadel by fire, he proceeded to the
tomb of Mahmood, in obedience to the
special instructions of the governor-general,
to bear away thf famous idol-destroying
mace of the conqueror, suspended above the
tomb, and a pair of sandal-wood gates, em-
bossed with brass, which were said to have
been carried away by him from the temple
of Somnauth, in Guzerat, a.d. 1024. Bur-
dened with these trophies, the general pro-
ceeded to Cabool, which city Pollock had
entered unopposed on the 15th Sept., and
planted the union-jack on the Balla Hissar.f
In the interval between the evacuation
and reoccupation of the capital of Afghanis-
tan by the English, another melancholy
tragedy had been enacted. Shah Soojah,
abandoned by his allies, for some months
contrived to maintain himself in the Balla
Hissar ; but his position becoming at length
insupportable, he resolved to attempt to
join Sale at Jellalabad. Early on the morn-
ing of the 5th of April, the Shah left the
citadel, escorted by a small party of Hin-
doostanees, intending to review the troops
* The Goorkalese infantry fought most manfully,
clambering undauntedly the steepest ascents, beneath
the iron rain poured on them from Afghan jezails.
— (Kaye, ii., 579.) It must have been a strange
Bight to see these daring, sturdy, but diminutive men,
driving before them their stalwart foes ; but stranger
Btill the thought, how recently these valuable aux-
iliaries had done battle on their native hills, against
the people for whom they were now shedding their
life-blood, and ably wielding the British bayonet.
t Salla Hissar, the Persian for High Fort.
X The trials of the captives began when Akber
became again a fugitive, and could no longer retain
3 M
and quit Cabool; but his passage was op-
posed by a body of Afghans, who opened a
volley upon the royal cortege, which struck
down the bearers of the state chair, and
killed the king himself. Throughout his
whole career, Shah Soojah had been a pom-
pous man, speaking and thinking ever of
"our blessed self" Now his lifeless body was
stripped of its costly array, of its sparkling
head-dress, rich girdle, and jewelled dagger,
and flung into a ditch. His eldest son.
Prince Timur, then about twenty-three
years of age, was with the British at Can-
dahar. The next in succession, Futteh
Jung, was courted by the Barukzye chiefs,
who hoped to find in him a shield from the
vengeance of the advancing foe. The prince
listened with undisguised distrust to the
protestations made to him by the Seyed
deputies ; and in reply to offers of alle-
giance, to be sworn on the Koran, caused
several exemplars of the sacred volume to
be placed before them, bearing the seals of
the Barukzye, Dourani, Kuzzilbash, and
Kohistanee chiefs, with oaths of allegiance
to his murdered father inscribed on the
margin. "If there be any other Koran
sent from heaven," he said bitterly, "let
the Barukzyes swear upon it : this has been
tried too often, and found wanting." The
ambassadors were dismissed ; but Futteh
Jung, unable to maintain his ground, soon
fell into the hands of the chiefs he so
avowedly mistrusted, and after being robbed
of the treasure which his father had con-
trived to accumulate, made his escape, and
joined General Pollock at Gunjlamuck on
the 1st of September, with only two or
three followers.
The next feature in the campaign was a
joyful one^the recovery of the captives.
The ladies and children were alive and well,
but General Elphinstoue had expired in
the month of April, worn out by inces-
sant bodily and mental pain. On learn-
ing the approach of Pollock, AkberJ con-
fided his unwilling guests to the care of one
them under his immediate protection. About this
time an accident occurred which placed them in
jeopardy. A servant in attendance on the chief,
wounded him in the arm by the accidental discharge
of a musket. No difference took place in the con-
duct of Akber himself; and even when weak and
wounded, he gave up his litter for the accommoda-
tion of the ladies on their removal from Budeeabad.
His countrymen, more suspicious, attributed the
disaster to English treachery ; and had the young
Barukzye died, the lives of all the male captives and
hostages would probably have been sacrificed as an
act of retribution. Ameen-oollah Khan, especially,
446 KESCUE OF THE CAPTIVES AND HOSTAGES— SEPT., 1842.
Saleh Mohammed, who was directed to
deliver them to the charge of a neighbouring
Usbeck chief, styled the Wali of Kooloom,
who had proved a stanch friend to Dost
Mohammed. Saleh Mohammed had for-
merly been a subahdar in the service of
the E. I. Cy.,- but being (by his own ac-
count) disgusted with the abusive language
used towards natives by the European
officers, he deserted with his company to
the Dost. It was not a difficult matter to
induce him to play the traitor over again,
provided the risk were small and the tempta-
tion great. Tidings of the progress of the
English army calmed his fears ; and offers
on behalf of government, backed by the
written pledge of the captives to pay him
1,000 rupees a-month for life, and a present
of 20,000 rupees, stimulated his hopes : from
gaoler he turned confederate ; and the sol-
diers (250 in number) were, by the promise
of four months' pay as a gratuity, metamor-
phosed from guards to servants. Eldred
Pottinger assumed the direction of affairs,
levied contributions upon some merchants
passing through Bamian, and hoisted an
independent flag on the fort the party
said that he knew a reward of a lac of rupees had
been offered by Macnaghten for his life. Moham-
med Shah Khan, and a "young whelp," his son,
took advantage of the absence of Akber to pillage
the captives, and is said to have obtained from Lady
Macnaghten alone, shawls and jewels to the value of
£20,000 ; but the jewels were soon voluntarily re-
stored (Johnson aHd Eyre.) Considering that the
daughter and sister of the plunderers (Akber's wife)
j had been carried into exile by the countrymen of
Lady Macnaghten, thei'e was nothing very extra-
1 ordinary in their thus seeking means to carry on the
war. Before the late crisis, the captives had enjoyed
t advantages very unusual for even state prisoners in
I Afghanistan. Five rooms in the fort of Budeeabad,
■ furnished by Mohammed Shah Khan for his own
; use, were vacated for their accommodation. During
the three months spent here four European infants
were born. The elder children passed the time in
blindman's-buff and other games befitting their
age ; their parents in writing long letters to India
and England, carrying on a great deal of cypher
correspondence with Sale's garrison, and playing
backgammon and drafts on boards of their own
construction, and cards, by means of two or three
old packs preserved among their baggage. From
" a Bible and Prayer-book picked up on the
field at Boothauk," the services of the established
church were read every Sunday, sometimes in the
open air ; and this observance was, we are told, not
lost on their guards, who, wild and savage as they
were, seemed to respect the Christian's day of rest,
" by evincing more decorum and courtesy than on
the working-days of the week." — (Kaye ii., 489.)
Who that really desires the spread of vital Chris-
tianity, can read this account without regretting that
the captives of Budeeabad had not been inspired
with more of the devotional spirit which burned so
had entered as prisoners. To remain at
Bamian was, however, deemed even more
perilous than to attempt to join the army at
Cabool; and on the 16th of September, the
officers, ladies, and children set forth on
their march. The next day Sir Richmond
Shakespear, at the head of 600 Kuzzilbash
horse, met the fugitives, who thus escorted,
joyfully pursued their route, till, on the 20th,
near Urghundeh, the column sent by Pollock
to support Shakespear appeared in sight,
and its veteran commander. Sir Robert
Sale, came galloping on to embrace his wife
and widowed daughter.*
The objects of the campaign were fully
accomplished : the beleaguered garrisons
had been relieved, the captives rescued ; the
last of them (Captain Bygrave) being volun-
tarily released by Akber ; and the orders of
the governor-general were stringent for the
return of the entire EngHsh force to Hia-
doostan without incurring any unnecessary
peril. The various Afghan chiefs, whose
blood-feuds and factious dissension had pre-
vented any combined action, now earnestly
deprecated the vengeance of the Feringhees.
The hostages left at Cabool were restored,
strong and clear in the bosoms of two other English
captives, then dying by inches in filth and misery at
Bokhara, but evincing such unmistakable indica-
tions of true piety, that sorrow for the suffering is
lost in veneration for the enduring faith of Colonel
Stoddart and Arthur ConoUy. The former I deeply
respected on the ground of personal knowledge;
the latter I know only by the touching records
made public since his execution. The history of
both is yet fresh in the minds of the existing genera-
tion. Colonel Stoddart had gone in an official
position to Bokhara, and was detained by the Ameer,
who had been angered by some real or apparent
slight shown him by the British authorities ;
Conolly sought to procure the release of Stoddart,
but was condemned to share his imprisonment. The
touching letters written at this period, and forwarded
to India through the intervention of a faithful ser-
vant, still remain to attest the patience in adversity of
these illustrious sufferers. Stoddart, in a moment
of weakness, after being lowered down into a deep
dark well, tenanted by vermin, was forced into
making a profession of beKef in the false prophet;
but Conolly never wavered. On the 17th of June,
1842, the two friends were brought forth to die,
clothed in the miserable rags which five months' in-
cessant wear had left to cover their emaciated
and literally worm-eaten frames. The elder captive
was first beheaded, and an offer of life was made to
his companion as the price of apostasy, but without
effect. " Stoddart," he said, " became a Mussulman,
and you killed him : I am prepared to die." The
knife of the executioner did its work, and another
name was added to the glorious army of martyrs —
the true soldiers of the Cross. — (Kaye, Wolfe, &c.)
* The widow of Lieutenant Sturt, of the engi-
neers, a very active officer, who was mortally wounded
by the Khiljies in the Koord Cabool Pass.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE « ARMY OF RETRIBUTION"— 1842.
447
I I
and bore testimony to the good treatment
they had received from the nabob, Zemaun
Shah. The " guests" of Akber Khan told the
same tale ; and Colonel Palmer and Mohun
Lai* were almost the only complainants ; —
the one having fallen into the hands of the
instigator of the murder of Shah Soojah, the
unworthy son of Nawab Zemaun Khan ; the
other having provoked personal vengeance
by repeated offers of blood-money for the
heads of the leading Barukzyes. The prin-
cipal Cabool leaders proposed that a younger
son of the late king's, named Shahpoor (the
son of a Populzye lady of high rank), should
be placed on the throne; and to this the
British authorities consented. The object
of the proposers was not accomplished ; they
hoped to turn away the vengeance of the
invaders, but in vain. The military leaders
pronounced that the destruction of the
fortresses of Ghuznee, Jellalabad, Candahar,
Khelat-i-Khilji,t Ali-Musjid, and many
others of inferior note, — the sacrifice of
thousands of villagers armed and unarmed,
the wanton destruction of the beautiful fruit-
trees (which an Afghan loves as a Kaffir
does cattle, or an Arab his steed), with
other atrocities almost inseparable from the
march of an " army of retribution," were all
too trifling to convey a fitting impression of
the wrath of the British nation at the defeat,
disgrace, and ruin which had attended its
abortive attempt at the military occupation
of Afghanistan. It is idle to talk of the
savage ferocityj of the Khiljies, as dis-
played in the horrible January massacre,
since that very massacre had been wantonly
provoked. The English originally entered
those fatal passes as foes ; they marched on,
• Moons)iee Mohun Lai was educated at the
])elhi college, where the experiment of imparting
secular education, without any religious leaven, was
being tried by the British government. The same
system is now in force throughout India. Mohun
Lai was one of its first-fruits, and his cleverly-written
work on Cabool is well worthy of the attention of
all interested in tracing the eft'ects of purely secular
instruction. Shahamet Ali (author of the Sikhs and
Affihans), the fellow-student of Mohun Lai, was a
i.ifterent character, and not a Hindoo, but a Mo-
liamtnedan. His new acquirements were not, there-
fore, likely to have the effect of producing the same
iiippancy and scepticism which was almost sure to
be occasioned by proving to such men as Mohun
Lai, that modern Brahminism was the offspring of
superstition and ignorance, without inculcating a
knowledge of those doctrines which Christians hold
to be the unerring rule of life, the only wisdom.
t Kaye, ii., 599. Khelat-iKhilji, or "the Khilji
Fort," situated between Candahar and Ghuznee,
must not be confounded witli the famous Khelat-i-
Nusccr near the I3olan Pass, taltcu by Major-gen-
in the pride of conquerors, to rivet a rejected
yoke on the neck of a free, though most
turbulent nation : their discipline and union
were at first irresistible ; yet subsequently,
strife and incapacity delivered them over into
the hands of their self-made enemies. They
had (to use an Orientalism) gone out to
hunt deer, and roused tigers. What wonder
that the incensed people, heated with recent
wrongs, should crush with merciless grasp
the foe in his hour of weakness, under
whose iron heel they had been trampled on
so recently. It was a base and cruel thing
to slay the retreating legions; but have
civilised nations — France and England, for
instance — never done worse things in Africa
or the Indies, and vindicated them on the
plea of state necessity? The defeated in-
vaders fell with weapons in their hands :
they fought to the last — at a heavy disad-
vantage, it is true ; but still they did fight j
and the physical obstacles which facilitated
their overthrow, surely could not make the
difference between the combatants greatfer
than that which has enabled nations ac-
quainted with the use of cannon to reduce
to slavery or deprive of their land less-in-
formed people.
The English refused to surrender, and
paid by death the penalty of defeat, which
would, in all probability, have been inflicted
by them in a similar case. The captives
and hostages were, generally, remarkably
well used ; even the little children who fell
into the power of the Khiljies were volun-
tarily restored to their parents. §
Yet now the military authorities, not con-
tent with the misery wrought and suffered in
Afghanistan, II gravely deliberated on the most
eral Willshire in November, 1839, and in the de-
fence of which the Beloochee chief, Mehrab Khan,
with hundreds of his vassals, perished. Several
women were slain to prevent their falling into the
hands of the enemy : others fled on foot with their
infants.
+ The author of one of the numerous Narratives
of the war, relates an anecdote of an Afghan boy of
six years old, being found by an English soldier
striving to decapitate the corpse of a colour-sergeant
who had fallen some time before when Pollock
fought his way through the Khyber Pass. The
soldier came behind the child, " coolly took him up
on his bayonet, and threw him over the cliff."
Lieut. Greenwood narrates this incident in "the
war of retribution" as evidence of Afghan fero-
city.—(176.)
§ The daughter of Captain Anderson, and the son
of Captain Boyd, fell into the hands of the Afghans
in the Boothauk Pass.
II Lord Brougham sternly denounced the destruc-
tion of the "luindred gardens" of Cabool, by "our
incendiary generals."
448
DESTRUCTION OF CABOOL BAZAAR AND MOSQUE— 1842.
efficient mode of perpetuating in the minds
of the Cabool chiefs the memory of deeds
which all parties might have been glad to
bury in oblivion. The peaceable inhabitants
of the city had been induced to return and
resume their occupations; and when they
beheld the son of Shah Soojah on the
throne, and the English in daily intercourse
with the leading chiefs, and making avowed
preparations for final departure, they might
well think that the worst was over. But it
was yet to come. General Pollock con-
sidered the death of the envoy still un-
avenged, and resolved on the total destruc-
tion of the Great Bazaar and the Mosque.
These orders were executed, but with diffi-
culty, owing to the massiveness of these
magnificent buildings, which it was found
impossible to destroy in any reasonable
time without the use of gunpowder. As
might have been expected, the victorious
soldiery and licentious camp followers did
not content themselves with fulfilling their
destructive commission, but rushed into the
streets of the city, applied the firebrand
to the houses, and pillaged the shops; so
that above four or five thousand people (in-
cluding many Hindoos who had been enticed
into the town by express promises of protec-
tion) were reduced to utter ruin. The ex-
cesses committed during the last three days
of British supremacy in Cabool, were far
more disgraceful to the character pf Eng-
land, as a Christian nation, than the expul-
sion and extermination of the ill-fated troops
to her military reputation.
Popular feeling, both in India and in
England, was strongly expressed against
the needless injury done to the Afghans by
the razing of the Great Bazaar, and espe-
cially against the extensive destruction of
trees, by order of the commander-in-chief,
by deeply ringing the bark, and leaving
them to perish. Lord EUenborough ap-
pears to have regretted these outrages; but
this and all other drawbacks were for the
time forgotten in the grand display with
which he prepared to welcome the return-
ing army. The homeward march com-
menced on the 12th of October, and proved
singularly peaceful and uneventful. The
old blind king, Zeraaun Shah, with his
nephew Futteh Jung, and the chief part of
the family of the late Shah Soojah, accom-
• Kaye, ii., .669. Among other authorities ex-
amined, in writinj; the above sketch of the Afghan
war, may be named Eyre's Cabool, Havelock's Nar-
rative, Dcnnie's Campaigns, Outram's Rough Notes,
panied the troops. The gates of Somnauth
were not forgotten ; and the governor-gen-
eral gave vent to his delight at their at-
tainment in a proclamation, in which he
declared the insult of 800 years to be at
length avenged, and desired his " brothers
and friends," the princes and chiefs of
Sirhind, Rajwarra, Malwa, and Guzerat, to
convey the "glorious trophy of successful
war" with all honour through their respec-
tive territories, to the restored idolatrous
temple of Somnauth.
For this strange "song of triumph," as
the Duke of Wellington styled the effusion.
Lord EUenborough may perhaps be excused,
in remembrance of the honest and manly
recantation of error which he published on
behalf of the Indian government on the 1st
of October, 1842, when directing the com-
plete evacuation of Afghanistan, — this an-
nouncement being made from Simla pre-
cisely four years after the famous warlike
manifesto of Lord Auckland. The whole
of the Afghan captives were released. Dost
Mohammed returned to Cabool to take
possession of the throne vacated by the
flight of Shahpoor immediately after the
departure of the British force ; Akber joy-
fully welcomed hoifte his father and family ;
the Persians again besieged Herat ; and all
things returned to much the same position
they occupied before thousands of lives (in-
cluding that of the forsaken Shah) and about
fifteen million of money had been wasted, in
an abortive attempt at unauthorised inter-
ference. The only change effected was, that
instead of respect and admiration, the Af-
ghans (generally, though perhaps not justly,
considered an unforgiving race) learned to
entertain towards their powerful neighbours
emotions of fear and aversion, excited by
the galling memories inseparably connected
with the march of a desolating army,
whose traces were left everywhere, "from
Candahar to Cabool, from Cabool to
Peshawur."*
The annexation of Sinde — the next event
in Anglo-Indian history — has been termed
by its chief promoter "the tail of the Afghan
storm." Such is the light in which Sir
Charles Napier avowedly desires to place it ;
and his brother, General William Napier, in
his account of the Conquest of Sinde, plainly
declares the open encroachment on the in-
Hough's British at Cabool, Fane's Fire Years in
India, Osborne's Court of Ittwjeet Sing, Taylor's
Scenes, Nash's Afghanistan, Barr's Cabool, Burnes'
Cabool, Allen's Diary, Thornton's India.
ORIGIN AND POSITION OF THE AMEERS OF SINDE— 1771 to 1838. 449
dependence of the Ameers, made by order of
Lord Auckland, to have been a measure of
which " it is impossible to mistake or to
deny the injustice." Major (now Col.) Out-
ram, the political Resident at Hyderabad, to
some extent defends the proceedings which,
though occasionally under protest, he was
instrumental in carrying through ; and
brings forward a considerable body of evi-
dence to prove that Sir Charles Napier,
when vested with complete military and
diplomatic authority in Sinde, while de-
nouncing the unauthorised aggression com-
mitted by Lord Auckland, used the despotic
power vested in him by Lord Ellenborough
to sap the resources of the Ameers, and then
drive them to desperation ; the results being
their ruin, the annexation to British India
of a fertile and valuable boundary province,
and the gain to the invading army of
prize-money to an enormous extent — the
share of Sir C. Napier (an eighth) amount-
ing, it is asserted, to £70,000. Taken
together, the admissions and accusations
respectively made and preferred by the two
leading authorities, can scarcely fail to
leave on the mind of the unprejudiced
reader a conviction that the Ameers were
very illused men, especially the eldest and
most influential of them, the venerable Meer
Roostum. They were usurpers; but their
usurpation was of above sixty years' standing:
and the declaration of Lord Ellenborough
is not equally correct, that what they had
won by the sword they had lost by the
sword ; inasmuch as their earliest and most
important concessions were obtained amid
" a sickening declamation about friendship,
justice, and love of peace ;" which declama-
tion was continued up to the moment when
Meer Roostum, bending under the weight of
eighty-five years, and his aged wife (the
mother of his eldest son) were driven forth
into the desert, not by English bayonets,
but by English diplomacy.
Such at least is the account given by
Napier of the opening negotiations with
Sinde, and by Outram of their abrupt ter-
mination. To enter into the various points
of dispute would be manifestly incompatible
with the brief sketch of the leading features
attending our occupation of the country,
alone consistent with the objects and limits
of the present work : even that sketch, to
economise space, must be given in small type.
In the 1)eginning of the 18th century, the Kal-
loras, military fanatics from Persia, became domi-
nant in Sinde, and though compelled to pay tribute
to the Dourani conqueror of Afghanistan, retained
their position as rulers until about 1771, when a
conflict arose between them and the chiefs of the
Beloochee tribe of Talpoors, who had come from
the hills to settle in the fertile plains. After some
years' fighting the Talpoors became undisputed mas-
ters of Sinde. Their head, Meer Futteh Ali, as-
signed portions of the conquered territory to two
of his relations, and thus gave rise to the separate
states of Khyrpoor and Meerpoor. The remaining
part of Sinde, including the capital Hyderabad, he
ruled until his death, in amicable conjunction with
his three brothers. The Talpoors, like their pre-
decessors the Kalloras, evidently dreaded the en-
croaching spirit of the powerful Feringhees, and
quietly but firmly opposed their early attempts at
commercial intercourse. At length, in 1832, the
pertinacious resolve of the English to open up the
navigation of the Indus, prevailed over their prudent
reserve, and a new treaty was formed through the
intervention of Colonel (now Sir Henry) Pottinger,
by the fifth article of which the contracting parties
solemnly pledged themselves " never to look with
the eye of covetousness on the possessions of each
other." The very words betrayed the apprehensions
of the Ameers ; and that these were shared by their
subjects is proved by the exclamation recorded by
Burnes, as uttered in the previous year by the wit-
nesses of his approach — " Alas ! Sinde is gone since
the English have seen our river !"
The prediction was soon verified. In 1836, the
ambitious designs of Runjeet Sing gave the Anglo-
Indian government an opportunity of interference,
which was availed of by the profiler of British media-
tion. At this time the original Talpoor rulers were
all dead, and their sons reigned in their stead. Noor
Mohammed wore the puggree or turban of supe-
riority, and was the acknowledged rais or chief at
Hyderabad ; Sheer Mohammed at Meerpoor, and
Meer Roostum at Khyrpoor, in Upper Sinde. Meer
Roostum was eighty years of age, and was assisted
in the government by his numerous brothers. He
was, howevei, still possessed of much energy ; and so
far from fearing the hostility of Runjeet Sing, or
desiring the dangerous aid of the English, he ex-
claimed confidently — " We have vanquished the
Seik, and we will do so again." It was, however,
quite another thing to compete with the united
forces of Runjeet Sing and the English ; and the
intimate connexion so unnecessarily formed between
these powers in 1838, proved pretty clearly that the
choice lay between mediation or open hostility.
The Ameers chose the former, and consented to the
permanent residence at Hyderabad of a British poli-
tical agent, with an armed escort. Two months after
tlie conclusion of this arrangement, the Tripartite
Treaty was signed at Lahore, and involved a new
question as to the route to be taken for the invasion
of Afghanistan. Runjeet Sing, stimulated by his
distrustful durbar or court, would not suffer his
sworn allies to march through the Punjab. Advan-
tage was therefore taken of the weakness of the
Ameers to compel them to sanction the passage of
the British troops ; and the island -fortress of Bukkur
was obtained from Meer Roostum, to be held " dur-
ing the continuance of the war." These concessions
paved the way for fresh exactions, and the Ameers
were next required to contribute towards the ex-
penses of the expedition. The demand was first urged
on the plea of arrears of tribute claimed by Shah
Soojah as their suzerain, but this was refuted by
450 SINDE— POTTINGER, OUTRAM^ AND NAPIER-1839 to 1842.
the production of a formal release made by the Shah
of all claims upon Sinde or Shikarpoor. The next
pretext for oppression was, that the Ameers had
tendered professions of submission to Persia, the
evidence being a document of doubtful authenticity,
ostensibly addressed by Noor Mohammed to the
Persian monarch, and which, when freed from Ori-
ental hyi)erbole, contained little more than expres-
sions of unbounded respect for the Shah of Persia
as the head of the Sheiah sect of Mohammedans.
It was so improbable that the Ameers would comply
with the present demands, except under the sternest
compulsion, that preparations were made to punish
their refusal by the storming of Hyderabad, and the
army of the Indus turned out of its way for the
express purpose, and menaced Sinde at four different
points. Sir John Keane designated the antici-
pated siege of the capital, " a pretty piece of practice
for the army ;" and the officers generally indulged in
sanguine expectations of pillage and prize-money.
The Ameers were divided in opinion ; and one of
them proposed that they should defend themselves
to the last, and then slay their wives and children,
and perish sword in hand — the terrible resolve car-
ried out not many months later by Mehrab Khan,
of Khelat.i-Nuseer. More temperate counsels pre-
vailed. Meer Roostum confessed that in surrender-
ing Bukkur he had given the heart of his country
into the hands of the foe ; and the Ameers, with
.utter ruin staring them in the face, consented to the
hard terms imposed by the treaty signed in February,
1839, which bound them to receive a subsidiary
force, and contribute three lacs (afterwards increased
to three and a-half) for its support, to abolish all
tolls en the Indus, and provide store-room at Kur-
rachee for military supplies. In return, the Anglo-
Indian government promised not to meddle with the
internal affairs of the Ameers, or listen to the com-
plaints of their subjects (a very ominous proviso.)
These concessions, together with a contribution of
£200,000, half of which was paid imnaediately, did
not satisfy Lord Auckland. Kurrachee had been
taken possession of during the war ; and he now in-
sisted on its permanent retention, despite the promises
made by his representatives.
The Ameers had no alternative but to suibmit :
yet, says General Napier, " the grace with which
they resigned themselves to their wrongs, did not
save them from the cruel mockery of being asked by
Colonel (Sir H.) Pottinger, ' if they had the slightest
cause to question the British faith during the last six
months ?' and the further mortification of being told,
' that henceforth they must consider Sinde to be as
it was in reality a portion of Hindoostan, in which
the British were paramount, and entitled to act as
they considered best and fittest for the general good
of the whole empire.' "
Colonel Pottinger, created a baronet, continued
Resident in Sinde until the beginning of 1840. He
was succeeded by Major Outram, who, by the death
of his coadjutor, Mr. Ross Bell, became political
agent for the whole of Sinde and Beloochistan.
Major Outram found the Ameers in precisely the
state of feeling which might have been expected ;—
deeply irritated against the English, disposed to
rejoice at any misfortune which might overtake
them, and ready to rise up and assert their indepen-
dence if the opportunity ofi'ered ; but constantly let
and hindered by the fear of consequences, and by the
divided counsels arising from separate interests.
With anxious care the Resident watched their feel-
ing.sand opinions — warning one, counselling another,
reasoning with a third ; and in the perilous moment
when General England fell back on Quetta, after a
vain attempt to succour Nott at Candahar, Outram
strained every nerve to prevent the rulers of Sinde
from making common cause with their Beloochee
countrymen against the invading army. "Even
their negative hostility," he writes, "evinced by
withholding supplies, would have placed us in a
position which it is fearful even to contemplate." The
recollection of past wrongs did not, however, prevent
the majority of the Ameers from actively befriending
the troops in their hour of need ; but some of them
were suspected of being concerned in hostile in-
trigues ; and though Meer Roostum behaved with
accustomed candour, his minister, Futteh Moham-
med Ghoree became implicated in certain suspicious
proceedings. Towards the conclusion of the Afghan
war. Major Outram proposed to Lord EUenborough
(the successor of Lord Auckland) a revision of the
existing treaties, which were very vaguely worded,
urging that precautions should be taken against the
possible machinations of such of the Ameers as had
betrayed hostile intentions during the late crisis,
and advised that Shikarpoor and its dependencies,
with Sukkur and the adjacent fortress of Bukkur,
should be demanded in complete cession, in return
for the relinquishment of the yearly tribute of
£350,000, and of arrears due of considerable amount.
Lord EUenborough was not content with this
arrangement : he desired to reward the good service
done to the forces in the late war by a neighbouring
prince, the Khan of Bhawalpoor,* by the restoration
of certain territories captured from him some thirty
years before by the Ameers, who were consid-
ered to have rendered themselves "most amenable
to punishment." To this Major Outram assented ;
but when his lordship proceeded to write denuncia-
tory letters to the Ameers, threatening them with
punishment for past offences, should any such he
clearly proved, the Resident withheld these commu-
nications, believing that their delivery would gravely
imperil the safety of the troops still scattered in
isolated positions in dreary Afghanistan. The gov-
ernor-general admitted the discretion of this proce-
dure; but he had taken up, with the energy of a strong
though often prejudiced mind, the popular notion
of the day against political agents ; and the prudence
displayed by Colonel Outram did not exempt him
from the sweeping measures enacted for the super-
cession of political by purely military functionaries.
Sir Charles Napier had just arrived in India, and
to him was entrusted the task of gaining the consent
of the Ameers to concessions amounting to their vir-
tual deposition.! The sudden recall of the Resident,
and the arrival of a military leader, at the head of a
powerful force, alarmed the Ameers, and they strove
to deprecate the impending storm by every means in
their power. The testimonies of many British officers
and surgeons are brought forward by Major Outram,
to confirm his own evidence with regard to the
characters of the unfortunate chiefs of Sinde, whom
he describes as decidedly favourable specimens of
Mohammedan princes, ruling after a very patriarchal
fashion, — merciful, accessible to complainants, singu-
larly temperate, abstaining not only from drinking
and smoking, but likewise rigidly eschewing the
accursed drug, opium, even as a medicine.f The
* Vide Shah r met Ali's History of Bahawalpoor.
t Thornton's India, vi., 423. !
J Outram's Commeniarv , 529. Dr. Burnes' Sinde.
FLIGHT OF MEER ROOSTUM— BATTLE OP MEANEE— FEB., 1843. 451
mere fact of so many chiefs living and bearing sway
in the domestic fashion described by Pottinger,
Burnes, and Outram, was a strong argument in their
favour ; yet Sir Charles Napier unhappily lent a
credulous ear to the mischievous rumours which
a longer residence in India would have taught him
to sift narrowly, or reject wholly : and his entire
conduct was in accordance witli his undisguised
opinion, that the Ameers were "thorough i-ufhans"
and " villains," drunken, debauched, capable of fratri-
cide, " any one of them," and determined to assassinate
him and " Cabool" the troops. Accustomed to the
courtesy of British officials (one of whom had stood
unshod in their presence, some ten years before, to
crave permission to open the navigation of the Indus),
they were now startled by the tone of contemptuous
distrust with which they were treated by the dark-
visaged little old man, who, despite his unquestioned
courage in the field of battle, avowedly suffered per-
sonal fear of treachery to prevent his according a
friendly hearing to the " benign and grey-headed
monarch who had conferred the most substantial
benefits on the English nation."
Major Outram states that Sir Charles Napier
scrupled not to add exactions to the treaties not
desired by Lord Ellenborough : and further, that he
incited the most ambitious and able of the Khyr-
poor brothers (Ali Morad), to intrigue against their
venerated rais or chief, Meer Roostum, who, perceiv-
ing the offensive and threatening attitude assumed by
the British forces, asked the advice of the general
what to do to preserve peace, and offered to take
up his residence in the camp. Sir Charles Napier
advised, or rather commanded him to join his
brother. The aged rais complied, and the result
was his being first, as Sir Charles said, " bullied"
into resigning the puggree to Ali Morad, and then
induced, by artfully-implanted fears of English
treachery, to seek refuge with his family in the wil-
derness. This step was treated as an act of hostility,
and immediate preparations were made for what was
vauntingly termed " the conquest," but which was
expected to be little more than the occupation of
Sinde. The customary form of a declaration of war
was passed over; and it being suspected that the
fugitives had taken refuge in Emaunghur, Sir Charles
marched, with 400 men mounted on camels, against
that fortress in January, 1843. Emaunghur be-
longed to a younger brother of Roostum — Moham-
med of Khyrpoor,one of the reigning Ameers, who had
never " been even accused of a single hostile or un-
friendly act,"* but who had the unfortunate reputation
of possessing treasure to the amount of from £200,000
to £360,000, stored up in Emaunghur.t No such
prize awaited the general ; he founcl the fort without
a living inhabitant, but well supplied with grain, of
which the troops took possession, razed the walls,
and marched back again.
At this crisis, Major Outram returned to Sinde, at
the especial request of both Lord Ellenborough and
Sir Charles Napier, to aid as commissioner in settling
the pending arrangements. Having vainly entreated
the general not to persist in driving the whole of the
Ameers of Upper Sinde to open war, by compelling
them to take part with Meer Roostum and his fugi-
tive adherents. Major Outram centred Iiis last
efforts for peace in striving to persuade the Ameers
* Outram's Commentary, 39. t First Sinde B. B., 469.
X Outram deemed himself "bound to vindicate his
(Napier's) conduct in my communications with his vic-
tims."—(Commentary, 325.) § Idem, 439.
not yet compromised by any manifestation of distrust,
to throw themselves at the feet of the English, by
signing the required treaty. The task is best de-
scribed in the words of the negotiator : — " I was
called upon to obtain their assent to demands against
which I had solemnly protested as a positive rob-
bery : and I had to warn them against resistance to
our requisitions, as a measure that would bring down
upon them utter and merited destruction ; while Ifirmly
believed that every life lost, in consequence of our ag-
gressions, would be chargeable on us as a murder. |
The arguments of Major Outram succeeded in
procuring the signature of the chiefs of Lower Sinde ;
but the prohibition he had received against any
promise of protection for Meer Roostum, however
clearly his innocence might be proved, excited un-
controllable indignation on the part of the Beloochee
feudatory chiefs; and but for the efforts of the Ameers,
the commissioner and his party would have been
massacred on their return to the Residency. Major
Outram was warned to quit Hyderabad. The vakeels
or ambassadors dispatched to the British camp to
offer entire submission, failed to procure even a hear-
ing; and they sent word to their masters — "The
general is bent on war — so get ready." In fact,
Napier had been so long preparing to meet a con.
spiracy on the part of the Ameers, that he seems to
have been determined either to make or find one, if
only to illustrate his favourite denunciation of —
" Woe attend those who conspire against the power-
ful arms of the company : beliold the fate of Tippoo
Sultan and the peishwa, and the Emperor of China!"
Therefore he continued his march ; and the terrified
Ameers, on learning their last and deepest humilia-
tions had' been endured in vain, gave the rein to
the long-restrained fury of their followers, — just fifty-
three days after the commencement of hostilities by
General Napier. On the 15th of February, a horde
of armed Beloochees attacked the residence of the
British commissioner. After a few hours' resistance,
Major Outram and his escort evacuated the place,
and retreated in marching order to meet the ad-
vancing army, which continued its progress to a
village called Meanee (six miles from Hyderabad),
which he reached on the 17th. Here the Ameers had
taken up their position, with a force stated by Sir
C. Napier at 25,862 Beloochees, hastily assembled
and ill-disciplined ; but than whom, he says, " braver
barbarians never gave themselves to slaughter."
And very terrible the slaughter was ; for, if General
W. Napier may be trusted, the Ameers " were broken
like potsherds," and 6,000 men "went down before the
bayonets of his (brother's) gallant soldiers, wallowing
in blood." The English lost 264 killed and wounded.
Immediately after the battle, Meer Roostum and
two others of the Khyrpoor family, with three of the
Ameers of Hyderabad, influenced by the representa-
tions of Major Outram, abandoned all intention of
defending Hyderabad, and delivered themselves up as
prisoners ; and on 20th of Feb., Napier entered the
capital as a conqueror. Although there had been
no declaration of war, and no sign of defence, — not
a shot fired from the walls, — the prize.agents imme-
diately set about the plunder of the city, in a manner
happily unparalleled in the records of Anglo-Indian
campaigns. The ladies of the imprisoned Ameers
were exposed to the insulting search of one of the
most abandoned of their own sex, the concubine of
an officer on duty in Sinde. Everything belonging
to them, even to the cots on which they slept, were
seized and sold by public auction ;§ and several of
452 ANNEXATION OF SINDE, 1843-GWALIOIl CAPTURED -1844.
these unfortunates, driven to desperation, fled from the
city barefoot, overwhelmed with shame and terror.
On the 24th of March, the army marched from
Hyderabad against Sheer Mohammed, Ameer of
Meerpoor,with whom a pitched battle took place near
that city, in which the British were victorious, but
lost 267 men in killed and wounded. Meerpoor was
occupied without .resistance, and the desert fortress
of Amercot (the birthplace of Akber, conquered by
the Ameers from the Rajpoots) surrendered at the
first summons. The brothers Shah Mohammed and
Sheer Mohammed were defeated in the month of
June, by detachments respectively commanded by
captains Roberts and Jacob ; and the success of these
officers in preventing the junction of the brothers,
and defeating them, materially conduced to the tri-
umphant conclusion of the campaign j for had their
forces been able to unite and retire to the desert,
and there wait their opportunity, heat, pestilence, and
inundation (in a land intersected by canals), would
have been fearful auxiliaries to the warfare of preda-
tory bands, against an army already reduced to 2,000
effective men, who could only move in the night,
and were falling so fast beneath climatorial influ-
ences, that before the intelligence of Captain Jacob's
victory, orders had been issued for the return of
all the Europeans to head-quarters.
The Ameers were sent as prisoners to Hindoo-
stan, and stipends were eventually granted for their
support, amounting in the aggregate to £46,614.
Ali Morad was rewarded for his share in sending his
aged brother to die in exile, by an addition of terri-
tory, which was soon afterwards taken away from
him, on a charge of forgery urged against him, and it
was thought clearly proved, by a vengeful minister.
The rest of the province was annexed to British
India, and divided into three collectorates— Shikar-
poor, Hyderabad and Kurrachee. There is some
consolation in being able to close this painful episode,
by stating that the latest accounts represent the
country as improving in salubrity, the inhabitants
(considerably above a million in number) as tran-
quil and industrious, canals as being reopened,
waste land redeemed, new villages springing up, and
even the very mild form of slavery which prevailed
under the Ameers, as wholly abolished. This is well ;
for since we are incontestably usurpers in Sinde, it
is the more needful we be not oppressors also.*
The sword had scarcelj' been sheathed in
Sinde before it was again drawn in warfare
against the Mahratta principality formed
by Mahadajee Sindia. The successor of
Dowlut Rao, and the adopted son of Baiza
Bye, died childless in 1843. His nearest
relative, a hoy of eight years of age, was
proclaimed Maharajah, with the sanction
of the British government ; and the regency
was nominally entrusted to the widow of
the late prince, a wayward and passionate,
but clever and sensitive girl of twelve years
of age. Great disorders arose in the state ;
and the turbulence of the mass of 40,000
soldiers, concentrated at Gwalior, rendered
them an object of anxiety to the governcrr
general. The doctrine openly inculcated by
* Vide Napier's Sinde; and Outram's Commentary.
Lord Wellesley— of the rights and obliga-
tions of the British government, as the
paramount power in India — was urged by
Lord EUenborough as the basis of his pro-
posed movements with regard to Gwalior.
An army was assembled at the close of
1843; and while one division, comprising
about eight or nine thousand men, marched
from Bundelcund, and crossed the Sinde
river at Chandpoor, the main body, about
14,000 strong, under the command of Sir
Hugh Gough, accompanied by the governor-
general, crossed the Chumbul near the
town of Dholpoor, and on the 26th of De-
cember encamped at Hingpna, twenty-three
miles north-west of the fort of Gwalior.
Marching thence on the 29lh, the British
force came in front of a Mahratta host,
about 18,000 in number, encamped fifteen
miles from Gwalior, near the villages of
Maharajpoor and Chonda. The details of
the ensuing engagement are unsatisfactorily
recorded. That the British came unex-
pectedly on the enemy, is proved by the fact
that Lord EUenborough (not a military
man, as he sorrowfully said) was on the
field, and also the ladies of the family of
the commander-in-chief. The conflict was
desperate, and the English suffered severe loss
from the numerous and well-served artillery
of the foe; but they prevailed, as usual,
by sheer hard fighting, marching up under
a murderous fire to the mouths of the
cannon, bayoneting the gunners, and
driving all before them. Flinging away
their matchlocks, the Mahrattas fell back
on Maharajpoor, where they held their
ground, sword in hand, until General
Valiant, at the head of a cavalry brigade,
charged the village in the rear, and dis-
persed the foe with much slaughter. The
survivors retreated to Gwalior, leaving
on the field fifty-six pieces of artillery, and
all their ammunition waggons. The total
loss of British troops was 106 killed and
684 wounded. On the same day. Major-
general Grey encountered 12,000 Mahrattas
at Puniar, twelve miles south-west of Gwa-
lior, captured all their artillery, and slew a
large number of them, his own loss being
twenty-five killed and 189 wounded. The
victorious forces met beneath the walls of
the ancient stronghold, which, on the 4th
of January, 1844, was taken possession of
by the contingent force commanded by
British officers. At the base of the temple
stood the Lashkar, or stationary camp,
where about 5,000 Mahrattas, being amply
LORD ELLENBOROUGH SUPERSEDED BY SIR H. HARDINGE— 1844. 453
supplied with artillery, held out until the
offer of liquidation of arrears, and three
months' additional pay, induced them to
surrender their arms and ammunition, and
disperse quietly.
The native durbar attempted no further
opposition to the views of the governor-
general, and a treaty was concluded on the
13th Jan., 1844, by which the Maharanee
was handsomely pensioned, but excluded
from the government ; and the administra-
tion vested in a council of regency, under
the control of the British Resident, during
the minority of the Maharajah. The fortress
of Gwalior was ceded in perpetuity, and the
sum of twenty-six lacs, or an equivalent in
land, was demanded by Lord EUenborough,
in payment of long-standing claims; the
subsidiary force was increased, and the maxi-
mum of the native army fixed at 9,000 men,
of whom not more than one-third were to
be infantry. The good conduct of the
young rajah led to his being permitted to
assume the reins of power before the expira-
tion of the stated interval, and at its close,
in 1853, he was formally seated on the
musnud, and confirmed in the authority he
bad previously exercised on sufferance.*
The hostilities carried on with China,
however important in themselves, have no
place in the already overcrowded history of
India; but it would be unjust to Lord
EUenborough, to omit noticing his vigorous
and successful exertions for the dispatch of
troops and stores to the seat of war. The
reasons for his recall by the E. I. Directory
in July, 1844, were not made public; and
it would be superfluous to speculate upon
them in a work the object of which is to
state facts, not opinions.
Hardinoe Administration : 1844 to
1848. — Lord Ellenborough's successor. Sir
Henry Hardinge, employed the brief interval
of tranquillity enjoyed by the Anglo-Indian
government in promoting public works, in
* Churut Sing founded the fortunes of his family
by establishing a sirdaree or governorship, which his
son, Maha Sing, consolidated by the capture of the
fort and town of Ramnuggur, from a strong Mo-
hammedan tribe called Chettas. Maha Sing died in
1780, leaving one son, a child then four years old,
the afterwards famous Runjeet Sing. The mother
and mother-in-law of the young chief ruled in his
name until the year 1793, when Runjeet became
impatient of control, and sanctioned, or (according
to Major Smyth) himself committed the murder of
his mother, on the plea of her shameless immorality —
a procedure in which he closely imitated the conduct
of his father, likewise a matricide. The conquest of
Lahore, in 1798, from some Seik chiefs by whom
it was conjointly governed, was the first step of the
3 N
improving the discipline of the army,
ameliorating the condition of the native
troops, and endeavouring to produce a
more friendly spirit between the military
and civil services.
The progress of much-needed reforms
was soon arrested by the outbreak of war
on the north-western frontier, which was
met by the governor-general in a firm and
decisive spirit. Upon the death of the old
Lion of the Punjab — the mighty robber-
chief who had raised himself from the
leadership of a small Jat tribe to the rank
of Maharajah of the Seiks, — the kingdom he
had founded was shaken to its base by a
series of durbar intrigues and midnight
assassinations, exceeding in atrocity the
worst crimes committed at the worst periods
of Hindoo or Mohammedan history. Kur-
ruck Sing, the successor, and, it was gen-
erally believed, the only son of the deceased
ruler, was deprived, first of reason and then
of life, by the hateful machinations of the
minister Rajah Dehra Sing and his profli-
gate and abandoned son Heera (the pam-
pered minion of Runjeet), the leading
members of a powerful family, generally
known as the Lords of Jummoo, a priuci-
pality conquered from the Rajpoots. -^ The
incremation of Kurruck Sing was scarcely
ended, when some loose bricks fell on the
head of his son No Nehal Sing, who was
placed in a litter and carried ofif by the
arch plotter Dehra, before the extent of the
injury could be ascertained by the bystand-
ers, and kept from the presence of his family
until the crime had been completed, and the
young rajah was a corpse. Murder followed
murder : men and women, the guilty and
the innocent, the vizier in the council-
chamber, the general at the head of the
army, the lady at her toilette, the babe in
its cradle, were by turns the victims of un-
scrupulous ambition, covetousness of wealth,
lust, cowardice, or vengeance. Dehra and
ladder by which Runjeet mounted to power. Moul-
tan and Peshawur were captured in 1818; Cashraera
in the following year ; and Runjeet's career of plun-
der and subjugation ceased not until a wall of im-
penetrable mountains closed its extension northward,
in a manner scarcely less decisive than the check to
his progress southward and eastward, previously given
by the English, when their prudent interference com-
pelled him to find in the Sutlej a barrier as impassable as
the Himalayas themselves. — (Prinsep's<SeiSs; Smyth's
Reigning Family of Lahore ; Shahamet All's Seiks and
Afghans; H iigel's Travels in Cashmere and the Punjab.)
t The almost independent power which Runjeet
Sing suffered the Lords of Jummoo and other favour-
ite chiefs to assume, was one of the causes of the fierce
civil war for which his death gave the signal.
454 WAR IN THE PUNJAB— BATTLE OF MOODKEE— DECEMBER, 1845.
Heera Sing fell, each at a different crisis,
while holding the office of vizier. Sheer
Sing, the son of one of Runjeet's wives,
obtained for a time the throne; but was
murdered in 1843, after which a state of
wide-spread anarchy prevailed throughout
the Punjab, the chief remaining semblance
of authority being vested in the person of
Ranee Chunda, a concubine of the late
Runjeet Sing, and the mother of a boy
named Duleep Sing, who, though notori-
ously not the son of the Maharajah, had
been in some sort treated by him as such.
Dehra Sing, wanting a puppet, had drawn
this child from obscurity ; and his mother,
under the title of regent, became the head
of a faction, the opposers of which took
their stand by declaiming truly against the
spurious origin of Duleep Sing, and the
shameless immorality of Ranee Chunda ; and
untruly, with regard to her alleged efforts to
intrigue with the English against the inde-
pendence of the Seik nation. Now, in fact,
the only point upon which the various Seik
parties had ever shown any degree of una-
nimity, was that of enmity to the British ;
and much evidence has gradually been
brought to light of the actual treachery, as
well as passive breach of treaty committed
by them during the Afghan war. The in-
temperate language of Sir Charles Napier
in Sinde, and his undisguised anticipation
of war in the Punjab, had been published,
doubtless with exaggeration, throughout that
kingdom; and the general feeling of the
Seiks was anxiety to assume an offensive
position, and meet, if not anticipate, the
expected invasion. The French officers in
the Seik service (Ventura and M. Court),
appear to have borne little part in the past
commotions; but their exertions, together
with those of Allard and the Neapolitan
Avitabile, on whom Runjeet conferred the
government of Pesbawur, had been sedu-
lously and successfully employed in casting
cannon, organising artUlery, and disciplining
troops after the European fashion.
The preparations made at Lahore for the
passage of the Sutlej by a Seik army, could
not long be concealed from the governor-
general, who, with all practicable expedition
and secrecy, concentrated 32,000 men and
sixty-eight guns in and about Ferozepoor,
Loodiana, and Umballa. Towards the middle
of December, the Seiks crossed their boun-
dary, bringing with them large quantities of
heavy artillery; and one body of 25,000
regulars and eighty-eight guns, took up a
position near the village of Ferozshah;
whilst another force of 23,000 men and
sixty-seven guns, encamped opposite Feroze-
poor. Both divisions commenced throwing
up earthworks around their camps, and pre-
paring for a vigorous contest.
The governor-general had hastened to
the frontier to superintend the necessary
preparations at the various cantonments.
On learning the passage of the Sutlej by
the Seiks, in direct contravention of exist-
ing treaties, he issued a declaration of war,
and, in conjunction with the commander-
iii-chief. Sir Hugh Gough, advanced with
the main column from Bussean (the military
depot) towards Ferozepoor. On reaching the
village of Moodkee (18th December, 1845),
tidings were received of a hostile encampment
some three miles off, comprising a large
body of troops, chiefly cavalry, supported by
twenty-two guns. It was mid-day, and the
English were weary with marching ; never-
theless they started forward, after a brief
interval for refreshment. The Seik artil-
lery being advantageously posted behind
some low jungle, fired briskly upon the
advancing columns, but could not hinder
the approach of the British horse artillery
and light field batteries, which opened on
them with steady precision, and caused a
degree of confusion in their ranks, soon
utterly broken by a sweeping charge of
cavalry, closely followed by a continuous
discbarge from the muskets of the infantry.
The Seiks were driven off by the bayonet
whenever they attempted to make a stand,
and fled leaving seventeen guns and large
numbers of their dead comrades on the
field. The slaughter would have been
greater but for the weariness of the victors
and the gathering darkness. The British
returned to their camp at midnight, with
the loss of 216 killed and 648 wounded, out
of a force of 1,200 rank and file. Among
the slain was Sir Robert Sale, who fell with
his left thigh shattered by grapeshot. The
victory was followed up by an attack on the
intrenched camp of the enemy at Feroz-
shah. The Seiks were estimated at 35,000
rank and file, and eighty-eight guns ; while
the British numbered less than 18,000 men,
and sixty-five guns. The disparity was sen-
sibly felt, for the Seiks had proved them-
selves far more formidable opponents than
had been expected ; and their artillery
(thanks to the labours of Ventura, Allard,
Avitabile, and Court, and to tiie policy
of encouraging foreign adventurers to enter
SEIK WAR— BATTLES OF FEROZSHAH, ALIWAL, AND SOBRAON. 455
the service of native princes, and prohibit-
ing Englishmen from a similar proceeding)
excelled ours in calibre as much as in number,
was in admirable order, and thoroughly well
served. The British advanced from Mood-
kee, and reached the hostile encampment
about eleven o'clock on the 21st of December.
The engagement commenced with an attack
by the artillery on the Seik lines, which ex-
tended nearly a mile in length and half a
mile in breadth. An order was given to
the infantry to seize the enemy's guns ; and
the terrible task was effected with so much
success, that the battle seemed almost gained,
when the sudden fall of night obliged the
combatants to cease fighting, because they
could no longer distinguish friend from foe.
The main body of the British forces was
withdrawn a few hundred yards, and while
resting under arms, some of the Seik guns
which had not been taken possession of, were
brought to bear on the recumbent troops.
The governor-general mounted his horse
and led the gallant 80th, with a portion of
the 1st Bengal Europeans, against the hos-
tile guns, carried them at a charge, caused
them to be spiked, and returned to his pre-
vious station. The remainder of the night
was one of extreme anxiety to the British
commanders : their loss had been most se-
vere ; and the reserve force, under Sir Harry
Smith, had been compelled to retire ; while
reinforcements were believed to be on their
way to join the Seiks. The " mettle" of the
troops and of their dauntless leaders was
never more conspicuous : at daybreak they
renewed the attack with entire success,
secured the whole of the seventy-six guns
opposed to them, and cleared the entire
length of the hostile works; the enemy
falling back on the reserve, which arrived
just in time to prevent their total destruc-
tion. Thus strengthened, the vanquished
Seiks were enabled to recross the Sutlej
without molestation. The English found
full and melancholy occupation in burying
their dead and nursing the wounded.
Nearly 700 perished on the field ; and of above
1,700 placed in hospital at Ferozepoor, 600
died or were disabled from further service.
The great loss thus sustained, and the
want of a battering train, prevented the
conquerors from marching on Lahore, and
bringing the war to a summary conclusion.
Many weeks elapsed before the arrival of
reinforcements enabled Sir Hugh Gough
again to take the field; and in the in-
terval, the Seiks threw a bridge of boats
across the Sutlej, and encamped at Sobraon,
on the left bank of the river, where, under
the direction of two European engineers,
they constructed an almost impregnable Me-
du-pont. Another body crossed the river
and took post at the village of Aliwal, near
Loodiana. Sir Harry Smith was dispatched
from Ferozepoor to relieve Loodiana, which
having effected, he marched against Aliwal
with a force of about 10,000 men, and ad-
vanced to the attack on the 28th Jan., 1846,
with his entire line. A brief cannonade
and a cavalry charge was followed by the
onset of the infantry : the village was carried
by the bayonet, the opposing guns captured,
and the foe driven with great slaughter
across the river. Smith returned to Feroze-
poor on the 8th of February, and on the
following day the long-expected heavy guns
reached the British camp. Before daybreak
on the 10th the troops marched forth to
attack the formidable intrenchments of an
enemy estimated at 54,000 men, and sup-
ported by seventy pieces of artillery. The
British numbered 16,000 rank and file, with
nitiety-nine guns. They advanced under a
murderous fire from cannon, muskets, and
camel guns, and in more than one place
were repeatedly forced back, but the charge
was invariably renewed. Line after line was
carried, in the accustomed manner, by the
bayonet, and the victory was completed by
the fierce onslaught of a body of cavalry,
under General Thackwell. The Seik guns,
camel swivels, and standards were aban-
doned, and the retreating mass driven over
their bridge of boats across the river, hun-
dreds perishing by the fire of the horse
artillery, and many more being drowned in
the confusion. The English lost 320 killed
(including the veteran Sir Thomas Dick,
with other officers of note), and the wounded
amounted to 2,063. The victorious army
marched to Lahore ; and there, beneath the
city walls, dictated the terms of peace. I'he
governor-general was disposed to recognise
the claims of the boy Duleep Sing as Maha-
rajah, and 10,000 men were left at Lahore
(under the command of Sir John Littler) for
his support and the preservation of peace.
The Seik government, or durbar, consented
to defray the expenses of the war, amounting
to a million and a half sterling, and agreed
to the disbandment of their turbulent sol-
diery, of whom the majority had been already
temporarily dispersed. Sir Henry Hardinge
returned to England, and was rewarded for
zealous and successful service by eleva-
456 ANNEXATION OF THE PUNJAB BY LORD DALHOUSIE— 1849.
tion to the peerage ; a similar mark of
royal favour was conferred on Sir Hugh
Gough.
Dalhousie Administration : 1848 to
1855. — The recent Seik treaty was not
carried out, and appears to have been
merely signed as a means of gaining time.
A new series of crimes and intrigues com-
menced ; and, as before, hatred of the Eng-
lish was the only common feeling of the
various leaders of factions. The first signs
of open hostility appeared in the ancient
city of Mooltan, the capital of a petty state
between the Indus and the Sutlej, conquered
by ftunjeet Sing in 1818. The British
assistant Resident (Mr. Vans Agnew) and
Lieutenant Anderson of the Bombay army,
were assassinated in the fortress by Mool-
raj the governor, against whom hostile ope-
rations were in. mediately commenced ; tlie
earlier of which were characterised by a
remarkable display of energy and judgment
on the part of Major Herbert Edwardes,
then a subaltern, " who had seen but one
campaign."* The strong fortress of Mooltan
was besieged in August, and would probably
have been captured in the following month,
but for the treacherous defection of a large
body of Seik auxiliaries, which, with other
unmistakable indications of hostility, left (in
the words of Lord Dalhousie) "no other
course open to us than to prosecute a gen-
eral Punjab war with vigour, and ultimately
to occupy the country with our troops."
In November, 1849, a British army, under
Lord Gough, again took the field, and
marched from Ferozepoor to Raranuggur,
near the Chenab, where a Seik force lay
encamped. The attack of the British proved
successful, but their loss was heavy, and
included the gallant General Cureton, Co-
lonel Havelock, and Captain Fitzgerald.
The Seiks retreated in order towards the
Jhelum, while Lord Gough prepared to follow
up his victory by an attack on Lahore.
The siege of Mooltan, conducted by General
Whish, was brought to a successful issue on
the 2nd of Januarj', 1849. The fortress was
most vigorously defended, until its massive
fortifications were completely undermined,
and several practicable breaches effected.
Orders had been given to storm the citadel
at daybreak, and the troops were actually
forming, when Moolraj presented himself at
the chief gate, and proceeding straight to
the tent of the English general, surrendered
the keys and his own sword.
• Year on the Punjab Frontier, pp. 381-'2.
A garrison was left in Mooltan, and the
remainder of the array marched off to join
the commander-in-chief, but arrived too late
to share the peril and the glory of the much-
criticised battle of Chillianwallah. Events
so recent are hardly fit subjects of history.
It is seldom until the chief actors have
passed away from the stage that the evi-
dence brought forward is sufficiently clear
and full to enable the most diligent investi-
gator to form a correct judgment on their
merits and demerits.
Early in January, Lord Gough proceeded
towards the Chenab, and found, as he ex-
pected, the Seiks strongly posted near Chil-
lianwallah, with their artillery planted in a
commanding and safe position, under cover
of some low but dense jungle. The British
marched to the attack, as they had often
done before, amid a storm of grape and
shell, and after a long and sanguinary engage-
ment, which lasted till after nightfall, car-
ried the murderous guns with the bayonet,
and purchased victory with the loss of 757
killed and above 2,000 wounded. The
carnage among the Seiks must have been
yet more terrible ; nevertheless, being joined
by a body of Afghan horse, they prepared to
renew the contest. The final struggle took
place on the 21st of February, a few miles
from the town of Gujerat. The battle was
opened by Lord Gough with a fierce can-
nonade, which was maintained without inter-
mission for nearly three hours. At the expira-
tion of that time the Seiks made a retrograde
movement, upon which the whole British
force rushed forth on the foe, and with bayo-
net, lance, and sword completed the over-
throw commenced by the heavy guns.
Chutter Sing, Sheer Sing, and other leaders,
surrendered to the victors ; the Afghans fled
across the Indus ; the Seik forces were dis-
banded ; and there being in truth no legiti-
mate heir to the usurpations of Runjeet
Sing, the Punjab was unavoidably an-
nexed to British India. Its present satis-
factory and improving condition will be
found described in an ensuing section.
Second Burmese War. — Nearly two years
were passed by the governor -general in
active usefulness, without any interruptiou
of the general tranquillity; the only occa-
sion for military interference being to sup-
press the inroads of the Afredees and other
predatory tribes in the vicinity of Peshawur.
The sole quarter from which hostility was
anticipated was Burmah, the very one from
which it was most earnestly to be depre-
COMMODORE LAMBERT'S PROCEEDINGS AT RANGOON-1851-'3. 457
cated by all inclined to take warning by
past experience.
The Earl of Dalhousie was deeply im-
pressed with this conviction, and scrupled
not, with characteristic frankness, to declare
his opinion, that " conquest in Burmah would
be a calamity second only to the calamity of
war."* The deeply disordered finances of
India had been rapidly improving under his
peaceful and able administration, and he
looked forward with sincere repugnance to
a contingency which would assuredly pro-
duce " exhausted cash balances and reopened
loans."t Nevertheless, a series of unfortunate
events produced the renewal of war. The
treaty of Yandaboo had been preserved in-
violate by the sovereign with whom it was
made; but his deposition, in 1837, gave a
new turn to affairs. His usurping brother,
known to the English as a military leader
by the name of Prince Therawaddi, mani-
fested great annoyance at the presence of a
political agent at Ava, and the residency
was in consequence removed to Rangoon,
and subsequently altogether withdrawn
from Burmah. The British continued to
trade with Rangoon for the following twelve
years; and during that time many com-
plaints of oppression and breach of treaty
were brought against the Burmese govern-
Djent, but none of these were deemed of
sufficient extent or significancy to call for
the interference of the Calcutta authorities,
until the close of 1851, when the com-
manders of two British vessels laid before
Lord Dalhousie a formal statement of op-
pressive judgments delivered against them
by the governor of Rangoon in his judicial
capacity. Commodore Lambert was dis-
patched from Calcutta with full and very
clear instructions regarding the course to be
pursued — namely, first to satisfy himself re-
garding the justice of these allegations, and
then to demand about .£900 as compensation.
On reaching Rangoon, numbers of resi-
dent traders (styled by Lord Ellenborough
the Don Pacificoes of Rangoon) pushed off
in their boats with a strange assortment of
complaints against the governor; whereupon
Commodore Lambert, without waiting to
consult Lord Dalhousie on the subject,
broke off all intercourse with the local func-
tionary, and commanded him, in very
peremptory language, to forward a letter to
the King of Ava, stating the object of the
British mission, and demanding the disgrace
• Further (Pari.) Papers on Burmese war, p. 44.
t Idem, p. 87.
of the offending intermediary. The letter was
dispatched, and an answer returned, that the
obnoxious individual had received his dis-
missal, and that the required compensation
would be granted. A new governor arrived
at Rangoon, whose conduct induced the
commodore to doubt the sincerity of the
professions made by the Burmese authori-
ties; and so far he was probably correct.
But, unfortunately, his peculiar position as
a Queen's officer, J is alleged to have given
him a sort of independence, which induced
the violation of Lord Dalhousie's express in-
junction, that no act of hostility should be
committed by the British mission, however
unfavourable its reception, until definite
instructions had been obtained from Cal-
cutta. The refusal of the governor to re-
ceive a deputation sent by the commodore at
mid-day on the 6th Jan., 1852, — offered
by the Burmese attendants on the plea
that their master was asleep, according to,
custom, at that hour (and afterwards ex-
cused on the plea that the deputies were
intoxicated, which has been wholly denied),
— was immediately resented by a notice from
the commodore for all British subjects to
repair to the squadron — an order which was,
obeyed by several hundred men, women,
and children. No opposition was made to
their embarkation, but those who remained
behind were thrown into prison. The next
and wholly unauthorised measure was to take
possession of a painted war-hulk, styled the
" yellow ship," belonging to the King of
Ava, which lay at anchor a little above the
British vessels. This procedure, which has
been almost universally censured, produced
a declaration from the governor of Rangoon,
that any attempt to carry away the property
of the king, would be forcibly resisted. The
British persisted in towing the vessel out of
the river ; and on passing the great stockade,
or battery, a fire was opened on them, but
soon silenced by a broadside from the
squadron, which " must have done great
execution."^ Commodore Lambert declared
the coast of Burmah in a state of blockade,
and left in a steamer for Calcutta, to
seek other instructions than those he had
violated in ill-judged retaliation.
The notoriously hostile spirit of the Bur-
mese government, probably induced Lord
Dalhousie to confirm the general proceed-
ings of Lambert, despite his undisguised dis-
approval of the seizure of the "yellow ship."
I Cobden's Origin of Burmese War, 7.
§ Lambert's Despatch. Further Papers, 41.
458 WAR WITH BURMAH— ANNEXATION OF PEGU— DEC, 1852.
The previous demand for compensation
was reiterated and received with a degree of
evasion which was deemed equivalent to re-
jection ; and both parties made ready for an
appeal to arms. The British commander-in-
chief, Lord Gough, was absent at Simla ; but
though a brave soldier, he was a man of ad-
vanced age; and the ability of Lord Dalhousie
and his council abundantly sufficed to over-
come all deficiencies, including those en-
countered in the raising of the Madras con-
tingent, through the insubordination of the
governor, Sir Henry Pottinger, who tacitly
opposed Lord Dalhousie at every point, — not
through any conscientious feeling regarding
the war, but simply from personal irritation,
caused by some petty jealousy of office.*
The Bombay authorities, aided by the head
of the Indian navy (Commodore Lushington)
and his able subordinates, captains Lynch
and Hewett, bestirred themselves actively
in the preparation of the steam fleet, and
on the 2nd of April the Bengal division
arrived at the mouth of the Rangoon river;
the previous day having been fixed by the
governor-general as that on which the King
of Ava was to decide whether he would
avoid war by the payment of j8100,000 in
consideration of the expenses incurred by
the British, and sanction the residence of an
accredited agent at Rangoon, in compliance
with the treaty of Yandaboo. The steamer
dispatched to Rangoon to receive the reply
of the Burmese government, was compelled
to retreat under a shower of shot from the
stockades lining the river; and the campaign
commenced. Martaban was stormed with
little loss, and occupied by a strong garri-
son. The Madras division arrived soon
after; and the united forces amounted to
about 8,000 men, commanded by General
Godwin, an active and fearless veteran, who
had served under Campbell in the previous
war, but whose projects were sadly fettered by
an exaggerated respect for the proceedings of
his predecessor. Rangoon was blockaded
on the 10th of April, 1852, and the follow-
ing day (Easter Sunday) witnessed a despe-
rate and prolonged struggle. The intense
heat, under which many officers dropped
down dead, impeded operations ; and it was
not until the 14th that the fall of the Golden
* See an able article entitled "Annals of the Bengal
Presidency for 1852," Calcutta Review, Mar., 1853.
t The assassination of Captain Latter, the deputy
commissioner at Prome, in December, 1853, has
been variously attributed to the treachery of the
Burniese government, and to the vengeance of a
petty chief, in whose subjugation to British autho-
Pagoda comple' d the capture of Rangoon,
which was ob,..med with the loss to the
victors of about 150 killed and wounded.
Bassein (once the head-quarters of the Por-
tuguese in Eastern India) was carried with
ease in June, and strongly garrisoned ; but
the dilapidated city of Pegu, which next
fell into the hands of a British detachment,
though evacuated on their approach, was
abandoned by them, owing to insufficiency
of troops. General Godwin sent to Cal-
cutta for reinforcements, and especially for
light cavalry, horse artillery, and a field
battery. These were assembled and dis-
patched with all possible celerity ; and the
governor-general, probably dissatisfied with
the progress of hostilities, himself visited
the seat of war. Prome was taken posses-
sion of in July, but abandoned, like Pegu,
for want of men, upon which the enemy
returned, and made preparations for its
defence. The reinforcements which reached
the British cantonments in September,
raised the army under General Godwin to
nearly 20,000 efficient troops, and might, it
was considered, have amply sufficed for
more extensive enterprises than were at-
tempted. Prome was recaptured, with little
difficulty, in October, and Pegu in Novem-
ber; and both places were permanently
occupied. An effort was made for the re-
covery of Pegu by the Burmese, which
proved ineffectual ; and an engagement with
a body of the enemy, near Pegu, was chiefly
remarkable for the gallantry displayed by
the irregular Seik horse, who proved val-
uable auxiliaries to their late conquerors.
In December, 1852, the governor-general
declared the province of Pegu annexed to
the British empire, and intimated that no
further hostilities would be pursued by the
Anglo-Indian government, if the Burmese
were content to submit quietly to the loss
of territory which, it must be remembered,
they had themselves acquired by usurpation.
A new revolution at Ava, caused by the
deposition of the king, TheravVaddi, by one
of his brothers (a procedure similar to that
by which he raised himself to the throne),
occasioned a cessation of foreign hostilities.t
and it would appear that the Burman court
and people are really solicitous for the
rity he was personally instrumental. The murder
was committed in the dead of night, and nothing
but life was taken. The assertion that a woman's
garment was found on the body, though often re-
peated, has been authoritatively denied; and of the
whole mysterious affair nothing is certain but the
death of a brave, scientific, and energetic officer.
REVIEW OF THE DALHOUSIE ADMINISTRATION— 1855.
459
continuance of peace. Some disappoint-
ment was occasioned by the embassy volun-
tarily dispatched by the King of Ava to the
governor-general, and the mission sent in
friendly reciprocity to Ava, resulting in no
treaty of alliance or commerce. The gov-
ernor-general, however, had from the first
" deprecated the reconstruction of any treaty
relations with the court of Ava at all ;" and
at the close of his administration, he de-
clared, that he still considered " peace with
Ava as even more likely to be maintained
in the absence of all commercial or friendly
treaties, than if those conventions had been
renewed as before."*
Sattara. — On the deatii of the rajah,
on the 5th of April, 1848, the principality
was annexed to the British territories by
right of lapse, the rajah leaving no male
heir.
Jhansie, a small Mahratta state in Bun-
delcund, lapsed in a similar manner to the
British government on the death of its last
chief, in November, 1853.
Hyderabad.— On the 21st of May, 1853,
the Nizam signed a treaty, which provided
for the liquidation of his heavy and long-
standing debt to the company, and for the
maintenance of the stipulated military con-
tingent, by the cession of the districts of
Berar Payeqn Ghaut, the border districts
from thence down to Shorapoor, and the
territory of the Dooab between the Kistna
and the Toombuddra.f
Nagpoor, or Berar. — This kingdom, which
bad been made over to Rajah Ragojee by
the British government after it had been
forfeited by the treachery of Appa Sahib,
was left without an hereditary heir on the
death of the rajah in December, 1853.
There remained no male of the line, de-
scended from the stock, and bearing the
name of Bhonslah. The dominions of Berar,
or Nagpoor, were therefore considered to
have lapsed, and were incorporated in the
Anglo-Indian empire. There were other
annexations of less importance, such as the
raj of Ungool (in the Jungle Mahals),
and a portion of the land of the rajah of
Sikkim (a hill chieftain, on the borders of
Nepaul.)
In Sinde, Ali Morad, of Khyrpoor, was
accused of having forged a clause in a treaty,
* Minute by the Marquis of Dalhousie, dated
28lh February, 1856, reviewing his administration
in India from January, 1848, to March, 1856. — (Pari.
Papers, 16th June, 1856.)
whereby he had wrongfully obtained posses-
sion of land which of right belonged to the
British government ; and his guilt being
held to be proved, his lands were con-
fiscated.
Oude. — The closing act of Lord Dal-
housie's administration was the annexation
of Oude, the government of which country
was assumed by his lordship, February 7th,
1856. The reasons for this measure, and the
mode of its accomplishment, have been so
much discussed in connexion with the mili-
tary mutiny of the Bengal army, which
broke out in the following year, that it may
perhaps best suit the convenience of the
reader, to postpone the relation of the an-
nexation until a subsequent section. The
chapters immediately succeeding the present
one will, it is hoped, afford an insight into
the physical and topographical character of
the country — a view of the numbers and dis-
tribution of the vast and varied population
of India — the mode of government — extent
of army — amount of commerce and revenue
— the field of missionary and educational
operations, &c. ; which will make the nar-
rative of the mutiny, and its attendant
circumstances, more easily understood than
it could be without such previous informa-
tion.
In reviewing his eight years' administra-
tion, Lord Dalhousie adverted to the rapid
progress of civilisation in India; to the es-
tablishment of railways at the three presi-
dencies and in Sindej of telegraphic com-
munications between the chief cities ; of
cheap and uniform postage ; the improved
means of conveyance by land and water ;
encouragement to agriculture and irriga-
tion ; the reduction of impost dues ; the
creation of a loan for public works ; and the
open discussion of governmental projects and
acts. Before his departure, the insurrec-
tion of the Sonthals (an aboriginal race,
located near the Rajmahal hills in Bahar),
in 1855, was repressed, and precautions
taken to prevent a recurrence. Finally,
Lord Dalhousie took his leave, declaring,
that he " left the Indian empire in peace
without and within ;" and " that there
seemed to be no quarter from which for-
midable war could reasonably be appre-
hended at present."!
t Pari. Papers — Commons, 26th July, 1864 j pp.
34; 144.
\ Minute of 2nd of February, 1855.
460 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL BATTLES AND SIEGES
Date.
Usual Name of
Battle or
Place.
14th Nov., 1751
23d June, 1757
loth Jan., 1761
2nd Aug., 1763
6th Sept., 1763
6th Nov., 1763
23rd Oct, 1764
6th Mar., 1799
27th Mar., 1799
4th May, 1799
■4th Sept., 1803
11th Sept., 1803
23rd Sept., 1803
1st Nov., 1803
28 th Nov., 1803
14th Dec, 1803
ISthNoT., 1804
24th Dec, 1804
9th Jan., 1805
21st Jan., 1805
20th Feb., 1805
21st Feb., 1805
3Ut Oct., 1814
J7th Nov., 1814
27th Feb, 1816
6th Nov., 1817
Siege of Arcot — see
p. 264.
PI assy; inNuddea
dist. — see p. 278.
Battle of Patna«—
see p. 293.
Geriah ; near Soo-
tce, Moorsheda-
bad— p. 297.
Oodwanulla Fort ;
Bhaugulpoor dis.
Patna taken by
storm— p. 298.
Buxar— p. 299 . .
Sedateer ; near Pe-
riapatam — p. 379.
Malavelly ; in My- Ditto
soor — J). 379.
Seringapatam, Ditto
Storm of, p. 381.
Allyghur Fort, Ditto
Storm of, p. 396.
Delhi— p. 396 .. . Ditto
Under
whose Ad-
ministration.
Mr. Sander-
son, Govr. of
Madras.
Clive.* . . .
Mr Vansit-
tart.
Ditto . , .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Marquis Wel-
lesley.
Enemy against
whom
Fought.
lleza Sahib, son of
Chunda Sahib, the
Nabob of Arcot.
Surajah Dowlah, Na-
bob of Bengal.
Shah Alum, Empe-
ror of Delhi.
Meer Cossim, ex-Na-
bnb of Bengal.
10
eight
6-pds.
and 2
howts.
Ditto ....
Ditto ....
Vizier of Oude
Tippoo Sultan
Assaye j in Hyder-
abad ter. — p. 395.
Laswarree — p. 397.
Argaum — p. 398 .
Gawilghur Fort —
p. 398.
Deeg ; nr. Bhurt-
poor — p. 402.
Deeg Fort— p. 401
Unsuccessful storm
of Bhurtpoor.
Si cond do. )
Third do.[ PP-,„
Fourth do. )*"'■-
Unsuccessful at-
tack of Kalunga
Fort— p. 411.
Do. assault, p. 412.
Muckwanpoor — p.
413.
Kirkee, nr. Poona
-p. 417.
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Marquis Hast-
ings.
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . .
Strength of British Army.
Europeans.
Artillery.
Guns.
20
Tippoo
Ditto
Mahrattas, command
ed by French officers
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto . ...
Ditto
Ditto
Mahrattas (Holcar)
Rajah of Bhurtpoor .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Goorkhas
Ditto .
Ditto .
150
756
Mahrattas
3,0
912
a
200
850
750
00
857
4,608
Native.
•3
750
918
I,76S
2,726
20,000
J
300
2,300
1,500
5,297
11,061
GuqL
Nizam
Total.
500
3,300
3,000
3,000
7,072
6,420
41,649
ascars.
8 Con.
20000-
3,000
4,500
4,500
4,500
4,648-
3,000-
3,382«
2,737
2,477
10,000-
2,800
* In the fifty days during which the siege was protracted, the British loss in defeating the attempt to storm
was only four Europeans killed and two sepoys wounded.
' This number includes the sick ; the number that actually repulsed the storm on the 14th November amounting
to 80 Europeans and 120 sepoys. •
- On the 14th November ; there are no means of ascertaining previous casualties.
■* Of these 150 were French.
• The powers of the Rovernor and council of Calcutta, in civil and commercial attairs, were preserved to them, but
in all military matters Clive was invested with independent authority.
' Some say 35,000 infantry, 15,000 cavalrj-; also forty Frenchmen with four light pieces of artilleiy.
' One of the remarkable events of this battle was the capture of Monsieur Law, who, with a few French troops,
liad hitherto been the chief support of the native armies against the English.
•• Worked by 170 Europeans.
* Exclusive of large bodies of irregular cavalry.
> Of these 2,000 were drowned in the Caramnassa.
^ This includes sixteen missing.
' The number is stated between 40,000 and 50,000.
" This wa» the whole force employed in the siege ; the two divisions which carried the place did not number mora
than 4,000 men.
■ These numbers include the casualties during the whole period of the siege, from 4th April to 4th May.
• The number estimated to have fallen in the assault.
f Exclusive of the Rajah of Berar's infantry and Sindia's irregular corps.
1
:
BY THE ENGLISH IN INDIA, FROM THE YEAR 1751 to 1852. 461
Enemy.
British Army Killed and Wounded.
Enemy.
1
Killed.
"Wounded,
.5
1
O
Total
1
<
Name of
British
Commander.
1
Europeans.
>
Total.
Europeans.
i
CO
Total.
-a
a
a.
Offi-
cers.
i
Offi-
cers.
Men.
9
3,000
7.150-
10,150
1
45
30
76-
2
22
5
227'
40
0"
8
Captain (afterwards
Lord) Clive.
,
54
24 &
32-
18,000
50,000
58,000'
-
6
16
22
2
10
36
48
60
0
50
Clive.
■
i
pd8.
—
10,000
10,000
20,000
—
—
—
—
-
-
-
-
—
—
—
Major Carnao.
—
20,000
8,000
28,000
—
—
—
—
—
—
-
—
—
—
17'
Major Adams.
—
60,
000
60,000
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
100
Ditto.
—
—
10,000'
10,000
—
—
-
—
—
kiH-&
wond.
—
-
—
—
Major Carnac.
—
40,
000
40,000
—
—
—
84
7
—
4,0
OOi
133
Major Munro.
~
40,
000
40,000
—
■
~
45'
"
kill. &
wond.
98
2,0
00
"
General Stuart-
—
45,
000'
4.5,000
—
—
—
—
—
6
6
—
2,0
00
—
General Harris. j
—
—
—
48,000
22
181
119
322"
45
622
420
1,087-
8,0
00°
—
Lord Harris. j
_
_
6
4
9
55
11
19
4
205
2.0100
281
Genera! (afterwards '.
Lord) Lake- i
—
—
—
19,000
5
10
Mis
2
sing 8
107
11
33
0
346
3,0
00
68
General Lake. |
i
' —
35,000
10,500
45,500p
23
40
Mis
3
sing 18
426
30
1,1
06
1,136
1,200'
—
98
Gl. Wellesley (Duke
of Wellington.)
72
4,500
9,000
13,-500
11
16
1
172
25
62
0
651
7,000
—
71
General Lake.
I
—
—
—
—
—
4
6
—
9
29
kill. &
1
wond-
300
—
—
38
General Wellesley.
t
—
—
—
—
1
—
—
—
2
12
kill. &
3
wond.
125
—
—
52
Colonel Stevenson.
1
i
—
—
—
15,000'
5
—
—
—
17
62
1
.638
2,000"
—
87
Major-general Fra-
_
_
w
2
41
_
43
13
171
_
184
_
_
100
Lord Lake.
—
—
—
—
5
38
42
85
23
183
kill. &
165
wond-
371
—
—
—
Lord Lake.
_^
3
15
57
3
588
Ditto.
—
1
48
113
162
27
456
556
732
—
—
—
Ditto.
. —
6
63
56
125
27
462
452
862
—
—
Ditto. 1
i
1
—
—
—
400
5
4
23
32
15
60
163
228
— ~
—
—
Major-general Gil-
lespie, i
_
5.50
4
15
18
37
7
215
221
443
48
0
Colonel Mawbey.
i
—
—
—
12,000
1
11
34
46
1
19
156
176
80
0
—
Major-general Uch-.
terlony.
!
—
25,000
17
2
19
1
65
11
67
60
0
—
Lieutenant - colonel
i
C. B- Burr. ]
' A large number of the wounded were scattered over the country.
i
' The ainount of the British force is not stated ; it must, however, have hr. ;i considerab]
e, as a junction had been
effected between the forces of General Wellesley and Colonel Stevenson. Tl.o force placed at
he disposal of the former.
at the commencement of the campaign, amounted tc 9,000 ; that of the latter to 8,000 men
1
• Major-general Fraser's force consisted of H.M's. 76th regiment, the Company's Eur
opean regiment, and four
!
battalions of sepoys, exclusive of two battalions left for the protection of the baggage.
The strength of the four
battalions and the two European regiments engaged in the attack, may be estimated at the am
ount stated in the Table.
* Thorn says twenty-four battalions of infantry, besides a considerable body of horse.
Captain Thorriton states
that the cavaliy, swelled by numerous adventurers, amounted to 60,000, to which were add
ed 16,000 well-disciplined ,
infantry. The numbers specified in the Table are those of the infantry alone.
" Besides a large number drowned in a morass.
i
j
• This number has reference only to the strength of the storming party. Lord Lake app
with his whole army, which consisted of upwards of 10,000 men.
jars to have been present
' The enemy's extensive intrenchments were occupied by a large force, but the num'oers a
re not stated. The troops
1
are represented to have consisted of several of the Rajah of Bhurtpoor's battalions, and t
Holcar.
* This number comprises only the storming party. See Note to Detg.
» The Bombay division, consisting of four battalions of sepoys, H.M's. 86th regiment, eif
he remaining infantry of 1
1
;ht companies of the 65th,
i
with a troop of Bombay cavalry, and 500 irregular horse, had now joined Lord Lake's force b
sfore Bhurtpoor. i
'
■ Sir David Ochterlony had a force of near 20,000 men, including three European regimer
ts. He divided this force
into four brigades, with two of which he marched to Muckwanpoor.
t
3o
'
.-
462 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL BATTLES AND SIEGES
Dale.
26th and 27th
Nov., 1817.
21st Dec, 1817
1st Jan., 1818
20th Feb., 1818
27thFeb.,1818
17thApril,1818
20th Mnv, 1818
18th to" 29th
May, 1818.
8th to 10th
June, 1818.
31st Jan., 1819
9th April, 1819
10thJune,1824
30th Oct., 1824
18th Jan., 1826
19th Jan., 1826
23rd July,1839
13th Nov., 1839
7th Apra, 1842
13th Sep., 1842
17th Feb., 1843
24th Mar, 1843
29th Dec, 1843
29th Dec, 1843
18th Dec, 1845
21st and 22nd
Dec, 1845.
28th Jan., 1846
10th Feb., 1846
2nd Jan., 1849
13th Jan., 1849
21st Feb., 1849
14th Apr., 1852
Sept., 18.52 . .
Dec, 1852 . .
Usual Name of
Battle or
Place.
Seetabuldee ; near
Nagpoor — p.41S.
Mahidpoor, p. 420
Corygaum, De-
fence of— p. 418.
Ashtee Combat —
p. 419.
Talncir, Storm of
Soonee Battle . ,
Chanda Assault .
Malligaum taken
by Storm.
Satunwarree Fort;
unsuccessful at-
tack.
Nowah ; Hydera-
bad.
Asseerghur taken
byS'orm— p.420.
Kemcndine, p. 424
Martaban — p. 425
Bhurtpoor Storm-
ing— p. 427.
Melloone Storm-
ing— p. 427.
Ghuznce Capture
—p. 436.
Kelat ; in Beloo-
chistan.
Jellalabad Defence
Tezeen Battle . .
Meanee ; Sinde —
p. 451.
Hyderabad; Sinde
-^p. 452.
Puniar ; Gwalior
—p. 452.
Maharajpoor — p.
452.
Moodkee ; left bank
of Sutlej — p. 45-t.
Ferozshah ; on the
Sutlej— p. 454.
Aliwal ; on the
Sutlej.
Sohraon ; on the
Sutlej.
Mooltan, Siege of .
Chillianwalla ; in
the Punjab.
Gujerat ; in the
Punjab.
Rangoon
Prome
Pegn
Under
whose Ad-
ministration.
Marquis Hast-
ings.
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto
Ditto
Lord Amherst
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Lord Auck-
land,
Ditto . . .
Lord Ellen-
borough.
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Lord Har-
dinge.
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Lord Dal-
housic.
Ditto . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Ditto . . .
Enemy against
whom
Fought.
Mahrattas . . . .
Ditto
Arabs in pay of
Peishwa,
Peishwa . . . .
Arabs
Mahrattas . . . .
Ditto
Arabs in Native em-
ploy.
Malirattas . . .
Arab Garrison
Sindia's Command-
ant, Jeswunt Kao
Laar,
Burmese . . ,
Ditto
Rajah of Bhuftpoor
Burmese ...
Afghans . . .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Beloochccs . .
Ditto
Mahrattas (Sindia)
Ditto
Seiks, under Kajah
Lall Sing.
'Seiks
Seiks, under Run-
joor Sing.
Seiks
Seiks, under Mool-
raj.
Seiks
Ditto .
Burmese.
Ditto . .
Ditto . .
Strength of British Army.
Europeans.
Artillery.
Guns.
100
40
65
24
90
150
125
96
850
674
15,000
Native.
8,5 00
.12,0 53
17,0 00
Total.
1,400
11,305
750
419
513'
0,500'
2,630
550"
20,000'
219«
25,000
4,803
1,261
1,360
2,600
2,000
14,000
12,350
17,727
10,000
16,224
32,000
22,000
25,000
' In Col. Blackcr's Memoir, p. 18, Holcar's force is estimated at 20,000 horse and 8,000 foot.
*• The numbers here given have reference to the strength of the cavalry. In addition to this, there appears to have
been a detachment of horse artillery.
• The force consisted of 1,000 native cavalry, a troop of horse artillcrj, a company of European foot artillery,
3,000 native infantry, 2,000 irregular horse, with three 18-pounders, four brass 12's, si.K howitzers, and twelve
6-pounders.
' Native garrison.
BY THE ENGLISH IN I
NDI
\, FROM THE YEAR 1751
TO
1852. 463
Enemy.
British Army Killed and Woimded
Enemy.
1
as
0
<
•3
1
a
Total.
Killed.
Wounded.
Name of
3
Europeans.
Total.
Fiuropean.*!.
?
British
Commander.
Offi-
cers.
a
3
Offi-
cers.
Sleu.
■5
!5
Total. 1 ^ a
—
12,000
8,000
20,000
4
12
0
124
11
23
0
241
30
3
—
Lieutenant - colonel
H. Scot.
L.-gen.SirT.Hislop.
Captain Staunton
70
—
3
2
17
6
1
2
174
64
35
3
66
ii!
8
3
601
116
3,0
M
63
—
9,000
—
9,000
—
—
—
19
1
—
—
—
20
0
—
Sir Lionel Smith
—
—
-
300
2,000
250
2
1
6
1
5
1
2
1
2
9
0
7
13
34
11
5
4
7
1
1
5
16
7
3
1
8
4
18
2
55
175
75
• 25
1,0
20
DO
0
5
L.-gen.SirT.Hislc^.
Colonel Adams.
Ditto.
Lieutenant - colonel
MacDowell.
Major Lamb. ,
—
—
—
500
—
—
—
22
6
17
4
180
40
0
—
Major Pitman.
—
—
—
1,350
1
4
6
47
9
25
7
2CG
43
95
119
Brigadier -general
Doveton.
—
—
—
3,000
3,500
—
61
42
"~7
103
1
1
283
3
183
14
466
15
4,0
0
00
—
Sir A. Camphcll.
Colonel Godwin.
Lord Combermere
—
—
—
10,000
3,000
■ —
—
5
17
3
1
7
20
170
514
—
—
Sir Archibald Camp-
bell.
Sir John Keane.
—
—
—
2,000
1
3
1
32
8
9
9
107
400
—
—
Major-general Will-
shire.
Sir Robert Sale.
—
—
—
6,000
—
-
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
15
I
—
16,000
35,000
G
2
6
0
32
66
3
13
10
12
20
kill. &
25
I
woud.
5
130
214
5,0
00
:
General Pollock.
Sir Charles Napier
Ditto.
-
—
—
12,000
—
—
—
35
—
—
—
182
—
—
24
Major-general Grey
100
—
—
18,000
—
—
—
113
—
—
—
684
3,5
00
56
Lord Gough.
22
—
—
12,000
16
20
0
216
48
60
9
657
—
—
—
Ditto
—
—
—
35,000
48
8
206
694
1,1
03
618
1,721
—
—
88
Ditto.
—
-
—
19,000
—
—
—
176
—
—
—
413
—
—
68
Sir H. Smith.
—
—
—
34,000
:
:
320
—
:
—
2,063
—
—
—
Lord Gough.
General Whish.
—
—
—
60,000
26
73
1
757
66
1,4
46
1,512
4,0
00
12
Lord Gough.
59
—
—
60,000
5
8
7
92
24
65
8
682
—
—
57
Ditto.
General Godwin.
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
z
—
^~
• This was the number of men of which the storming party was composed.
' The British force present at the conclusion of the siege, consisted of— horse artillery, one troop and a-half ; native
cavalry, eight squadrons ; foot artillery, five companies ; European infantry, two battalions and a-half; native infantry.
i eleven and a-half battalions ; irregular horse, 5,000 ; sappers and miners, thirteen companies : and probably exceeded, lu
i the aggregate, the amount stated in the Table.
I <P The strength of the storming party.
[ [The above Table was prepared by order of the Court of Directors, at the request of the Author. The particulars
i which should appear in the columns left blank, cannot be furnished with perfect accuracy.]
CHAPTER 11.
TOPOGRAPHY— MOUNTAINS AND PASSES — RIVERS— PLATEAUX— PROVINCES AND
CHIEF TOWNS— CLIMATE AND DISEASES— GEOLOGY— SOIL— MINERALOGY.
Asia, — the largest and most diversified
quarter of the globe, has for its central
southern extremity a region of unsurpassed
grandeur, comprising lofty mountains, large
rivers, extensive plateaux, and wide-spread
valleys, such as are not to be found within a
like area in any other section of the earth.
This magnificent territory, known under the
general designation of India,* is in the form
of an irregular pentagon, with an extreme
extent, from north to south and from east
to west, of 1,800 miles ; a superficial area of
1,500,000 square miles; and a well-defined
boundary of 9,000 English miles. f
Thegeographical position of India possesses
several advantages. On the north, it is sepa-
rated from China, Tibet, and Independent
Tartary, for a distance of 1,800 miles, by the
Himalayan chain and prolongations termed
the Hindoo-Koosh, whose altitude varies
from 16,000 to 27,000 feet (three to five
miles), through which there is only one pass
accessible to wheeled carriages (Bamian.)
This gigantic wall has at its base an equally
extended buttress, the sub-Himalaya and
Sewalik hills, with, in one part, an inter-
vening irregular plateau (Tibet) of 90 to 150
miles wide : on the West, the Hindoo-Koosh
is connected by the low Khyber ranges with
the lofty Sufied-Koh, and its conjoint the
Suliman mountains, which rise 10,000 feet,
like a mural front, above the Indus valley,
and have a southerly course of 400 miles;
the Suliman are connected by a transverse
chain with the Bolan mountains, which pro-
ceed nearly due south for 250 miles, and be-
come blended with the Keertar, Jutteel, and
Lukkee hills ; the latter terminating in the
promontory of Cape Monze, a few miles
to the north-west of the Indus mouth.
This western boundary of 900 miles, sup-
ports tlie table-lands which constitute a large
part of Afghanistan and Beloochistan : to
these there are four principal ascents — the
Khyber, Gomul, Bolan, and Gundava passes,
readily defensible against the strategetic
* See p. 13 for origin of word : old {geographers
designate the country as India tvithin (S.W. of), and
heyond (S.E. of) the Ganges.
t The reader is requested to bear in mind through-
movements of any formidable enemy. On
the East, an irregular series of mountains,
hills, and highlands, extend from the source
of the Brahmapootra, along the wild and un-
explored regions of Naga, Munneepoor, and
Tipperah, through Chittagong and Arracan
to Cape Negrais (the extremity of the You-
raadoung range), at the mouth of the Ira-
waddy river ; to the southward and east-
ward of Pegu and Martaban, the Tenasserim
ridge commences about one hundred miles
distant from the coast, and prolongs the
boundary to the Straits of Malacca, along
the harrow strip of British territory which
fronts the Bay of Bengal. The length of
this eastern frontier is 1,500 miles, and it
forms an effectual barrier against aggression
from the Burmese, Siamese, or Malays, with
whose states it is conterminous. On the
South, the shores of the above-described ter-
ritory are washed by the Bay of Bengal, the
Straits of Malacca, the Indian Ocean, and
the Arabian Sea, for 4,500 miles. The
natural frontiers of this extensive region
may be thus summarily noted : — north,
along the Himalaya, 1,800 ; west, along
Afghanistan, &c., 900; east, along Burmah,
Siam, &c., 1,800: total by land, 4,500; by
sea, 4,500 = 9,000 English miles.
No pen-and-ink description can convey
an adequate idea of India as a whole ; the
mind may comprehend separate features,
but must fail to realise at one view a
complete portraiture, especially if devoid of
unity of configuration : in several countries
a mountain ridge and a main conduit form
an outline, around which the chief topogra-
phical peculiarities may be grouped ; but the
region before us contains several lines of
great length and elevation, with diverse axis
of perturbation, and declinations to three of
the cardinal points, causing numerous rivers,
flowing S.W. (Indus) ; S.E. (Ganges) ; S.
(Brahmapootra and Irawaddy) ; W. (Ner-
budda, Taptee, and Loonee) ; E. (Godavery,
Kistnah, Cauvery, and Mahanuddy) ; and in
out this work, that round numbers are used to convey
a general idea, easy to be remembered; they must
be viewed as approximative, and not arithmetically >
precise. Indian statistics are still very imperfect.
GRANDEUR, BEAUTY, AND VARIETY OF INDIAN SCENERY. 465
other directions according to the course of
the mountain-ranges and the dip of the
land towards the ocean, by which the river
system is created and defined.
Irrespective of the circumscribing barriers,
and of the bones and arteries (hills and
streams) which constitute the skeleton of
Hindoostan, three features, distinctively deli-
neated, deserve brief notice. The snowy
ranges on the north give origin to two
noble rivers, which, as they issue from
the lesser Himalaya, are separated by a
slightly elevated water-shed, and roll through
widely diverging plains — the one in a south-
easterly direction to the Bay of Bengal,
the other south-westerly to the Arabian
sea; each swollen by numerous confluents
which, altogether, drain or irrigate an area
equal to about half the superficies of India
Proper. The Gangetic plain is 1,000, that
of the Indus (including the Punjab), 800
miles in length ; the average breadth of
either, 300 miles ; the greater part of both
not 500 feet above the sea ; the height no-
where exceeding 1,000 feet. Intermediate,
and bifurcating the valleys of the main
arteries, there is an irregular plateau, extend-
ing from north to south for 1,000, with a
breadth varying from 300 to 500 miles, and
a height ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 feet
above the sea-level. Midway between Cape
Comorin and Cashmere, this table-land is
bisected from west to east, for 600 miles, by
the narrow Nerbudda valley : the northern
section, of an oblong shape, comprising
Malwa, East Rajpootana, and Bundelcund,
has for its south-eastern and north-western
buttresses the Vindhya and Arravulli ranges,
and a declination towards the Jumna and
Dooab on the north-east, and to the Guzerat
plain on the south-west : the southern sec-
tion, constituting what is erroneously* termed
the Peninsula, contains the Deccan, Mysoor,
Berar, and adjoining districts ; forms a right-
angled triangle,t supported on the north by
the Sautpoora mountains, and on either side
by the Western and Eastern Ghauts and
their prolongations ; the declination is from
the westward to the eastward, as shown by
the courses of the Godavery and Kistnah.
These prominent physical characteristics
* There is no partial insulation — no isthmus.
t The northern and western sides are about 900
miles in length ; the eastern 1,100.
J A full description of the geography of India
would require a volume to itself; but the tabular
views here given, and now for the first time pre-
pared, will, with the aid of the maps, enable the reader
to trace out the topography of the country.
maybe thus recapitulated. 1st. The extensive
mountain circumvallation, east to west, from
the Irawaddy to the Indus. 2ud. The two
great and nearly level plains of the Ganges
and Indus. 3rd. The immense undulating
plateau, of 1,000 miles long, in a straight
line from the Jumna to the Cauvery. To
these may be added a low coast-line of 4,500
miles, skirted on either side of the Bay of
Bengal, and on the Malabar shore of the
Indian Ocean, by receding Ghauts and other
lofty ranges, backed by inland ridges of
hills, and mountains traversing the land in
diverse directions, such as the Vindhya,
Sautpoora, and Arravulli. These salient fea-
tures comprise many varieties of scenery;
but for the most part wide-spread landscapes
extend on the east, — teeming with animal
and vegetable life ; sandy wastes on the west,
where the wild ass obtains scanty provender ;
on the north, an arctic region, whose snowy
solitudes are relieved from perpetual stillness
by volcanic fires bursting from ice-capt peaks;
on the south, luxuriant valleys, verdant with
perpetual summer; a rocky coast at Katty-
war, swampy sunderbunds at Bengal, jungly
ravines in Berar, and fertile plains in Tan-
jore; — here Nature in sternest aspect, — there
in loveliest form, — everywhere some dis-
tinctive beauty or peculiar grandeur : while
throughout the whole are scattered numer-
ous cities and fortresses on river-bank or
ocean-shore, adorned with Hindoo and Mos-
lem architecture, cave temples of wondrous
workmanship, idolatrous shrines, and Mo-
hammedan mausoleums, wrought with untir-
ing industry and singular artistic skill; Cyclo-
pean walls, tanks, and ruins of extraordinary
extent, and of unknown origin and date;
but whose rare beauty even the ruthless
destroyer, Time, has not wholly obliterated.
These and many other peculiarities contri-
bute to render India a land of romantic in-
terest, which it is quite beyond the assigned
limits of this work to depict : all within its
scope J being a brief exposition of the various
mountain-ranges and passes, the plateaux,
the river system, coast-line, islands, &c., with
an enumeration of the principal cities and
towns, which are more numerous and popu-
lous than those of continental Europe. §
§ Autumnal tourists, in search of health, pleasure,
or excitement, and weary of the beaten paths of the
Seine and Khine, might readily perform, in six
months (September to March), the overland route
to and from India, — examine the leading features of
this ancient and far-famed land, judge for themselves
of its gorgeous beauty, and form some idea of the man-
ners and customs of its vast and varied population.
466 EXTENT, POSITION, AND ELEVATION OF MOUNTAINS— INDIA.
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EXTENT, POSITION, AND ELEVATION OF MOUNTAINS— INDIA. 467
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478 RIVERS IN AFGHANISTAN, AND COUNTRIES ADJACENT— INDIA.
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EC ee I!;
CAPITAL CITIES OF EACH INDIAN PRESIDENCY.
481
Principal Cities.* — A description of the
cities and towns in India would occupy
several volumes : all that can here be given
is a brief note on some of the best known. f
Calcutta, — on the left bank of the Hooghly, about
100 m. from the sea; present seat of supreme gov-
ernment; a village when acquired by the English
>n 1700. Length, about 4^ m. ; breadth, H m. ;
area, nearly 8 sq. m. Beyond the Mahratta Ditch
(an intrenchment intended as a defence against
the incursions of the Mahrattas), are the suburbs
of Chitpoor, Nundenhagh, Bahar-Simlah, Sealdah,
Eutally, Baliygunge, Bhowaneepoor, AUipoor, and
Kidderpoor. On the opposite side of the river lie
the villages of Seebpoor, Howrah, and Sulkea. The
city is defended by Fort William, a large and strong
fortress, built on a plain, of an octagonal form, some-
what resembling that of Antwerp: it mounts 619
guns.
In May, 1850, the population of Calcutta, ex-
clusive of suburbs, was 413,182 ; number of resi-
dences, 62,565 ; of huts, 49,445. Among the public
buildings are the Government-house, a magnificent
structure; the Town-hall, a handsome edifice; the
Supreme Court of Judicature, the Madrissa and
Hindoo colleges, Metcalfe Hall, and the Oehterlony
monument. About three miles below the city, on
the Howrah side, there are extensive botanical
gardens, laid out with good taste and effect.
The most elevated part of Calcutta (Clive-street) is
only thirty feet above the sea-level at low-water. It
appears to me very probable that the whole city will
some day be submerged by the shifting beds of the
Hooghly or Ganges.
Madras, — on the Coromandel coast, consists of three
broad streets, running north and south, dividing the
town into four nearly equal parts; they are well
built, and contain the principal European shops.
On the beach is a line of publijc offices, including the
Supreme Court, the Custom-house, the Marine Board
Office, and the offices and storehouses of the princi-
pal European merchants. The other buildings are,
the Mint, the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Church
Mission Chapel, Armenian Church, Trinity Chapel,
the General Hospital, and Medical School. Fort St.
George is in form an irregular polygon, somewhat of
a semicircle, of which the sea-face, which is well
armed with heavy guns, is nearly a diameter.
No part is probably more than twenty feet above
the sea-level. Population, 720,000, including the
Black Town and suburbs.
Bombay.~The old town, built on the island, is
about 2 m. in circuit, and strongly fortified ; the
recent increase of the calibre of the guns has com-
pleted the means of defence. Few remarkable build-
ings. There is a Government-house, an excellent
dockyard and foundry for steam-vessels, a church
within the fort, and one on the island of Colaba,
where there are considerable cantonments : several
banks, insurance companies, the Steam Navigation
Company, Bombay branch of Asiatic Society, Bombay
Geographical Society, &c.; and the leading merchants
have their offices within the fort. Population,
866,119, including the widely-scattered suburbs.
Agra, — formerly a large city; the old walls remain,
and mark out a space extending along the Jumna,
* The seyeral positions of these places, and their e'.eva.
tion. will be given in a Topographical Index.
■f Full details will be found in Tlipmton's excellent
(Gazetteer.
about 4 m. in length, with a breadth of ,3 m.; the area
is about It sq. m ; but not one-half is at present oc-
cupied. There is one wide street running from the
fort in a north-westerly direction. The houses are
built chiefly of red sandstone. Within the fort is the
palace of Shah Jehan, and his hall of audience; the
Motee Masjid or Pearl Mosque, and other structures.
The celebrated Tajmahal, or mausoleum of Shah
Jehan, is outside the city, and about a mile east
of the fort. Adjacent to the city, on the west, is the
Government-house, the official residence of the lieu-
tenant-governor of the North Western Provinces,
Population, 66,000.
Ahmedahad, — on the left bank of the Saburmuttee,
5j m. in circumference, surrounded by a high wall,
with irregular towers every fifty yards. The noblest
architectural relic is the Jumma Masjit or Great
Mosque, built by Ahmed Shah of Ouzerat, the
founder of the city. Near the city wall is a tank a
mile in circumference. Population said to amount
to 30,000.
AJmere, — a city of great antiquity and celebrity —
situate in a picturesque valley, surrounded by hills,
on the base and slope of one of which the town is
built. A wall of stone, with five strong gateways
(all on the north and west sides), surround it. The
town contains several large mosques and temples.
Some of the streets are wide and handsome. The
houses of the wealthy are spacious, and generally
well built r the habitations of the poorer classes are
more commodious than ordinary. The strong fort
of Taraghur, with a waljed circumference of 2 ra.,
surmounts the hill rising above the city : it contains
two tanks, and commands another outside.
Allahabad, — at the confluence of the* Ganges
(here H m. wide) and Jumna, (j of a ra. in width.)
The fort on the east and south rises directly from the
water, and is in form a bastioned quinquangle,
2.500 yards in circuit, and of great strength. The
town extends along the Jumna, to the west of the
fort. Notwithstanding the advantageous position, it
is an ill-built and poverty-stricken place. The Jumma
Masjit is a stately building, but without much orna-
ment. Population, 70 000. [This ought to be the
seat of Supreme Government for India.]
Almora. — Principal place of the British district of
Kumaon, situate on the crest of a ridge running from
east to west, consists principally of one street, J of a m.
long, secured by a gate at es-;h end, and forming two
bazaars, divided from each other by Fort Almora,
and by the site of the ancient palace of the rajahs of
Kumaon, now occupied by a gaol. Detached houses,
chiefly inhabited by Europeans and Brahmins, are
scattered along each face of the mountain below the
town. Fort Moira is at the western extremity, arid
adjoins the military lines.
Amritsir. — A walled city, about half-way between
the Beas and Ravee rivers. It owes its importance
to a Tulao or reservoir, which Ram Das caused to be
made here in 1581, and named it Amrita Saras, or
" fount of immortality." It is a square, of 150 paces,
containing a great body of water, pure as crystal,
though multitudes bathe in it : it is supplied, appa.
rently, from natural springs. On a small island in
the middle is a temple, to which are attached 500 or
600 priests. On this island Ram Das (the founder) is
said to have spent his life in a sitting posture. City
very populous and extensive ; streets narrow ; houses
lofty. Manufactures — cloths, silks, and shawls. There
is besides a very extensive tj-ansit trade, and con.
siderable monetary transactions. Most striking obr
482
PRINCIPAL CITIES OF INDIA.
ject, the fortress Govinghur; its great height and
neavy batteries, rising one above the other, giving it
a very imposing appearance. Population, 80,000 or
90,000.
JBanyalnre. — Town tolerably well built, has a good
bazaar, and is inclosed by a wall, a ditch, nnd a
broad fence of thorns and bamboos. Fort oval, con-
structed of strong masonry : within it is the palace of
Tippoo Sultan, a large building of mud. Manufac-
tures— cotton and silk; but the present importance of
the place results from its being the great Brilish
military establishment for the territory of Mysoor.
The cantonment is nearly 2t m. in length, and 1 m.
in breadth. Population, 60,000.
Bareillti, — situate in a pleasant and well-wooded
country in the N.AV. provinces. It is a considerable
town, the principal street or bazaar being nearly 2 m.
long, has a brisk and lucrative commerce, and some
manufactures, of which the principal is that of house
furniture, cotton- weaving, muslins, silks, jewellery,
gold, silver, and metal working, besides numerous
others. Population, 92,208. Cantonment at south side
of town, near the new fort, which is quadrangular,
and surrounded by a ditch : it is the head-quarters
for the Rohilcund division.
5ararfa,— situate near the river Biswamintri, which
is here crossed by a stone bridge. The town is sur-
rounded by numerous groves containing many
mosques, mausoiea, and tombs of Mussulmen, which
give an impressive solemnity to the scene. The for-
tifications, of no great strength, consist of slight
walls, with towers, and several double gateways.
Town intersected and divided into four equal quar-
ters, by two spacious streets, meeting in the centre,
at a market-place. Houses, in general, very high,
and built of wood. Population, 140,000.
Beejapoor. — The walls, which are of hewn stone
and very lofty, are entire, but inside all is desolation.
The deep moat, the double rampart, and the ruins
of the palaces in the citadel, attest its former mag-
nificence. The Great Mosque is a grand edifice, and
the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah, remarkable for
elegant and graceful architecture. The chief fea-
ture of the scene is the mausoleum of Mohammed
Adil Shah, the dome of which fills the eye from every
point of view. The fort has a rampart Ranked by
109 towers. The works surrounding it, and the
citadel in the interior, are very strongly builtj the
parapets are 9 ft. high, and 3 ft. thick. The ditch
18 from 40 to 50 ft. in breadth, and about 18 deep:
the curtains, which appear to rise from the bottom
of it, vary from 30 to 40 ft. high, and 24 ft. thick.
A revetted counterscarp is discernible, the circuit of
which is 61 m., and its ground-plan deviates little
from a circle. To the westward of the fort there is
a vast mass of ruins, from the numerous edifices of
every description scattered around. Beejapoor was
evidently one of the greatest cities in India. It was
formerly divided into several quarters, one of which
is 6 m. in circumference. Among the various won-
ders of this ruined capital, is the gun called Malik-
i-Maidan, or " the King of the Plain," one of the
largest pieces of brass ordna,nce in the world.
Beekaneer, — capital of the Rajpoot state of the
same name, viewed from without presents the
appearance of a great and magnificent city. The
wall, which is built of stone, is 3^ m. in circuit, 15 to
30 ft. high (including parapet), 6 ft. thick, sur-
rounded on three sides by a ditch 15 ft. deep and
20 ft. wide ; there are five gates and three sally-ports.
The interior exhibits a rather flourishing appeal ance ;
many good houses, neat and uniform, with red walls,
and white doors and windows. Eighteen wells
within the city; depth of each about 240 ft. Citadel
situate Jam. N.B^ of the city, and quite detached
from it; defences, about j of a m. in circuit, constructed
of good masonry. The rajah's residence occupies
nearly the whole of the inskle. Population, stated
by Boileau and Tod, 60,000.
.Be/yaum,— Southern Mahratta country. Fort of
an oval ground-plan, 1,000 yards long, 700 broad,
and surrounded by a broad and deej) wet ditch, cut
in very hard ground. In 1848, the inhabitant*
formed a committee, and in foui months recon-i
structed all the roads of the town, extending to a
length of between 9 and 10 m. Belgaum was
selected as the site of the educational institution for
the instruction of the sons of natives of rank : in
February, 1853, the number of pupils exceeded 50.
Bellary. — The fort, or fortified rock, round which
the cantonment is situate, is a hill of granite : length,
1,150 yards; height, 450 ft.; circumference, 2 m. ;
eastern and southern sides precipitous ; western face
slopes gradually towards pkin. Lower fort, 5 a m. in
diameter, contains barracks, arsenal, and commissa,riat
stores, church, two tanks, and several on the top of
the rock. Native population in 1836, exclusive of
military, 30,426.
Benares, — on the Ganges, 3 m. long, 1 m. broad.
Streets very narrow, and access gained to the river
by noble ghauts, extending along the bank of tha
river, in the city. Numerous Hindoo temples, which
render it a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Popula-
tion, .300,000.
Bhagulponr, — on the right bank of the Gangea
here 7 ra. wide during the rains. Though repre.
sented to be 2 m. long and 1 broad, it is a poor
place, consisting of scattered market-places, meanly
built; it is, however, ornamented by European resi-
dences and by mosques. Cavalry barracks, occa-
sionally occupied ; 4 m. from them are those of a
native corps formed of the highlanders (Sonthals or
Puharees) of the Rajmahal wilds. Th,ere is also a
court of justice, a gaol, and an educational institution.
Bhonj, — ^the capital of Cutch, at the base of a for-
tified hill. When viewed from the north, has an im-
posing appearance. Rajah's palace, a castle of good
masonry. A large tank has been excavated at the
west end of the city. Population, about 20.000.
Bhopal. — Town surrmmded by a wall of masonry
about 2 m. in circuit, within which is also a fort of
masonry. Outside, a large gunje or market, with
wide straight streets. The fort of Futtyghur is on a
rock S.W. from the town. S.W. of the fort is
Bhopal Tal, or Lake, i\ m. long, Hm. broad: another
tank, 2 m. long, is on the east. They are deep, and
abound with alligators, but both appear to be arti-
ficial. The Bess river has its rise in the former.
Bhopal is the seat of the British political-residency.
Bhurtpoor. — Town 3 m. long, 1 ;j broad, and about
8 in circumference. Its site is somewhat depressed ;
and this circumstance, in a military point of view,
contributes to its strength ; as the water of a neigh-
bouring jhil, being higher than the ditch of the
town, can be discharged into it in such a volume, as
to render it unfordable. The defences are now
shapeless piles of mud.* This measure of repair was
permitted to the young raiah, after attaining ma-
jority, in 1844, and the walls allowed to be main-
tained in a condition (in the rajah's words) " to keep
out thieves and wild beasts :" and the town itself ia
* See Historical Section, 1805-'6, and 1824-'5..
PRINCIPAL CITIES OF INDIA.
483'
merely a great collection of hovels ; but it is a
thriving place, having a trade in the Sambhur Lake
salt. Population estimated at 100,000.
Biirdwan, — on the left bank of the Dammoodah.
The rajah's residence is a great collection of buildings
of various sizes and colours, and without symmetry
or regularity : the town an assemblage of crowded
suburbs, wretched huts, a few handsome houses, but
no temple of striking effect. Contiguous to the
town is an artificial piece of water, having an esti-
mated area of 30 acres, and much frequented by the
natives for bathing. Burdwan contains the civil
establishment of the district, and two English schools.
Cawnpoor, — on the right bank of the Ganges ;
area of the city, 690 acres ; contains about 11,000
houses, and nearly 59,000 inhabitants. Population
of cantonments, 43,975 ; making a total of 108,796,
exclusive of the mihtary. Commerce — busy and im-
portant; the Ganges (which is here 500 yards wide
when lowest, and 1 m. wide when swollen by the
periodical rains) being navigable to the sea, a dis-
tance of 1,000 m., and upwards to Sukertal, a distance
of 300 m.
Coimbatoor, — situate near the left bank of the
Novel, a tributary of the Cauvery, in a dry and well-
culiivated country, near the base of the Neilgherry
group of mountains. Streets wide, airy, and neatly
built i European quarter eastward of the town, and
detached from it. In the time of Hyder Ali it is
said to have contained 4,000 houses, but it suffered
much in the wars between the British and Mysoor.
Cuttack, — situated on a tongue of land near the
bifurcation of the Mahaniiddy. Fortifications in a
ruinous state, their materials fast disappearing, the
stones being carried away, and used in various public
works ; among others, in the lighthouse at False
Point, and in the macadamization of the cantonment
roads. Within the fort is an old mosque. Town
straggling, and exhibits evident signs of decay. The
Jumma Masjil,and the "KuddumRussool," Moslem
buildings, are inelegant, and Brahminical temples
small and ungraceful. Manufactures— brass cookins-
vessels and shoes. Population estimated at 40,000.
Dacca, — on the Burha Gunga, an offset of the Ko-
niae or Jabuna; 4 m. long, and \\ m. broad. It is
at present a wide expanse of ruins. The castle of its
founder. Shah Jehangir, the noble mosque he built,
the palaces of the ancient newaubs, the factories and
churches of the Dutch, French, and Portuguese, are
all sunk into ruin, and overgrown with jungle. The
city and suburbs are stated to possess ten bridges,
thirteen ghauts, seven ferry-stations, twelve bazaars,
three public wells, a variety of buildings for fiscal
and judicial purposes, a gaol and gaol-hospital, a
lunatic asylum, and a native hospital. Population,
200,600.
Delhi, — about 7 m. in circumference, is inclosed on
three sides by a wall, and on the other, the river.
Streets mostly narrow ; the principal one is J of a m.
long, and 50 yds. wide, with good shops on each side.
Population, 137,977.
Dinapoor. — Important military station on the right
bank of the Ganges. Remarkable for the barracks,
which are magnificent buildings, and of great extent.
Church, spacious and handsome.
Onlconda. — Fortress and ruined city, in the Nizam's
dominions. Fortress on a rocky ridge of granite, is
extensive, very strong, and in good repair, but is
commanded within breaching distance. Being the
depository of the treasures of the Nizam, and also
used as a state prison, it is very strictly guarded, and
entrance cannot be obtained by any but officials. The
ancient mausolea form a group about 600 yards from
the fort, the stern features of the surrounding; rocky
ground heightening the impressiveness and gnndeui'
of those astonishing buildings. These tomb» were
erected at great expense, some of them being said
to have cost £150,000. The diamonds of Gtolbonda
have obtained great celebrity throughout the worW.^
{See Minerals.)
Gwalior, — the capital of the possessions of Sin-
dia's family. The rock on which the celebrated Hill
Fort is situate, is completely isolated : greatest height
at the north end, 342 ft. The approach, by means of
steps cut in the rock, is so large, and of such gentle-
acclivity, that elephants easily ascend. The passage,
protected by guns pointing down it, has a succession
of seven gates. Within the enclosure there ore
several tanks, capable of supplying an adequate gar-
rison, though 15,000 men would be required to man
the deff nces. The town lies along the eastrrn base oi
the rock ; it is large, but irregularly buJlt, and con-
tains a cannon-foundry, and gunpowder and firework
manufactory.
Hurdwar, or sometimes Gangadwara, the " Gate
of the Ganges," — a celebrated place of Hindoo' pil-
grimage. Town evidently of great antiquity, is
situate close to the western bank ; the foundations
of many of the houses in the bed of the river.
Sydrabad (Ueccan.) — The ground plan is a
trapezoid, the longest or north-western' side of which,
extending along the river Mussi, is about 2\ m.
in length ; the south-eastern, 2 m. ; the southern,
1 m. ; the south-western. If m. A suburb on the
river side communicates with the city by a stone
bridge. Streets, some paved ; narrow ; houses close
together, and displaying little or no taste. The
most remarkable structures are the principal mosque,
and the British residency. Population, probably not
excet-ding 200.000.
Hi/drabad [Sinde), — on the Gunjah hills, 4 m. from
the Indus. Outline of fortress irregular, correspond-
ing with the winding shape of the hills. Walls built
of burnt bricks, thick at the base, but taper towards
the top, and weakened by loopholes. There are
about 5,000 houses ; bazaar extensive, forming one
street the entire length of the town. Manufactures —
arms, and ornamental silks and cottons. Popula-
tion (supposed), 24,000.
Indore, — capital of the possessions of Holcar's
family. Outline of city, nearly a square of 1,000
yards ; area, about 216 acres : ill-built, the houses
disposed in irregular winding streets, constructed
with sun-dried bricks, and covered with clumsy tiles
laid on bamboos. It contains a few mosques, but
has no architectural pretensions. The British resi-
dency, east of the town, has a pleasing scene.
Jestulmere, — built at the base of the south end of
a rocky range of hills. Ramparts and bastions of
uncemented stone; circuit, about 2\ m ; height, 14
ft., including a parapet of 6 ft. ; thickness of ram-
parts, 4 ft. : these defences are in many places so
obliterated by sand-drifts, that they may be crossed
on horseback. There are four gateways and three
sally-ports. Outline of citadel an irregular triangle,
about *ths of a mile in circumference ; interior occu-
pied by the palace, and several temples and dwell-
ings. At the time of Boileau's visit, in 1835, there
were 6 guns, a large howitzer, and 3 field-pieces.
Jei/poor, — in a small plain surrounded by hills on
all sides, except the south. It is about 2 m. long,
E. to W. ; 1 m. broad, encompassed by a wall
484
PRINCIPAL CITIES OF INDIA.
of masonry, with lofty towers and well-protected
gateways, and considered to be the most regularly
built of the cities laid down by native Indians. A
main street, 2 m. long and 40 yards wide, extends
from E. to AV. j this is intersected by several streets
of the same width j and at each point of intersection
is a chauk or market-place ; and the whole is por-
tioned out into rectangular blocks, the palace and
royal premises being in the centre. Houses in the
principal streets are generally built of sione, and,
with tne fine temples, add to the architectural splen-
dour of the town. Population, 300,000.
Juud/Mor, — on the north-eastern edge of a cultivated
but woody plain. Site striking, being at the southern
extremity of a ridge 25 m. long, between 2 and 3
m. broad, and from 300 to 400 feet above the aver-
age level of the plain. Built on an irregular surface,
sloping upwards towards the base of the rock sur-
mounted by the citadel, and inclosed by a rampart 5
m. in circumference. There are several tanks within
the walls ; but all fail in long-continued droughts,
except the Rani Sagur, which is reserved exclusively
for the garrison, being thrown open to the citizens
only on extreme emergency. North-east of the city
is the suburb Mahamandir. Population, 60,000.
Khatmandoo. — Capital of Nepaul, situate in a val-
ley,* and on the east bank of the Uishnmutty river.
Length, about 1 m. ; average breadth, scarcely ^ of a
m. Streets narrow; houses brick, with tiled roofs, and
though of several stories, are of mean appearance.
Towu adorned by several temples, the gilded pin-
nacles of which have a picturesque effect. The river
is crossed by two bridges, one at each extremity of
tlie town. Population estimated at oO,000 j number
of houses, 5,000.
Lahore, —surrounded by a brick wall, and defences
7 m. in circumference : fort at the north-west angle ;
there are several large and handsome mosquis, be-
sides Hindoo temples. Streets narrow ; houses lofty;
bazaars contracted and mean. Population, 100,000,
or 120,000.
Loodiana, — four miles from left bank of the Sutlej :
town ill-built, and without a wall, but having a fort of
no great strength, which was constructed in 1808, on
the north side, situate on a bluff, rising about 30 ft.
above the nullah or watercourse. It is a thriving
place, the residents including several capitalists,
among whom are corresponding bankers ; and as the
mart lies on one of the principal routes between Hin-
doostan and Afghanistan, it has a considerable transit
trade. Manufactures — cotton, cloth, and shawls. Po-
pulation estimated at 20,000; chiefly Mohammedans.
Lucknotc, — extends about4 m. along the bank of the
Goomtee. Streets, with few exceptions, crooked and
narrow ; number of brick-built houses small — palaces
of showy architecture. The great ornament is the
Imambarah, a Moslem cathedral, and the mosque
attached to it. Population, 300,000.
Masulipatam, — on a plain stretching to the base of
the E. Ghauts. Fort built on a swamp overflowed
by the sea at spring-tides. Ground-plan, an oblong
rectangle, 800 yards long and 600 broad, with high
ramparts and a wide and deep ditch. The native
town is situated south-west of the cantonment, and
has some wide and airy streets, tolerably straight,
and well built. Population, in 1837, 27,884.
Meerut, — situate in the Dooab, and nearly equi-
distant from the Ganges and the Jumna. Ruined
Wall of the town extensive, inclosing a considerable
* St» Note at end of " Mountains,"
space. Streets narrow, and houses ill-built. Most
important structure, the English church. Canton,
ments 2 m. north of the town. Population, 29,014.
Mhow. — In the territory of Indore. Its appear-
ance is that of an European town, having a church
with steeple on an eminence, a lecture-room and
library, and a theatre. A considerable force is sta-
tioned at the cantonments, which are situate 1| m.
S.E. from the town.
Mirzapoor, — consists mainly of three long, wide,
straight streets, along the side of which are rows of
trees and wells. The houses, seldom more than two
stories high, are for the most part built of mud or
unburnt brick : those of the Europeans, which are
the best, occur only at considerable intervals. It
derives its present importance principally from its
being the greatest cotton mart in India ; military
cantonment situated three miles north-east of the
city. Population, 55,000.
Mooltun. — An ancient city, 3 m. east of the Che-
nab, whose inundations reach the fort. It is built
on a mound of considerable height, formed of the
ruins of more ancient cities. Bazaars extensive;
about 4,600 shops. Manufactures — silks, cottons,
shawls, loongees, brocades, tissues. Banking consti-
tutes a large proportion of the business, and the
merchants are considered rich. Population estimated
at 80,000.
Muorshedabad, — extends about 8 m. along both
banks of the Ganges, with an average breadth of
4 m. Though a place of considerable commerce it
consists hut of mud buildings, lying confusedly to-
gether. Unapproachable by cralt of above a foot
draught, during the dry months of spring. Popula-
tion about 150,000.
Muttra, — extends along the Jumna in (he form of a
crescent, and, with its great ruined fort, has a very pic-
turesque appearance; but its streets are steep, narrow,
winding, and dirty. Population, in 1846, 49,672.
Naypuur. — About 7 m. in circumference, but very
irregular in shape. There is but one good street, the
others being mean and narrow. Throughout the
town no specimen of fine architecture ; the rajah's
palace, which is the most considerable building, is
devoid of symmetry or beauty ; it is merely a large
pile of masonry, completely obscured by the en-
croachments of mean mud huts built against its
walls Population, 111,231.
Oodeypoor, Rajpoot city,— situate on a low ridge,
in a valley, where extends an artificial lake 5 m. in
circuit. Town ill-built; palace, a noble pile of
granite, 100 ft. high, and overlooking the city.
Oojein, — in the territory of Gwalior, on the
Seepra. It is of oblong outline, 6 m. in circum-
ference, surrounded by a stone wall with round
towers. Houses crowded together, and built either
of brick or wood. Principal bazaar, a spacious
street. There are four mosques, and many Hin-
doo temples. City well supplied with water. The
head of the Sindia family has a spacious palace
here, but of little exterior magnificence. At the
southern extremity of the town is the observatory
constructed by Jai Sing, the scientific rajah of Jey.
poor. Principal trade in cotton fabrics, opium, and
the wares of Europe and China. It is one of the
seven sacred cities of the Hindoos, and the first
meridian of their geographers.
Poteo.— City extends about 1 1- m. along the Ganges,
inclosed by a rectangular wall, and has extensive
suburbs ; the principal one, on the east, called Ma-
rusganj, contams the chief market, and many store-
PRINCIPAL CITIES OF INDIA.
485
houses for grain. This is joined by another, deno-
minated Giafir Khan. On the other side of the city
is a long, narrow suburb, extending to Bankipoor, a
distance of about 4 m. j this is the European quar-
ter. The better class of houses in the city are built
of brick, but the greater number of mud, and gene-
rally tiled. Population, 284,132.
Peshawur, — built by Akber, who fixed the name,
signifying " advanced post," in reference to its being
the frontier town of Hindoostan towards Afghanistan,
is situate on a plain about 18 m. east of the eastern
extremity of the Khyber Pass, and 44 m. from the
Indus. In the early part of the present century,
when visited by Elphinstone, it was a flourishing
town, about 5 m. in circuit, and reported to contain
100,000 inhabitants. Twenty years later, Runjeet
Sing demolished the Balla Hissar, the state resi-
dence, injured the city, and laid waste the surround,
ing country. The fortress, erected by the Seiks on
the site of the Balla Hissar, is a square of about 220
yards, with round towers at each angle, and sur-
rounded by a wall of mud 60 ft. high, fausse-braie
30 ft,, and 0 wet ditch. The city is now improved
under the British government. Population, 56,045 ;
Hindoos, 7,706 ; remainder, Mussulmen.
Ponna, — an ill-built city, without walls or fort ;
bazaars mean, streets irregular ; recent improvements
have somewhat changed its appearance. Between
1841 and 1846, 400 new houses were built, and seve-
ral more were in the latter year in course of con-
struction. A bridge over the Nagjurree Nullah was
completed, and a stone one replaced for the old
Mahratta bridge over the Moota Moola ; there is
another called the Wellesley bridge ; the streets in
the eastern part of the city have been macadamized,
and a full supply of water secured to the population.
The most remarkable building is the palace, formerly
the residence of the Peishwa ; situation picturesque.
Population, 100,000.
Rangoon, or the " City of Victory," — situated
about a mile from the river of the same name.
Ground-plan, a square of about jths of a m., having
at its northern side a pagoda as a citadel. It has
been twice burnt (in 1850, when it was entirely
destroyed, and in 1853) j but conditions have been
prescribed by government for ensuring its protec-
tion against future conflagrations.
Saltara, — situate amidst the highlands of the
Deccan, and where the country, though rugged, in.
clines to the eastward. The fort, on the summit of
a steep mountain, has an area extending about 1,000
by 500 yards. The town lies immediately under it,
in a valley.
Saugor, — built along the west, north, and north-
east sides of a lake nearly a mile in length, and three-
quarters in breadth, which occupies the lowest part
of a valley, or rather basin, surrounded by hills.
There is a large fort, now used as an ordnance depot.
The mint stood about a mile from the lake, but the
business of the establishment has been transferred to
Calcutta. In 1830, an iron suspension-bridge was
erected over the Bessi, a river running near the
town. Population, 70,000.
Seringnpatam, — a celebrated fortress (built 700
tears ago) and town, once the capital ol Mysoor,
situate on an island in the Cauvery. Town ill-
built, having narrow streets; houses ill-ventilated
and inconvenient: water supplied abundantly from
the river, which washes the walls on the northern
and south-west sides. Ground-plan, an irregular
pentagon, IJ m. by J of a m. Palace of Tippoo
3b
Sultan within the fort, and is surrounded by a
strong wall of stone and mud. The Shehr Gan-
gam, a suburb detached from the fortified town,
was demolished by Tippoo on the eve of the in-
vestment of the place, but was afterwards built
with considerable regularity. Population of the
island, during his reign, estimated at 150,000; in
1800 it was only 31,895, exclusive of the garrison.
Shikarpoor. — The most important commercial
town in Sinde. It is situate 20 m. west of the
Indus. A branch of the Sinde canal passes within
1 m. of the city. Circuit of wall, which is now in
ruins, 3,831 yards. The character of the place is
thoroughly commercial, almost every house having a
shop ; mansions of the opulent Hindoo merchants
large, inclosed and secluded by high brick walls;
but the streets are narrow, and the houses generally
small. The bazaar extends about 800 yards through
the centre of the city, and contained, in 1837, 884,
and in 1841, 923 shops. Transit trade important, as
it is on the route to Afghanistan through the Bolan
Pass. Population estimated at 30,000 ; viz., 20,000
Hindoos, and 10,000 Mohammedans, of whom 1,000
are Afghans. The town was founded in 1617.
Sural. — Outlineof town an arc, nearly semicircular,
the river forming the chord; circuit.about 6 m. Castle,
though small, has bastions, covered way, and glacis ;
streets narrow a,nd winding ; houses high, upper
stories projecting bevond the base. Population, in
1838, 133,544.
Tanjore. — Town consists of two forts ; the greater,
4 m. in circumference, surrounded by a fortified wall
and a ditch ; streets within it irregularly built. Ad-
joining is the smaller fort, 1 m. in circuit, and very
strong ; within it is the great pagoda, considered to
be the finest of the pyramidical temples of India.
Trichinopoly. — Kock very striking when viewed
from a distance at any point, it being 600 ft, above
the surrounding level. The fort is situate on part
of the rugged declivity of the rock, and 2 furlongs
from the Cauvery, which is embanked, but the works
sometimes give way and inundate the country. The
fort, with its strong and massive walls, bear the,
appearance of having been regularly and strongly
built ; they are from 20 to 30 ft. high, of considerable
thickness, and upwards of 2 m. in circumference.
Within is an extensive petta or town, arranged intoi
tolerably straight, wide, and regular streets, many
of which have bazaars. On the rock is a pagoda.
The natives manufacture hardware, cutlery, jewellery,
saddlery, and cheroots. The cantonment is from 2 to
3 m. south-west of the fort, and the troops generally
there form a force of between 4,000 and 5,000 men.
Umhalla. — On the route from Hindoostan to Af-
ghanistan. It is a large walled town, situate in a
level and highly cultivated country. Houses built of,
burnt brick, streets narrow. Fort at the N.E. of the
town, and under its walls the jencamping ground of
the British troops.
Vdlore. — A town in the Carnatic, with a strong
extensive fort, on the south side of the Palar river;
ramparts built of large stones, with bastions and
round towers at short distances. A deep and
wide ditch, cut in the rock, filled with water, sur-
rounds the whole. Within are barracks, hospitals,
magazines, and other buildings. Town situate be-
tween the fort and some rocky hills on the east, is
clean and airy, and has an extensive and well-sup-
plied bazaar. Most remarkable building, a pagoda
dedicated to Crishna. Government, in 1846, sanc-
tioned the erection of a church within the fort.
486
VARIETY OF CLIMATE IN INDIA, AND ITS EFFECTS.
Climate. — A country extending through
six-and-twenty degrees of latitude, and with
elevations from the coast-level to the height
of three or four miles above the sea, must
necessarily possess great variety of tempera-
ture. About one-half of India is inter-
tropical, comprising within its limits the
three principal stations of Calcutta, Madras,
and Bombay j in fact, all the country south
of a line drawn from Burdwan on the east,
through Bhopal, to the gulf of Cutch on the
west — a distance from Cape Comorin of
about 1,000 miles. All the region north of
this line, and extending 800 miles from
Cutch to Peshawur, is outside the tropic of
Cancer : the area of the inter and extra-
tropical territory is nearly alike. Mere
distance from the equator will not convey
an adequate idea of the climate of any
district : other circumstances must be taken
inta account; such as elevation above the
sea, — aspect in reference to the sun and the
prevailing winds, — more or less vegetation, —
radiation of terrestrial heat, — quantity of rain
falling,* or siccidity of atmosphere, — prox-
imity to snow-covered mountains or great
lakes, — drainage, ventilation, &c. ;t — all
these, varying in collateral existence or in
degree of operation, cause a variety of climate
and thermometrical range, which latitude
will not indicate. Regions contiguous to
the equator, at or near the sea-level, possess
a high but equable temperature : the mer-
cury, on Fahrenheit's scale, exhibits in the
shade at Singapore, a flat island in 1° 17' N.,
a heat of 73° to 87° throughout the year. As
we recede from the equator north or south,
a wider caloric range is experienced, not
• The quantity of rain in the tropical or tempe-
rate zones is effected by the elevation of the land
above the sea. In India the maximum fall is at 4,500
feet altitude ; beyond this height it diminishes. This
is shown by the present scientific chairman of the
E. I. Cy., Colonel Sykes, in his valuable Meteorologi-
cal Observations : thus, on the western coast of India
the fall is at sea-level (mean of seven levels) — inches,
81 ; at 150 ft. altitude (Butnagherry in the Concan),
114 ; at 900 ft., Dapoolee (S. Concan), 134 ; at 1,700
ft. (Kundala Pass, from Bombay to Poona), 141 ; at
4,500 ft. (MahabulishWar— mean of 15 years, 254 ;
at 6,200 ft. (Augusta Peak, Uttray Mullay range),
194 i at 6,100 ft. (Kotaghcrry, in the Neilgherries,
one year), 81 ; at 0,640 ft. (Uodabetta, highest point
of Western India, one year), 101 inches. The same
principle is observable in the arid lofty table-land of
Thibet, and in the contiguous elevated regions where
rain seldom falls. So also in Chili and other parts
of the Andes. The distinguished meteorologist. Dr.
John Fletcher Miller, of Whitehaven, adduces evi-
dence, in his interesting account of the Cumberland
Lake District, to demonstrate the existence of a
similar law in England, where he considers the
only throughout the year, but within the
limits of a single day. In the N. W. Pro-
vinces of India, and in the S.E. settlements
of Australia, the mercury not unfrequently
rises in the summer season to 90° and even
100° Fahr., and shows a fluctuation, in twenty-
four hours, of 24°: but this extreme torridity
— when the circumambient fluid seems to be
aeriform fire — is but of brief duration. Ani-
mal and vegetable life are reinvigorated, for
a large part of the year, by a considerably
cooler atmosphere. Indeed, at New York
and Montreal, I found the heat of June and
July more intolerable than that of Jamaica
or Ceylon; but then snow lies on the
ground, at the former places, for several
weeks in winter. Again, moisture with heat
has a powerful and injurious effect on the
human frame, though favourable to vegeta-
tion and to many species of animal life.
Speaking from my own sensations, I have
lain exhausted on a couch with the mercury
at 80° Fahr., during the rainy season, in Cal-
cutta, Bombay, and Hong Kong ; and ridden
through the burning forests of Australia,
on the sandy Arabian plains, and over the
sugar-cane plantations of Cuba, with the
mercury at 100° Fahr. So, also, with refer-
ence to elevation : in the East and West
Indies, at a height of several thousand feet
above the sea, I have enjoyed a fire at night
in June ; and yet, in April and September,
been scorched at mid-day inEgypt, Northern
China, and Eastern Europe. These observa-
tions are made with a view of answering the
oft-recurring inane question, without refer-
ring to any locality, " What sort of a cli-
mate has India?" In order, however, to
maximum fall of rain to be at the height of 2,000
feet.
t In 1829, 1 wrote and published in Calcutta a
small brochure, entitled The Effects of Climate, Food,
and Brink on Man. The essay was prepared in the
hope of inducing the government to adopt sanitary
measures for the drainage and ventilation of Calcutta,
where cholera had become permanently located. I
predicted that unless the nidus of this fearful malady
were destroyed in the Indian cities by the purifica-
tion of their respective atmospheres, the disease
would be extensively generated and wafted with the
periodical winds from Asia to Europe. The prog-
nostication was ridiculed : sad experience may now
perhaps induce corporations and citizens of large
towns to adopt timely-effective sanitary measures.
By so doing a healthy climate may everywhere be
obtained ; but no altitude or position will avail for
the prevention of endemic diseases, or for lengthen-
ing the duration of life, wherever large masses of
human beings are congregated, unless complete
drainage, free circulation of air, and the removal of
all putrescent animal and vegetable matter be made
an urgent and daily duty.
TEMPERATURE & RAIN-FALL AT DIFFERENT DISTRICTS IN INDIA. 487
convey some idea of the thermometrical different stations, the following table has
range, and the quantity of rain falling at been collated from different sources :—
Meteorological Monthly Observations for different parts of India ; sltowing the Latitude, nmnber of feet
above the level of the sea, average Thermometer, and liain in inches.
Places, Latitude, and Ele-
vation above sea.
THERMOMETEE.
Jan.
Feb.
March
April.
May.
June.
July.
Aug.
Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Mean
of
Year.
Calcutta, 22' 34', 18 ft. . .
Madras, 13° 5', sea-level .
Bombay, 18° o7', sea-levelf
Tirhoot, 25' 26', 26° 42',]
little elevated ... J
Goorgaon, 28' 28', 817 ft. .
Delhi, 28° 41', 800 ft. . .
Rajpootana, J about 500 ft.
Nagpoor, 21° 10', 930 ft. .
Hyderabad, 17° 22', 1,800 ft.
Bangalore, 12> 58', 3,000 ft.
Hawilbagh, 29' 38', 3,887 ft.
Kotagherry, 11° 27', 6,100 ft.
Ootacamund, 11° 24', 7,300 ft.
Mussooric, 30° 27', 6,282 ft.
Landour, 30° 27', 7,579 ft. .
Darjeeling, 27° 2', 8,000 ft.
69
78
77
60
70
53
70
68
\f
47
59
54
41
40
73
78
77
66
72
62
73
75
76i
73
65
60
56
46
42
78
82
80
76
80
70
82
83
84
79
61
61
60
65
60
87
88
82
85
79
82
89
91i
78
60
62
64
65
66
88
92
85
89
101
82
74
90
93
79
73
62
64
77
68
67
83
87
85
86
98
82
90
84
88
76
76
64
69
70
66
61
82
88
81
84 ■
85
82
85
79
81
74
73
64
66
68
68
61
82
86
84
85
84
80
79
SOJ
74
79
65
56
68
66
61
82
86
79
81
89
80
79
79
74
75
64
56
67
64
69
82
84
84
73
87
73
79
80
71
69
62
66
61
67
68
71
82
84
76
62
90
73
l'^
60
60
56
66
46
60
67
78
80
61
66
66
66
72
74i
70
52
59
53
47
43
79*
83
84
78
72
79
81i
74
61
67
63
RAIN IN INCHES.
Calcutta .
Nagpoor .
Bangalore
Kotagherry .
Ootacamund
Darjeeling
I Total.
005
0 40
2
1
1
0-48
060
1-77
3-84
36
6
2
1
3-52
1-01
4-16
10
6
2
12-86
0.21
6-89
2
6
9
3-04
6-25
3-24
2
8
26
12-44
14-93
5-88
4
7
25
816
7-51
4-13
2
6
29
819
16-32
13-97
2
7
16
3-68
6-10
10
9
8
0-06
2-89
1-30
2
6
2-67
0-13
56-61
53-99{
50
60
122
The monsoons or prevailing winds within
the tropics, as on the Coromandel and
Malabar coasts, are denominated the South-
west and the North-east; but owing to
modifying circumstances, the direction is in
several places changed : at Arracan, the S.W.
blows more frequently from the S., and the
N.E. more to the W. of N. Lower Bengal,
including the country around Calcutta, has
a climate more trying than that of any other
part of India. November, December, and
January are tolerably cool, and Europeans
may walk out during the day. In Febru-
ary, March, April, and May, the heat daily
* Abstract of the mean annual summaries of a meteoro-
logical register kept at Calcutta, for ten years : —
Years.
Sunrise.
2-40 P.M.
Sunset.
1811 . . .
72-7
8'JO
82-4
1842 . . .
73-3
880
82-1
1843 . . .
73-3
87-6
82 5
1844 . . .
7-2-7
87-6
82-3
IS 15 . . .
73-7
869
82-3
1846 . . .
74-3
80-3
81-9
1847 . . .
73-2
861
81-1
r:;48 . . .
74-1
87-4
.S-2-5
1849 . . .
73-6
86-7
81-8
ISM . . .
73-1
86-1
81-4
Mean . .
73-4
87-2
820
The annual fall of rain at Calcutta, during six years,
commencing with 1830, averaged 64 inches. In the wet sea-
son evaporatiou is very slight.
increases, until, during the last month
especially, it becomes almost intolerable;
not a cloud appears in the heavens to
mitigate the burning rays of the sun, which
seem to penetrate into the very marrow of
an European. I have known men and
beasts to drop dead in the streets of Cal-
cutta. When the monsoon is on the eve of
changing, before the chota bursaut (little
rain) set in, the nights as well as the days
are oppressive ; respiration becomes labo-
rious, and all animated nature languishes:
the horizon assumes a lurid glare, deepening
to a fiery red ; the death-like stillness of the
f Amount of rain at Bombay for six years : —
Inches.
1845 .... 54-73
1846 .... 87-48
1847 .... 67-31
1848
1849
1860
Inches.
73-42
118-88
47-78
Average annual fall during thirty years, 76-08 inches.
At Madras, average for eight years, 66-59 inches,
X Between lat. 20° 64', and lat. 29° 23'.— (Boileau's Toxir
in Bajxcara, pp. 304 — 317.)
^ Situation, about 350 m. from nearest part of Bay of
Bengal, and 420 m. from Indian Ocean. In 1826, and in
1831, the fall of rain slightly exceeded 65 inches ; the
greatest registered fall was 72 inches, and that was in 1809.
Average fall of rain for eight years, 48-10 inches. Pro-
ceeding westward towards the Ghauts and Indian Ocean,
the rains become heavier until reaching Mahabulishwar,
where the fall is probably unexampled in amount ; in 1849
it was 294 inches. The mean annual qxiantity is 239
inches, of which 227 fell in the four monsoon months. Tho
greatest annual fall was in 1834, when it amounted to '297
inches. Another report gives the mean annual fall, as do
duced from the observation of ten years, at 229 inches ; and
i the n-jmbci'of days on which rain falls, at 127.
488 CHANGE OF THE MONSOON— CHARACTERISTICS IN INDIA.
air is occasionally broken by a low mur-
muring, which is responded to by the
moaning of cattle: dense, dark masses of
clouds roll along the Bay of Bengal, accom-
panied with occasional gusts of wind ;
streaks of lightning, after sunset, glimmer
through the magazines where the electric
fluid is engendered and pent up ; the sky
becomes obscured with mist, and lowring ;
next, broad sheets of lambent flame illumine
each pitchy mass, until the entire heavens
seem to be in a blaze ; while peal after peal
of thunder reverberates from Cloud to cloud,
like discharges of heavy artillery booming
through cavernous hills, or along an amphi-
theatre of mountains ; thin spray is scat-
tered over the coast by the violence of the
increasing gale, — the rain commences in
large drops, augments to sheeted masses,
and sweeps like a torrent from the sky ; the
surf roars along the beach, — the wind howls
furiously, screaming or groaning piteously;
&nd every element seems convulsed with
the furious conflict : at length the S.W.
"monsoon gains the victory, and the atmos-
phere becomes purified and tranquil. The
monsoon is felt with varying degrees of
intensity at different parts of the coast; but
at Madras and at Bombay the scene is one of
awful grandeur. During the rains the air is
saturated with moisture ; and the pressure on
each square inch of the human frame causes
extreme lassitude and mental depression :
along the sea-shore the pernicious effects
are mitigated by a sea-breeze, called the
"Doctor," which sets in about ten, a.m.,
and lasts until sunset. As the country is
ascended above the ocean-level, varieties of
climate are experienced ; but on the plains
of the Ganges and of the Indus, and in
some parts of Central India, hot winds blow
nearly equal in intensity to those which are
felt in Australia. In few words, some idea
may be conveyed of the climate of several
districts : —
Bengal Propef, — hot, moist, or muggy for eight
months — April to November ; remainder cool, clear,
and bracing.
Bahur, — cool in winter months: hot in summer;
rain variable.
Oude, — fluctuating temperature and moisture ;
therm, range 28 to 112° ; rain, 30 to 80 inches.
Benares, — mean temperature, 77°; winter cool
and frosty sometimes ; therm, at night, 45°, but in
the day, 100°; rain variable — 30 to 80 inches.
Aijra, — has a wide range of temperature ; in mid-
winter night-frosts and hail-storms sometimes cut off
the cotton crop and cover the tanks with ice ; yet
at noon in April, therm, reaches the height of 106° in
the shade.
Ghazeepoor, — range in coldest months, 58 to 71° —
April, 86 to 96°; May, 86 to 95°; June, 85 to 98°;
July, 86 to 96°. In the Dehra Doon— range 37 to
101°. In the year 1841, December mean heat, 60°;
June, 88°; whole year, 74°. In 1839, total fall ol
rain, 67 inches; of which in July, 15; August, 26.
Cuttack and opposite coast of Bay of Bengal,- — re-
freshed by a sea-breeze blowing continuously from
March to July.
Berar, — moderate climate, according to elevation.
Madras, — cold season of short duration in the
Carnatic. Mercury in therm, higher than in Bengal,
sometimes 100° Fahr. Heat tempered by the sea.
Arcot, — high temperature, 110° in the shade,
sometimes 130° Fahr. Few sudden vicissitudes;
storms infrequent.
Salem, — fluctuating climate — in January, 58 to
82° ; March, 66 to 95° ; May, 75 to 96°.
Trichiiiopoly, — has a steady high temperature, a
cloudless sky, dry and close atmosphere, with much
glare and intense radiation of heat.
Vizaijapatam, — on the coast is hot, moist, and re-
laxing; inland equally sultry, but drier.
Bellary is characterised by great aridity; rain, 12
to 26 inches ; therm, falls in January to 55 or 60° ;
thunder storms frequent in summer months.
Cuddapah, — average max. temperature for several
years (in the shade), 98°; minn., 65°; mean, 81°:
mean temperature during monsoon, 77°; max., 89°.
Madura, — on the hills mild and genial in summer;
therm, seldom below 50° or above 75° ; in the plains,
reaching 115° and even 130°.
Tratancore, — owing to proximity of mountains,
humid but not oppressive.
Miisom; — table-land cool, dry, and healthy; at
Bangalore (3,000 ft. high), therm, range from 56
to 82°. The monsoons which deluge the Malabai
and Coromandel coasts, have their force broken by
the Ghauts on either side, and genial showers pre-
serve the Mysoorean verdure throughout the year.
Neilgherries, — the climate resembles that of the
intertropical plateaux of America ; at Ootacamund
(height 7,300 ft.), mean temperature rather above
that of London, but ann. range very small; not
sufficient sunshine to bring the finer European fruits
to perfection, but corn and vegetables thrive. Lower
down the vales enjoy an Italian clime ; at Coimbatoor
(height 4.483 ft.), during the cold season, max., 59°;
minn., 31°; in April, average 65°; May, 64° Fahr. ;
there are no sultry nights, a blanket being acceptable
as bed-covering in all seasons. In the higher regions,
the air beyond the zone of clouds and mists is clear
and dry, as evidenced by the great distance within
which sound is heard, and by the buoyancy of the hu-
man frame.
Coory is a bracing mountain region. Daily range,
2 to 6°; ann., 50 to 80° Fahr.; annual rain, at
Mercara (4,500 ft.), 119 inches; in June,' about 40
inches.
Malabar coast, — warm but agreeable ; therm. 68
to 88° Fahr. ; ann. rain, 120 to 130 inches.
Canara and the Concans, — beneath the Ghauts are
not, tropically speaking, unhealthy, except where
marsh and jungle prevail, when malaria is produced.
Bombay, — tropical heat diminished by sea-breezes.
Broach, — December to March, cool ; average rain,
33 inches.
In Ouzerat, which is the hottest part of W. India,
the westerly winds are burning in May, June, and
July; temperature high for nine months; average
fall of rain, 30 inches.
DECREMENT OP HEAT AT DIFFERENT ELEVATIONS. 489
Mahratta country, — near the Ghauts the clouds
are attracted from the Indian Ocean, and a profusion
of rain falls for three or four weeks without inter-
mission, but often not extending 30 m. to the E. or S.
The Deccan table-land is salubrious; at Sattara,
mean ann. temperature, 66°. Even in September I
enjoyed the air of Poona, as a great relief from the
sultry heat of Southern China. Ann. range of
therm., 37 to 94°; fall of rain, light and uncertain—
22 to 30 inches ; among the Ghauts, 300 inches. Pro-
ceeding westward towards the Ganges, and north-
ward through Central India plateau, there is a
modified temperature (at Meerut, therm, falls to
32° Fahr.), with occasional hot winds, which prevail
as far as Sinde and the Punjab. Sinde is dry and
sultry ; at Kurachee, 6 or 8 inches rain ; at Hjdra-
bad, 2 inches ; at Larkhana, farther north, there was
no rain for three years. Mean max. temperature of
six hottest months, 98° in the shade.
Punjab, — more temperate than Upper Gangetio
plain ; from November to April, climate fine ;
summer heat, intense ; hot winds blow with great
violence, and frequent dust-storms in May and June
render the air almost unbreathable. Rains com-
mence in July ; August and September, sickly
months. The Great ])esert to the S. of the Punjab
has a comparatively low temperature ; at Bickaneer,
in winter, ponds are frozen over in February; but in
summer the heat is very great; therm. 110 to 120° in
the shade.
Candeish has a luxurious climate like that of Malwa.
Upper Asmin has a delightful temperature; the heat
bearable, and the cold never intolerable. Mean tem-
perature of four hottest months, about 80° ; of winter,
67°; mean ann., 67°; heavy rains, which commence
in March and continue to October. The quantity
which falls is unequal ; at Gowhatty, it is about 80;
at Chirra Poonjee, 200 ; and in the Cossya country,
600 to 600 inches = 50 ft. At this latter place
there fell in 1850, no less than 602 inches = 42 ft.;
in August, 1841, there were 264 inches = 22 ft., in
five successive days — 30 inches every 24 hours. [Let
it be remembered that the atinual fall in London is
27 ; in Edinburgh, 24 ; in Glasgow, 32 inches.] The
eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, to the Straits of
Malacca, is more genial and agreeable than that of
the Coromandel coast: the greatest heat is in April;
therm., at Mergui, 100°; the monsoon is mild, but
violent to the northward.
Lower Assam and Arracan are similar to Bengal.
This rapid sketch will indicate tlie variety
of climates in India; but it is in the loftier
adjoining regions that the greatest extremes
exist.
The Himalaya and Jlindoo-Koosh slopes and val-
leys exhibit a very varied temperature, and corre-
sponding diversity of products, from the loftiest
forest trees to the stunted lichens and mosses, when
the last trace of vegetable life disappears as effectu-
ally as it does at the Arctic or Antarctic Poles, snow
being equally perpetual at an elevation of four to
five miles (20,840 to 25,000 f t ) above the sea, as
at the extreme northern and southern parts of
our globe. On the southern, or Indo-Gangetic side
of the Himalaya, which rises like a wall from the
sub-Himalaya, the snow-line commences at 12,000
to 13,000 ft. on some of the spurs or buttresses;
on the northern side of the same range, — table-
land of Tibet 10,000 ft. above the sea ; the snow-
line commences at 16,000 ft., but in some places is
not found at 20,000 ft. On the southern' slope'
cultivation ceases at 10,000 ft. ; but on the northern
side, cultivation extends to 14,000 ft., where birch-
trees flourish ; the limit of furre-bushes is at
17,000 ft. Vegetation, to some extent, indicates
the more or less severity of this mountain clime :
the Deodar has its favourite abode at 7,000 to
12,000 ft. — attains a circumference of 30 ft., and ol
great stature, and the wood will last, exposed to the
weather, for 400 years. Various species of magni-
ficent pines have a range of 5,000 to 12,000 ft. ; the
arboraceous rhododendron, every branchlet termi-
nated by a gorgeous bunch of crimson flowers,
spreads at 5,000 to 8,000 ft. ; the horse-chesnut
and yew commence at 6,000 ft., and end at 10,000
ft. ; the oak flourishes at 7,000 to 8,000 ft. ; maple,
at 10,000 to 11,000 ft.; ash, poplar, willow, rose,
cytisus, at 12,000; elm, at 7,000 to 10,000; birch
commences at 10,000, ceases on S. slope at 13,000
ft ; on N. side fine forests of this tree at 14,000 ft.
Juniper met with occasionally at latter-named height ;
the grape attains great excellence at Koonawur, 8,000
ft., but does not ripen beyond 9,000 ft. ; the currant
thrives at 8,000 and 9,000 ft. ; apricot, at 11,000 ft. j
gooseberry and raspberry, at 10,000 to 12,000 ft.
The decrement of heat in proportion to latitude
and elevation is, as yet, imperfectly ascertained. Dr.
Hooker* allows one degree of Fahrenheit's thermo-
meter for every degree of latitude and every 300
ft. of ascent above the sea ; at Calcutta, in 22° 34',
the mean ann. temperature is about 79°; that of
Darjeeling, in Sikhim, 27° 2'; 7,450 ft. above Cal-
cutta, is 53°, about 26° helow the heat of Cal-
cutta. The decrease of temperature with elevation
is much less in summer than in winter : in January,
1° = 250 ft., between 7,000 and 13,000 ft. ; in July,
1° = 400 ft. ; the decrement also less by day than by
night. The decremental proportions of heat to
height is roughly indicated by this skilful meteo-
rologist— •
10 = 300 ft. at elevation 1,000 to 8,000 ft.
1° = 320 ft. „ 8,000 to 10,000 ft.
1° = 350 ft. „ 10,000 to 14,000 ft.
1° = 400 ft. ), 14,000 to 18,000 ft.
This must be effected by aspect and slope of eleva-
tion ; by quantity of rain falling, and permeability
of soil to moisture ; by amount of cloud and sunshine,
exposure of surface, absence of trees, undulation of
the land, terrestrial radiation, and other local in-
fluences.
Within the tropics, in the northern hemisphere,
the limits of perpetual congetation is 16,000 to
17,000 ft. above the sea; in lat. 30°, 14,000 ft.; in
40°, 10.000 ft.; in 50°, 6,000 ft.; in 60°, 5,000 ft.;
in 70°, 1,000 ft. ; and in 80° and further north, at
the sea-level. In the southern hemisphere, Georgia,
which is in lat. 56°, exhibits perpetual frost.
At Kumaon, winter rigour is moderated by great
solar radiation, and somewhat tempered by con-
tiguous snow-capped mountains, whence a diurnal
current of air sets in as regularly as a sea-breeze
on a tropical shore, and with a nearly equally in-
vigorating effect. Snow commences to fall at the
end of September, and continues until the beginning
of April. During the absence of snow for five
months, the mercury ranges at sunrise, 40 to 55°; at
mid-day, 65 to 75° in the shade— 90 to 110° Fahr. in
the sun. The heat of course diminishes as height
increases, except during the cold season. At Almori
town, in 29° 30', 5,400 It. elevation, the therm, before
* In his V luable work, Himalayan JournaU, ii., 404.
490 CLIMATE OF THE HIMALAYAN REGION AND AFGHANISTAN.
Bunrise" is always lowest in the valleys, and the frost
more intense than on the hills of 7,000 ft. elevation,
while at noon the sun is more powerful; extreme range
in 24 hours, sometimes from 18 to 51° Fahr. Snow
does not fall equally in every season ; the natives
Bay the greatest fall is every third year. On the
Ghagor range, between Almora and the plains,
snow remains so late as the month of May. At
Mussoorie, 6,000 to 7,000 ft. high, the mean ann.
heat is only 57° Fahr.; indeed, at 4,000 ft. hot
■winds cease, and vegetation assumes an European
character. Annual fall of rain at Almora, 40 to 5Q
inches.
The northernmost part of Nepaul valley, between
27 and 28°, and elevation of 4,000 ft., has a climate
somewhat similar to that of the southern parts of
Europe. In winter a hoar-frost commonly covers
the ground, occasionally for three or four months,
freezing the standing pools and tanks, but not severe
enough to arrest the flow of rivers. In summer
noon, the mercury stands at 80 to 87° Fahr. The
seasons are very nearly like those of Upper llin-
doostan ; the rains set in earlier, and from the S.E.
are usually very copious, and break up about Oc-
tober, causing excessive inundations in some places
from the mountain torrents. In a few hours, the
inhabitants, by ascending the sides of the enclosing
mountains, may exchange a Bengal heat for a Sibe-
rian winter.
. At Darjeeling the atmosphere is relatively more
humid than at Calcutta; the belt of sandy and
grassy land, at the foot of the Himalaya, only
300 ft. higher than in Calcutta, and 3i° N. of that
city, is, during the spring months, March and April,
6 or 7° colder ; and though there is absolutely less
moisture in the air, it is relatively more humid ; this
is reversed after the rains commence. The south
wind, which brings all the moisture from the Bay of
Bengal, discharges annually 60 to 80 inches of rain
in traversing 200 m. of land ; but the temperature
is higher in advancing north-west from the Bay of
Bengal : which may be caused from the absence of
any great elevation in the Gangetio valley and
plain, and its being walled in to the northward by
the Himalaya mountains.
Elevation causes in Afghanistan a corresponding
diversity of climate : at Cabool, which is considered
to be very salubrious, and 6,396 ft. above the sea,
the air is warmer in summer and colder in winter
than that of England; and the diurnal therm, range
is great, amounting to 40°. June, July, and August
are the hottest; December, January, and February
the coldest months, — the mercury falling several
degrees below zero Fahr. ; but the sun possesses
sufficient power at mid-day to melt the surface of
the snow, which, however, is again frozen at night.
The seasons are very regular ; the sky is unclouded,
the air bright and clear, with scarcely any rain ; in
November a few showers are followed by snow ; and
from the middle of March till the 1st of May, there
is incessant rain, which melts the snow rapidly, and
causes a sudden transition from winter to summer
(with but little spring), when thunder and hail-storms
occur ; earthquakes are not unfrequent during winter
in the immediate vicinity of the lofty ranges, but
are said to be unknown at Candahar. Prevailing
winds, N.N.W. and AV. ; E. seldom ; winter, calm ;
variable at breaking up of the season.*
* Notes of observations, 1st April, 1838, to 31st March,
1840, in Afghanistan. — {Calcutta Jour. Nat. Hist.
t The Choora diitrict (valley of the Pabur, 4,800 feet)
Cashmere valley, by its elevation (5,000 ft.), has
a cool climate ; in winter the celebrated lake is
slightly frozen over, and the ground covered with
snow to the depth of 2 ft. ; hottest months, July and
August, therm. 80 to 85° at noon, when the air is
sometimes oppressive from want of circulation.
But it is in the loftier regions that the peculiarities
caused by altitude are most observable : at —
Bussahir, — the climate varies from that of the
intertropical at Rampoor, 3,260 ft.f above the sea,
to that of the region of perpetual congelation : in
parts bordering on the table-land of Tartary the air
is at one season characterised by aridity greater than
that of the most scorching parts of the torrid zone.
In October, and later in the year, when the winds
blow with the greatest violence, woodwork shrinks
and warps, and leather and paper curl up as if held
to a Are ; the human body exposed to those arid
winds in a few minutes show the surface collapsed,
and if long left in this condition life becomes extinct.
Vegetation with difficulty struggles against their
effects. Gerard found tracts exposed to them to
have a most desolate and dreary aspect; not a
single tree, or blade of green grass, was distinguish-
able for near 30 m., the ground being covered with
a very prickly plant, which greatly resembled furze
in its withered state. This shrub was almost black,
seeming as if burnt ; and the leaves were so much
parched from the arid winds of Tartary, that they
m.ight be ground to powder by rubbing them be-
tween the hands. Those winds are generally as
violent as hurricanes, rendering it difficult for the
traveller to keep his feet. The uniform reports of
the inhabitants represent the year as continual sun-
shine, except during March and April, when there
are some showers, and a few clouds hang about
the highest mountains ; but a heavy fall of rain or
snow is almost unknown. The excessive cold and
aridity on the most elevated summits cause the
snow to be there so light, loose, and powdery, that
it is continually swept like smoke through the air
by the tempestuous winds. The limit of perpet-
ual congelation in Bussahir ascends to the north-
ward.
The direct rays of the sun are extremely hot at
great elevations : insomuch, that Jacquemont found
the stones on the ground on the table-land of Tar-
tary, at an elevation of 15,000 or 16,000 ft., be-
come so hot in sunshine, as to be nearly unbear-
able by the hand; at an elevation of 18,000 ft.,
Gerard found the rays of the sun so oppressive that
he was obliged to wrap his face in a blanket.
At liuUi or Little Tibet the atmosphere is very
clear and dry. But though rain is almost unknown,
snow falls, and lies from the depth of 1 to 2 ft.
The cold in the elevated parts is intense in winter;
on the high and unsheltered table-land of Deotsuh,
it at that season totally precludes the existence of
animal life. The heat in the lower parts in summer
is considerable, the therm. | ranging from 70 to 90° in
the shade at noon.
At Ladahh the climate is characterised by cold
and excessive aridity. The snow-line is so usually
high in Spiti and Euphsu, at the south-eastern
extremity of Ladakh, as to show the utter futility
of attempting to theorise respecting the so-called
isosthennal lines, in the present scanty and im-
perfect state of our information as to the data from
is a beautiful and fertile tract, with a delightful cli-
mate.
J Thornton's Gazetteer: Afghanitian, S^-c., vol. i. , p. 120.
DISEASES PECULIAR TO EUROPEANS AND TO INDIANS. 491
which they should be determined. Gerard says, re-
specting bpiti, in lat. 32°, that the marginal limit
of the snow, which, upon the sides of Chimborazo,
occurs at 15,700 ft., is scarcely permanent in Thibet
at 19,000, and upon the southward aspect has no
well-defined boundary at 21,000 ft.; and one sum-
mit, 22,000 ft. high, was seen by him to be free of
snow on the last day in August. This absence of
snow probably results, in part, from the very small
quantity of moisture kept suspended in the highly
rarefied atmosphere, in part from the intense heat of
the direct rays of the sun, the latter cause being in
some degree dependent on the former. " Wherever
we go," observes Gerard, " we find the sun's rays
oppressive." In one instance, in the beginning of
September, at an elevation of 15,500 ft., a thermo-
meter, resting upon the rocks, marked 158°; in
another, at 14,500 ft., the instrument, placed on
sand, marked 130°; and in a small tent, at an
elevation of 13,000 ft., it indicated 110°. These
phenomena he attributed to the rarefaction and
tenuity of the atmosphere, from elevation and the
absence of moisture, — circumstances which allow of
such immediate radiation of heat, that at the same
moment there will be a difference of more than
100° between places only a few hundred yards
asunder, occasioned by the one receiving, and the
other being excluded, from the direct rays of the
sun. At Ruphsu, at the elevation of 16,000 ft., it
freezes every night, even at Midsummer; but the
heat of the day so far countervails the cold of night,
that the Lake Chamorereil is free from ice during
the summer months. At Le, having an elevation of
about 10,000 ft., frosts, with snow and sleet, com-
mence early in September and continue until May ;
the therm, from the middle of December to February,
ranges from 10 to 20°; even in June, the rivulets
are often, at night, coated with ice. Moorcroft, during
his Himalayan travels, found the therm., when ex-
posed to the sun's rays at mid-day in July, to range
from 134 to 144°. The atmosphere is in general dry
in all parts of the country.
In the works of Gerard, Lloyd, Moorcroft, Vigue,
Jacquemont, and Hooker, useful details are given
on the meteorology of these lofty regions.
The climate of India is not inimical to
the European constitution : that of Bengal
and other low districts is very trying, espe-
cially to those who do not follow a strictly
temperate course in all things; but there
are many instances of Englishmen living for
a quarter of a century at Calcutta, and on
returning to England, enjoying another
quarter of a century of existence, pre-
serving, to old age, a vigorous mental and
bodily frame.* In the hot and moist parts
of India, abdominal diseases, — in the warm
and dry, hepatic action or congestion prevail.
Exposure at night, especially to malaria or
the effluvia arising from intense heat and
decomposing vegetable and animal matter,
causes a bilious remittent (popularly called
• Mr. W. C. Blaquiere, for a long period police
magistrate at Calcutta, died there iu 1854, (Et. 95 :
he arrived at Bengal in 1774.
jungle fever), which operates as a poison on
the human system, and becomes rapidly
fatal if not counteracted by mercury or
some other poison, or unless the morbific
matter be expelled, and the patient have
strength of frame to survive the fever.
The direct rays of a nearly vertical sun,
and even those also of the moon, cause
affections of the brain which are frequently
fatal; and when not so, require removal
to the temperate zone for their relief.
The establishment of sanataria at elevated
and healthy positions, has proved a great
benefit to Anglo-Indians, who at Darjeeling,
Simla, Landour, Mussoorie, Mount Aboo,
the Neilgherries, and other places, are
enabled to enjoy a European temperature
and exercise, — to check the drain on the sys-
tem from the cutaneous pores being always
open,— to brace the fibres and tone the
nerves, which become gradually relaxed by
the long continuance of a high temperature.
As India becomes more clear and cultivated,
and facilities for locomotion by railroads and
steam-boats are augmented, the health of
Europeans will improve, and their progeny
will derive a proportionate benefit : but it i's
doubtful whether there is any part of the
country where a European colony would
permanently thrive, so as to preserve for
successive generations the stamina and
energy of the northern races.
The diseases that prevail among the
Indians vary with locality : low, continued
fever is most prevalent in flat, and rheu-
matism in moist regions. Leprosy and
other skin disorders are numerous among
the poorest classes. Elephantiasis, or swell-
ing of the legs ; berri-berri, or enlargement
of the spleen ; torpidity of the liver, weak-
ness of the lungs, and ophthalmia, are com-
mon to all ranks and places : goitre is found
among the hill tribes ; cholera and influenza
sometimes decimate large masses of the
people. Numerous maladies, engendered by
early and excessive sensuality, exist among
rich and poor, and medical or chirurgical
skill are consequently everywhere in great
request. The inhabitants of India, generally
speaking, except in the more elevated dis-
tricts, have not the robust frames or well-
wearing constitutions which result from an
improved social state, or from the barbarism
which IS as yet free from the vices and
defects of an imperfect civilisation : the
inhabitants of the torrid zone do not enjoy
a longevity equal to those who dwell in the
temperate climates of the earth.
492
GEOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF INDIA.
Geology. — It will require many more years
of scientific research before an accurate geo-
logical map can be laid down for India.*
Immense tracts covered with impenetrable
forests, — the few Europeans in the coun-
try occupied with military and civil gov-
ernmental duties, — the lassitude of mind
and body which, sooner or later, oppresses
the most energetic, — and the malaria wliich
inevitably destroys those who attempt to
investigate the crust of the earth, overrun
with jungle, or immersed in swamp ; — these,
and other obstacles render the prosecution
of this science a matter of extreme difficulty.
All that can be attempted in a work of this
nature is to collate the best known data,
and arrange them in outline, for reference
and future systematic exposition. t
Rerepresentatives of all the series found
in Europe and other parts of the world, are
traceable in India. Mr. Carter has indus-
triously noted the observations of various
investigators ; and the following summary is
partly abstracted from his compilation : —
Older METAMORrmc Strata. — Gneiss, Mica
Schiste. Chlorite Schiste, Hornhlende Schiste, Quartz
Mock, Micaceous Slate, Talcose Slate, Clay Slate,
Granular Limestone.
Gneiss. — Most general and abundant, — occurring
in different parts of the Himalaj a ; Oodeypoor ; near
Baroda ; Zillah Bahar ; Rajmahal hills ; Phoonda
Ghaut ; Northern Circars ; and more or less through-
out " peninsula" (? IJeccan) to the Palghaut, and
probably to Cape Comorin : it is frequently veined by
granite, contains in most places specular iron ore :
beds of garnets common everywhere ; corundum in
southern India, and beryl in Mysoor. Composition
varied in texture, compactness, and with more or
less mica ; colour — speckled, black, brown, reddish
gray to white ; sometimes tinted green where chlo-
rite'replaces mica: when very fine-grained and de-
composing, gneiss bears a close resemblance to fine-
grained sandstone.
Mica Schiste — Southern Mahratta country, and
western extremities of Vindhya range, passes into
micaceous slate at the Phoonda Ghaut : veined with
quartz, but no granite : being associated with gneiss
and hornblende schistes, they pass into each other.
Chlorite Schiste.^&ovXhem Mahratta country : it
slso contains garnets.
* The late eminent geologist, J. B. Greenough, has
made an excellent beginning by his large map on this
subject, and by the voluminous materials he collected.
+ See a valuable Summary of the Geology of India,
between the Ganges, the Indus, and Cape Comorin; by
H. J. Carter, Asst. Surg. Bombay Establishment, Aug.,
1853 : reprinted from Journal of Bombay British Asiatic
Society, p. 156.
X In the neighbourhood of Calcutta a series of boring
experiments to find water, were carried on at intervals
between 1804 and 1833; the results were — artificial soil
at surface ; next, as follows : a light blue or gray. coloured
sandy clay, becoming gradually darker from decayed vege-
table matter, until it passes at 30 ft. deep into a 2 ft.
stratum of black peat, apparently formed by the debrii of
Sunderbuod vegetation, which was once the delta of the
Hornblende Schiste, forma the sides of the Neil-
gherries, where it is from five to seven miles in
breadth : garnets found in it. Southern Mahratta
country, Salem : and often passes into mica schiste
on the Malaliar coast.
Quartz Rock. — Hills between Delhi and Alwur,
and between Ajmere and Oodeypoor; mountains
around Deybur Lake, Chittoor, and at the western
part of the Vindhya range, with mica slate ; south-
ern Mahratta country ; more or less in the granitic
plains of Hydrabad, and in the droor/s of Mysoor.
The rock is compact and granular in the Ajmere
mountains ; and of a red, violet, gray, or brown
colour; brilliantly white in the Slahratta country.
Mica is frequently disseminated throughout the
rock in large masses ; talc and chlorite, occasionally.
Micaceous Slate and Chlorite State.- — Both at the
Phoonda Ghaut ; and the latter in the Mahratta
country. The micaceous occurs in the Indo-Gan-
getic chain, Koonawur ; and in the Soolumbur
range, Oodeypoor.
Clay Slate, appears to be of great thickness, and
considerable extent, viz., from the Arravulli range,
the lower part of which is composed of this forma-
tion ; thence to Oodeypoor, via the Soolumbur range,
across the Durgawiid valley to Malwa, on the Kist-
nah;. southern Mahratta country, Nellore; and in
the Eastern Ghauts at Jungamanipenta, a ferrugi-
nous clay-slate overlies the trap at Mahabulishwar.
In the Arravulli it is massive, compact, and of a,
dark blue colour. The Soolum.bur range is almost
entirely composed of this and chlorite slates. Mica-
ceous passes into clay-slate at the Phoonda, and,
farther south, the Salloor passes (Western Ghauts.)
This also occurs at the Carrackpoor hills (Bahar),
where the clay-slate is about twenty miles wide, and
extends in the direction of the strata.|
Plutonic Rocks. — Granite,Diorite or Greenstone.
Gratiite. — Himalaya ; Ajmere and around Jeypoor,
traversing the mountains in veins and dykes ; the
Arravulli range consists chiefly of granite, resting on
slate ; Mount Aboo ; from Balmeer across the sands
to Nuggur Parkur; the Gir j Girnar; between Oodey-
poor and Malwa, are all varieties : it extends mori or
less southward to theNerbudda; on that river be-
tween Mundela and Amarkantak, Jubbulpoor, Kal-.
leenjur, Zillah Bahar, Carrackpoor hills ; in Bha-
gulpore and Monghyr districts ; near Baitool ; Nagr
pore territory ; Cuttack ; Orissa ; Northern Circars ;
Hydrabad; between the Kistnah and Godavery ;
Gooty ; Neilgherries ; Malabar coast at Vingorla ;
Coromandel ; between Madras and Pondicherry; end-
ing at Cape Comorin. The granitic rocks vary in
structure and composition, as they do in colour :
thus there are syenitic, peymatitic, and protoyenic.
It is gray at Ramteak in Nagpoor, red generally in
Ganges ; below the peat a black clay, and in this and the
gray clay imn>ediately above the peat, logs and branches
of yellow and red wood, found in a more or less decayed
state. In one instance only bones were discovered, at 28
ft. deep. Under blue clays, at 50 to 70 ft. deep, kunkur
and bogiri (a])parently small land shells, as seen in Upper
India.) At 70 ft. a seam of loose reddish sand,— 75 to
125 ft. beds of yellow clay predominate, frequently stiff
and pure like potter's clay, but generally mixed with sand
and mica : horizontal strata of kunkur pass through it,
resembling exactly those found at Midnapoor. Below
128 ft. a more sandy yellow clay prevails, which gradu-
ally changes to a gray, loose sand, becoming coarser in
quality to the lowest depth yet reached (176 ft.), where it
contains tngiJar fragments, as large as peas, of quartz and
felspar.
DISTRIBUTION OF GEOLOGICAL STRATA IN INDIA.
4Q3
the Decean, but at Vencatigherry (Mysoor), aiio at
Vingorla, gray : in the Neilgherries it is syenitic.
Greenstone. — Hazareebagh, Mahratta country,
Mysoor, Nellore, Chingleput, Madras, Trichinopoly,
Salem, in the granitic plains of Hydrabad ; and
extensively throughout Southern India. In the Dec-
can the dykes may be traced continuously for twenty
miles ; about Hydrabad they are from 100 to 800
feet broad ; about four miles from Dhonee, between
Gooty and Kurnool, there is one 150 feet high, and
200 feet broad, passing through a range of sandstone
and limestone mountains.
Silurian \iocK».—Grei/wacke. — Ghiddore, Raj-
mahal hills; JCumaon. It is a quartzoze sandstone;
yellov/ colour, resinous lustre, and compact splintery
fracture.
Transition or CatnOrtan Gneiss, is of great extent
in Bhagulpore district, composing two-thirds of the
country between the Curruckpore and llajmahal
hills, and the greater portion of the southern ridges
of the latter group. It consists of quartz, more or
less, hornblende, felspar, mica, and garnet pebbles.
Oolitic. — Zimestune. — Cutch ; near Neemuch,
Malwa; Bundelcund; on the river Sone ; Firozabad,
on the Bheema ; Kuladgee, in the southern Mah-
ratta country ; on the Kistnah ; and as far south as
Cuddapah. Thougli its principal characters are its
uniform lithographic texture, solidity, conchoidal
smooth fracture, and hardness, — dendritic surface,
smoky gray colour, passing into dark smoky blue ;
and parallel thin stratification, — it differs when de-
parting from its general composition, just as the
shales differ which interlaminate it, the coal strata,
and the sandstone, as being more or less argillaceous,
bituminous, or quartziferous ; of different degrees of
hardness, coarseness, and friability of structure; and
of all kinds of colours, streaked and variegated. It
is occasionally veined, and interlined with jasper and
light-coloured cherts, which, near Cuddapah, give it
a rough appearance ; also contains drusy cavities,
calcedonies, and cornelian, north of Nagpoor : in
the btd of the Nerbudda between Lamaita and
Beragurh, near Jubbulpoor, of a snow-white colour,
and traversed by chlorite schiste. It is frequently
denuded of its overlying sandstone and shales in
Southern India, and in this state is not uncommonly
covered by trap, as near Ferozabad on the Bheema.
Tliickness, 310 feet near Kurnool ; 10 to 30 feet on
the Bheema, with strata from 2 inches to 2 feet
thick. In the part of the Himalaya examined by
Captain Strachey, the secondary limestones and
shales were several thousand feet in thickness, the
I upper portion being in some places almost made up
I of fragments of shells.
If the white crystalline marble generally of India
is allowed to be metamorphic strata, this limestone
exists in the Girnar rock of Kattywar ; the litho-
graphic form in Cutch, and between Neemuch and
* The British Residency at Hydrabad (Decean) is a
specimen ; the Corinthian columns, &c., being executed in
white chunam.
t Volcanic fires are said by the natives to exist among
the loftier peaks of the Hindoo-Koosh and the Himalayan
ranges, but earthquakes are of rare occurrence. A severe
one was, however, experienced throughout a large extent of
country on 26th August, 1833,— vibration from N.E. to
S.W., with three principal shocks: first at 6'30 p.m.;
second, ll'SO p.m.; and third, at five minutes to mid-
night. It was most severely felt at and near Katmandoo,
where about 320 persons perished : the trembling of tlie
earth commenced gradually, and then travelled with the
rapidity of lightning towards the westward ; it increased
;•! 8
Chittore ; the white marble about Oodeypoor, and
northwards in the neighbourhood of Nusseerabad,
Jeypoor, Bessona, and Alwarj a narrow strip about
150 m. long in Bundelcund ; again about Bidjyghur
and Khotasghur on the Sone ; white marble in the
bed of the Nerbudda, near Jubbulpoor; in the hills
north-east of Nagpoor ; near the junction of the
Godavery and Prenheta rivers; thence along the
Godavery more or less to Rajahmundry ; Sholapoor
district ; on the' Bheema ; of every variety of colour,
and greatly disturbed and broken up about Kalud-
gee, in the southern Mahratta country ; along the
Kistnah, from Kurnool to Amarawattee ; and more
or less over the triangular area formed by the latter
place, Gooty, and the Tripetty hills. Chunam, an
argillaceous limestone, used for building in Bengal,
Bahar, Benares, &c. ;* occurs in nodules in the
alluvium, which, at Calcutta, is 500 to 600 feet
thick. Near Benares, it contains fragments of fresh-
water shells. South of Madras, a dark clay abounds
in marine shells, used in preference for lime-burning
to those on the beach, as beeing freer from salt.
Sandstone, — appears to be composed of very fine
grains of quartz, and more or less mica, united
together by an argillaceous material. It exists in
Cutch ; in the Panna range, Bundelcund ; the Kymore
hills; Ceded Districts; in lat 18°, 15 m. west of the
Godavery ; on the banks of the Kistnah ; plains of
the Carnatic, and the districts watered by the Pennar
river. It is present in the sub-Himalaya range, and
in the Rajmahal hills. All the towns on the Jumna,
from Delhi to Allahabad, appear to be built of this
sandstone. The plains of Beekaneer, Joudpore, and
Jessulmere, are covered with the loose sand of this
formation. It borders on the northern and western
sides of the great trappean tract of Malwa, and forms
the north-eastern boundary of the Western India
volcanic district.
Its thickness varies, either from original inequality,
or subsequent denudation. Its greatest depth, at
present known, is in the eastern part of the Kymore
range, where it is 700 feet at Bidjighur; and 1,300
feet at Rhotasghur ; at the scarps of the waterfalls
over the Panna range, it does not exceed 360 or 400
feet; from 300 to 400 feet is its thickness near Ryel-
cherroo and Sundrogam, in the Ceded Districts. Its
greatest height above the sea is on the banks of the
Kistnah, 3,000 feet. Organic remains are very
abundant in this formation. It has been ascertained
that the great trap deposit of the Western Ghauts,
rests on a sandstone containing vegetable remains,
chiefly ferns.
Volcanic RoCKs.f — Trap. — The largest tract is on
the western side of India, and extends continuously
from the basin of the Malpurba to Neemuch in
Malwa; and from Balsar, about 20 ni. south of the
mouth of the Taptee, to Nagpoor. This is probably
the most remarkable trap-formation existing on
in violence until the houses seemed shaken from their
foundations, — large-sized trees bent in all directions ; the
earth heaved fearfully ; and while the air was perfectly
calm, an awful noise burst forth as if from an hundred
cannon. Probably in India, as in Australia, subterranean
igneous action, which was formerly very violent, is now
almost quiescent, or finds its vent through mighty chim-
neys at a height of four or five miles above the sea. The
Lunar Lake, 40 m. from Saulna, is a vast crater 500 ft.
deep, and nearly 5 m. round the margin ; its waters are
green and bitter, supersaturated with alkaline carbonate,
and containing silex and some iron in solution ; the mud
is black, and abounds with sulphuretted hydrogen ; th*
water is, nevertheless, pur© and voiil of smell.
494 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES AND SOILS OF DIFFERENT DISTRICTS.
the surface of the globe ; its breadth is about 335 m.
N. to S. ; length, about 350 m. E. to W. ; and covers
an area of from 200,000 to 250,000 sq. m.* Another
portion extends from Jubbulpoor to Amarkantak,
thence south-westerly towards Nagpoor. It consti-
tutes the core of the Western Ghauts, and predomi-
nates in the Mahadeo and Sautpoora mountains.
Its two grand geological features along th&Ghauts,
■vyhere it has attained the highest elevation, are flat
summits and regular stratification. Fourteen beds
have been numbered in Malwa, the lowest and
largest of which is 300 feet thick. These are equally
numerous, if not more so, along the Ghauts, but the
scarps are of much greater magnitude. Besides its
stratification, it is in many places columnar; as in
the beds of the Nerbudda and Chumbul ; and the
hill-fort of Singhur presents a surface of pentagonal
divisions.
Wherever the effusions exist to any great extent,
they appear to be composed of laterite above, then
basalt, and afterwards trajipite and amygdaloid.
Basalt. — There are two kinds of this rock ; a dark
blue-black, and a brown-black. Both are semi-
crystalline. Their structure is massive, stratified,
columnar, or prismoidal. Dark blue is the basalt of
Bombay Island, brown-black that of the Deccan.
To this general description, I may add
what I have been enabled to glean of the
specific structure of some of the principal
positions : —
Himalayas. — Formations primary: the first strata,
which is towards the plain, consists of limestone,
lying on clay-slate, and crowned by slate, grey-
wacke, or sandstone. Beyond the limestone tract,
gneiss, clay-slate, and other schistose rocks occur;
granite arises in the mountains near the snowy
ranges. The peaks are generally composed of schis-
tose rocks, but veined by granite to a great eleva-
tion. Kamet, however, is an exception, appearing
to consist of granite alone. Greenstone dykes rise
through and intersect the regular rocks. Strata
fractured in all directions ; slate, as if crushed, and
the limestone broken into masses. The soil is prin-
cipally accumulated on the northern side.
The formation of the Indo-Gangetic chain, in
Koonawur, is mostly gneiss and mica-slate; in some
places, pure mica. On the left bank of the Sutlej,
granite prevails, forming the Raldang peaks. Further
north, it becomes largely intermixed with mica-slate;
to the north-east changes into secondary limestone,
and schistose rocks, abounding in marine exuviEB.f
In Kumaon, the Himalayas are composed of crystal-
line gneiss, veined by granite; the range forming
the north-eastern boundary, is believed to be of
recent formation. The mountainous tract south of
the principal chain in Nepaul consists of limestone,
* The rock in which the EUora caves are excavated is
said to be a basaltic trap, which, from its green tinge and
its different stages from hardness to disintegration, is sup-
posed by the natives to be full of vegetable matter, in a
greater or less advance to putrefaction : the crumbling
rock affords a natural green colour, which is ground up
and employed in painting on wet chunam (lime plaster.)
f Dr. Gerard found some extensive tracts of shell for-
mation 15,000 ft. above the sea. The principal shells
comprised cockles, mussels, and pearl-fish ; nummulites
and long cylindrical productions. These shells, of which
many were converted into carb. of lime, some crystallised
like marble, were lying upon the liigh land in a bed of
granite, and pulverised state : the adjacent rocks com-
hornstone, and conglomerate. The Sewalik (the
most southerly and lowest range of the Himalayan
system) is of alluvial formation, consisting of beds of
clay, sandstone with mica, conglomerate cemented by
calcareous matter, gravel, and rolled stones of various
rocks. The supposition is, that it is the debris of
the Himalaya, subsequently upheaved by an earth-
quake. The geology of the Sewalik is characterised
by the occurrence of quantities of fossil remains.
Punjab. — Near the north-east frontier, in the
vicinity of the Himalaya, is ar. extensive tract of
rocks and deposits of recent formation ; limestone,
sandstone, gypsum, argillaceous slate ; occasionally
veins of quartz.
'£he Halt-range. — Greynacke, limestone, sand-
stone, and red tenaceous clay, with deposits of chlo-
ride of sodium, or common salt.
2'Ae Sujied-Koh is primary, consisting of granite,
quartz, mica, gneiss, slate, and primary limestone.
The Suliman mountains are of recent formations,
principally sandstone and secondary limestone,
abounding in marine exuviae.
Central India. — Arravulli range, generally primi-
tive, consisting of granite, quartz, and gneiss. For-
mation along banks of upper course of Nerbudda,
trappean ; lower down, at jubbulpoor, granitic ; at
Bhera Ghur, channel contracted between white clifi's
of magnesian limestone; at the junction of the
Towah, there is a ledge of black limestone : at, and
near Kal Bhyru, slate of various sorts ; basaltic
rocks scattered over channel. Ranges enclosing
Nemaur, banks of rivers, and eminences in the
valley, basaltic. Saugor and Nerbudda territory ;
eastern part, towards Amarkantak, generally sand-
stone ; from here it extends westward, forming the
table-land bounding Nerbudda valley on the north,
and is intermixed with marl, slate, and limestone.
The volcanic tract commences about Ion. 79°, and
extends to about the town of Saugor, which is
situate on its highest part. This (trap), with that of
sandstone, further east, may be considered to belong
to the Vindhya ; and the former to the Mahadeo
and Sautpoora ranges. In some places, primitive
rocks appear through the overlying bed. The Bind-
yachal hills are of horizontally-stratified sandstone ;
Panna hills, sandstone, intermixed with schiste and
quartz ; and, to the west, overlaid by limestone.
Western Ghauts. — The great core is of primary
formation, inclosed by alternating strata of more
recent origin. These have been broken up by pro-
digious outbursts of volcanic rocks ; and from Maha-
bulishwar northward, the overlying rock is exclu-
sively of the trap formation ; behind Malabar they
are of primitive trap, in many places overlaid by im-
mense masses of laterite, or iron-clay. The Vurra-
gherry or Pulnai hills (Madura) are gneiss, stratified
with quartz ; in some places precipices of granite.
Naypoor. — North-western and westerri part, vol-
posed of shell limestone, the large blocks composed of a
multitude of shells of different sizes, imbedded in a mass
of calcareous tufa. Four classes of shell formation were
distinguished ; one in particular, a freshwater bivalve, re-
sembling the tmio, which exists in great abundance at the
foot of the lower hills and throughout the Dooab. In the
Neermal hills, N. of the Godavery, on the road from
Hydrabad to Nagpoor, many very perfect fossil shells,
mostly bivalves, and evidently marine, have been dis-
covered imbedded in a volcanic rock, together with the
head and vertebrie of a fish : the formations around rest
everywhere on granite ; and there are several hot-springs
holding lime in solution. Univalves and bivalves, particu-
larly bucciaum, ammonites, and mussels, abound in Malwa.
MINERAL PRODUCTIONS OP INDIA.
495
canic, principally basalt and trap. This terminates
at the city of Nagpoor, and the primitive, mostly
granite and gneiss, rises to the surface.
dft/soor. — The droogs, huge isolated rocks, scat-
tered over the surface; vary in elevation from 1,000
to 1,500 feet; bases seldom exceeding 2 m. in cir-
cumference ; generally composed of granite, gneiss,
quartz, and hornblende ; in many places overlaid by
laterite.
Soil, — mainly determined by the geological cha-
racter of each district, except in the deltas, or on
the banks of rivers, as in the Punjab, where an allu-
vium is accumulated. The land in Lower Bengal is
of inexhaustible fertility, owing partly to the various
salts and earthy limestone with which the deposits
from the numerous rivers are continually impreg-
nated : it is generally of a light sandy appearance.
The alluvium of Scinde is a stiff clay ; also that of
Tanjore, Sumbulpore, and Cuttack, by the disinte-
gration of granitic rocks. A nitrous (saltpetre) soil
is general in Bahar; in the vicinity of Mirzapoor
town, it is strongly impregnated with saline parti-
cles ; and at many places in Vizagapatam. The
regur, or cotton ground, which extends over a large
part of Central India, and of the Deccan, is supposed
to be formed by a disintegration of trap rocks ; it
slowly absorbs,* and long retains moisture; and it
has produced, in yearly succession, for centuries, the
most exhausting crops. It spreads over the table-
lands of the Ceded Districts and Mysoor, flanks the
Neilgherry and Salem hills, and pervades the Deccan,
but has not been observed in the Concans. It is a
fine, black, argillaceous mould, containing, in its
lower parts, nodules, and pebbly alluvium. Kunkur
(a calcareous conglomerate)! fills up the cavities and
fissures of the beds beneath it; and angular frag-
ments of the neighbouring rocks are scattered over
its surface. It contains no fossils. In some parts
it is from 20 to 40 feet thick. Kunkur is common
in the north-western provinces, the rocks often
advancing into the channel of the Jumna, and ob-
structing the navigation. In the western part of
Muttra district, it is mixed with sand: in Oude,
some patches of this rock, which undergo abrasion
very slowly, stand 70 or 80 feet above the neigh-
bouring country, which, consisting of softer materials,
has been washed away by the agency of water. Its
depth, in the eastern part of Meerut district, is from
one to 20 feet. In the Dooab, between the Ganges
and Jumna, and in many parts of the N.W. provinces,
there is a light rich loam, which produces excellent
wheat; at Ghazeepore, a light clay, with more or
less sand, is favourable for sugar and for roses.
As the Ganges is ascended before reaching Ghazee-
pore, the soil becomes more granitic, and is then suc-
ceeded by a gravel of burnt clay, argite, and cin-
ders, resembling what is seen in basaltic countries.
Assam, which has been found so well adapted for
the culture of tea, has for the most part a black
loam reposing on a gray, sandy clay ; in some places
the surface is of a light yellow clayey texture. The
soil usually found in the vicinity of basaltic moun-
tains is of a black colour, mixed with sand. Disin-
tegrated granite, where felspar predominates, yields
much clay.
A sandy soil exists in the centres of the Dooabs,
of the Punjab ; more or less in Paniput, Rhotuck,
and Hurriana districts : Jeypoor, Machery, and
Kajpootana ; and in some parts of Scinde ; in Mysoor,
a brown and rather sandy earth prevails; Trichi-
nopoly is arid and sandy ; and near Tavoy town, on
the E. side of the Bay of Bengal, there is a large
plain, covered with sand.
The soil of Nagpoor, in some tracts, is a black,
heavy loam, loaded with vegetable matter ; red loam
is found in Salem and in Mergui.
Tinnevelly has been found well suited for the cot-
ton plant, and the substance in which it delights
looks like a mixture of lime, rubbish, and yellowish
brickdust, intermixed with nodules of Kunkur.X A
chymical analysis of three of the best cotton soils in
these districts, gives the following result :§ —
Vege-
table
mat-
ter.
Saline
and
Extrac-
tive.
Iron.
Carb.
Maf?-
Alu-
Silex.
Water
and
Cotton Soils.
Remarks.
Protox.
Deutox.
Tritox.
lime.
nesia.
mina.
loss.
r No peat or lignite ; no-
thing soluble in cold
Bundclcund
200
0-33
7-75
11-90
trace
310
74-0
1-00
< water; silex in fine
powder; kunkur in
L the gravel,
r Gravel, mostly silex,
Coimbatore
2-30
traces
4-00
7-50
trace
2-80
82-80
0-60
} with some felspar, but
(^ no kunkur.
rGravel, almost wholly
kunkur ; some carb.
TinncvoUy . 015
020
~~
~
2S8
1950 015
200
74-00
1-12
-S iron ; half the soil of
gravel.
I
Guzerat is generally termed the Garden of Western
India. With the exception of Kattywar, and to the
eastward of Broach, it is one extensive plain, com-
prising many different soils ; the chief varieties being
* All the soils of India have, in general, a powerful ab-
sorbing quality ; hence their fertile properties.
f Kunkur. — A. calcareous concretion, stratified and in
mammillated masses of all sizes, which contains 50 to 80
per cent, of carbonate of lime, some magnesia, iron, and
alumina : these nodules are interspersed in large quanti-
ties throughout e.'ctensive tracts of the alluvial and
secondary formations, and are ascribtid to the action of
calcareous springs, which are of frequent occurrence.
i It is curious to note, in different countries, how plants
the black or cotton soil, and the gorat, or light
grain-producing soil.|| The former is chiefly confined
to Broach and part of SuratN. of the Taptee ; the
latter prevails throughout Baroda, ICaira, and part
seem to vary in their feeding : thus, at Singapore, the best
cotton soil apparently consists of large coarse grains of
white sand, mixed with something like rough charcoal-
dust, and with fragments of vegetables and mosses of all
sorts. A somewhat similar substance, mingled with shells
and decayed vegetable matter, is the favourite habitat of
the Sea Island cotton of Georgia, U. S.
§ See an interesting Essay on the Agriculture of Hin-
doostan, by G. W. Johnston.
II See Macka.y's valuable Report on JVestern Ijidia, p. 41.
496 MINERALS OF INDIA— IRON, COAL, TIN, LEAD, COPPER, GOLD.
of Ahmedabad, becoming more mixed with sand to
the northward ; black soil abounds to the westward
of the Gulf, and in many of the Kattywar valleys.
The numerous vejretable products of India attest the
variety of soils wliich exist there.
Minerals. — Various metals have been
produced and wrought in India from the
earliest ages : the geological character of the
ditferent districts indicates their presence.
So far as we have yet ascertained, their dis-
tribution is as follows : —
Iron. — Ladakh. — Mines in the north-eastern
part of the Punjab,* and in almost every part of
Kumaon, where the requisite smelting processes are
performed ; though on a small scale, and in a rude
and inefficient manner. Mairwarra; in veins, and of
good quality, believed to be inexhaustible. Kajma-
hal-; in gneiss. Lalgang, 16 miles south-west of
Mirzapoor city. Kuppudgode hills; in schistes,
quartz, and gneiss : on the north-east side, one stra-
tum of iron, 60 feet thick. Ramghur — hills abound-
ing in iron, though not of the best quality. Haza-
reebagh, in gneiss — flinty brown colour, pitchy
lustre, and splintery fracture ; 20 feet thick. Various
parts of Palamow district ; at Singra in inexhausti-
ble quantities. Eastern part of Nagpoor territory.
Mine of good quality at Tendukhera, near Jubbul-
poor (were the navigation of the Nerbudda available,
this would prove a most useful article of export for
railways.) Western extremity of Vindhya; in gneiss.
Southern Mahratta country ; in quartz : micaceous
and magnetic iron-ore occur in the same district; in
clay-slate. In all the mountains of the Western
Ghauts ; in Malabar ; in veins, beds, or masses, in
the laterite (here extensively smelted.) Salem,
southern part (yields 60 per cent, of the metal fit for
castings.) Nellore district. In many places in
Masulipatam. Rajahmundry; in sandstone hills.
Vizagapatam. Abundant in many parts of Orissa.
Tenasserim provinces; occurs in beds, veins, and in
rocks. Between the Saluen and Gyne rivers, it is
found in sandstone hills. Most abundant between
Ye and Tavoy, approximating the sea-coast; the
best is at a short distance north of Tavoy town ; it
is therein two forms — common magnetic iron-ore; and
massive, in granular concretions, crystallized, splen-
dent, metallic, highly magnetic, and with polarity.
The ore would furnish from 74 to 80 per cent, raw
iron. In various places the process of smelting is
rudely performed by the natives, but they produce a
metal which will bear comparison with the best
Swedish or British iron.t
Tin. — Oodeypoor, — .njines productive. On the
* Colonel Steinbach says that the mineral wealth of the
Punjab is considerable; that mines of gold, copper, iron,
plumbago, and lead abound, and that "properly worked
they would yield an enormous revenue.'*
t The natives of Cutch make steel cliain-armonr, sabres,
and various sharp edge tools from their iron ; the horse-
nhoes are excellent — the metal being more malleable, and
not so likely to break as the English iron.
J The gray ore found in Dohnpur affords .'iO to 50 per
cent, of copper ; it is associated with malachite, and con-
tained in a compact red. coloured dolomite : hence mining
operations can be carried on without timbering or ma-
sonry.
§ Mines discovered by Dr. Heyne, near Wangapadu.
" A footpath, paVed with stones, led up the hill to the
place which was sliown me as one of the mines. It is
ititoated two-thirds up the hill, and might be about 400 ft.
banks of the Barakur, near Palamow ; in gneiss.
Tenasserim provinces. Tavoy, rich in tin -ore;
generally found at the foot of mountains, or in
hills : Pakshan river ; soil in which the grains are
buried, yields 8 or 10 feet of metal ; at Tavoy,
7 feet : of superior quality in the vicinity of Mergui
town.
Lead. — Ladakh. Koonawur. Ajmere ; in quartz
rocks. Mairwarra. Eastern part of Nagpoor. In
the vicinity of Hazareebagh. Eastern Ghauts at
Jungamanipenta; in clay-slate — mines here. Am-
herst province. Fine granular galena obtained in
clay-slate, and clay limestone on the Touser, near
the Dehra-Doon.
Copper. — Ladakh. Koonawur, in the valley of
the Pabur. Kumaon, near Pokree ; but these mines
are almost inaccessible, and the vicinity affords no
adequate supply of fuel for smelting: others at
])ohnpur,| IJhobri, Gangoli, Sira, Khori, and Slior
Gurang. Mairwarra. Oodeypoor; abundant, — it
supplies the currency. Southern Mahratta country,
in quartz; also in a talcose form. Vencatigherry,
North Arcot. Nellore district.^ Sullivan's and Cal-
lagkiank Islands, in the Mergui Archipelago. This
metal is most probably extensively distributed, and
of a rich quality.
Siher. — In the tin mines of Oodeypoor. In the
lead mine, near Hazareebagh, and other places.
Gold. — Sands of Shy-yok, Tibet. Ditto Chenab,
Huroo, and Swan rivers, Punjab. Ditto Aluknunda,
Kumaon. Throughout the tract of country W. of
the Neilgherries, amid the rivers and watercourses,
draining 2,000 sq. m., this coveted metal abounds ;
even the river stones, when pounded, yield a rich
product: it is usually obtained in small nuggets.
In the iron sand of the streams running from the
Kuppudgode hills, and from the adjoining Saltoor
range. Sumbulpoor ; in the detrius of rocks. In
moderate quantities in several places in the eastern
])art of Nagpoor. Many of the streams descending
from the Ghauts into Malabar; and in AVynaad.
Gold-dust in Mysoor.|| In the Assam rivers it is plen-
tiful : near Gowhatty 1,000 men used to be employed
in collecting ore for the state. Various parts of
Tenasserim provinces, but in small quantities. The
geological structure of India indicates an abundance
of the precious metals.
Coal. — 'I'he carboniferous deposits of t!ie oolitie
series in Bengal, west of the Ganges and llooghly,
consist of coal, shale, and sandstone, but no lime-
stone, and they appear chiefly to occupy the depres-
sions of the granitic and metamorphic rocks which
form this part of India, becoming exposed in the
banks or beds of watercourses or rivers which have
passed through them, or in escarpments which have
above the village (Wangapadu.) An open gallery cut into
the rock, demonstrated that it had been formerly worked ;
and as the stones, which lay in abundance near it, were all
tinged or overlaid with mountain green, there could be no
doubt that the ore extracted had been copper." — (Heyne,
ly-acts on India, p. 112.)
II In excavating the disintegrating granite in the vicinity
of Bangalore, to ascertain the extent to which the decom-
posing influence of the atmosphere will affect the solid
rock (viz., 30 to 35 ft.), the contents of soil were fre-
quently auriferous. In blasting sienite at Chinapatam,
40 m. from Bangalore, on the road to Seringapatam,
Lieutenant Baird Smith, B.E., ob.«erved considerable
quantities of gold disseminated in small particles over
the fractured surfaces. At Wynaad this metal was ob-
tained from rich yellow earth in sufficient quantity to
employ a number of labourers and to yield some return.
DIAMONDS AND OTHER PRECIOUS STONES IN INDIA.
497
been i)roduced by upheaval of the rocks on which
they were deposited. The coal occurs in strata from
an inch or less to 9 or 10 feet thickness, interstratifled
with shale and sandstone ; the whole possessing a dark
blaok or blue colour, of a greater or less intensity.
At Burdwan its character is slaty : the genera of
plants are partly English, some Australian, some
peculiar. The depth at the Curhurbalee field, situ-
ated 60 miles south of the Ganges, near Surajgur-
rah, is from 50 to 100 feet. Proceeding westerly,
towards Palamow district, which contains many
valuable and extensive fields, and where several
shafts have been sunk, it has been seen about 16 m.
from Chergerh, in Singrowla ; at the confluence of
the Sone and Tipan, about 30 m. E. from Sohajpoor.
Near Jeria, in Pachete district. Hills in Ramghur,
abounding in coal. Jubbulpoor, 30 m. S. from
Hoosungabad ; in Shahpoor in the same neighbour-
hood ; and abundantly along the valley of the Ner-
budda. Traces of it are said to exist in the diamond
sandstone north-west of Nagpoor, and it has been
found in the Mahadeo mountains. In the Punjab,
at Mukkud, on the left bank of the Indus, and in
the localities of Joa, Meealee, and Nummul. The
extremes of this coal formation, so far as have yet
been discovered in India, are : — the confluence of
the Godavery and Prenheta in the south, in lat. 19°,
and the Salt range in about 33° N.; Putch in the
west, and Burdwan in the east; and detached in
■ Silhet, Pegu (recently found of excellent quality),
and the Tenasserim provinces (plentiful, and posses-
sing good properties.) There are many other places,
no doubt, in the country between Bengal and Berar,
where this valuable mineral exists ; traces of it
have been observed in Orissa, but it has not yet
been found available for use ; it is not improbable
that it extends across the delta of the Ganges to
; Silhet, distant 300 miles. It also occurs extensively
i in the grits bounding the southern slope of the
Himalaya : it has been questioned whether this is
■ the older coal, or only lignite associated with nagel-
fjue,— where the Teesta issues from the plain, its
strata is highly inclined, and it bears all the other
characters of the older formation. Analysis of Indian
coal found in different parts, and near the surface,
gave the following results : — Chirra Poonjee, slaty
kind: specific gravity, 1'497; containing volatile
matter, 36; carbon, 41; and a copious white ash,
23 = 100. Nerbudda (near Fatehpoor), near the
surface, — volatile matter, 105 ; water, 3'5; charcoal,
20; earthy residue (red), 64 = 100. Cossyah hills :
specific gravity, 1-275 j volatile matter or gas, 38'5;
carbon or coke, 60 7; earthy impurities, 08 = 100
— (ash very small.) Hurdwar: specific gravity,
1'968; volatile matter, 354; carbon, 50; ferru-
ginous ash, 146 = 100. Arracan : specific gra-
vity, 1'.308; volatile matter, 66-4; carbon, 33; ash,
0-6= 100. Cutch: charcoal, 70; bitumen, 20;
sulphur, 5 ; iron, 3 ; calcareous earths, 2.
* These mountains are bounded on all sides by granite,
that everywhere appears to piiss under it, and to form its
basis : some detached portions have only the upper third
' of their summits of sandstone and quartz, the basis or
i remaining two-tliirds being of granite. Deep ravines are
j not infrequent. The diamond is procured only in the
sandstone breccia, which is found under a compact rock,
composed of a beautiful mixture of red and yellow jasper,
quartz, chalcedony, and hornstone, of various colours,
cemented together by a quartz paste : it passes into a
pudding-stone of rounded pebbles of quartz, hornstone, &c.,
cemented by an argilio-calcareous earth of a loose friable
texture, in which the diamonds are most frequently found.
Sulphur. — Mouths of Godavery, and at Conda-
pilly, on the Kistnah. Sulphate of alumina ob^
tained from the aluminous rocks of Nepaulj used
by the natives to cure fresh wounds or bruises :
yields on analysis — sulphate of alumina, 95 ; per-:
oxyde of iron, ? ; silex, 1 : loss, 1. Sulphate of
iron is procure i in the Behar hills, and used by
the Patna dje .-s : it yields sulphate of iron, 39 ;
peroxyde of iron, 36 ; magnesia, 23 : loss, 2 = lOQ.
Diajnonds. — Sumbulpoor has been celebrated for
the finest diamonds in the world; they are found
in the bed of the Mahanuddy. Mines were formerly
worked at Wyraghur, Nagpoor ; Malavilly, in Ma-
sulipatam (nearEUore); and at Panna, in Bundlecund,
Mr. H. W. Voysey described, in 1824, the diamond
mines of the Nulla Mulla mountains, north of the
Kistnah,* which were formerly extensively worked.-f^
Muhies. — Sumbulpoor; in the detrius of rocks.
Pearls. — Gulf of Manaar, near Cape Comorin,
and on the coast of many of the islands in the
Mergui Archipelago.
Muriat of soda (common salt) is found in rock and
liquid form at various places. A salt lake, 20 m.
long by Ij broad, is situated in lat. 26° 53', long.
74° 57'; it supplies a great portion of the neigh-
bouring country with ssilt after the drains are dried
up. A salt lake in Berar contains in 100 parts, —
muriat of soda, 20 ; muriat of lime, 10 ; muriat of
magnesia, 6. Towards the sources of the Indus,
salt lakes exist at 16,000 ft. above the sea. There
are extensive salt mines in the Suit range of the
Punjab. Natron and soda lajces are said to exist in
the Himalaya.
Cornelian is found and worked in different places :
the principal mines are situated at the foot of the
western extremity of the Rajpeepla hills, close to the
town of Ruttunpoor; the soil in which the corne-
lians are imbedded consists chiefiy of quartz sand —
reddened by iron, and a little clay. Agates abound
in "Western India : at one part of Cutch the sides of
the hills (of amygdaloid)) are covered with heaps
of rock crystal, as if cart loads had been purposely
thrown there, and in many parts of the great trap-
pean district the surface is strewed with a profusion
of agatoid flints, onyx, hollow s|)heroids of quartz,
crystals, and zoolitic minerals, 'fhere are evidences
of several extinct volcanoes in Cutch.
This is but an imperfect sketch of the
minerals of India : doubtless, there are many-
more places where metals exist; but during
the anarchy and -warfare which prevailed
prior to British supremacy, the very know-
ledge of their locality has been lost. At no
distant day this subterranean wealth will be
developed ; and probabh', when the gold-
fields of Australia are exhausted, those of
India may be profitably worked.
The breccia is seen at depths varying from 5 to 50 feet,
and is about 2 feet in thickness ; immediately above it lies
a stratum of pudding-stone, composed of quartz and
hornstone pebbles, cemented by calcareous clay and grains
of sand. The miners are of opinion that the diamond is
always growing, and that the chips and small pieces re-
jected ultimately increase to large diamonds. — 'iVaits.
A. S. Bengal, vol. xiv., p. 120.
f The diamonds of Golconda have obtained great cele-
brity throughout the world, but they were merely cut and
polished there, having been generally found at Parteall, in
a detached portion of the Nizam's dominions, near the
southern frontier, in l»t. 16° 40', long. 80° 28'.
CHAPTER III.
POPULATION— NUMBERS— DISTRIBUTION— DENSITY TO AREA— PROPORTION OF HIN-
DOOS TO MOHAMMEDANS— VARIETIES OF RACE— DIVERSE LANGUAGES— ABORI-
GINES-SLAVERY—PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.
From remote antiquity India has been
densely peopled; but, as previously ob-
served (p. 13), we knovr nothing certain of
its indigenous inhabitants, — of accessions
derived from immigration, or from success-
ful invasions by sea and land, — of the pro-
gressive natural increase, — or of the circum-
stances which influence, through many
generations, the ebb and flow of the tide of
population.* There is direct testimony,
however, that before the Christian era the
country was thickly inhabited by a civilised
people, dwelling in a well-cultivated terri-
tory, divided into numerous flourishing
states, with independent governments, united
in federal alliance, and capable of bringing
into the field armies of several hundred thou-
sand men.
For more than a thousand years after the
Greek invasion, we have no knowledge of
what was taking place among the popula-
tion of India, and but a scanty notice, ia
the eighth century, of the Arab incursions
of the regions bordering on the Indus.
Even the marauding forays of Mahmood
the Ghazuevide, in the eleventh century,
afford no internal evidence of the state of
the people, save that derived from a record
of their magnificent cities, stately edifices,
immense temples, lucrative trade, and vast
accumulations of wealth ; the Hindoos were
probably then in a more advanced state of
social life, though less warlike than during
• It is not improbable that some of the early im-
migrants were offshoots of the colonists who are
said to have passed from Greece into Eg3'pt, thence
travelled eastward, forming settlements on the banks
of the Euphrates and Tigris ; and ultimately reached
the Indus and Ganges. In craniological and facial
characteristics, many Hindoos present a striking si-
militude to the ancient Greek, modified by climate,
food, and habits ; and in several architectural struc-
tures, of which ruins are still extant, there is con-
siderable resemblance to the ancient buildings of
Egypt, and those erected on the Babylonian plains.
Bryant is of opinion that Chaldea was the parent
country of the Hindoos ; Vans Kennedey traces the
Sanscrit language to Mesopotamia ; H. H. Wilson
deems that the Hindoos connected with the Miij
Veda were from a northern site, as in that work the
worshipper on more than one occasion, when solicit-
ing long life, asks for an hundred winters, which the
Professor thinks would not have been desired by the
natives of a warm climate. This is not conclusive.
the Alexandrine period : they had gradually
occupied the whole of India with a greatly
augmented population, and possessed a
general knowledge of the arts, conveniences,
and luxuries of life.
During the desolating period of Moslem
forays, and of Mogul rule, there appears to
have been a continued diminution of men
and of wealth, which Akber in vain essayed
to check by some equitable laws. We have
sufficient indirect and collateral evidence to
show that whole districts were depopulated,
that famines frequently occurred, and that
exaction, oppression, and misgovernment
produced their wonted results in the dete-
rioration of the country. No census, or
any trustworthy attempt at ascertaining
the numbers of their subjects, was made by
the more enlightened Mogul sovereigns,
even when all their energies were directed
to the acquisition of new dominions.
The English, until the last few years,
have been as remiss in this respect as their
predecessors in power. An idea prevailed
that a census would be viewed suspiciously
as the prelude to a capitation tax, or
some other exaction or interference with
domestic aff"airs. In Bengal, Bahar, and
Orissa, which we have had under control
for nearly a century, no nearer approxima-
tion has yet been made to ascertain the
number of our subjects, than the clumsy
and inaccurate contrivance of roughly ascer-
In Britain man frequently dates his age from the
number of summers he has seen. There can, how.
ever, be little doubt that many of the early invaders
of India were of the type of Japhet, — some of them
acquainted with maritime commerce, and all com-
paratively more civilised than the indigenes who were
driven towards the southward and eastward, and to
mountain and jungle fastnesses. When this occurred
it is impossible to determine. General Briggs says
that the Vedas were written in India at the period
when Joshua led the Israelites over Jordan into
Canaan. The date when Menu, the lawgiver, lived
has not been ascertained. Whatever the period, the
Hindoos had not then occupied the country farther
south than the 23rd degree, as Menu describes the
people beyond as " barbarians, living in forests, and
speaking an unknown language." Remote annals
are lost in legends and traditions ; and the chrono-
logy of Hindooism is an absurdity, except on the
principle of cutting off the ciphers attached to the
apocryphal figures.
DENSITY OF POPULATION OF INDIA TO EACH SQUARE MILE, 499
taining the houses and huts in a village or
district, and then supposing a fixed number
of mouths in each house (say five or six.)
The fallacy of such estimates is now ad-
mitted, and rulers are beginning to see the
value of a correct and full census, taken at
stated intervals, in order to show the rates
of increase or decrease, and to note the
causes thereof. I believe that the Anglo-
Indian government have no reason to ap-
prehend unpleasing disclosures- if a decen-
nial census be adopted for all the territories
under their sway : the natural fecundity of
the Hindoos would lead to an augmentation
where peace and the elements of animal
sustenance exist; and a satisfactory prooi
would be afforded of the beneficence of our
administration, by the multiplication of
human life. With these prefatory remarks,
I proceed to show briefly all that is at
present known on the subject.
At pp. 3 to 11 of this volume will be
found the returns collected by the inde-
fatigable Edward Thornton, head of the
statistical department of the East India
House, with remarks thereon at p. 2. Evi-
dently there must be erroneous estimates
somewhere, otherwise there would not be so
great a disproportion of mouths to each
square mile, as appears between the British
territories (157) and the other states (74) —
* There have been several censuses of China, of
which we have little reason to doubt the accuracy :
that of 1753, showed 102,328,258; that of 1792,
307,467,200; that of 1812, 361,221,900. In some
districts, along river banks, the density is very great ;
such as Kangsoo (Nankin) — 774 to the sq. m. : in
say 105,000,000 on 666,000 sq. m., and
53,000,000 on 717,000 sq. m. Estimating
the entire area, as above, at 1,380,000 sq. m.,
and the population thereon at 158,000,000,
would give 114 to each sq. m. Viewing
India as including the entire region, from
the Suliman on the west, to the Youmadoung
mountains on the east, and from Cape
Comorin to Peshawur, and estimating the
area at 1,500,000 sq. m., and the number of
inhabitants to each sq. m. at 130, would
show a population of 195,000,000; which
is probably not far from the truth.
The Chinese census shows 367,632,907
mouths on an area of 1,297,999 sq. m., or
283 to each sq. m.* In England the density
is 333; Wales, 134; Ireland, 200; Scot-
land, lOO.t India, with its fertile soil, a
climate adapted to its inhabitants, and with
an industrious and comparatively civilised
people, might well sustain 250 mouths to
each sq. m., or 375,000,000 on 1,500,000
sq. m. of area. J
The following table, framed from various
public returns and estimates, is the nearest
approximation to accuracy of the population
of each district under complete British rule;
it shows (excluding Pegu) a total of about
lg0,000,000 (119,630,098) persons on an
area of 829,084 sq. m., or 146 to each
sq. m. : —
others the density varies from 515 down to 51. (See
vol. i., p. 29, of my report on Chisa to her Majesty's
government, in 1847.)
t See Preface (p. xv.) to my Australian volume,
new issue, in 1855, for density of population in
different European states.
X In illustration of this remark, the following statement, derived from the Commissioners' Report on the
Punjab, — of the population of JuUundhur Zillah, situated between the rivers Sutlej and Beas, — is subjoined,
with the note appended by the census officer, Mr. K. Temple, 25th of October, 1851 : —
Hindoo.
Mussulmen.
Total.
Grand
.Total.
Total
Area in
Acres,
Area in
sq. miles
of 640
Acres
each.
Number
of inha-
bitants
per sq.
mile.
Number
Fcrgunnaiis.
Agricul-
tural.
Non-
Agricul-
tural.
Agricul-
tural.
Non-
Agricul-
tural.
Agricul-
tural.
Non-
Agricul-
tural.
of Acres
to each
Pcrgou.
PhUor . . .
Julluiulhur .
Kahoon . . .
Nakodur . .
41,997
48,967
42,739
28,787
38,591
49,652
47,201
19,349
20,442
46,049
25,145
44,085
19,211
50,568
19,027
26,181
62,439
95,016
67,884
72,872
57,802
100,220
66,228
45,530
120,241
195,236
134,112
118,402
187,001
250,397
199,472
225,031
299
391
312
351
412
499
430
337
1-52
1-25
1-48
1-SO
Total . .
162,490
154,793
135,721
114,987'
298,211
269,780
667,991
861,901
1,346
422
1-55
Note. — This return certainly shows a considerable density of population. It may of course be expected that a small
and fertile tract like this, which contains no forest, waste, or hill, should bo more thickly peopled than an extensive
region like the North-Western Provinces, which embraces eycry variety of plain and mountain, of cultivation and
jungle ; we find therefore that in the provinces we have 322 inhabitants per square mile, while here we have one-fourth
more, or 422 ; the population of this district proportionately exceeds that of twenty-two out of thirty-one districts of the
North-Western Provinces, and is less than that of nine. It also exceeds the average population of any one out of the
six divisions. It about equals that of the districts of Agra, Muttra, Furruckabad, and Cawnpoor, but is inferior in density
to the populous vicinities of Delhi or Benares, and to the fertile districts of Juanpoor, Azeemgurh, and Ghazeepoor. Tho
comparative excess of Indian over European population lias become so notorious, that it is superfluous to comment on
the iact, that the population averages of this district exceed those of the most highly peopled countries of Europe.
'lOO
POPULATION BY PROVINCES AND DISTRICTS.
British Territories in Continental India — Area, Chief Towns, and Position.
Provinces* Districts, &c.
BHNliAL PaoviNCE: —
Calcutta, and 24 Pergunnas . .
Hooglily .... . .
Nuddea .... ^ .... .
Jessore
Backergunge and Shabispore . .
Dacca
Tipperah and BuUoah . . . .
Chittagong
Sylhet and Jyntea
Mymensiug
Rajeshaye
Moorshedabad .,.,...
Bcebhoom
Dinagepoor
Kun^poor
Burdwan
Baraset
Bancoorab
Bhagulpore
Mon^byr .
Maldah
Bagoorah
Pubna
Purneah
Fureedpore, Deccan, and Jelalpore
Darjeeling
Siiighbhoom
Maunbhoom
South West Frontier: —
Chota Nagpore
Palamow
Bahar Province:^
Kamghur
Behar
Patna
Sbahabad
Tirhoot
Sarun and Chumparun ....
Sumbhulpoor
Orissa Province: —
Midnapore and Hidgellee . .
Cuttack and Pooree
Balasore
Koordah
Madras Presidency:-^
Oanjam
Viitagapatam
Rajamundry
Masulipatam
Guntoof
Bellary
Cuddapah
North Arcot
South Arcot
Chinglcput and Madras . . .
Salem
Coimbatore
Trichinopoly
Tanjore
MaduTU
Tinnivelly
Malabar ........
Canara .........
Nellore
Kumool
Coorg
Bombay Presidency ;
Concan, North
„ South
Bombay Island . .
Dharwar ....
Poona
Kandeish ....
Surat .....
Broach ....
Ahmednuggur . .
Sholaporc ....
Belgium ....
Area in
Square
Miles.
1,186
2,089
2,942
3,512
3,794
1,960
4,S50
2,560
8,424
4,712
2,084
1,856
4,730
3,820
4,130
2,224
1,424
1,476
5,806
2,558
1,000
2,160
2,606
6,87S
2,052
834
2,944
5,652
5,308
3,468
8,524
6,694
1,828
3,721
7,402
2,560
4,693
5,029
4,829
1,876
930
6,400
7,650
6,050
6,000
4,960
13,056
12,970
6,800
7,610
3,050
8,200
8,280
3,000
3,900
10,700
6,700
6,060
7,720
7,930
3,243
1,420
6,477
3,964
18
3,837
6,298
9,311
1,629
1,319
9,931
4,991
6,406
Population.
701,182
. 1,520,840
298,736
381,744
733,800
600,000
1,406,950
1,000,000
380,000
1,487,000
671,000
1,045.000
1,040,876
1,200,000
2,559,000
1,854,152
522,000
480,000
2,000,000
800,000
431,000
900,000
600,000
1,600,000
855,000
3ft,882
200,000
772,340
I 482,900 I
372,216
2,500,000
1,200,000
1,60W)00
2,400,000
1,700,000
800,000
666,328
1,000,000
556,395
571,160
926,930
1,254,272
1,012,036
520,866
569,968
1,229,599
1,451,921
1,485,873
1,006,005
1,283,462
1,195,367
1,153,862
709,196
1,676,068
1,756.791
1,269,216
1,514,909
1,056,333
935,690
273,190
f 65.437 1
( in 1836 I
815,849
665,238
566,119
7.54,385
666 006
778,112
492,684
290,984
995,585
675,115
1,026,882
Principal Town.
Calcutta
Ilooghly
K ishn ugur
J ."Sore
Burrisol
Dacca . .
Tipperah .
Chittagong
Sylhet . .
Sowara . .
Kampoor
Berharapore
Sooree . .
Dinagepoor
llungpoor .
Burdwan .
Baraset
Bancoorah
Bhagulpore
Monghyr .
Maldah
Hagoorah .
Pubna .
Purneah
Fureedpore
DarJL-eling
Chaibassa .
Pachete
Lohadugga
Palamow .
Ramghur .
Gyali . .
Patna . .
Arrah . .
Mozufferpoor
Sarun or Chupra
Sumbhulpoor
Midnanore
Cuttack
B.ilasore .
Koordah .
Ganjam
Vizagapatam
Rajamundry
Masulipatam
Guntoor .
Bellary
Cuddapah .
Chittoor .
Cuddalore .
Madras . .
Salem . .
Coimbatore
Trichinopoly
Tanjore
Madura
Tinuiveliy .
Calicut . .
Mangalore
N ellore
Kumool .
Merkara
Tan n ah
Kutnapheriah
Bombay ,
Dharwar
Poona .
Malligaum
.Surat .
Broach .
Ahmednuggur
Sholapore . .
Belgaum . .
Position of Town.
Lat. N. Long. E.
22 34
22 55
23 24
23 9
22 33
23 43
23 28
22 20
24 64
24 44
24 33
24 12
23 63
25 34
25 40
23 12
22 43
23 14
25 11
25 19
25 2
24 50
24 0
25 46
23 36
27 2
22 36
23 36
23 6
23 60
24 0
24 43
25 53
25 31
26 6
25 45
21 29
22 25
20 28
21 30
20 10
19 24
17 41
17 0
16 10
16 20
15 »
14 28
13 12
11 42
13 6
11 39
11 0
10 48
10 48
9
8
11
12 62
14 27
16 50
12 27
18 67
17 0
18 67
15 28
18 31
20 32
88 26
88 23
88 28
89 11
90 22
90 25
91 10
91 55
91 50
90 2."
88 38
88 18
87 31
88 38
89 16
87 56
88 33
87 6
87 0
86 30
88 11
80 25
89 12
87 34
89 50
88 19
85 44
86 60
84 46
84 1
85 24
85 2
85 16
84 43
85 28
85 48
84 0
87 23
85 55
87 0
85 43
85 7
83 21
81 50
81 12
80 30
76 69
78 82
79 9
79 60
80 21
78 14
77
7S
2
46
79 n
78 10
77 44
75 50
74 64
80
78
21
21
19
17 40
15 60
75 48
72 63
73 20
72 62
75 4
73
53
74
30
72
61
1759
73
2
1803
74
46
1817
76
0
1818
74
36
1817
Date of
Acquisi-
tion.
170O&17.57
1757 & 1765
1765
1836
1766
1760
1760
1765
1835 & 1850
1765
1818
1765
1775
1766
1850
1760
1803
1765
1759
1788
1800
»l
1751
1765
1792
1799
1801
1799
1801
1801
1792
1799
1801
1838
1834
1818
1661
1818
POPULATION BY PROVINCES AND DISTRICTS.
501
British Territories in Continental India — Area, Chief Towns, and Position.
Provinces, Districts, &c.
Bombay Presidency — continued.
Kaira
Ahmedabad and Nassik . . .
Sattara .... ....
Bekak Province : —
Deogur above the Ghauts . . "
„ below the Ghauts .
"W'ein-Gunga
Choteesffurh
Chandarpoor -
Nekbudda Districts : —
Saugor ....
Jubbulpoor
Uoosungabad . . .
Seuni ...
Dumuh
Nursingpoor
Baitool ...
AoKA Pbes., or N.W. Proy. : —
Benares
Ghazeepore
Aziiiigl;ur
Goruckpoor
Jounpoor
Allahabad
Banda
Futtehpore
Cawnpore
Etawah
Furruckabad
Shajehanpoor
AUjghur
Bareilly
Moradabad
Agra
Delhi
Saharunpoor
Paniput
Hissar
Rohtuk
Goorgaon . . ....
Mozutfcrnuggur
M*erut ... ...
Boolundshuhur . . .
Bijnore ......
Budaon
Wuttra
Mynpoory
Humeerpoor
Mirzapoor
Jaloun
Ajmere
Mairwarra
Cis Sl'TLEJ : —
Umballah
Loodianah
Kythul and Ladwa . .
Ferozepore
Scik States
Punjab : —
Jhelum
Lahore
Leia . . ...
Mooltan ...
Jullunder . ...
Peshawur
Kangra
SciNDE Provi.nce : —
Kurrachee
Shikarpoor
Hydrabad
Ui.tra-Ganoetic Districts :-
Arracan
Assam, Lower
Assam, Upper
Goalpara
Cossya Hills
Cachar
Tenasserim, Mergui, Ye, &c.
Pegu Province
Area in
Square
Miles.
1,869
9,931
10,222
76,432
1,857
6.237
1,916
1,459
2,428
501
990
995
2,181
2,516
7,340
1A52
2,788
3,009
1,583
2,348
1,677
2,122
2,308
2,153
3,119
2,698
1,864
789
2,162
1,269
3,294
1,340
1,939
1,646
2,200
1,823
1,900
2,401
1,613
2,020
2,241
5,152
1,873
2,029
282
293
725
1,538
97
1,906
13,959
13,428
30,000
14,900
1,324
Population.
4,836
16,000
6,120
30,000
15,104
8,948
12,857
3,506
729
4,000
29,168
25,C0O
680,631
995,585
1,005,771
4,650,000-!
305,594
442,771
242,641
227,070
36:f,584
254,486
93,441
851,757
1,596,3-24
1,653,251
3,087,874
1,143,749
1,379,788
743,872
679,787
1,174,556
610,965
1,064,607
986,096
1,134,565
1,378,268
1,1.38,461
1,001,961
435,744
801,325
389,085
330,852
377,013
662,486
672,801
1,135,072
778,342
695,521
1,019,161
862,909
832,714
648,604
1,104,315
176,297
224,891
37,715
67,134
120,898
164,805
16,890
249,686
1,116,035
2,470,817
1,500,000
500,000
569,722
f about ]
I 850,000)
185,550
360,401
651,811
321 ,.522
710,000
260,000
400,000
10,935 ,
60,000
116,431
550,000
3t
Principal Town.
Eaira .
Ahmedabad
Sattara . .
Chindwara
Nag[)ore . ,
Buiidara .
Ryepore
Chandah ,
Saugor . .
J-ubbuIpoor
Hoosungabad
Seuni . .
Dumoh
Nursingpoor
Baitool . .
Benares
Ghazeepore
Azimghur
Goruckpoor
Jounpoor .
Allahabad
Banda . .
Futtehpore
Cawnpore .
Etawah
Furruckabad ,
Shajchanpoor
Allyghur .
Bareiliy
Moradabad
Agra . .
Delhi . .
Saharunpoor
Paniput
H issar . .
Rohtuk- .
Goorgaon .
M ozu ffernuggur
Meerut . .
Burrun . .
Bijnore . .
Budaon
Muttra . .
Mynpoory .
Humeerpoor
Mirzapoor
Jaloun . .
Ajmere
Nyanugga .
Umballah .
Loodianah
Kythul . .
Ferozepore
Patialah .
Jhelum
Lahore . .
Leia . . .
Mooltan .
Jullunder .
Peshawur
Kangra . .
Kurrachee
Shikarpoor
Hydrabad .
Akyab . . .
Gowhatty
Seehpore . .
Goalpara . .
Chirra Ponjee
Silchar , , .
Mergui .
Prome . . .
Position of Town.
Lat. N. Long. E
22 43
23 0
17 40
22 3
21 10
21 11
21 11
19 67
23 .50
23 10
22 44
22 1
23 49
24 0
21 50
25 17
25 32
26 0
26 42
25 44
25 26
25 27
25 67
26 29
26 46
27 24
27 62
27 56
28 23
28 60
27 10
28 38
29 58
29 23
29 8
28 54
28 25
23 28
28 69
28 24
29 22
28
2
27
30
27
14
25
58
25
26
26 29
26 6
30 24
30 55
29 49
30 65
30 20
32 66
31 36
30 67
30 12
31 21
34 71
32 5
24 56
28 1
25 12
20 10
26 9
27
26
25 14
24 49
12 27
17 40
72 ia
Ti 36
74 3
78 58
79 10
79 41
81 40
79 23
78 49
80 1
77 44
79 40
79 30
79 28
77 68
83 4
83 39
83 14
83 24
82 45
81 45
80 23
80 64
80 25
79 5
79 40
79 68
78 8
79 29
78 51
78 5
77 19
77 36
77 2
75 50
76 38
77 6
77 45
77 46
77 66
78 11
79 11
77 45
97 4
80 14
82 38
74 24
74 43
74 25
76 49
75 64
76 28
75 55
76 25
73 47
74 21
71 4
71 30
75 31
71 38
76 18
67 3
r,8 39
09 29
92 .54
91 45
94 40
90 40
91 4.5
92 60
9H 42
96 17
Date of
Acquisi-
tion.
1803
1818
1848
1854
1818
1775
1801
»
1775
1801
1803
1801
1817
1801
1803
1803
1836
1803
1802
1803 ]
1802
1801
1817
1847
1843
1835
1849
1846
1849
1843
1826
1765
1826
1830
1"?26
1853
502 DENSITY OF POPULATION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF INDIA.
A more recent return (28th July, 1855)
from the East India House, gives the popu-
lation of India thus : —
British States.— Bengal, &c., 59,966,284;
N. W. Provinces, 30,872,766; Madras,
22,301,697; Bombay, 11,109,067; Eastern
settlements, 202,540 : total, 124,452,354.
Native States.— Bengal, 38,259,862 ; Ma-
dras, 4,752,975; Bombay, 4,460,370 : total,
47,473,207.
Foreign States. — French settlements,
171,217; Portuo;uese ditto, not known.
Grand total, 172,096,778.*
The varying degree of density of popula-
tion to area forbids reliance being placed
on any mere " estimates," or " approxima-
tions to actual amount." Thus in Bengal,
Behar, and Cuttack, the number of mouths
to each square mile is stated to be — in Jes-
sore, 359; Moorshedabad, 394; Bhagul-
poor, 318; Patna, 506; Cuttack, 220;
Dacca, 193; Chittagong, 324: average of
all, 324.t These are higli ratios; but the
soil is fertile, and the inhabitants very nu-
merous along the banks of rivers. In As-
sam, on the N.E. frontier of Bengal, and
along the rich valley of the Brahmapootra,
the density is placed at only 32 to the square
mile; in Arracan, at 21 ; Tenasserim pro-
vinces, at 4; on the S.W. frontier (Cliota
Nagpoor, &c.), at 85; in the Saugorand Ner-
budda territories, at 109; in the non-regu-
lation provinces, Kumaon, Ajmeer, &c., at44;
The census of the Madras Presidency (.tee
.Appendix) shows, on an area of 138,279 sq.
m., a population of 22,281,527, or 161 per-
sons to each sq. m. In some districts the
inhabitants are much more thinly scattered :
for instance, at Kurnool, 84; at Bellary,
94; at Masulipatam, 104; the highest is the
rich district of Tanjore, with 430 to each
• The sum of 124,452,354 is a higher figure than
the Anglo-Indian subjects of the British crown have
hitherto been rated, and is probably the result of a
more accurate numbering of the people : thus, until
a census now (July, 1855) in progress was made of
the Punjab, the population was, as usual, under-es-
timated. According to the Lahore Chronicle of 30th
of May, 1855, the returns then received show for
Lahore, 3,458,322; Jhelum, 1,762,488; Cis-Sut-
lej, 2,313,969 : which are higher figures than
those given from the Parliamentary Papers, at
f)revious page. The enumerations made up to May
ast, for the Punjab, gave 10,765,478; and it was
supposed that the grand total, when completed,
would be about eleven million and a-half, or nearly
four million more than the official document pre-
viously given for the Punjab and Cis-Sutlej states.
In my first work on India, twenty years ago, I
assumed the population under British jurisdiction
to be about one hundred million, which some con-
sq. m. Madras has a much less density
than the British N. W. Provinces, which,
according to the return of 1852-'3, shows
the following results :| —
Districts.
Agra . .
Allahabad
Benares .
Delhi . .
Meerut
Kohilcund
Total .
Square M.
9,298
11,971
19,737
8,633
9,985
12,428
Population.
4,373,156
4,526,607
9,437,270
2,195,180
4,522,165
5,217,507
72,052 30,271,885
Mouths to
each sq. in.
465
378
478
2.54
453
419
420
By the two full censuses of Madras and
the N. W. Provinces, we gain at last a fair
estimate of the small number of Moham-
medans, as compared with the Hindoos,
in India: the Madras census of 1850-'],
shows, on a total of 21,581,572, that the
adult Hindoos numbered 13,246,509; Mo-
hammedan adults and others, 1,185,654:
the cAiWrew— Hindoos, 6,655,216; Moham-
medans and others, 594,193: total census
(exclusive of Madras city and suburbs, con-
taining 700,000)—
Class.
Males.
Females.
Total.
Hindoos . . .
Mohammedans 1
and others.
10,194,098
852.978
9,707,627
826,869
19,901,725
1,679,847
Total . . .
11,047,076
10,534,496
21481,572
The proportion of Moslems to Hindoos in
Southern India, is as one to ten.
The N. W. Provinces return, in 1852-'3,
shows —
Class,
Hindoos . . ,
Mohammedans
and others.
Total . .
Males.
13,803,645
2,376,891
16,180,536
Females.
11,920,464
2,170,880
14,091,344
Total.
25,724,109
4,547,771
30,271,880
sidered an exaggeration ; the above augmentation
of twenty-four million is accounted fcr by the ad-
dition of new states, such as the Punjab. I have
little doubt that an accurate census will show a
larger aggregate than 124,000,000.
t I obtained in India, in 1830, "a census," or
rather estimate of these districts, shoeing an aggre-
gate of area in sq. m., 153,792; villages, 154,268;
houses, 7,781,240; mouths, 39,957,561: or about
one village to each sq. m. of 640 acres, five houses to
each village, five and a-half persons to each house,
and 259 mouths to each sq. m. (See my first His-
tory of the British Colonies, vol. i., Asia j 2nd edi-
tion, p. 166: published in 1835.)
X As regards the censuses of Madras and the
N.W. Provinces, I have seen no details given of the
means adopted to ensure an accurate enumeration in
a single day; they must, I think, be considered as
" near approximations" to truth : they appear to be
the best yet obtained.
PROPORTION OP MOSLEMS TO HINDOOS— TWENTY LANGUAGES. 503
Delhi, Agra, and the adjacent provinces,
have for several centuries been the strong-
holds of the Moslems ; yet even here their
numbers (including "other" denominations
not Hindoos) is only four million to twenty-
five million. In 1830, I estimated the total
Mohammedan population of India at fifteen
million, and recent investigations justify
this estimate.
A census of Agra and its suburbs (ex-
cluding inmates of bungalows round about
the city, and the domestics attached thereto,
about 3,000 in number, and also the inhabi-
tants of bazaars and villages in military
cantonments) was made in 1844-'45, after
seven months' careful examination : the re-
sult showed a population of 103,572, with
an excess of 8,245 Hindoos over Moham-
medans, in this a former seat of Moslem
rule ; the grand total of houses was 15,327.
A census, in 1829, of Moorshedabad city
and district, the head-quarters of the former
Mohammedan ruler of Bengal, showed —
Hindoos, 555,310; Mussulmen, 412,816
= 968,126: proportion of sexes — Hindoo,
males, 286,148; females, 269,162 : Mussul-
men, males, 216,878; females, 196,344:
number of houses, Hindoo, 123,495; Mus-
sulmen, 84,734. Allahabad city census in
1831-'2, gave— of Hindoos, 44,116; Mussul-
men, 20,669. Allahabad district — Hindoos,
554,206; Mussulmen, 161,209; in the city,
the Hindoos were in the proportion of two
to one ; in the district, of more than three
to one.
The population of Calcutta has been a
matter of wide estimate, and is in proof of
the past neglect of statistical inquiries : in
July, 1789, the inhabitants of the Anglo-
Indian metropolis were guessed at 400,000;
at the commencement of the present century,
about one million ; in 1815, at half a mil-
; lion; in 1837, an imperfect census gave a
quarter of a million (229,714) ; and in 1850,
a more complete census showed nearly half
! a million (413,182), comprising only those
j residing within the City Proper, bounded by
the Mahratta ditch, or limits of the supreme
court : the dense population of the suburbs,
probably exceeding half a million, are not
stated ; nor, I believe, the floating mass of
• Principal languages: English, French, Portuguese,
Spanish, Italian, German, Kuss, Polish, Turkish,
Greek, Dutch, Danish, Suede, Norwegian, Finn = 15.
t This tongue was formed as a medium of collo-
quial intercourse in 1555, by the Emperor Akher,
out of Jlindee, the primitive language of the Hin-
doos, and Arabic and Persian, which were used by
the Mohammedan conquerors : the character adopted
people who pass into and out of Calcutta
daily; viz., 72,425, of whom 10,936 cross
the river diurnallv in ferries.
Resume of Censuses.
1850.
Males.
1837.
Females.
Europeans
6,233
6,479
Eurasians (mixed blood) . .
4,615
4,746
Armenians
892
636
Chinese
847
362
Asiatics and low castes . . .
15.342
21,096
Hindoos
274.335
137,651
Mohammedans
Total
110,918
58,744
413,182
229,714
It is usual to speak of India as if it were
inhabited by a single race : such is not the
case ; the people are more varied in lan-
guage, appearance, and manners, than those
of Europe.* About twenty languages are
extensively spoken; viz., (1.) Hindoostanee^
in pretty general use, particularly iu the
N.W. Provinces, and usually byMussulmenf
throughout India ; (2.) Bengallee, in the
lower parts of the Gangetic and Brahma-
pootra plains; (3.) Funjabee or Seik, in the
upper portion of the Indies ; (4.) Sindhee, in
Cis-Sutlej states and Sinde ; (5.) Tamul,
around Madras and down to the coast of
Cape Comorin ; (6.) Canarese or Karnata, in
Mysoor and Coorg; (7.) Malyalim, in Tra-
vancore and Cochin ; (8.) Teloogoo or
Telinga, at Hydrabad (Deccan), and east-
ward to coast of Bengal Bay ; (9.) Oorya, in,
Orissa ; (10.) Cole and Gond, in Berar;
{11.) Mahratta, in Maharashtra; (12.) Hindee,
in Rajpootana and Malwa; (13.) Guze-
rattee, in Guzerat; (14.) Cutchee, in Cutch ;
(15.) Cashmerian, in Cashmere; (16.) A'e-
paulese, in Nepaul; (17.) Bhote, in Bootan;
(18.) Assamese, Up. Assam; {\9.) Burmese, ia
Arracan and Pegu ; (20.) Brahooi, or Beloo-
chee, in Beloochistan ; Persian and Arabic
sparingly, and numerous dialects in difl'erent
localities.
In Bengal and Orissa the majority of the
people do not eat meat, and the abstinence
is ascribed to a religious precept forbidding
the destruction of life : but almost every Hin-
doo eats fish ; several consume kid flesh (es-
pecially when sacrificed and oflered to idols),
is sometimes the Deva Nagri (Sanscrit), but more
generally the Arabic alphabet. Although the great
majority of the people of India are usually termed
Hindoos as regards creed, there is as slight a bond of
union among them on that account as there ia
among the professing Christians in Europe, and as
much diversity in reference to practices supposed Uj
be connected with their religious faith
504
ANTAGONISMS OF THE POPULATION OP INDIA.
and also birds. Numerous Brahmins and
Rajpoots of tlie highest castes, in N. and
W. India, partake of goat, deer, and wild
boar ; while they abhor the domestic sheep
and swine : others who use the jungle cock,
(similar to our game-cock), would deem the
touch of barn-door poultry pollution. Some
classes feed on descriptions of provender
which are rejected by others : at Bikaneer,
all the Hindoos profess an abhorrence of
fish ; at Kumaon, they will masticate the
short-tailed sheep of the hills, but not the
long-tailed one of the plains; people will
buy baked bread, but would lose caste if
they touched boiled rice cooked by these
very bakers : an earthen pot is polluted past
redemption if touched by an inferior caste ;
a metal one suffers no such deterioration :
some tribes allow a man to smoke through
his hands from the bowl {chillum) which
contains the tobacco, but would not suffer
the same person to touch that part of the
hookah which contains the water. Other
instances of diversity might be multiplied.
Even the religious holidays of Bengal are
different from those observed in the N. W.
Provinces. The barbarous ceremonies of
Juggernaut, and the abominations of the
Churruk Poojah (where men submit them-
selves to be swung in the air, with hooks
fastened through their loins), are un-
known in N. and W. India. In some parts,
female infanticide is or was wont to be
almost universal; in others it is held in just
abhorrence : in some districts, polygamy
prevails ; in others polyandria — one woman
being married to all the brothers of a
family, in order to retain property among
them ; — here the marriage of a daughter
is a great expense, — there a source of
profit, as the husband buys his bride, and
has the right to sell her, and even to
mortgage her for a definite time as security
for a debt.
Independent of the division of the Hin-
doos into castes — Brahmins, Cashtriya, Vai-
syas, and Soodras, — and the subdivision of so-
ciety into numerous hereditary classes, there
are other diversities, arising probably from
origin of race, and the peculiarities engen-
* A comparatively small portion of the Hindoo
population live on rice j the majority eat wheat and
other grain, as also various species of pulse.
t In Calcutta, where a variety of races, or, as they
may more properly be termed nations, are collected,
the peculiarities of each are readily ascertainable,
and their antagonisms quickly manifested. Among
twenty persons in my service at one time in Ben-
gal, there were (excepting four Balasore palanquin-
dered during a long course of time by
climate and food : thus the brave Rajpoot
and the bold Mahratta are decided antago-
nists; but both view, with something of
contempt, the peaceful, subtle, rice-feeding*
Bengallee, whose cleanly, simple habits are
outraged by the gross-feeding, dirty Mughs
of Arracan, who object not to a dish of
stewed rats or snakes, or even to a slice of a
putrefying elephant. The Coromandel men
have features and modes of thought distinct
from those of the Malabar coast ; while
inhabitants of the Kattywar peninsula differ
essentially from both. The dwellers on the
cool and dry hills and plateaux, present a
marked contrast to those who reside in the
hot and humid plains and valleys ; and the
aborigines, such as the Gonds of Berar,
present no similarity whatever to the fine
mould and beautifully-chiselled head and
face, arched nose, and olive hue, of the
pure Hindoo, or to the large-boned, massive
frame, and manly cast of the hard-featured,
genuine Moslem.
The variety of races in India are so
decided, that an experienced officer will at
once say whether a soldier belongs to the
respective departments of the army of
Bengal, of Madras, or Bombay; and further,
whether a Hindoo is from Rajpootana, from
Oude, from the Deccan, frcm the coast, or
elsewhere. t
With regard to the Mohammedans, irre-
spective of their local aversions, they are
divided into two sects — Soonee and Shea, —
who abhor each other as cordially as the
members of the Latin and Greek church do,
or as the Romanists and Orangemen of Ire-
land, and are equally ready to fight and slay
on a theological point of dispute. Then,
besides these two leading divisions of the
population, there are several million per-
sons under the denominations of Jains or
Buddiiists, who consume no animal food or
fermented beverage; Seiks, who eat the
flesh of the cow, and drink ardent spirits;
Parsees or Guebers (erroneously termed
"fire-worshippers"), Latin, Protestant, Nes-
torians, or Syriac and Armenian Christians,
— JewSjJ and a mixed race sprung from the
bearers, a tribe bearing a high repute for honesty),
not two of the same race; consequently much mutual
distrust, frequent quarrels, bickering, and fighting.
I Stavorinus adverts, in 1775 — '78, to the colony of
Jews at Cochin, who, he says, " although most of
them are nearly as black as the native Malabars,
they yet retain, both men and women, those cha-
racteristic features which distinguished this singular
people from all other nations of the earth." —
ABORIGINAL RACES OF INDIA— CHARACTER AND HABITS. 603
marital union of all — some of one creed,
some of another : added to these are the
Eurasians, born of European fathers and
Indian mothers; a rapidly increasing class,
probably destined, at some future day, to
exercise an important influence in the East.
Before passing; from the subject of the
numbers and variety of the people, I would
wish to draw public attention to a lary;e and
most interesting section of them, to whom
reference has been made previously, as the
aborigines of India. They are scattered
over every part of the country, generally in
the hilly districts ; and although speaking
different dialects,* and of varying appear-
ance, manners, and customs, they are con-
sidered by General Briggs and Mr. Hodgson
(who have studied their peculiarities) as
having their origin from a common stock.
Of their number throughout India we know
nothing ; they must amount to several
million human beings, whose character is
thus summed up : — " The man of the ancient
race scorns an untruth, and seldom denies
the commission even of a crime that he may
have perpetrated, though it lead to death :
he is true to his promise ; hospitable and
faithful to his guest, devoted to his supe-
riors, and always ready to sacrifice his own
life in the service of his chief; he is reckless
of danger, and knows no fear."t It may be
added, that he considers himself justified in
levying "black mail" on all from whom he
can obtain it, on the ground that he has
been deprived of his possession of the soil
by the more civilised race who have usurped
the territory. The aborigines are distin-
guished from the Hindoos by several mai'ked
( Voyages to East Indies, vol. iii., p. 226.) They had
then " a very beautiful and authentic copy of the
Pentateuch," hut know not when or where they
derived it. Their own statement is, that they are of
the posterity of the ten tribes carried away into
captivity by Shalmaneser, and who, after being
liberated from their Assyrian bonds, came hither,
where they have from time immemorial constituted
a small but isolated community, and enjoyed for a
series of ages valuable privileges, including the
exercise of their religion without restraint. Their
houses, in a separate town, are built of stone, plas-
tered white on the outside, and they have three
synagogues ; most of them are employed in trade,
and some are very wealthy. How these Jews be-
came black is not known ; but according to Stavo-
rinus, when they purchase a slave he is immediately
circumcised, manumitted, and received into the com-
munity as a fellow Israelite. By intermarriages with
such converts, the colour, in process of time, may
have become perfectly dark, while the peculiar
physiognomy was perpetuated in the race of mixed
blood, as I have noticed is generally the case with
the descendants, by male fathers, of the English,
customs : they have no castes ; eat beef and
all sorts of animal food ; drink, on every
possible occasion, intoxicating beverages
(no ceremony, civil or religious, is deemed
complete without such drink) ; have no
aversion to the shedding of blood ; atone for
the sins of the dead by the sacrifice of a
victim ; widows marry and do not burn ;
they are ignorant ofreadiug or writing, and
usually live by the chase and by pastoral
pursuits. Some tribes take their designa-
tion from the country they inhabit : Gonds,
in Gondwana ; Koles or Kolis, in Kolywara;
Mirs or Mairs, in Mairmara ; Bheels or
Bhils, in Bhilwara and Bhilwan ; Benjees,
in Bengal, &c. Other tribes, such as the
Todawurs of the Neilgherries, have designa-
tions of which the origin is unknown.
The men are nearly naked ; the women
wear a cloth wrapper round the waist,
carried over the left shoulder and under the
right arm ; they live mostly in conical
thatched hovels, apart from the dwellings of
the Hindoos, by whom they are treated as
outcasts, and have no valuables but asses
and dogs. As watchmen and thief-takers
they are of great use, from their fidelity,
sacred regard for truth, and the skill evinced
in following a foot-track : they are entrusted
with the care of private property to a large
amount, and convey the public revenue to
the chief towns of districts — a duty which
they perform with scrupulous care and
punctuality.
An unseen deity is worshipped ; prayers
are oflfered to avert famine and disease, and
for preservation from wild beasts and
venomous reptiles : to propitiate the favour
French, Spanish, and Portuguese. There is a colony
of white Jews at Mattacherry, or the Jews' town, a
suburb of Cochin ; they regard the black Jews as an
inferior caste : the former say that they came to
Cranganore after the destruction of the second
temple, and tliat they have a plate of brass in their
possession since the year a.d. 490, which records the
grant of land and privileges conceded to them by
the king of that part of India : a copy of it is now
in the public library at Cambridge. By discord and
meddling in the disputes of the natives, the Crangs-
nore Jews brought destruction on themselves at the
hands of an Indian king, who destroyed their strong-
holds, palaces, and houses, slew many, and carried
others into captivity. The Jews have a never-ceas-
ing communication with their brethren throughout
the East. For fuller details of these white and black
Israelite", see Hough's History of Chrittianity in
India, vol. i., 464.
* They seem to be connected with the Tamul and
other languages of Southern India, and have no
affinity with the Sanscrit.
t Lectures on the Aboriymal Race of India ; by
Lt.-General Briggs: 18o2, p. 13.
506 VALUABLE QUALITIES OF THE ABORIGINES OF INDIA.
or appease the anger of the object of adora-
tion, living sacrifices (in some cases human
beings) are deemed essential ; and the blood
of the victim is retained in small vessels by
the votaries. All social and religious cere-
monies are accompanied by feasting, drink-
ing, and dancuig ; the latter performed,
sometimes, by several hundred women (their
hair highly ornamented with flowers) grouped
in concentric circles, each laying hold with
one hand on her neighbour's cincture or
waist, and beating time with the heels on
the ground. In figure they are well made
and sinewy; rather low in stature; face
large or flat, and wide ; eyes black and
piercing ; nose- bridge depressed, nostrils
expanded, mouth protruding, lips large,
little or no beard : altogether presenting a
marked contrast to the Apollo-like form of
the genuine Hindoo.*
Several benevolent governmental servants
have undertaken the civilisation of different
tribes, and by kindness and tact effected
considerable improvement in their habits
and condition. When disciplined, they
make brave and obedient soldiers, are proud
of the consideration of their European
officers, to whom they become ardently
attached, and are ready to follow them
abroad, on board ship, or wherever they go.
The aborigines of the Carnatic formed the
leading sepoys of Clive and Coote ; and at
the great battle of Plassy they helped to
lay the foundation of the Anglo-Indian
empire. t The Bengies, who are found in
all parts of the Gangetic plain, when serving
in the Mohammedan armies, claimed as
indigenes the honour of leading storming
parties. In the defence of Jellalabad, under
the gallant Sir R. Sale, the Pariahs (out
castes, or low castes, as the aborigines are
termed) evinced the most indomitable
courage and perseverance, as they have
done at Ava, or wherever employed in the
pioneer and engineer corps. These hitherto
neglected races may be turned to beneficial
uses. The tribe termed Jiamoosees, or
foresters, became the active and indefatigable
infantry, who enabled Sevajee to conquer
from the Moguls the numerous hill forts
which formed the basis of the Mahratta
dominion. The Bheels have long been
celebrated in Western India annals, and
• Some of the gipsy tribe of the aborigines whom
I saw in the Deccan, were like their European
brethren of the same clas», and the women equally
handsome : in the form of their encampment — asses,
carts, and dogs — the tribe might have been con- i
their deeds recorded by Malcolm, Tod, &c.:
as a local militia, they rendered good service
in Candeish. The Southals of Bhagulpoor,
reclaimed by the noble-minded civilian
Cleveland, have now one of the finest regi-
ments of the British army, recruited from
tlieir once despised class. The Mairs of
Mewar are selected to guard the palace
and treasury of the Rajpoot rajah, and
form the only escort attendant on the
princesses when they go abroad. Hyder
Ali had such confidence in the Bedars of
Canara, that a body of 200 spearmen ran
beside him, whether on horseback or in his
palanquin, and guarded his tent at night.
Slavery in India. — During the early
Hindoo sway, the aborigines were, as far
as practicable, reduced to servitude; those
who could not find refuge in the hills
and jungles, were made adscripti glebcE,
and transferred as predial slaves with
the land. Under Moslem rule, this un-
happy class was augmented by another
set of victims of man's rapacity. Per-
sons unable to pay the government taxes
were sold into servitude ; others who were
reduced- to extreme poverty voluntarily
surrendered themselves as bondsmen, either
for life or for a term of years, to obtain the
means of existence : in many cases the
children of the poor were bought by the
wealthy for servants or for sensual purposes.
Eunuchs and others employed in the harems
and as attendants, were imported from Africa
and other places. Hence slavery, domestic
and predial, now exists in almost every part
of India. Our government, even during
the administration of Warren Hastings,
were aware of the fact ; but it was deemed
politic not to interfere, for the same rea-
sons that induced the long toleration of
widow-burning and infanticide.
In 1830, I applied to Mr. Wilberforce on
the subject, and urged the anti-slavery so-
ciety to investigate the matter; but he con-
sidered it then most advisable to give all his
attention to the West Indies. Evidence
adduced before the East India parliamentary
committee, in 1832, disclosed a dreadful
state of human suffering among East Indian
slaves, which was confirmed by subsequent
investigations, when it was ascertained that
the Anglo-Indian government were large
sidered a recent migration from Devonshire. Some
gipsies, whose location I visited in China, presented
similar characteristics.
t My authority for these statements is Lt.-genera]
Briggs.
SLAVERY IN BRITISH INDIA— PROGRESS OP ABOLITION. 507
slaveholders ia right of lands held in actual
possession. Parliament, in 1834-'35, began
to discuss the matter, and several eminent
civil servants of the E. I. Cy. exerted them-
selves to elucidate the evils of this nefarious
system. In December, 1838, I laid before
the Marquis Wellesley a plan for the
gradual but eifectual abolition of slavery in
India : it was highly approved by his lord-
ship, who urged the adoption thereof on the
Indian authorities. Some part of the plan*
was adopted : the government relinquished
their right to slaves on escheated lands ;
reports were called for from the collectors
and other public officers ; and, on the 7th of
April, 1843, an act (No. 5) was passed by
the President of India in council, which
declared as follows : — •
" I. That no public officer shall, in execution of
any decree or order of court, or for the enforcement
of any demand of rent or revenue, sell or cause to be
sold any person, or the right to the compulsory
labour or services of any person, on the ground that
such person is in a state of slavery.
" II. That no riglits arising out of an alleged
property in the person and services of another as a
slave shall be enforced by any civil or criminal court
or masistrate within the territories of the E. I. Cy.
" III. That no person who may have acquired
property by his own industry, or by the exercise of
any art, calling, or profession, or by inheritance,
assignment, gift, or bequest, shall be dispossessed of
such property, or prevented from taking possession
thereof, on the ground that such person, or that the
person from whom the property may have been de-
rived, was a slave.
" IV. That any act which would be a penal offence
if done to a free man, shall be equally an offence if
done to any person on the pretext of his being in a
condition of slavery."
Much, however, still remains to be done,
until slavery be as effectually extinguished
in the East as it has happily and beneficially
been in the West India possessions of the
British crown. There is no difficulty among
the Hindoo population, as slavery is not a
* My chief recommendations were — (1.) A com-
mittee of inquiry. (2.) A registry in each collectorate
of male and female slaves, agrestic and domestic.
(3.) District magistrates to report on the laws and
customs in force. (4.) All children born after a
certain date to be declared free. (5.) Slaves to
have the same protection of the law as freemen ;
their evidence equally receivable in a court of jus-
tice. (6.) Ill-treatment to be followed by manumis.
sion. (7.) Masters no power to punish. (8.) Wife
and children not to be separated. (9.) Slaves on
government lands to be at once freed. (10.) No
voluntary sale of individuals or of their children to
be lawful. (11.) Transfers of slaves only in their
respective districts. (12.) Slaves to be entitled to
acquire and possess property, and to purchase manu-
mission : magistrate to arbitrate in cases of disputed
price. (13.) Magistrate to attend to the condition
question of caste ; and with regard to Mo-
hammedan laws, a Christian government
cannot be expected to recognise that which
is repugnant to the first principles of hu-
manity. We know nothing certain of the
number of slaves in Hindoostan ; the esti-
mates made are but guess-work : in Malabar,t
Canara, Coorg, Tinnevelly, and other parts
of Southern India, the estimates are from a
half to one million ; for Bengal, or the
N. W. Provinces, we have no estimates. In
fact, we know not whether there be one or
ten million slaves under the British govern-
ment in Asia.
The foregoing illustrations sufficiently
indicate that there is no homogenity of
population in India, no bond of union, — no
feeling of patriotism, arising from similarity
of origin, language, creed, or caste, — no
common sentiment, founded on historic or
traditional associations : there is therefore
more security for the preservation of British
authority ; but there is greater difficulty in
ameliorating the social condition of the
mass of the people, which was deteriorated
under Moslem tyranny, and is still, as
compared to some past period, at a low
ebb.
The discussion of this theme is beyond
my appointed limits, and I can only offer
a few passing observations. The Hindoos
speak of having experienced three ages, —
1. Gold and silver; 2. Copper and brass;
3. Earth and wood, — which form the com-
ponent parts of their domestic utensils ;
but when these ages commenced and ended,
there are no means of ascertaining. J Ere
Tyre became a place for fishermen to dry
their nets, the Hindoo-Phoenician com-
merce had an Asiatic renown : the spices
of India were sought in the time of Solo-
mon; the gossamer muslins of Dacca, the
and complaints of slaves, to pass summary judgment,
and to report his proceedings annually to govern-
ment, who were to send out queries, and call for
reports on the nature and extent of slavery in each
district, from the officers entrusted with supervision-
ment.
t Mr. Peggs and others estimate the number of
slaves, in Malabar alone, at 147,000 j in Canara,
Coorg, Wynaad, Cochin, and Travancorc, at 254,000;
in Tinnevelly, 324,000; Trichinopoly, 10,000; Arcot,
20,000; Assam, 11,300; Surat, 3,000. According to
Buchanan, the number must be very large in Behar
and in Bengal : and all authorities describe their con-
dition as truly miserable ; — stunted, squalid, and
treated with far less care than the beasts of the
field.
X The third age is still extant, as illustrated by
the earthen water and cooking pots — chatty.
508 PROSPERITY AND SPLENDOUR OF INDIA IN PAST AGES.
beautiful shawls of Cashmere, and the bro-
caded silks of Delhi, adorned the proudest
beauties at the courts of the Csesars, when
the barbarians of Britain were painted
savages. Embossed and filigree metals, —
elaborate carvings in ivory, ebony, and san-
dalwood ; brilliant dyed chintzes ; diamonds,
uniquely set pearls, and precious stones;
embroidered velvets and carpets ; highly
wrought steel; excellent porcelain, and
perfect naval architecture, — were for ages
the admiration of civilised mankind : and
before London was known in history,
India was the richest trading mart of the
earth. Ruined cities, such as Gour, the
ancient capital of Bengal, which covered an
area of seventeen miles, — Beejapoor, with its
million of inhabited houses; Mandoo, with
a wall twenty-eight miles in circuit; Raj-
mahal, the dwelling-place of an hundred
kings; Palebothra and Canouj, — indicated a
large urban class, who required to be fed
by a proportionately numerous agrestic
population. Hundreds of cave temples,*
equal in interior-size and architectural
.beauty to the noblest cathedrals of Europe,
attest the depth of religious feeling among
the worshippers; while gorgeous ceremonials
and sensuous luxuries indicate the highest
stage of Pagan refinement: but all afford a
melancholy contrast to the poverty which
now pervades the mass of the people, and
to the dull intellectuality and idolatrous
routine that at present extends over social
life.t
An extensive study of Indian records
leads to the conclusion that the decay of
Hindoostan dates from the period of Mo-
hammedan incursions and conquests. Af-
ghan, Tartar, Patan, Mogul, Persian, Arab,
* Such as those of Karli, Ellorn, Elephanta, &c.
Dr. Buist, of Bombay, in his eloquent advocacy of
the claims of India, says — " These have been hewn out
in the absence of gunpowder, and, fashioned without
natural adjunct or addition of masonry into their
present form, covered with rich and elaborate struc-
tures by the hand of man. The caves are grouped
together so as to furnish places of wotship, halls of
instruction, and domiciles for the professors and their
pupils, exactly on the plan of the universities which
came into existence in Europe ttco thousand years
after those of India were forgotten ; indicating an
amount of civilisation and demand for knowledge
in the East twenty-four centuries ago." — (Notes on
India : London, 1853, p. 10.) The number of tem-
ples in India is as yet imperfectly ascertained. Mount
Aboo, 5,000 feet high, is covered and surmounted
by these singular structures.
t See Dr. Buist's Notes on India.
X The desolating effect of Moslem sway over ihe
fairest portion of Eastern Europe for nearly 400
years, notwithstanding the influences of surrounding
and other Moslem adventurers, here found
the richest spoil and the most fertile field :
swarming like locusts, and equally rave-
nous, successive hordes crossed the frontiers,
slew all who opposed, and, by their tyranny
and sensuality, pauperised and demoralised
all whom they subjected to their sway.
Hence entire regions became desolate, and
famines frequent in the inhabited parts.
One of these afflictions, prolonged from
1640 to 1655, was felt throughout India,
but principally in Bengal and in the Deccan ;
another occurred in 1661, when Aurungzebe
was endeavouring to collect fifty per cent, of
the produce of the land : other famines, re-
sulting from poverty and exactions (not, as
is alleged, from unpropitious seasons),
occurred at different times, followed as
usual by sicknesses, and swept off millions
of the inhabitants.
Then the fierce and long-continued strug-
gles of the Rajpoot, Mahratta, and other
Hindoo races in refusing to bow their
necks to Islamite yoke; the frequent rebel-
lions in distant provinces necessitating the
maintenance of large armies for the support
of imperial power at Delhi; the internecine
contests between several Mogul viceroys for
the extension of dominion ; and the desola-
tions of the Carnatic and of Southern India
by those Moslem scourges Hyder Ali and
his son Tippoo, must each and all, together
with other collateral circumstances which
cannot here be examined, have contributed
to the rapid decay and impoverishment of
the people of India, in a manner not dis-
similar to the destruction and demoralisa-
tion of the Greeks, and the desolation of
the fair regions of Asia Minor by the Turks. {
That the Moguls have left traces behind
civilisation, and with an active, intelligent, impres-
sive character in the millions of Greeks subject to
its sway, proves the incapability of Mohammedanism
for that progressive improvement in society which
pre-eminently marks Christianity as the true religion
adapted for man. The Turks for three centuries
lived among, yet apart, from the Greeks; during
their intolerant rule, there was no social intercourse
between the dominant and subject races; and, in
matters of dispute, all law or justice was set aside,
as the word or oath of a Christian was not recognised
in their legal tribunals. The taxes levied were enor-
mous ; in the local country, where resistance to fiscal
oppression was impossible, four-fifths of his produce
was exacted from the agriculturist, independent of
minor plunderings, of " presents," forced tribute to
each new ])asha or provincial governor, and of end-
less extortions by his satellites, which was required
from all who had accumulated any wealth. As in
India during the Mogul sway, so in Greece: there
was no security for life, honour, and property ; the
I virtue of woman, the labour of the peasant, the skill
EFFECTS OF MOSLEM RULE IN ASIA AND IN EUROPE. 509
them of some great works is undoubtedly
true, but they were the work of Hindoo
artificers, and such as conquerors exact from
slaves ; — palaces and fortresses, mosques and
mausoleums, canals and tanks — tlie latter
indispensable for the production of territorial
revenue, which would fail without irrigation
of the land : but the Mohammedans took
as little root in India as the Romans did in
Britain; and their power crumbled to pieces
of the artisan, were all at the mercy of sensual,
barbarous, and cruel tyrants, from the sul(an at
Constantinople to the janissary in the smallest
village ; the whip and the bastinado, the sword and
the rope, were the prime instruments of Turkish
rule. As financiers and penmen, the Greeks, like
the Hindoos, were entrusted sometimes with high
offices, which the Mohammedans were incapable of
executing. The Hindoos, especially the Mahrattas,
made several attempts to destroy Moslem sway, but
there was no effectual combination. The Greeks
were successful by their union in 1821. After seven
years of secret organisation, they commenced their
efforts for independence. Instead of being met by
any concessions, Gregory, the patriarch of their
I church, — allhougli he had, at the bidding of the
i Bultan, e.\comniunicated and anathematised the
strugglers for liberty, and released the Philikoi
(members of the Secret Society) from their oath, —
was seizfd on Easter eve, dragged ignominiously
through the streets of Constantinople, and then
strangled at the door of the church in which he
recently officiated ; the body was left hanging three
daj-s to be pelted at and made the jest of the popu-
lace, then cast into the Bosphorus. Three suffragan
archbishops were hanged by a black executioner at
different jjarts of the city, and many hundreds of
the clergy were massacred by the populace. Then
began a series of atrocities which ought to have
caused the entire expulsion of the barbarians from
Europe, 'throughout every part of tlie wide-spread
Turkish dominions there was an indiscriminate
slaughter of the Christians; savage brigands from
Anatolia and Kurdistan were brought across the
Bosphorus, under a firman calling on all true Mo-
hammedans for defence: a few wealthy Greek mer-
chants, fearing what was coming, fled to Odessa, but
for the mass of their countrymen there was no
refuge or hope of escape ; houses were broken open,
and the inmates torn from their hiding-places and
carried to slaugliterj every Christian seen in the
streets was instantly slain as if he were a mad dog ;
•' the European ships in the harbour, and the houses
of the foreign consuls were thronged by the un-
happy Christians, but their asylum was disregarded;
and the decks of British and French merchant res-
tels were deluged with the hiood of those whom their
captains had vainly endeavoured to protect. In a
few days 10,000 Christians perished in that one city;
the remnant of the Greek population there was scat-
tered to the four winds of heaven ; they wandered
as beggars through the streets of Odessa, or starved
in the ditches of the Byzantine suburbs."- — (^e
London Times, .Oth October, 1853.) In Adrianople
and Smyrna the streets were smeared w ith blood ;
and from the Danube to the Nile, wherever the
Moslem held sway, the life of a Christian was not
worth one hour's purchase. Within the short space
I
of its own accord, leaving the sceptre which
Baber, Akber, and Aurungzebe had wielded
by military force, to be scrambled for by the
strongest arm. We found the people of
Bengal and of the Carnatic impoverished
and oppressed; the oppression has been
removed, but the poverty is as yet only
slightly mitigated. On this topic I hope
to offer, at the concluding section (if space
permit), some points for consideration.
of a few weeks, in the year 1821, it is estimated that
40,000 Christians were slain ; and during six years'
struggle for life and liberty, at least 100,000 perished.
Perhaps of all the massacres, the fiendish character
of the followers of the false prophet is best exem-
plified by that which took place in the beautiful and
fertile island of Scio, of which an account is given
in the columns of the Annual Register, 1822-'3.
Suffice it to say, that a population which at the
beginning of the year numbered 120,000, was in the
month of July reduced to 900, and even these were
in danger of perishing from the pestilence which
ensued on the fearful slaughter of their countrymen.
How many such scenes may have been acted in
Hindoostan there were none to record. During the
debates in parliament, pending the war between
Russia and England, fearful illustrations were pro-
duced of the cruelty, oppression, exaction, and re-
morseless spirit which characterise the Mohammedans
even at the present day. The consequences of Turkish
rule, and the condition of a Christian viUasie after an
Osmanli invasion, are thus stated by Mr. Layard : —
'■Their church was in ruins; around were the
charred remains of the burnt cottages, and the
neglected orchards overgrown with weeds. A body
of Turkish troops had lately visited the village, and
had destroyed the little that had been restored since
the Turkish invasion. The same taxes had been
collected three times — and even four times over.
The relations of those who had run away to escape
from these exactions had been compelled to pay lor
the fugitives. The chief had been thrown, with his
arms tied behind his back, on a heap of burning
straw, and compelled to disclose where a little
money that had been saved by the villagers had
been buried." — (Times, 14th March, 1851.) On
the 4th July, 1853, Lord Stratford de Kedcliffe
wrote to his government that he was necessitated of
late, and indeed for some years back, to bring to the
knowledge of the Porte atrocious acts of cruelty,
rapine, and murder, for which no effectual redress
was provided. Doubtless there are many high-
minded, trustworthy, and amiable men among the
disciples of the Crescent. Asiatic travellers can
record numerous instances of good offices received
from Moslems — whether designated as Turks, Arabs,
Persians, or Hindoos. Under the Anglo-Indian gov-
ernment, there are thousands of Mohammedans as
" true to their salt," as brave and kindly in their
nature, as those of any other form of religion : but
for civil government, the creed of the Koran is
utterly unfit ; indeed, Mohammed never designed it
for aught but military power and despotic swaj', which
naturally corrupts the minds of those who long use
these means to preserve their dominion, — to keep
men morally and politically in bondage, — instead of
fitting them in this world, by freedom and the exer-
cise of their faculties, for an eternity of happiness.
510
PHYSICAL ASPECT OF DISTRICTS AND PROVINCES.
Locality and Physical Aspect of Districts, Provinces,
and Slates of India.
Punjab, or region of the " five rivers ;" adjoining
Afgiianistan on the E., — A phiin, sloping from N.E.
to S.W. ; north part, near Himalayas, hilly and moun-
tainous. Pasturage and grazing-grounds.
Cis-SuTLEj Tkbhitory, — Between Sutlcj and Jumna, and
a strip of land between the Ghara river and Rajpootana.
Bhawulpoor and Sirhind, a plain ; hill-slates on Hima-
laya ridges, mountainous and richly wooded.
Cashmere, — Western Himalaya. Cashmere Proper, a
fertile valley, enclosed by mountains. Elevation of
bottom, 5,500 to 6,000 ft. : lofty snow-clad ranges,
■N.W. to S.E., constitute the general configuration.
BussAHiR, — Wonderful maze of some of the highest
mountains in the world ; general rise from S. to N.
GuRHwAL, — Ranges of enormous height, with several
valleys ; the whole drained by the Ganges. Slope from
N. and N.E.
SiNDK, — Lower course and delta of Indus ; between
Beloochistan mountains and Great Desert. Low and
flat. Some short ridges of hills in the W. part ; to-
wards the E. a desert. Mouths of Indus continually
changing.
CuTCH, — S.E. of Sinde. Two parallel hilly ranges nearly
intersect province.
Western Rajpootana, — Between Sinde and Bhawulpoor
and Arravulli range. Mostly a plain, interspersed with
sand-hills : rocky ridges extend in various directions.
Eastern Rajpootana, — Between jVrravuUi mountains
and Malwa. Near the Arravulli a table-land, declining to
N.E. : continuous parallel hilly ranges extend N.E. to
the vicinity of Delhi.
Guzerat, — S. of Cutch and Rajpootana. Very rugged,
especially in Kattywar : hills connected with Vindhya,
and part of W. Ghauts.
Malwa (Central India), — Between Guzerat and Bundel-
cund. A plateau, supported by Vindhya range ; eleva-
tion diminishing towards Northern Gangetic valley.
Bhopal, Malwa, — Greater part a table-land, resting on
N. side of Vindhya ; declivity to N. A. few streams
find their way, through gorges in the chain, into Ner-
budda, which flows along the S. frontier.
GwALioR, or SciNDiAH, — Central India. N.E. part
level, bare, and much cut up by ravines ; S., the
country becomes hilly ; middle part, a plateau ; slope
to the N. ; S. part crossed by Nerbudda valley.
Ahmedabad and Kaira, — Headof the Gulf of Cambay.
Almost a perfect level ; appearing as if the sea had
abandoned it at no very remote period.
Kandeish, — Both banks of Taptee river. Valley of
Taptee, enclosed by hills 1,000 to 1,800 ft. high. Tracts
formerly cultivated j now covered with jungle and in-
fested with tigers.
Northern and Southern Concans, — Along the sea
from lat. 10° to lat. 20', including Bombay. Valleys
enclosed by spurs from W. Ghauts, through which a
clear stream flows, until influenced by the tides.
Ravines and gorges filled with jungle, harbouring
beasts of prey, especially tigers.
PooNA, — Deccan. High table-land ; slope from N.W.
to S.E. Intersected by numerous spurs from W.
Ghauts : elevation diminishing towards S.E.
Sattara, — Deccan. High table-land ; slope from N.W.
to S.E. Gradual but rugged declivity from W. Ghauts
to S.E.
Dharwar, Belgaum, and Sholapoor, — Deccan. Un-
dulating plains, elevated from about 2,000 to 2,500 ft. ;
slope to the E. and N.E.
Hyderabad, or Nizam's Dominions, — Deccan. For
the most part an undulating plain ; declivity from W.
to E. : many isolated hills and ranges, of moderate ele-
vation.
Western Division: Madras Presidency, — Malabar
coast. Low sea-coast, rising towards culminating ridge
of W. Ghauts. Numerous nar.-ow shallow rivers flowing
E, to W. from Ghauts. Country hilly.
Tbavancobe, — Malabar coast. Low sandy sea-coast;
behind the W. Ghauts ; attaining in some places an
altitude of 7,000 ft.
Southern Division : Madras Presidency, — Between
Mysoor and Travancore, and Coromandel coast. E.
parts level ; towards the W. rising into mountains :
Neilgherries and E. Ghauts supporting table-land of
Mysoor.
MvsooR, — S. of Deccan. High table-land ; here and
there huge masses of rock, apparently thrown tumul-
tuously together.
Central Division : Madras Presidency, — Between
Mysoor and Coromandel coast. Bellary and Cuddapah
district ; a table-land, resting on stupendous wall of
mountains. Coast districts low, interspersed with hills.
NoRTHER.N Division : Madras Presidency, — W. side
of Bay of Bengal. Low sea-coast (except a ridge ex-
tending along sea-shore in Vizagapatam district), hilly
and mountaiuuus to W. delta of Godavery and Kistna
rivers.
CuTTACK, — Orissa coast. Low sandy shore ; delta of
Mahanuddy ; inland, the Moghalbandi, a dry tract j
then rises the hill country, closing down to the sea near
Chilka lake, and near Balasore.
CuTTACK Mehals, — Inland of Cuttack province. Very
hilly. Forests of fine timber.
South-West Frontier of Bengal. Table-lands of
Chota-Nagpoor, Sirgooja, and Mynpat ; and mountains
of Palamow, &c.
Orissa, — Inland of Northern Circars. Table-land, sup-
ported by E. Ghauts : slope to W., to Godavery ; to S.,
to Bay of Bengal, the rivers flowing through ghats, or
passes ; and to N. and N.E., to Mahanuddy.
Nagpoor, or Berar, — Between Saugor and Nerbudda,
and the Circars ; and the Godavery and Weiu-Gunga,
and upper course of Mahanuddy. In general of con-
siderable elevation ; slope from N.W. to S.E. Lanjhee
range divides the territory into two basins — one into
Mahanuddy, and the other into Godavery. N. part
rugged and mountainous ; S.E. part hilly and woody.
Saugor and Nerbudda Territory, — On each bank of
upper course of Nerbudda river. Considerably elevated
tract : E. part a table-land, declining to W., to valley of
Nerbudda ; to the S. are the Sautpoora and Mahadeo
mountains ; to the N. the Vindhya, which is but the
brow of a rugged plateau ; elevation diminishing towards
the N.
Rewah, — Adjoining Nerbudda territories on the N.E.
W. and N.W. mountainous, rising in three successive
plateaux : intersected by valley of Sone from W. to E.
S. of this a table-land, contiguous to that of Sirgooja.
BuNDKLCUND States, — Between Nerbudda territory and
N. W. Provinces. Plain, little elevated above valley of
Jumna ; on the W. and S. a continuous range of hills ;
to the E. they close down upon the Ganges. Some of
the rivers flow through the plain, or are precipitated
in cascades over the brow of the high land.
Allahabad, — N. W. Provinces. Plain, sloping from
N.W. to S.E. Banks of Jumna high in some parts of
Banda district.
Agra, — N. W. Provinces. Plain, sloping from N.W. to
S.E. A slightly elevated ridge extends along the
Dooab, about midway between the Ganges and .Jumna.
Bhurtpoor, — Gangetic plain. Level ; slope to E. Small
detached hills in N. part.
Meerut, — N. W. Provinces. Plain ; slope in Suharun-
poor, Mozufl'urnuggur and Meerut districts, from N. to
S. ; in Boolundshuhur and Allyghur, N.W. to S.E.
Delhi, — N. W. Provinces. Mostly level. Ridges in
Goorgaon district 400 to COO ft. above surrounding
country.
KuMAON, — N. W. Provinces. Well defined mountain
system. S. limit, Ghagur mountain ; successive ranges
rise higher and higher, until ultimately crowned by the
culminating ridge of the stupendous Himalaya.
RouiLCUND, — N. W. Provinces. Level ; slope from
N.W. to S.E., and from N. to S.
ISLANDS ON THE COAST OP INDIA— LOCALITY, &c.
511
OcDE, — Gangetic plain. Plain ; declivity (avg. 7 in. per
m.) from N.W. to S.E. Sub-Himalaya range on N.
frontier.
Nepaul, — S. of Himalaya ; sustained by sub-Himalaya.
Table-land average about 4,000 ft. Valleys, eiidosed
by lofty chains ; sides covered with forests, surmounted
by culminating ridge of snow-clad Himalaya.
SiKKiM. — Himalaya. Spurs from Himalaya ; enclosing
deep valleys.
Benares, — N. W. Provinces. Plain on either side of
Ganges. Declivity from N.W. to S.E., and from W. to
E. In S. part of Mirzapoor dist. , surface rises into a rug-
ged table-land , being a continuation of the Vindhya chain .
Patxa, — Gangetic plain, Bengal. Sarun and Patna dis-
tricts ; and along Ganges, level ; table-land in S. W. part
of Shahabad, descent very abrupt ; a rocky ridge in S.
part of Behar district.
Bhagulpoor, — Gangetic plain, Bengal. Generally flat :
slope from W. to E. Rajmahal hills rise on river bank
of Ganges, and stretch S. and S.W. through Bhagulpoor
district. Tirhoot diversified by undulations.
Moorshedabad, — Bengal. Rungpoor and Pubna dists.
low ; Rajeshaye flat ; hilly to W. j \V. parts of Moor-
shedabad and Bcerbhoom hilly.
Jessore. — Delta of Ganges, and river bank nf Hooglily
river (Calcutta district.) Greater part icvl ; even de-
pressed in Jessore district ; in W. parts of Hooghly,
Burdwan, and Bancoora, rises into sliglit eminences.
Dacca, — E. Bengal. Declivity from N. to S. ; inter-
sected by Brahmapootra. Jyntea, hilly; Silhet, a hollow,
swampy basin, enclosed on three sides by mountains.
Garrow and Cossyah States, — Assam. Hilly and
mountainous ; numerous streams.
CoocH Behar, — Bengal. Level; slope to S.E.
N.E. Frontier : Assam,— N. of Burmah. Intersected
by Brahmapootra, which receives the drainage of the
sub-Himalaya from the N. ; Garrows, Cossyahs, and
Nagas from the S. : numerous clumps of abrupt hills.
Bhotan, — Foot of E. section of Himalaya. Imperfectly
known : a table-land resting on the sub-Himalaya,
which rise from 5,000 to 6,000 ft. above Assam.
Naga Tribes, — Upper Assam. Range of mountains
dividing Burmah from the British dominions.
TippERAH, — Bengal. Wild hilly regions: fertile tracts
on Megna.
MuNEEPooR, — Burmese frontier. Valley, enclosed by
precipitous mountains.
Chittagong, — Mouths of Brahmapootra, and N.E. side
of Bay of Bengal. Sea-coast ; plains, — backed by
parallel ranges of lofty mountains, throwing off spurs in
a W. direction. Drainage from E. to W.
Arracan, — E. side of Bay of Bengal. Extensive flats,
intersected by numerous navigable salt-water creeks :
ranges of mountains extending N. and S. Islands and
fine harbours.
Pegd, — Lower course and delta of Irawaddy. Gradual
slope from N. to S. N. of Prome, hilly : range skirting
E. shore of Bay of Bengal, diminishing in height to-
wards C. Negrais. Numerous passes.
Tenasserem Provinces, — E. side of Bay of Bengal.
Generally rugged : parallel ranges N. and S., and E. and
W. : al.'<o extensive plains. High, bokl islands, with
many harbours.
Manila on the Coast of India — Name, Lncalit;/ and
Position, Extent, Phydcal Features, and liemarks.
Karoomba,— Gulf of Cutch ; lat. 22° 27', Ion. 09° 47'.
\\ m. broad, and 3 m. long.
Beyt, or Bet,— Gulf of Cutch ; lat. 22° 28', Ion. 69° 10'.
About 3 m. long, and greatest breadth about i m. On
the banks are situate a castle or fort, compact and im-
posing ; lofty massive towers, mounted with iron ord-
nance. Many temples and shrines in honour of Crishna.
Diu, — Kattywar; lat. 20° 42', Ion. 71°. About 7 m.
long; breadth, varying from li to 2 m. (See Diu —
" Ports and Havens.")
Perim,— Gulf of Cambay; lat. 21° 38', Ion. 72° 19'.
About 2 m. long, and i m. broad. Numerous organic
remains embedded in conglomerate : various antiquities
extant.
Bassein, — Concans; lat. 19° 25', Ion. 72° 50'. About
11 m. long, and 3 m. broad ; 35 sq. m. Irregular sur-
face ; amongst other eminences a high hill of tabular
form, and a conical peak not quite so elevated.
Sai.sette,— Concans; lat. 19°— 19° 18', Ion. 72° 54'—
73° 3'. 18 m. long, 10 m. broad j about 150 sq. m.
Diversified by bills, some of considerable elevation.
Keueri commands an extensive view.
Bombay, — Concans; lat. 18° 57', Ion. 72° .'V'. Length,
8 m. ; average breadth, 3 m. Two paraiii;! ranges of
rocks of unequal length are united at their extremities
by hills of sandstone. Malabar, Mazagon, and Parell
hills are the principal elevations.
Elephanta, or Gara-poki, — Bombay harbour; lat.
18° 57', Ion. 73°. Rather less than 6 m. in cir-
cumference. Composed of two long hills, with a narrow
valley. Famed for its excavated temples.
KoLABAH, — Concans; lat. 18° 38', Ion. 72° 50'. Long
neglected, as a barren rock, but fortified by the Mah-
ratta, Sevajee.
Malwux, — Concans; lat. 16° 4', Ion. 73° 31'. Little
elevated above the sea, and not easily distinguished from
the main-land.
Ramiseram,— Gulf of Manaar; lat. 9° 18', Ion. 79° 21'.
14 m. long, and 5 m. broad. Low, andy, and uncul-
tivated. Sacred in Hindoo mythology ; great pagoda,
Saugor, — Mouths of Ganges; lat. 21° 42', Ion. 88° 8'.
7 or S m. long, and 4 m. broad. Salt manufacture
formerly carried on. Island held in great veneration by
the Hindoos.
Don Manick Islands, — Mouths of Megna ; lat. 21°55',
Ion. 90° 43'. Flat.
Labador,— Mouths of Megna; lat. 22° 22', Ion. 90° 48'.
Low.
Deccan SHABAZPORE,-:-Mouths of Megna; lat. 22° 30',
Ion. 91°. Flat.
Hattia,— Mouths of Megna; lat. 22° 35', Ion. 91°.
Level.
SuNDEEP,— Mouths of Megna; lat. 22° 30', Ion. 91° 32'.
About 18 m. long, and 6 m. bi'oad. Level ; fertile, and
abounding with cuttle.
KooTiJBDEA Islands, — Chittagong; lat. 21° 50', Ion.
91' 55'. About 12 m. long. Low and woody.
MusCAL, — Chittagong; lat. 21° 35', Ion. 92'. 15 m.
long, and 7 m. broad. Some small elevations.
Shaporee, — Arracan ; lat. 20' 40 , Ion. 92' 24'.
St. Martin,— Arracan ; lat. 20° 36 , Ion. 92° 25'. Two
divisions united by a dry ledge of rocks.
Bolongo, — Arracan ; lat. 20', Ion. 93°. Mountainous,
woody, and rugged.
Penv Kyoung, — Arracan ; lat. 20°, Ion. 93° 4'. 20 m.
long ; 6 m. broad. Mountainous, woody, and rugged.
Angey Kyoung, — Arracan ; lat. 19' 50', Ion. 93° lU'. 20
m. long ; 3 m. broad. Mountainous, woody, and rugged.
Ramree,— Arracan ; lat. 19° 5', Ion. 93° 52'. About
50 m. long ; extreme breadth, 20 m.
Cheduba,— Arracan; lat. 18'40— 50', Ion. 93°31 — 50'.
About 20 m. long, and 17 broad : 250 sq. m. Hill and
dale ; some parts picturesque. Hills in the north part
covered with jungle.
Flat, — Arracan ; lat. 18° 37', Ion. 93° 50'. About 4 m.
long. High towards the centre.
Negrais, — Pegu ; lat. 15° 58', Ion. 94° 24'. Circum-
feience, about 18 m. ; area, 10 sq. m. Rendered con-
spicuous by a hill forming the E. high land on the coast.
Pelew Gewen, — Mouth of Saluen river; lat. 16° 20,
Ion. 97° 37'.
Kalegouk,— Tenasserimj lat. 15° 32', Ion. 97° 43'. 6m.
long ; 1 m. broad.
Moscos Islands,— Tenasserim ; lat. 13" 47'— 14° 28',
Ion. 97° 53'. Safe channel between them and the coast.
Tavoy, — Tenasserim; lat. 12° 55' — 13° 15', Ion. 98° 23'.
About 20 m. long, and 2 m. broad. Of moderate height,.
512
HARBOURS AND HAVENS ON THE COAST OF INDIA.
Cahossa,— Mergui Archipelago ; lat. 12" 48', Ion. 97° 58'.
Moderately high.
Kino,— Mergui Archipelago; lat. 12° 31', Ion. 98° 28'.
Length, 26 m. ; breadth, 10 m.
Elphinstone, — MergHi Archipelago; lat. 12° 21', Ion.
98° 10'. 13 m. long; 4^ m. broad.
Ross, — Mergui Archipelago; lat. 12° 54', Ion. 98° 12'.
Bentinck, — Mergui Archipelago ; lat. 1 1° 45', Ion. 98° 9'.
20 m. long ; 6 m. broad.
DoMEL, — Mergui Archipelago; lat. 11° 40', Ion. 98° 20'.
26 m. long ; 5 m. broad.
KissERANG, — Mergui Archipelago ; lat. 11° 34', Ion.
98' 36'. 20 m. long; 10 m. broad.
Sullivan's, — Mergui Archipelago ; lat. 10° 50', Ion.
98° 20'. 36 m. long, and 3 m. broad.
Clara, — Mergui Archipelago ; lat. 10° 54', Ion. 98° 4'.
High ; having small peaks, one very sharp, like a
sugar-loaf.
Harbours and Havens on the Coast of India — Name,
District, Position, Dimensions, Soundings, and Remarks.
KcRRACHEE,— Sinde ; lat. 24° 51' N., Ion. 67° 2' E. Spa-
cious ; about 5 m. N. from Munoora point, and about
the same from town. Entrance, \\ fath. at low.water ;
3 ft. at spring-tides. \V. side, from 2 to 4 fath. at
low-water. Position of great importance: the only safe
port in Sinde. Population, 22,227. Railway from port
to navigable part of Indus.
PooRBUNDER,— Kattywar ; lat. 21° 37', Ion. 69° 45'.
Entrance obstructed by a bar. Much frequented by
craft from 12 to 80 tons burthen ; trading with Africa,
Sinde, Beloochistan, Persian Gulf, and Malabar coast.
Exp., grain and cotton. Imp., various kinds.
NuvvEE-BuNDER,— Kattywar ; lat. 21° 28', Ion. 69° 54'.
Available only for small craft. River Bhader, navigable
for 18 m. above town.
Diu,— Kattywar (on an island); lat. 20° 42', Ion. 71°.
Good haven, 3 and 4 fath. Small harbour E. of Diu
head, from 2 to 3i fath. A Portuguese town, well for-
tified ; little traffic.
MowA,— Kattywar ; lat. 21° ,3', Ion. 71° 43'. 7 to 10
fath. Anchorage without shelter from the S. ; with the
flood-tide a vessel must lie with a reef of rocks right
astern ; considerable traffic.
GoGO, — Kattywar; lat. 21° 39', Ion. 72° 15'. E.xcellent
anchorage ; safe during S.W, monsoon ; water always
smooth. Ships touching here may procure water and
refreshments, or repair damages.
Bhownuggur, — Kattywar; lat. 21° 45', Ion. 72° 10'.
Good and safe harbour. Place of extensive trade.
Broach,— Bombay; lat. 21° 42', Ion. 73° 2'. River
(Nerbudda) 2 m. wide, but shallow ; at flood-tide there
is a deep but intricate channel. Navigable only for
craft of 50 tons burthen at all times. Town walled.
SuRAT,— Bombay ; lat. 21° 10', Ion. 72° 52'. A barred
harbour. Roadstead dangerous in spring, when S. and
W. winds prevail.
Damaun,— Bombay ; lat. 20° 24', Ion. 72° 53'. 2 ft. on
bar at low-water; spring-tides, 18 or 20 ft. inside.
Rise of tide, 17 or 18 ft. Outside bar, a roadstead 8
fath. Excellent place for small vessels during S.W.
monsoon, and for repairs. Portuguese town fortified.
Bombay, — Concans ; lat. 18° 57', Ion. 72° 52'. Excel-
lent and extensive haven. Continuous breakwater for
nearly 10 m. Lighthouse, 150 ft. above sea, at S. ex-
tremity of Colaba Island. Great facilities for ship-
building. Large docks, and strongly fortified.
JiNJEER.'V, or Rajapoor, — Concans; lat. 18° 18', Ion.
73° r. 4 to 5 fath. at entrance, and same depth inside
at low-water. No bar; shelter from all winds. Fortified.
Bankote, — Concans; lat. 17° 58', Ion. 7.''° 8'. 5 fath.
low-vjater. Small haven at the mouth of the Savitree.
Fort Victoria, on a high barren hill, S. side of entrance.
Ghbriah, or ViziADROoc, — Concans; lat. 16° 32', Ion.
73° 22'. 5 to 7 fath. entrance, and 3 to 4 fath. inside
at low-water. Excellent harbour; land-locked and
sheltered from all winds. No bar.
ViNGORLA, — Concans; lat. 15° 50', Ion. 73°41'. Small
bay ; sheltered from every point except the S. About
2 m. fiom the main-land aie the Vingorla rocks,
— dangeious.
Goa,— W. coast, S. India; lat. 15° 30', Ion. 74°. Fiue
harbour, formed by an arm of the sea, into which flows
a small river. Ancient Portuguese city, now falhug
into decay.
SEDASHEVAGHtiR, — Malabar coast; lat. 14° 52', Ion.
74° 12'. Entrance to river 25 ft. at high tide ; hazard-
ous and intricate. Anchorage outside in Carwar Bay,
sheltered by several islets. Fortified.
HONAHWAR, — Malabar coast; lat. 14° 17', Ion. 74° 30'.
7 m. long; 3 m. broad; 15 sq. m. ; 5 or 0 fath.
Though not a good haven, it can receive large ships.
MooLKY, — Malabar coast ; lat. 13° 6', Ion. 74° 51'. Place
of shelter for coasting and fishing craft. Mulki rocka
outside.
Mangalore, — Malabar coast; lat. 12° 52', Ion. 74° 54'.
Estuary, a fine expanse of water, separated from the sea
by a beach of sand. The utility of the haven is greatly
impaired, as the depth at the entrance is liable to vary.
Cananore, — Malabar coast; lat. 11° 52', Ion. 75° 26'.
Small bay, open to the S., but sheltered on the W.
5 and 5^ fath. abreast of the fort. Water-shoals and
rocky bottom near the fort.
Tellicherry, — Malabar coast ; lat. 11° 45', Ion. 75° 33'.
Abreast of the fort is a ledge of rocks, between which
and the land small craft may anchor. A shipping-place
for produce of coast.
Mahe,^ — Malabar coast; lat. 11° 42', Ion. 75° 36'. 5 or
6 fath. from 1^ to 3 m. from shore. Vessels of con-
siderable burthen must anchor in the road. In fair
weather, .small craft can cross the bar of the river safely.
A small French possession.
Calicut, — Malabar coast; lat. 11° 15', Ion. 75° 50'.
5 or 6 fath. from 2 to 3 m. from land. No river or
haven. A capacious haven said to have existed for-
merly ; now filled up by drifted sand.
PoNANY, — Malabar coast ; lat. 1 0° 48', Ion. 75° 58'. 3 or
4 m. to sea is a shoal, but anchorage between it and
land. 4 fath. on shoal, 6 fath. inside between it and
shore. River navigable only for small craft. A railway
from Madras is contemplated.
Cochin,— Malabar coast; lat. 9° 58', Ion. 76° 18'. Out-
side the mouth of the Backwater there is a bar with 14
or 15 ft., inside about 25 or 30 ft. Injuriously afl'ected
by the S.W. monsoon.
QuiLON,— Malabar coast ; lat. 8° 53', Ion. 76° 39'. A
bight where ships may anchor, under shelter, at about
2h or 3 m. from the fort. Formerly a place of note.
TuTicoRiN, — Gulf of Manaar; lat. 8° 48', Ion. 78° 12'.
Safe roadstead ; good anchorage, sheltered on all points.
Pearl oyster banks exist in the vicinity.
Nagore, — Coromandel coast; lat. 10° 49', Ion. 79° 54'.
8 ft. on the bar at high-water. Several vessels of 200
or 300 tons burthen belong to this place.
PoRTo-Novo, — Coromandel coast; lat. 11° 31', Ion.
79° 49'. Ships must anchor 2 m. off shore, in 6 or 7
fath. River small at its mouth ; admits only coasting
craft.
Cuddai.ore, — Coromandel coast; lat. 11° 43', Ion.
79" 50'. River small, and mouth closed up .by a bar.
Admits coasting craft ; good anchorage off' shore IJ m.
PoNCiCHERRY, — Coromandel coast; lat. 11° 56', Ion.
79° 54'. 7 or 8 fath., about J of a mile from land ; 12
or 14 fath. in the outer road. Mouth of a small river,
capable of admitting coasting craft. French posses-
sion ; lighthouse, 89 ft.
Madras,— Coromandel coast; lat. 1.3° 5', Ion. 80° 21'.
Anchorage 2 m. from shore, 9, 10, or 11 fath.; 300
yards from beach, varying from 12 to 25 ft. Vessels
obliged to anchor 2 m. from shore, exposed to a heavy
swell rolling in from seaward. Surf at all times suffi-
cient to dash to pieces any Europeau boat. During the
S.W. monsoon no communication with the shore caa
be held without great danger. Fort St. George, strong.
MILITARY" STATIONS— SEATS OP GOVERNMENT— SANITARIA. 513
NiZAMPATNAM, — Coromandel coast; lat. 15" 55', Ion.
S0'> 44'. No vessel of great burthen can approach the
place. A considerable coasting trade.
Masolipatam, — Golconda coast j lat. 16° 10', Ion.
81" 13'. Very shallow, J fath. for nearly a mile. Ships
must anchor 4 or 5 m. from the land, and abreast of
the town.
CoRiNGA,— Golconda coast; lat. 16° 49', Ion. 82° 19'.
Bar at entrance, with 1 2 or 14 ft. at spring-tides. Within ,
from 2i to 4 fath. Best place on this coast for building
or repairing small vessels.
TiZAGAPATAM, — Orissa coast ; lat. 17° 41', Ion. 83° 21'.
Bar at entrance passable for vessels of from 150 to 200
tons burthen. 8 or 10 ft. on bar ; anchorage off land,
8 fath. In the S.E. monsoon, ships anclior S. of the
Dolphin's Nose ; in the N.E. monsoon, from IJ to 1 J m.
from land.
Jdggurnath, or Pooree, — Orissa coast; lat. 19° 49',
Ion. 85' 53'. No harbour for town. Surf here very
violent ; landing can be effected only by boats similar to
those used on the Coromandel coast.
Balasore,— Orissa coast; lat. 21° 30', Ion. 87°. 12
to 15 ft. on bar at spring-tides. Large ships cannot
enter the river ; they must lay in Balasore-roads, where
they are in some degree sheltered. Dry docks, to which
vessels may be floated during spring-tides.
Kedjeree,— Bengal; lat. 21" 53', Ion. 88'. 6 or 7
fath. ; a bank has reduced the depth to 2 or 2J fath. at
low-water. Telegraphic communication with Calcutta,
to announce arrivals and intelhgence.
Diamond Harbour,— Bengal; lat. 22° 12', Ion. 88° 10'.
So called as a part of Hooghly river. Formerly the
resort of the large " Indiamen."
Chittagong, — Bengal ; lat. 22° 29', Ion. 91° 54'. For.
merly a place of considerable trade, but now declining ;
other ports having supplanted it.
Akyab, — Arracan ; lat. 20° 10', Ion. 92° 54'. Good har-
hour. Suited for a commercial town.
Khyouk Phyou, — Arracan; lat. 19° 24', Ion. 93° 34'.
Harbour said to be one of the finest in the world. Safe
ingress for largest-sized ships at any season of the year.
GwA, or GoA, — Arracan; lat. 17° 33', Ion. 94° 41'.
Barred. Harbour for vessels of 200 tons burthen.
Bassein, — Pegu; lat. 16° 45', Ion. 94'' 50'. Deep river
channel affords a safe passage for large ships.
Rangoon, — Pegu; lat. 16° 40', Ion. 96° 17'. Anchor.
age off the town in river. Rangoon river, a branch of the
Irawaddy river.
MouLMEiN, — Tenasserim ; lat. 16° 30', Ion. 79° 42'. An
excellent well-sheltered haven. Fine seaport town.
Forests in the neighbourhood, with other advantages
favourable for ship-building.
Amherst, — Tenasserim ; lat. 16° 4', Ion. 97° 40'. Har.
hour large, difficult of access, and, during the S.W.
monsoon, dangerous.
Tavoy, — Tenasserim; lat. 14° 7', Ion. 98° 18'. Ob-
structed by shoals and banks. Inaccessible for large
ships within some miles of the town.
Mergui, — Tenasserim; lat. 12' 27', Ion. 98° 42'. Har-
bour spacious, secure, and easy of access and egress for
ships of any size. Town inaccessible for vessels of large
burthen, as a baiik obstructs the stream.
Military Stations* — 1. Agra ; 2. Ahmedabad ; 3.
AhmednugKur; 4. Akyab; 5. Allahabad; 6. Allj-
ghur; 7. AUypoor; 8. Almora; 9. Arcot ; 10. -\rriee ;
11. Asseerghur; 12. Baitool ; 13. Bareilly ; 14. Bar-
raekpoor ; 15. Baiicoorah ; 16. Bandah ; 17. Banga-
lore ; 18. Balmer; 19. Baroda ; 20. Broach; 21.
Beawr; 22. Benares; 23. Berhampoor; 24. Bellary;
25. Belgaum ; 26. Bhagulpoor ; 27. Bhooj ; 28.
Bhopawur; 29. Bhurtpoor ; 30. Bishnath; 31. Bom-
bay; 32. Burdwan; 33. Buxar; 34. Cannanore ;
35. Cawnpoor; 36. C'hicacole; 37. Chinsurah ; 38.
Chirra-poonjee ; 39. Chittagong; 40. Chiinar; 41.
Cuddapah ; 42. Cuttack ; 43: Dacca ; 44. Dapoolee ;
45. Delhi; 46. Dehra ; 47. Deesa; 48. Dharwar;
49. Dinapoor; 50. Dindigul ; 51. Dorunda ; 52.
Dumdum ; 53. Durrumgaun ; 54. Etawah ; 55. Fra-
zerpelt; 56. Ft. William; 57. Futtehghur ; 58.
Ghazeepoor; 59. Goruckpoor ; 60. Gowhatty;61.
Gurrawarra; 62. Gwalior ; 63. Hansi ; 64. Hawil-
Bagh ; 65. Hazareebagh ; 66. Hoosungabad ; 67.
Hursole; 68. Hydral)ad (Deecan); 69. Hvdrabad
(Sinde); 70. Kaira; 71. Khyou-phyou ; 72. Kirkee ;
73. Kulladjee; 74. Kurnaul ; '75. Kurracheej 76.
Jounpoor; 77. Jubbulpoor ; 78. Jumalpoor ; 79.
Lahore ; 80. Lohooghaut ; 81. Loodiana; 82.
Lncknow ; 83. Malligaum ; 84. Mangalore ; 85. Ma-
sulipatani ; 86. Meerut; 87. Midnapoor; 88. Mirza-
poor ; 89. Mhow ; 90. Moradabad ; 91. Rloorshcda-
bad ; 92. Mudduckray ; 93. Mullye ; 94. Mund-
laisir ; 95. Myn pooree ; 96. Nagpoor ; 97. Nee-
much ; 98. Noagaum ; 99. Nusseerabad ; 100. Oota-
camund ; 101. Palamcotta ; 102. Palavera ; 103.
Palgatcheri ; 104. Peetoraghur ; 105. Peshawur ;
108.' Poona; 107. Poonamallee; 108. Prome ; 109.
Quilon; 110. Kangoon ; 111. Kajkote; 112. Rus-
sell-Koiondah ; 113. Samulkotta j 114. Sattara ; 115.
* Seati of Government. — 1. Agra; 2. Bombay; 3. Cal-
cutta, or Fort William ; 4. Hydrabad (Sinde); 6. Lahore;
6. Madras, or Fort St. George.
Sanger; 116. Seerolee ; 117. Seetapoor; 118. Se-
cunderabad ; 119; Suliarunpoor ; 120. Seroor ; 121.
Shahjehanpoor; 122. Sholapoor; 123. Silhet; 124.
St. Thomas's Mt. (Ft. St. George) ; 125. Subathoo;
126. Sultanpoor (Benares); 127. Sultanpoor (Oude) ;
128. Sural; 129. Trichinopoly ; 130. Vellore ; 131.
Vizianagrum ; 132. Vizagapatam ; 133. Wallajahbad.
Principal Native Cities. — 1. Ahmedabad ; 2. Aj-
mere ; 3. Amritsir ; 4. Azimghur; 5. Bandah; 6.
Banswarra ; 7. Bareilly ; 8. Baroda ; 9. Beejapoor ;
10. Beekaneer; 11. Benares; 12. Bhawulpoor ; 13.
Bhooj; 14. Bhopal ; 15. Boondee ; 16. Burdwan;
17. Burranpoor; 18. Calcutta; 19. Calpee; 20. Cud-
dapah ; 21. Culna; 22. Cuttack; 23. Dacca; 24.
Dholpoor ; 25. Dinajepoor ; 26. Dohud ; 27. Dut-
teah ; 28. Ellichpoor ; 29. Ellore ; 30. Etawah ; 31.
Ferozabad ; 32. Furruckabad ; 33. Futtehpoor ; 34.
Fyzabad ; 35. Garakcta ; 36. Gayah ; 37. Goruck-
poor; 38. Guntoor ; 39. Gwalior; 40. Hurdwar; 41.
Hydrabad (Deecan) ; 42. Hydrabad (Sinde) ; 43.
Indore ; 44. Kashmir ; 45 Khatmandoo ; 46. Kola-
poor ; 47. Jamoo ; 48. Jansi ; 49. Jeypoor ; 50. Joud-
poor; 51. Lahore ; 52. Leia ; 53. Lucknow; 64. Luk-
kur; 55. Madura; 56. Midnapoor; 57. Mittun-
kote ; 58. Moorshedabad ; 59. Muttra ; 60. Nag.
poor; 61. Oodcypoor; 62. Patna; 63. Putteeala;
64. Rangoon ; 65. Sattara ; 66. Sikri ; 67. Silhet ;
68. 'I'aiijore ; 69. Trichinopoly.
Principal Maritime Stations. — 1. Akyab ; 2. Am-
herst ; 3. Arracan ; 4. Balasore ; 5. Broach ; 6.
Boml)ay ; 7. Calcutta ; 8. Cambay ; 9. Cannanore ;
10. Cochin; 11. Coringa; 12. Dalliousie; 13. Diu ;
14. Kedjeree ; 15. Kurrachee ; 16. Madras ; 17.
Mangalore ; 18. Masulipatam ; 19. Mergui ; 20.
.Moulmein; 21. Poorbunder; 22. Quilon; 2.3. Ra-
moo ; 24. Rangoon ; 25. Sural ; 26. Vizagapatam.
Sanitaria. — Atioo, (Mt.) ; Chunar; Darjeeling;
Ootacamund ; Landour ; Simla ; Mahabulishwar ;
Murree (on a spur of the Suttee hills in the Hazara
district) ; Chumba (at the head of the Baree Dooab.)
514
LAND REVENUE, AREA, AND POPULATION
Statistical Return of Land Revenue, Area, and Population in
i
O
I
Districts.
Panccput - -
Hi^sar . - -
Delhi - - -
Rohtuck- - -
Goorgaon - -
Total -
Saharunpoor -
ModZuffernuggpr
Jlcerut - - -
Boolundshahur
AUjghur - -
Total -
Bijnore ...
Moradabad - -
Hudaon - - -
Bareilly - - -
Shahjehanpoor
Total - •
Muttra - . . .
Agra - - - - .
I'^urruckabad - ■
Mynpnory - - ■
Eta»yah - . . .
Total - •
Cawnpoor - - •
Futtehpoor - - ■
Humeerpoor - ■
Banda - - - .
Allahabad - - •
Total - ■
Goruckpoor - •
Azimgurh - - ■
Jounpoor - - ■
Mirzapoor - - ■
Benares - - - .
Ghazeepoor - •
Total - - -
3 a
o ^
So
U O
V
638
6o3
568
300
1,274
3,333
1,904
1,138
1,638
1,576
1,997
8,253
3,030
3,484
2,232
3,563
2,785
15,094
1,019
1,143
2,017
1,344
1,495
7,018
2,257
1,017
997
1,257
4,003
10,131
15,714
6,270
3,431
6,280
2,296
6,088
38,079
a 0) g;
S 22
1,269-9
3,294-2
789-7
1,340-4
1,939-1
8,033-3
2,162-3
1,646 3
2,-iOOl
1,823-6
2,153-4
),98.57
1,900-0
2,008-8
2,401-9
3,119-1
2,308-4
12,428-2
1,613-4
1,864-9
2,122-9
2,020-2
1,677-0
9,298-4
2,348 0
1,5831
2,241-6
3,009 6
2,788-7
11,9710
7,340-2
2,-")16-4
1 ,552.2
6,152-3
995-5
2,181-0
19,737-6
Area in
Acres.
812,745
2,108,279
605,320
857,885
1,241,017
6,525,246
1,383,898
1,053,641
1,408,063
1,167,094
1,378,204
6,390,900
1,216,005
1,727,216
1,-537,191
1,996,2-24
1,477,359
7,953,995
1,032,542
1,193,537
1,. 358,685
1,292,946
1,073,276
5,950,986
1,502,699
1,013,171
1,434,651
1,9-26,112
1,784,780
7,661,413
4,697,706
1,610,498
993,383
3,297,472
637,10
1,395,808
12,631,974
Malgoozaree or
assessed land.
•3
* s
o
6
407,051
988,923
263,208
641,792
895,940
3,196,914
774,253
670,468
907,758
715,587
961,076
4,029,142
590,622
839,919
928,299
1.056,fl61
716,201
4,132,002
733,362
747,536
749,023
687,098
657,804
3,474,823
800,438
609,79;
770,2.54
846,831
971,658
3,898,R74
2,232,901
798,707
673,616
768,296
420.069
924,884
5,718.47.-
Grand Total - 81,908 72,054-2 46,114,514 24,450,228 7,942,491 3,267,203 10,4.54,592 40,654,410! 0 14 1
9^
261,747
864,099
76,585
147,18:;
168,428
1,518,042
211,449
1.53,173
236,021
143,260
77,726
821,628
175,.5.53
308,851
280,055
394,810
453,032
1,618,301
87,224
118,104
178,.345
114,.526
59,927
558,126
149,232
131,895
316,.504
561,281
247,255
1,406,167
1,268,024
213,729
68,121
293.394
35,791
151,168
2,020,227
Winhaee or unas-
sessed land.
8
19,398
85,528
91,402
22,730
16,352
235,410
64,597
76,287
82,028
88,036
41,070
342,018
42,626
256,080
69,734
83,630
33,067
485,143
9
124,549
169,7-29
74,125
46,180
I60,-29'
674,880
343,599
153,713
182,256
220,211
298,-333
1,198,112
407,204
322,360
2.53,103
400,823
275,059
l,718,-549
97,649
84,460
69,985
8,510
29,143
289,747
61,992
9,417
14..531
82,934
28,240
197,114
160,732
41,027
23,497
1,421,412
29,571
41,-532
1,717,771
114,307
243,43"
361,332
482,81-i
426,402
1,628,290
491,037
362 060
333,362
4.35,066
537,727
2,159,2,58
1,036.019
557,035
338,149
814,370
151,676
278,2-24
3,175,-503
Demand
on act. of
land re-
-venue
lS51-'.52,
in Ks.
10
827,123
465,760
456,48:
631,132
1,047,231
3,427,736
1,064,513
1,107,-5.38
1,693,046
1,056,835
1,985,136
6,907,068
1,197,695
1,340,312
1,097,3-29
1,709,610
1,060,318
6,465,264
1,657,283
1,622,980
1,-3.33,011
1,267,079
1,272,086
7,1.52,4-39
2,144,075
1,426,205
1,277,864
1,591,377
2,141,221
8,580,742
2,133,931
1,489.619
1,254,095
839.732
903,368
1,600,426
8,121,161
11
1 0 3
0 3 6
0 U 6
0 11 9
0 13 6
0 9 11
0 12 4
1 0 10
I 3 3
0 14 6
1 7 1
1 1 0
0 13
0 12
0 11
0 14
0 11
0 13 0
1 9 9
1 5 9
0 15 8
0 15 8
1 3 0
1 6 10
1 6 6
0 14 3
0 13 3
1 3 2
1 1 11
0 7 3
0 14 10
1 4 2
0 4 1
1 6 8
1 1 2
0 10 3
N
on-Reyu/alion Districts, from
Census rf 1847-'
18, the latest date.
Divisions.
Districts.
Area in Sq. Miles.
Population.
No. to each Sq. Mile.
/
Saugor
1,857
305,594
166
Dunioh
2,428
303.5S4
149 •
Jubbulpore
6,237
44-2,771
71
Seonee ....
1,459
227,070
156
SaugoT and Nerbudda ^
Territories . . .
Mundla ....
H'osbungabad ....
Baitool . , . .
6,170
1,916
990
225,092
242,641
93,441
36
127
94
Nursingpore ....
601
264,486
608
Jaloiin
2,313
246.297
106
Jhansi
1,394
300,000
215
Chundevree ....
656
87,260
157
Ja-wnd Neemnch . . .
Jawiid ^eemuch
443
84,866
191
Nimar
Nimar, British
269
2.5,727
96
Ajmere
Ajmere, including allMairwarra
2,891
287.290
99
Humaon .....
liumaou — Gurwhal.
11,972
605,830
60
Total, Non-Regulation Districts ....
41,396
3,791,949
91
IN NORTH-WESTEJIN PROVINCES— 1852-'5S.
515
the District: of the North Western Provinces, prejjared
n 1852-'
53.
ll
£3
POPULATION.
j
3 -go
2«
S 3
o " ^
Hindoos.
Mohauiniedan and others not Hindoo.
3
o
H
« 2
e 0.
Agricultural.
Non-Agricultural.
Agricultural.
Von- Agricultural.
^ OS
1 "
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
Male.
Female.
5 o
'A
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
1 3 9
0 4 0
1 5 6
0 12 10
0 15 9
2 0 6
0 7 6
1 11 9
0 15 9
1 2 8
94,360
113,974
93,96.'!
117,168
174,457
73„397
93,170
77,731
102,275
147,726
49,252
23,555
78,912
61,770
73,138
38302
17,207
65,459
60,610
65,453
20,411
33,638
10,036
11,890
86,314
16,869
28,189
8,881
12,059
73,057
61,643
12,044
62,292
11,461
22,107
44.-351
9,075
48,470
9,790
21,234
389,085
330,852
43-5,744
377,013
662,486
306
100
652
281
342
209
6-37
M6
2-27
1-87
0 11 8
1 1 2
593,922
494,299
286,627
237,531
161,289
139,055
149,537
132,920
2,195,180
254
2-52
1 1 3
1 6 6
1 7 8
1 3 8
1 14 7
1 6 0
1 10 10
1 13 10
1 7 8
2 1 1
1.35,176
1.35,478
237,105
182,783
273,368
109,146
105,768
190,680
152,925
229,145
165,789
133,273
245,814
1-54,520
269,663
125,829
115,6-52
211,639
143,468
241,198
53,281
44,336
43,996
24,512
15,475
44,833
39,607
38,354
23,259
14,047
79,840
61,672
88,386
49,164
47,369
67,431
47,075
79,098
47,711
44,300
801,325
672,861
1,135,072
778,342
1,134,565
370
409
616
427
627
1-73
1-66
1-24
1-50
1-21
1 6 9
1 11 6
983,910
787,664
969,059
837,786
181,600
160,100
316,431
285,615
4,522,165
453
1-41
1 9 0
1 2 8
0 14 6
1 3 6
0 U 6
2 3 2
1 9 6
1 2 11
1 10 9
1 7 8
126,819
273,881
386,097
462,647
380,372
98,796
228,4.50
321,094
398,764
317.803
128,377
139,417
92,372
110,7.57
85,589
110,802
124,246
77,946
97,169
74,768
25,613
95,925
40,792
75,540
27,434
22,811
86,842
36,678
67,921
25,099
96,425
97,249
33,674
84,481
36,354
85,878
92,451
30,-508
80,989
38,677
695,521
1,13.S,461
1,019,161
1,378,268
986,096
366
422
424
442
427
1-75
1-52
1-51
1-45
1-60
1 2 0
1 9 0
1,629,816
1,364,907
656,512
484.931
265,304
239,351
348,183
328,503
5,217,507
419
1-62
2 0 4
1 14 0
1 7 0
1 9 3
2 0 11
2 4 2
2 2 9
1 12 6
1 13 6
2 4 6
274,285
315,2.39
389,191
347,819
225,376
231,893
256,087
.306,376
271340
175,991
152,452
177,098
1.30,824
89,684
96,249
134,329
146,714
110,356
71,7-38
80,542
14,004
13,551
24361
10,637
4,843
11,909
11,521
20,747
9,456
4,484
23,226
42,533
41,013
16,738
12,168
20,811
38,3 IX
41,239
14,802
11,314
862,909
1,001,961
1,064,607
832,714
010,966
635
637
601
412
364
1-20
1-19
1-28
1-55
1-76
1 12 4
2 0 1
1,551,910
1,243,087
646,307
543,679
67,896
68,117
135,676
126,484
4,373,166
l,174,-556
679,787
648,604
743,872
1,379,788
465
1-36
2 4 1
2 3 7
1 2 10
1 2 1
1 12 1
2 10 10
2 12 9
1 10 7
1 14 1
2 3 3
361,396
105,8.57
205,018
2.58,1.53
421,873
316,720
168,,302
175,086
2.32,162
375,459
213,925
127,100
67,863
105,835
208,282
193,091
121,172
60,618
97,-541
194,313
10,1-58
14,4.35
7,595
11,872
33,454
9,732
13,.571
7,084
11,175
31,8-57
36,614
19,904
1-3,102
14,298
69,189
32,920
19,440
12,2.38
12,836
65,361
600
428
245
247
496
1-28
1-49
2-61
2-59
1-29
1 9 U
2 3 3
1,442,297
1,267,729
723,011
666,735
77,614
73,419
143,107
132,795
4,626,607
378
1-69
0 9 9
1 7 6
1 15 9
0 12 6
1 15 9
1 6 4
0 15 3
1 13 10
2 3 0
1 1 6
2 2 S
1 9 11
1,184,9.54
6)6,984
442,429
336,1.34
220,243
516,593
1,082,559
552,356
378,734
312,986
197,909
467,738
236,681
120,288
108,090
193,985
181,768
231,525
212,-581
107,-302
101,735
186,793
169,196
222,229
136,121
64,922
22,356
7,906
4,515
17,527
126,012
60,781
20,992
7,4-58
4,512
17,523
67,234
62,940
34,732
30,724
38,252
6-3,218
61,732
67,678
34,081
28,329
35,-62
60,061
3,087,874
1,653,251
1,143,749
1,104,315
851,757
1,596,324
421
6-57
7-37
214
856
732
1-62
•97
■87
2-98
•75
•87
10 9
1 6 S
3,347,337
2,992,282
1,072,937
999,836
243,347
227,278
287,010
267,243
9,437,270
478
1-34
1 4 1
1 8 2
9,649,192
8,149,968
4,254,463
3,770,498
996,950
897,320
1,370,941
1.273,660
30271880
420
1-62
Bombay — Population.
District,. Hindoo.. .^yf^ ,^J^^ ^^- Li.gayets W';'-'- Par.ee.. Jew..
Ahmedabad . . .
Kaira
Broach
Surat
Tannah
Candei>h
Bombay and Colaba 1
I.«land9, including \
City of Bombay . J
Pooriah . .
Ahmednuggur
Sholapoor
liutnagherry
Bel gaum . .
Ohsrwar
Total .
Tri It..
363,980
289,060
122,-52>(
2.56,535
640321
666,562
296,931
614,596
722,81 J
427,-501
649,960
643,762
357,055
129,363
182,138
81,429
131,728
83,413
83,725
38,470
67,910
12,170
90
68,631
44,909
Castes.
6,652,109 913,976
61,402
48,806
23,570
34,317
70,099
68,622
8,007
76,347
131,0-59
86,148
01,093
76,375
46,158
iiiks.
782,003
32,766
7,010
3,583
10,687
1,468
4,1.54
1,902
2,780
13,607
4,531
675
35,977
9,6-58
128,798
3,204
24
2,354
4,078
8,871
8,249
83,529
5,381
235,729
213,978
69,275
63,541
67,272
46,608
39,624
60,879
124,1-55
24,604
51,520
61,-202
46,023
72,322
82,239
665.447 I 779,-264
156
6
2,552
12,663
2,213
25
114,698
107
65
18
19
35
7
132,-563
2,440
4
1,132
3
29
3,608
Cliris-
tiaiis.
77
71
26
146
32,138
63
19,294
228
307
16
1,968
3,051
381
67,766
Grand TotaL
650,223
680,631
290,984
492,684
874,570
778,112
666,119
666,006
995,585
67-5,116
665,238
1,025,882
754,385
9,015,534
516
POPULATION OP MADRAS AND CALCUTTA.
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BRITISH TERRITORIES UNDER THE BENGAL PRESIDENCY. 517
Districts.
BENGAL.
Jessore —
Jessore .
24 Pergunnahs
Burdwan
Hoogly .
Nuddea
Bancoorah
Baraset .
Bhaugulpore —
Bhaugulpore
Uinajpore
Monghjr
Poorneah
Tirhoot .
Maldah .
Cuttack —
Cuttack with Pooree : —
Cuttack. . . 3,0611
Pooree . . . 1,768/
Balasore
Midnapore and Hidgellee
K.oordah
Moorsheddbad —
Moorshedabad
Bagoorah
Kungpore
Rajshahye
Pubna .
Beerbhoom
Dacca —
Dacca ....
Furreedpore, Dacca Je- \
lalpore " . . J
Mymensing .
Sylhet, including Jyntea
Bakergunge, including 1
Deccan Shabazpore. J
Patna —
Shahabad
Patna . . . .
Behar . . . .
Sarun, with Chumparan
Chittugong —
Chittagong .
Tipperah and I
Bulloah J
Saugor and Nerhudda —
Jaloun and the Pergun- \
nahs ceded by Jhansie J
Saugor ....
Jubbulpore .
Hoshungabad
Area,
Square
Miles.
3,512
1,186
2,224
2,089
2,942
1,476
1,424
14,853
5,806
3,820
2,558
5,878
7,402
1,000
26,464
4,829
1,876
5,029
930
12,664
1,856
2,160
4,130
2,084
2,606
4,730
17,566
1,960
2,052
4,712
8,424
3,794
20,942
3,721
1,828
5,694
2,560
13,803
2,660
4,850
7,410
1,873
1,857
6,237
1,916
3x
Population.
381,744
288,000
1,854,152
1,520,840
298,736
480,000
522,000
5,345,472
2.000,000
1,200,000
800,000
1,600,000
2,400,000
431,000
8,431,000
1,000,000
556,395
666,328
571,160
2,793,883
1,043,000
900,000
2,559,000
671,000
600,000
1,040,876
6,815,876
600,000
855,000
1,487,000
380,000
733,800
4,055,800
1,600,000
1,200,000
2,500,000
1,700,000
7,000,000
1,000,000
806,950
600,000
2^406,950
176,297
305,594
442,771
242,641
Districts.
Seonee ■
Dumoh .
Nursingpore .
Baitool .
British Mahairwairah
Cis-Sutlej —
Umballah
Loodianah, includ.Wudni
Kythul and Ladwa
Ferozepore .
Temtory lately belong- 1
ing to Seik chiefs. J
Norih-East Frontier, (^As-
sam)—
Cossya Hills .
Cachar .
Camroop, Lower 2,788
Nowgong, do. . 4,160
Durrung, do. . 2,000
Joorhat (Seeb-
poor) Upper . 2,965
Lucikmpoor, do. 2,950
Sudiva, including
Miitruck . . 6,942
Goalpara
Arracan
Tenasserim, Tavoy, Ye, .
Pegu
South- West Frontier —
Sumbulpore .
Ramgurh or Hazareebah
Lohur-jChota Nagpore I
dngga (and Palamow J
Singbhoom .
MaunbhoomjP^^^^^'jf^^^
The Punjaub, inclusive of
the Julundur Doab and
Koolo territory —
Lahore
Jhelum
Mooltan
Leia .
Peshawur
Huzara and Kohat
The Sunderbunds —
Mouths of Ganges.
Total, Bengal .
Area,
Square
Miles.
1,4.59
2,428
501
990
282
15,670
293
725
1,538
97
1,906
Population.
227,070
363,584
254,486
93,441
37,715
1,967,302
67,134
120,898
164,805
16,890
4,559
729 I
4,000 I
4,729
8,948
12,857
21,805
3,506
15,104
29,168
no
4,693
8,524
5,3081
3,468 i
2,944
4,7921
860/
30,589
78,447
6,500
NORTH WEST. PROV.
Delhi—
Paneeput
325,652
1,279
369,727
249,686
10,935
60,000
300,000
70,000
80,000
200,000
30,000
30,000
780,935
400,000
321,522
115,431
returns.
800,000
372,216
482,900
200,000
772,340
2,627,456,
4,100,983
unknown.
47,958,320
283,420
1
518 NOUTH WEST PROVINCES MADRAS, BOMBAY, A3S1D SINDE.
Diitricts.
Area,
Square
Miles.
Population.
DistricU.
Area,
Square
Population.
Miles.
Hurreeanah .
3,300
225,086
1
Delhi ....
602
306,550
MADRAS.
Rhotuck
1,340
294,119 1
Rajahmundry .
6,050
1,012,036
Goorgaon . ,
1,942
460,326 •
Masulipatam
5,000
520,860 '
*^
Guntoor, including Falnaud
Nellore ....
4,960
570,089
8,463
1,569,501
7,930
935,690
Meerut —
Chingleput
2,993
583,462
Saharur.poor .
2,165
547,353
Madras, included in Chin- 1
gleput. J
720,000
Mozuffernuggur .
1,617
537,594 {
Meerut ....
2,332
860,736
Arcot, South Division, in- 1
eluding Cuddalore. J
7,600
1,006,005
Boolundshuhur
1,855
699,393 1
Allygurh
2,149
739,356 !
Arcot, North Division, in- "l
eluding Consooddy. J
5,790
1,485,873
10,118
3,384,432
Bellary ....
13,056
1,229,599
]iohilcund — •
Cuddapah ....
12,970
1,451,921
Bijnour ....
1,904
620,546
Salem, including Vomun- |
door and Mullapandy. j
8,200
1,195,377
Moradabad .
2,967
997,362
Budaon ....
2,368
825,712
Coimbatore
8,280
1,153,862
Bareilly and Pillibheet .
2,937
1,143,657
Trichinopoly
3,243
709,196
Shajehanpore
2,483
812,588
Tanjore, including Najore
3,900
1,670,086
Ala^lliyQ 1 T1 (^ 1 11 M 1 tl (T lllTK ICIlI
9,535
5,700
1,756,791
12,659
4,399,865
Tinnivelly ....
1,269,216
Agra —
Malabar ....
6.060
1,514,909
Muttra ....
Agra ....
Furruckabad .
1,607
1,860
1,909
701,688
828,220
854,799
Canara ....
7,720
1,056,333
118,987
19,847,305
Mynpoorie .
2,009
639,809
!
Etawah.
1,674
481,224
Gangam ....
6,400
926,930
Vizagapatara
Kurnool ....
7 650
1,254,272
273,190
Allahabad —
9,059
3,505,740
2^643
Cawnpore
Futtehpore .
2,337
1,583
993,031
511,132
Total, Madra; . .
135,680
22,301,697
Humeerpore and Calpee
2,240
452,091
Banda ....
2,878
552,526
BOMBAY.
Allahabad .
2,801
710,263
Surat ....
1,629
492,684
Broach ....
Ahmedabad
1,319
4,356
290,984
650,223
11,839
i 3,219,043
Benares —
1
Kaira ....
1,869
580,631
Goruckpore .
7,346
! 2,376,533
Kandeish ....
9,311
778,112
Azimghur
2,520
1 1,313,950
Tannah ....
5,477
815,849 1
Jounpore
1,552
798,503
Poonah ....
5,298
666,006 1
Mirzapore
5,235
831,388
Ahmednuggur, including j
Nassick Sub-coliector- f
ale. J
Benares ....
994
1 741,426
9,931
995,585
Ghazepore
2,187
1,059,287
Sholapore ....
4,991
675,115
19,834
7,121,087
Belgaum . . . .
5,405
1,025,882
Dharwar . . . .
3,837
754,385
The Butty Territory, in-"
eluding Wuttoo.
3,017
112,274
Rutnagherry
3,964
665,238
Bombay Island, including
Colaba Island.
18
566,119
Pergunnah of Kote Kasim
70
13,767
Jaunsar and Bawur .
579
24,684
Sattura ....
10,222
1,00.3,771
Deyrah Dhoon .
673
32,083
Colaba . . . .
318
58,721
Kumaon (including Ghur- "
■wal. . . . .'
6,962
166,755
(Shikapore
6,120
350,401
2,029
224,891
Sinde <Hydrabad
30,000
551,811
Ajmeer ....
British Nimaur ,
Total, N. W. Provinces
269
25,727
(Kurrachee .
16,000
185,550 ;
1
13,599
600,181
Total, Bombay .
Total, Madras and Bombay
120,065
11,109,067
85,571
1 23,800,549
253,745
1 33,410,764
The foregoing districts are under the sole control of the British government ; the suc-
ceeding tables exhibit the locality, area, population, revenue, subsidy or tribute paid
by, and military resources of, each of the protected and subsidiary native states; several
of these, hovyever — Mysore, for instance — are entirely under our government, although
the administration is carried on in the name of the legitimate sovereign.
Native States, not under direct Rule, but within the limits of Political
Supremacy.^
Area,
Popula-
tion.
Annual
Subsidy,
Military Resources.'
Name.
Locality.
in square
Revenue.
Tribute,
miles.
or other
Artil-
Cavalry.
Infan-
payment.
lery.
try.
Bengal.
Rupees.
Rupees.
AUee Mohun or Kajpoor Ah
Cent. In. (Malwa)
708
69,384
35,000
12,000
—
30
100
Amjherra ....
Do. . .
684
67,232
100,000
35,000
—
400
60(
Bahadoorgurh .
N.W. Prov. (adja-
cent to Delhi dist.
1 48
14,400
130,000
—
—
70
80
Berar {vide Nagpoor).
Bhawlpore
CisSutlej .
20,003
600,000
1,400,000
—
—
3,127
10,048
Bhopal» ....
Cent. In. (Malwa)
6,764
663,«56
2,200,000
—
117
442
2,457
Bhurtpore .
Cent. In. (adjacent
to city of Agra)
1 1,978
600,000
1,700,000
—
200
1,600
3,700
Boria (vide Jabooa).
Bullubgurh
Kii n /1 1 ami n n
N.W. Prov. (adja-
cent to Delhi dist.
1 190
67,000
160,000
—
—
100
350
jjuuaiecuiiQ — '
„ Adjyghur .
C.ln.(Bundlecund)
340
45,000
325,000
7,750
18
200
1,200
„ Allypoora .
Ditto
85
9,000
45,000
—
—
—
75
„ Banda
Ditto
.
69
167
207
„ Behree
Ditto
30
2,500
23,000
2
25
100
Behut
Ditto
15
2,500
15,500
1
10
60
„ Berounda .
Ditto
275
24,000
45,000
1
40
200
„ Baonee
Ditto
127
18,800
100,000
—
—
60
300
„ Bhysonda .
Ditto
8
2,000
9.000
—
11
126
„ Bijawur
Ditto
920
90,000
226,000
4
100
1,300
„ Bijna .
Ditto
27
2,800
8,000
"
2
15
126
„ Chirkaree .
Ditto
880
81,000
460,830
9,484
30
300
1,000
„ Chutterpore
Ditto
1,240
120,000
300,000
10
100
1,0(10
„ Dutteah .
Ditto
850
120,000
1,000,000
80
1,000
6,000
„ Doorwae
Ditto
18
3,000
15,000
—
8
230
„ Gurowlee .
Ditto
60
. 6,000
14,000
4
35
257
„ Goriliar
Ditto
76
7,500
65,000
—
3
60
225
„ Jignee
Ditto
27
2,800
15,000
—
1
19
61
Jusso
Ditto
180
24,000
13,000
—
1
8
60
„ Jhansi
Ditto
2,532
200,000
611,980
74,000
40
200
3,000
„ Kampta
Ditto
1
300
1,500
—
—
—
—
„ Logasee
Ditto
29
3,500
12,680
—
—
14
40
„ Mukree
Ditto
10
1,600
6,000
—
—
__
„ Nowagaon or 1
Nygowan j
„ Nyagaon .
Ditto
} -
30
1,800
9,100
—
4
12
100
Ditto
6,000
10,600
.
—
7
100
,, Oorcha or Teliree
Ditto
■2,160
192,000
701,000
—
100
627
7,283
„ Punna
Ditto
688
67,500
400,000
10,000
18
250
3,000
„ PahareeorPuliaree
Ditto
4
800
800
—
—
50
„ Puhrah
Ditto
10
1,600
8,000
•
—
4
99
„ Paldeo . .
Ditto
28
3,500
21,000
—
—
10
60
„ Poorwa
Ditto .
12
1,800
9,600
—
—
6
40
„ Sumpthur .
Ditto
175
28,000
450,000
—
45
300
4,000
„ Surchlah .
Ditto
35
4,500
45,000
—
—
26
75
„ Tohree Futtepore
Ditto
36
6,000
36,830
2,650
12
20
251
„ Taraon or Turaon
Ditto
12
2,000
10,000
—
3
6
40
Burwanee ....
Cent. In. (Malwa)
1,380
13,800
30,000
—
—
25
60
Cashmere (Gholab Sing's )
Dominions) . . j
Punjab .
25,123
750,000
—
—
1,200
1,972
20,418
Cooch Behar
N.E. frontier, Ben-
gal .. .
\ 1,364
136,400
132,000
66,000
—
342
108
Cossya and Garrow Hills —
The Garrows .
2,268
Ram Rye
328
Nustung
360
Muriow .
283
110
Molyong
Ditto
, 65,205
—
—
—
—
2,282
Mahram
'
162
Osimla .
350
Kyrim, and other petty
Chiefs .
486
,
^iotes. — * Some of these states are protected and tributary, others protected but not tributary ; several, under sub-
sidiary allianc','8, are bound to maintain a body of troops in readiness, when required, to co-operate with the British army ;
a few small states ore protected by England, but tributary to larger states. Nepaul is not protected, tributary, or
subsidiary, but the rajah i.s bound by treaty to abide i;i certain cases by the decision of the British government, and,
like all the other rulers, prohibited from retaining in his service subjects of any European or American state.
* In some states the troops are officered by Europeans from the British array ; in many there are police corps and
irregular ieudal forces — corresponding in some measure to our militia. In several instances there is a road police, and
an organized corps for the colJcction of the revenue.
* Under the treaty of 1818 tlie Nabob was to furnish a contingent force of 600 cavalry and 400 infantry ; but in
1824 the numbers were reduced to 209 cavalry, 622 infantry, and 48 artillery, and placed under European command.
The contingent is exclu("ive of the Nabob's tro<.ps. There is also a feudal force, consisting of 30 artillery, !^00 cavalry.
^nd 1,000 infantry.— [N/a^w/ica^ Papers relating to India, laid before Pariiament, 1863.1
520 TABULAR VIEW OP THE TRIE UTAH Y AND PROTECTED STATES.
Annual
Area,
Popula- J
Subsidy,
Military Resources.
Name.
Locality.
in snuare
-evenue.
Tribute,
miles.
tion.
or other
ArtU-
Infan-
payment.
lery.
Cavalry.
_!!!•_
Bkso XL— continued
Cuttack Mehals—
Kupees.
Rupees.
„ Angool
} . . .
■] — •
—
—
1,550
—
5,(00
„ Autgur
^ ,
—
—
— •
6,748
— ■
1,500
„ Bauky .
—
. — ■
—
4,1 G2
— .
1,500
„ Berumbah
• •
—
— -
—
1,310
—
1,500
„ Dhenkanaul.
■
—
—
—
4,780
—
7,000
„ Hiiidole
•
—
— -
—
516
—
250
„ Kundiapurra
• . •
[ 7,695
346,275
—
3,948
—
2,000
„ Neelgur
.
—
—
— ■
3,617
—
500
„ Nursingpore
Cuttack, in the
■ —
—
—
1,364
— •
1,500
„ Nyaghur
,, Runpoor
> prov. of Orissa.
■
z
5,179
.
7,000
1,500
„ Talchur
.
—
—
974
—
600
„ Tiggreah .
„ Autmallik .
648
29,160
826
450
i;
300
500
„ Boad .
1,377
61,965
—
750
—
2,000
„ Duspulla
162
7,290
—
620
—
600
„ Koonjerry .
5,022
225,990
—
2,790
—
15,000
„ Moaurbunge
2,025
91,125
—
1,001
—
8,000
Deojana ...
North- West Prov
(near Delhi dist.
■} 71
6,390
—
—
—
50
150
Dewas ....
Cent. In. (Mahva
2.56
25,088
400,400
—
—
175
500
Dhar
Do. . .
1,070
104,860
475,000
—
47
254
798
Dholpore ...
Hindostan (banks
ofChumbul).
1 1,626
650,000
700,000
-
40
177
1,600
Furruckabad .
North-West Provs
(Lower Dooab)
:!-
—
—
—
2
lOS
294
FurrucknugguT .
North-West Prov
(adjacentto Delhi
'■ I 22
4,400
—
~
—
25
Gholab Sing's Dominions,
vide Cashmere.
Gwalior (Scindia's Pos.)'
Central India
33,119
3,228,512 6
,000,000
1,800,000
314
6,548
2,760
Hill States—
Cis-Sutlej—
Bhagul . . 1
Bujee or Beejee .
Bejah ....
Northern In.
Sutlej)
(Cis
1 100
40,009
50,000
3,600
—
3,000
Ditto
70
25,000
30,000
1,440
—
1,000
Ditto
5
3,000
4,000
180
—
200
Bulsun
Ditto
64
5,000
6,000
1,0S0
—
500
Bussahir
Ditto
. 3,000
150,000
150,000
15,000
—
— 1 300
Dhamie
Ditto
25
3,000
3,500
720
—
100
Dhoorcatty ,
Ditto
5
200
400
—
—
—
—
Ghurwal
Ditto
. 4,500
100,000
100,000
—
—
—
~—
Hindoor or Nalagarh
Ditto
233
20,000
80,000
—
—
—
30i}
Joobul
Ditto
330
15,000
14,130
2,520
—
—
—
Kothar
Ditto
12
4,000
7,000
1,080
—
400
Koonyhar .
Ditto
12
2,500
3,500
180
—
— 1 200
2,690
Keonthul .
Ditto
272
26,000
33,500
—
—
Kcomharsin
Ditto
56
12,000
10,000
1,440
—
1,000
Kuhloor
Ditto
150
32,250
110,000
—
—
- Kr '""'
Mangul
Ditto
15
1,000
1,000
72
—
60
Muhiog
Ditto
50
13,000
10,000
1,440
—
500
Manee Majrah .
Ditto
80
16,720
60,000
—
—
—
—
Sirmoor or Nahun
Ditto
. 1,075
62,350
100,000
—
—
— '
400
Hill States—
Trana-Sutlej—
Mundi
Jullunder Dooab
759
113,091
350,000
—
—
—
500
Sookeit
Ditto .
174
25,926
80,000
—
—
—
300
Holcar's Pos., (vide Indore)
Hyderabad (Nizam's do-
minions*
Indore (Holcar's Pos.)
Hindostan .
95,337
10,666,080 It
,500,000
3,500,000»
—
4,521
12,359
Cent. Ind. (Malwa
) 8,318
815,164
2217,210
—
642
3,145
3,821-«
tlotes. — ' The revenues of Gwalior amount to 60 lacs of rupees per annum, exclusive of the districts assigned foi
the payment of the contingent force (18 lacs of rupees). The contingent consists of 8,401 men, commanded by British
officers The military force of the Maharajah, exclusive of the contingent, is not to exceed 9,000 men.
' In addition to these troops the Nizam maintains an irregular force, composed of Arabs, Sikhs, Turks, &c., amounting
to 9,811 men. The State is also entitled to the services of 4,749 armed retainers, maintained by the Feudal Chiefs from
revenues assigned by the Government for their support. The total military force of Hyderabad comprises five separate
bodies, viz. : — 1. British Subsidiary Force, 10,628. 2. Nizam's Auxiliary Force, 8,094. 3. Nizam's Irregulars, 16,890.
4. Force of Feuda'. Chiefs, 4,749. 5. Miscellaneous Force of Arabs, Sikhs, Turks, &c,, 9,811. Total, 50,172. Under the
Treaty of 1800, the Nizam's Contingent was to consist of 6,000 infantry and 9,000 cavalry ; but the Atixiliary Force,
organized under British officers, and paid by the Nizam, has been substituted for the Contingent, and consists of 8,094
cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The British subsidiary force amoimts to 10,628 artillery, cavalry, and infantry.
' The cost of the Nizam's Auxiliary Force.
' This force is inclusive of the contingent of cavalry, which Holcar is bound to furnish. This prince contributes
11,000 rupees per annum towards the maintenance of the Malwa Bheelcorps, and also a further sum in aid of the United
Malwa contingent.
TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES. 521
Name
Locality.
Area,
Popula-
Revenue.
Annual
Subsidy,
Tribute,
or other
payment.
Military Resources.
in square
miles.
tion.
Artil-
lery.
Cavalry
1 Infan-
1 try.
Benoal — continued.
Rupees.
Rupees,
Jabooa ....
Central India
r
1,348
included
132,104
included
144,536
39,000
40
125
Borai or Boree .
Centln.(Malwa) j
in that oJ
Jabooa.
in that of
Jabooa.
[ 14i000
—
—
15
.30
Jucknowda
Ditto . ..
Ditto .
Ditto .
10,000
—
15
25
Jhujur ... 1
North- West Provs
fadjacent to Delhi]
1 1,230
110,700
600,000
—
180
1,280
1,700
Jobut.
Cent. In. (Malwa)
—
—
10,000
—
—
15
25
Jowra ....
Ditto
872
85,456
800,000
50
60
740
Jucknowda {vide Jabooa)
Koorwaee ....
Ditto
200
19,600
75,000
—
—
40
150
Loharoo ...
North- West Provs
(near Delhi.)
1 200
18,000
—
—
—
60
260
Macherry (vide Alwur, un-
der Rajpoot States).
Munneepoor . . ]
N. Eastern Frontier
(Bengal).
1 7,.5S4
75,840
—
—
452
—
3,158
Nagpore or Berar ' .
Deccan .
76,432
4,650,000
4,908,560
800,000
372
2,424
4,163 '
Nepaul ....
Northern India .
54,500
1,940,000
3,200,000
—
1,100
—
8,400 •
Nizam (vide Hyderabad).
Nursingbur (vide Omut-
warra).
Omutwarra —
Rajghur
Nursingbur
Cent. In. (Malwa)
Ditto
1 1,348
132,104
f 200,000
( 275,000
—
10
20
50
150
150
350
Oude ....
North- West Provs.
23,738
2,970,000
14,473,380
—
5,304
4,088
44,767 »
Patowdce . . . |
North- West Provs
(near Delhi dist.)
{ ^*
6,660
60,000
—
—
75
280
Rajgbur (vide Omutwarra)
Rajpoor Ali (vide Allee
Mohun).
Rajpoot States —
Alwur or Macberry, )
including Tejarra. J
B^jpootana .
1 3,573
280,000
1,800,000
—
—
4,000
11,000
Banswarra .
Ditto
1,440
144,000
95,000 <
25,000
—
150
225
Bikanecr .
Ditto
17,676
539,250
650,380
—
—
1,581
2,100 *
Boondee
Ditto
2,291
229,100
600,000 •
40,000
150
1,000
520'
Dooneerpore
Jessulmere
Ditto
1,000
100,000
109,000
8
—
I'lS
200*
Ditto
12,252
74,400
84,720
30
754
252
Jvepore or Jyenagur .
Ditto
15,251
1,891,124
4,583,950 •
400,000
692
2,096
18,377"
Jliallawur .
Ditto
2,200
220,000
1,500,000
80,000
600"
450
3,010
Joudpore
Ditto
35,672
1,783,600
1,752,520
223,000
—
2,630
6,850"
Kerowlee .
Ditto
1,878
187,800
506,900
. —
—
248
546
Kisbcngurb
Ditto
724
70,952
—
—
—
—
—
Kotah
Ditto
4,339
433,900
2,800,000
384,720
601
710
2,140
Odeypore or Mewar .
Ditto
11,614
1,161,400
1,250,000
200,000
—
1,200
4,200"»
Xotes. — ' The Rajah is bound by treaty to furnish 1,000 horse to serve with the British army in time of war. His
military force, as here stated, is exclusive of a police corps of 2,274 men.
' In addition to this body of infantry there is an irregular force of 5,000 men, and a police corps amounting to 2,000
men. An accredited minister from the British Government resides at the court of Nepaul, with an escort of 94 rank and
file, officered and paid by the British.
'The obligation of the British government, under the treaty of 1798, to maintain a force of 10,000 men in Oude, was
superseded by the treaty of 1801. Under the provisions of the latter treaty, the British Government are bound to the
defence of the kingdom against all enemies, but exercise their own discretion as to the requisite number of troops. The
strength of the British subsidiary force amounts at the present time to 5,578 men. By the treaty of 1837, the limit on
the number of troops to be maintained by the king was removed, and his majesty may employ such a military establish-
ment as he may deem necessary for the government of his dominions — power being reserved to the British government
to insist upon reduction in case of excess. A police corps of 100 horse and 460 foot is also maintained by the King of
Oude for the protection of the British frontiers of Goruckpoor and Shahjehanpoor, bordering on the territory of Oude.
• Irrespective of the revenues of feudal grants and religious endowments.
' The military force is irrespective of the (quotas to be furnished by the Feudal Chiefs, amounting to 1,500 horse,
but inclusive of a mounted police, numbering 53o men.
• Irrespective of feudal estates and religious endowments.
' Irrespective of a police force of 2,000 men, and also of an irregular feudal force of 2,500.
• The tribute is not to exceed three-eighths of the annual revenue. The force is exclusive of a police force, amount-
ing to 100 men.
• The revenue, as here stated, is independent of feudal jaghires and charitable endowments, producing 4,000,000
more. The amount of tribute payable by Jyepore, under the treaty of 1818, namely, 800,000 rupees, was reduced, in
1842, to 400,000 rupees.
'° The military force here stated is exclusive of the troops maintained by the Feudatory Chiefs, amounting to 6,690
men, and exclusive of the garrisons efforts, amounting to 5,267.
" There is also a police force of 1,500 men in Jhallawur.
" This force is irrespective of the Joudpore legion, which was embodied in 1847, in lieu of the Joudpore contingent,
and consists of— artillery, 31; cavalry, 254; infantry, 739 ; Bheel companies, 222. Total, 1,246 men, commanded by
British officers. There is also a force of 2,000 men maintained by the Feudal Chiefs.
" Irrespective of the Kotah continirent, which consists of— cavalry, 283; artillery, 66 ; infantry, 799. Total, 1,148
men, commanded by British officers. There is also a police force consisting of 2,000 men.
522TABULAR VIEW OP THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.
Name.
Bengal — contimied.
BajpooC States — continued.
Pertabgurh & Dowlea
Serohee
Rampore . . ]
Rutlam ....
Saugor and Nerbudda Ter-
ritories—
Kothee . . |
Myheer
Ocheyrali .
Rewa and Mookund- )
pore. J
Sohawul
Shahgurh .
Scindia's Dominions (vide
Gwalior).
Seeta Mow
Sith Protected States—'
Boorea (Dealgurh)
Chickrowlee (Kulseah)
Furrcedkote
Jheend
Mulair Kotla
Mundote
Nabha
Puttiala
Rai Kote
South-MVest Frontier of
Bengal — *
Bombra
Konei ....
Bora Samba
Burgun
Gangpoor .
Jushpore .
Kcriall or Koren, in- 1
eluding Bhokur. J
Korea ....
Nowagur or Bindra)
Nowagnr. J
Odeypore .
Patna ....
Phooljce
Rhygnur .
Sarunghur .
SingboomJ States in
Kursava l^"?'}'^ ?'*
I tnct of
Serickala -' Singboom.
Sirgonja
Sohnpoor .
Suctee
Sikkim ....
Tijarra (vide Alwnr, Raj-
poot States).
Tonk, and other Depen-
dencies of Ameer Khan
Locality.
■•}
1. Chuppra; 2. Nim-
bera j 3. Perawa ;
4. P.ampoora ; 5. Se-
roujee.
Rajpootana .
Ditto
North- West Provs
(Bai-cilly).
Cent In. (Malwa)
Cent. In. (Saugor
and Nerbudda).
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Cent In. (Malwa)
Cis Sutlej .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Orissa .
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
Northern India
Central India
Area,
in square
miles.
1,457
3,024
■ 720
936
■ 100
1,026
436
9,827
179
676
208
80
63
308
376
144
780
541
4,448
6
1,224
1,057
622
399
2,493
617
1,612
2,225
1,612
2,306
1,158
890
1,421
799
Popula-
tion.
145,700
151,200
320,400
91,728
30,000
100,000
120,000
1^0,000
80,000
30,000
20,384
11,920
9,387
45,892
56,024
21,456
116,220
80,609
662,752
894
5.5,980
47,56.5
27.990
17,955
112,185
27,765
68,040
100,000
08,040
133,748
62,U0
40,050
63,945
35,955
Incliiden in British
dist. of Singboom.
6,441
1,467
268
1,670
1,864
316,252
66.015
12,060
61,766
182,672
Revenue.
Rupees.
175,000
74,000
1,000,000
450,000
47,000
64,500
66,320
2,000,000
32,000
90,000
50,000
165,000
45.000
300,000
300,000
400,000
5,500
10,000
6.000
4,000
10.000
10,000
10,000
20,000
10,000
5,000
15,000
25,000
6.000
20,000
6,000
4,0ll0
6,000
10,000
60,000
60,000
4,000
820,000
Annual
Subsidy,
Tribute,
or other
payment.
Rupees
57,874 '
f 3-8ths of
1 An. Rot.
66,160
47,250
Military Resources.
Arta-
lery.
340
200
160
320
6(30
f Included
•J in Sir-
Igooja.
1,095
1,600
400
f Included
in Sir-
gooja.
600
440
170
1,400
107
3,200
6,400
240
Cavalry.
250
200
497
22.5
10
25
842
150
130
20
75
60
250
168
100
400
1,500
12
Infan-
try.
300
600 «
1,387
600
60
300
7,291
SCO
225
50
60
100
500
200
CO
500
l,.5O0
20
Kotet. — • The tribute is received by the British Government, but paid over to Holcar
• These troops, as well a.s the force maintained by feudatories, amounting to 905 cavalry and 5,300 infantry, are
employed also in revenue and police duties.
' The Sikh States were taken under British protection by treaty with Runjeet Sing, ruler of the Punjab, dated 2-3th
April, 1806. All but those above mentioned have been deprived of independent authority, in consequence of failure in
their allegiance during the war with the Sikhs.
* These States are comprised within the territory ceded to the British by the Rajah of Nagpore, under the treaty
«fl826. 1 J -r.
TABULAE VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.523
Annual
Area,
Popula-
tion.
Subsidy,
Military Resources.
X»me.
LoeaUty.
in square
miles.
Eevenue.
Tribute,
or other
payment.
Artil-
lery.
Caralry.
Infan-
try.
BK^OAif—eontimied.
Took, &c. — eo/itinued.
Rupees.
Rupees.
Eastern India, ad-
jacent to Burmah.
1 7,632
—
—
—
—
—
—
Tuleram (SenapnttT't
Territory).
Eastern In. (Assam)
2,000
30,000
—
—
-—
—
—
MADRAS.
Cochin' ....
Coast of Malabar .
1,988
288,176
486,000
240,000
_
_
_ ■
JejTwre.and the Hill Ze- 1
miodars. j
Orissa .
13,041
391,230
—
16,000
—
—
Mjrtore ....
Southern India .
303S6
3,000/)00
6,931370
2,450,000
__
__
2,472
Foodoocottab(RajahToii- )
Southern India )
(Madura). J
1,165
61,74.5
—
—
—
—
Tr«Taiicore
Southern India .
4J22
1,011(824
4,158/)75
796,430
BOMBAY.
BaUsinore ....
GnxeiAt
258
19,092
41,548
10,000
__
8
50
Bansda ....
Ditto
325
24,050
47,000
7300
77
Baroda (Dominioni of the )
Guicowar. J
Ditto
4,399
325,526
6,687,440
—
63
5,942»
5fiSt
Cambay . . .
Guzerat . .
500
37,000
300/)00
60,000
200
1300
pendeDcies, yijE, — j
Southern Mah- 1
ratta coontry. J
5.50,000
—
27
4-50
3348*
Bhowda . . .
— .
51:662
__
16
468
Inehulk-onjee
Khagul
__
3,44o
500/100'
75,000
72,760
—
—
50
25
1,051
672
Vishalgur .
—
123,146
—
—
5
164
113Surii]janu,oriiii-)
nor deiwndencies. J
—
;
.
631,628
—
Cutch ....
Western India .
6,754
500,536
738,423
200,000
Daung Rajahs .
Guterat
950
70,300
Dhurrumpore
(Ditto (collecto-l
\ itte of Surat). j
225
16,650
91,000
9,000
—
105
Gnzerat (Guicowar'i Do-
mimons), vide Baroda.
Gnzerat Petty Sute»— '
Chowrar* .
Guzerat
225
2,500
9,000
' 2.5
Fahlonpore
Ditto
1,850
130,000
298A38
50,000
10
110
429
Radbanpore
Ditto
850
45,000
165,000
20
285
197
Baubier
Ditto
120
500
1,206
Charcut
Ditto
80
2,500
2,524
—
—
Deodar
Ditto
80
2fiO0
3,650
—
—
—
—
Kanlcrej
Ditto
—
—
12395
—
—
Merwara
Ditto
included inThnrraud
4,230
6
1
Santulpoor .
Ditto
—
—
11346
Soegaum
Ditto
64
4,500
6,404
,
Therwarra .
Ditto
48
800
2363
Thurra .
Ditto
—
6,460
24
8
Thnrraud .
Ditto
600
2-3,000
11,33.5
—
20
18
Warrye
Ditto
299
20,000
16,770
—
—
Wow ....
Ditto
364
lOfiOO
7360
—
—
15
8
Koia.—' Thia district is hilly, much covered with jungle, and very thinly inhabited.
• In Cochin, in consequence of the misrule of the Rajah, the affairs of the State have bei
en conducted, since 1839, by
a native minister, in communication with the British resident.
> This force includes a contingent of .3,000 cavalry, which acts with the British subsidia
IT force, but is supported at
Government. There is al*a !
the Guicowar'i expense, and paid and equipped agreeably to the sugeestions of the British
another body of troops (the Guzerat Irre^ar Horse), consisting of 7o6 men, paid by the G
uicowar, but commanded b» 1
British officers, and stationed in the British district of Ahmedabad. In addition to the fore
going there is a po
ice force, 1
consLsting of 4,000 men. The military force in Guzerat is thus composed of— 1st. British
subsidiary, 4fiO0
infantry : 1
2 reaimenu of cavalry, and 1 company of artillery. 2nd. Guicowar's Regular Troops, 6,059.
3,000 cavalry. 4th. Guzerat Irregular Horse, 756. 5th. Police Corps, 4,000.
3rd. Guicowar's Contingent,
• The C'olaporc force here specified consists of native troops, uncontrolled as to discipUn
! ; they are assembled under
the orders of the political superintendent whenever required. There is, however, an efficien
t force (the Colapore Local
Corp>), commanded by Briti.**h officers, and consisting of — cavalry. Z0?>; infantry, 604 ; total
907. The military force 0)
the lour FeudiU Chiefs is shown under « .Military Resources." They are bound to furnish a
contingent for their feudal
tupcrior, consisting of— cavalry, 246 ; infantry, 580 ; total, 826. Besides the above there is a
regular police corp* of 674
men, and a bodvr termed extra 6ghting-men, available for police duties, amounting to 3,113 i
* Quota* of horse and foot are furnished by chiefs in the petty States of Guzerat to tl
nen.
leir feudal superiors, whict
have tiot been included in the military resources of each State. They amount, in the a
iggregate to 1,496 hoi»o an
16,9*4 foot.
♦ The petty State of Chowrar is divided among a number of chieflairs.
524 TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.
Name.
Locality.
Area,
in square
mues.
Popula-
Revenue.
Annual
Subsidy,
Tribute,
Military Resources.
or other
payment.
Artil-
lery.
Cavalry.
Infan-
try.
Bombay — continued.
Rupees.
Rupees.
Guzerat Petty States— «<>»-
Hnued.
Hursool {vide Peint).
Guzerat
19,850
1,468,900
4,601,723
1,047,396
102
3,888
8,122
Kattywar ' Petty Chiefs .
Scinde
6,000
105,000
—
—
47
727
105
Khvrpore . . . .
Myhee Caunta' is dis- "1
tributed into Six Dis-
tricts— 1st. Nanee Mar-
war — comprising Edur,
Ahmednuggur, Moras-
sa. Hursole, Byer, Tin-
tooe, Daunta, Malpoor,
Pole, Pall, Posuna,
Gudwarra, "Wallasun,
and Hurrolc. 2nd. Beh-
wur — comprising Gore-
warra, Runassum, Mq-
liunpoor, Surdooe,Roo-
pal, Boroodra, Wurra-
gaon, and Uhudulea.
3rd. Sabur Caunta —
composed of Cooly pos-
Guzerat
3,400
160,000
600,000'
138,400
—
291
630'
sessions on the eastern
bank of the Sabur Alut-
tee, with the Rajpoot
districts of Wursora,
Maunsa, and Peetha-
pore, on the western
bank of that river. 4th.
'
Kuttosun, — composed
e.vciusively of Cooly
possessions. 5th. By-
ul, or Bawcesee— com-
prising Wasna and Sa-
dra. 6th. Watruck—
comprising Amleyara,
Mandwah, Khural, Bar
Muoarah, & Satoomba. j
Peint and Hursool .
Collectorate of 1
Ahmednuggur. J
760
66,600
29,724
3,360
—
—
100
Bewa Caunta, comprising :
67,651
12,000
43
168
1st. Barrcea or Deog-
hnr Barreea.
Guzerat
870
64,380
2nd. Loonawarra .
Ditto .
600
37,000
40,000
19,200
—
60
100
Notes. — * The province of Kattywar is divided among a considerable number of Hindoo chiefs. Some of them are
under the direct authority of the British Government; the remainder, though subject to the Guicowar, have also been
placed under the control and manngement of the British Government, which collects the tribute and accounts for it to
the Guicowar. The following Table exhibits the division of the province into talooks, or districts, with the number of
phiefs, the amount of revenue and tribute, and the military resources of each ; —
Talookas.
Number
of Chiefs in
each
Talooka.
Revenue.
Tribute.
Remainder.
Sebundy Force.
Artil-
lery.
Cavalry.
Infan-
try.
Rupees.
Rupees.
Rupees.
Soruth ....
3
628,000
99,959
528,041
30
903
:1,930
Hallar . . .
26
973,100
322,461
650,639
2-5
827
1,702
Muchookanta
2
161,000
66,.358
84,642
20
102
175
Babriawar ....
32
30,200
8,127
22,073
—
40
65
Ond Surna ....
23
32,923
10,.3O7
22,616
—
2
5-
Jhalawar ....
51
831,900
238,143
693,757
7
472
717
Gohelwar ....
27
725,300
146,492
578,808
—
915
1,720
Katteewar ....
47
855,800
121,113
734,687
20
480
895
Burda ...
1
200,000
34,436
165,564
■ — .
100
400
Okamundel, &c. .
Tofal . . .
4
73,500
—
73,500
—
47
513
216
4,501,723
1,047,396
3,454,327
102
3,888
8,122
• The province of the Myhee Caunta is divided among several petty chiefs, tributary to the Guicowar. The whole
province has been placed under the control and management of the British Government, which collects the Guicowar's
dues, and pays over tlie amount to that prince.
» Revenue of Edur and Ahmednuggur, 234,000 rupees ; of the remaining states, 266,000. Total revenue of Myhee
Caunta, 600.000 rupees.
* The force maintained by the other chiefs of the Myhee Caunta is stated to consist of about 6.000 men
MILITARY RESOURCES OF INDIA— BRITISH AND ALLIED. 525
Name.
Bombay — cojitinued.
Rewa Caunta — continved.
3rd. Mewassee Chiefs, j
residing on the banks (
of the Nerbudda and i
the Myhee. ^
4th. Odeypore (Chota) )
or Mohun. j
5th. Rajpeepla
6th. Soauth .
Sattara Jaghires —
1. Akulkote .
2. Bhore .
3. Juth .
4. Ounde
6. Phultun
Wyhee
Sawunt Warree
Sinde {vide Khyrpore).
Southern Mahratta Jag-
hires—
Hablee .
Jhumkundee .
Koonwar
The two chiefs of Meeruj
Moodhole
Nurgooud
Sanglee .
Savanore
Shedbal .
Sucheen
Wusravee (Bheel Chiefs) \
ABSTRACT—
Native States.
Bengal ....
Madras
Bombay
Locality.
I
Area,
in square
miles.
Popula-
tion.
Guzerat
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Sattara .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
South Concan
Southern Mah
ratta country,
375
1,059
1,650
425
:1
Guzerat
Ditto (southern
boundary of Raj-
peepla.
27,750
78,366
122,100
31,450
The area and po-
pulation of these
States cannot be
given separately
from the princi-
pality of Sattara
800 ' 120,000
Revenue.
3,700
300
450
607,949
61,802
67,375
410,700
22,200
33,300
44,255,517
4,752,975
4,393,400
Rupees.
74,000
203,966
20,000
200,000
10,024
270,246
167,392
275,343
94,645
61,609
468,044
29,670
123,699
89,000
84,161,786
4,158,075
18,670,820
Annual
Subsidy,
Tribute,
or other
payment.
67,613
10,600
60,000
7,000
Military Resources.
Artil-
lery.
Cavalry.
Infan-
try.
717,126 53,401,892 106,980,681 10,654^1
61,720
7,995,471
796,430
1,862,990
70
368
98
286
40
100
122
493
20
908
10
202
25
255
16
175
12,.593 54,671
369 13,632
12,962 I 68,303
611
14
76
102
785
43
682
87
1,053
35
420
103
643
675
3,900
25
431
6S
212
-
18
287,309
2,472
27.872
317,653 >
Note. — It will be seen from the above that the military resources of the native princes of India comprise a force of
398,918 men. Where no distinction has been made in the official records between the cavalry and infantry of a nativd
state, the whole armed force has been included in this statement . nder the head of infantry. In reference to this enor-
mous force it is proper to observe, that considerable portions of the regular troops of native States are described in the
official returns as fitted rather for police purposes than as available for regular military duties. Where the military force
of a native prince is not under the command of European officers, it rarely happens that there exists any regular system
of payment ; and, under such circumstances, a native array is invariably found to be badly organised and inefficient. The
figures above given do not include either the police corps or the quotas of troops which the military chiefs are bound to
furnish to their feudal superior. ' Including officers attached to native regiments.
Abstract of Population, Area of British and other European States, and Army of British Government in India, exclusive
of H.M. European Cavalrp and Infantry, comprising 30,000 men.
Abstract of Population.
Abmy op British Government in India.
Area.
Population.
Description.
Euro-
pean.
Company's Troops.
British States—
Bengal
Sq. Miles.
325,652
8.3,671
136,680
120,065
1,575
47,958,320
23,800,.549
22,301.697
11,109,067
202,540
Natives.
Total.
North- Western Provinces ....
Madras
Bombay
Eastern Straite Settlements
Engineers.
Artillery .
Cavalry
Infantry .
Medical .
Warrant Officers
Veterans .
Total . .
321
7,436
469
9,648
1,111
243
700
2,248
9,004
30,851
193,942
662
3,424
2,.569
16,440
34,984
229,406
1,763
243
4,124
Foreign States —
French (Pondicherry, Mahe, &c.)
Portuguese (Uoa, Diu, Demaun.)
668,543
188
800
105,169,633
171,217
not known.
19,928
240,121
Total . . .
988
171,217
289,.529
The CJontingent Troops of the Native States commanded by British officers, and available, under treaties, to the
British Government, amount to about 32,000 men, viz. :— Hyderabad (Nizam's) Auxiliary Force, 8,094 ; Gwalior (Scin-
dia's) Contingent, 8,401; Kotah Contingent, 1,148; Mysore Horse, 4,000; Guzerat (Guicowar's) Contingent, 3,766;
Bhopal Contingent, 829 ; Malwa United Contingent, 1,617 ; Malwa Bhecl Corps, 648 ; Joudpore Legion, 1 ,246; Meywar
Bheel Corps, 1,054 ; Colapore Local Horse, 907 ; Sawunt Warree Local Corps, 611. Total, 32,311. Holkar and the
Rajah of Nagpore are bound by treaty to furnish contingents, ihe former of 3,000, and the latter of 1,000 horse.
3 Y
526 OFFICIAL STATEMENT RESPECTING SUBSIDIARY SYSTEM— 1853.
Therelation between the Anglo-Indian gov-
ernment and native states, is thus described :
" The states with which subsidiary alliances have
been contracted are ten in number :— Cochin ; Cutch ;
Guzerat (territory of the Guicowar) ; Gwalior (pos-
sessions of Scindia) ; Hyderabad (territory of the
Nizam) ; Indore (territory of Holcar) ; Mysore ;
Nagpore, or Berar ; Oude ; Travancore. In some of
these states, enumerated in the above list, the charge
for the maintenance of the subsidiary force has been
commuted by various cessions of territory at the
[ undermentioned dates, viz.: — Guzerat (Guicowar),
ceded districts in Guzerat, in 1805 ; and Ahme-
dabad farm, &c., in 1817: Gwalior* (Scindia),
Upper Dooab, Delhi territory, &c., 1803: Hy-
derabad, (Nizam), Northern circars, 1766; Gun-
toor, 1788; districts acquired from Tippoo, 1800;
Indore (Holcar), Candeish and other districts, 1818;
Oude, Benares, 1775 ; Goruckpore, Lower Dooab,
Bareilly, &c., 1801. The Rajah of Nagpore, or Be-
rar, in addition to the cession of territory on the
Nerbudda and parts adjacent, pays to the British
government an annual subsidy of £80,000. The
four remaining subsidiary states pay annual subsidy,
as under :— Cochin, £24,000; Cutch, £20,000; My-
sore, £245,000 ; Travancore, £79,643. The British
government has reserved to itself the right, in the
event of misrule, of assuming the management of
the country in the states of Cochin.f Mysore,^ Nag-
pore,§ Oude,§ Travancore.|| The other subsidiary
states — Cutch, Guzerat, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Indore,
are not subject to control in their internal adminis-
tration ; yet so oppressive in some instances have
been the rule of the chiefs, and, in others, so lawless
the habits of the people, that the interference of the
British government has been occasionally rendered
absolutely necessary, in some of the above subsidiary,
as well as in several of the protected states. Indeed,
a clear necessity must be held to confer the right of
such interference in all cases, as the prevalence of
anarchy and misrule in any district must be fraught
with danger to all around it ; while its long continu-
ance would lead to the dissolution of the state itself
where it prevailed, and, consequently, interference
would become essential to the effective exercise of
that protection which the British government has
engaged to afford. Besides the native states having
subsidiary treaties, there are about two hundred^
others which acknowledge the supremacy of the Bri-
tish government, and which, by treaty or other en-
gagement, are entitled to its protection. The rulers
of these states are of various creeds, as shown in the
• " By the treaty of 1817, funds were set apart for the
payment of a contingent to be furnished by Scindia, and
commanded by British officers. These provisions were
modified by tieaty in April, 1820, and by a new arrange-
ment in 1836. By the treaty of Gwalior, concluded in
1844, certain districts were assigned to the British govern-
ment for the maintenance of an increased force, to be
commanded by British officers, and stationed within Scin-
dia's territories."
t " In Cochin, in consequence of the mismanagement of
the rajah, the affairs of the state have been conducted,
since 1839, by a native minister in communication with
the British resident."
{ " In respect to Mysore, the administration was assumed
by the Britush government in 1834, in consequence of the
misrule of the rajah. The claim of the rajah to be rein-
stated was deemed inadmissible in 1847, on the ground of
his incompetency to govern."
§ " Oude and Nagpore remain under the government of
their respective rulers."
following list : — Mussulman ; Hindoo, or orthodox
Brahmins ; Mahratta, Boondela, Rajpoot, Jaut,
Sikh — all professing Hindooism, with some modifi-
cations ; Bheel. In some of the petty states included
in the above enumeration, the chiefs are not abso-
lutely independent, even as to matters of ordinary
internal administration. In several states on the
south-west frontier of Bengal (Sirgooja, and other
districts), civil justice is administered by the chiefs,
subjett to an appeal to the British agent, while in
criminal matters their jurisdiction is still more strictly
limited.** Somewhat similar is the position of the
southern Mahratta jaghiredars, who are required to
refer all serious criminal matters for British adjudi-
cation. In two of the protected states, Colapore and
Sawunt Warree,tt the administration has been as-
sumed by the British government, and carried on in
the names of the native rulers, who are in the posi-
tion of stipendiaries. In respect to Colapore, the re-
transfer of the government to the minor chief is
made dependent upon the opinion which may be
entertained by the British government of his cha-
racter, disposition, and capacity to govern. In Sa-
wunt Warree, the heir apparent, having forfeited his
rights, the country, upon the death of the present
chief, will be at the disposal of the paramount autho-
rity. In some other states, as those in Kattywar, the
Myhee and Rewa Cauntas, and others which are
tributary to the Guicowar, or ruler of Guzerat,
arrangements have been made, under which the
Guicowar abstains from all interference, and the
British government undertakes the management of
the country, guaranteeing the Guicowar's tribute.
In carrying out such arrangements, the British gov-
ernment has conferred important benefits upon the
country by abolishing infanticide, suttee, slave-deal-
ing, and the marauding system, termed bharwut-
tee,|J: as well as by the introduction of a criminal
court for the trial of the more serious offences,
through the agency of the British resident; the
native chiefs of the several states within the jurisdic-
tion of the court acting as assessors. From 1829,
when the practice of suttee was abolished through-
out the British dominions, the British government
have laboured to procure its abolition in the native
states of India, and to a great extent succeeded.
This success has been attained without either actual
or threatened coercion, resort to such means having
been deemed indiscreet; but by vigilant watchfulness
for ap])ropriate opportunities and perseverance in
well-timed suggestions, the desired object has been
efi'ected in almost every native state where the rite
was practised." — (Tliornton's Official Report, 1853.)
II "In 1805, the entire management of the state of Tra-
vancore was assumed by the British ; but in the year
1813, the minor rajah, upon attaining his sixteenth year,
was admitted to the full enjoyment of his rights."
U " This number does not include the petty rajahs in the
Cossya and Garrow Hills, those of the Cuttack M'ehals,
or the chiefs in the province of Kattywar. The addition of
these would more than double the number given in the text."
** " The power of passing sentence not involving the loss
of life is exercised by them ; but where the punishment is
severe, it is under the control of the British agent, while
sentence of death can only be passed by him in cases
regularly brought before his tribunal ; and each infliction
of punishment must be included in a monthly report to
the government."
ft " These two states were long convulsed by internal
disorders, which at length burst into a general rebellion."
++ " Resort to indiscriminate plunder, with a view to ex-
tort the favourable settlement of a dispute with a feudal
superior."
CHAPTER IV.
KELIGION— CHRISTIAN MISSIONS— EDUCATION— THE PRESS— AND CRIME.
India exemplifies the truth of the asser-
tion,* that reli^on is inseparable from the
nature of man : the savage and the sage
alike frame some system of theological be-
lief,— some mode of communicating with
the Deity, — some link of spiritual connexion
between the cl-eated and the Creator ;t but
every attempt to invest humanity with the
attributes of Divinity has ended in the
deification of stocks and stones,f — in the
concoction of monstrous frauds, and in the
practice of the grossest sensuality, which
corrupt alike the souls and the bodies of
the worshippers.
In Hindoostan the principle of a universal religion
is illustrated in every conceivable form, from abstract
Monotheism to complex Pantheism, — from the wor-
ship of the sun, as the representative of celestial
power, to the rudely-carved image which a Brahmin
• See Preface to second edition of my Analysis of
the Bible with reference to the Social Duty of Man.
t From the highest to the lowest link in the chain
which connects in one genus every variety of the
human race, all believe in a spiritual power that is
superior to man, — in an invisible world, and in a
resurrection after death : this is manifested by dread
of an unseen good or evil deity, — by a persuasion of
the existence of fairies or ghosts, — by the sepulture
of the body, — and by placing in the grave things
deemed necessary in another stage of existence.
I The Rev. William Arthur, in his admirable work,
A Mission to Mysoor, refers to the arguments he was
in the habit of having with Brahmins, and says—
" They frequently took strong ground in favour of
idolatry, urging that the human mind is so unstable,
that it cannot be fixed on any spiritual object with-
out some appeal to the senses; that, therefore, to
worship by mere mental effort, without external aid,
is impossible ; but that, by placing an image before
the eye, they can fix the mind on it, and say, ' 'Thou
art God :^ and by this means form a conception, and
then worship." It was probably this idea that un-
happily induced the early Christian church to admit
images, pictures, and representations of holy men,
into places of public worship j though it is not so
easy to account for the introduction of Maryolatry.
The necessity of engaging the usually wandering
mind by some visual object is, I believe, the plea
used by Romanists and Greeks for the frequent
elevation of the crucifix ; and it is quite possible
that many pious persons deem its presence essential :
the danger is not in the crucifix, or the figure of the
Redeemer thereon, but in the representation degene-
rating into formalism. On the other hand, it is to
be feared that many professing protestants have few
ideas of vital Christianity, and consider its solemn
duties fulfilled by an hebdomadal public worship.
§ Thus acknowledged in one of the Hindoo prayers: —
•'We bow to Him whose glory is the perpetual theme of
every speech; — Him first, Him last,— the Supreme Lord of
the boundleks world ; — who is primeval Light, who is
is supposed to endue with sentient existence, — from
the sacrificial offering of fruit and flowers, to the im-
molation of human victims : here, also, we see this
natural feeling taken advantage of by artful men to
cons tructBrahminical and Buddhistical rituals, which,
embracing every stage of life, and involving monoto-
nous routine, completely subjugate the mass to a
dominant priesthood, who claim peculiar sanctity,
and use their assumed prerogatives for the retention
of the mass of their fellow-beings in a state of moral
degradation and of intellectual darkness.
Yet, amidst this corruption and blindness, some
rays of truth are still acknowledged— such as a
supreme First Cause,§ with his triune attributes of
omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence ;11 creation,
preservation, destruction; the immortality of the
soul, individual responsibility, atonement for sin,
resurrection to judgment, heaven and hell; and a
belief in unseen beings pervading space, and seeking
to obtain a directing influence over probationary
creatures for good or for evil.^ But these cardinal
points are mingled with pernicious doctrines, supersti-
without His like, — indivisible and infinite,— the origin of
all existing things, movable or stationary."
II The Hindoo expression means all-pervasive,
1[ The Hindoos believe the Deity to be in everything,
and they typify Him in accordance with their imaginations.
Brahm or Brihm is supposed to have had three incarna-
tions, viz., Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver;
Siva, the Destroyer : — who have become incarnate at dif-
ferent times and in various forms, for many objects. To
these are added innumerable inferior gods, presiding over
earth, air, and water, and whatever may be therein.
Temples and shrines are erected to a multitude of deities,
to whom homage or worship is tendered, and tribute or
offerings made. The Pagan deities, in every country and
in all ages, have more or less an affinity to each other ;
they refer, generally, to the powers of nature, and to the
wants or civihsing appliances of man ; but they all merge
into, or centre in, one Supreme Being : thus there was an
intimate relation between the Greek and Indian mythology.
The Brahminical and the Magian faith had many points
of union: the sun was the ostensible representation
of Divine power ; the fire-altar of both may be traced to
that of the Hebrews ; and the idolatry of the calf, cow, or
bull, have all a common origin. Ferishta states that,
during the era of Roostum, when Soorya, a Hindoo,
reigned over Hindoostan, a Brahmin persuaded the king
"to set up idols ; and from that period the Hindoos be-
came idolaters, before which they, like the Persians, wor-
shipped the sun and stars." — (Vol. i., p. 68.) The
Mythrae religion at one time existed in all the countries
between the Bosphorus and the Indus ; vestiges are still
seen at PersepoHs, at Bamian, and in various parts of
India. In all Pagan systems there is a vagueness with
reference to the Deity ; for it is only through the Saviour
that God can be known. With regard to the soul, it is
thus negatively described by the author of the great Hin-
doo work, entitled Mahabarat : — " Some regard the soul
as a wonder ; others hear of it with astonishment ; but no
one knoweth it : the weapon divideth it not, the fire
burneth it not, the water corrupteth it not, the wind
dryeth it not away ; for it is indivisible, inconsumable, in-
corruptible : it is eternal, universal, permanent, immov-
able ; it is invisible, inconceivable, and unalterable."
The shastras, or " sacred" books, contain also many
remarkable and even sublime passages ; but their character
..
528 HINDOO EELIGION, ITS CRUEL RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS.
tious observances, cruel rites, and carnal indulgences;
hence the pure, merciful, and loving* character of
God is unknown, the innately sinful nature of man
imperfectly understood, the positive necessity of a
Kedeemer unappreciated, and the urgent want of a
Sanctifler unfelt.
It is not therefore surprising, that in the yearn-
ings of the spirit for a higher, holier enjoyment than
this world can afford, that sincere devotees in India,
as in other countries and in every age, devoid of the
light of Christianity, deem suicide a virtue jt torture
of the body a substitute for penance of the soul ;J
ablution sufficient for purification ; solitude the only
mode of avoiding temptation ; offerings to idols an
atonement for sin ; pilgrimages to saintly shrines a
is well summed up by the Rev. William Arthur, who has
attentively studied the subject. This Christian writer says
— " Taking those books as a whole, no works of our most
shameless authors are so unblushing or so deleterious ;
the Soma Veda treats drunkenness as a celestial pastime ;
all the gods are represented as playing at will with truth,
honour, chastity, natural afl'ection, and every virtue, run.
ning for sport into the vilest excesses, and consecrating by
their example all hateful deeds. Falsehood, if with a
pious motive, has a direct san<^ion. Menu declares that
' a giver of false evidence from a pious motive, even
though he know the truth, shall not lose a seat in heaven :
such evidence men call divine speech.' Vishnu has often
preserved the gods by the most wicked impostures. Lies
flow familiarly from divine lips, and thus lose all dis-
repute in mortal eyes. The amours of the gods are so de-
tailed as to corrupt all who read and admire them ; while
they argue, on the part of the writers, a horrible familiarity
with every variety of debauch. In the lofty poetry of the
sacred books are musically sung expressions of a coarse-
ness that would be spurned from the vilest ballad. Part
of the retinue of every temple consists of priestesses, who
are the only educated women in the country, and whose
profession it is to corrupt the public morals. In some of
the temples, excesses are at certain times openly com-
mitted which would be concealed even in our lowest dens
of vice." — (Arthur's Mission to Mysoor, p. 489. London :
Hamilton, Paternoster-row.) Such is the system ; and
this is but a faint shadowing of its fearful wickedness,
against which Christianity has to contend. Simple
aboriginal tribes have an indefinite notion of an Almighty
superinteoding providence. Thus the Todawar of the
Neilgherries, on first seeing the sun daily, or a lamp, uses
the following prayer, with his face turned to the slcy : —
** Oh ! thou the Creator of this and of all worlds — the
greatest of the great, who art with us as well in these
mountains as in the wilderness, — who keepest the wreaths
that adorn our heads from fading, and who guardest the
foot from the thorn — God among a hundred — may we be
prosperous." They believe that the soul, after death, goes
to the Om-nor (large country), about which they have
scarcely an idea ; they sacrifice living animals, and burn
them on a rude altar : the dead are buried in a dark,
secluded valley, A blood sacrifice is deemed essential by
all these tribes, to procure remission from sin. The
relative antiquity of Brahminism and Buddhism, — their
common origin and separation, — their points of unity or
dissonance,- — and the various other forms of rehgion in
India, are subjects beyond my limits in this work.
* The only love that I can find recognised in reference
to the Deity, is similar to that acknowledged by the
Greeks : hence Sir William Jones thus apostrophises the
Hindoo (>ameo or Kama Deva (Cupid) : —
" Where'er thy seat, whate'er thy name,
Karth, sea, and sky, thy reign proclaim;
Wreathy smiles and rosy treasures.
Are thy purest, sweetest pleasures ;
All animals to thee their tribute bring.
And hail thee universal king ! "
I c|uote from memory this beautiful version of Indian
stanzas.
means of obtaining peace or rest ; the maintenance
of perpetual fire the highest privilege ; contemplation
of God the nearest approximation to communion ;
and human sacrifice a propitiation of Divine wrath.§
With such creeds and such worship, perpetuated
for centuries, the votaries, both priests and laymen,
must necessarily be sunk to a depth of degradation
from whence no mere human efforts can elevate
them, and which the untiring perseverance of Chris-
tianism, with the guidance of the Spirit, can only
hope to meliorate in the existing generation.
Among the numerous creeds which pervade India,
the most prominent are Hindooism, or worshippers of
Brahm ;|| Buddhists, devoted to Buddh ;f Parsees,
disciples of Zoroaster ; *• Moslems,!! followers of
t See section on crime for the number of suicides com-
mitted annually at Madras.
J The self-inflicted torture which Hindoo fanatics
undergo, with a view to the remission of sin, and to obtain
the favour of their deity, is revolting ; but it indicates
strong feelings on the subject. Among them may be
mentioned : — standing for years on the legs, which become
swollen and putrefying masses of corruption ; keeping an
arm erect until the muscles of the humerus are attenuated
and the joint anchylosed (fixed in the .socket) ; lying
on a bed of spikes until the smooth skin is converted
into a . series of indurated nodules ; turning the head
over the shoulders, and gazing at the sky, so that, when
fixed in that posture, the twist of the gullet prevents
aught but liquids passing into the stomach ; crawling like
reptiles, or rolling as a hedgehog along the earth tor years ;
swinging before a slow fire, or hanging with the head
downwards, suspended over fierce flames ; piercing the
tongue with spits ; inserting an iron rod in the eye-socket,
from which a lamp is hung ; burying up to the neck in
the ground ; clenching the fist until the nails grow through
the back of the hand ; fasting for forty or the greatest
practicable number of days ; gazing at the sun with four
fires around, until blindness ensues. These are some of
the practices of the Yogis or Sanyases, and other devotees.
§ The Ganges is considered sacred by the orthodox
Hindoos, and its waters everywhere, from their source in
the Himalaya to their exit in the Bay of Bengal, are
regarded with peculiar sanctity. It is supposed that, at
the moment of dissolution, a person placed therein will
have all his transgressions obliterated. Should a Hindoo
be far distant, the Brahmins enjoin that he should think
intensely of the Ganges at the hour of death, and he will
not fail of hie reward. To die within sight of the stream
is pronounced to be holy ; to die besmeared with its mud,
and partly immersed in the river, holier still ; even to be
drowned iu it by accident, is supposed to secure eternal
happiness. Until the close of the 18th century, the Brah-
mins, taking advantage of this superstitious idea, per-
suaded tens of thousands of Hindoos to assemble in Jan-
uary annually on the island of Guuga Saugor, at the sea
mouth of the Ganges, to perform obsequies for the good of
their deceased ancestors, and to induce many hundred
children to be cast Uving into the torrent by their parents,
as a means of atonement for the sin of their souls. Lord
Wellesley abolished this wickedness. — {Baptist Mission,
vol. i., p. 111.) Among some aboriginal tribes, a child is
not unfrequently slain when the agricultural season is
commencing, and the fields sprinkled with the blood of
the innocent, to propitiate the earth god, in the expecta-
tion of procuring thereby an abundant harvest.
II For a description of Hindooism, see Maurice's Indian
Antiquities, in 7 vols. 8vo ; Ward's Mythology of the
Hindoos, 4 vols. 4to ; Moor's Hindoo Pantheon ; Cole-
man's Mythology of the Hindoos; Vans Kennedy's ije-
searches ; various volumes of the Asiatic Society; the
Asiatic Journal of London ; and the Journal Asiatique of
Paris.
% For Buddhism, see the works of Upham and Hardy.
** See the Zendavesta, or code of Zoroaster.
■f-f See Sale's Koran; and Taylor's Mohammedanitm.
EARLY STATE OP CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.
529
Mohammed ; Seiks, attached to Nanik ; * Gonds,
Koles, Bheels, Sonthals, Puharees, and other abori-
ginal tribes, distinct from all the preceding; Jews
(white and black), Syriac, Armenian, and Latin
Christians ; representatives of the churchee of Eng-
land, Denmark, and Germany ; Scotch Presbyte-
rian, Baptist, Wesleyan, Congregational, and North
American missions.! Each persuasion or sect would
require one or more volumes for elucidation : all
that is practicable, is a very brief description of the
rise and progress of protestant missions in Hin-
doostan.
Christianity prevailed to some extent in India
from an early date ; but we have no certain know-
ledge of its introduction under the denomination of
Syriac, or any other church.J
The Portuguese, soon after their arrival, attempted
the conversion of the Hindoos, with whom they
were brought in contact, to the Romish form of
Christianity, by Jesuitism and the inquisition ; and
necessarily failed, as they did in China and in Japan.
The IJutch, engrossed with commerce, made little or
no attempt to extend the Calvinistic creed ; the
French were equally indifferent ; but the King of
* This reformer, at the beginning of the 1 6th century,
attempted to construct in the Punjab a pure and peaceful
system of religion out of the best elements of Hindooism
and Mohammedanism : his followers (the Seiks) became
devastating conquerors ; and infanticide and other abomi-
nable crimes still fearfully prevail among this warlike race.
■f See Hough's valuable History of Christianity in India,
4 vols. 8vo, 1839 ; Cox's History of Baptist Missions,
2 vols. ; Pearson's Lives of Dr. Claudius Buchanan
(2 vols.) and of Schwartz, 2 vols. 8vo ; Arthur's graphic
Mission to the Mysoor, 1 vol. ; Duff on India Missions ;
Hoole's Missions to South of India ; Pegg's Orissa,
1 vol. ; Memoir of W. Carey; Life ofjudson; and other
interesting missionary works.
X Thomas Herbert, author of Some Yeares Travels into
divers parts of Asia and Afrique (published in London in
1638, and who began his voyaging in 1626), speaks of there
being Christians in many places ; and refers especially to
several maritime towns in Malabar. He says — " The
Christians in these parts differ in some things from us, and
from the Papacie yet retaine many principles of the ortho-
dox and catholic doctrine : their churches are low, and
but poorly furnished ; their vassalage will reach no further,
whether from their subjection, or that (so the temples of
their bodies bee replenisht with vertue) the excellency of
buildings conferre not holinesse I know not : neat they are,
sweetly kept ; matted, without seats, and instead of images
have some select and useful! texts of holy writ obviously
writ or painted. They assemble and haste to church each
Lord's day with' great alacrity : at their entering they
shut their eyes, and contemplate the holiness of the place,
the exercise they] come about, and their own unworthi-
nesse : as they kneele they look towards the altar or table
near which the bishop or priest is seated, whom they
salute with a low and humble reverence, who returns his
blessing by the uplifting of his hands and eyes ; at a set
houre they begin prayers, above two houres seldom con-
tinuing : first they have a short generall confession, which
they follow the priest in, and assent in an unanim amen :
then follows an exposition of some part or text of holy
Scripture, during which their attention, dejected lookes,
and silence, is admirable; they sing an hymne," &c.
Herbert then proceeds to observe that they have the Old
and New Testaments ; they baptize commonly at the fortieth
day, if the parents do not sooner desire it ; they observe
two days' strict preparation for the holy communion,
eating no flesh, and having no revelry; in the church
they confess their sins and demerits with great reluctance ;
after the arrival of the Portuguese they shaved their heads.
The rjergy marry but once, the laity twice ; no divorce,
save for adultery. Lent begins in spring, is strictly ob-
Denmark, in the spirit of Lutheranism, encouraged, in
1700, the Tranquebar missionaries in their merito-
rious efforts to preach the gospel of Christ to the
natives in the vernacular tongue ; and for more than
a century many devoted men, including Ziegenbalg,
Schwartz, Gericke, Schultze, and others, laboured
patiently in the south of India for the extension of
the Divine mission of truth and peace ; but failed, by
permitting the intermingling of heathen customs
with the purity of life which admits of no such
toleration. The British church § and government
for many years made no response to appeals on
behalf of Christianity. The latter was not merely
negative or apathetic; it became positive and active,
in resistance to the landing of missionaries in the
territories under its control; and when, at the close
of the 18th century, the Danish and other conti-
nental churches had almost retired in despair from
the field, and the Baptists (under the leadership of
Carey and Thomas) sought to occupy some of the
abandoned ground, they and their able coadjutors,
Marshman and Ward, were compelled to seek an
asylum at the Danish settlement of Serampore, on
the banks of the Hooghly, 15 m. above Calcutta.||
served for forty days; they "affect justice, peace, truth,
humility, obedience," &c. When dead, the bodies are
placed in the grave looking west towards Jerusalem, and
they *' believe no purgatory." St. Thomas is their ac-
knowledged tutelar saint and patron. — (Lib. iii., on East
Indian Christians, p. 304-'5.)
§ The E. I. Cy's. charter of 1698 directed ministers of
religion to be placed in each ** garrison and superior fac-
tory," and a *' decent and convenient place to be set apart
for divine service only ;" the ministers were to learn the
Portuguese and the native languages, " the better to
enable them to instruct the Gentoos that shall be the
servants or slaves of the said company, or of their agents, in
the protestant religion." By the charter of 1698, the
company were required to employ a chaplain on board of
every ship of 500 tons* burthen. This regulation was
evaded by hiring vessels, nominally rated at 499 tons, but
which were in reality, by building measurement, 600 to
650 tons. — (Milburn, i., p. Ivi.) Some clergymen of the
Church of England were sent out to India from time to
time ; but with a few exceptions (whose honoured deeds
are recorded by Hough in his History of Christianity
in India), such men as Dr. Claudius Buchanan, Dr. Kerr,
David Brown, Corrie, and Henry Martyn, had not many
imitators : they '* performed duty " on the sabbath ; looked
after money and other matters during the week ; and, at
the termination of their routine official life, returned to
Europe with fortunes ranging from .£20,000 to .£^50,000
each. Kiernander, the Danish missionary, mentions, in
1793, three of these misnamed ministers of the gospel
(Blanshard, Owen, and Johnston), then about to return to
England with fortunes of 500,000, 350,000, and 200,000
rupees each ; which (Mr. Kaye observes) shows, accord-
ing to their period of service, ** an annual average
saving of ir2, 500."— (i/;«<. ofAdmn. ofE. I. Cy., p. 630.)
j{ During its early career the E. I. Cy. paid some at-
tention to religion, and a church was built at Madras ;
but as commerce and politics soon absorbed all attention,
the ministrations of religion were forgotten, and not in-
aptly typified by the fate of the church erected at Calcutta
by pious merchants and seamen, who were freemasons,
about the year 1716, when the E. I. Cy. allowed the
young merchants j^50 a-year ** for their pains in reading
prayers and a sermon on a Sunday." In October, 1737,
a destructive hurricane, accompanied by a violent earth-
quake, swept over Bengal, and among damages, it is re-
corded that " the high and maguificent steeple of the
English church sunk into the ground without breaking."
■ — (Gentleman's Magazine, 1738.) Christianity certainly
about this time sank out of sight in India, without being
broken or destroyed, and it is now rising into pre-
530GOVERNMENT PERSECUTION OF THE MISSIONARIES— 1800— '09.
The Marquis Wellesley gave encouragement to
devout missionaries of every Christian persuasion ;•
but during the administrations of Lord Minto and
of the Marquis of Hastings, there was direct oppo-
sition to the ministers of the Cross, who were
obliged to proceed from England to the united
States, and sail in an American vessel to their desti-
nation. Some were prohibited landing on British
ground, others were obliged to re-embark ; ships were
refused a port entrance if they had a missionary on
board, as they were deemed more dangerous than the
plague or the invasion of a French army : and the
governor of Serampore, when desired by the Calcutta
authorities to expel Drs. Carey, Marshman, and
others, notly replied, — they might compel him to
pull down the flag of the Danish king, but he would
not refuse a refuge and a home to those whose sole
object was the temporal and spiritual welfare of their
fellow-beings. Despite the most powerful official dis-
countenance, the missionary cause ultimately tri-
umphed. The Church of England became an effective
auxiliary. Calcutta, in 1814, was made the see of a
bishop, under Dr. Middleton ; and his amiable suc-
eminence by the aid of that very E. I. Cy. who, a cen-
tury ago, were so indifferent, and half a century since, so
hostile to its introduction or discussion in Hindoostan.
In 1805, the Rev. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, government
chaplain at Calcutta, issued a Memoir on the Expe-
diency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for British
India, both as ayneans of perpetuating the Christian Re~
liyion among our own Countrymen, and as a foundation
for the ultimate Civilisation of the Natives. The me-
moir was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury ;
and the appendix comprised a variety of instructive mat-
ter on the superstitions of the Hindoos. The work was
in fact a forcible appeal to the Christians of Britain for
the evangelisation of India, and was exceedingly well re-
ceived by tlie bishops of London (Porteous), LlandafF
(Watson), Durham, Exeter, St. David's, and other emi-
nent divines. In India the memoir caused great excite-
ment among that portion of the government who " viewed
with sensitive alarm, for the security of our empire in the
East, the circulation of the Word of God." — (Hough, iv.,
179.) Contrasts were drawn between Hindooism and
Christianity, to the prejudice of the latter, by Euro-
peans who still professed that faith ; and in November,
1807, Dr. Buchanan memorialised the governor-general
(Lord Minto), on the change of policy from that which
the Marquis Wellesley had pursued. Among the points
complained of were — E^rst, withdrawing the patronage of
government from the translation of the Scriptures into
the Oriental languages ; secondly, attempting to suppress
the translations ; thirdly, suppressing the encomium of the
Court of Directors of the E. I. Cy. on the character and
proceedings of the venerable missionary Schwartz ; and
fourthly, restraining the Protestant missionaries in Bengal
from the exercise of their functions, and establishing an
imprimatur for theological works. Sermons which Dr.
Buchanan had delivered on the Christian prophecies, he
was desired by the chief secretary to transmit to govern-
ment for its inspection, which he properly declined to do.
In 1813 several missionaries from different societies were
ordered to quit India without delay ; one in particular
(Mr. Johns), was told if he did not take his passage im-
mediately, he would be forcibly carried on board ship.
Two members of the American board of missions, on
arriving at Bombay, were ordered away by Sir E. Nepean,
and directed to proceed to England ; they left in a coast-
ing vessel, landed at Cochin on their way to Ceylon, and
were sent back to Bombay as prisoners. Sir E. Nepean
was a religious man, and ultimately obtained permission for
the missionaries to remain.
* The opposition of the home authorities to the college
of Fort William, which was founded by the Marquis
Wellesley, had reference chiefly to the religious design of
cessor (Heber) removed many prejudices, and paved
the way for a general recognition of the necessity and
duty of affording to the ])eople of India the means of
becoming acquainted with che precepts of Chris-
tianity. The thin edge of the wedge being thus
fairly inserted in the stronghold of idolatry, the
force of truth drove it home ; point by point, step by
step, the government were fairly beaten from posi-
tions which became untenable. It was tardily ad-
mitted that some missionaries were good men, and
did not intend or desire to overthrow the dominion
of England in the East ; next it was soon acknow-
ledged that they had a direct and immediate interest
in upholding the authorities, as the most effectual
security for the prosecution of their pious labours.
Soon after the government ceased to dismiss civil and
military servants because they had become Chris-
tians ; then came the public avowal, that all the
Europeans in India had not left their religion at the
Cape of Good Hope, on their passage from England,
to be resumed on their return ; but that they still re-
tained a spark of the living faith, and ought no
longer to be ashamed to celebrate its rites.f When
the noble founder. Dr. Claudius Buchanan pointed out
that it was a mistake to consider the sole object was merely
to "instruct the company's writers." Lord Wellesley's
idea, as Dr. Buchanan correctly states, was " to enlighten
the Oriental world, to give science, religion, and i)ure
morals to Asia, and to confirm in it the British power and
dominion." The Doctor adds — " Had the college of Fort
William heen cherished at home with the same ardour
with which it was opposed, it might, in the period of ten
years, have produced translations of the Scriptures into
all the languages from the borders of the Caspian to the
Sea of Japan." — (Pearson's Life of Dr. C. Buchanan,
i., 374.)
t The Rev. M. Thomason, father of the late excellent
lieutenant-governor of the N. W. Provinces, was dismissed
from the governor-general's (Earl Moira) camp, in June,
1814, because he remonstrated against '* the desecration
of the sabbath, and other improprieties of conduct." —
(Hough, iv., 383.) .\t Madras, a collector (civil servant
of high standing) was removed from the service for dis-
tributing tracts on Christianity among the natives. In
Bombay, the state of Christianity at the commencement
of the present century was indeed very low ; immorality
was general. Governor Duncan, a kind and benevolent
man, rarely attended divine service ; and the late lamented
Sir Charles Forbes told me, that though educated in the
sabbatical strictness of the Scotch kirk, the effect of evil
example on youth carried him with the stream, and that
Sunday was the weekly meeting of the " Bobbery hunt"
(a chase on horseback of jackals or pariah dogs), and its
concomitant, drinking and other excesses. Henry Martyn,
when visiting Bombay in 1811, on his way to Shiraz,
speaking of the Europeans, says — ** I am here amongst
men who are indeed aliens to the commonwealth of
Israel, and without God in the world. I hear many of
those amongst whom I live bring idle objections against
religion such as I have answered a hundred times." At
the cantonments and revenue stations, marriages and bap-
tisms were usually perfoimed by military and civil ser-
vants. Many English officers never saw a church or
minister of the gospel for years. Earnest representations
for the erection of even small chapels were disregarded by
the government, and the young cadets soon sank into
drinking, debauchery, and vice. In 1807 not a Bible was
to be found in the shops at Madras — it was not a saleable
article ; religious books were at a similar discount : the
first purchasable Bible arrived in 1809. The observation
of thoughtful old natives, for many years, on the English
was — " Christian Man — Devil Man." if Charles Grant,
who laboured so earnestly and effectively half a century
for the introduction of Christian principles into India,
were now alive, he would perceive that the above reproach
ABOLITION OP WIDOW-BURNING— SCRIPTURES CIRCULATED. 531
this vantage-ground was gained, other triumphs
necessarily followed.* The Scriptures, which the
British and Foreign Bible Society, and also the
Baptists, had been engaged in translating and print-
ing, were now openly distributed. " Toleration" was
no longer conceded only to Hindooism and other
idolatries ; it was extended to Christianity : and the
principle was urged boldly, that the state should re-
nounce all interference iu the shameful orgies of
Juggurnaut and other Pagan abominations; — that
the car of this idol and its obscene priests should
cease to be annually decorated with scarlet cloth and
tinsel, specially provided by the E. I. Cy. ; and that
the troops, English and Mohammedan, should no
longer have their feelings outraged by being com-
pelled to do honour to disgusting rites which were a
mockery to the true and living God.f
The demoniac practice of suttee (widow-burning),
was formidably assaulted by the missionaries and
other good men. To sanction the crime of suicide
was admitted to be repugnant to the character of a
to his countrymen was removed, and there would be found
many co-operators in the evangelising work.
* Up to 1851 the operations of the society, as regards
India, were : — Sanscrit gospels and acts, 8,200 ; Hin-
doostanee Testament {Roman), 31,000 ; Urdu Persian por-
tions of Old Testament, Urdu Persian gospels and acts,
82,000. Northern and Central India. — Bengallee portions
of Old Testament, Bengallee and English St. Matthew and
St. John, Bengallee Testament (Roman), Bengallee, with
English Testament (Roman), 130,842 ; Uriya Bible,
16,000; Hinduwee Old Testament, 4,000; Harrottee
Testament, 1,000; Bikaneera Testament, 1,000; Moul-
tan Testament, 1,000 ; Punjabee Testament, 7,000 ; Cash-
merian Testament, 1,000; Nepaulese Testament, 1,000;
Sindhee St. Matthew, 500. Southern India— TeWnga
Testament. 33,000 ; Canarese Bible, 10,000 ; Tamul Bible,
105,000 ; Malayalim New Testament, Malayalim Old Tes-
tament, 32,065 ; Tulu Testament, 400 ; Kunkuna Testa-
ment, 2,000; Mahratta Testament, 30,000; Guzerattee
Testament, 20,100; Cutchee St. Matthew, 500.
t In August, 1836, the Bishop of Madras, the clergy
of every denomination, several civil and military servants,
merchants, &c., addressed a memorial to the governor
of Madras, the summary of which prayed, that in accor-
dance with the instructions laid down by the Court of
Directors, 28th February, 1833, guaranteeing toleration,
but affording no encouragement to Mohammedan or hea-
then rites — "That it be not hereafter required of any
Christian servant of the state, civil or military, of any
grade, to make an offering, or to be present at, or to
take part in, any idolatrous or Mohammedan act of wor-
ship or religious festival. That the firing of salutes, the
employment of military bands, and of tlie government
troops in honour of idolatrous or Mohammedan proces-
sions or ceremonies, and all similar observances which in-
fringe upon liberty of conscience, and directly ' promote
the growth and popularity of the debasing supcrsiitions of
the country,' be discontinued. That such |)arts of Regu-
lation VH. of 1817, as identify the government with Mo-
hammedanism and heathenism, be rescinded, and every
class of persons left, as the honourable Court of Directors
have enjoined, entirely to themselves, to follow their reli-
gious duties according to the dictates of their consciences."
The governor (Sir Frederick Adam) administered to the
bishop and to the memorialists a sharp rebuke, saying,
he did not concur in their sentiments, which he viewed
with " the deepest pain and concern," as they manifested
the "zeal of over-heated minds," and that the "commu-
nication" (worded in a guarded and Christian spirit) " was
fraught with danger to the peace of the country, and de-
stnictive of tlje harmony which should prevail amongst
all classes of the community. "—(Pari. Papers — Commons,
No. 3")7 ; 1st June, 1837 ; p. 5.) The E. I. Cy. and her
Majeuty's government thought differently : the prayer of
professing Christian government, which had already
forcibly suppressed infanticide ; and notwithstanding
many forebodings of danger, and considerable oppo-
sition by the enemies of missionaries,! self-murder
was, on Dec. 4, 1829, during the administration of
Lord William Bentinck, suppressed throughout Bri-
tish India, by a prohibitory edict of the supreme
government; under which all persons aiding and
abetting suttee were liable to the penalty inflicted for
culpable homicide. There was not the slightest op-
position to this ordinance throughout India.§ Widow-
burning, however, still continues in several provinces
which are not under our immediate government.
Many other advantages accrued from the course of
Christian polity now fairly begun ; — the government
ceased to hold slaves, and passed a decree mitigating
some of the evils of the system ; churches were erected
at the principal civil and military stations ; and
chaplains were appointed for the celebration of
public worship at European stations.|| In 1834,
bishoprics were founded at Madras and Bombay.
the memorialists was ultimately granted ; and the peace of
India and the harmony of Its people was never for a
moment disturbed. But previous to the final concession.
Lieutenant-general Sir T. Maitland resigned the command
of the Madras army rather than be a participator in offering
honours to idols by sending the troops to assist at the
Hindoo celebrations. Colonel Jacob, an old artillery
officer, stated before the House of Commons' committee,
4th August, 1853, when referring to the attendance of
British troops at idolatrous ceremonies — " I was myself
in that position at Baroda, on the occasion of the Dus-
serah festival, when we were waiting for six hours in the
sun at the beck and bidding of the Brahmins, who an-
nounced the fortunate hour, as they apprehended, for the
Guicowar to go and sacrifice a fowl to the Dusserah. The
whole of the force was under arms, and the British resi-
dent attended on the same elephant with the prince. Upon
the Brahmins cutting off the head of the fowl, the signal
was given, and I had to fire a salute." This Christian
officer adds — " Within our own presideucy, under the
British flag, there can be no sort of excuse whatever for
forcing British officers to take part in an heathen or
idolatrous procession or worship, such as the cocoa-nut
offerings, annually at Surat, by the governor's agent.
At Madras, when I was there some years ago, the govern-
ment sanction was directly given to idolatrous practices
by presenting offerings of broadcloth to the Brahmins, for
them to pray to the idol deity to save the Carnatic from
invasion." — (Pari. Papers — Commons; 6th August, 1853;
p. 151.)
J The Brahmins, who had originated suttee to prevent
their widows remarrying, declared it was a religious rite,
and on this ground several English functionaries objected
to its forcible suppression ; but the doctrine laid down by
Menu, the great Hindoo lawgiver, does not sustain the
assertion. The texts referring to the subject run thus : —
'* A faithful wife, who wishes to attain in heaven the man-
sion of her husband, must do notliing unkind to him be
he living or dead. Let her emaciate her body by living
voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and fruits ; but let her
not, when her husband is deceased, even pronounce the
name of another man. Let her continue until death for-
giving all injuries, performing harsh duties, avoiding every
sensual pleasure, and cheerfully practising the incompar-
able rules of virtue which have been followed by such
women as have been devoted to one only husband."
§ I was happily enabled to be of some use in preparing
the public mind for this great event by writing articles on
the subject, and addressing them, when translated into dif-
ferent languages, to the Hindoo population.
II Until recently the spirit under which the Anglo-Indian
government was administered, was the protection and en-
couragement of Brahminism and Mohammedanism, and
the disavowal of any connection, with Christianity. Thus, as
532
TRIUMPH CP CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN INDIA.
Gradually the state, so far as is alleged to be com-
patible with pledged faith, ceased to interfere in the
temporal concerns of idolatrous shrines ; the for-
feiture of property by Hindoos who had become
converts to Christianity, was no longer recognised as
the law ; native Christians became equally eligible
with their fellow-citizens to public offices. Finally,
several of the highest functionaries have openly
avowed, that the best means for effecting an improve-
ment in even the physical condition of the people, is
by the diffusion of Christianity ; and that the main-
stay for the security of British dominion in India, is
the inculcation and practice of its divine precepts.
Such are the glorious results of nearly half a cen-
tury* spent in peaceful but unceasing efforts on
behalf of truth ; and I now proceed to show the
means in operation for continuing the great work
which has been so signally blessed in its course.
The following data show the state of the Church of
England establishment,t and that of the principal
protestant missions in India, at the present pe-
riod : —
Tabular View of the Church Missionary Society's Operations — 1855.
a
Ordaiiitti
Mission-
aries.
Lay Teachers, &c.
i
Scholars. l
u
ean, Male
Female,
ndian and
try-born.
Natives.
Total.
z t
1
0}
1
3
I
o
O
Yale.
Fe-
male.
1
Total.
2 «
Principal Stations.
i
.5 >
-St
^1
3
A
s
3
11
3 a
'A
1"
a
o
a
1
1
I
Bombay & W. India
1
Bombay ....
5
1
2
2
1
11
16
22
64
12
22
1,354
236
1,590
—
Nasik
3
—
—
—
2
—
2
5
78
17
5
177
16
193
—
Junir and Malli-
gaum . . .
1
2
1
1
4
45
19
4
179
179
Sinde mission . ,
—
3
1
1
—
—
—
1
5
14
4
2
34
—
34
—
Calcutta & N.India
+
Calcutta ....
4
—
1
1
13
2B
41
45
716
181
15
1,220
59
1,279
—
Burdwan district
2
—
—
1
3
21
25
27
206
51
9
686
50
636
—
Krishaghurk dist.
9
—
3
—
31
95
129
138
5,069
465
62
3,568
508
4,066
—
Bhagulpoor . . .
. .
1
__
.
1
3
5
9
10
105
29
4
160
150
310
—
Benares ....
b
1
1
5
31
38
43
321
91
3
589
—
589
—
Jaunpoor . . .
,
1
1
2
19
22
23
22
9
5
467
32
499
—
Gorruckpoor . .
3
—
—
—
5
14
19
22
217
30
3
100
117
217
—
Jubbulpoor . . .
—
1
—
1
2
2
_
1
6
6
—
Agra
4
2
3
7
24
36
40
544
173
11
638
67
605
—
Meerut ....
3
—
1
6
7
14
17
247
99
7
226
17
243
—
Himalaya . . .
2
2
J
U
13
21
11
7
111
15
126
—
Punjab mission . .
3
I
—
—
3
3
6
10
50
20
2
45
7
52
—
Peshawur . . .
—
2
—
1
—
—
—
1
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Madras & S. India
Madras . . . .
4
2
3
2
3
4
2(
29
34
606
199
12
279
297
576
—
Tinnevelly dist.
353
14
7
7
4
187
378
676
597
27,920
3,565
327
5,131
3,020
8,161
1
Travancore district
25
9
2
2
—
36
90
133
144
6,007
1,242
83
1,802
442
2,244
1
Teluga mission . .
2
3
1
—
2
1
24
27
31
131
14
5
76
143
219
—
Totals . . .
384
79
18
25
18
312
783
1,138
1,235
41,373
6,231
589
16,632
5,182
2,1814
2
+
So retu
rns.
stated by the Rev. J. Lechman, in his evidence before par-
liament (8th August, 1853), " the government have main-
tained for thirty years an institution for the instraetion of
its Mohammedan subjects in their creed, but has not
maintained any college or school for the exclusive instruc-
tion of its Christian subjects."
* The Rev. W. Mullens thus sums up the progress of
missions during the present century : — "Within a few
years stations were established in Calcutta, Madras, and
Bombay, and began to push outward into all the pre-
sidencies of Hindoostan. The beginnings were slow but
sure. One society, then another — one missionary and
then another, landed on the coast, and took up their
posts on the great battle-field of idolatry. The London
Missionary Society sent missionaries to Chinsurah, to
Travancore, to Madras, Vizagapatam, Bellary, and to
Sural. The American board, after some opposition
from the government, occupied Bombay. The Church
Missionary Society entered first on the old missions at
Madras, Tranquebar, and Palamcottah ; but soon began
an altogether new field among the Syrian Christians in
West Travancore. They planted a station at Agra, far
in the north-west, and maintained the agency which
Corrie had employed at Chuuar. A native preacher
began the work at Meerut, while two missionaries were
stationed in Calcutta. The Baptist Missionary Society
soon occupied Jessore, Chittagong, Dinagepore, and
other places. The Wesleyans speedily obtained a footing
in Mysoor; and to them succeeded the missionaries of the
American board. North, soutli, east, and west, the
Church of Christ was pushing forth its men and means
into the land with vigour and earnestness of purpose.*'
There is mi>ch wanting for India a Medical Missionary
Society, similar in its working to the institution (com-
posed of Americans and British) under this title which is
now accomplishing so much good in China.
t There is a large Roman catholic establishment con-
sisting of bishops, \-icars-general, and inferior clergy,
not only at Goa and Pondicherry, but also at the British
stations : their number is alleged to have been, in 1853,
about 303, of whom 200 were Europeans ; and of these
forty are British. The Roman catholic community
throughout India is estimated at 690,000, exclusive of
about 16,000 soldiers.
ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENTS— BENGAL, MADRAS, BOMBAY. 533
Statement showing the Number and Expense of the Ecclesiastical Establishments under each Presidency,
in the Year 1832-'33, and in 1851-'2.
1832-'33.
Bengal :—
1 Bishop
1 Archdeacon
2 Senior Chaplains ... ...
35 Chaplains
2 ditto (at Straits settlements) . . .
1 Officiating ditto . . .
Visitation and travelling allowances, es- \
tablishment, and contingencies ... J
Total church establishment . . .
Scotch Kirk —
2 Chaplains
Roman Catholic —
Allowance to priests at Straits settlements
Total Bengal
Madras : —
1 Archdeacon ...
2 Senior Chaplains
21 Chaplains, at.7,875 rupees each ....
Travelling allowances, establishment, and 1
contingencies j
Total church establishment . . .
Scotch Kirk —
2 Cha;)lains
Establishment
Total Scotch Kirk
Roman Catholic—
Allowance to priests
Total Madras [f^'^
Bombay : —
1 Archdeacon
2 Senior Chaplains
13 Chaplains
Travelling allowances, establishment, and I
contingencies }
Total chur«h establishmeDt . . .
Scotch Kirk —
2 Chaplains . .
Establishment, &c
Total Scotch Kirk
Roman Catholic —
Allowance to priests . . . . .
Total Bombay {^J-f^-
Grand Total . . . . Ss. Rupees
cr £ stg.
S. Rupees.
43,103
17,241
26,724
317,606
18,372
2,871
64,908
480,825
22,414
5,254
508,493
Ms. Rupees.
19,091
26,160
165,375
32,676
243,202
19,635
1,050
20,685
6,744
269,631
252,889
By. Rupees.
17,778
28,560
104,000
36,647
186,985
20,382
1,389
21,771
4,440
213,196
202,158
963,540
96,354
1851-'52.
Bengal : —
1 Bishop
1 Archdeacon (also a Chaplain) ....
2 Senior Chaplains
19 Chaplains, at 9,600 francs each ....
40 Assistant Chaplains, at 6,000 francs each
2 ditto ditto at 9,600 „ „ >
(stational in Straits settlements) . . J
Visitation and travelling allowances, es- 1
tablishment, & contingencies in 1849-'50 J
Total church establi3liment . . .
Scotch Ktrk —
2 Chaplains
Establishment
Total Scotch Kirk
Roman Catholic —
Allowance to priests . .
Total Bengal Rs
Madras : —
1 Bishop
1 Archdeacon (also a Chaplain) . . . .
2 Senior Chaplains
9 Chaplains, at 8,400 rupees each . . . .
18 Assistant Chaplains, at 6,000 rupees each
Visitation and travelling allowances, es- )
' tablishment, and contingencies ... J
Cos. Rupees.
45,977
3,200
27,912
1,82,400
2,40,000
19,200
47,761
Total church establishment
Scotch Kirk —
2 Chaplains
Establishment
Total Scotch Kirk
Roman Catholic —
Allowance to priests
Total Madras Rs.
Bombay : —
1 Bishop
1 Archdeacon (also a Chaplain) ....
2 Senior Chaplains
5 Chaplains, at 8,400 rupees each ....
16 Assistant Chaplains, at 6,000 rupees each
Visitation and travelling allowances, es- "I
tablishment, and contingencies ... J
Total church establishment . . .
Scotch Kirk —
2 Chaplains
Establishment
Total Scotch Kirk
Roman Catholic —
Allowance to priests . .
Total Bombay Rs.
Grand Total . .
Cos. Rs.
or£
6,66,450
23,112
676
23,688
21,840
6,ll,9r8
26,600
3,200
26,160
75,600
1,08,000
60,460
289,020
19,635
1,323
20.958
10,320
3,20,298
25,600
3,200
26,160
42,000
96,000
30,127
223,087
20,160
948
21,144
22,800
2,67,031
11,99,307
112,435
Abstract.
Tears.
Church Establishments.
Scotch Kirk.
Roman Catholic.
Total.
I832-'33
1851-'52
No, of Persons. £
82 88,623
118 101,114
No. of Persons.
6
6
£
6,246
6.168
£
1,485
5,153
£
96,354
112,435
3 7.
534
WESLEYAN AND BAPTIST MISSIONS IN INDIA— 1855.
Ma .
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■lVllN-af[
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OPERATIONS OF CHRISTIAN BRITAIN IN INDIA— RESULTS. 635
Statistics of the London Missionary Society's Stations — 1855.
Com-
menced.
Stations.
Missionaries
{in addition
to nearly 300
Native
Agents.)
Worship-
pers.*
Communi-
cants.
Schools.
Scholars.
Printing
Presses.
1816
1824
1819
1838
1850
1845
1805
18.52
1805
1852
1822
1820
1810
1820
1827
1836
1819
1829
1838
1838
NoRTHEKN India : —
Calcutta
Berampore
Benares
Mirzapoor
Almorah
Mahi Kantha (near Baroda) . .
Peninsular India : —
Madras
Tripassore
Vizagapatam
f Vizianajarum (including Chica- )
I cole j
Cuddapah
Bel^aum
Bellary
Bangalore
Salem
Coimbatoor
South Tkavancoee :—
Nagercoil
Neyoor
' Pareychaley
Trevandrum (including Quilon)
800
96
59
97
120
400
100
700
180
154
287
300
8,247
2,768
1,335
1,514
210
30
20
14
20
110
40
40
22
60
33
65
84
44
45
601
39
98
6
3
7
8
4
1
15
9
2
6
18
9
11
12
7
14
93
44
61
17
1,089
144
624
631
144
. 30
1,404
300
266
296
450
410
351
687
213
854
3,856
1,209
1,891
586
* The numbers in this column represent the nominal converts ; hut do not include the heathen, whose numbers,
by reason of the irregularity of their attendance on the public services, cannot be reported.
In the beginning of 1852, the number of native
Christian churches in India (including Ceylon), was
331 ; of recorded members (communicants), 18,401 ;
and of worshippincf Christians, 112,191 : number of
missionaries (including forty-eight ordained natives),
was 443, together with 698 native catechists belong-
ing to twenty-two missionary societies, who have
established 1,347 vernacular day-schools, 93 board-
ing, 347 day-schools for girls, 120 girls' boarding-
schools, 126 superior English schools, throughout
the country (see Mission returns.) There are eight
Bible societies in India, which published, in 1850,
no less than 130,000 copies of the Bible, or
selections from it, in thirteen languages, and
distributed 185,400 copies. There are also fifteen
tract societies engaged in supplying works for
native Christians — short tracts, or expositions of
Bible truth, and school-books for missionary schools.
The entire Bible has been translated into ten lan-
guages, the New Testament into five others, and
separate gospels into four other languages ; besides
numerous works of Christians; — thirty, forty, and
even seventy tracts, suitable for Hindoos and Mus-
sulmen, have been prepared in the vernacular. The
missionaries maintain twenty-five printing establish-
ments. The cost of all these operations, for 1851,
■was £190,000, of which £33,540 was contributed by
European Christians in India itself t
This is but a very small beginning of the great
work to be accomplished by philanthropists of all
classes; the Urgent Claims of India for tnore Chris-
tian Missions^ has been forcibly set forth by Mr.
Muir, of the Bengal civil service : he shows that
some of the fairest portions of India have no mis-
sionary ; that others are supplied in the proportion of
one to one million people; — a " long range of fertile,
t Remits of Missionary Labour in India, by Rev. W.
Mullens; reprinted from Calcutta Review, October, 1851.
London : Dalton, Cockspur-street
X Published by Dalton, Cockspur-street, London.
populous countries as much neglected as if they
were districts of Japan." — (p. 12.) Formerly the Hin-
doos would not listen to the missionaries ; now they
attend to hear, discuss, and dispute : and, what is
still better, they buy the books issued from the mis-
sion presses, in large quantities.§ Undoubtedly
there is a great change coming over the Indian
population, especially of the educated class : the
little leaven is fomenting the vast mass. Idolatry
cannot long stand before truth, when presented
in the manner in which its Divine Founder ex-
plained it to His disciples ; but the unbeliever must
be born again before he can see God, — he must be
born of water and of the Spirit before he can dwell
with Him. The Hindoo is as yet only born of the
earth — earthy, with every corruption of our nature in
its pristine strength ; he is also surrounded and
entangled by the meshes of a Satanic systtm, from
which he cannot extricate himself. It seems to be
a part of the Divine scheme for man's redemption, to
make his fellow-man an instrument in the work of
regeneration ; for thus both the giver and receiver
of good are blessed. Hence, to human eyes, the
operation appears slow. But we cannot penetrate
the designs of Omnipotence. We cannot tell why
millions of Hindoos have been left steeped in the
mire of idolatry for ages, and that they should now
be raised from darkness into light by a handful of
men from the remote isles of the western world ; all
this, and much more, is a mystery: but may not
this singular communion between England and
India be as much for the benefit of the former as for
that of the latter ? May not Britain need, nearly as
much as Hindoostan, not only] the quickening in-
fluence which is able to save and make wise, but also
the renovation of the flickering flame of celestial
§ These are not solely religious tracts. For instance,
at the Wesleyan press in Bangalore, Robinson Crusoe has
been printed in the vernacular language, with woodcuts :
it has an extensive sale.
life, which, until the last few years, burnt dim and ] of which it might become the medium, was an inno-
fitful here, and needed kindling into a bright and vation ; and as such, dreaded by those whose opinions
cheering light,— a light whose expanding, vivifying
rays may, ere long, spread to the darkest and re-
motest corners of our globe ? Be this as it may, the
Anglo-Indian Christian mission is now fairly com-
menced ; a wide and encouraging prospect is open
for its meritorious labours. In a mere worldly point
of view, an extension of operations is of the utmost
importance. Every Hindoo or Moslem converted
to the gospel of peace, is an additional security for
the permanence of British power. Mere secular men
ought therefore to aid this great cause. The day is
past in England for attempting to rule a nation by
brute force, as if men were beasts of burthen or
irreclaimable maniacs. Kindness, consideration, and
reasoning, are the instruments of conversion which
the missionaries employ, and they are happily in
accordance with the dictates and policy of govern-
ment. There is therefore, in a new sense, a union
between church and state in India, devoid of patron-
age or pecuniary relations, but based on the prin-
ciple that what is good for the spiritual, must be
equally good for the temporal interests of the people.
Education. — Under both the Hindoo and Moslem
governments, the education of the people was, at va-
rious times, deemed a matter of public importance ;
many of the temples now devoted to idolatry and
paphian rites, were originally schools and colleges for
instruction, endowed with lands for this purpose, and
conducted somewhat after the manner of the monastic
institutions of Europe : but in both regions the teach-
ingof the young fell into desuetude. The setting apart
of a body of men as more sacred than their fellow-
mortals, — investing them with peculiar privileges, —
furnishing them in abundance with not only the ne-
cessaries, but also the luxuries of life, for which they
were not required to labour, — enjoining celibacy,
— and placing them under an ecclesiastical, instead
of a civil law applicable to all, — was as pernicious to
the scholastic system of Hindoos and Mohammedans
as it was to that of the Latins : the funds allocated
for the temples and mosques became appropriated
solely to the use of a lazy, sensual priesthood ; the
minds as well as the morals of the people were neg-
lected ; and but for the village schools, sustained by
each little agricultural community, and the town
seminaries, supported by paying pupils, the people of
Hindoostan would not even have had the primary
elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic, which
we found to prevail pretty general among the better
classes of the community.
For a considerable period, the Anglo-Indian
authorities gave no thought to the subject. In 1781,
a Mohammedan madrissa (college) was established
at Calcutta, under the patronage of Warren Hastings ;
and in 1792 a Sanscrit college was founded at Be-
nares by Jonathan Duncan ; but the main idea in
connexion with these institutions — with the Hindoo
college at Calcutta, founded in 1816; colleges at
Agra and Delhi, in 1827 ; and a few seminaries in
various provincial towns — was the propagation of
Oriental literature, and the inculcation of the Hin-
doo and the Mohammedan religion. The extension of
the English language, and of the arts and sciences.
then ruled. A watchmaker at Calcutta, David Hare,
about 1823-'4, established a British school there:
he saw that the efficacy of Lord Wellesley's policy
in founding the college at Fort William, as a means
of incorporating the English on the Asiatic stock, was
sound, and that no material improvement could lake
place in the mass of the people by endeavouring to
communicate knowledge through twenty different
tongues instead of by one, which would form a com-
mon medium of intercourse for all. The thought
began to be "ventilated" — some advocating the
English, some the vernacular, some both. The latter
was partially adopted, as a compromise between the
two former systems : but it ultimately gave way ;*
and now sound-thinking Indian statesmen are con-
vinced that the foundation of education ought to be
the English, whatever may be the vernacular ; so
that in due time it may become the ordinary dialect
of about 200,000,000 in Hindoostan.
In 1813, attention was directed to the necessity of
something being done towards the education of the
people ; and under the then charter act it was decreed
that a lac of rupees (£10,000) should be annually
appropriated out of the revenue of India for the
" revival and improvement of literature."t It was a
small sum for such an object : yet it remained unem-
ployed for ten years ; and then the accumulated funds
were appropriated to the Hindoo college| at Cal-
cutta, which was placed under the superintendence
of government, and to such other Oriental seminaries
as a Committee of Public Instruction (appointed in
1823) might recommend.
The Court of Directors early foresaw the inefficiency
of mere Oriental literature as a means of improving
the people. In a despatch to India, written in 1821,
the Court warned the local governments thus : —
" In teaching mere Hindoo or Mohammedan learn-
ing, you bind yourselves to teach a great deal of
what is frivolous, not a little of what is purely mis-
chievous, and a small remainder indeed in which
utility is in any way concerned." Bishop Heber also
justly remarked — " The Mussulman literature very
nearly resembles what the literature of Europe was
before the time of Copernicus, Galileo, and Bacon.
The Mussulmans take their logic from Aristotle, fil-
tered through many successive translations and com-
mentaries ; and their metaphysical system is pro-
fessedly derived from Plato. Both Mohammedans
and Hindoos have the same natural philosophy, which
is also that of Aristotle in zoology and botany, and
Ptolemy in astronomy, for which the Hindoos have
forsaken their more ancient notions of the seven seas
and the six earths." The Court of Directors had to
contend against the prejudices of distinguished Eng-
lishmen, who clung pertinaciously to the idea of
educating the people in the Oriental tongues. Thus,
in a despatch of September 29th, 1830, the Court
says — " We think it highly advisable to enable and
encourage a large number of natives to acquire a
thorough knowledge of English, being convinced
that the high tone and better spirit of European
literature can produce their full effect only on those
who become familiar with them in the original lan-
* The Right Honourable T. B. Macaulay deserves
credit for the efforts he made in favour of the extension
of the English language in India.
f Pari. Papers on India, submitted by E. I. Cy. in
1853.
X Of the course ot education in this institution, that
accurate observer the late Rammohun Ray, said — " It
can only load the minds of youth with grammatical nice-
ties and metaphysical distinctions of no practical use ;
the pupils will acquire what was known 2,000 years ago,
with the addition of vain and empty subtleties." In fact,
its pupils became deists and atheists.
IMPROVED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION FOR INDIA— 1854-'55. 537
guage. While, too, we agree that the higher branches
of science may be more advantageously studied in
the languages of Europe, than in translations into
the Oriental tongues, it is also to be considered, that
the fittest persons for translating English scientific
books, or for putting their substance into a shape
adapted to Asiatic students, are natives who have
studied profoundly in the original works." — (Des-
patch, September 29th, 1830.)
These sound views were not immediately adopted
by the Indian government, who absurdly perse-
vered for several years attempting to instruct the
people who attended the public seminaries by trans-
lating English literature into Sanscrit and Arabic —
the one not spoken, and the other a foreign language
in India. Before a Hindoo could study the best
masters in English, he must waste precious time in
becoming an Oriental scholar : in effect, it would be
paralleled if boys in the national schools of Britain
were required to learn Latin and Greek, and then
study English literature from translations into these
languages. The pedantry and inutility of such a
system was at length exposed ; and, with broader
views of statesmanship, there came a recognition of
the necessity of making English the classical and
predominant language.
On the 7th of March, 1835, the government
abandoned the Oriental scheme of education, and
the comprehensive and adaptative tongue of the
ruling power was gradually substituted by attaching
English classes to the Hindoo and Mohammedan
colleges which had been established in different
cities ; to these were added scholarships, with sti-
pends attainable after a satisfactory examination,
and terminable at a central college to which the
school was subordinate. In October, 1844, gov-
ernment passed a resolution, promising prefer-
ence of selection for public employment to stu-
dents of distinguished ability. Model schools have
been adopted in several districts ; suitable books
prepared ; an organised system of inspection main-
tained ;* and Christian instruction thus extended : —
Missionary Schools in Continental India.
Male.
Female.
Stations.
Vernacular Day-
Schools.
Boarding-Schools.
English Schools.
Day-Schools.
Boarding-Schools.
Schools.
Boys.
Schools.
Boys.
Schools.
Boys.
Schools.
Girls.
Schools.
Girls.
Bengal, Orissa, and Assam
N. W, Provinces , . .
Madras Presidency , .
Bombay Presidency . .
127
5.5
8.52
6.5
0,369
3,078
• 61,366
3,848
21
10
32
4
761
209
764
64
22
16
44
9
6,054
1,207
4,156
984
26
8
222
28
690
213
6,929
1,087
28
11
41
6
836
208
1,101
129
Total ....
1,099
74,661
67
1,788
91
12,401
284
8,919
86
2,274
In the parliamentary discussions relative to India,
in 1852-'3, the subject of educating the people by a
general system, was fully recognised as one of the
most important duties of government; and accord-
ingly, in July, 1854, an admirable despatch was for-
warded to Bengal by the home authorities.! In
this document the Court of Directors declare that
"no subject has a stronger claim to attention than
education ;" and that it is " one of our most sacred
duties, to be the means, as far as in us lies, of con-
ferring upon the natives of India those vast moral
and material blessings which flow from the general
diffusion of useful knowledge, and which India may,
under Providence, derive from her connexion with
England. For although British influence has al-
ready, in many remarkable instances, been applied
with great energy and success to uproot demoralising
practices, and even crimes of a deeper dye, which for
ages had prevailed among the natives of India, the
good results of those efforts must, in order to be per-
manent, possess the further sanction of a general
sympathy in the native mind, which the advance of
education alone can secure. We have, moreover,
always looked upon the encouragement of educa-
tion as peculiarly important, because calculated ' not
only to produce a higher degree of intellectual fit-
ness, but to raise the moral character of those who
partake of its advantages, and so to supply you
with servants to whose probity you may with in-
creased confidence commit oflBces of trust' in India,
* In September, 1845, I attended an annual examina-
tion of the Poena schools, and was agreeably surprised
by the intelligence and proficiency of the pupils.
where the well-being of the people is so intimately
connected with the truthfulness and ability of offi-
cers of every grade in all departments of the state.
Nor, while the character of England is deeply con-
cerned in the success of our efforts for the pro-
motion of education, are her material interests alto-
gether unaffected by the advance of European know-
ledge in India: this knowledge will teach the natives
of India the marvellous results of the employment of
labour and capital, rouse them to emulate us in the
development of the vast resources of their country,
guide them in their efforts, and gradually, but cer-
tainly, confer upon them all the advantages which
accompany the healthy increase of wealth and com-
merce ; and, at the same time, secure to us a larger
and more certain supply of many articles necessary
for our manufactures and extensively consumed by
all classes of our population, as well as an almost
inexhaustible demand for the produce of British
labour."
These are noble sentiments, worthy of England,
and of incalculable benefit to India. With this pre-
amble, the Court of Directors proceed to state the
main object thus: — " We emphatically declare that
the education which we desire to see extended in
India is that which has for its object the diffusion of
the improved arts, science, philosophy, and literature
of Europe ; in short, of European knowledge."
Pecuniary aid is to be given to vernacular and
Anglo-vernacular schools. The study of law, medi-
t It is understood that the preliminary draft of this
valuable State Paper was drawn up by Sir Charles Wood,
then president of the India Board.
cine,* and civil engineering to be encouraged ; and
all the higher branches of sound education. The
expenditure for these great designs will be large,
and can only gradually be employed : at present it
amounts to about £150,000 a-year, which, it is to be
hoped, will ere long be largely augmented.f
Number of Governtnent Educational Instilutions, of Teachers and of Pupils therein, with the total Expense
thereof, and the Number and Value of Scholarships in each Presidency, in the Year 1862-'53.
Nature of Institution.
Institu-
tions.
Teachers
PupUs.
Expense.
Scholarships.
JJumber.
Value.
Bengal ... V
N. W. Provinces . |
English and native tuition
Vernacular tuition
Grants in aid to charitable and other ]
scholastic institutions J
English and native tuition
109
36
7
8
3
75
235
336
36
125
21
64
190
9,116
1,904
1,835
448
2,492
12,384
£
51,000
1,192
6,306
14,577
5,437
3,789
766
1 17,143
152
284
84
£
3,137
2,814
Madras ....
English and native tuition
—
Bombay ....
English and native tuition
o,S80
m , . 1 English and native tuition .
total . -j Vernacular
Grand Total
134
279
546
226
13,891
14,288
—
520
11,831
413
772
28,179
100,210
620
11,831
Under the present system there is an educational
department at each presidency, with an official of
talent, largely remunerated, at its head ; qualified
district inspectors report periodically on the colleges
and schools supported and managed by government,
and statistical returns are to be annually sent, with
the reports, to England. Universities are to be
established, under charter, in different parts of
India, and to be managed by senates, consisting of
* In 1829, I laid before Lord Wm. Bentinck, then
governor-general, a plan for establishing a medical and
surgical college at Calcutta, and pointed out the great
benefits which would accrue from such an institution. I
also offered to deliver gratuitously a course of lectures on
anatomy, for which there was an abundance of " sub-
jects," the Ganges being the place of sepulture for many
million Hindoos whose bodies daily floated in thousands
past Calcutta. Lord Wm. Bentinck warmly commended
my proposition ; but subsequently informed me that he
found such a decided opposition to it in the council that
it would be hopeless to get the sanction of those who
feared every innovation, and deemed that the Hindoos
would never attend a dissecting-room. In a few years
after my plan was effectively carried out by others, and it
has produced the most beneficial results. Hindoos even
come to England to study and qualify themselves for the
position of surgeon in the service of government. 1 know
of no branch of science so urgently needed for the people
of India as that of medicine and chirurgery ; and it is to
be hoped that public hospitals and lecturers will be estab-
lished in the large cities for tlie benefit of the native
population. The Friend of India thus alludes to tlie
good done by the establisliment of medical institutions in
Malwa ; — " In 1847, throughout the great provinces over
wliich the authority of the resident at Indore extends,
there was not, we believe, one single dispensary. There
are now nine, all supported by funds derived from sources
Note. — The above return is founded on the information received for the year 18o2-'53 ; but as the state of educa-
tion in India is at present one of transition, it is probable that considerable alteration has taken place. By the despatch to
the government of India, dated the 19th July (No. 49 of 1854), a plan for the general extension of education was laid
down, and when the instructions therein contained shall begin to be carried out, the changes made will be of a wide and
sweeping character. For the reasons already assigned it is impossible to afford any precise information on the subject of
Vernacular Schools. It is known, however, that these schools are increasing in number and improving in character. In
October, 1849, sanction was given by the home authorities for the establishment of one government vernacular school in each
of eight tehsildarries, or revenue divisions of the North-West Provinces, to afford a model to the native village school-
masters. The experiment proved highly successful ; the number of village indigenous schools, within the eight tehsildar-
ries, having increased in three years, from 2,014 to 3,469 ; and that of the scholars therein, from 17,169 to 36,884. The
plan has now been extended to the whole of the North- Western Provinces, and also to portions of Bengal and the Pun-
jab. The expense of the measure is estimated at £60,000 per annum.
the chancellor, vice-chancellor, and fellows of each ;
periodical examinations to be held in the different
branches of art and science, and degrees conferred,
unconnected with religious belief, on qualified per-
sons who may be educated at the university college,
or at affiliated institutions conducted by all denomi-
nations, whether Christians, Hindoos, Mohammedans,
Parsees, Seiks, Buddhists, Jains, or any other reli-
gious persuasion, if found to afford the requisite
independent of the British government, and all frequented
by the people with an cagcrniBS not always manifested in
our older provinces. The nine are stationed at Indore,
Oojein, Rutlan, Manpoor, Dhar, Dewas, Sillanah, and
Bhopawur, the central station having two. From these
establishments no less tlian 20,223 new patients have re-
ceived medical relief, of whom about a third, or 6,465,
were women and children. The number of females, in
itself a sixth of the whole, deserves especial remark. No
less than 2,408 surgical operations were performed ; a
number which appears enormous, unless very slight cases
are included. When it is remembered that a few years
since this vast amount of human suffering must have
been \>nrelieved, or relieved only by the superstitious
quackery of the Vedic doctors, the good which has been
accomplished by Mr. Hamilton, and the energetic resi-
dency surgeon, will be readily appreciated. The whole
expenses of these establishments amount to 16,032 rupees ;
and the receipts, chiefly from native chiefs and princes,
have been a little above that sum. There appears to be
no probability of any falling off; and in spite of their
hereditary apathy, the neighbouring chiefs appear to be
desirous of imitating a system which, under their own
eyes, produces so excellent an effect."
f The reorganisation of village schools would bring
instruction home to the mass of the people : they might
be made industrial institutions, and combine agriculture
with rustic mechanics.
course of study, and subject to the inspection, pe-
riodically, of government inspectors.
A people who have been subject, for several cen-
turies, to a rigid political despotism, and sunk for
ages in a gross system of idolatry, which, while it
involved a slavish subjection to a dominant caste,
encouraged the development and exercise of every
sensual passion, must necessarily have both intellec-
tual and moral faculties darkened to a degree almost
surpassing belief. If it be a hopeless task to re-
generate a human being, of whose originally small
glimmering of soul scarcely a scintilla is left, and
whose frame, diseased by debauchery, is returning to
its original mire, how much more difficult must it
be to raise a hundred million from the inert state in
which the mass now vegetate through existence !
Far easier is the task of elevating the New-Zea-
lander or Kaffir ; nay, the efforts making for the
civilising of Bheels, Gonds, Mairs, Sonthals, and
other aborigines in India, may be attended with
earlier success than can be expected from the Hin-
doo, whose mind is still under the dominion of a
Gooroo, or Brahmin. It is only, therefore, by great
and long-sustained exertions on the part of govern-
ment, aided by all its servants, that the literary,
moral, and industrial education of the people of
India can be accomplished.*
The Press. — The rise and progress in India of
this potent engine of civilisation requires to be
briefly noted. JDuring the administration of Warren
Hastings, the first English newspaper was established
at Calcutta : it was styled Hicliey's Gazette, and is
described as a low, scurrilous, immoral publication ;
it soon died a natural death. In 1814, the Oovern-
ment Gazette was the only publication extant. With
the increase of Anglo-Indian residents the number
of newspapers augmented, and their character im-
proved. In 1820 there were three weekly journals
and one monthly periodical in Calcutta. In 1830,
the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and annual
periodicals issuing from the Bengal press was thirty-
three. In 1834 the numbers stood thus : — Daily,
political newspapers, four; commercial advertisers,
four. Tri-weekly, political, two ; commercial, one.
Weekly, political, four ; commercial, four. Monthly,
* Government do not seem to have as yet given any
attention to the highly important subject of female educa.
tion. The character of the men of any country may be
readily inferred by the intellectual progress and moral
teaching of the women. The barbarous system of the
Mohammedans is to keep the fair sex as mere sensual
toys or household drudges : this cruel policy has, in some
places, been adopted by the Hindoos from their Moslem
conquerors ; but it belongs not to their social ethics, as
Menu enjoins reverence and respect ; and there have been
several distinguished female sovereigns and personages in
Hindoostan. A London institution for promoting the
education of the women of India is now in full operation,
under the direction of a ladies' committee, who send out
carefully-trained schoolmistresses, and superintend the
working of the society at home and abroad. If the day
have not arrived when girls' schools can be formed
by government in India as well as in England, then to
such a body as " the Society for promoting Female Educa.
tion in the East," the work of educating the women of
India might be temporarily entrusted by the state.
f There were IJkhbars, or Court Circulars, containing
such scraps of official news, or gup, as the ruling power
permitted to be made known.
X In 1829, in conjunction with Rammohun Roy, Dwar-
kanaut Tagorc, Prussuna Coraar Tagore, and other Hindoo
gentlemen, I established in Calcutta a weekly journal, and
printed it, under my own roof, in English, lieugallee, and
general, six. Quarterly, reviews and Army List,
four. Annuals and almanacs, five. In the N. W.
Provinces, Agra, Delhi, Cawnpoor, and Meerut, had
each an English newspaper.
At Madras there were nine, and at Bombay ten
English newspapers and other periodicals ; there was
no stamp or advertisement duty, but postage was
levied on the transmission of journals through the
post-office. A registration of the name and resi-
dence of proprietors, and a lodgment of a copy with
government of each issue of a publication, were re-
quired. Until Sir Charles Metcalfe, when acting
governor-general in August, 1835, declared the press
of India free, and its conductors subject only to the
civil law, and trial by jury for libel, the government
exercised a vigilant censorship, and could at any
moment destroy an obnoxious journal by the depor-
tation of its conductors to Europe (as was done in
the case of the late Mr. Silk Buckingham) ; but
since 1835, the newspaper press of India has been as
free as that of England.
The native periodical press is of recent formation.
During Hindoo and Moslem sway, no such thing as
a newspaper with freedom of discussion existed.!
Even in 1820 there were r.o journals in the verna-
cular : a few subsequently arose.J In 1834 there
were fifteen newspapers published weekly in Bengal,
some in Bengallee, others in Persian, and some with
translations into English. At the same period there
was in Madras one native newspaper published in
Hindoostanee and in English ; and in Bombay,
four— in the Guzerattee, Mahratta, and Persian
languages.
With the establishment of these journals, English
and native, there came into operation several printing-
presses for the publication of books, pamphlets, &c.,
which were of essential service to the spread of edu-
cation and literature.
The latest data before me (1853) of the news-
papers and periodicals in the English language at
each presidency, show: — Calcutta — Daily, seven ;§
bi-weekly, three ; weekly, eleven ; bi-monthlj', five ;
monthly, eight ; quarterly, nine ; yearly, eight. This
is a larger issue of periodical literature than Edin-
burgh, Dublin, or any city in the United Kingdom
Hindoostanee (Persian) characters, in parallel columns,
with a hope of improving the tone of the native mind,
and preparing it for a temperate discussion of public
affairs. This journal was acknowledged to have been
eminently instrumental in aiding Lord Wm. Bentinck
in the abolition of suttee, by appeals to the humane
feelings of Hindoo husbands, fathers, and brothers. When
widow-burning was suppressed, attention was directed to
other prevailing pernicious practices, such as duelling
among Europeans, and flagellation in the army. Some
very mild comments on a court-martial sentence, dated
20th July, 1829, of "one thousand lashes on the bare
back of gunner Wm. Comerford, of the 1st company
5th battalion of Bengal artillery" (whose wife had been
seduced by the captain of his company, and the seducer's
life threatened by the aggrieved husband), led to the con-
demnation by the government of India of the journal, and
its ultimate destruction, with the large property embarked
therein. It is now unnecessary to advert to the injury
sustained; the circumstance is mentioned as a fragment
of history. The sacrifice was made for great objects, and
it is seldom one is privileged to witness the beneficial
results by the attainment of the end in view.
5 Englishman, Hurkarn (Messenger), Citizen, Morning
Chronicle, Evening Mail, Commercial and Shipping Ga-
zette, Exchange Gazette. The Englishman and Hurkarn,
for instance, are of the size of the London T^mes without
its supplement.
540
RAPID EXTENSION OF PRINTING IN INDIA— 1854-'55.
but London can exhibit. Bombay — Daily, three ;*
bi-weekly, two ; weekly, five ; bi-monthly, four ;
monthly, three ; quarterly, one ; half-yearly, one ;
annually, two; and occasionally (transactions of
scientific societies), four. Madras — Daily and
weekly, nine ; bi-monthly, two ; monthly, eight ;
quarterly, three ; annual, six. Throughout difi'erent
parts of India there are also English newspapers,
journals, &c., viz.; at Agra, four ; Delhi, four ;
Simla, one ; Lahore, one ; Serampoor {Friend of
India), one; Rangoon, one; Bangalore (bi-weekly
Herald), one; Poona, one; Kurachee (Sinde), two.
Of the native press I can find no complete returns :
in Bengal it has largely increased ;t as also at Bom-
* THmes, Gazette, and Courier, each nearly equal in
size to the Calcutta newspapers.
f The Baptist Mission Press is distinguished in Ben-
gal above all others for the accuracy and excellency
of its work ; it does a large amount of business, the profits
of which are all devoted to the missiou. By the aid of
this active society, the Scriptures have in whole or in
part been translated into, and printed in, forty-four
Asiatic languages, which may be thus enumerated : —
Statistics of Translations (in the Languages of India) of
thj Holy Scriptures.
Languages or Dialects.
Afghan
Armenian
Aftsamese
Battak (number not known.)
Beloocliee ditto.
Bengallee
Bhngulcundi
Bhikaneera
Bhutueera
Bruj
Burmese
Cashmere
Chinese
Cingalese (about)
Guzerattee
Gurwhali or Shreenagur . . .
Havoti
Hindi
Hindoostanee or Urdu ....
Javanese (about)
Jumbu
Juyapura (number not known.)
Kanoj
Khassi
Kumaon
Kunkunu
Kusoli (number not known.)
Kumata
Mahratta
Malay
Marwari
Mugudh
Multani
Munipura
Nepaulese
Oodeypoor (number not known.)
Oojin
Oriya
Palpa
Persian
Sanscrit
Sikhi
Sindhi (number not known.)
Telinga or Teloogoo . ...
Total number of Vols.
No. of Copies.
Wholly. In Part.
5,500 •
i,400
),000
14,900
3,000
2,790
6,509
341,655+
67,0604
1,000
1,000
1,000
6,000
10,500
3,000
9,100
6,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
76,000
132,033
3,000
1,000
1,000
500
1,000
2,000
1,000
11,465
1,500
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
14,000
1,000
37,500
71,580
5,000
1,000
833,180
X New Testament. § Old Testament,
(Pari. Papers— Commons ; 6th August, 1853; p. 165.)
The London Missionary Society have translated the whole
bay, where there are two daily newspapers in Guze-
rattee ; five bi-weekly, four weekly (Marathi, Guze-
rattee and Persian), one bi-monthly (Marathi and
Engliiih), one monthly (in Portuguese.)
The activity of printing may be judged by the
number of establishments in full operation at Bom-
bay, viz., English, seven; Guzerattee, eleven; Ma-
rathi, four ; Persian, four ; lithographic presses, five.
In the N. W. Provinces, the number of native presses
in operation during the year 1853, was forty; and
the number of native newspapers issued therefrom,
thirty-seven : some of these, though containing cur-
rent news, supply information useful for schools, on
subjects connected with geography, zoology, history
(chiefly modern), education, popular errors, transla-
tions from Shakspeare, influence of the moon on
animal and vegetable creation, and various scientific
matters. The official report to government (19th
No. of Selections) on the subject of these native
presses, states — " Of the forty presses at work, five
were established within the year, and four discon-
tinued during the same period ; in the same manner,
five new newspapers were issued, and five old ones
discontinued. The books published at the presses
were 195, and the approximate number of copies
of the same struck oflT for general use, 103,615. Two
of the principal presses, viz., Gobind Puglionath's at
Benares, and the Moostufaee press at Delhi, have
not furnished us with the number of copies they
have published of each work issued by them : for
these, therefore, the lowest average, viz., 200 to each
work, has been taken ; but it may confidently be
assumed that a far greater number of cojjies were
struck off, more especially as the last-named press is
noted for its success in the publication and sale of
books." The report adverts eommendingly to several
of the newspapers, viz., the Koh-i-Noor, at Lahore ;
the iVbo»'-oo/-^Asar, at Agra; the Quiran-oos-Sadyn,
at Delhi ; the Soodhakeer, at Benares, " which ranks
very high among the native journals of these pro-
vinces." One newspaper deserves special note, owing
to its patronage and source : — " Another well-con-
ducted periodical is the Malwa Ukhbar, under the
patronage of the Maharajah Holkar and Sir R. N.
C. Hamilton, and published at Indore. The paper
is edited by one of the teachers of the Indore schooi,
and contains intelligence relative to the native neigh-
bouring states, which have been personally visited by
the editor, and with the condition and general aflairs
of which he would appear to be thoroughly con-
versant." It is to be regretted that there are no
government reports on the state of the native press
in Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. Very little fore-
sight is needed to perceive the vast importance, poli-
tical, social, and moral, which this rapid extension of
printing is calculated to produce on the native mind
throughout the length and breadth of Hindoostan :
for weal or for woe our government is now com-
mitted to the principle of free discussion on every
topic which the discursive faculties of the Asiatic
may choose to examine. Some publications of a
decidedly deistical and even atheistical character
Bible into two languages — the Canarese and Teloogoo ;
aided that of the Oordoo, Guzerattee, Bengallee, Tamul,
and Maliyalim. Of j^63,963 annual income, jf 26, 136 is
expended in India. The Church Missionary Society
spends in India it45,000 per annum, and has eighty-
eight ordained clergymen engaged in its glorious work.
The excellent Moravians are "breaking ground" in the
Himalaya, and the Scotch church are effectively occupy-
ing Western India.
THE PURE HINDOO AND THE ANCIENT GREEK COMPARED. 541
f
have already appeared.* Paine's Age of Season and
Vohiey's Ruins of Empires, not long since found a
more ready sale than any other imported books ;
for, in the transition state from Paganism to Chris-
tianism, the gulf of infidelity must, it is to be
feared, be passed with ruin to many souls.f
The pure Hindoo mind, generally speaking, re-
sembles very much that of the ancient Greek : it is
logical, yet fond of romance — acute in perception,
but wanting in profundity ; delighting in subtleties,
and eager for disputation; more vain than proud,—
prone to exaggeration, — given to fine sentiments
rather than to noble actions,! — with a keener relish
for the beautiful than the true, — physically brave,
but morally pusillanimous, — superstitious, impulsive,
ardent in love, bitter in hatred, — of vivid thoughts,
bright imaginings, and lofty aspirations. With
»uch a people, whose natural character has been
subdued by centuries of despotism, great results
may be produced by example and precept. If left
unguided, the bias of fallen man must lead to evil ;
but with the powerful engine of the printing-press,
government may exercise a permanent influence for
good. There is no time to be lost: the school in-
spectors, European and native, now being appointed
over every district, may become efficient instruments
for the guidance of the native press in the inculca-
tion of truth, the discussion of political economy,
and the diffusion of virtuous principles.
C'KIME. — For want of regular returns and a uni-
form system, it is not possible at present to show the
extent of crime among the population generally ; the
nature of offences peculiar to the Hindoos or to the
Mohammedans ; the increase or decrease for several
years ; or the ratio that it bears to the number of
inhabitants : such statistics would be very valuable,
and might be obtained. Some returns prepared for
* I obtained in 1845, at Bombay, one atheistical book,
written by a Parsee, in reply to the Scotch missionaries,
which was of such a blasphemous character that 1 burnt
the work to prevent its falling into the hands of any
young person in England.
t One of the ablest newspapers published in India,
termed the Calcutta Inquirer, was edited by a Hindoo
named Khrishna Mohun Bannajee, a man of brilliant
abilities, perfectly well acquainted with the English lan-
guage, which he wielded with great power against the
government as a thorough "radical:" his infidelity was
for a time complete." About the year 1834 he became
acquainted with the missionaries ; his scepticism was
shaken, and he soon embraced Christianity — ceased to
oppose government, " sounded the alarm to his country-
men and the authorities on the danger of imparting a
merely intellectual education, as inevitably leading a large
mass of the population into hostility to the British rule ;
and declared his entire conviction, both politically and
morally, that the government would do well not to
exclude Christianity from their schools.** — {See valuable
evidence of Colonel Jacob, of the artillery, before parlia-
ment, 4th August, 1853.) While in India, I invited the
presence of many young Hindoo gentlemen to my cham-
bers in the evening, and usually had large soirees : they
quoted Shakspeare, Byron, and other popular works with
remarkable memory, but almost invariably scoffed at the
Bible and all religion ; they had kicked away the crutches
of Hindooism, and received no substitute ; hence they
stumbled through dark and fearful regions of atheism.
i There are many exceptions to this, especially in Raj-
poot annals ; and the devotion of the Hindoo sepoy to his
European officer, has often been exhibited by the sacrifice
of life to save that of his commander ; but heroism is not,
in the present age, the characteristic of the mass of the
people,
§ Of this number but 46,381 were punished. The
4 A
the judicial department of the Madras government,
furnishes useful details for the year 1850. It appears,
that among a population of 22,281,527, there were in
one year 167,063 alleged cases of a8sault,§ 2,-308 of
cattle-stealing, 9,135 of theft, and 5,424 of various
other ofi'ences : total, 183,930 cases of crime, for
which summonses were granted by the district magis-
trates. The village police cases included 11,087
charged with petty assault, and 1,585 of petty theft.
The offences against the person in the Madras
Presidency, show that the Hindoo is not the peace-
able person that he is generally represented.|| The
murders in 1850 were 275; homicide, 87; wounding
with intent to kill, 25; assault with wounding, 412;
rape, 75 : total, 864. The offences against property
in the same year, were : — Robbery, with aggravating
circumstances, 486; robbery, without ditto, 828;
housebreaking, 5,959; theft, 2,350; cattle-stealing,
killing, or wounding, 922; arson, 377; embezzle-
ment and fraud, 205: total, 11,127. Forgery, 86;^
perjury or subornation, 11; various, 1,742: total,
1,839. This is a heavy catalogue of known crime,
which, it is to be feared, forms but a small propor-
tion of the amount actually perpetrated.
The crime of murder varies in different districts : — -
Malabar, 32 cases ; Canara, 30 ; Cuddapah, 24 ;
Salem, 23 ; Bellary, 20 ; in Gangam, Rajahmundry,
N. Arcot, Coimbatoor, Madura, and Tinnevelly, the
number of cases ranged from 12 to 16. The number
of persons charged, in 1850, with abuse of authority
as police-officers (principally peons, or constables
and village police servants), was 1,410, which indi-
cates grievous maladministration among the lowest
officials.** In proportion to the population of the
whole presidency, the number of persons summoned
for petty offences was one in eighty-three inhabits
ants, and the crimes and misdemeanours one in 1,000.
disproportion of persons punished to those summoned is
a great evil. In Rajahmundry, for instance, 1,422 out of
14,571, or nine per cent. Thus ninety-one out of every
hundred persons brought before the magistrates are ac-
knowledged to be innocent : this indicates a very bad
state of society.
11 Murder and attempts to kill are awfully prevalent
in every part of India .- the nature of the assault varies
with the character of the people, and is more manifest
among the hot-blooded Mussulmen than the cooler Hin-
doos ; the former slaying, the latter poisoning. Disputes
regarding women are often the cause, and a blood feud is
transmitted from father to son. Abstinence from animal
food does not seem to indispose the vegetarian from taking
the life of his fellow-man.
^ Forgei-y, perjury, and coining, were deemed trivial
offences under Pagan and Moslem rule. Coining base
money was turned to advantage by local functionaries,
wIm levied a tax from the coiners.
** The native police throughout India (excepting the
Punjab) is notoriously inefficient and corrupt. There
can now be no doubt that tortures of the most atrocious
and indecent character have been, and are still inflicted,
for the purpose of extorting confession from alleged cri-
minals, and still more with a view to obtain money from
the suspected or the accused. This, in a great degree,
accounts for the large number of persons summoned or
apprehended. In Bengal, dacoitij, or gang-robbery, is
nearly as bad as in the days of Warren Hastings. No
branch of our Indian administration demands reform more
than the police ; and perhaps in no department is it more
difficult, owing to the unprincipled and profligate class of
the community from whom the police are selected. The
remedy elsewhere suggested — of erecting municipalities, and
leaving the matter in the hands of corporations dependent
on the ratepayers, appears to afford the best means of
obtaining an h-nest and vigilant police.
542
AMOUNT AND NATURE OP CRIME IN INDIA.
The number of suicides and accidental deaths
reported to the magistracy in 1850, within the limits
of the Madras Presidency, is very remarkable : —
Cause of Death.
Men.
Women.
Children
Total.
Suicides : —
Drowning . .
195*
536
13
. 744
Hanging . . ..
171
72
—
243
Poison
4
25
1
30
Various
28
10
—
38
Total ....
398
643
14
1,055
Accidental deaths:—
Drowning in wells .
573t
913
662
2,148
Do. in tanks or rivers
468t
270
621
1,259
By burning . . .
48
29
47
124
M lightning . . .
99
27
16
142
„ sunstroke . . .
15
9
1
25
„ wild beasts . .
85
21
13
119
^. landslips, &c.
67
26
35
128
Various
497
1,852
87
64
648
Total ....
1,382
1,359
4,593
General Total .
2,250
2,025
1,373
5,648
The recklessness of life which this table exhibits is
awful ; upwards of a thousand suicides| and 4,500
alleged accidental deaths, constitute only those
known to or reported by the police ; and probably
many of those are murders.
Bombay, 1850. — The returns of crime for this
presidency vary in form, and are not so full as those
of Madras, neither do they api)ear to be so accu-
rately prepared. Number of persons apprehended
for crime by the district police, 60,673 ; by the
village ditto, 2,398 = 63,071. But here, as at
Madras, and owing most probably to the same
sause — a corrupt police — the number apprehended
or summoned is no actual test of crime. For in-
stance, of 60,673 persons apprehended, 17,765 were
discharged without trial, and 16,564 acquitted after
investigation. § The following official specification
of crime for two years, throughout the Bombay Pre-
* In the year 1849 — men, 328 ; women, 527.
t In 1849.
i In India, as in China, suicide very frequently results
from the use of opium and otlier intoxicating drugs, the
constant use of which (as an aphrodisiac in the first in-
stance) tends to the prostration of all vigour of mind or
body, and ultimately to self-murder, as a relief from the
torment experienced. Unhappily, our Indian government,
for the sake of obtaining a revenue, have encouraged not
only the growth of opium for exportation, but also for
private use. The late Henry St. George Tucker, a
respected and able chairman of the E. I. Cy., recorded
in 1829 his sentiments on this point. " The supreme
government of India have condescended to supply the
retail shops with opium for domestic consumption. I
believe that no one act of our government has appeared
in the eyes of respectable natives, both Mohammedan
and Hindoo, more questionable j nothing, I suspect,
has tended so much to lower us in their regard. Was it
becoming in a great government to establish shops for the
retail sale of the drug ? Is it desirable that we should
bring it to the very door of the lower orders, who might
never otherwise have found the article within their reach,
and who are now tempted to adopt a habit alike injurious
to health and to good morals." — {Memorials of Indian
Government : Selections from the Papers of Henry St.
George Tucker, p. 154. Edited by J. W. Kaye:
London, 1853.)
5 In Madras, out of 183,930 persons summoned or
apprehended for alleged criminal oiiences, only 54,067
were punished.
sidency, will confirm the remark made under Madras,
as to the immoral state of the population : —
Crime throughout the Bombay Presidency in 1850,
contrasted with 1849.
Offences.
1849. 1850.
Adulteryll
Assault with homicide
Ditto, with woiinding or other violence
Ditto, simple
Arson
Child-stealingH
Forgery, or counterfeiting the coin
Homicide .......
Murder ■ .
Perjury
Rape
Keeeiving stolen goods
Gang-robbery, with murder
Ditto with violence
Ditto unaggravated
Robbery, including burglary and cattle- \
stealing, with murder . . • • j
Robbery, including burglary and cattle-
stealing, with violence ....
Robbery, including burglary and cattle-
stealing, unaggravated ....
Theft, with murder, including that of chil-
dren for the sake of ornaments
Theft, simple
Treason, rebellion, and riot
Thuggee
Miscellaneous Offences, viz. ; — •
Abuse of authority
Abusive language .....
Abortion, procuring and attempting, or 1
assistant at ditto J
Attempt at theft or robbery
Breach of contract
Breach of religious law ....
Breaking or destroying boundaries .
Bribery, and attempt at ditto .
Conspiracy
Concealment of robbery or theft
Concealment of murder . . . .
Dhurna
Embezzlement
Escape from custody, and attempts and ]
connivance at ditto . . • • j
Fraud .......
Failure to furnish security
Infraction of police rules . . . .
Jhansa
Neglect of duty and disobedience of orders
Return from banishmeut or transportation
Suicide, attempts at
Traga, and attempts at ... .
Uttering base coin and using false weights
Not included in the above
213
15
503
13,564
677
20
95
33
•165
155
69
374
18
221
56
13
2,087
3,667
11
7,276
25
9,342
70
639
67
153
30
120
1.30
17
7
5
53
49
3)i
')■>
999
431
916
30
27
73
159
2,408
Total 46,351 47,982
201
26
499
14,022
570
27
103
39
146
167
84
421
13
204
81
2,211
4,334
14
8,406
le
1
69
9,481
76
783
84
124
60
192
112
19
3
8
83
71
277
30
729
609
9-50
36 I
22
103
203
2,301
II This is a prevalent crime in India. The Punjab com-
missioners report that "the men of the Punjab regard
adultery with a vindictiveness only to be appeased by
the death or mutilation of the parties ; yet in no cotintry
are instances of female depravity and conjugal infidelity
more frequent." The natives hate any system of law
which will not give such redress as their vengeance may
demand, and murder the aggressor when in their power
to do so.
1 Child-stealing was extensively practised under the
native rule ; and, despite our vigilance, is still practised
in every part of India. While slavery existed and was
encouraged, there was of course a premium offered for
the abduction of infants from their parents. In the Punjab,
for instance, " children of both sexes, especially females,
were openly bought and sold." — (Report, p. 44.) There
the crime is now punished with ten or fifteen years*
imj)risonment.
STATE OF CRIME IN BENGAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY— 1850— '52. 543
The supposed number of offenders for the year is
96,691, of whom 78,366 only were apprehended. Of
the prisoners tried, no more than 8,123 could read
and write ; the number tried for second offences was
2,S03. The punishments are thus shown of 4,222
prisoners who were in the gaols on 31st December,
1850 : — Imprisonment for life, with labour in irons,
131 ; ditto, without irons, 65 ; imprisonment, ten to
fourteen years, 270 ; ditto, seven to ten years, 495 ;
ditto, less than seven years, 2,762 ; ditto, without
labour, 499. The number of deaths in prison
throughout the year was 318 : the average mor-
tality being about six per cent. The sentences of
death by the Sudder Foujdaree Adawlut, or highest
criminal court, was only 13, which marks a very
limited extent of capital punishment. Fines seem
to be the most usual mode of dealing with offenders :
of 26,352 sentenced by district police, 22,679 were
mulct in money, or imprisoned in default of pay-
ment, 2,482 confined without labour, and 1,191
placed in the stocks ; of 4,792 sentenced by magis-
trates, 2,535 were fined, 46 flogged and discharged,
and the remainder imprisoned for various terms
under a year. The session judges' sentences on
1,258 tried before them, comprised 151 fined, and
the others imprisoned for various terms of one to
five years.
The returns for Bombay,' as well as Madras, note
that petty crime prevails most in those districts
where there is heavy taxation, failure of crops,
general distress, and want of remunerative employ-
ment ; also assaults with woundingf where the men
still go abroad on all occasions armed. Where the
inhabitants are employed in constructing tanks, wells,
and other public works, crime has diminished. The
sums reported lost by robbery throughout the presi-
dency, in 1850, is not large, viz., rupees, 558,345 =
£55;854 ; and recovered by the police — rupees,
150,560; lost by arson — rupees, 24,034.
Nortii-West Peovinces.— The details of crime
for 1849,t in this large section of India, are very
meagre. The number of persons apprehended dur-
ing the year was 82,957 ; and, with the addition of
1,435 prisoners under examination Ist January,
1849, and 1,071 received by transfer, total disposed
of, 85,463 : of these only 45,863 (barely more than
one-half) were convicted, and 32,842 were acquitted ;
the remainder died (51), escaped (65), were trans-
ferred, &c. No statement of crimes or of suicides,
and no trustworthy returns from Bengal appear
amon^ the papers laid before parliament ; but the
following significant expression by the governor-
general (Dalhousie), when examining the " Report
of the Punjab," will, to some extent, show the state
of the country. His lordship says — " I will boldly
affirm, that life and property are now, and have for
some time been, more secure within the bounds of
the Punjab, which we have only held for four years,
than they are in the province of Bengal, which has
been ours for very nearly a century ."§ According to a
police report, it is stated that in 1854, out of a
population estimated at 35,000,000, spread over 31
districts, 84,536 persons were arrested for 82,925
separate charges : one person accused in every 414
inhabitants — less than a fourth per cent. The con-
victions are quoted at 48,127, or one-seventh per
cent, on the population. Value of property stolen
during the year — rupees, 600,000 ; amount recovered
— rupees, 74,111, or nine per cent. A military
police, like that of Ireland, would be useful.
Persons apprehended, convicted, acqu
itted, and committed for Trial, in each Presidency, from 1850 —
52.
Classification of Cri-
Bengal.
N. \V. Provinces.
Madras.
Bombay.
minal Cases.
1850.
1851.
1852.
1850.
1851.
1862.
1850.
1861.
1852.
1850.
185111
186211
Pending on 1st of Jan.
Keceived by transfer .
Apprehended during 1
the year . . ., ]
2,634
440
107,967
2,496
629
107,718
2.865
441
104,474
1,356
758
83,059
1,627
947
82,112
1,.505
1,010
94,747
1,984
202,506
3,624
192,609
3,298
194,614
1,068
78,588
—
—
Total
111,041
110,743
107,780
85,173
84,586
97,262
204,490
196,233
197,812
79,656
—
—
ConTicted
Acquitted
Discharged without!
trial )
Committed ....
Died
Escaped '
Transferred ....
Pending, in gaol . .
„ on bail . .
63,407
40,092
3,962
93
603
490
765
1,729
61,583
40,799
4,080
134
540
734
994
1,879
63,316
35,864
4,417
184
614
632
913
1,840
46,170
32,580
4,300
69
32
505
707
820
46,012
32,283
4,079
67
45
697
749
754
55,904
34,677
4,369
1 764
|l,548
57,684
78,929
64,107
\ 146
J
3,624
51,463
78,255
63,144
73
3,298
52,300
78,018
63,544
86
3,864
33.865
20,882
22,864
> 960
1,085
Total . ...
111,041 j 110,743
107,780
85,173
84,586
97,262
204,490
196,233
197,812
79,656
—
—
II Returns not yet received.
Punjab. — It is refreshing to turn from the crime
and inefficient police of Southern India to the con-
dition of the Punjab Proper, where, previous to the
assumption of British sovereignty(29th March, 1849),
crime and deeds of violence were rife. Under the
sway of Runjeet Sing, the penal code was unwritten.
There were but two penalties — mutilation and fine :
* Within the last two years, military officers have been
made assistant magistrates, and placed in charge of the
police. Tlie result has been satisfactory : the policemen
have been brought under discipline, and rendered effective.
t In the Punjab Proper, a complete disarming of the
capital punishment was rare ; imprisonment almost
unknown ; mutilation reserved for seduction and
adultery — sometimes inflicted for violent theft and
robbery; but for every offence from petty larceny
to murder, impunity was purchased by money.
From one to ten thousand rupees was the price
of human life ; occasionally a noted murderer or
population recently took place with the happiest results ;
119,796 weapons of various kinds were seized or sur-
rendered to the police.
J Dated Agra, l.ltli September, 1850.
5 Minute by Guvernoi-gcneral, 9th May, 1853.
544 DIMINUTION OF CRIME, AND EXCELLENT POLICE-PUNJAB.
robber was enlisted, on high pay, as a cavalier or
a foot soldier; if he were a notorious villain, he was
made an officer. When a district became disturbed,
Runjeet Sing left the matter to his lieutenants, and
did not object to the Draconian code of General
Avitabile,* in which hanging was the penalty for
every crime, small or great.
Considering that 60,000 men were let loose over
the Punjab after the-surrender of the Seik power, and
that the neighbourhood contained hosts of lawless
mountaineers, on a frontier line of 500 miles, apt at
all times to make forays, and prey on the more civi-
lised and wealthy communities of the plains, the
organisation of an efficient police became a matter
of the first consideration. A territory extending
over an area of 10,000 miles, between the Beas
and Indus, peopled by several million warlike Seiks
and fanatic Mussulmen, — by Rajpoots, Patans,
Jats, and Goojurs, — by devotees and renegades of
every faith in India, — required a preventive police
with military organisation, and a detective force
under civil control : the former consists of six regi-
ments of foot (5,400 men), and twenty-seven troops
of horse (2,700), regularly armed and equipped, and
commanded by four British officers as police cap-
tains. The infantry guard the gaols, treasuries,
frontier posts, and city gates, furnish escorts for the
transit of treasure, and other civil duties ; the cavalry
are posted in small or larger numbers as a mounted
patrol along the grand lines of road. Both horse
and foot are ready at a moment's notice to aid the
civil police, the infantry to crush resistance, the
cavalry to expedite pursuit.
The civil police supported by the state (and inde-
pendent of the city watchmen and rural constabulary
paid by the people), consists of 6,900 men of all
grades, divided over 228 jurisdictions, in each of
which a police-officer is stationed, with one or two
deputies and policemen. Each tehsildar (native
collector of land revenue) is invested with defined
police powers within his circle, with authority to
overawe the police when corrupt, to animate them
when negligent, and to aid the police-officers by
infusing honour and vigour into the men. Unknown
and suspicious characters are prevented prowling
about ; curfew penalties are imposed on those found
wandering outside the villages between sunset and
sunrise ; parties not registered as public workmen
or camp followers, and found within cantonments,
are punished ; armed travellers must deposit their
arms at the police-station nearest to the pass, and
receive them back on their return ; all large bodies
of men are watched ; wayfaring men who put up at
the village inns, must report themselves to the
village chief; and any inn or hotel proved to have
sheltered enemies to the public peace, is destroyed.
The city watch and village police form an im-
portant link between the executive and the people.
The rural detectives here, as in other parts of India,
form admirable trackers; among the middle and lower
parts of the Dooabs, amid the wild tract of forest
and brushwood, there is a scattered population, who
* At Peshawur, where Avitabile (a Neapolitan) was
supreme, the code was blood for blood, especially if the
murdered man was a Seik ; but " his object was the sacri-
fice of a victim rather than the punishment of guilt." —
(Report of Commission, 1851; p. 11.)
f General Report on Administration of Punjab, p. 39.
t Infanticide unhappily prevails extensively in the Pun-
jab. In Rajpootana it has existed for years ; but here the
Rajpoots are free from that crime which is committed
Jiiefly by the Beaees or priestly class among the Seiks,
hitherto subsisted chiefly by stealing thousands of
cattle, which once carried thither, never emerged
thence with life. Roads have been cut through
these haunts, and the professional trackers will
follow a thief with stolen cattle for fifty to one
hundred miles, although the ground may be over-
grown with grass, or too hard to be susceptible of
footmarks. Dacoity, during the first year of our
administration, attained an alarming height; gangs
of armed and mounted robbers scoured the
roads at night, and attacked the houses of native
grandees by day, after the fashion of the bush-
rangers, as described in my volume on Van Die-
men's Land. These gangs have been dispersed,
hunted down by men braver than themselves, and
the leaders have suffered death or been outlawed :
those who escaped have been chased into perpetual
exile among the fastnesses of Bikaneer and Raj'-
hasthan, or the wilds of the Great Desert. Now
the Punjab is as free from dacoity as any part of
Upper India. Thuggee, which was practised hy a
low class of Seiks, who, however, had not " the
supple sagacity, insidious perseverance, religious
faith, dark superstition, sacred ceremonies, peculiar
dialect, and mysterious bond of union which dis-
tinguished their Hindoo brethren," has been sup-
pressed, and an organised body of ferocious and
desperate murderers destroyed. Finally, in no part
of India is there more perfect peace than in the
Punjab.f The returns show a moderate amount of
crime,! especially w'hen the recent habits of the
population be considered. The ratio, in proportion
to the population of the Lahore district, as compared
with other parts of Western India, is thus stated : —
^-g -C.S I'Sis
Districts.
m
ii
4> OS 0
s S %
P^ «.£
^8
PS"
o «
Lahore division .
1849-'o0
9,009
5,144
274-41
480-32
Do. do . .
1850-'51
9,998
5,423
247-13
45.5-61
Delhi district .
. 1849
2,179
1,6.53
140 68
186-66
Agra do. . ,
j^
4,070
2,313
203-3
3.58-6
Allahabad district
• •
3,476
1,424
204-33
498-78
Benares do.
. . »
3,620
1,776
204-81
423 10
Under the native laws, punishments for crime were
exceedingly cruel; but except in extraordinary cases
of treason or sacrilege, the poor were alone the
sufferers, as the administration of justice was corrupt
to the core. Torture was applied to both principals
and witnesses, and by the gaolers also, to extort
money from the prisoners. Flogging, mutilation,
decapitation, drowning, burying alive, casting to
wild beasts, and disembowelling, constituted the
successive grades of sentences for those who were
unable to buy off the infliction.
Under our rule capital punishments are restricted
to murder; all other heinous offences are visited
with transportation to Sincapoor or other places
across the sea, with imprisonment and hard labour,
on the roads or at public works, either for life or
for a term of years.
who consider tlieir order sacred, and that if their daughters
lived and married, the fathers would be degraded : the
children are consequently doomed to an early death.
Other tribes also commit this unnatural and foul crime,
viz., " some of the Mussulmen sects, and some sub.
divisions of the Khastree caste." The British officials, at
the suggestion of some excellent missionaries, have had a
public meeting of the chiefs, who have agreed to co-ope-
rate in the abolition, of this unnatural crime. The pur-
chase of slave girls is also decreasing.
CHAPTER V.
CIVIL GOVERNMENT-
JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION— MILITARY POWER^AND PRO-
TECTED STATES AND PENSIONARIES.
TuE earliest knowledge we possess of India, inclines
me to think that the country was divided into several
forms of government, some as military monarchies,
others as aristocratic oligarchies,* and many with
republicant or democratic institutions ; but all, more
or less, combined the hereditary element in their
constitutions, and were required, on great occasions,
to unite for mutual defence against a foreign foe.
Individual freedom was prized by the people ; and
when overcome by an enemy, many fled into the
deserts and jungles, preferring solitude to subju-
gation.
The village or municipal system of India, which
has outlived all dynasties and changes, combines the
hereditary with the democratic : the potail or mayor,
in virtue of his birth, would succeed his father; but
if unfit for his position, the commonalty might elect
their chief. Among the Hindoos there is a strong
tendency to office-succession in the same family —
not so much in reference to feudality or clanship, as
to the transmission of property from one generation
to another, in an unbroken line, for a long series of
years; a feeling tenaciously held by some races of
mankind, and especially by several of Asiatic
origin. This idea would doubtless tend to mould
the form of government.|
As a general rule, it maybe stated that the Hindoo
polity was monarchical, with some republican prin-
ciples, a territorial feudal aristocracy, and hereditary
rights and privileges; the Mohammedan rule (ac-
quired by the sword) was styled imperial, and upheld
* At the city of Nysa, during the Alexandrine period,
the chief authority resided in a senate of 300 members.
When the Portuguese first saw the Rajpoots, they de-
scribed them as living under aristocratic republics. —
(Barros — Asia, iv., p. 545.) The reader desirous of in-
vestigating the fragmentary information and legendary
lore derived from the Puranas, Maharabat, Cashmerian
annals, and other documents relative to the Hindoos, up
to the period of the marauding invasions of the Moham-
medans in the 11th century of the Christian era, will
find abundant scope for inquiry in the works of Sir W.
Jones, Colebrook, Wilkins, Wilson, Deguignes, Tod,
Bentley, Heeren, Bird, Wilford, Moore, El])hinstone,
Dow, Stewart, Masson, and other writers, who have praise-
worthily devoted themselves to antiquarian researches con-
nected with the history of the East. A summary of the
scanty facts thus obtained would lead to no useful result,
as scarcely two authors agree in their general conclusions,
excepting in so far that about the period above-named
India was divided into many separate states, with nume-
rous tributary or independent rajahs or feudal chiefs.
f This word is used in reference to the prevailing idea
of its signification. I do not myself think that any form
of republic, whether carried on by an oligarchy or by a
democracy, can long exist except under Christian polity,
when each member of the commonwealth not only
governs himself, but subjugates or directs his passions
and desires for the promotion of the public weal. In pro-
portion to the fulfilment of this duty, and so far as it
accords with the Divine law, in such proportion will be
the duration, prosperity, and happiness of a state, whatever
may be the designation given to its form of government.
J Mr. George Campbell, B.C.S., in the first chapter of
his useful work {Modem India, 1852), shows the difficulty
of arriving at any definite condosion as to the early form
by despotic sway ; no aristocracy but that of office
or service was tolerated; no local institutions were
encouraged ; everything became, as far as possible,
centralised; and all persons and property were at the
mercy of the emperor, whose position, though to
some extent hereditary, was only so after the manner
of the Cssar.s ; for the large standing army at Delhi
(as at Rome) could make or unmake the chief ruler.§
After the marauding Moslem hordes from Tartary
and Afghanistan had consolidated their conquests,
the empire was divided into soubahs|| or provinces,
such as Bengal, Bahar, Oude, Malwa, Lahore, &c.,
over each of which there was a creature of the
court, with the style and position of viceroy ; most
of whom, on the break-up of the Mogul dynasty,
declared themselves sovereigns in their respective
localities, although they preserved the formality of
obtaining the investiture of office from the nominal
emperor at Delhi.
When the English appeared in India, they fol-
lowed the example set by the Arabs and Portuguese,
— erected factories at places convenient for trade, and
gradually turned them into forts for the protection
of their goods and the security of their lives, during
the lawless state which ensued consequent on the
breaking up of the imperial government at Delhi.
Until 1707, the affairs of the factory of Calcutta
were under the superintendence of Fort St. George
or Madras : in that year a presidency was
formed for Bengal, consisting of a president or gov.
ernor, aided by a council of varying number — of
of government among the Hindoos. He thinks the Raj-
poots conquered the greater part of India, and although
democratic or feudal at home, they were absolute sove-
reigns abroad, and that under their sway, previous to the
arrival of the Mohammedans, India "enjoyed prosperity
and wealth."— (p. 12.)
§ At the beginning of the 18th century, the emperor
had 30,000 cavalry and 400,000 infantry in constant pay.
Merit, not birth, gave precedence, and largesses were fre-
quently distributed. — {Genielli.)
II See p. 117 for the soubahs of the empire, and their
administration at the period of Akber's death in 1605.
Peter Heylin, in his Cosmographie, 2nd edition, Lon-
don, 1657, p. 883, says that India was then, according
to the latest observations, divided into forty-seven king-
doms, " whereof some few have still their own national
kings, the rest all subject to the power of the Great
Mogul." By joining many lesser territories, he arranged
the whole of India within the Ganges into twelve
divisions, viz. — 1. Dulsinda (W. of the Indus) ; 2. Pen-
gab (E. of the Indus, more inclining towards the S.) ;
3. Mandao, lying between the Pengab on the N., Agra on
the S., Delhi on the E., and the Indus on the W. ; chief
city, Mandao; well fortified, and said to be 30 m. in
circumference: also Mooltan and other cities; 4. Delhi
or Delin ; 5. Agra, including Gwalior ; 6. Sanga, on the
E. of Agra, and S.W. of Cambaia ; 7. Cambaia, S. of
Dulsinda and part of Mandao, lying on both sides of
the Indus, and containing Guzerat, &c. ; 8. Deccan ;
9. Canara ; 10. Malabar; 11. Narsinga (N. of Travancore
and S. of Orixa) ; 9. Orixa or Oristan; 10. Botanter,
the petty kingdoms N.E. of the Ganges river ; 11. Pa-
^anaw (Patna) ; 12. Bengala. The extra Gangeiic tern-
tones were divided into Brama or Barma (Burmah), Chav-
Chin China, Cambaia, Jangoma or Laos, Siam, and Pegu.
546 FORM OP ENGLISH GOVERNMENT IN INDIA— 1707 to 1833.
nine to twelve members of the civil class, — chosen
according to seniority, and generally head factors,
who held their lucrative situations at the will of the
governor. In 1758 the government was remodelled
by order of the directors of the E. I. Cy. : instead of
one governor, four were nominated, each to hold
office three months, and follow in rotation ; these
quarterly governors to be aided by a council of ten
members. This extraordinary scheme was set aside
by the four newly-appointed governors themselves :
they saw it was not possible to work out such an
absurdity, and they invited Clive to accept the un-
divided office of president ; which was done.
In 1765, another form was devised by the home
authorities, to remove existing disturbances in the
executive, viz., a governor and four councillors,
called a select committee. Before this body arrived,
the disturbances had ceased to exist ; but the gov-
ernor and committee assumed the whole civil and
military authority. In 1769, a new plan was de-
vised, with a view to check the corruption, and
procure the funds which the E. I. Cy. expected from
India ; a Board of Commissioners was to supervise
tlie proceedings of the governor and council, and to
exercise abroad almost the entire power which the
Court of Directors were authorised to employ at
home. The ship in which the supervisors embarked
was never heard of after leaving port, and the plan
was abandoned.
The Crown began, in 1772, to take an interest in
the administration of India, which up to this period
had been exclusively vested in the E. I. Cy. In
1773, parliament passed a "Regulating Act," under
which, as previously stated (p. 313), a supreme gov-
ernment was established at Calcutta, Warren Hast-
ings was appointed governor-general, and several
changes were made defining the constitution of the
company, as regarded both Courts of Directors
and proprietors, and the powers to be vested in the
subordinate governments at Madras and Bombay.*
In 1781, another act (21 Geo. III., c. 95) was passed,
referring to the exclusive privileges of the company,
which had hitherto been considered perpetual, but
which were now fixed for a period of ten years, at
the end of which the company was entitled to a
three years' notice of the intention to resume the
conceded privileges; and another step was taken to
abridge the power of the company, or, at least, to
associate it with that of the Crown. By a clause in
the Charter Act of 1781, copies of all letters and
orders relating to the civil or military government of
India, were to be delivered to one of her Majesty's
secretaries of state ; and all documents relating to
the revenues, to be forwarded to the lords of the
treasury ; and " the court should be bound by such
instructions as they might receive from her Majesty,
through one of the secretaries of state, as far as re-
lated to the conduct and transactions of the company
and their servants with the country powers of India,
as well as to the levying war and the m.aking peace."
Henceforth the company ceased to be solely respon-
sible for the good government of the territories
* The president and council, at each of these stations,
were also henceforth proliibited commencing hostilities, or
declaring or making war against any Indian princes or
powers, or negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace,
or other treaty, without the consent or approbation of the
governor-general in council being first obtained, except in
such cases of imminent necessity as would render it dan-
gerous to postpone hostilities or treaties until the orders
from the governor-general in council might arrive, or
unless special orders be sent from the E. 1. Cy. in England.
entrusted to its care. Censure for omission or com-
mission ought to be applied to the double govern-
ment.
In 1783, a committee of the House of Commons
was appointed to inquire and to consider how the
Bi'itish possessions in the East could be best gov-
erned. In the succeeding year, Mr. Fox introduced
his celebrated " India Bill," which was very adverse
to the company,! " on the assumption that they had
betrayed their trust, mismanaged their affairs, op-
pressed the natives of the country, and brought
themselves to the verge of bankruptcy."! By the
bill, it was proposed to place the territorial govern-
m.ent, for four years, in the hands of seven directors,
to be nominated by parliament: the commercial
affairs (then of great magnitude) to be confided to
nine " assistant directors," elected by proprietors of
E.I. stock, but to act under the instructions of the
seven nominated directors, who could remove the
nine assistants. The company strongly protested
against the bill ; the measure became one of violent
party feeling ; the king wanted to be rid of Fox as
his Majesty's prime minister, and called the youthful
Pitt to his aid, who denounced the measure, which,
however, was carried through the Commons on the
8th of December, 1783, by a majority of two to
one; but was rejected, after several debates, by the
House of Lords on the 17th of December, by a ma-
jority of nineteen.§ The ministry, also, was thrown
out; Pitt succeeded Fox, and early in 1784, moved
for leave to introduce a bill for the better govern-
ment and management of the affairs of the E. I. Cy.:
leave was refused by the Commons; parliament was
dissolved ; a new house, on the 6th of July, adopted
the views of the minister; an act (24 Geo. III., c.25)
was passed constituting the Board of Control, or India
Board of Commissioners, consisting of certain mem-
bers of the privy council, including two of the secre-
taries of state and the chancellor of the exchequer
for the time being ; the first-named person, in the
letters patent, to be styled the President. A secret
committee (chairman, deputy chairman, and senior
director) was formed out of the Court of Directors,
through whom the Board of Control could commu-
nicate on all state matters of importance which it
might not be deemed advisable to divulge to the
Court, and who were to be compelled, if necessary,
by mandamus from the Court of Queen's Bench, to
transmit the orders of the Board to India. A secre-
tariat and staff were organised for the I!oard, before
whom were to be laid drafts of all despatches for
inspection and revision ; and if the Court failed,
within fourieen days, to prepare despatches on any
subject required by the Board, it was empowered to
transmit the orders to India, without the concur-
rence of the Court. On this basis, subject to some
alterations of detail in the renewed Charter Act of
1813, the government of India was administered,
with slight modifications, until 1833, when the com-
mercial character of the company ceased, the func-
tions of the Court became entirely territorial and
political, and subject still more to the supervision of
t In the caricatures of the day. Fox was represented as
a carrier, with the India House on his back, with wliich
he was proceeding along Leadenhall-street towards West-
minster.
% Yiaye'^ History of the Adminittrationof the B.I. Cy.,
p. 126.
§ Govemnient, under the leadership of the Duke of
Portland, had fifty-seven peers present, and nineteen
proxies ; the opponents, seventy-five present, and twenty
proxies.
HOME ADMINISTRATION Olf BRITISH INDIA— 1855.
547
the Crown by the nomination of a fourth member
of the council of India (Mr. T. B. Maeaulay), who
was also to be a law commissioner for the revision
and codification of the Indian laws. Agra and the
N, W. Provinces were formed into a lieutenant-
governorship, under the immediate supervision of
the governor-general. In every matter, the authori-
ties in the East were subordinate to the Court of
twenty-four Directors, elected by the shareholders of
the E. I. Cy., and to the India Board or Board of
Control, whose authority was made more absolute at
each parliamentary interference.
In 1853 (20th of August), on the termination of
the twenty years' tenure of power* granted in 1833
to the E. I. Cy., a new act of parliament was passed,
" to provide for the government of India." Under
this enactment, the usual lease of India for several
years to the E. I. Cy. was abolished, and the com-
pany became tenants at will, in trust for her Majesty,
her heirs and successors, as a supervising authority in
England ; subject in all things to the Board of Con-
trol as representative of the Crown, whenever that
Board might choose to exercise paramount power in
the government of Indian affairs. By this act, the
number of directors chosen by the proprietary!
was reduced from twenty-four to fifteen ; and the
Crown was empowered to appoint six directors — the
first three immediately, the second three as casual
vacancies occurred, — all to have previously served
officially in India for at least ten year.s. The Court
of Directors, " under the direction and control of the
Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India,"
were empowered to appoint a separate governor, or
lieutenant-governor, for Bengal, and thus release
the governor-general fi-om much detail (which has
nince been done.) Every appointment by the Court
of Directors of ordinary members of council at each
presidency, now requires the sign -manual and
counter-signature of the president of the India
* See p. 1, for changes in 1833.
t The number of proprietors of E. I. stock in April,
1852, entitled to vote in the election of directors by the
possession of ^^1,000 stock, was 1,765; number having
two votes, 311; three votes, 60; four votes, 42 : total
number of votes, 2,322. Number of voters in service
of the company — civil service, 93: military, 160 = 253.
Of twelve chairmen of the Court of Directors, between
1834 and 1852, all but three had served ten years in
India ; one had never been in the East ; and two had
commanded company's ships. Viewed as a whole, the
Court of Directors, since the commencement of the
present century, has contained many able men perfectly
conversant with the affairs of India, and deeply interested
in its welfare. At the present period, the Court possesses
a high range of talent among fifteen members, all ac-
quainted locally with India, — whose public character is
identified with its good government and prosperity.
J The India Board consists of a president, who ranks
as a secretary of state — salary, ;fc5,000 ; parliamentary
secretary. ;£'1,500; permanent ditto, ;£'1,500; assistant
ditto, i,'i,200; five senior clerks, .£"900 10 £1,150; six
assistant ditto, i;500 to jt'800 ; twelve junior ditto, jtlSO
to ;t'550 ; librarian, ;1'400 ; and other officials, Tlie se-
cretariat establishment of the E. I. Cy. is large and well
paid ; but a government like tliat of India, where every
transaction of the most trivial character is recorded in
writing, and all correspondence and despatches, which are
very voluminous, are transmitted in duplicate or tripli-
cate, necessitates a large executive. The heads of depart-
ments are gentlemen of known talent and great experi-
ence ; especially the secretary, Sir James Cosmo Melvill,
who, by his admiiiittrativc ability, information, and tact,
is entitled to rank among the most eminent men of his
Board.|: A Legislative Council has been constituted,
for making laws and regulations ; the council to
consist of one member from each presidency or
lieutenant-governorship for the time being, of not
less than ten years' official service in India. The
chief justice of the Supreme Court of Judicature,
one other judge of the Queen's courts, and two
other persons of ten years' standing in the service of
the company, to be selected by the governor-general,
whose assent is requisite to the validity of all laws.
The discussions of this council are carried on in
public, with reporters of the press in attendance, as
in the English House of Commons. Under this
act, the patronage of appointment to the civil and
medical service of India, which had heretofore been
vested in the Court of Directors, ceased, and the
nominations henceforth were thrown open to public
competition under certain regulations, and examiners
ordered by the Crown. The patronage of military
and naval officers and chaplains still remains with
the Directory, who, in lieu of the advantages deriv-
able from civil appointments, receive — chairman and
deputy, £1,000 each ; directors, £500 each, yearly.§
Such, in substance, are the leading features of
the act of 1853: it makes no mention of the
trading charter of the company, which is in abey-
ance ; and it leaves parliament at liberty to decree,
from time to time, whatever changes may be deemed
advisable in the administration of Indian affairs at
home or abroad. The nomination of the governor-
general, governors, commander-in-chief of the army,
and other high functionaries, remains, as before, a
matter of arrangement between the Board and the
Directory ; the former with a controlling power.
The Court claims the right of recalling agovernor-gen-
eral, as it did in the case of Lord Ellenborough : but
there can be no doubt that the ministers of the Crown
tacitly consented, for certain reasons, to that stretch
of prerogative, which is unnoticed in the act of 1803.
age. Edward Thornton, the historian of India; Professor
Horace Hayman Wilson, the celebrated Orientalist ; Mr.
John Mill, son of the great historian (celebrated himself
as an economist writer) ; Professor Forbes Royle, and
Mr. Peacock, are among the employes at Leadenhall-street.
§ The patronage of the Court of Directors, previous to
the act of 1852-'3, was undoubtedly large. I am also
bound to add, that with a few exceptions, it was equi-
tably distributed. From 1790 to 1835, the number of
writerships (in civil service appointments) ranged from
20 to 25 a year; and from 1835 to 1851, the number at
the disposal of the directors (exclusive of 40 at the nomi-
nation of the president of the India Board) was 546, or,
per cent., 30. The cadetships for the army, and assistant
surgeonries and chaplains, were also very numerous between
1796 and 1837: the total was 9,446 ; averaging 224 per
ann. From 1835 to 1851, the number of cadets ap-
pointed (including 347 by the India Board president),
was 4,916, or 289 per ann. Into the distribution of this
patronage we have some insight, which is creditable to the
distributors. Between 1813 and 1833, the number of
cadets appointed was 5,092 ; of these, 409 were given to
sons of military officers in the royal military, and 124 to
those in the naval service ; 224 to sons of company's civil
servants ; 491 to ditto in company's military servants ; 40
to ditto of company's maritime service ; 390 to sons of
clergymen ; and 1,119 to orphans and sons of widows. In
the parliamentary returns of 1852-'3, the information is
not so precise : of 546 writerships at the disposal of the
directors, 164 were given to the sons of civil officers, and
96 to those of military = 260. Of 4,569 cadetships within
the same date — 342 to civil, and 1,100 to military officers
of the company = 1,442. — {See Thornton's Statistics
Kayc's Administration of E. I. Cy.— Indian Proyress.)
548 ADVANTAGES OF MUNICIPAL INSTITUTIONS FOR INDIA.
It is not within my province or limits to criticise
the changes that have been made, to say whether too
much or too little has been done ; time alone can
now determine the wisdom of the policy adopted.
The government of India is termed an " enlightened
despotism." At Madras and Bombay, the governors
are each aided by a council of three members, hold-
ing high office; the lieutenant-governors of Bengal
and of Agra stand alone. The Supreme Council of
India, with whom all power resides, consists of three
or four members, of whom the commander-in-chief of
the Anglo-Indian army is generally one : the other
members are civil servants of the highest standing.
Each governmental department — such as foreign,
home, financial, military — has a secretary of state,
who is in fact its head, and responsible only to the
governor-general, or, in the subordinate govern-
ments, to their respective administrators. There is,
however, no uniformity : in some places there are
departmental boards; in others, a single civil or
military officer is entrusted with all power. The
patronage of the governor-general is immense ; for
although seniority is the general rule, the exceptions
are very numerous.
The administration of Indian affairs may be con-
sidered as in a transition state ; the natives must,
sooner or later, be admitted to a share in the execu-
tive and legislature of their country.* In Jamaica
and the West India colonies, I recently saw negroes,
of pure African blood, sitting as " honourable mem-
bers of her Majesty's council," and as representatives
of white and black men in the legislative assemblies.
Shall we deny to educated and trustworthy Hindoo,
Mohammedan, Parsee, and other native gentlemen,
those rights which are conceded in other parts of the
empire to Africans who, a few years since, were
slaves in the lowest stage of servitude ?t
I do think the time is arriving (if it have not
already come), when intelligent men, of every creed
and colour, pecuniarily independent, of good moral
character, and whose loyalty to the British govern-
ment is unquestioned, should sit in a general Legisla-
tive Assembly for all India. They might be selected
— as in other transmarine dependencies — by the
Crown, nominated for life {guam diu se bene ffesse-
rint), and enjoy some honorary rank or privilege :
* Of late years, the number of natives of India em-
ployed in the civil administration of the country, has
been largely increased. The following official return
»how8 the augmentation in twenty years : —
Positions held. — Revenue and Judicial — Principal Sud.
der Aumeens (native judges of three grades, who dispense
civil justice)— 1828, 64. Sudder Aumeens— 1828, 157;
1849, 81. Moonsiffs— 1828, 86; 1849, 494. Deputy
magistrates — 1849, 11. Deputy and assistant collectors —
1849,86. Sub-collectors' assistants — 1849,27. Abkaree
superintendents— 1849, 75. Tehseeldars — 1828, 356;
1849, 276. Sherishtedars — 1828, 367 ; 1849, 155.
Mamlutdars— 1828, 9; 1849, 110. Dufterdars— 1828,
2; 1849, 19. Camavisdars— 1828, 57. Adawluttees —
1849, 5. Meer Moonshees — 1849, 1. Educational —
1828,14; 1849,479. Fariot«— 1828, 149; 1849,990.
Total, 1828, 1,197 ; 1849, 2,813. (Indo-Britons or
Eurasians — as persons of mixed colour are designated —
not included in these numbers.) Before 1828 there were
only two grades of native judges, viz., the Sudder Aumeens
and Moonsiffs. The office of Principal Sudder Aumeen
was instituted in 1837, that of deputy collector in 1833,
and that of deputy magistrate in 1843. In 1827, no
native of India employed in the judicial or revenue de-
partment in Bengal received more than 250 rupees per
mensem, or ;£'300 per annum. The uUowauccs now re-
this would prepare the way for a representative
assembly and freer form of government.| In addi
tion to this general council, municipal bodies might
be formed in all the large cities, for cleansing, light-
ing, and police, erecting and supporting hospitals,
and other useful institutions, and superintending
generally the peace and welfare of the several com-
munities. A general act might be passed, empower-
ing the formation of these corporations in all cities
having at least 10,000 inhabitants : the people would
thus become familiarised to self-government, by
managing their own local affairs ; and the Hindoos
would recognise, in an improved form, one of their
most ancient and cherished institutions, and look to
the re-establishment of the punchayet, or trial by
jury, as an indispensable adjunct for the administra-
tion of justice. In a sanitary point of view, — in the
suppression of crime, — in providing for the poor, in-
firm, and di.seased, — and in organising the elements
of civil life and social concord, the formation of mu-
nicipalities throughout India would be attended with
the most beneficial results.
For executive purposes, British India is divided
into districts, each of which, on an average,§ contains
the annexed area and population, and yields a land
revenue as estimated : — ■
Presidency.
Bengal ....
N. W. Provinces
Madras . . . .
Bombay . . .
Area sq. m.
3,200
2,300
6.500
4,200
Population.
1,000,000
730,000
800,000
600,000
Land Rev.
£
10.'?,000
130,000
165,000
160,000
Each of these districts in N.W. Provinces, Madras,
and Bombay, is under the charge of one European
official, styled " Magistrate and Collector." In
Bengal Proper, the magistracy and coUectorship are
held by separate persons. These covenanted officers
are of the highest class, and consist of those who go
out as " writers" (the old designation.) The prize
of these high appointments is now obtained by
undergoing a public examination in languages and
elementary branches of knowledge. The range of
emoluments varies from £600 to £3,000 a-year and
upwards ; if the lieutenant-governorship or governor-
ceived are as follow, at 2s. the company's rupee. One
receives jei,.560; 8 receive ir840 to i,"960 ; 12— £720 to
i-840; 68— £600 to £720; 69— £480 to £600; 58—
£360 to £480; 277— £240 to £300; 1,173— £120 to
£240; 1,147— £24 to £120 per annum. Since 1849,
the number employed has been largely increased.
t Europeans and natives employed in India. Bengal
(in May, 1830, and 1850.) — Judicial branch — Europeans,
114 and 218; native, 11,161 and 22,800. Salaries, &c.,
2,100,052 and 3,225,625 rupees per annum. Revenue
ditto — Europeans, 112 and 204 ; natives, 3,447 and 6,806.
Salaries, 651,962 and 1,601,810 rupees. Customs — ,Euro-
peans, 82 and 146; natives, 1,652 and 271. Salaries,
290,490 and 340,835 rupees. Salt — Europeans, 41 and
32; natives, 8,569 and 4,786. Opium — Europeans, 15
and 42 ; natives, 1,638 and 2,066. Salaries, 157,433 and
378,620 rupees. Various other departments — Political,
educational, &c. — Europeans, 375 and 573; natives,
16,247 and 32,076. Salaries, 2,642,437 and 4,932,356
rupees. Commercial — Europeans, 33 and 9 ; natives,
2,026 and 39. Salaries, 261,666 and 22,438 rupees.
Punjab, (1850.) — Europeans, 185 ; natives, 10,986.
Salaries, 1,619,546 rupees per annum.
+ Natives of Ceylon sit in the Legislative Council there.
§ Modem India; by George Campbell, B.C.S. : Lon-
don, 1852, p. 239.
COVENANTED AND UNCOVENANTED CIVIL SERVANTS IN INDIA. 54,9
ship of a presidency be obtained.* The uncorenanled
consist of Europeans, or Eurasians (gentlemen of
colour born in India), who hold subordinate posi-
tions, and cannot rise into the covenanted class :
their emoluments are good, but scarcely equal to
their deserts. The number and position of this
class are being augmented and improved j and many
soldier-officers now find active employment in magis-
terial and other civil duties.
The number of covenanted or of uncovenanted civil
servants at each presidency in 1834 and 1851, the
number on the retired and on the active list, and on
furlough respectively, is thus officially stated in June,
1852 :—
Civil Servants.
1834.
Covenanted: —
Active list (including those on 1
furlough) J
On furlough
lletired as annuitants (other)
retirements not known) . j
Uncovenanted : —
Active list ........
On furlough
Retired (pensioners) . . . .
1851.
Covenanted ; —
Active list (as above) . . . .
On furlough
Retired as annuitants * (other \
retirements not known) . . j
Uncovenanted : —
Active list
On furlough
Retired (pensioners) ....
Who have served ten years : —
1834.
Covenanted : —
Retired (those only who are an- )
nuitants being shown on the >
books) J
On furlough
Uncovenanted :• — •
Retired (pensioners only being )
shown on the books) . , . j
On furlough
1851.
Covenanted : —
Retired (as above)
On furlough
Uncovenanted : —
Retired (as above)
On furlough
Ben-
gal.!
506
63
37
1,049
None.
102
498
45
135
2,014
None.
78
37
43
102
None.
135
26
78
None.
Madras
225
32
26
430
None.
116
188
27
96
838
None.
113
26
24
116
None.
Bom-
bay*
96
16
113
None.
152
29
10
108
None.
2o§
126
16
49
120
None.
4}
10
19
25||
None.
49
13
None.
The duties of the European civil servants in India,
are thus described by the E. I. Cy. in their state-
ments laid before paiiiament in 1852-'53: — •
" Civil servants are prepared for the higher offices
in Bengal by previous instruction in this country. At
Haileybury the basis of education is European lite-
* Governors of Madras and Bombay, and Lieutenant,
governor of Bengal, .^'lO.OOO a-year each, and an official
residence, &c. ; members of council, ;f8,000 per annum ;
secretary of government of Bengal, j£'3,600 per annum.
Such are a few of the prizes now thrown open to public
competition throughout the British empire.
t Including Agra, the newly-acquired Cis and Trans
Sutlej territory, and the Punjab.
J Including Sinde.
§ Exclusive of the pensioners on " Warden's Official
Fund," which cannot be shown, as the accounts received
from India do not distinguish Europeans from natives.
II Exclusive of pensioners on " Warden's Official Fund."
4 B
rature and science (classics and mathematics), to
which is added, the study of the general principles of
law, topther with political economy, history, and
the rudiments of the Oriental languages.
" At the college of Calcutta the studies of the
civilian are resumed, and directed to the mastery of
the vernacular languages, the acquisition of the
princjiiles of Alohammedan and Hindoo law, and a
familiarity with the regulations and the legislative
acts of the Indian government ; the object of the two
institutions being to combine the education of an
English gentleman with the qualifications of the
native law officer.
" Upon passing his college examination, the civilian
commences his career in the public service as assis-
tant to a collector and magistrate. He is thus
engaged alternately in the judicial and the revenue
line. In his magisterial capacity, he takes the
deposition of witnesses, and prepares cases for the
decision of his superior; or he hears and determines,
subject to revision, cases specially made over to him
by the magistrate. His power of punishment extends
to two months' imprisonment, a period which, when
he is entrusted with special powers by the govern-
ment, is enlarged to twelve months. As assistant in
the revenue department, he decides petty claims
relating to arrears or exactions of rent.
" After this apjjrenticeship of several years, the
assistant is regarded as a candidate for promotion.
He is then subjected to a further examination, with
the view of testing his knowledge of the languages
and the laws of the country j and his promotion is
made dependent on the success with which he passes
the test. That the examination is severe and search-
ing, may be gathered from the .'act, that of twenty
civilians who came up in 1852, seven only were
passed. A successful candidate is then deemed
qualified for the office of collector or magistrate.
" As magistrate, he directs the police operations of
his district, and takes cognizance of all criminal
matters. The law provides for his dealing with cer-
tain classes of ofiences, but limits his power of pun.
ishment to three years' imprisonment. Parties
charged with graver crimes are committed by him to
take their trial before the sessions court.^ In certain
cases the magistrate may inflict corporal punishment,
not exceeding a few stripes, and no other punish-
ment is then superadded. Appeals from his sen-
tences, or from those of his assistant, when vested
with special powers, lie to the sessions judge.
" As collector, he has charge of the district trea-
sury. He superintends the collection of the govern-
ment rental ; puts in execution coercive measures
against defaulters; sells estates for arrears of revenue
and manages those escheated or bought by govern-
ment. He superintends the partition of estates, and
regulates the distribution of the government assess-
ment among the several subdivisions. He also
exercises judicial powers in settling, by summary
% " British subjects guilty of felony or other grave
offences, are committed for trial before the Queen's
Court. In cases of assault and trespass, they are sub-
ject to the jurisdiction of the magistrate (European or
native), which extends to the imposition of a fine of
509 rupees, and to imprisonment for two months if not
paid. An appeal from the decision of the magistrate lies
to the sessions judge, and tlie case, if so appealed, is not
liable to be removed to the Queen's Court by a writ of
certiorari. Further, Europeans, by being rendered sub-
ject to penal recognizances for the maintenance of the
peace, are virtually amenable to the jurisdiction of the
mofussil police."
550
MODES OF ADMINISTEEING JUSTICE IN INDIA.
process, disputes among the agricultural community
regarding rents.
" After further experience, the civilian is promoted
to the judicial chair.
" The civil judge presides over the civil courts in
his district, and supervises the dispensation of justice
by his native functionaries. It is competent to him
to withdraw suits from the courts below, and to try
them himself.* He hears appeals from the decisions
of his principal native judge, when the matter in
dispute does not exceed the value of £500 ; but he
may transfer appeals from the decisions of the other
subordinate courts to the file of the principal native
judge.
" In the sessions court the judge is required to try
all persons committed for heinous offences by the
magistrates. He has not the power of life and
death, but his jurisdiction extends to sixteen years'
imprisonment.t AH capital cases, after trial, must be
referred for the disposal of the Nizamut Adawlut;
as also those cases in which the sessions judge dis-
sents from the opinion of his Mohammedan law
officer. Persons not professing the Mohammedan
faith are not to be tried under the provisions of the
Mohammedan law, but under the regulations, the
judge being assisted by a punchayet or assessors, or
a jury, but having power to overrule their opinion.
The sessions judge holds a monthly gaol delivery,
though in fact he may be said lo be constantly sit-
ting. He sits in appeal from sentences passed by
the magistrates and their assistants.
"The Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, the highest of
the company's courts, is composed of the judges se-
lected from the civil and sessions judges. It has
ceased to exercise any original jurisdiction. It is
the court of final appeal in the presidency, and con-
trols all the subordinate civil tribunals. Besides
regular appeals from the original decisions of the
European zillah judge, and in certaiii cases from
those of the Principal Sudder Aumeen, the court is
competent to admit second or special appeals from
decisions of the courts below on regular appeals.
The grounds for special appeal are when the judg-
ments shall appear inconsistent with law or the prac-
tice or usage of the courts. The power thus given
to the Sudder Court of hearing special appeals ex-
tends their means of supervision, and brings judicially
before them the proceedings and decisions of all
classes of judicial officers, and affords opportunity
for correcting errors and insuring consistency, it
being one of their duties to regulate the practice
* " In the trial of civil suits, original or appeal, it is com-
petent to the European judge to avail himself of the as-
sistance of natives in one of the three following modes ; —
1st. By a punchayet, who conduct their inquiries on
points submitted to them apart from the court, and make
their report to the judge. 2nd. By assessors, who sit
with the judge, make observations, examine witnesses,
and offer opinions and suggestions. 3rd. By a jury, who
attend during the trial, and after consultation deliver in
their verdict. But under all the modes of ])rocedure de-
scribed in the three clauses, the decision is vested solely
and exclusively in the judge."
t "The great length of the terms of imprisonment in
India is one of the vestiges of a barbarous law, or rather
a consequence of its abolition. In 1793, the punishment
of mutilation was abolished, and it was then ordained that
if a prisoner be sentenced by the futwa of tlie Moham-
medan law officer to lose two limbs, be should in lieu
thereof be imprisoned for fourteen years, and if sentenced
to lose one limb, to seven years. Under a later law, it is
competent to the judge to impose two years' additional
and proceedings of the lower courts. Moreover,
each judicial officer is required by law to record his
decisions and the reasons for them in his own ver-
nacular tongue; and this affords the Sudder Court
extended means of judging correctly of the indi-
vidual qualifications of their subordinates. The
Sudder Court sits daily except during the Dusserah
and the Mohurrum,}: when all civil proceedings are
suspended. In the trial of appeals, the proceedings
of the lower tribunals are read before one or more
judges. A single judge is competent to confirm a
decree. Two of tliree sitting together must concur
for its reversal, whether the appeal be regular or
special. Decisions of the court in suits exceeding in
value £1,000, may be carried by appeal before the
Queen in council. Monthly reports are received of
the state of business from every district, and an
annual report is made to government of the admin-
istration of civil justice, both in the Sudder Court
and in its subordinate courts.
" The Nizamut Adawlut. — The judges of the Sudder
Dewanny are the judges also of this court. The
Nizamut has cognizance in all matters relating to
criminal justice and the police of the country ; but
it exercises no original jurisdiction. Appeals from
the sessions judges lie to this court, but it cannot
enhance the amount of punishment, nor reverse an
acquittal. The sentences of this court are final. In
cases of murder and other crimes requiring greater
punishment than sixteen years' imprisonment (which
IS the limit of the sessions judges' power), all the
proceedings of the trial are referred for the orders of
the Nizamut. The Mohammedan law oflicer of this
court (unless the futwa be dispensed with) first
records his judgment, and all the documents are
then submitted to the judges of the Nizamut. If
the case be not capital, it is decided by the sentence
of a single judge. Sentences of death require the
concurrence of two judges.§ Trials before the ses-
sions judge for crimes punishable by a limited period
of imprisonment, are also referred, as already inti-
mated, for the disposal of the Nizamut, in cases
where the sessions judge differs from the opinion of
the Mohammedan law officer. As in civil matters,
monthly abstracts of all trials are laid before the
judges of the court sitting together, when the pro-
ceedings of the sessions judges are reviewed. In
sentences of acquittal which may be disapproved,
though the Nizamut cannot interfere so as to affect
the sentence, the judge is admonished.
" Jteve7iue Commissioners and Board of Mevenue.
imprisonment in lieu of corporal punishment. A reduc-
tion in the terms of imprisonment has been repeatedly
urged upon the government of India by the home
authorities."
J " The Dusserah is a Hindoo festival continuing for ten
days, which are appropriated to religious ceremonies. The
Mohurrum is a fast kept by Mohammedans in commemo-
ration of the death of Hossein and Hassein, the two
sons of Ali by his cousin Fatima, the daughter of Mo-
hammed."
§ " If the judges of the Nizamut concur in the verdict of
the lower court, and the prisoner be considered deserving
of a higher degree of punishment than could be awarded
by the sessions judge, he may be sentenced to suffer death,
or to undergo imprisonment for twenty -one years ; but if
sentenced to imprisonment for life, then transportation
for life, either to the penal settlements of Singapore,
Penang, or Malacca, the Tenasserim provinces, Arracan,
or Aden, would be substituted ; but no native of India
can be transported to New South Wales or the adjacent
islands."
MODE OF ADMINISTERING JUSTICE IN INDIA.
551
— In Bengal and the North-Western Provinces there
are revenue commissioners, a class of officers superior
to collectors, each of whom has authority extending
over a division comprising several collectorates ; his
duty being that of watching the proceedings of the
collectors therein, and ascertaining that in every
respect they are regular and consistent with just
principles of administration.
" All matters relating to the settlement, collection,
and administration of the revenue, ultimately fall
under the superintendence and control of a Board of
Revenue, which exercises a general supervision over
the proceedings of commissioners and collectors.
Some arrangements, not dissimilar, exist for the like
purposes under the other presidencies. Appointments
to the Revenue Board, and also to the office of revenue
commissioner, are made by selection from civil ser-
vants employed in the revenue department."
The average period of service of the Bengal civil
servants is stated to be — Judges, Sudder Court, Cal-
cutta, 34 ; members of Board of Revenue, 30 ; secre-
taries to supreme government, 25 ; magistrates and
collectors, 18 to 26 ; magistrates, 7 to 19 years ; other
grades varying in proportion.
Administration of Justice. — Within the limits
of the cities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay,
there are supreme courts of judicature, vested with
all the powers of the courts at Westminster, and
presided over by chief and puisne judges nominated
from the British bar. In these courts, trial by jury
takes place ; in civil and criminal cases, the law ad-
ministered is in conformity with that of England,
and there is a regular " bar" and solicitors. Beyond
the limits of the three principal cities there are
"company's courts," viz., at each presidency a
supreme civil and a supreme criminal court; the
former being one of appeal from numerous ziUah
or district courts, of which there are in Bengal, 32 ;
in the N. W. Provinces, 21; in Madras, 20; in
Bombay, 8. The European judges who preside in
the company's courts are not educated for the " bar."
There is no jury to assist in deciding on the facts of
a case ; the law is a compound of Hindoo, Moham-
medan, and English principles, and a decision rests
with the varying feelings and prejudices of the judge.
This great defect will, it is expected, be corrected.
Civil justice is now almost wholly dispensed by
native judges, styled Principal Sudder Aumeens,
Sudder Aumeens, and Moonsiffs. The first-named
are divided, in Bengal, into two classes, who receive
each £720 and £480 per annum. Sudder Aumeens
receive £300, and Moonsiffs £100 to £200 per
annum.* Their functions are thus officially de-
scribed : — " The jurisdiction of the two lower grades
is limited to suits in which the matter in dispute
does not exceed a certain value, the limit being of
course higher in regard to the upper of these two
grades than to the inferior. To the jurisdiction of
the highest native judge there is no such limit. To
these different classes of native judges is entrusted
the original cognizance of all civil suits ; and no
person, whether British or native, is exempt from
their jurisdiction.
" The first grade of native judges (Principal Sudder
Aumeens) may sit in appeal from the decrees of the
two inferior courts ; and as the law, except in spe-
cial cases, allows but one trial and one appeal, the
power of final decision in by far the larger number
of suits rests with native judges.f
" Further, suits wherein the amount in dispute ex-
ceeds £500 may be tried either by the Principal
Sudder Aumeen or by the European zillah judge, if
he so please. But in either case an appeal lies only
to the highest company's court, the Sudder Adaw-
lut.| Here then the native judge exercises the same
extent of jurisdiction as the European functionary.
Native and British qualification and integrity are
placed on the same level. The suits now entrusted
to a head native judge were confided, before the
passing of Act No. 25 of 1837, to no officer below a
European provincial judge.
" The number of appeals affords evidence of the
feeling of the people in respect to the administra-
tion of the law. The number affirmed and reversed
is evidence of the qualifications, intellectual and
moral, of the native functionaries as estimated by
their superiors. The proportion of appeals to origi-
nal decisions in the suits disposed of in the N. W.
Provinces, for seven years, is about fifteen per cent. ;
the proportion of decisions reversed in the original
suits is little more than four per cent., as shown in
the following table : —
Yean.
Original Suits decided on Merits.
Appeal Suits.
Reversals.
Proportion of
Reverses to
Original Suits.
By Zillah Judges.
By Native Judges
By Europ. Judges
By Native Judges
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
31
17
10
3
8
11
20
39,181
40,213
40,579
41,775
43,169
41,340
44,933
4,505
4,397
3,980
3,900
3,G08
3,977
3,802
3,083
2,902
2,809
2,392
2,559
2,916
3,674
2,301
2,020
1,895
l,67fi
1,673
1,736
2,042
5| per cent.
5 „
4i „
k :
* Mr. Edward Thornton, in reference to these salaries,
says — *' If the value of money be estimated by the wages
of labour in the two countries, it would appear that its
worth is about seven times greater in India than in England.
The rate of wages issued to 2,000 men employed on the
Calcutta and Bombay mail-road is three rupees, or 6*. per
month each ; and assuming the rate of wages in England
at \0», per week, ;i'24 in India is equal to £16S in
England."
■f- " A. sues B. for a debt of jf 10. The suit is instituted
in the Moonsiffs court, and conducted by a vakeel or
pleader. The pleadings and motions may be submitted
in writing, the pleader merely examining the witnesses, or
he may have recourse also to oral pleading. The judge is
required by law to record his decision, and the reasons for
it, upon the face of his decree. The dissatisfied party
may appeal from the decision to the European judge of
the district, who either hears the appeal himself, or refers
it to his Principal Sudder Aumeen. The decision in either
case is final, except upon a point of law, when a special
appeal lies to the Court of Sudder Adawlut ; thus the subor-
dinate courts' proceedings are brought under supervision. "
t "The course of proceeding in such cases is as follows : —
C. sues D. for .£1,000. The suit must be instituted in
the court of the head native judge ; and if not withdrawn
by the European judge of the district, it is tried by the
native judge. The appeal in either case lies to the Sudder
Adawlut, from whose decisiou, however, there is an appeal
to the Queen in council, in all cases where the value in
dispute amount-; to .£1,000."
552
PROPOSED CODIFICATION OP INDIAN LAW.
" By a more recent enactment, natives of India are
eligible to the office of deputy magistrate. They
are competent in that capacity to exercise the powers
of the European covenanted assistant, and even
under orders of the local government, the full powers
of magistrate. When entrusted with the latter, their
power of punishment extends to three years' im-
prisonment, and they are also competent, in. cases of
assault and trespass committed by Europeans on
natives, to inflict a fine to the extent of 500 rupees,
and to imprison for the period of two months, if the
fine be not paid. Natives are frequently invested
with full powers of magistrates.
" Native dejraty collectors are subordinate to the
European collectors, but they are competent to
transact any of the duties of the collector. Their
proceedings are recorded in their own names, and
on their own responsibility.
" The selection and promotion of native judicial
functionaries are regulated as follows : — Vakeels or
pleadei-s, before obtaining diplomas, must have
passed an examination before a committee, consist-
ing of the European revenue commissioner, the
European judge of the district, the Principal Sudder
Aumeen, the principal of the college or other educa-
tional establishment at the station, and such other
officers as may be appointed by the government.
" The examination may be presumed to be of
stringent character, from the following results : —
In 1852, at Agra, twenty-seven candidates presented
themselves for examination, — none passed. At Ba-
reilly, forty-eight candidates, of whom two passed.
At Benares, seventy-two, of whom ybwr passed. The
Moonsiffs (the lowest grade of native judges) are
selected from the vakeels, and appointed by the
Court of Sudder Adawlut. The Sudder Aumeens
are selected from the Moonsiff class by the Sudder
Adawlut, and appointed by the government. The
Principal Sudder Aunyeens are selected from the
class of Sudder Aumeens, and appointed by the gov-
ernment. The service is one of gradation, but not
of seniority, the superior ranks being filled up by the
most efficient men of the inferior."*
A reform is needed in this important section of
our civil government of India. By the Charter Act
of 1833-4, it was intended to remedy the defect;
and it was mainly with this object that a distin-
guished person (T. B. Macaulay) was then nominated
fourth member of the council of India. Indian law
commissioners (T. B. Macaulay, Macleod, Ander-
son, and Millett) were subsequently appointed, and
in June, 1835, laid before the governor-general a
draft penal code to be applied to all India; and in
October, 1847, it was finally printed for distribu-
tion, examination, and discussion at home and
abroad. The code contains twenty-six chapters,
with notes on each, occupies 124 folio pages, and is
undoubtedly a philosophical production. The prin-
cipal sections refer to offences against, or in relation
to, the state, army and navy, public tranquillity,
government servants, justice, revenue, coin, weights
* Statistical Papers relating to India, laid before par-
liament by E. I. Cy., 1853.
•f- Pari. Papers, No. 673 — Commons ; 3rd August, 1838.
{ In 1764, there were eighteen battalions of native
infantry, perhaps about 15,000 men. In 1765, Clive
found the army of Bengal (the principal forces) con-
sisted of four companies of artillery, a troop of hussars,
about 1,200 irregular cavalry, twenty-four companies of
European infantry, and nineteen battalions of sepoys,
with a due pioportiou of European officers. The aggre-
and measures, public health, safety and convenience,
religion and caste, the press, offences against the
human body, property and property marks, docu-
ments, illegal pursuit of legal rights, criminal breach
of service contracts, marriage, defamation, criminal
intimidation, insult and annoyance, abetment and
punishment.t This code has been much criticised;
but nothing lias been done towards carrying it into
effect, or amending its provisions.
Anglo-Indian Army. — It is usually said, that
the tenure of British power in India is held by the
" sword :" this tenure is, however, changing into one
of " opinion," t.e., a conviction of the justice, honesty,
and advantage of our rule ; it will, however, require
many years before the latter be fully acknowledged,
and before the motley, unsettled, and in many parts
turbulent people subjected to our sway, can be left
to the simple administration of a purely civil gov-
ernment. The array of India (as was recently that
of Ireland) must be considered a police force for the
preservation of internal tranquillity, and, by means
of its well-educated 6,000 European officers, as an
efficient means of promoting the civilisation of the
people.
The formation of a body of armed men had its
origin in the necessity of protecting factories in
which valuable goods were stored, after the manner
previously adopted by the Portuguese, and their
predecessors (the Arabs) on the coasts of Asia and
of Africa. When once a selected class are set apart,
with weapons in their hands, to protect the lives and
property of others, discipline becomes imperative,
and for this purpose a few Europeans were sent from
England. In 1747, an act of parliament provided
for the regulation of the E. I. soldiers ; and in 1754,
articles of war, comprised in fifteen sections, were
founded on the above act, and promulgated " for
the better government of the officers and soldiers in
the service of the company of merchants trading in
the East Indies." Dupleix organised a brigade,
with French officers ; the English, in self-defence,
did the same. Hindoo and Mohammedan rulers
sought the aid of foreign mercenaries, and assigned
territorial revenues for their support ; Interference
with the disputes of native states created the neces-
sity for more troops ; Hindoos and Moslems were
ready to enlist under French or English banners,
and made good soldiers ; they fought against each
other, irrespective of caste or creed, — were faithful
and attached to their European leaders ; and, in due
process of time, an Anglo-Indian standing army was
formed and brigaded (see p. 304), which grew from
year to year, until it has now attained the following
proportions : — Aggregate strength of the Indian
armyinl851,t 289,525: component parts — Queen's
regiments — five of dragoons, twenty-four of infan-
try = 29,480 men ; E. I. Cy's. European infantry,
six regiments = 6,266 men ; company's artillery,
16,440, divided into European horse and foot, -and
native foot or Golundanze ; engineers, or sappers and
miners, 2,569. Natives — cavalry, regular, twenty- one
gate strength of the Anglo-Indian army, in 1799, was —
Bengal, 53,140, including 7,280 Europeans; Madras,
48,839, including 10,157 Europeans; Bombay, 22,761,
including 4,713 Europeans: total, 124,740; of these,
22,150 were Europeans. The above comprised — of her
Majesty's troops, dragoons, four; infantry, eighteen —
regiments. In May, 1804, the number of her Majesty's
troops serving in India, was — cavalry, 2,072 ; infantry,
9,911 = 11,983. The number of troops has varied from
time to time, according to the exigencies of war.
ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY— NUMBERS AND DISTINCTIVENESS. 553
regiments = 10,186; irregulars, thirty-four corps =
21,134; infantry regular regiments, 155= 157,711;
ditto irregular regiments, 63 ^- 39,613; veterans, or
native invalid corps for garrison duties, 4,124 men.
Among the natives, proportion of Mohammedans to
natives, one to four. European commissioned offi-
cers, 5,142; warrant ditto, 243. Medical establish-
ment— E. doctors, 824 ; native ditto, 652 ; apothe-
caries, &c., 287. Aggregate cost per annum, about
£10,000,000. The army of each presidency is kept
distinct under the governors and councils, but all un-
der the control of the governor-general and council.
Zand Forces in 1854.*
In India.
European
Commissioned
Officers.
European War-
rant and Non-
Com. and Rank
and File.
Native Com.,
Non-Com., and
Bank and File.
Total.
Queen's troops
Company's troops, European ....
Native ....
896
588
3,644
25,930
14,061
3,122
233,699
26,826
14,649
240,463
Total . . ...
6,128
43,113
233,699
281,940
Punjab subsidiary troops and contingents 1
from native states J
Police, militarily organised ....
86
35
36
30,882
24,015
31,004
24,050
Grand total ....
5,249t
43,149
288,696
336,994
The company's European and native troops are
under the discipline of articles of war granted by
parliament; the officers hold commissions under the
sign-manual of the Queen, and have been recently
authorised to rank in England on the same footing
as H.M. troops of the line. The company is em-
powered to employ in India 20,000 Eurojjean sol-
diers, irrespective of the Queen's troops, but not to
have at one time in Britain more than 4,000 men.
The sepoys of the Indian army consist of men of
all castes and creeds : the Bengal troops, which are
considered the highest caste, are recruited princi-
pally from Oude, Kajpootana, and the N. W. Pro-
vinces (a mixture of Hindoos and Mussulmen) ; the
men are hardy, bold, powerful — good materials for sol-
diers : the Bombay force has its recruits from Oude,
Deccan, Concan, &c. Hindoo, Moslem, Jew, and
Portuguese, all contribute to make hardy, efficient
troops, who will dig trenches (to which the Bengal
soldiers object), and fight in them with as much
courage as the Rajpoots. The Madras, like the
Bombay troops, are termed " low caste," but quite
equal to their compeers in any other part of India.
It is said that the Bengal troops do not stand being
" knocked about," or, in other words, " rough" it so
well as the other divisions. In the Punjab force there
are now many Seik soldiers. The pay and advantages
of the three presidencies have been equalised ; the
sepoys get a higher and more certain remuneration
than is known in any other oriental service ; and a
scale of pensions is fixed adequate to native wants.
The period of enlistment is fifteen years : no bounty
* House of Commons' Return, 17th April, 1855.
f In 1760, the number of European officers in the
Bengal army was sixty ; viz., nineteen captains, twenty-
six lieutenants, and fifteen ensigns.
X As an illustration of the fairness with which the
appointments are made, the following case may be cited.
Sir Henry Willock, with commendable public spirit, placed
a nomination to Addiscomb at the disposal of the Kensing-
ton Free Grammar School. Several youths started for the
prize ; it was given, after a hard contest, to a friendless youth
whose competitors were all seniors to himself, and several
of them possessed of family connections. The lad went to
Addiscomb, and determined to stand for an engineer ap-
pointment : he worked hard night as well as day, knew
no vacation, and soon outstripped cadets of older stand-
ing than himself ; the second year he obtained tlie honour
of the corporal's sword, and the third year, after a neck-
is paid ; the service being popular, there is always
abundant ofiers of recruits.
The artillery, horse and foot, is unrivalled by that
of any European power, save in its draught cattle ;
bullocks and elephants being still partially employed
for the siege or field artillery, which number about
400 guns. There are five brigades of horse artillery ;
twelve battalions of European foot artillery , and six
battalions of native foot artillery. The horse artil-
lery is considered the " crack" corps of the Anglo-
Indian army. Its cadets at Addiscomb rank next to
the engineers, the prize for which is obtained by
those who attain the highest position after three
years' hard study and competition ■,\ the young
engineers are subsequently instructed for a year at
Chatham, along with the royal engineers, and are also
required to possess a knowledge of the civil branch
of their profession. Their pay and advantages are
higher than those of the artillery, and their ser-
vices much in request for the development of the
resources of the country.
The cavalry is divided into two departments — the
regular and irregular ; the latter term being given
to those corps where the trooper provides and feeds
his own horse, and supplies his arms and equip-
ments, for which he receives an allowance from the
government of twenty rupees = 40s. a-month ;§ in
the regulars, the state provides the horse, arms, and
clothing, and gives the soldier pay and batta for his
subsistence — about nine rupees = 18«. a-month.
There are also regular and irregular infantry re-
giments, the difference consisting chiefly in the former
and-neck struggle, reached the goal, and became Lieu-
tenant Julius George Medley, of the Bengal engineers.
He is now in a high and responsible position in the
Punjab, a credit to the service, and a honour to his
respected parent, the late WiUiam Medley, the eminent
banker and financier, to whose generous and patriotic
spirit several of the best of our monetary institutions
(such as the Provincial Bank of Ireland, and the Bank of
British North America) owe tlieir origin.
§ The irregulars, whose numbers have recently been
increased by the addition of twenty-eight regiments,
making altogether 21,000 men, are very useful. Ca-
valry thus formed are not half the expense of a
regular corps ; the service is liked, the discipline is not
strict — (it may be termed " free and easy") — there are
more native and fewer European officers, and the men can
march without baggage at a moment's warning.
554 EFFICIENCY, DISCIPLINE, & ORGANIZATION— ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY.
always receiving half a batta (3s. a-month), which is
only allowed to the latter when on service or escort
duty. This, however, is very often, as the transmis-
sion of treasure from one part of India to another
gives employment annually to about 30,000 soldiers.
In the Punjab several Seik and other local corps
have been organised since the disbandment of our
former antagonists : among them is one called the
Guide corps ; it consists of both cavalry and in-
fantry, officered by Europeans. Most of the wild or
warlike tribes in Upper India are represented in its
ranks ; the men unite all the requisites of regular
troops with the best qualities of guides and spies, —
thus combining intelligence and sagacity with courage,
endurance, soldierly bearing, and a presence of mind
which rarely fails in solitary danger and in trying
situations. Men habituated from childhood to war
and the chase, and inured to all the dangers of a
wild and mountainous border, are freely admitted
into its ranks. To whatever part of Upper India the
corps may be marched, it can furnish guides con-
versant with the features of the country and the
dialect of the people : it is thus calculated to be of
the most essential service in the quartermaster-
general's department, as intelligencers and in the
escort of reconnoitring officers.* This excellent
force was raised in 1846, at the suggestion of Colonel
H. M. Lawrence, and was of great use in the second
Seik war, and on other occasions. The corps has
been recently augmented to 800 men, who receive
- rather higher pay than the ordinary soldiers.
Promotion is slow in the Indian army. In Jan-
tiary, 1844, the Bengal artillery had ten colonels,
whose period of service ranged from forty to fifty-
three years ; ten lieutenant-colonels, thirty-five to
thirty-nine years ; ten majors, thirty-one to thirty-
five years ; captains, eighteen to thirty years : engi-
neers— four colonels, thirty-three to forty-eight
years ; four lieutenant-colonels, twenty-six to thirty-
one years ; four majors, twenty to twenty-six years ;
captains, fourteen to twenty years. Cavalry — ten
colonels, twenty-four to forty-eight years ; ten lieu-
tenant-colonels, thirty-five to forty-two years; ten
majors, twenty-five to thirty-five ; captains, eighteen
to twenty-four years : other ranks in proportion.
Retirements are efiected by the juniors purchasing
out the seniors ; that is, paying them a certain sum
of money to induce them to retire on the pension
due to their rank :t the money for this purpose is
procured by loans from the Indian banks, for the
security of which all ofiicers below the party retiring
are expected to become bound, or be " sent to
* Rfport of Punjab Commissioners, 1851, p. 27.
t The buying-out amount varies : a senior captain or
junior major of the Bombay artillery would receive
jt3,500 to .£4,000 for retiring on his pension.
J In August, 1782, the Bengal army had reached a
position to entertain, and subsequently to carry into
effect, a project for the maintenance of the orphans of
European officers ; which is still in operation. A fund
was provided by a monthly contribution, deducted from
the pay of the several ranks under colonel, viz., subal-
terns and assistant-Eurgeons, three ; captains and surgeons,
six ; and majors, nine — rupees each. Governors and
managers were appointed by the subscribers, and the
foundation laid of one of the most useful institutions in
the East, which promptly and liberally at once received
the support of the Indian government. — {Original Papers,
ifc: London, 1784 ; 8vo. p. 56.)
§ This experienced officer, whose sanitary measures for
the health of the troops in the West Indies I noticed in
the volume containing that section, thus refers to the
Coventry." This is said to be one of the causes of
the pecuniary embarrassments which prevail among
the juniors of the Indian army : the buying out of old
officers is, however, deemed essential to efficiency ;
and it is proposed to legalise the procedure by act
of parliament. A liberal spirit pervades all ranks ;
and a handsome provision is made for the children
of brother-officers who die in India.J
The Indian commissariat is well managed ; the
troops are continually on the move, well fed, at-
tended and provided with hospital stores. The ex-
ecutive of this branch consists of a commissary-
general, deputy, and joint-deputy ditto, first and
second-class assistants, &c. — all Europeans, chosen
from the company's European regiments. When
an army takes the field, there are about three
registered camp followers to each fighting man. The
peace establishment of carriage cattle is large : of
elephants, about 500; of camels, 5,000. Knapsacks,
of forty pounds each, are carried for the men. A
subaltern, on the march, is allowed one camel (which
costs about three rupees a-month) to carry his bag-
gage ; other officers, of higher rank, in proportion.
During war, a doolie or litter, with six bearers, is
appointed to every twenty Europeans ; among the
native corps there are two doolies to each company.
Supplies are procured by tenders and contract. The
feeding of the troops is excellent ; the sepoys get
two pounds of flour daily. Porter and ale are sent
out from England for the canteens. Punkahs, to
keep the air cool, are supplied to the barracks and
hospitals ; regimental libraries are established in
European corps; and of late years (particularly
during the command-in-chief of Sir William Gomm)§
large barracks, better bedding, improved ventila-
tion, and plunging baths for daily ablution, have
been adopted throughout India. By these and
other judicious measures the mortality has been
greatly diminished : recently, among European
troops, it amounts to — for Madras, two ; Bombay,
three and a-half; Bengal, five and a-half — per cent.
The invalidings are heavy : to keep up 100 soldiers,
it requires ten annually to supply the decrement
by death, invaliding, discharges, and staff appoint-
ments. Each European soldier costs, when landed
in India, not less than £100. The entire expense of
her Majesty's troops serving in Hindoostan is de-
frayed from the Indian revenues. The discipline of
the Anglo-Indian army is excellent,|| the morale
good, and its efficiency as an armed force has been
repeatedly proved.^ It is said by some, that the
cordial feeling between the European officer and
same subject in a recent letter to me from Simla : — " "With
regard to improved barrack accommodation for the Eu-
ropean troops, I may report to you at once very satisfac-
torily, the government has promptly attended to all my
representations made to it with this view, and acceded
invariably to all my requisitions made upon it in further-
ance of this most desirable object. Thus the quartert at
Peshawur, Rawul-Pindee, and Mcean Meer, have been
prepared with all practicable expedition ; those of Um-
balla have been essentially improved ; while at Ferozepoor
and Cawnpoor (in healthy sites), an entirely new set of
barracks have been recently sanctioned."
II The number of officers dismissed from the service by
sentence of court-martial, between 1835 and 1857 (in-
clusive), was — for Bengal, 47 ; Madras, 45 ; Bombay,
16 = 108 : which is certainly not a large number among
four or five thousand men during seventeen years.
% The Anglo-Indian officers are, as a class, superior in
military knowledge to the junior officers of similar rank
in the Queen's service.
ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY SMALL COMPARED TO POPULATION. 555
his men does not now exist in the same degree as it
did in the times of Clive and Coote, or even at a
later period ; but be this as it may in the regular
regiments, there must be a considerable degree of
attachment still prevailing in the " irregulars," where
the few officers are so intimately dependent on the
feelings of the men for their military success.
The nature of the climate, which renders the
luxuries of the temperate zone absolute necessaries, —
the habits and caste of the people, which require
several men to do the work that one would perform
in Europe, and the wear and tear of life, make the
Anglo-Indian army a heavy expense on the revenue.
The following shows the comparative cost of a regi-
ment of each arm of the service in India, Queen's
and Company's :' — Her Majesty's dragoons, eight
troops — 701 non-commissioned and rank and file,
£79,680; native cavalry, six troops — 500 native
commissioned, non-commissioned, and rank and file,
£34,840; brigade of horse artillery, consisting of
three European troops and one native — 341 Euro-
pean non-commissioned and rank and file, and 218
native commissioned, non-commissioned, and rank
and file, including gun Lascars, £59,310 ; battalion
of European foot artillery, consisting of four com-
panies— 336 European non-commissioned and rank
and file, and 140 native commissioned and rank and
file, gun Lascars, £31,020; battalion of native foot
artillery, six companies — 630 native commissioned,
non-commissioned, and rank and file, £22,330 ; regi-
ment of her Majesty's infantry, nine companies —
1,068 non-commissioned and rank and file, £61,120;
regiment of company's European infantry, ten com-
panies— 970 non-commissioned and rank and file,
£52,380 ; regiment of native infantry, ten companies
— 1,160 native commissioned, non-commissioned, and
rank and file, £25,670; regiment of irregular cavalry,
of six ressalahs — 584 native commissioned, non-com-
missioned, and rank and file, £18,770; regiment of
local infantry, of ten companies — 940 native commis-
sioned, non-commissioned, and rank and file,£13,700.
In 1851, the total charges (including military
buildings) of 289,529 soldiers, Europeans and na-
tives, was £10,180,615, or £35 per head. The dis-
tribution of cost for the year 1849-'50, which differs
but slightly from that of the year 1851, is thus
shown : — Her Majesty's cavalry, £188,651 ; her Ma-
jesty's infantry, £771,148; engineers, £76,104;
artillery, European and native, H. E. I. C, £576,318;
regular native cavalry, £479,075; irregular, £728,247;
company's Europeans, £175,954; regular native in-
fantry, £2,880,054 ; irregular, £431,857 ; veterans,
£128,257; medical department, £142,038; ordnance,
£154,813; stafl', £415,862; commissariat, £1,248,986;
buildings and miscellaneous, £1,701,562. Grand
total, £10,098,926.
Taking the number of the Anglo-Indian army,
regulars and irregulars, at 330,000, of whom about
50,000 are Europeans, or one Englishman to about
six natives, it cannot be considered a large force for
the maintenance of peace, and the protection of a
country which extends 18,000 miles from north to
* Parliamentary Evidence, 14th December, 1852, p. 9,
of P. Melvill, the experienced chief of military dept.
t I do not take into account the irregular troops in the
Bcrvice of native states ; they are very ineffective, unless
when disciplined by English officers.
t Officers on furlough 30M April, 1851. — Military,
private affairs, 146; sick certificate, 542 = 688. Medi-
cal, private affairs, 18; sink certificate, 93 = 111 : total,
799. These figures do not include colonels of regiments,
south and from east to west, and comprises a popu-
lation of about 200,000,000, of whom, not long
since, ten men at least in every hundred were
armed, and most engaged in some internecine
strife, but now all subjected to the dominant sway
of one power. Add to these considerations a land
frontier of 4,500 miles, and the necessity of being at
all times ready to repel invasion, and to preserve
the mass of the people from plunder, and we may
not be surprised at the extent, but at the smallness
of the force em])loyed on an area of about 1,600,000
sq. m. : the result shows one soldier to about 600t
inhabitants; whereas, in France, there is one soldier
to seventy inhabitants ; Austria, one to seventy-two ;
Russia, one to sixty ; Prussia, one to fifty-six. In
most of the old civilised countries of Europe, the
standing armies, in proportion to the population, are
ten times larger than those of India. The garrison
in and around Paris exceeds in number that of the
European troops in all India.
The number of officers removed from regimental,
and employed in civil and on detached duties, is
large. In 1851, it consisted of — colonels, 37; lieu-
tenant-colonels, 47 ; majors, 48 ; captains, 479 ; lieu-
tenants, 400; cornets and ensigns, 29^1,040.| The
complement of regimental officers in 1851, con-
sisted—European infantry, one colonel, two lieu-
tenant-colonels, two majors, twelve captains, twenty
lieutenants, and ten ensigns; native infantrj", one
colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, six cap-
tains, ten lieutenants, and five ensigns ; cavalry, one
colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, six cap-
tains, eight lieutenants, and four ensigns.
It would seem advisable to organise an Indian
staff corps — a civil department of the army — of a
strength in accordance, from time to time, with the
necessities of government. A good discipline, educa-
tion, and moral training, under military surveillance,
where the Christian principles predominate, is an
effective school for preparing young and intelligent
men for the exercise of their powers on a large
scale. At present, owing to the want of civilians, the
government is allowed to drain off one-third of the
officers of the line ; military men are extensively em-
ployed in political duties, and the regiments are
denuded of their officers to an extent which often
seriously damages the efficiency of the corps. Double
the number of officers might be appointed to each
regiment, and after they had passed examination in
the native languages, and had served three years in
regimental duties (as now prescribed), the option
should be given of retiring from the military to the
civil branch of the army, or for employment as magis-'
trates, superintendents, electric telegraph, geological
surveys, and in other functions, for which peculiar
talents might qualify.
Indian Navy. — 'ihere is a small maritime force
under this designation, consisting of about thirty-
three sailing and steam. vessels, which have rendered
good service in the Persian Gulf during the China
war, and in surveys of the Indian coasts and havens.
The steamers are now chiefly employed as post-office
of whom the number on furlough, in 1851, was — Bengal,
70 ; Madras, 50 ; Bombay, 29 : total, 149. Number of
officers of each army employed, in 1851, on detached
service, civil and political and military respectively. —
Bengal, civil and political, 151 ; military, 430. Madras,
civil and political, 44 ; military, 208. Bombay, civil and
political, 42 ; military, 165. Officers of engineers not
included. A corps of civil engineers, trained for Indian
seiTioe, would oe useful.
556 PROTECTED STATES, AND STIPENDIARY PRINCES OF INDIA.
packets between Bombay, Aden, and Suez. A few
of these are of large burthen ; the vessels are well
armed, manned with Europeans and Lascars, and
altogether thus officered : — One commodore, eight
captains, sixteen commanders, sixty-eight lieute-
nants, 110 mates and midshipmen, fourteen pursers,
and twelve captains' clerks : a surgeon, detached
from the army, is placed on board the larger-sized
vessels. The pay Is good. Commodore, £250 a-
month, with an official residence ; post-captains, £80
to £90; commanders, £50 to £70; lieutenants, £12
to £15 (and £2 5s. a-month table money while
afloat) ; pursers, £25 to £30 ; clerks, £5 — a-month.
Retiring pensions, after twenty-two years' service
— captains, £360 ; commanders, £290 ; lieutenants
and pursers, £l9(i— per annum. The above ranks
retiring from ill-health, after ten years' service,
£200, £170, and £125 per annum. In 1852, there
were fifty-three officers on retired list and nine on fur-
lough. There is an excellent pilot establishment, main-
tained by government, at the Sand Heads, off the en-
trance of the Hooghly river, where it is much needed.
SUBSIDiARY AND PROTECTED STATES AND PeN-
SIONAEIES. — At pp. 5 — 12 will be found a tabular
view of the states of India not under our immediate
government, with their area, population, soldiery, and
revenue. The British relations with pi'otected states
are entrusted to officers selected from either the civil
or military services, according to their abilities, and
•denominated Residents, Governor-general's Agents,
or Commissioners, as the case may be : at the larger
political agencies there are European assistants to the
Residents, who have, in some cases, charge of deposed
princes. Practically speaking, the " Resident" is, or
ought to be, a check on the native ruler when he does
ill; a guide and supporter when he does well. Civil
independence, with military superiority, is in reality
a nullity ; and although the Resident does not inter-
fert except in extreme cases, with the general admin-
istration of affairs, he expects to be consulted in the
selection of a minister of state; and a system, founded
on precedent, has grown to have almost the force of
law, though a wide discretion is necessarily left to the
British functionaries, who have, by remonstrance
and persuasion, rather than by direct interference,
put down, in several states, suttee, infanticide, and
other inhumanities. This system, which answered
well at an earlier stage of our dominion, has now
nearly outgrown the purposes for which it was de-
signed. Power in the chief, without responsibility,
has worked ill for the subject: relieved from external
danger in war, and from internal rebellion caused
by misgovernment, — indolence, sensuality, and crime
found full scope ; and we have been obliged to assume
the duties of lord paramount where princes have
died without heirs, or where it became a positive
obligation to prevent the misery and ruin of the
people of an entire kingdom.
The stipendiaries who receive annually political
payments from the British government, are thus
stated :* — The King of Delhi (a lineal descendant of
the Mogul emperors, but now totally divested of
power), £150,000 ; Nabob of Bengal (a descendant of
Meer Jaffier— see p. 291), £160,000; families of
former Nabobs, £90,000 ; Nabob of the Carnatic (a
descendant of a former Mohammedan viceroy),
£116,540; families of former Nabobs of Carnatic,
£90,000 ; Rajah of Tanjore (descendant of a petty
military chief), £118,350; Rajah of Benares (a de-
posed Zemindar), £14,300; families of Hyder and
Tippoo (both usurpers — see pp. 316-'17 — and bitter
enemies of the English), £63,954 ; Rajahs of Malabar,
£25,000; Bajee Rao (deposed Peishwa), £80,000;
others of Peishwa's family, £135,000; various allow-
ances, including political pensions, compensations,
&c., £443,140: total, £1,486,284. It would cer-
tainly seem advisable to exercise some surveillance
over the recipients of these large sums : most of
them are usurpers and upstarts of yesterday, and
really have no claim to these extravagant pensions ;
the more so, as in several cases these large annui-
tants avail themselves of the means thus provided to
bad lives of debauchery and idleness, pernicious to
themselves and to all around. The main plea for the
continuance of the pensions is the large families and
harems of the stipendiaries.
CHAPTER VI.
FINANCE— INCOME AND EXPENDITURE— INDIAN DEBT— MONETARY SYSTEM.
During the early periods of our intercourse with
India, the profits derived from commerce mainly
furnished the means for maintaining the necessary
establishments. After the acquisition of Bengal
(1765), an income was derived from land, customs,
* Modem India; by G. Campbell, B.C.S. : p. 150.
t The oppressive taxes levied by the Mohammedans
have been abolished, including the inland transit dues.
Among the exactions during the Mogul rule, which are
not now collected, the following may be enumerated : —
Jetych, or capitation tax, paid by Hindoos or other " in-
fidels;" meer behry, port duties (probably similar to our
custom duties) ; kerrea, exaction from each person of a
multitude assembled to perform a religious ceremony ;
gawnhemary, on oxen ; sirderukhty, on every tree ; peish-
cush, presents ; Jeruk-aksam-peesheh, poll-tax collected
from every workman ; daroghaneh (police) ; teeseeldary
and such other sources as contributed to fill the ex-
chequer of our Mohammedan predecessors.! Subse-
quent additions of territory furnished revenue to
defray tlie cliarges attendant thereon : and ihus,
from time to time, the finances were enlarged.
(subordinate collector) ; fotedary (money-trier), taxes
made for those officers of government ; wejeh keryeh,
lodging charges for the above officers ; kheryteh, for
money-bags ; serafy, for trying and exchanging money ;
hassil baazar, market dues ; nekass, tax on the sale of
cattle, and on hemp, blankets, oil, and raw hides ; also on
measuring and weighing, and for killing cattle, dressing
hides, sawing timber, and playing at dice ; rahdary, or pass-
port ; pvg, a kind of poll-t^ on salt, sjtirituous liquors,
storax, and hme — on fishermen, brokerage, hearths, buyer
and seller of a house, and other items comprised under the
term of serjerjehat. — (See Ayeen Akbery, for details.)
REVENUES AND CHARGES OF BENGAL, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY. 557
Revenues and Indian Charges* (independent of home expenses)* of each Presidency. — At 2s. the Sicca Rupee.
Tears.
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
Revenue. Charge. Surplus
£
11,237,498
11,415,799
11,967,259
11,769,0.52
12,399,475
12,224,220
13,518,968
13,361,261
14,169,691
12,950,-308
13,484,740
13,121,282
14,767,238
14,944,713
10,12.5,416
9,8.58,275
9,883,892
9,474,084
9,487,778
8,844,241
9,355,289
10,057,362
10,263,012
9,904,438
10,375,426
9,561,444
9,741,240
10,437,861
10,829,614
11, .523,933
11,861,733
12,174,338
12,900,254
11,947,924
12,083,936
1114,24.3,511
13,879,966
13,487,081
14,015,120
£
8,876,581
9,487,638
9,796,974
10,281,822
10,677,015
10,826,734
10,688,439
10,356,409
10,317,196
10,912,710
12,620,179
13,793,499
13,405,152
13,486,879
7,747,834
7,615,697
7,340,650
7,635,974
7,687,229
7,018,449
7,322,303
7,085,079
6,944,973
7,004,451
8,070,634
8,437,736
8,943,099
9,367,408
9,934,761
10,122,149
9,575,683
10,170,220
10,445,969
10,546,089
10,536,367
11,033,835
10,818,429
10,970,120
11,239,370
£
2,360,917
1,928,161
2,170,285
1,487,730
1,722,460
1,397,486
2,830,529
3,004,852
3-852,495
2,037,598
864,561
1,362,086
1,457,834
2,377,582
2,242,578
2,543,242
1,838,110
1,800,.549
1,825,793
2,032,986
2,972,283
3,318,039
2,899,987
2,304,792
1,123,708
798,141
1,070,453
894,863
1,401,784
2,286,050
2,004,118
2,454,285
1,401,835
1,647,569
3,209,6:
3,061,537
2,516,961
2,776,750
Revenue. Charge. Surplus. Deficit
£
5,322,164
5,106,107
6,360,220
5,.381,307
6,361,432
6,407,005
6,403,506
6,557,028
6,68.5,209
6,498,764
6,460,742
5,714,915
5,981,681
6,347,838
3,591,272
3,455,068
3,415,759
3,322,155
2,969,956
3,235,233
3,368,948
3,590,052
3,235,117
3,512,813
3,533,803
3,535,875
3,563,343
3,593,910
3,628,949
3,601,997
3,512,417
3,.589,213
3,631,922
3,638,589
3,667,235
3,543,074
3,625,015
3,744,372
3,766,1601
£
6,189,412
5,261,404
5,142,553
6,535,816
6,006,420
6,825,414
6,700,466
6,500,876
6,229,202
6,398,856
6,789,333
6,056,967
6,634,322
6,188,127
3,671,111
3,499,283
3,388,628
3,239,261
3,174,347
3,2.58,995
3,017,676
2,830,549
2,817,.533
3,022,138
3,082,652
3,581,405
3,352,075
3,366,993
3,380,783
3,342,.573
3,479,.580
3,523,698
3,449,618
3,373,445
3,221,495
3,138,378
3,212,416
3,244,598
3,307,192
£
132,752
217,667
66,192
366,007
347,359
27,131
82,894
351,272
759,603
417,584
490,675
451,161
211,268
236,917
248,166
269,424
32,837
65,615
182,304
265,144
449,740
404,696
412,600
499,774
458,968
165,295
154,609
644,918
418,409
296,960
900,092
848,.591
342,052
840,289
79,839
44,216
204,391
23,762
46,630
Revenue. Charge. Deficit.
£
857,080
872,046
896,592
1,392,820
1,720,637
2,161,370
2,438,960
2,883,042
3,372,447
2,789,660
1,785,216
2,262,393
2,618,549
2,579,905
1,300,311
1,316,044
1,304,300
1,401,917
1,497,309
1,600,681
1,503,782
1,806.946
1,704,213
1,649,051
1,418,464
1,445,296
1,827,922
1,760,884
1,960,683
2,046,728
§1,918,607
2,047,380
2,120,824
1,990,395
2,475,894
2,489,246
2,744,951
3,172,777
3,166,167
£
1,717,144
1,986,444
1,946,118
1,956,527
2,597,776
3,204,785
3,299,170
3,667,332
4,275,012
3,264,509
3,306,982
4,032,988
4,000,652
4,062,666
2,421,716
2,318,054
2,218,637
2,060,499
2,034,710
1,968,045
1,908,092
1,953,668
1,980,763
1,954,960
1,940,729
2,083,222
1,966,380
1,995,073
1,991,530
2,204,121
2,496,173
2,569,910
2,662,100
2,563,286
2,929,620
2,999,119
3,086,460
3,161,870
3,279,118
£
860,064
1,114,398
1,050,626
663,707
877,239
1,043,415
860,210
784,290
202,567
454,969
1,620,765
1,770,695
1,382,003
1,482,661
1,121,404
1,002,010
914,337
668,682
637,401
367,364
404,310
147,622
276,650
306399
622,265
637,926
138,468
244,189
30,847
157,393
677,566
622,530
641,276
662,891
463,626
609,873
341,619
U 20,907
112,961
* In the above statement, from the year 1828, the allowances and assignments payable to native princes and others
under treaties (amounting to upwards of a million and a-half per annum), and the charges of collecting the revenue,
including the cost of the opium and salt (amounting to upwards of two millions and a-half more), have been excluded in
order to arrive at the real produce of the revenue.
In the tabular statement, down to the year 1827, the gross revenues are shown ; and the rate of converting the
Indian money into sterling is 16 per cent, higher than the rate at present used.
t The Territorial Fayments in England, in 1849-'50 (latest return made up), were : — Dividends to proprietors of
East India stock, £629,435; interest on the home bond debt, £173,723 ; purchase and equipment of steam-vessels, and
Tarious expenses connected with steam communication with India, £50,543 ; her Majesty's government, on account of the
proportion agreed to be borne by the company of the amount payable under contract between her Majesty's govern-
ment and Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company for an extended communication with India and China,
£70,000 ! transport of troops and stores, deducting freight charged in invoices, £36,418; furlough and retired pay to
military and marine officers, including off-reckonings, £614,393 ; payments on account of her Majesty's troops serving
in India, £200,000 ; retiring pay to her Majesty's troops (Act 4 Geo. IV., c. 71.) including an arrear, £75,000.
Charges, general, comprising : — Board of Commissioners for the Affairs of India; salaries of the president and
officers of the board, including superannuation allowances granted by warrant of the Crown under Act 63 Geo. III.,
cap. 155, sec. 91, £30,523 ; salaries of the Court of Directors, £7,600 ; contingent expenses of the Courts of Directors and
Proprietors, consisting of repairs to the East India House, taxes, rates, and tithes, coals, candles, printing, stationery,
bookbinding, stamps, postage, and various petty charges, £28,829 ; salaries and allowances of the secretaries and officers
of the Court of Directors, deducting amount applied from the fee fund in part payment thereof, £93,794 ; annuitants
and pensioners, including compensation annuities under Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., cap. 85, and payments in commutation
thereof, £198,199 ; Hailcybury College, net charge, £9,074 ; military seminary at Addiscombe, net charge, £4,057.
Recruiting charges : pay of officers, non-commissioned officers of recruiting establishments, and of recruits previous to
embarkation, bounty, clothing, arms, and accoutrements, £43,438 ; passage and outfit of recorder. Prince of Wales'
Island, Bishop of Madras, aides-de-camps, chaplains, company's officers in charge of recruits, officers in her Majesty's
service proceeding to join their regiments, and volunteers for the pilot service, &c., £22,656 ; charges of the store de-
partment, articles for use in inspection of stores, labour, &c., £6,201 ; Lord Clive's fund, net payment for pensions, &o.,
£36,519 i law charges, £12,215 ; cultivation and manufacture of cotton, &c. in India (expenses incurred in view to the
improvement of), £-547 ; commission to agents at the outports on realisation of remittances, £260 ; maintenance of
lunatics, £6,466 ; mi.scellaneous — consisting of expenses of overland and ships' packets, maintenance of natives of India,
donation to the Bengal Civil Fund and to widows' funds for the home service, donations for services and relief, &c., £7,657.
Interest paid upon sums deposited by Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, £1,722 ; East Indian Railway Com-
pany, £2,983 ; absentee allowances to civil servants of the Indian establishments, £32,383 ; annuities of the Madras
Civil Fund of 1818, £15,388 ; retired pay and pensions of persons of the late St. Helana establishment, not chargeable
to the Crown, £5,795. The total territorial payments, including invoice value of political stores (£378,100), and some
small items not above enumerated, was £2,750,937.
Deficit of £852,217. § In this and following years, the receipts and charges of Sinde are included in Bombay.
In this and following years, the revenues and charges of the Punjab are included in Bengal. % Sui'plus.
4c
ti
558 RECEIPTS AND DISBURSEMENTS OF INDIAN REVENUE— 1852-'3.
The receipts for the year 1852-'53, were — Land-
tax, £15,365,000. Sayer (stamps, &c., on land) and
ahkarree (excise on spirituous liquors), £1,185,000 ;
moturpha (tax on houses, shops, trades, and pro-
fessions),* £118,000 ; salt, £2,421,000 ; opium,
£5,088,000; custom or import duties, £1,430,000;
stamp-duties, £491,000; post-office receipts,
£200,000; mint ditto, £150,000; tobacco, £63,000;
tributes and subsidies, £571,000; miscellaneous (com.-
prising arrears of revenue, marine and pilotage
dues), £1,522,000: total gross receipts, £28,610,000.
The disbursements for the same year were — In-
terest on India and home bond debt, £2,503,000;
charges defrayable in England, viz., dividends to
proprietors of E. I. stock, £650,000 ; E. I. House and
India Board establishments, half-pay and pensions,
stores, &c., £2,697,000 ; army and military charges,
£9,803,000; judicial establishments, £2,223,000;
land revenue collection and charges, £2,010,000;
general charges and civil establishments, £1,928,000;
opium charges and cost of production, £1,370,000;
salt, ditto, £350,000 ; marine (including Indian navy,
pilot service, lighthouses, &c.), £376,000 ; post-
office, £213,000: customs — collecting import duties,
£189,000 ; mints, £60,000 ; stamps, £32,000 ; mis-
cellaneous (including sayer, excise, moturpha, public
works, &c.), £4,223,000': total charges, £27,977,000.
The Indian Debt requires a brief elucidation :
it was originally created to meet the temporary
wants of commerce, and subsequently those of terri-
tory ; money was borrowed in India, in such emer-
gencies, at high rates of interest. In April, 1798,
the debt amounted to £8,500,000 ;t of this, £1,300,000
was at twelve, £4,000,000 at eight, £1,700,000 at
six — per cent. ; the remainder at various lesser rates,
or not bearing interest.
In April, 1803, the debt stood at £17,700.000 ; of
which £10,200,000 was at eight, £3,000,000 at ten,
£600,000 at twelve — per cent ; remainder as above.
In April, 1804— debt, £21,000,000; of which
£3,000,000 at ten, £1,200,000 at nine, £12,000,000
at eight- — per cent. ; remainder as above.
In April, 1834 — debt (exclusive of home bond),
£35,000,000; in April, 1850, £47,000,000; in 1855,
about £50,000,000. Annual interest of debt, at five
and four per cent., about £2,000,000.
There is a home India debt, which has been created
from time to time to meet deficiencies in remittances
required for home charges : it now amounts to
about £2,500,000.
Proportion of debt due to Europeans and to na-
tives, in 1834 — Europeans, £20,439,870 ; natives,
£7,225,360 = £27,665,230. In 1847, Europeans,
£21,981,447 ; natives,t £12,271,140 = £34,252,587.
The India debt has been mainly caused by war :§
that with the Burmese cost, from 1824 to 1826, at
least £13,000,000. The debt was augmented by it
from £26,468,475 to £39,948,488, or £13,500,000.
During the ten years from 1839-'40 to 1848-'49
(which was almost uninterruptedly a period of war-
fare in Afghanistan, Sinde, the Punjab, and Gwalior),
the aggregate charges exceeded the revenues of
India by £15,048,702, showing an annual deficiency
of £1,500,000.
There was a nominal reduction of the debt be-
tween 1830 and 1834, by an alteration of the high
rates of exchange, previously used, to the rate of two
shillings the sicca rupee, adopted after the passing
of the act 3 and 4 William IV., ch. 85 : by this the
debt appeared reduced from £39,948,488 in 1830, to
£35,463,483 in 1834. There was a real reduction to
£29,832,299, between 1834 and 1836, by the applica-
tion to that purpose of a portion of tea sales and
other commercial assets, derived from a winding up
of the mercantile business of the E. I. Cy. The
progress of the debt bearing interest in India is thus
shown : —
Years.
Value.
Years.
Value.
Years.
Value.
f
£
£
1834
35,463,483
1841
32,051,088
1848
43,085,263
1835
33,984,654
1842
34,378,288
1849
44,204,080
1836
29,832,299
1843
36,322,819
1850
46,908,064
1837
30,406,246
1844
37,639,829
1851
47,999,827
1838
30,249,893
1845
38,627,954
18.52
48,014,244
1839
30,231,162
1846
38,992,734
1853
49,043,526
1840
30,703,778
1847
41,798,087
1854
—
There is in India, as well as in England, a constant
tendency to increased expenditure. In fifteen years
the augmentation stood thus : —
Years.
Total Revenue.
Charges.
Debt.
India.
England.
India.
Home.
1834-'35
1849-'50
£
18,650,000
25,540,000
£
16,080,000
23,500,000
£
2,160,000
2,700,000
£
35,460,000
47,000,000
£
3,523,237
3,899,500
This increase has taken place in addition to
£8,122,530|| appropriated from commercial assets,
in 1834, towards liquidation of India debt, and
£1,788,522 applied to reduction of home bond debt:
total £9,911,055; and notwithstanding a reduction
in the interest of the India debt from six and five
to five and four per cent. An annual deficit of up-
wards of a million sterling, for about a quarter of
a century, does not appear satisfactory, and requires
* This tax, a relic of the Moslem system, still exists at
Madras : its abolition is under consideration.
■f- Instead of giving rupees, which perplex an English
reader, I give the sum, converted into sterling, at 2s. the
rupee.
% Between 1834 and 1846, the sums invested by Indian
princes in the India debt, has been — King of Oude,
£1,200,000; rajah of Mysoor, £H,WQ; Bajee Rao,
not merely vigilance to keep down expenditure,
but still more, the utmost eflbrts to raise revenue
by increasing the paying capacities of the people.
Assuming theBritish India population at 130,000,000,
and the annual revenue at £28,000,000, the con-
tribution per head is about fifty-two pence each
per annum. A people in prosperous circumstances
would yield much more than four shillings and four-
pence each yearly.
£50,000 ; rajah of Gurhwal, £10,000 ; CHmna, Indore,
£25,000 ; Pretaup Sing, Tanjore, £6,000.
§ During the present year (1855), a five per cent, loan
has been created, to be applied solely to the extension of
public works. In November, 1840, a similar proposition
was submitted by the author to the E. I. Cy.
II Of this sum, £2,677,053 constituted the principal of
the Camatic debts.
MONETARY SYSTEM— COINS MINTED-INDIAN BANKS. 559
The debt due to the E. I. Cy. is provided for.
In 1834 the sum of £2,000,000 was set apart from the
commercial assets of the company to be invested in
the English funds (three per cents.), and to accumulate
at compound interest, at forty years (until 1722), in
order to pay off the E. I. Cy's. stock of £6,000,000,*
at the rate of £200 for every £100 stock ; making the
total amount to be liquidated in 1874, £12,000,000. In
May, 1852, the £2,000,000hadincreased,bythe annual
reinvestment of three per cent, int., to £3,997,648.
The tangible commercial property sold under the
act of 1834, realised £15,223,480, which was thus
disposed of: — £8,191,366 towards discharge of In-
dia debt; £2,218,831 was applied in payment of
territorial charges in England; £1,788,525 was ap-
plied in liquidation of part of liome bond debt;
£2,000,000 was paid into the Bank of England, for
investment in the funds, to provide a " security
fund," at compound interest, for the ultimate re-
demption of the capital stock of the company
(£6,000,000) in 1874 ; £561,600 was applied in com-
pensations to ship-owners and other persons ; and
the remainder, of £463,135, was retained in London,
88 an available cash balance for the purposes of
government in India. The unavailable assets claimed
as commercial by the company — viz., the India House
in Leadenhall-street, one warehouse retained for a
military store department, and house property in
India, — the whole, valued at £635,445, — remains in
the hands of the company, but applicable to the
uses of the Indian government.t
Monetary System.— Silver is the standard of
value : the coins in circulation are — the rupee of
silver, value two shillings ; the anna of copper, three-
halfpence ; and the pice, a base metal, whereof
twelve represent one anna.
The rupee contains 165 grains of fine silver, and
fifteen grains of alloy : when silver is worth five
shillings per ounce, its value is one shilling and ten-
pence farthing ; the average rate of remittance, by
hypothecation, from India, has been at the rate of
one shilling and elevenpence three farthings ; bul-
lion remittances have averaged one shilling and ten-
pence, four per cent, over the metallic value of the
rupee. It is usually converted into sterling, ap-
proximatively, for nominal purposes at two shillings.
Gold coins, termed pagodas and mohurs, are now
seldom seen. There are no means of ascertaining the
amount of the circulating medium, in metal or in
paper : government possess no returns on the sub-
ject. The quantity of specie (value in rupees) issued
from the mints, in several years, has been : —
Mints.
Calcutta, 1847-'48 . .
„ 1848-'49 . .
1849— '.53,4)^8,
Madras, 1848— '53, avg. i
of the 6 years . . (
Bombay, avg. of same 1
period j
Total . . . .
Gold.
Kiipees.
10,286
46,980
151,299
208,565
Silver.
Rupees.
12,158,939
15,211,680
84,534,529
3,271,189
17,264,598
132,440,835
Copper.
Rupees.
3.5,116,331
47,724,328
116,571,391
6,159,671
f none
] coined.
20.5,571,721
* This capital consisted originally, on the union of the
two companies in 1708, of £'3,200,000 (see p. 230);
between 1787 and 1789, this sum was increased to
jt4,000,000; from 1789 to 1793, to i?5,000,000 ; and
from 1793 to 1810, to i'6,000,000.
t Evid. of Sir J. C. Melvill.— (Pari. Papers; May, 1852.)
X An admirable memoir of this distinguished Indian
Btatesman, and selections from bis valuable pacers, have
Public Banks in India.— Until within the last
few years, there was only one public joint-stock bank
(Bengal) in India. This institution owed its forma-
tion, at the commencement of the present century,
to the financial ability of the late Henry St. George
Tucker,! ^"^l ^'^^ eminently successful. In 1829-'30
I proposed and assisted at the organisation of t'iie
Union Sank of Calcutta. It was soon taken out of
my hands by the leading merchant bankers, who
used its capital and credit to prop up their insolvent
firms : it did not, however, prevent their failure for
£20,000,000 sterling, leaving a dividend of not many
pence in the pound. The Union Bank held iti
ground for a few years, but it ultimately fell with
another great crash of Bengal traders, and was then
ascertained to have been, for the last few years of its
existence, a gigantic swindle.
In conjunction with Sir Gore Ouseley and other
friends, 1 tried to establish in London an East India
Bank, which should act as a medium of remittance
between Britain and India. The government and
several members of the E. I. Cy. were favourable,
but private interests, connected with individual
banking and agency, were too powerful at the
E. I. House. A charter offered was clogged with re-
strictions which would defeat the object in view ;
and after an expenditure of several thousand pounds,
and five years of untiring perseverance, the project
was abandoned, when I went to China, in her Ma-
jesty's service, in March, 1844. Since then a local
bank, formed at Bombay, established a branch in
London — has now its head-quarters (Oriental Bank)
there, with branches in India and China, and ap-
pears to be doing a large and profitable business.
Acting on my suggestions, banks were established
at Bombay and Madras, on the same governmental
basis as that of Bengal; their notes being received
as cash by government, and remittance operations
prohibited. There are now about a dozen public
banks in India, whose aggregate capital is only
about £5,000,000 : but no returns of their position
are made to the E. I. House. There are numerous
governmental treasuries in different parts of India.
To meet current expenses, and to provide against
contingencies, large cash balances are kept there.
In 1852, the coin ready for emergencies was
£12,000,000.§
The Hindoos have no joint-stock banks among
themselves ; the shroffs, or money-changers, issue
Iwondees, or bills of exchange, which are negotiable
according to the credit of the issuer ; the leading
shroffs in the principal towns correspond not only
with their brethren in all parts of India, but also in
the large cities of Asia, and even at Constantinople :
by this means important European intelligence was
wont, before the establishment of communication by
steam, to be known among the natives in the bazaar
at Calcutta, long before the government received
official tidings.
been recently prepared by Mr. J. W. Kaye, who has at-
tained a high reputation as a biographer.
§ In June, 1855, the assets of the general treasuries was
—Bengal, 15,200,000 rupees ; Madras, 2,000,000; Bom-
bay, 9,200,000 = 26,400,000 rupees, of which 22,300,000
w-as in specie. The assets of each of the three govern-
mental banks was, in April, 1855 — B. Bengal, 27,682,636
rupees; B. Madras, 6,002,163 rupees; B. Ilombay,
12,077,566 rupees. Excess of assets over liabilities of
each, 10,803,264 rupees; 2,996,958 rupees; 5,340,480
rupees. Coin in these three banks, 10,660,000 rupees.
Bank notes outstanding, 17,500,000 rupees. Government
bills and debentures, 6,400,000 rupees.
J
CHAPTER VII.
COMMERCE— IMPORTS— EXPORTS— SHIPPIXG— VALUABLE PRODUCTS— CAPABILITY
OF GREATLY INCREASED TRAFFIC.
The commerce of India has, for many ages,* been
deemed of great value ; but considering the extent
and resources of the country, it was not until re-
cently carried on with England to any large extent.
In 1811-'12, our dominion was firmly established in
Hindoostan, and there was general peace : a con-
trast between that year and 1851-'2, will show its
progress in forty years: —
Total Commerce.
Value of merchandise imported )
from the United Kingdom . . j
Ditto from other countries . . .
Total Imports
Merchandise exported to the |
United Kingdom .... J
Ditto to other countries ....
Total Exports ....
18U-'12. 1851-'52.
£
1,300,000
160,000
1,460,000
1,500,000
600,000
£
9,300,000
3,100,000
12,400,000
7,100,000
12,700,000
2,100,000 19,800,000
Thus, exclusive of bullion, coin, or treasure, there
has been, in merchandise alone, an increase of im-
ports from £1,460,000 to £12,400,000, and of ex-
ports, from £2,100,000 to £19,800,000. The treasure
transit, at the two periods, has been: — 1811-'12 — im-
ported, £230,000; exported, £45,000: 1851-'52—
imported, £5,000,000; exported, £910,000. The
shipping of all nations entering at the two periods,
* Three hundred years before the Christian era the
India trade was a tempting prize to Alexander, and it
continued to be an object of solicitude to Europe and to
Asia. In 1204, the Venetians, assisted by the soldiers of
the fourth crusade, obtained possession of Constantinople,
and retained the occupation for fifty-seven years, mainly by
the advantages of Indian commerce : these were, in the 13th
and 1 5th centuries, transferred to their rivals the Genoese
(whose colonies extended along the Euxine and towards
the Caspian), in return for assistance given to the Greeks.
The Venetians then entered into a treaty with the Moham.
medans, and conducted their commerce with the East via
Egypt and the Red Sea. The discovery of a maritime
route by the Cape of Good Hope, destroyed the over-
land trade by Egypt and Asia Minor. The construction of
a ship canal through the isthmus of Darien, would give a
fresh stimulus to the commerce of the East.
f For many years, great commercial injustice was done
by England to British India. High, indeed prohibitory,
duties were laid on its sugar, rum, coffee, &c., to favour
similar products grown in the West Indies : still worse, we
compelled the Hindoos to receive cotton and other manu-
factures from England at nearly nominal duties (two and
a-half per cent.), while, at the very same time, fifty per cent,
were demanded here on any attempt to introduce the
cotton goods of India. — {See Commons Pari. Papers ; No.
227, April, 1846 ; called for, and printed on tlie motion
of one of the oldest and most independent members, Ed-
ward Stillingfleet Cayley, M.P. for N. R. Yorkshire.) The
same principle was adopted in silk and other articles : the
result was the destruction of the finer class of cotton,
silk, and other manufactures, without adopting the plan
of Strafford, in Ireland, during the reign of Charles I. —
namely, the founding of the linen trade as a substitute
for that of woollen, which was extinguished in order to
appease the English hand-loom weavers. To remedy the
was— 1811-'12, 600,000 tons; 1851-'2, 1,700,000
tons.
In 1811, it was gravely asserted before parliament,
by several witnesses, that the trade of India could
not be extended ; that it was not possible to augment
the consumption of British manufactures ; and that
the people of Hindoostan had few wants, and little
to furnish in exchange. The answer to this is an
extension from one to nine million worth. Yet the
trade of India is still only in its infancy ; and but
for the unjust prohibitionsf to which for many years
it was subjected in England, it would now probably
be double its present value. Assuming the popula-
tion of all India at 200,000,000, including about
60,000 Europeans, and the exports of our merchan-
dise at £10,000,000,J there is a consumption of
only one shilling's worth per head. Our exports to
the United States of America, in 1854, amounted to
£21,400,000, or, for 25,000,000 inhabitants,? about
seventeen shillings per head of the population ; to
Australia, for 700,000 persons, to £ 1 2,000,000, or about
£17 per head during a year of diminished trade. Even
the negro population in the West Indies, under one
million in number, take off nearly £2 sterling
per head of British produce; and the colonists of
British America, £5 each yearly. The exports from
the United Kingdom to India, in the year 1854,
already, however, equal in amount those sent in
the same year to France (£3,175,290), Spain
evil of treating India as a foreign state, I appealed to the
common sense of the nation, through the public press,
to a select committee of parliament, by voluminous evi-
dence, and, aided by Sir Charles Forbes and other eminent
merchants, on 11th May, 1842, carried the principle of
the following motion in the General Court of Proprietors
of the E. I. Cy., as the sequel of a resolution laid before
the Court on the previous 22nd December, ' ' praying
that parliament, in the exercise of justice and sound
policy, will authorise the admission of the produce and
manufactures of British India into the ports of the United
Kingdom, on reciprocal terms with the produce and manu-
factures of the United Kingdom when imported into British
India — that East India vessels be entitled to the pri-
vileges of British shipping, and that the produce of sub-
sidiary states, whose maritime frontiers we have occupied,
be treated as that of British India." — (See Asiatic Journal
for January, 1842.) *' That in the opinion of this Court,
the territories under the government of the E. I. Cy.
ought to be treated as integral portions of the British
empire ; and that as a revision of the English tariff is
now taking place, this Court, in fulfilment of its duty to
their fellow-subjects in British India, do again petition
both houses of parliament, praying for a complete recipro-
city of trade between India and England, which, if fully
and fairly established, will confer mutual and extensive
benefits on both countries, and materially contribute to
the security and permanence of the British power and
influence in the eastern hemisphere." — {See debate thereon
in Asiatic Journal, May, 1842.) The late Sir R. Peel
admitted the injustice, and adopted measures for its redress,
which merged into the low import system, by a misnomer
designatedyree trade, which does not exist with any country.
J In 1854, i;10,025,969.
§ Census of 1850, 23,351,207, including 3,178,000
slaves.
IMMENSE VALUE OP INDIAN COMMERCE TO ENGLAND. 561
(£1,270,064), Portugal (£1,370,603), Sardinia
(£1,054.513), Lombardy (£635,931), Napl s
(£563,033), Tuscany (£505,852), Papal States
(£149,865), Denmark (£759,718), Sweden and
Norway (£736,808.)
The export of British manufactures and produce to
India ought to amount to at least twenty shillings
per head, which would be equal to £200,000,000
sterling, or twice the value of our present exports to
* Export of British and Irish produce and manufactures
to every part of the world, in 1854— £97,298,900.
t India could supply cotton for all Europe. For some
years experiments have been made, and considerable
expense incuired, by sending out seed from America,
and American agents to superintend the culture and
cleaning : no corresponding result has ensued ; the main
elements of skill, energy, and capital are still wanting.
Western and Central India, especially the provinces of
Guzerat and Berar, afford the best soils and climate for
the plant ; but roads, railways, and river navigation
are needed ; and it is a delusion to think that India
can rival the United States until they are supplied.
With every effort that government and individuals have
made since 1788, when the distribution of cotton-seed
commenced, the import of cotton wool from India was,
in 1851, no more than 120,000,000 lbs. — not one.
seventh of the United States' supply. Improvement of
the navigation of the Godavery and other rivers, will
probably cause an extension of production. Silk has
long formed an article of Indian commerce : it was pro-
bably introduced from China, but was not largely pro-
duced untQ the middle of the 18th century, when the
E. I. Cy. sent (in 1757) a Mr. Wilder to Bengal,—
urged the planting of the mulberry ; and granted, in
1765, reductions of the rents of lands where attention
was paid to the culture of the tree, and in 1770 — '75,
introduced the mode of winding practised in Italy and
other places. When Napoleon, in 1808, stopped the ex-
portation of silk from Italy to England, the Court made
auccessfol exertions to furnish large supplies of filature
wound in Bengal, and to augment the supply of silk
goods, which is an increasing trade. An unlimited quan-
tity of the raw and manufactured material can be pro-
duced in India. Wool of every variety, from fine down
adapted to the most beautiful fabrics, to the coarse, wiry,
and long shaggy hair which makes excellent carpets, is
procurable, and now exported to the extent of several
million lbs. annually. The plateau and mountain slopes
of India sustain vast herds of sheep in a favourable
climate, with abundant pasture. It is a trade susceptible
of great development. Indigo is a natural product of
many parts of India. Until the close of last century,
Europe derived its chief supplies from South America
and the West Indies. About 1779, the Court of Direc-
tors made efforts to increase the production by contracting
for its manufacture. In 1786, out of several parcels con-
signed to London, one only yielded a profit : the aggre-
gate loss of the company was considerable. Improve-
ments took place in the preparation of the dye : and, in
1792, the produce of Bengal was found superior to that
of other countries; in 1795, the consignments amounted
to 3,000,000 lbs. Several civil servants of government
establislied indigo factories ; private Europeans came into
the trade ; capital was advanced by the merchant bankers
of Calcutta, who sometimes lost heavily, and sometimes
acquired immense gains. Happily, low duties were levied
in England, and the cultivation and manufacture largely
augmented, and now it is spread over about 1,200,000
acres of land in Bengal and Bahar, employing 50,000
families, and requiring an annual outlay of more than a
million and a-lialf sterling. Sinde is now becoming a
competitor with Bengal, and is said to have the advantage
of immunity from heavy rains, which wash the colour from
the leaves when ready to be cut. Sugar is an indigenous
product of India ; it was carried from thence into Sicily,
the south of Europe, the Canaries, and subsequently to
every part of the world.* Let not this be deemed
an extravagant assertion : the capacity of Hindoo-
stan to receive our goods is only limited by that
which it can furnish in return ; and, happily, the
country yields, in almost inexhaustible profusion,
wherever capital has been applied, all the great
staples which England requires, such as wheat, rice,
sugar, coffee, tea, cotton, silk, wool, indigo, flax and
hemp, teak, and timber of every variety,! tallow,
America ; the cane is grown in every part of India, and
its juice used by all classes. For many years the export
to England was discouraged by the imposition of high
duties to favour the West India interest; and in 1840,
I was under examination for several days before a select
committee of the House of Commons, adducing evidence
of the necessity of admitting East India on the same terms
as West India sugar into the United Kingdom. The
quantity exported has increased of late years, but again
fallen off. In the year ending June 30th, 1855, the
sugar imported from the East Indies amounted to
739,144 cwt.; Mauritius, 1,237,678 cwt. ; West Indies,
3,139,209 ; foreign produce, 3,117,665 = 8,233,096 cwt.
Duty received, jfc'5,330,967. Average price of Muscovado,
for the year, per cwt. — East Indies, 23«. id. ; Havannah,
22s. 9(/. ; British West Indies, 20*. \\d. ; Mauritius,
20s. 2d. Thus it will be perceived, that the imports
from all India are little more than one-half of the small
island of Mauritius, and that the price is higher (despite
labour wages at 1 \d. a-day) than in any other country. The
consumption of sugar in the United Kingdom, in the year
ending 30th June, 1855, was— 8, 145, 180 cwt. =912, 260, 160
lbs., which, for 27,000,000 people, shows 34 lbs. per
head annually, or about 10 oz. a-week for each individual.
In the Taxation of the British Empire, published in
1832, when the consumption was only about 5 oz. a-
head weekly, I endeavoured to demonstrate that by re-
ducing the duty, and extending the market of supply,
the consumption would be doubled ; which has taken
place : now, by affording encouragement to sugar culti-
vation in India, the consumption in the United Kingtiom
would probably increase to at least 1 lb. a-week per
head. The tea shrub has been found growing wild in
Assam, and contiguous to several of the lower slopes
of the Himalayas : it delights in sheltered valleys, the
declivities of hills, or river banks with a southern
exposure, as in Gurhwal, Kumaon, and at Katmandoo
(Nepaul), where a plant ten feet high has been seen. In
1788, it was announced officially that this remarkable
herb was indigenous to India ; but no attempts were
made to encourage the cultivation, lest the China trade
should be disturbed. In 1835, Lord Wm. Beutinck
brought the subject under the notice of the E. I. Cy. and
of the public ; a committee of investigation was appointed,
who decided in favour of an experimental culture. In
1839, an Assam tea company was incorporated in London,
with a capital of ;£500,000 ; the directors went to work
energetically, and have spent j£200,000, a large part of
which, however, was wasted. Experience has been dearly
bought ; but under the able supervision of Mr. Walter
Prideaux, a large crop is at present secured, and annually
increasing. The tea crop for three years, in Assam,
amounted to— in 1852, 271,427 lbs. ; in 1853, 366,687
lbs.; in 1854, 478,258 lbs. The yield of 18.'J5 is ex-
pected to realise .£^50,000, and the expenditure half that
sum. The Assam tea is of excellent quality, so also is
that of Kumaon. By perseverance and j\idgment, we
may hope to be less dependent on China for this now
indispensable and cheering beverage. Coffee, a native of
Yemen (Arabia), has long been naturalised in India : it ia
grown, of excellent quality, in Malabar, Tellicherry,
Mysoor, and other contiguous places. Tobacco was in-
troduced in 1605, during the reign of Akber, — is now
cultivated in every part, and in general use ; but as a
commercial article, is inferior to the American weed. Care
only is required to produce the finest qualities. This il
the case at Chunar on the Ganges, Bhdsa near Nagpoor
562 NUMEROUS AND VALUABLE COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS OF INDIA.
hides and horns, vegetable oils, tobacco, peppers,
cardamoms, ginger, cassia, and other spices, lin-
seed, saltpetre, gum and shell-lac, rum, arrack,
caoutchouc and gutta-percha, canes or rattans, ivory,
wax, various dyes and drugs, &c.
These constitute the great items of commerce; and
the demand for them in Europe is immense — in fact,
not calculable : 200,000,000 Europeans could consume
twenty times the amount of the above-mentioned
products that are now supplied ; 200,000,000 Hin-
doos would consume, in exchange, an equal proportion
of the clothing, manufactures, and luxuries from the
Woodanum in the Northern Circars, in the low islands
at the mouth of the Kistna (from which the famed Masu-
lipatam snuff is made), in the delta of the Godavery, in
Guzerat, near Chinsurah, Bengal, at Sandoway in Ar-
racan, and at other places. The Court of Directors pro.
cured from America the best seed from Maryland and
Virginia, which has thriven well. Tobacco requires a
fertile and well-manured soil. The best fields at San-
doway, Arracan, show on analysis — iron (peroxyde), 15*65 ;
saline matter, 1"10; vegetable fibre, 3'75 ; silex, 76-90 j
alumina, 2 ; water and loss, 60 = 100. Flax and Hemp
are furnished by India in larger varieties than from any
other country in the world. The sun, properly cured and
dressed, is equal to Russian hemp ; other varieties are
superior, as they bear a strain of 200 to 400 lbs. ; while
that of St. Petersburg breaks at 160 to 200 lbs. ; the
kote-kangra of the Pimjab is equal to 400 lbs. ; jute is
also excellent ; the khiar, made from cocoa-nut husk
fibres, is used principally for maritime purposes, as the
specific gravity is lighter than sea-water, in which it does
not decay like hemp. Any amount of plants adapted for
cordage, coarse cloths, and the manufacture of paper (for
which latter there is a greatly increasing demand through-
out the civilised world), are procurable in India. Linseed
was only recently known to abound in India, and is now
shipped annually to the extent of many thousand tons.
The greater part of the oil-cake used for fattening cattle
in Britain is derived from the fields of Hindoostan. Salt
is supplied in Bengal by evaporating the water of the
Ganges, near its mouth, and by boiling the sea-water
at difl'erent parts of the Bay of Bengal ; at Bombay and
Madras, solar evaporation is used. This indispensable
condiment is found pure in different parts of the interior ;
the Sambhur Lake, in Rajpootana, supplies it in crystals of
B clear and fine flavour, when the water dries up during
the hot season. The Punjab contributes a quantity of
rock-salt, from a range of hills which crosses due west
the Sinde-Saugor Dooab ; it is found cropping out in all
directions, or else in strata commencing near the surface,
and extending downwards in deep and apparently in-
exhaustible fecundity. The mineral, which requires no
preparatory process but pounding, can be excavated and
Drought to the mouth of the mine for two annas (three-
pence) the maund (80 lbs.) ; it is of excellent flavour and
purity, — of transparent brilliancy and solid consistency ;
when, as is sometimes the case, veins of iron lie adjacent
to the saline strata, it assumes a reddish hue. In this
latter respect the salt of the cis-Indus portion of the
range differs from that obtained in the trans-Indus section.
Common bay-salt is made in many adjacent localities, and
in all parts of the country the ground is occasionally im-
pregnated with a saline efflorescence resembling saltpetre.
In the Alpine principality of Mundee an impure salt is
produced, but it is strongly mixed with earthy ingredients.
In Sinde, a coarse kind of salt is everywhere procurable
in large quantities ; some ship-loads have been sent to
Bengal, and sold well. Saltpetre (nitre) is derived from
the soil of Bengal, Oude, and other places ; the average
quantity annually exported is about 20,000 tons. Sul-
phate of soda (glauber-salts), is found near Cawnpoor ;
carbonate of soda, at Sultanpoor, Ghazeepoor, and Tir-
hoot ; and other salines arc procurable, in various places, to
any required extent. Rice, — widely grown in Bengal,
Babar, Arracan, Assam, Sinde, and other low districts,
western hemisphere. The tariff of India offers no
impediment to the development of such barter :
internal peace prevails, there are no transit duties,
land and labour abounds ; but capital and skill are
wanting. How these are to be supplied, — how
Britain is to be rendered independent of Kussia or
of the United States for commercial staples,-r-how
such great advantages are to be secured,- — how India
is to be restored to a splendour and prosperity greater
than ever before experienced, — 1 am not called on to
detail. Let it suffice for me to indicate the good to be
sought, and desire earnestly its successful attainment.
and also at elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 feet along the
Himalayas and other places, without irrigation, where the
dampness of the summer months compensates for artificial
moisture. Bengal and Patna rice are now, by care and
skill, equal to that of "Carolina, though the grain is not so
large ; that from Arracan and Moulmein is coming exten-
sively into use. Pegu will also probably furnish consider-
able supplies. WAeat, from time immemorial, has been a
staple crop on the plains of Northern India, in the Punjab,
Nepaul, andotherplaces. The soil is well fitted forthis cereal,
but owing to defective cultivation, the crops are not good : it
is, however, the main food of many millions in Hindoostan ;
and yet, a few years since, when I placed a small sack of
excellent Indian wheat on the table of the Court of Proprie-
tors of the E. I. House, while urging its admission into
England at a low rate of duty, it was viewed with astonish-
ment, it being generally supposed that rice was the only
grain in the East. Oils, — that expressed from the cocoa-
nut is the most valuable, especially since it has been
converted into candles. This graceful palm thrives best
on the sea-coast, the more so if its roots reach the saline
mud, when it bears abundantly at the fourth year, and
continues to do so for nearly 100 years, when it attains a
height of about 80 feet. The planting of the cocoa-nut is
considered a meritorious duty. Castor-oil is extensively
prepared for burning in lamps, as well as for medicinal
purposes. Rose oil (attar of roses) is produced chiefly at
Ghazeepoor on the Ganges, where hundreds of acres are 1
occupied with this fragrant shrub, whose scent, when in
blossom, is wafted along the river a distance of seven
miles. Forty pounds of rose-leaves in 60 lbs. of water,
distilled over a slow fire, gives 30 lbs. of rose-water,
which, when exposed to the cold night air, is found in
the morning to have a thin oleaginous film on the surface.
About 20,000 roses = 80 lbs. weight, yields, at the
utmost, an ounce and a-half of attar, which costs at
Ghazeepoor 40 rupees {£^.) Purity tested by the quick
evaporation of a drop on a piece olf paper, which should
not be stained by the oil. Opium, — this pernicious drag
is extensively prepared in Bahar (Patna) and Malwa. The
cultivation of the poppy (from whose capsule the poi-
sonous narcotic is obtained) began to attract attention in
1786; the trade was fostered as a means of obtaining a
public revenue, there being a great demand in China,
where its use has rapidly increased within the last forty
years, and hastened the decay of the Tartar government
of that vast country. The Patna drug is procured by
the Anglo-Indian government making advances of money
to the cultivators, and stipulating for a certain amount
at a fixed price ; that of Malwa yields a revenue by tran-
sit-permits on its passage to Bombay. The revenue to
the state, from both these sources, is upwards of five million
sterling. Among the timber woods may be mentioned —
teak, sandal-wood, mango, banian, dhak, babool, different
kinds of oak, p ne, holly, maple, plane, ash, horse-
chesnut, juniper, leodar or Himalayan cedar, fir, sal,
sissoo, peon, micbelia, syzygium, arbutus, bay, acacia,
beech, chesnut, alnus, snppan-wood, cassia, toon, cedar,
laurel (four to six feet in diameter), mulberry, willow, tulip-
tree, indigo-tree, bamboo, and a variety of other timber
adapted for ship and house-building. In the Madras
Presidency alone there are upwards of a hundred dif-
ferent kinds of timber, and about 500 specimens haT«
been collected from Nepp.ul and the Ultra-Gangetic country
IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF INDIA SINCE 1834.
563
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564 MARITIME PROGRESS OF CALCUTTA, MADRAS, AND BOMBAY.
Number and Tonnage of all Vessels entered
ayid chared at the Ports in each Presidency — 1840 to 1
S52 :—
Years.
Entered.
Cleared.
Total.
Years.
Entered. i Cleared.
Total.
Bengal
Ves. 1 Tons.
Ves.
Tons.
Ves.
Tons.
Bombay
Ves.
Tons. Ves.
Tons.
Ves.
Tons.
1840
686' 234,808
689
233,300
1,375
468,108
1840
19,322
444,435 19,173
469,301
38,495
913,736
1841
913: 295,.596
882
279,688
1,795
675,284
1841
19,864
678,716 15,051
462,226
34,915
1,040,942
1842
655 231,672
725
263,436
1,380
49.5,108
1842
19,237
611,271 16,980
477,539
36,217
1,088,810
1843
772
254,519
813
271,7.54
1,.585
626,273
1843
20,5-i9
527,626 19,201
689,836
39,730
1,117,462
1844
729
252,491
773
267,058
1,502
519,.549
1844
19,227
624,8501 20,485 674,206
39,712
1,099,056
1845
1,045
282,674
1,0.52
292,315
2,097
674,989
1845
17,274
494,469! 19,856 689,969
37,130
1,184,438
1840
996
274,6.34
1,024
289,587
2,020
664,221
1846
18,143
630,011' 14,610
430,929
32,753
960,940
1847
1,117
332,688
1,108
326,972
2,225
659,660
1847
18,199
659,276 19,201
592,777
37,400
1,162,053
1848
862
308,347
845
301,157
1,707
609,504
1848
24,441
685,165: 21,487
652,265
45,9'',8
1,337,430
1819
1,020
349,614
1,046
362,290
2,066
711,904
1849
29,714
804,193; 28,981
779,241
68,695
1,5.13,434
1850
1,033
356,502
1,029
357,799
2,062
714,301
1850
32,126
804,9561 33,130
829,873
65,256
1,634,829
1851
998
393,322
980
373,330
1,978
766,652
1851
36,706
867,514 37,694
893,005
74,400
1,760,519
1852
839
433,739
811
414,795
1,650
848,534
1852
42,241
907,447
42,218
908,328
84,459
1,815,775
Madras
Totals
1840
6,879
371,644
6,727
427,872
12,606
799,516
1840
25,887
1,050,887
26,589 1,130,473
62,476
2,181,360
1841
6,271
368,924
6,781
432,474
13,052
801,398
1841
27,048
1,24.3,236
22,714
1,174,388
49,762
2,417,624
1842
6,016
400,728
6,476
441,808
12,492
842,536
1842
25,908
1,243,671
24,181
1,182,783
50,089
2,426,454
1843
5,580
375,375
6,790
479,046
12,370
854,421
1843
26,881
l,1.57,-520
26,804
1,340,636
53,685
2,498,166
1844
6,181
430,295
7,292
490,588
13,473
920,883
1844
26,137
1,207,636
28,550
1,331,852
54,687
2,539,488
1845
6,495
466,854
7,818
533,564
14,313
990,418
1845
24,814
1,23.3,997
28,726
l,515,84e
53,.540
2,749,845
1846
6,168
475,038
7,405
534,935
13,573
1,009,973
1846
26,307
1,279,683
23,039
1,2.56,451
48,346
2,535,134
1847
6,868
448,712
6,531
486,316
12,399
936,028
1847
25,184
1,340,676
26,840
1,406,065
52,024
2,746,741
1848
6,711
441,891
7,108
528,781
12,819
970,672
1848
31,014
1,435,403
29,440
1,482,203
60,454
2,917,606
1849
6,876
439,807
7,693
549,573
13,569
989,380
1849
36,610
1,.593,614
37,720
1,691,104
74,330
3,284,718
1850
6,813
488,800
7,780
620,465
13,593
1,109,266
1850
38,972
1,650,258
41,939
1,808,137
80,91]
3,458,395
1861
6,136
435,153
6,687
557,409
11,823
992,612
1851
42,840
1,695,989
45,361
1,823,794
88,201
3,519,783
1862
6,787
490,276
7,184
620,948
12,971
1,111,224
1852
48,867
1,831,462
60,213
1,944,071
99,080
3,775,533
Shipping entering these Ports between 1802 and 1835.
Years.
Calcutta.
Madras.
Bombay.
Total.
Vessels.
Tons.
Vessels.
Tons.
Vessels.
Tons.
Vessels.
Tons.
1802-'3
620
150,154
1,476
149,571
106
49,022
2,101
348,748
1803-'4
694
171,229
1,861
198,218
143
62,635
2,588
432,082
1811-'12
601
151,224
6,826
267,888
79
32,161
6,606
451,273
1812-'13
527
148,866
6,691
410,894
139
64,953
7,357
614,653
1823-'24
498
139,773
8,094
486,297
122
62,720
8,714
677,790
1824-'25
639
157,039
6,642
305,422
129
54.239
6,310
616,700
1830-'31
475
134,805
6,157
262,127
149
60,379
6,781
457,311
1831-'.32
492
110,767
4,885
255,296
145
56,051
6,459
422,114
18.32-'33
478
121,544
4,826
256,344
165
71,929
6,469
449,827
1833-'34
830
183,471
6,031
318,417
170
69,803
6,031
671,691
18.34-'35
648
164,485
6,012
306,727
181
73,175
5,841
644,387
1835-'36
622
151,019
6,379
311,694
204
75,830
6,105
638,643
Number and Tonnage of Vessels of each Nation entered and cleared at Ports in British India, since 1850-'51.
Nationality o)
Entered.
Cleared.
Vessels.
1860-'61.
1851-'52.
1852-'53.
1850-'51.
lS51-'52.
1852-'53.
Under —
British Colours
American . .
Arabian . . ,
Austrian . .
Belgian . . .
Bhownugger
Bombay . .
Bremen . .
Burmese . .
Danish . .
Dutch . .
French . .
Hamburg .
Norwegian .
Portuguese .
Russian . .
Sardinian .
Spanish . .
Swedish . .
Turkish . .
Native . .
Steamers . .
Ves.
1,861
67
296
4
6
139
6
"Tso
1
6
36,424
33
Tons.
682,762
33,299
36,623
1,328
2,284
42,682
1,668
2,039
405
1,368
822,692
23,118
Ves.
1,778
74
230
1
121
6
~ 2
3
146
9
"234
3
6
40,181
46
Tons.
683,179
34,888
32,461
622
6,691
2,845
1,070
1,790
44,210
4,179
4,179
1,682
2,456
842,610
33,224
Ves.
1,789
89
252
1
3
164
4
6
6
263
3
1
179
4
1
10
1
46,019
82
Tons.
722,035
57,207
37,476
425
1,380
7,632
1,165
"2^274
3,232
66,647
875
350
3,692
1,348
604
3,339
650
859,566
62,665
Ves.
2,339
66
430
4
7
148
3
180
1
1
6
38,716
38
Tons.
754,264
33,860
45,621
U71
2,469
47,548
886
3,171
475
800
2,012
89'3i076
22,794
Ves.
2,202
79
259
1
1
219
1
2
2
176
4
^8
1
~ 3
42,122
51
Tons.
726,807
33,782
43,841
566
176
12,027
573
1,338
1,474
57,031
1,489
3,772
356
1,023
905,824
33,666
Ves.
2,277
37
284
3
240
1
1
4
4
295
6
~168
1
8
46,821
63
Tons.
820,707
24,358
36,491
1,380
12,208
600
220
- 2,071
1,969
66,606
2,681
1^463
~504
4,045
919,722
47,046
Total . . .
38^72
1.660.258
42,840
1,695,989
48.867
1.831,462
41,939
1,808.137
46,361
1.823.744
60,213
1,944,071
INDIAN BANKS— COINS, WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. 563
Anglo-Indian Army.— Total Numher of Europeans andNatives employed in all India, from the Year 1800
Years
'Europeans
' Natires.
Total.
Yeara
Europeans
Natives.
Total.
Years.
Europeans.
Natives.
Total.
1800
22,832
115,300
138,132
1817
31,056
195,134
226,190
1834
32,310
155,.556
187366
23,012
132,864
155,876
1818
32.161
211,079
243,240
1835
30,822
152,9.38
183,760
1802
24,341
122,606
146,847
1819
29,494
215,878
246,372
1836
32,733
153,306
186,039
1803
24,930
115,211
140,141
1820
28,645
228,650
257,295
1837
32,502
154,029
186,631
23,042
155,671
178,713
1821
28,914
228,068
256,982
1838
31,.526
163,780
185,308
1805
24,891
167,674
192,565
1822
29,065
216,175
245,240
1839
31,132
176.008
207,140
26,445
156,421
182,866
1823
30,933
206,799
237,732
1840
35,604
199,839
238,443
1807
26,460
153,623
180,083
1824
30,585
212,842
243,427
1841
38,406
212,616
26 J, 022
1808
29,798
151,120
180,918
1825
30,423
246,125
276,548
1842
42,113
212,624
254,737
1809
31,387
154,117
185,604
1826
30,872
260,273
291,145
1843
46,726
220,947
267,673
1810
31,952
157,262
189,214
1827
32,673
240,942
273,616
1844
46,240
216,580
262,820
1811
34,479
166,665
201,144
1828
34,557
224,471
259,028
1845
46,111
240,310
286,121
1812
33,835
165,622
199,457
1829
35,786
207,662
243,448
1846
44,014
240,733
284,747
1813
34,171
165,900
200,071
1830
36,409
187,067
223,476
1847
44,323
247,473
291,796
1814
31,651
162,787
194,438
1831
35,011
161,987
196,998
1848
44,270
220,891
266,161
1815
31,611
195,572
227,183
1832
34,767
158,201
192,968
1849
47,893
229,130
277,023
1816
32,399
198,484
230,883
1833
33,785
156,331
190,116
1850
49,280
228,448
277,728
1
1851
49,408
240,121
289,529
East India Banks.'
Name.
Date of
Establish-
ment.
Capital.
Notes in
Subscribed.
Paid up.
Circulation,
Coffers.
Discount.
Bank of Bengal ....
1809
£1,070,000
£1,070,000
1,714,771
861,964
12.5,251
„ of Madras' ....
1843
300,000
300,000
12.3,719
139,960
69.871
„ of Bombay"
1840
522,600
522,500
6
71,089
240,073
195,836
Oriental Bank'' ....
1861-
1,216,000
1,215,000'
1
99,279f
1,146,629
2,918,399
Agra and U. S. Bank'' — head 1
office, Calcutta ... J
1833
700,000
700,000
—
74,362
N. W. Bank'— head office, Calcutta
1844
220,560
220,000
.
.
London and Eastern Bank .
1854
250,000
3
25,000
__
Commercial Banki^ — head office,
Bombay . . . . „
1845
1,000,000
456,000
—
—
—
Delhi Bank'— head office, Delhi .
1844
180,000
.
.
__
Simla Bank
1844
—
63,860
__
Dacca Bank
1846
30,000
.
,
^_
Mercantile Bank" — head office,
Bombay ...
—
500,000
328,826
777,156"
77,239
109,647
Bank of Asia ....
India, China, & Australian Bank
1853'-4
f not comme
need business
yet.
• The accounts of most of these banks are vap\ie and unsatisfactory , there is a mystilication which renders it diflicult to ascertain
their solvency. * Last dividend, 8 per cent. " Last dividend, 9 jier cent.
^ Last dividend, 10 per cent. • Corporation date of charter, 30th of August, ]85I. 'At 27th Sept., 1855
s Bills of exchange and promissory notes not l)earing interest. i" A lending bank ; and from its accounts in June, 1855, I
can derive no definite view of its assets and liabilities. Branches. — Agra, Madras, Lahore, Canton, and London.
• Branches. — Bombav. Simla, Mussouri, Agra ; and they draw on Delhi and Cawnpoor.
k Agents in London, Calcutta, Canton, and Shanghae. ' Agents in London, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.
» Branches. — London, Calcutta, Colombo, Kandy, Canton, and Shanghae. Last dividend, 8 per cent,
n Drafts and bills in circulation.
Commercial Tarip* op India.— The chief provisions of the tariff of 1855 may be thus stated; — BrilUh tpipor/j— Cotton and
silk piece goods and manufactures, woollens, marine stores, metals, porter, beer, ale, cider, and sfmjlar fermented liquors, and all
manufactured articles not named, 5; foreign imports of above, 10 — per cent. Cotton thread, twist, and yarn, British, 3^: foreign, 7 —
per cent. Bullion and coin, grain, coal, ice, horses and other animals, free. Books, British, free ; foreign, 3 per cent. Coffee, 7 j per
cent. Alum, camphor, cassia, cloves, coral, nutmeg and mace, pepper, vermiUion, and tea, 10 per cent. Spirits (London proof), 1 rupee
8 annas per imperial gallon ; wine and liqueur, I rupee per imperial gallon. 'J'here are a few export duties: viz., indigo, 3 rupees per
raaund {about 82 lbs.) ; lac, 4 per cent. ; silk wound, 3 annas ; silk, raw filature, 3J rupees per seer ; sugar and rum to foreign ports,
3 per cent. ; tobacco, 4 annas per maund. These duties refer to Bengal : there is little difference at Bombay and Madras, except in the
export dues. With regard to salt, the duty on import into Bengal, is 2 rupees 8 annas per maund of 80 tolas; at Madras, 12 annas per
maund; at Bombay, free; salt exported from Bombay to Madras, pays J anna per maund; salt exported to Malabar, Cochin, and
Travancore, 1 anna per maund ; and it may be exported free to foreign or British ports not in India or Ceylon. Salt exported to Bengal
pays excise duty, but receives credit for amount in adjustment of local duty. The shipper exporting salt to Madras has to give security
for payment of full duty failing to produce certificate from place of import. All port-to-port trade throughout British India, except in
the articles of salt and opium, was rendered free by Act 6 of 1848, and Act 30 of 1854.
Coins, Weights, and Measures.— Sew^ai Coins. — 2 double = 4 single pysa; 12 pie small = 1 anna; 16 annas ^ 1 rupee; 16
rupees = 1 gold mohur. When accounts are kept in sicca rupees, they use the imaginary pie of twelve to an anna. Small shells, called
cowries, are also made use of for paying coolies, &c., which are reckoned as follows; viz., 4 cowries = 1 gunda; 20 gundas = 1 pun; 5
puns = 1 anna. These rates vary from time to time. Gold and Silver Weights. — 4 punkhos or quarter grain = I gram or dhan ; 4
dbans — 1 rutty; 6 3-8thR rutty = I anna; 8 rutty = 2 massa ; 100 rutty, or 121 massa or If! anna= 1 tola or sicca rupees; 1061 rutty,
or 13, 28, 152 massa, or 17 annas = I gold mohur. A gold mohur weighs 722 and nine-tenths troy weight, containing 187,651 fine gold
and 17,051 alloy. A sicca rupee weighs 7, 11 and two-thirds ditto, containing 175,928 fine silver and 15,993 alloy. Cloth Measure.—
3 corbe= I anguala;; 3 angualae = I gheriah ; 8 gherries => 1 haut, or cubit, 18 inches; 2 haut= 1 guz or yard.
Memorandum suowing the State and Prospects op Railways in India up to Jutr, 1857. — 3,648 miles of railway
have been sanctioned, and are in course of construction, viz.: — By the East Indian Railway Company, from Calcutta to Delhi, with
branches from Burdwan to Raneegunge, and from Mirzapore to Jubbulpore, 1,400 miles. By the Madras Company, from Madras to
the Western Coast at Beypore, 430 miles ; and From Madras, vi& Cuddapah and Bellary, to meet a line from Bombay at or near the
river Krishtna, 310 miles. By the Great Indian Peninsula Company, from Bombay to Callian 33 miles, with extensions. -North
East to Jubbulpore, to meet the line from Mirzapore, with a branch to Oomrawuttee and Nitgpoor, 818 miles; and South East, vi&
Poonah and Shotapore, to the Krishtna River, to meet the line from Madras, 357 miles. By the Sinde Company, from Kurtachee to
a point on the Indus, at or near to Kotree, 120 miles; and By the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Company, from Sural to
Baroda and Abmedabad, 160 miles.
4 D
566
LAND REVENUE OF EACH INDIAN PRESIDENCY.
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AJ3
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LAND-TENURES OF BRITISH INDIA.— ZEMINDAR, RYOTWAR, AND VILLAGE
SETTLEMENTS.
.An important feature in the condition of
British India still requires elucidation,
before entering on the details of the fearful
strife which, commencing in the form of a
. partial and purely military mutiny, speedily
assumed a more general and formidable cha-
racter.
The tenure of land in India is a subject
intimately connected with that of annexa-
tion, and of the question regarding the
mode in which our subjects in Oude and
otlier provinces, have been, and are to be,
dealt with. The defects and inequalities of
the e.xisting land-tenures have long been
viewed by the author as calculated to pre-
vent the English government from taking
deep root in the affection and confidence of
their native subjects; so much so, that, in
the spring of 1857, he framed a brief
exposition of the leading facts of the case,
intending to publish it in the form of a
pamphlet. While the proof-sheets were
passing through the press, the tidings of
the first outbreak of the mutiny reached
England, and each mail brought intelligence
more alarming than its predecessor.
It was no time to discuss proprietary
rights and landed tenures when fire and
the sword were raging throughout India,
and the publication of the pamphlet was
abandoned ; but now that the first terrible
excitement is over, these questions become
more important than ever, because the in-
quiry into them is essential to the unravel-
ling of the reasons of the partial disaffection
of the people, and to the establishment of
a policy better calculated to secure their
allegiance for the future.
There is no branch of political economy
more deserving of attention than the relation
in which man stands to the soil from whence
the elements of subsistence and other useful
products are derived. Hitherto the science,
whose elementary rules Adam Smith but
partially defined, has been considered chieflj^
applicable to commerce; but trade, or the
barter of commodities, is secondary in im-
portance to production ; and the laws which
regulate the application of labour and
capital to land, constitute the most effective
basis of social organisation, and form a
faithful index to the sources of wealth and
physical condition of a nation. These re-
marks have peculiar reference to British
India, where the wellbeing of about one
hundred and fifty milhon people, depends
in great measure on the territorial laws
imder which they are governed.
This subject has been a fertile theme for
discussion during the last half century,
though avowedly less with regard to the con-
dition of the vast Indian population under
the supreme control of the sovereign of
England, than by reason of its influence on
the large amount required by the state,
viz., about £17,000,000 per annum, out of
a gross revenue of £30,000,000.
Many theories have been propounded,
and some experiments tried, for the ame-
lioration of a system confessedly defective,
and even oppressive in operation ; but in
general, the first principles of justice and
common sense have been neglected, or so
overlaid with words, and encumbered with
contradictory and pernicious conditions,
that no permanent benefit has accrued
therefrom. Hundreds of volumes of theories
and speculations have been printed under
the titles of " Landed Tenures" and " Reve-
nue Systems;" while honest energy and
precious time have been frittered away in
profitless discussions, or iu futile endea-
vours to bring impracticable or injurious
projects into beneficial operation.
Unfortunately, English statesmen, per-
plexed with controversies on the relative
merits or demerits of the so-called Zemin-
dar, Ryotwar, and Village revenue set-
tlements, and confused with Oriental no-
menclature, seem tempted to abandon in
despair, as a problem too difficult for them
to solve, the adjudication of a question
simple iu principle, and unembarrassed by
details — How may a government tax be
levied on land with the least detriment to
the proprietor or cultivator ? And the ad-
ministrative authorities, fearful of a dimi-
nution of annual income, and often urgently
pressed for more revenue, have been un-
willing to consider the matter on broad prin-
ciples, dreading to jeopardise their power
of arbitrarily assessing the tillers of the
568
AMOUNT OF LAND-TAX IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
soil — a power which has been exercised in
accordance with the temporary exigencies of
the governors, rather than with the means
of the governed. It is true that the volu-
minous despatches of the Court of Directors
have teemed with injunctions to their ser-
vants in India to be moderate in assess-
ment, to avoid oppressing the people, and
to encourage agriculture;* but all such
orders, however well intended, were little
better than nugatory, so long as the pecu-
niary requirements or demands of the state
were unconditional and unsettled; and
must remain so, at least to any satisfactory
extent, until the fee-simple of the land be
vested in a proprietary class, and the annual
taxation levied bear a just and uniform
proportion to the cost of cultivation, the
necessities of the cultivator, and the means
of laying by yearly a clear though small
profit, to accumulate as capital in the hands
of the landowners. Until this be done,
we shall have, as at present, a nation of
peasants, not a prosperous community of
various grades and occupations.
The allegation that revenue derived from
land is not a tax, scarcely needs refutation.
No state can stand with its subjects in the
relation of landlord and tenants, either in
sympathy, in pecuniary matters, or in
general copartnery of interest. Whatever
share the government takes of the gross or
net produce, be it little or much, is an
abstraction from capital, and a tax on the
industry and skill of the farmer. The gov-
ernment might as well assume the rights
of a house-lord, as those of a land-lord, and
levy a tax on habitations. In the case of
India, it is manifestly impossible for a few
European functionaries to superintend the
operations of several thousand small —
minutely small — farmers ; or prevent the
systematic tyranny and injustice of subor-
dinate (native) oflBcials — evils which the
British government have the strongest
possible interest to eradicate as one of the
worst legacies of Moslem misrule.
In Asia, as in Europe, land, at an early
period, constituted the main source of
public revenue; the amount of taxation
varied in different countries, according to
the number and wealth of the population,
• Ex gr.. Letter of 13th August, 1851, which oc-
cupies fifty printed folio pages.
+ Lib. 43, c. 2.
X See Essay on Money, by John Taylor, Esq.,
2ad ed., p. 12.
and their power of resisting oppression;
but, generally speaking, the proportion of
the gross or net produce claimed by the
state, did not exceed the Egyptian fifth de-
vised by Joseph. We read in Genesis,
that, in anticipation of famine, Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, at the suggestion of the
inspired Hebrew, stored in granaries one-
fifth of the total produce; and before the
seven years of dearth passed, the cultiva-
tors parted with everything — cattle, silver,
and land — for food. Pharaoh gave back
the land on condition of the cultivators
.paying one-fifth of the produce in per-
petuity. The Romans, on their occupation
.of Egypt, found this tax still existing ; and
tt remains, probably, to the present day.
The land-tax varied in different countries,
mong the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and
ncient Persians, it was one-tenth; in
icily, the Romans levied one-tenth, and
icero indignantly protested against the
infamous Verres" taking more. Accord-
ing to Livy,t Spain was taxed at one-twen-
tieth. The Greek authorities, previous to
"he time of Solon, took a sixth of the yield
from the owner of the soil. J
In England, the land-tax, calculated on a
very moderate valuation of estates by the
government of William III. (a.d. 1692),
ranged from 1*. to 4s. in the pound sterling.
France had its "rent fonciere" fixed at
one-fifth of the net produce, and this was
generally complained of as too high ; Tus-
cany, one-fifth of the net rent; Venetian
territories, one-tenth the rent; Milanese,
£S 18^. per cent, on valuation, or Is. 9d.
in the pound ; Parma, 9d. per acre ; Bologna,
2d. per acre; Persia (government share),
one-tenth ; Bokhara, one-fourth ; China,
one-tenth, but assessed so moderately as
not to exceed one-thirtieth of the ordinary
produce; Java, one-fifth; Birmah, one-
tenth ; Cochin China, one-sixth. In Ceylon,
during the twelfth century, on arable lands,
one-tenth ; high grounds, free.
Whoever were the first colonizers of
India, they probably settled in village com-
munities, and introduced, for the further-
ance of those measures of general utility
and protection which are the primary ob-
jects of all legitimate government, munici-
pal taxation on the chief commodity they
possessed — land.
Scanty as are the records of ancient
India, which even the indefatigable re-
searches of modern scholars have disen-
tombed, they are decisive on the point of
PROPEIETORSHIP OF LAND IN INDIA— b.c. 880.
569
the actual proprietorship of the land being
vested iu the people ; though it was nomi-
nally attributed, in public documents, either
to the immediate superior of the addressing
parties, or to their king ; who, whatever the
extent of liis territory, or nature of his
power, appears to have been equally styled,
in the magniloquence of Eastern hyperbole,
Lord of the Earth, Sea, and Sky.
The most ancient, and least controverted,
authority on this matter, is found iu the
famous Institutes of Menu. Orientalists have
ascribed to this code at least as early a
date as the ninth century before Christ
(880 B.C.), and they regard it as affording
a true and graphic picture of the state of
society at that period, before the torture of
witnesses or criminals was sanctioned by
law, or widow-burning and infanticide crept
into custom, with other horrible and de-
filing practices of modern Brahminism.*
The Institutes set forth, as a simple
matter of fact, that cultivated land is " the
property of him who cuts away the wood,
OF who first clears and tills it." The state
is declared entitled to demand a twelfth, an
eighth, or a sixth part " of grain from the
laud, according to the difference of the
soil, and the labour necessary to cultivate
it." This refers to times of peace ; but " a
military king, who takes even a fourth part
of the crops of his realm at a period of
urgent necessity, as of war or invasion, and
protects his people, commits no sin. Serv-
ing-men, artisans, and mechanics, must
assist by their labour (twelve days per
annum), but at no time pay taxes." One
of the ancient commentators (for there were'
several) declares, that " the king who takes
more is infamous in this world, and con-
signed to Nareka (the infernal regions) in
the next." And it appears to have been
pretty generally the case, that Hindoo
sovereigns received from their subjects,
during peace, one-sixth, and during war
one-fourth, of the produce of their fields.
Some took much less than this. For
instance, in the mountainous region of
Coorg (an ancient Hindoo principality,
which, until very recently, retained its in-
dependence), the tax demanded by the
native government was only a tenth. f But
under aU Hindoo governments, individual
• See ante, p. 14. t Wilks, vol. i., p. 144.
X Wilks' South of India, vol. i., p. 111.
5 Ibid., vol. i., p. 196.
I| Asiatic Researches, vol. i., p. 123.
^ See ante, pp. 81 and 179.
proprietors of land appear to have uniformly
possessed a " dominion so far absolute as
to exclude all claims, excepting those of
the community who protected it ;"% the in-
fallible criterion being, that it was saleable,
mortgageable, and iu every respect a trans-
ferable commodity, where the laws of
hereditary tenure were not concerned.
The law seems to have been regarded as
incontestable, that " he who has the tribute
from the land,, has no property in the
land ;" nor could the state or sovereign, in
any case, be the heir to the landed pro-
perty of its subjects. Personal effects
might fall to, or be seized by the king ;
but according to the Hindoo law, land
could " ouly escheat to the township,"§
excepting in the little state of Tanjore.
Mortgages, deeds of sale, and free grants
for religious and charitable purposes, as
well as to private persons, exist, of various
dates, in many Indian languages. One of
the oldest and most curious of these title-
deeds, engraved on copper, bearing date
B.C. 23, is minutely described and trans-
lated by Dr. Wilkins, in the opening
volume of the Asiatic Researches. \\
The Greek accounts of the invasion of
the Punjab by Alexander the Great (b.c.
333), tend to prove the people of Western
India to have then possessed an acknow-
ledged proprietary right in the soil; in
common phraseology, the land belonged to
the people — the tax to the king.
When the Mohammedans invaded, and
gradually subjected, the majority of the
states which previously existed in India,
they were ostensibly guided in their deal-
ings with the subjugated people by the rule
of the Koran, which holds forth, in such
cases, conversion, with the dismal alterna-
tives of death or confiscation of property.
But the Moslem rule was spread over the
greater part of India more by intrigue, and
constant interference in the quarrels of the
native princes, than by any concerted and
systematic scheme of conquest ; and, with
the exception of a few great battles (espe-
cially those on the plains of Paniput, in
Northern India^), their usurpations were
very gradual, and were rather the contests
of a powerful sovereign against petty neigh-
bouring princes, whose territories he de-
sired to absorb, than the deadly struggle of
creed and race, of Mohammedan against
Hindoo. Had utter confiscation of pro-
perty, and total annihilation of all terri-
torial rights, been the habitual, or even
570
TAXATION UNDER HINDOO AND MOSLEM RULERS.
the frequent practice of Mohammedan sove-
reigns, it is evident that the Hindoo chiefs
who swelled their ranks, and tlie Hindoo
financiers who invariably levied their reve-
nues, and were entrusted with the manage-
ment of their treasuries, would have of
necessity acted a different, and according to
European notions, a more patriotic part.
General Briggs, who has bestowed much
study on the subject, declares that no
Mohammedan prince claimed the ownership
of the soil. It must, however, be admitted,
that the despotism exercised, neutralised
the territorial rights of proprietors, and was
a source of cruel oppression.
Thus AUa-u-Deen, who reigned at Delhi
from 1294 to 1315 a.d., spread misery and
desolation among his subjects, both Mus-
sulman and Hindoo, by his insane and
ferocious avarice. We are told that, a.d.
1300, he " ordered a tax of half the real
annual produce of the lands, to be raised
over all the empire, and to be regularly
transmitted to the exchequer." " The far-
mers were confined to a certain proportion
of land, and to an appointed number of
servants and oxen to cultivate the same.
No grazier was permitted to have above a
certain number of cows, sheep, and goats,
and a tax was paid out of them to the gov-
ernment. He seized upon the wealth, and
confiscated the estates, of Mussulmans and
Hindoos, without distinction, and by this
means accumulated an immense treasure."*
On the establishment of the famous
dynasty of the Great Moguls by Baber in
1526, some attention was paid to a regular
territorial assessment ; but it was not till the
reign of Akber, the grandson of Baber, and
son of the fugitive and long-exiled monarch,
Humayun, that effective measures were
adopted for the systematic assessment of
the revenues, and especially for the com-
mutation of produce into money; a very
delicate and difficult measure in a country
like India, which, throughout its vast ex-
tent, is remarkable for the extraordinary
variations in the quantity and in the value
of its annual produce.
Akber, who reigned from 1556 to 1605
(cotemporary with Elizabeth of England),
has been held up as the model of Indian
* Fcrislita s Ilindoostan, translated by Dow, vol. i.,
pp. 291-2. t Kickards, vol. i., p. 316.
t Gladwin's Translation of the Ayeen Ahbery,
vol. i., 245—278.
§ Kickards, vol. i., p. 15.
II Stewart's llengal,' i>p. 166—176.
financiers, chiefly on the strength of the
records of his measures and opinions con-
tained in the Ayeen Akbery, the famous
work of his gifted and confidential minister,
the ill-fated Abul Fazil. The tone of the
writer is too much that of indiscriminate
panegyric for the facts related by liim not to
be open to suspicion ; but even on his evi-
dence, the revenue system adopted by Akber,
though full of intricacies and impracticable
classifications, is, as Rickardsf and others
have clearly shown, founded on computa-
tions based on the produce of the soil.
Evidence that the ordinary assessment of
Hindoo sovereigns did not exceed one-sixth
of tlie produce, is given in the Ayeen Akbery
itself, f Among other instances to this
effect may be cited that of the king of
Cashmere, one of whose earliest acts of
power (a.d. 1326) was the confirmation of
the ancient land-tax, which amounted to
17 per cent., or about one-sixth of the total
produce. Akber appears to have exacted
first a fifth, and afterwards a third of the
produce of his territories ; or, if commuted
into money, a fourth of the net income.
The attempts to enforce these latter de-
mands are said to have "endangered the
stability of the imperial throne."§ One of
Akber's most active instruments, Mozuffer
Khan, then governor of Bengal and Bahar,
was besieged by the oppressed landowners
in the fort of Tondah, compelled to sur-
render, and then put to death. Rajah
Todar Mul (the famous Hindoo financier,
whose mode of collecting the revenue in the
silver coin called Tunkha, gave its name to
the "Tunkha system") was appointed to
succeed Rajah Khan ; but he failed in sub-
duing the insurrection, and was super-
seded. ||
Aurungzebe (a.d. 1658 to 1707), the
most powerful, and, until blinded by ambi-
tion and bigotry, the most astute of the
Great Moguls, was successful in his career
of aggrandisement up to the period when
his subjects became worn-out and well-nigh
ruined by the excessive taxation needed 'to
meet the exigencies of the immense armies
occupied during a long series of years —
under the simultaneous command of the
emperor himself, his sons, and at length his
grandsons — in Central and Southern India.
It was probably as much to supply a failing
treasury, as from a more fanatical motive,
that Aurungzebe imposed the hated Jezia, or
capitation-tax, on infidels, which so heavily
weighed down the whole Hindoo popula-
TYRANNICAL ASSESSMENT BY HYDER ALI IN MYSOOR. 571
tion ; but let the cause have been what it
■would, his unjust and oppressive exactions
strengthened the arms of those deadly foes
•whom the despised Hindoo, "the Mountain
Rat" Sivajee, had formed into a nation,
despite the efforts of the mighty man of
■war, •who eventually, in extreme old age,
but still in possession of marvellous physical
and mental power, "was well-nigh hunted to
death by the Mahrattas.*
After his decease the huge empire fell
rapidly to ruins j and, throughout its pro-
vinces, Mogul and Mahratta delegates vied
in exacting tribute from the ■wretched cul-
tivators, sometimes on their master's ac-
count, sometimes on their own. It would,
of course, be folly to look for precedents in
a state of society in which no general rule
prevailed beyond —
" The simple plan ;
That they shall take who have the power,
And they shall keep who can."
Comparatively happy were those districts
in which some chief or governor contrived
to maintain his own real or assumed rights,
and protected his people against all oppres-
sion but his own. It was at this time that
80 many of the nominal servants of the
■weak and short-lived Mogul emperors con-
trived gradually to make themselves inde-
pendent sovereigns, playing, however, fast
and loose with their nominal master, for
fear of the Mahrattas, and further kept in
check by frequent strife with their neigh-
bours and their subjects.
The English East India Company now
began to assume the position of a territorial
power. The service rendered by a pa-
triotic medical officer, named Hamilton, to
the emperor Feroksheer, in 1716,t secured
the much-coveted imperial firmaun, or war-
rant, to become landowners in Bengal, by the
purchase of thirty-eight villages from private
proprietors. J This purchase in fee-simple
formed the nucleus of the Calcutta pre-
sidency.
The only considerable state which, con-
temporaneously with the East India Com-
j pany, could boast any continuance of a
strong or even settled government, was the
ancient Hindoo kingdom of Mysoor, over
which the Mohammedan adventurer, Hyder
Ali, by mingled force and fraud, obtained
undisputed sovereignty. One of his early
acts of power is said to have been to decree
i
i • See ante, p. 153. t ^^^s"'. P- 210.
X Stewart's Benijal, p. 399.
§ Wilks' South of India, vol. i., pp. 155—218.
the appropriation of the profits of the land in
the following proportions : — Cultivator, 5^ ;
proprietor, 1^; government, 3=10.
According to Colonel Wilks, Hyder ex-
acted a full third of the whole produce,
instead of the ancient rate of assessment,
which had not exceeded a sixth : and the
same authority states, that the usurper's
entire system of " government was a series
of experiments how much he could extort
from the farmer without diminishing culti-
vation."§ In the records of his administra-
tion, abundant facts for warning may be
found ; but few, indeed, worthy the imitation
of Christian rulers, excepting his energetic
and discriminating measures for the execu-
tion of public works, especially for the pur-
poses of traffic and the irrigation of the land.
We are imperfectly informed as to the
period when, or the extent to which, the
Mohammedans broke down the ancient
Hindoo Yillage system of petty municipali-
ties, under whose regulations the revenue,
assessed on separate communities, was de-
livered over to the state through the inter-
vention of a headman chosen by the vil-
lagers, the government officers not being
brought in contact with the cultivators.
In many places, officers, called by the vague
and general name of zemindars, ■svere ap-
pointed by the Moguls ; and these " mid-
dlemen" either farmed the revenues some-
what after the old French system, or re-
ceived grants of territory, on condition of
making certain payments in the form of
peishcush, or tribute, or of rendering stipu-
lated services to the state. When the
zemindars or talookdars — as they were
called in Bengal and Bahar ; or polygars, as
they were termed in Southern India — were
introduced, the Village system underwent
considerable change by reason of a superior
proprietorship being set up by the govern-
ment officers, who exacted the claims, and
exercised the rights, of feudid barons ; and
the ryots, or cultivators, paid each their pro-
portion of the produce, or its money equiva-
lent, direct to the zemindars or polygars;
but the system was too deeply rooted in the
hearts of the people to be entirely eradi-
cated. It still exists, more or less per-
fectly, over large districts ; and its pecu-
liar features are in the main invariable,
though the names and even duties of
the functionaries employed differ accord-
ing to language and local circumstances.
Each village forms a distinct society, and
its affairs constitute the chief concern of
572
THE ANCIENT VILLAGE SYSTEM OF INDIA.
the individuals residing within its limits.
As the revenue is furnished to the state (or,
it may be, to a zemindar, or to a talookdar
or feudal chief, as in Oude and N. W. India)
by all in relative proportions, each man is
interested in the industry and prosperity
of his neighbour.' By an equal apportion-
ment, taxation falls fairly on the whole ; by
a division of duties, general advantage is
obtained : instead of all going to market,
one man is deputed to proceed thither, and
the rest to attend to the crops or other
special duty : the little corporation ap-
points its mayor or chief {Potail) ; there is
also the registrar {Putwarree), the clerk
i and accountant, and surveyor [Bullaee);
the policeman (Choivkeedar), the minister
{Pursaee), and the schoolmaster of the
parish ; the carp'jnter, blacksmith, barber,
washerman, &c.; the tracer [Puggee), hun-
ter or wild beast destroyer [Byadhee); —
and each receives a stipulated portion of the
produce ; some of which is set aside to
maintain the hospitalities of the village.
The Potail is the medium between the
officers of government and the villagers :
he collects their dues, enforces payment by
such means as are sanctioned by usage ; in
some instances rents the whole of his vil-
lage from government. Whether this be
the case or not, the Potail, besides a tract
of rent-free land — varying from 10 to 200
beegahs (a beegah is about one-third of an
acre), according to the size and population
of the village — receives certain established
fees, and also dues, generally in kind, such
as from two to eight seers (a seer is about
21b.), from each beegah, of grain cultiva-
tion, and a share of the sugar and other
produce. The Potails generally maintain a
respectable position ; though not exempt
from much occasional bickering, jealousy,
charges of favouritism, and corruption, such
as are common to all small communities.
The Putwarree, or village registrar, does
not always hold his office by liereditary
right : he is sometimes elected ; sometimes
a government servant ; but enjoys rent-free
laud and dues under the Potail, who recom-
mends to the office when it is vacant by
death or from malversation : there are,
however, many instances of very old heredi-
tary tenures.
The Bullaee, Bullawa, or Dher, ought to
know every inhabitant of the village and
his possessions ; the landmarks, bounda-
ries, tanks, and the traditions respecting
them, are expected to be within his cog-
nizance, as his presence and evidence are
essential in all landed disputes. When
travellers pass, he is their guide to the pre-
cincts of the village, and is responsible for
their safety and for that of merchandise in
its trjinsit : in this and other matters he is
the representative of the Potail, for whom he
acts as spy, messenger, and newsmonger.
The Pursaee, or priest, is also the village
astrologer, and, with the aid of some old
books, professes to announce good or bad
seasons, fixes the hour for putting the seed
corn into the ground, and is consulted on
divers occult matters. He is, however,
generally poor, and not held in much
esteem, and is supported by a few beegahs
of retit-free land, and by petty fees for offi-
ciating at marriages, births, naming of chil-
dren, and funerals.
The Chowkeedar watches over the lives
and property of the villagers ; and in some
places, as in Guzerat, is assisted by a detec-
tive police, named Puggees [pug meaning
foot), who trace the flight of thieves or
murderers from one village to another, by
their respective footprints, with extraordi-
nary sagacity. The Byadhee, or hunter,
fills an hereditary office for the destruction
of wild beasts, in villages surrounded by
uncultivated tracts, where tigers, elephants,
and other animals abound.
Sir John Malcolm observes, that in most
parts of Central India the Potail held what
was deemed an hereditary office, with a de-
fined quantity of land in the village rent-
free : he says, these men, in many cases,
can support their claim to the rights and
lands they enjoy, for eight, nine, or ten
generations.* Grant Duff furnishes much
forcible evidence to the same effect, espe-
cially with regard to the Mahrattas. "The
greatest Mahratta commanders, or their
principal Brahmin agents, were eager to
possess their native village ; but although
vested with the control, they were proud to
acknowledge themselves of the family of the
Patell [Potail], or Koolkurnee ; and if
heirs to a Miras field,t they would sooner
have lost wealth and rank than been dis-
possessed of such wutun or inheritance.
Yet, on obtaining the absolute sovereignty,
they never assumed an authority in the
interior village concerns beyond the rights
and privileges acquired by birth or pur-
* Central India, vol. ii., p. 14.
t Denoting a field held by hereditary or proprie-
tary tenure, as distinct from that of an Oopree, or
mere tenant at will.
VILLAGE REPUBLICS OK MUNICIPALITIUS IN INDIA.
573
chase, according to the invariable rules of
the country."*
i Sir Thomas Munro, in a report dated
, 15th of May, 1806, says — " Every village is
a little republic with the Potail at the head
of it, and India a mass of such republics.
The inhabitants, during war, look chiefly to
their own Potail. They give themselves no
trouble about the breaking up and division
of kingdoms ; while the village remains
entire, they care not to what power it is
transferred. Wherever it goes, the internal
management remains unaltered. The Po-
tail is still the collector, magistrate, and
head farmer."
Lord Metcalfe observes — " Village com-
munities are little republics, having every-
thing they want within themselves, and
almost independent of any foreign rela-
tions. They seem to last where nothing
else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles
down, revolution succeeds revolution, Hin-
doo, Patan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, Eng-
lish, all are masters in turn ; but the vil-
lage communities remain the same. This
union of village communities, each one
forming a separate state in itself, has, I
conceive, contributed more than any other
to the preservation of the people of India
throughout all the revolutions and changes
which they have suffered, and is in a high
degree conducive to their happiness, and to
the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom
and independence."
The natale solum principle is very strong
among the Hindoos, and they resemble, in
this respect, their alleged Scythic or Celtic
ancestors. During the ravages of the Pin-
darrees, numerous villages in the Nerbudda
districts had been laid waste, and were
teuantless for more than thirty years ; but
the Potails, and other hereditary village
officers, though scattered, and residing
many hundred miles from their native
homes, maintained a constant communica-
tion with each other, strengthened their
links of attachment by intermarriage, and
kept alive the hope of restoration to the
home of their youth. When tranquillity
was restored, they flocked to the ruined
villages, bearing sometimes the infant
Potails {second or third in descent from
the expelled) at their head, amid songs and
rejoicings; the roofless houses were soon
reoccupied by the former proprietors, or
their heirs ; each field was taken possession
of without dispute by the rightful owner;
* History of the Muhrattat, vol. i., p. 461,
4 E
and, in a few days, everything was settled
as if the internal relations of the community
had never been disturbed. f
Rightly to understand the full bearings
of the question, the circumstances must be
understood which led to the formation of
what is vaguely termed the
Zemindar System in Bengal and
Bahar. — When the E. I. Company suc-
ceeded the usurping servants of the Great
Mogul in the possession of these provinces,
the Village system had ceased to exist ; the
land was parcelled out among Moslem tax-
gatherers, who plundered the people, hin-
dered tillage, and annihilated the proprietary
rights of small cultivators : these, in many
cases, fled from the oppressors, who forced
them to cultivate, not for themselves, but
for the state. The very extent of the evil
deterred the representatives of the Com-
pany from grappling with it; and they all
temporised and theorised until the appoint-
ment of a governor-general, whose inde-
pendence of position and character enabled
him to form sounder opinions regarding
the great interests committed to his charge,
and gave him courage to act upon them.
Lord Cornwallis did not, as Warren Hast-
ings said his predecessors had done, regard
the highest seat in the council-chamber as.
" a nest to hatch fortunes in," Neither-
did he consider the exaction of the largest
possible immediate revenue as an advantage
to be procured at any cost. He saw a
crisis was at hand, and that some decided
measure was needed to avert it: ruin
seemed approaching from many quarters;
there was no capital — no fixity of tenure;
the annual and capricious assessments
involved endless detail and general con-
fusion, with the invariable consequence
— wrong, injustice, and plunder to the pea-
santry.
Hopeless of disentangling so complex a
subject, the governor-general cut the Gor-
dian knot by resolving on the elevation of a
landed proprietary to an independent posi..
tion. He was told that no persons of this
class remained : he answered that it was
necessary, then, to create them. The
materials which he chose for the formation
of territorial gentry, consisted of the official
functionaries, whether Mohammedan or Hin-
doo, employed under the Mogul government,
in connection with the land revenues. In
Bengal these officialswere termed zemindars;
but, as has been stated, they existed under
•j- Malcolm's Central India, vol. ii., p. 21,
574
ZEMINDAR SYSTEM ESTABLISHED IN BENGAL— 1792-'3.
other names in various parts of India. Their
elevation to the rank of proprietors, as an
intermediate class between the government
and the actual cultivators, was certainly
not based on any inherent claim, for
centuries of Mohammedan exactions had
nearly obliterated all individual title to
property in the soil : but the measure was
one of sound policy, and has contributed
to the stability of British dominion by
benefiting a large portion of the popula-
tion of India.* In accordance with the
views of the governor-general, the lands of
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, were divided
into estates of various dimensions, and
vested hereditarily in the zemindars; the
produce was divided into fifths ; and it was
estimated that, after deducting the expenses
of cultivation, two-fifths would be left to the
cultivator, and the remainder would consti-
tute the rent of the estate : of this, ten-
elevenths were taken as tax by government,
and one-eleventh went to the zemindar.
Mr. Rickards says, that if the rent were 60
per cent, of the produce, the share of the
zemindar would be 5^ per cent.f
The assessment was ordered, by the Court
of Directors, to be equal to the average
collection of a certain period ; it was fixed at
this rate for ten years, and then declared
to be permanent,! the government pledging
itself never to exact any higher land-tax
from the territories thus settled : but no
remissions were to be made; in bad or
good seasons, the same amount of tax was
to be paid — one year must balance another;
and government was freed from all pecu-
niary liability for public works available for
irrigation, maintaining the banks of rivers,
&c. It was therefore an excellent bargain
for the state. Such a project could not
have succeeded if waste or uncultivated
lands had not been attached to each estate,
on which no future tax was to be levied,
and unless the proprietors had been left
perfectly free to grow any description of
produce, without having to pay an enhanced
revenue on every acre redeemed from
waste, as was the case under the Mogul rule.
Moreover, the collection of the revenue
■was much simplified and facilitated for the
government : if the zemindar failed in his
yearly obligations, the European collector
received power to proceed against him for
• Malcolm, writing in 1802, expatiates on the
happy operation of Lord Cornwallis's system of re-
venue and judicature on the condition of the people,
and on its tendency " to fix upon the firmest basis
the British government in India, by securing the at-
the recovery of his stipulated tax, by sum-
mary process ; and in default of payment,
not only was the estate liable to confisca-
tion and sale by the government, but the
zemindar was subject to imprisonment, and
forfeiture of any property he might possess.
On the other hand, the zemindar could
only proceed against liis tenants or ryots
(to whom he might sub-let the land) by
a regular, expensive, and tedious process,
in the zillah or local court, presided
over by an European judge, in the dis-
trict wherein the estate was situated. In
1794, the law against the zemindar was
modified by the abolition of the power of
imprisonment, but the government assumed
the right to confiscate and sell the estate
immediately, if the tax were not paid each
month.
The country was then only partially
recovering from centuries of desolating rule
and repeated famines: it had been drained
of specie by Moslem conquerors, Mahratta
plunderers, and European tax-gatherers; the
price of grain was low, the interest of money
exorbitant ; and there was little or no foreign
demand for agricultural produce : added
to this, the waste lands attached to each
zemindarree or estate, were so ill-defined,
that litigation soon commenced, and added
to the expense of the proprietors. Many ze-
mindars found themselves unable to comply
with the stringent terms under which they
became landlords, and the Gazette abounded
with notices for the sale of confiscated es-
tates. Several ancient families were ruined;
and in about fifteen years, few of the original
zemindars, with whom the permanent set-
tlement had been made, retained their
properties; which were sold and resold to
native merchants and others, who brought
capital into productive employment. But
the misfortunes of the original proprietors
cannot be charged on the plan itself, the
result of which is shown in the experience
of half a century. No famines have occurred ;
other sources of revenue have been created;
land has become a saleable commodity
worth ten j'ears' purchase, which it is not
in any other part of India; and an influ-
ential class arc bound, by the tie of self-
interest, to support the British government,
which guarantees them tranquil possession
of their paternal acres.
tachment of their subjects." — Kaye's Life of Sir John
Malcolm, i., 176.
t Fiftli lieport, pp. 13—29.
j See "Bengal Government Regulations;" Nos.
2—14, and 44, of 1793.
RYOTWAR TENURE IN MADRAS.
575
The countries under the permanent settle-
ment in the Bengal presidency, comprise
an area of 149,782 square miles, and include
the whole of Bengal, Bahar, Benares,* and
Orissa (Cuttack excepted), with a population
of about 40,000,000. The annual revenue
from this fixed land-tax is about £3,500,000,
or about 21 pence per head.f
The system now in force under the
Madras presidency, known by the name of
THE Ryotwar Tenure, makes each petty
holder responsible to government for the
payment of the tax levied on the produce of
his field or plot of land ; there is no common
or joint responsibility, as in the Village plan,
and no landlord or government middleman,
as under the Moslem rule. When the East
India Company first became interested in
the affairs of the Carnatic, the Ryotwar
system was in general operation, under
zemindars or polygars, and continued so
until 1769, when boards or councils were
1 established by the East India Company,
j and the lands placed under the supervision
' of stipendiaries employed for the manage-
ment of the revenue. In 1789, the receipts
of the zemindars with whom a fixed settle-
ment was made were estimated, and they
were required to pay one-third of their
rental to government; the country was
divided into sections called moottahs, and the
tenures sold by public auction. In 1799,
Lord Mornington (afterwards Marquis Wel-
lesley), desired to introduce the permanent
settlement which had been adopted in
Bengal; but the project of Colonel Read,
which required the ryot to reiit land direct
from government under a fluctuating and
arbitrary assessment, and which practically
discouraged the cultivation of waste lands,
found favour with the home authorities ; and
out of twenty coUectorates under the pre-
sidency of Madras, seventeen are managed
under this disastrous and despotic system. %
Colonel (afterwards Sir Thomas) Munro
was entrusted, in 1805-'6-'7, with the forma-
tion of the Ryotwar system at Madras : he
laid down the monstrous principle that half
* This province was " permanently settled" by
Mr. Jonathan Duncan (subsequently governor of
Bombay), under instructions from the Marquis
Cornwallis, in 1795.
f A parliamentary return, in 1827, estimates the
land-tax in Bengal at 22, Madras, 52, and Bombay, 60
pence per head annually. A recent statement makes
the land-tax of Bengal (permanent settlement) on
ninety-seven million acres, about 5 annas = 7j pence
per acre ; assuming a cultivated area of thirty-two
million acres — 21 pence per acre: the total assess-
the produce, or at least 45 per cent., was to
be the government share : this he arbitrarily
converted into money; but on what data
has never been ascertained, nor is it ex-
plained in any of his reports. Up to 1852,
as declared by the Madras Native Associa-
tion, no fixed system of commutation on
various kinds of land has been adopted :
different modes are practised, not only in
different districts, but even in sub-divisions
of the same district.
The assessment was soon found to be
exorbitant : in Dindegul and in other places,
the demand of government was discovered
to be beyond the resources of the people ;
added to which, a great fall in the price of
grain necessitated the ryot to part with 70 per
cent, of his produce, to pay the money -tax
required by government. Under Munro's
plan, the umbrageous mango-tree was taxed,
as well as the land beneath it: the poor
farmers in many places, unable to pay the
double tax, cut down these useful trees;
their absence caused drought, and famines
ensued, by which thousands of human beings
perished.
In 1808, the evils of the field Ryotwar
system became so unbearable, that the
Madras authorities tried the partial intro-
duction of the Village system, first for a
ti'iennial, and subsequently for a decennial
period. The average collection from the
lands having been computed, the)' were
rented out to contractors, and the highest
bidders accepted. On this plan, all duties,
or responsibilities as alleged landlords or
sovereign proprietors of the soil, were aban-
doned ; the sole idea was the obtainment of
a given sum of money for three years, heed-
less of the condition of the cultivators, who
were farmed out with less consideration
than would attend the letting of a gang of
negro slaves to a contractor. It was soon
ascertained that such a project could not
succeed ; and then the villages were assessed
at a fixed sum for ten years, the waste as
well as the arable land being given over to
each community, and a distinct settlement
raent at Madras for the entire area — culturable, cul-
tivated, and barren — is 10 pence; but on the land
actually cultivated, it is 42 pence.
% A correct survey (which is an indispensable
preliminary to the just and successful operation of
the Ryotwar settlement) has not been made of
the cultivated lands : the measurements are of the
rudest description ; and a separate valuation of the
fields of every petty farmer is manifestly impos-
sible.—(Petition from Madras Native Association,
1852.)
576
RUINOUS EFFECTS OF THE RYOTWAR SYSTEM.
made with each collective body of ryots, or
with the heads of a village.
In 1818, the home authorities determined
to send out Sir T. Munro as governor, to
re-enforce the Ryotwar plan, under some
modifications, such as a reduction of assess-
ment, varying from 12 to 25 per cent.,
where found most exorbitant, with remissions
of taxation on failure of crops. — Several
parts of the plan were undoubtedly marked
by benevolence, and read well on paper j
but in general, they were either imprac-
ticable, or depended so much on individual
judgment and energy, as to afford little
prospect of extensive utility. As a whole,
the system proved very expensive to the
state; full of intricate and harassing details
for collectors, it abounded in motives for
falsehood on the part of the ryots, and in
opportunities for chicanery and malversation
by the native subordinates; while it ne-
cessarily proved a complete barrier to the
growth of an independent landed proprie-
tary. The latter was, indeed, a main feature
in Munro's project : he openly asserted that
the best security for our prolonged and quiet
rule, was to keep the cultivators in the con-
dition of vassals or serfs to government :*
and he speaks of short leases as necessary
to prevent the growth of a spirit of inde-
pendence, which would be dangerous to
British authority. The practical working
of the Ryotwarree is too truly conveyed
in the following hypothesis, suggested by
Mr. Fullarton, a member of the Madras
government : — " Imagine the whole landed
interest — that is, all the landlords of Great
Britain, and even the capital farmers, at
once swept away from off the face of the
earth ; imagine a rent fixed on every field
in the kingdom, seldom under, generally
above, its means of payment; imagine the
land so rented, lotted out to the villagers
according to the number of their cattle and
ploughs, to the extent of forty or fifty acres
each. Imagine the revenue rated as above,
leviable through the agency of one hundred
thousand revenue officers, collected or re-
mitted at their discretion, according to
their idea of the occupant's means of paying,
whether from the produce of his laud or his
separate property ; and, in order to encou-
rage every man to act as a spy on his neigh-
bour, and report his means of paying, that
he may eventually save himself from extra
demand, imagine all the cultivators of a
village liable at all times to a separate de-
• Gleig's Life of Munro, vol. ii., p. 158.
mand, in order to make up for the failure
of one or more individuals of the parish.
Imagine collectors to every county acting
under the orders of a board, on the avowed
principle of destroying all temptation to
labour, by a general equalisation of assess-
ment; seizing and sending back runaways
to each other; — and lastly, imagine the col-
lector the sole magistrate, or justice of the
peace of the county, through the medium
and instrumentality of whom alone, any
criminal complaint of personal grievance
suffered by the subject can reach the supe-
rior courts. Imagine, at the same time,
every subordinate officer, employed in the
collection of the land revenue, to be apolice
officer, vested with the power to fine, confine,
put in the stocks, and flog any inhabitant
within his range, on any charge, without
oath of the accuser, or sworn recorded evi-
dence in the case."
The annual exaction by government of
the last shilling from the small cultivators,
is similar in effect to taking the honey
every night out of a hive ; when a rainy
day arrives, the bees make no food, and
they perish : thus has it been under the
Ryotwar system at Madras, where not one-
fifth of the land fit for tillage is under cul-
tivation. During the last half century,
several million people have perished from
famine and its concomitant, pestilence :
thus was it in Ireland when the potato crop
failed, and so must it be wherever the
population are reduced to the lowest scale
of diet compatible with the prolongation of
existence, and devoid of resources where-
with to supply a temporary exigency.
The collection of the land-tax from some
thousands of miserably poor peasants, living
from hand to mouth, has led to another
enormous evil, by engendering a systematic
plan of cruelty on the part of the native
officials. The European collector is ex-
pected to realise annually a certain amount
for the government, otherwise he will be
deemed negligent, and stand little chanc&
of favour or promotion : on the other hand,
if he can screw out of the ryots a larger
sum than his predecessor — the means un-
scrutinised — his name stands high at Ma-
dras. He tells his native subordinates that
so many rupees must be obtained, and
leaves them to manage how : the tehsildar,
knowing that torture is a part of the
Moslem system, and that it was recognised
under the Mogul rule, not only for com-
pelling suspected persons to criminate them-
TORTURE EMPLOYED IN THE COLLECTION OF THE REVENUE. 577
selves or others, but also to enforce the
payment of the money claimed as due to
the state (the non-payment of which is
deemed a crime of great magnitude), and
finding torture the easiest and most effec-
tual mode of procuring the money required
by his immediate superior (the European
collector), he resorts to its use in every
form ; the most usual at Madras being —
(1), tying the neck and feet together,
placing a heavy stone on the back, and
compelling the sufferer to remain in a
stooping position, exposed to a tropical
sun, until he satisfies the demands of the
tehsildar; or falls — it may be, dies — from
exhaustion : (2), fastening in a cocoa-nut
shell, over the navel, the pool-lay insect, or
■worms, which cause exquisite torture : (3),
twisting women's breasts : (4), putting chil-
lies and other hot peppers into the eyes,
and into the most sensitive parts of both
sexes : (5), thorns driven under the nails :
(6), surrounding the person with red ants,
whose sting is maddening : (7), tying coir
ropes to the muscles of the thighs and
arms, and then pouring water on the ropes
to produce gradual and extreme tension :
(8), application of the kittie — two sticks
(like a lemon-squeezer), between which the
fingers are jammed and squashed : (9),
flogging : (10), standing upon one leg in
mud or in water, with a large log of wood
on the head, under a burning sun. Such
are some of the distressing revelations of
the Madras Torture Commission in 1854.
The European collectors, generally, allege
their ignorance that torture was used for
the collection of the revenue, although they
acknowledge its application for police pur-
poses. But admitting the truth of the de-
nial, they are then placed on the other
horn of the dilemma — that is, gross igno-
rance of the condition of the people com-
mitted to their charge : otherwise, they
must have discovered the means adopted to
squeeze ten rupees out of a man who had
only five.
The Torture commissioners, in 1854, re-
mark, that the infliction of physical pain, in
connection with the collection of the reve-
nue, is quite unknown in Malabar and
Canara j and the reason assigned corrobo-
rates the above remarks, which were written
previous to a knowledge of the following
significant fact : — In those districts " the
land-tax is generally light, the people are
flourishing ; the assessment easily, and
even cheerfully paid — the struggle more
often being, who shall be allowed, than who
shall be made, to pay the government dues ;
land has acquired a saleable value, and
allotments of waste are eagerly contended
for."
If anything could open the eyes of those
who uphold the Ryotwar system at Madras,
these torture revelations ought to do so.
The late Mr. Sullivan, member of council
at Madras, declared to the author, that
when he saw the cartloads of silver leaving
his cutcherry (treasury) for Madras, and
remembered the poverty of the people from
whom it was collected, he shuddered at the
thought of their prospect during the en-
suing year, as the demands of the govern-
ment were inexorable, and a certain amount
of money must be forthcoming.
The mere lowering of. the assessment or
tax, though not an effectual remedy, is a
great boon. Mr. John Bruce Norton, of
the Madras bar, in his valuable letter to
the Right Hon. Robert Lowe, on the state
of Madras, referring to the heaviness of the
assessment in his presidency, says, that the
land belonging to the French at Pondi-
cherry, is assessed at four pagodas; while
English land, " of precisely the same
quality," pays 7 J pagodas : and " in Feb-
ruary, 1852, the wise French government
reduced its land-tax 33 per cent., as well as
abolished all its petits droits." It is not,
therefore, surprising that the land is there
all occupied, while millions of acres lie
waste in the English territories at Madras.
Mr. Norton has fully exposed the evils of
the Ryotwarree, and shown, independently
of the duration of the tenure (whether an-
nual, leasehold, or permanent), how heavily
it presses on an agricultural people. He
says, that in Bengal, where the land is ex-
ceedingly rich, the tax averages one shilling
per acre on the whole cultivated area ; in
the North- West Provinces, the average on
22,340,824 acres of cultivated land, paying
assessment direct to government, is about
2s. 5d.; in the Deccan it varies from less
than Is., at Poonah, to Is. 9d. for the
famous black cotton soil at Darwar; the
very highest being let at less than 3*. per
acre. In contrast, Madras, on 14,000,000
acres, wet and dry cultivation, shows an
average of 5*. per acre ; 2,500,000 acres,
10*. per acre. The results are thus summed
up : — " A people impoverished and de-
graded ; irrigation neglected ; land un-
saleable ; good land thrown out of cultiva-
tion from its enormous assessment ; mil-
578 BRITISH GOVERNMENT NO PROPRIETARY RIGHT IN THE SOIL.
lions of acres lying waste ; the revenue not
improving."*
Theoretically, the home autliorities con-
curred with the sound policy laid down by
the Marquis "VVellesley : — " It can never be
desirable that the government itself should
act as the proprietor of land, and should
collect the rents from the immediate culti-
vators of the soil." In a despatch to Ben-
gal, dated January 6, 1815, the Court of
Directors say — "We do not wish to revive
the doctrine of the sovereign of India being
proprietor of the soil, either de facto or de
jure." Practically, this doctrine was re-
vived, and is still enforced, except under
the permanent settlement of Bengal. The
granting of leases in the North-West Pro-
vinces, is an assumption of proprietorship ;
the assessment of land in Madras from
year to year — in other words, the decreeing
the amount of rent or tax to be paid — is
the prerogative of the landlord ; aud, with
regard to Bombay, Mr. A. Mackay has
shown that "the fee-simple has no exis-
tence : there are, in fact, no fees-simple ex-
cept the monster and all-devouring one of
the government, and the faint reflections of
it which are found in the hands of owners
of alienated lands : but no cultivator has,
in reality, any permanent indefeasible
tenure of the soil."t
The Anglo-Indian government loses by
the Ryotwar system. For twenty-four
years — viz., from 1820 to 1843 inclusive,
during which it has been in general opera-
tion throughout a large part of the Madras
territories — no increase of revenue has ac-
crued to the state under the Ryotwar
system ; and, it may be inferred, no ex-
tended cultivation or improvement taken
place in the condition of the country.
The Ryotwarree is an expensive system
in various ways — in the charges of collec-
tion, in the very large staff of officials
required to supervise minute details and
hold one another in check, and in the
heavy disbursements for irrigation, keeping
in repair tanks, &c. ; whereof no small
proportion goes to the enrichment of public
servants, instead of being used in fostering
agriculture. The charges for irrigation
and tank repairs, from 1805-'G to 1843-'4,
are stated at 24,300,000 rupees.
Sir G. R. Clerk, the late experienced
governor of Bombay, and present perma-
nent secretary of the Board of Control,
• Letter, &c., pp. 100—101.
t Report on Western India, 1853, p. 87.
in his evidence before parliament (5th
April, 1853), speaks forcibly of the Ryot-
warree : — " Of many systems, it is the
most objectionable ; * * * it certainly does
not work well either for the government or
the natives; they are as we found them,
still paupers; there is nothing between
them and the government; they have no
head landholders over them to acquire
capital: in case of any sudden visitation,
such as damage to a village by a hail-storm,
a famine, or disease among the people or
their cattle, there is nobody to support
them, or to prop up a falling village : they
have no inducement to amass capital ; in
fact they cannot ; it is not to be obtained
upon these small pieces of ground : they
live from hand to mouth."
Nouth-West Provinces. — Over the
large extent of India comprised under this
designation, and including Agra, Delhi, and
other valuable territorial divisions, there is
happily no Ryotwar settlement. During
the latter period of Mogul rule, the Dooab,
or region lying between the Ganges and
Jumna, as well as other tracts, were greatly
impoverished : the Village system was al-
most annihilated by bands of predatory
horsemen who dashed at everything; and
not many years ago, lions prowled up to
the very gates of Delhi. The peace secured
by British rule has caused a reclamation of
waste lands; and the construction of the
noble Ganges canal, for irrigating the
Dooab, has materially aided in the exten-
sion of cultivation.
In part of these pi'ovinces, where the
assessment was onerous and uncertain,
especially in the Delhi district, there have
been severe famines, as those of 1834 aud
1838.
On the 22nd of September, 1841, the
author of this work moved, in the Court
of Proprietors, at the East India House,
a series of resolutions: viz. — "1. That the
British government is neither de facto nor
dejure the proprietor of the soil of British
Iiulia. 2. That periodical assessments on
the produce of the laud, at the sole will of
the government, defeat the proprietary
rights of the occupiers and cultivators of
the soil, and, by preventing the hereditary
possession and transmission of landed pro-
perty, diminish its value, ' deteriorate the
revenue of the state, impoverish the people,
and render the government of India un-
stable and insecure. 3. That the occupiers
and cultivators of the soil of British India
LONG LEASES GRANTED IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 579
are entitled to obtain from the British gov-
ernment a fixed assessment and a guarantee
of hereditary occupancy, unmolested by
arbitrary demands and periodical claims,
either by annual or more extended leases."
In reply to the arguments urged in sup-
port of these resolutions, the mover was
asked to suspend any further discussion,
and the government would grant leases of
thirty years' duration; and it was inquired,
if this measure would satisfy his views
on the subject? He replied, that long
leases were a great improvement on annual
assessments; but nothing would be so good
as granting the fee-simple to the people.
Government then adopted the long leases ;
and to this important step in the right
direction, England owes the preserva-
tion of many of her sons and daughters in
the North- West Provinces. A writer in
the Times of the 23rd of July, 1857, re-
ferring to the flight from the massacre at
Delhi to Meerut, of several officers and
their families, says — " They were, however,
neither murdered nor, as it would appear,
personally maltreated, although there was
ample opportunity for both during their
wanderings, especially after they had been
robbed of their arms. With the exception of
the Goojurs, who are hereditary marauders,
the zemindars have behaved well to us,
which is a great encouragement to good
government ; for there cannot be a doubt
that it is mainly owing to the thirty years'
settlement, which has secured them against
the unlimited exactions of the old revenue
system." The plan adopted is thus described
in the "Directions for Revenue Officers,"
issued by the late Lieut. -governor Thomason.
" First. All the inhabited part of the
country is divided into portions with fixed
boundaries, called mehals or estates; on
each mehal a sum is assessed for the term
of twenty or thirty years, calculated so as
to leave a fair surplus profit over and above
the net produce of the land; and for the
punctual payment of that sum the land is
held to be perpetually hypothecated to the
government.
" Secondly. It is determined who are the
person or persons entitled to receive this
surplus profit. The right thus determined
is declared to be heritable and transferable,
and the persons entitled to it are considered
the proprietors of the land, from whom the
engagements for the annual payment of the
sum assessed by the government on the
mehal are taken.
" Thirdly. All the proprietors of a mehal
are, severally and jointly, responsible in
their persons and property for the payment
of the sum assessed by the government on
the mehal. When there are more proprie-
tors than one, it is determined according to
what rule they shall share the profits, or
make good the losses on the estate. If
the proprietors are numerous, engagements
are only taken from a few of the body,
who, on their own parts, and as repre-
sentatives of the rest, undertake to manage
the mehal, and to pay the sum assessed
upon it.
" The rate of assessment was in the first
instance limited to two-thirds of the net
produce of each mehal or estate; but, on
the revision which is about to take place on
the expiration of the thirty years which
formed the first term of settlement, it has
been determined to restrict the demand of
the state to one-half of the average net
assets."*
A "permanent settlement" was promised
to these provinces at the commencement of
the present century; the land-tax was
screwed up to the highest pitch, in order
that it might then be "fixed for ever;"
but good faith was broken with the people
by " orders from home," and the promise
has never been redeemed.
A parliamentary paper (No. 181), issued
in return to an order of the House of
Commons, dated 26th March, 1858, gives
some insight into the results produced by
our "revenue system" in the North- West
Provinces; including, among others, the
districts of Bareilly, Shahjehanpoor, Fur-
ruckabad, Seharanpore, &c. It is acknow-
ledged in the official "Narrative of the Pro-
ceedings of the Government," dated Agra,
I8th July, 1842, that "the assessment of
a fair and moderate revenue on the land
might be so combined with an ascertain-
ment of pi'ivate rights, and the constitution
of the village communities, that such records
might be framed, such principles fixed, and
such sanitary processes put in action, as
would correct the evils which had eaten like
a canker into the very vitals of landed pro-
perty and agricultural prosperity." In sub-
sequent passages of the same document, the
violation of proprietary rights is thus ad-
mitted : —
" The proceedings in the resumption department,
his Honourf observed, had in these, as in the Lower
• Pari. Papers, No. 112; 22nd June, 1857.
t The Lieut.-governor of the N.W. Provinces.
580 PROPRIETARY RIGHTS VIOLATED IN THE N. W. PROVINCES.
Provinces, been marked at the outset by a hard and
harsh dealing with individual rights, gradually but
reluctantly yielding to the tempering influence of
the orders which, from time to time, have issued
from superior authorities, especially the Honourable
Court. The settlement officer swept up without
inquiry every patch of unregistered rent-free land,
even those under ten beegahs, exempted by a sub-
sequent order, and which did not come out before
five-sixths of the tenures had been resumed. In one
district, that of Furruckabad, the obligations of a
treaty and the direct orders of government were but
lightly dealt with ; and in all, a total disregard was
evinced for the acts even of such men as Warren
Hastings and Lord Lake. • • •
" The rajah of Mynpoory, whose predecessor had
received the highest acknowledgments from the
British government for his unshaken loyalty, when
the district was overrun by Holkar's army in the
year 1804, was, without a reference to government,
under construction put on the right of a talookdar,
deprived entirely, he and his successors in perpetuity,
of all power of interference in 116 of 158 villages
included in his talooka, which had descended to him
in regular succession, before the introduction of the
British rule. • • •
"In Alighur, Teekum Sing, the rajah of Moor-
saun, had his talooka curtailed by the severance of
138 of the 216 villages which it contained. The
village proprietors, with whom the settlement was
made to the exclusion of the rajah, proved in many
instances unequal to meet the obligation they had
incurred. • • •
" His Honour, in his remarks on the policy of thus
roughly handling these tenures, whence all that
remains of an aristocracy in the land derives its
support, observed, that there is a striking inconsis-
tency in the imposition of eighteen per cent, on
villages severed from a talooka as a compensation to
the talookdar. If that personage has not a title,
such as it is found impossible entirely to reject, why
saddle the land with this cess on his account; and if
he has a title, ought it not to rest with some more
impartial authority to set it aside, than a zealous
settlement officer, bent upon the realisation of
schemes to which those very talookas are a serious
obstacle ?
" The demarcation of the component portions of
every village, and the recording of the several rights
comprised therein, is what is technically called the
'khusreh' survey. It is a necessary preliminary to a
settlement that had better, perhaps, been kept
separate from the scientific survey. The khusrehs
done in connection with that operation have many
of them been found inaccurate, and have had to be
entirely revised by the settlement officers.
" To keep up a record of the circumstances of
every field, there must be a constant interference of
the executive in the afifairs of every village, or, it
may be said, of every villager, which would be
irksome to any people, and will prove intolerable to
the natives of India. Already has it been found
necessary in many quarters to get rid of the old
putwarrees, and employ in their stead more efficient
accountants j but even with these, an almost un-
attainable vigilance will be required to prevent the
progressive illapse of error and confusion.
" In conclusion, the Lieutenant-governor observes,
that it is a fearful experiment, that of trying to
govern without the aid of any intermediate agency
of indigenous growth, yet it is what the measures
now in progress have a direct tendency to bring
about. In a short time all may stand on a new
basis ; the village watchman and the village ac-
countant may be persons in the direct service of that
government, of which the village proprietor may
appear but the nominee, while every trace of su-
perior existing rank will disappear under the three-
fold agency of the parcelling of talooks, the resump-
tion laws, and that late act, regarding sales, by
which the government has placed a restriction on
the exercise of its own prerogative of mercy.
" Far ahead, as in movements like the present,
the real objects often are of the avowed, there are
yet many who candidly admit the fall of what may
still be called the aristocracy and gentry of the
country, to be a not improbable consequence of the
system now pursuing, but who look forward with
confidence to the regeneration that is to spring from
this decay.
" Such speculations may be safely indulged in by
individuals, but it is not for a government thus to
seek to escape from the practical duty of endea-
vouring, in giving content to the people at large, to
avoid giving disgust to particular classes, or of pre-
venting property from being dealt with in disregard
of the remark of a profound politician, ' that a man
will sooner forgive the death of his father than the
loss of his inheritance.'
" It is in this respect that the settlement appears
most open to exception : assuming the absolute
correctness of its own principles, and acting upon
these with a speed that ill accorded with its ju-
dicial character, it too often refused to pause to
weigh the various merits of any claim that pre-
sented an obstacle to the high-pressure pace of its
progress.
" It was impossible that those employed should
not have their minds somewhat tinged by the colour
of the work they were engaged in ; and it may not
be a mistaken belief that a disposition to look upon
men (natives) as mere units of the mass about which
alone it is becoming to feel any interest, has of late
grown very prevalent among the junior portion
of the civil service.
" Conducted upon somewhat arbitrary principles,
the settlement has not encouraged much indepen-
dence of mind among its agents ; and the uniformity
that pervades all the reports which his Honour as yet
has perused, is very remarkable in the productions of
a service whose most prominent characteristic used
to be a free and fearless expression of opinion on
the part even of its youngest members."
It is not surprising, that the provinces
where this system was pursued, are the
chief seats of the present revolt.
In Central India, under the Mahratta
government, leases were granted for long
periods, some esteuding to even severity
years, which, says Malcolm, "gave the
renter an interest in the improvement of
the country beyond what he can have un-
der a short lease. The respect for some
renters has been so great, that large dis-
tricts have been, throughout the most
troubled periods, rented to their famihes."
It was the usage of the just Princess of
Iiidore, Ahalya Bye, to graut long leases;
j and many districts^ "to this system owe
GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENT OF THE PUNJAB.
5S1
tbeir prospoitr."* In confirmatioa of its
Taloe, it may be ronukad that, in the
i^ons thos sitiMted, the inhabitants vere
exempted from £unine, except, as in
1803-'4, wboi the desolating incnrsions of
mjriads cf anned horsemen trod down all
cnhiTation, and prevented the tillage of the
aoO.
BoxBAT. — ^TTiere is no " permanent set-
tlement"— in ftct, no defined revenue
STstem, in the territories under the adminis-
trati<m of this presidencr : in some places
there is a aettkaanent, irith villages; in
odten, vitii individual chiefs ; or thioe is a
Bjotwar modification ; but no propri^air
ri^t has bem coooeded ; the fee-simple in
the land does not exist. The result is im-
pofect cultivation, extensive wastes, modi
poveitr, and comparativelr small exportaUe
prodace.' Some years since, when diiimw-
ing the subject in the Court of Proprietors,
the author found that the assessment in
Guzerat was equal to 7s. 6d. a beegah=
22s. Sd. per acre. Since then the govern-
ment have found it neoessarr to reduce the
amount.
PrxjAB. — Under Seik administration,
the govonment assessment of the land
varied from two-fifths to one-third of the
groas produce ; the exaction was less iu the
£atant and imperfectly conquered terri-
tories : in the peculiarly rich lands round
Peshawur, the " government share nevar
exceeded one-third, and usually averaged
one-fourth or one-fifth, and fell even lower
— down to one-eighth of the crop,"t paid
in kind. In 1847 the rerenoe was thus
collected : — Prom kirdars (answering, pro-
bably, to the word zemindars), 2,549,873
rupees ; from heads of villages, 1,823,556 ;
by division and appraisement of crop,
among coparcenary communities, 8,944,658
^= 13,318,087 rupees. In addition, there
were various other imposts — extra cesses,
capitation -taxes, village artisans' fines, graz-
ing taxes, and custom duties innumerable.
Since we became possessed of the country,
the laud revenue has been reduced in
amouut, but collected in money. Owing
to a great fall iu prices, too high an assess-
ment, and want of fixity of tenure, there
has been considerable distress among the
cultivators ; and the report on the state of
the Punjab, up to 1850, is the least
favourable section of that important and
generally satisfactory document.
* Malcolm'ii PoUtieal Inim, voL u., p. 41.
t Official Report on the Panjab, 18dO-'5J, p. 5&
4r
We could not take a more efiiBctite step
for the security of British powa at theK
gates of India, than by announcing to the
people that the land is theirs in perpetuity,
subject to a reasonable tax. If this were
done, the Seiks and Sdndians would guard
warily against the approach of Russia or
any other power that might attempt to
molest the rulers who guaranteed than in
the secure possession of their homesteads ;
and with a brave and hardy population,
enjoying for the first time the advantage of
just and merciful rule, England might bid
defiance to all external aggression rid the
Red Sos the Pfctsian Gol^ Herat, or Cen-
tral Asia; secured by a better bulwark
than even the sandy wastes and barely
traversable mountains which skirt our
northern and western frontiers.
The exact pecuniary burthen imposed by
the land-tax of India cannot be defined :
the pressure on the cultivator depends on
: various circumstances — such as perpetuity
' at nucertainty of tenure ; quantity of waste
land available to the farmer; richness or
j poorness of soil ; density and prosperity of
population, or the reverse; proximity ftr
remoteness firom remunerative markets ;
, good w bad roads, or water carriage ;
' means of irrigation ; and, above all, the
I quantity of money in circulation (of which
; there is a lamentable deficiency), which
materially influences the range of high or
low prices for produce. A parliamentary
return, in 1827, shows the following re-
I suits : —
Pop. per tq. mile — nalicr
Laad-tax per >q.
Ditto per Wd 1
BcmbL Madna. Baakm.
au 77 76
S 17 19
B S2 «0
I Accurate conclusions cannot be drawn
firom this statement. Viewed according to
: area, it appears that Bengal, under a pro-
prietary system, pars more to the state, per
square mile, than Madras or Bombay under
a fluctuating and uncertain tenure. Pros-
perity, by causing an augmentation of
\ population, spreads the assessment over a
larger mass, and lightens the burthen.
{ But although Bombay and Madras nomi-
' nally contribute twice and three times as
' much per head as Bengal, yet the frequent
; recurrence of famines, the constant neces-
sity for remissions and the expenses whidi
a landlord who grants no leases is bound in
justice to bear, reduces the amount, and
renders the regular payment of the lesser
sum— cheaply collected, and without draw«
582
LAND SHOULD BE GRANTED IN FEE-SIMPLE.
backs — a much more reliable revenue to
government.*
An injurious land revenue system has so
completely impoverished the presidencies of
Madras and Bombay, that neither of these
large territorial possessions — the one com-
prising an area of 138,000 square miles,
with 23,000,000 inhabitants ; and the other
73,000 miles, with 12,000,000 inhabitants
— furnish an income adequate to their an-
nual expenditure : the deficiency is pro-
vided from the financial surplus of Bengal,
where a just land-tax has been in operation
since 1790.
In the fertile districts under the adminis-
tration of Madrasf and Bombay, there is
great, and, it is to be feared, increasing im-
poverishment. There are but two classes of
society — the few are money-lenders; the
many, poor and borrowing agriculturists.
The great bulk of the people live from hand
to mouth, and have their numbers almost
periodically thinned by famine and pesti-
lence. A strong and despotic government
cannot be acquitted of blame, if there be no
improvement in the physical condition and
moral position of its subjects — if life be a
mere daily struggle for the lowest means of
existence, and all hope of amelioration be
denied.
If the British Crown had refused to grant
the land in fee-simple in America, Australia,
the West Indies, and South Africa, how few
colonists would have gone thither. If tlie
government had annually exacted 30 to 50
per cent, of the produce of the soil in those
settlements, who would have felled the
forest, drained the swamp, or tilled the
ground? — and if no change of rulers could
deteriorate the condition of the agricul-
turists, what interest would they have in
upholding existing governments, or in re-
sisting foreign invaders ?
The subject is one of vital and pressing
interest. In Hindoostan, as well as else-
where, man will convert a rock into a
garden, if it be his own property ; but he
will suffer a garden to become a desert if he
be deprived of that right, and subjected to
an arbitrary, indefinite, and often over-
whelming weight of taxation. In the former
case, he will support the government that
secures him in the peaceful enjoyment ot
his territorial rights; in the latter, he will
be induced to wish for a change of masters,
under whom his condition may be improved,
especially if the tempting bait be held out
of the concession of a fee-simple tenure of
the soil. Recent events have done much
to bring conviction to many minds, of the
necessity of grappling with the complicated
difficulties of this question. Confiscation
has been going on in various parts of India
during the whole century of British su-
premacy; but the mode has been indirect
and insidious : the sufl^erers have been for
the most part peasants, unable to set forth
the rights and grievances which few of
their foreign rulers could justly appreciate.
Yet the very idea of wholesale confisca-
tion, even as a measure of retribution, is
scouted by the British public ; and it follows,
that if proprietary rights are to be respected
as the groundwork of the settlement of
Oude, much more should they be sedulously
investigated and guarded in other provinces
where no right of conquest can be pleaded.
Of Oude itself, nothing has been said
in the present chapter; its recent annexa-
tion, and the mode of its occupation, neces-
sarily forming an important feature of the
narrative on which we are about to enter.
• A Return for the Year 1835-'56, shows the proportion which the Revenue derived from Land, bears to
the other sources of Taxation.
Divisions.
Land.
Sayer,&c.
Moturpha.
Excise.
Total.
Salt.
Opium.
Post-Office
Stamps. 1 Mint.
Beni^al . . .
N.W. Provinces
Madras . . .
Bombay . . .
Punjab . . .
4,668,156
4,999,497
3,642,251
2,845,723
954,344
499,190
302,715
247,033
115,630
78,990
108"^81
45,147
5,212,493
6,302,212
3,997,965
2,961,353
1,033,334
1,081,634
549,235
541,584
275,402
203,601
4,171,718
1,024,258
44,864
87,282
69,222
22,129
23,956
223,552
169,224
71,312
68,496
20,167
118,853
18"!640
58,493
£
17,109,971
1,243,558
108,681
45,147
18,507,357
2,651,456
5,195,976
237,453
555,751 1 195,986
Customs
. £2,106,657 Miscellaneous .
£1,369,892. Gross Total
. £30,817,528.
+ The president of the Board of lievenue at Madras, in a minute dated June 16th, 1854, declares that
"portions of the richest and finest lands under the presidency have been thrown out of cultivation, in
consequence of the impossibility of paying the excessive assessment charged on them j" and Lord Harris,
the governor of Madras, laments " a condition of affairs so unnatural and so hostile to the best interests
of the government and of the entire population." — (Pari. Paper, No. 83 ; June 8th, 1857.)
EXn OF VOL. T.
TABLE OF DISTANCES BETWEEN DIFEEBENT
To find the Distance between two places, such as Bombay and Poonah, look along the column parallel to the word
in the intersection tihow
Agra. 1 460 660 200 296
1205
62
5 679
1019
1207
125
379
705
848
839
185
1104
1473
1060J 980
984
400
120
794
836
70
98
760
1048
1052
2O0
830
Ahraedabad... 388
280 625
850
32
0 800
640
921
600
680
245
321
1234
600
740
1183
888
681
1304
104
570
085
903
.500
650
840
678
798
490| 6lo{
Ahmednncgar
610 73S
602
6
S1047
340
630
875
700
627
181
1038
640
400
883
440
270
321
623
965
000
370
640
690
670
250
350
810
280i
Ajmere 504
1214
1110
54
63.
5 787
5 279
973
975
1161
1096
335
283
687
80
400
805
650
977
1035
498
395
143
1058
1060
1407
1391
1068
965
870
905
1194
690
220
610
220
429
997
493
930
934
260
190
304
238
95.'i
610
998
1030
977
1099
210
609
81(
73.
Allahabad
Arcot
64
»1392
262
135
1312
1180
1198
722
1860
1166
273
390
145
360
1227
1125
1329 1252
323
1115
1230
685
630
209
1409
37;
Aurangabad..
980
428
616
782
704
596
260
963
638
513
882
513
412
1276
492
749 12)0
523
610
700
630
423
440
7.50
31.'
Bahar.. ...'....
1267
1455
609
196
1121
1236
297
400
1352
1673
1247
1237
407
889
703
2.10
1116
.502
467
430
1312
1201
54(
101"
Ballary ....
176
1110
1045
977
485
1090
1030
85
454
149
130
1192
863
1143 1288
325
1000
i079
460
240
63
1118
24C
Bangalore.
.__
1324
1162
1141
632
1161
1147
138
317
1.55
2C0
1327
1011
1331 I.^5v
423
1107
1242
82
7.53
396
176
1151
1252
322
361
967
BarelUy...
345
830
1036
910
177
1198
1623
1135
1105
904
526
142
737
1175
120
8.30
1215
Benares.
875
950
428
226
1130
1461
1035
995
559
690
503
410
873
270
321
460
1100
989
689
745
Bhooj
656
1415
749
985
1610
1109
888
1639
219
669 1748
1148
699
747
1085
923
1043
600
85S
Bombay
1301
939
494
780
609
364
1475
452
880 Unn
779
710
956
881
292
1300
978
267
467
389
497
1017
974
20
472
96
790
1049
389
1268
1632
1171
480
902
Calcutta. . .
inn
1173
1498
997
1172
177
1226
976
233
636
?7a
719
768
369
653
Cawnpoor.
lll.'l
1446
1020
190
980
833
630
309
655
80
'490
95
1164
f!>i«*lA.lrftrt<r 1
397
130
1348
923
1228 1
444
784
790,
32-'
i
— 1
Cochin.. ..
ATO
442
1673
1306
1006
1697 1698
1184 1197
769
268
1390
970
1.541
1085
107O
656
220
Cuddapah ....
279
1172
608
DISTANCES
Dharwar
1344
684
1105 1260
420
1022
1112
720
80
173
1080
265
Pacea
1140
UOS
190
Qnd
829
450
880
600
646
1505
730
1172
1192
873
1148
430
80
991
1112
630
900
1137
FaOH
1
Deesa.. ..
inn 1
[00 8in
870
CALCUTTA.
Dclh
911
960
919
175
691
185
692
880
544
1620 1217
Dinajepoor....
Ellore
808
923
340
601
1033
1134
288
924
1069
1040
210
265
208
740
885
Adonl 1039
Distances tnm Calcutta (contd.)
Etaw
1
ah ..
66
ad..
660
748
1
Furruckab
Allyghnr 803
Comorin Cape 1770
Ganja
f
m
843
590
OQTt
960
1055
020
450
393
187
aan
Jft«
Almora ., ... 910
AnJengo 1577
Arracan ... .„ ... 657
Catmandoo 660
Dinapoor 411
EUichpoor 700
DISTANCES
FBOH
MADKAS.
Gooty
Hand .
nydrabad....|
Islamabad
Azimgbnr ... .» ... 448
Backergnnge 125
Balasore 116
Bancoorah 101
Ferozpoor 1181
Fnttyghnr 703
Ghazeepoor 431
Golconda 907
Adoni 270
Araee 74
Azimghur 1220
Backergnnge 124G
Balasore 922
Bandah 1102
Distances from Madras (contd.)
Naggery 57
Neermull 633
Banda 560
Gontoor 867
Beder 470
Negapatam 160
Bairackpoor 16
Gwallor 772
Bednore 360
Belgaum 519
Nundidroog 196
Oojein 1009
Beder 980
Bednore 1290
Hoosungabad 924
Indore 1030
Bimlipatam 618
Broach 947
Burdwan 1066
Oude 1228
Paniput 1428
Ponany „. 404
Beerbhoom.. 127
Jeypoor 850
Cabool 2134
Pnbna 1211
Beltool 677
Lahore 1356
Calicut 335
Cannanore 345
Pullcat 22
Quilon 385
Bijnoor 800
Lassa 850
Cashmere „ 1882
Balchoor 349
Broach „ 1228
MIdnapoor 69
Chlngleput 36
Chunar 1146
Haranad 275
Rhotuk 1422
Bhaugnlpoor ... „. 268
Bhopal 790
Mirzapoor 448
Mongbyr 304
Comerin Cape 440
Condapllly 286
Conjereram 42
Rungpoor 1322
Kuttunpoor 903
Suharunpoor ... ... 1477
Burdwan 74
Moorahedabad 124
Cuddalore 100
Sadras 42
Bnxar 398
JIuttra 831
Dindigul 247
Dowlutabad 655
Sccunderabad 398
Sherghotty 1258
Cabool 1815
Myioor 1246
EUichpoor 600
Shahabad 1367
Calingapatam 480
Oude 662
Golconda 358
Guntoor 225
TatUh 14S7
SlronJ 906
Calpee 648
Purneah 283
GwaUor 1164
Tinnevelly 350
Cambay 1253
SlronJ 819
Indore 975
JuRgumauth ... .« 595
Trivandrum 3:)5
Tranquebar 147
Candabar 2047
Sumbulpoor 309
Kamptee 722
Tuticorin 32-5
Casbmere 1.564
Tattah 1602
Kumool 289
Lahore 1675
Vencatagherry 132
Warangnl 414
Caiunar 437
Vcllore 1029
Moorshedabad 1133
Yelwall 293
PLACES IN BRITISH INDIA.— (BRITISH MILES.)
Bombay until it intersects the vertical column immediately over the termination of the v7ord Poonah. The figures
the number of Miles.
i:24
628
300
916
480
150
777
202
1158
1469
1288
981
638
210
1305
454
1372
796
918'l315
920
866
250
160
1215
994
778
380
680
1400
1270
1406|ll73| 960
89
IS14
340
686
1146
24
480
1032
640
1049
1177
896
820
440
280
1021
820
1101
413
77o'l061
860
478
400
615
941
1286
571
675
158
1161
995
113
840| 648
88
1350
90
785
1060
384
540
853
660
613
720
503
470
360
605
680
995
682
76
620 610
650
120
440
750
500
1180
129
690
262
700
698
63C
597
260
68(
1270
550
480
1037
290
310
960
445
1152
1421
1242
975
663
20
1265
747
1297
730
903 1261
910
790
306
364
1185
1197
710
580
465
1403
1150
133
1214
920
92
804
570
50
620
625
140
484
127
1055
1375
1244
979
405
430
1226
243
1167
788
650|1176
652
856
220
18C
1149
760
735
70
765
1314
1239
1245
1075
935
93,
1310
601
1160
1218
986
1025
798
1215
73
266
360
305
705
1134
210
1340
81
636
383
120
413
542
915
1236
210
1395
462
1170
870
10.5
290
170
9
468
60.
1272
35
685
1033
353
610
774
688
689
824
697
533
293
460
720
864
739
144
470
716
490
209
380
726
640
1347
174
694
231
858
610
828
639
349
66(
547
947
190
270
840
400
455
353
1237
1667
1636
1160
717
709
1608
40
1326
1138
640
1150
630
1147
440
360
1431
410
1067
170
1060
1444
1627
1666
1390
1077
60(
1338
360
91S
1210
698
890
834
1080
317
396
269
345
460
830
292
1206
343
357
370
288
400
266
770
1060
212
1413
200
1035
640
430
260
353
220
230
48C
1392
543
1146
1263
914
1011
898
1197
208
262
198
378
687
1066
130
1382
170
534
473
100
503
463
891
1181
66
1477
388
1152
809
209
160
165
110
360
62S
1059
763
270
772
605
210
940
166
1297
1-577
1346
1185
676
335
1458
472
1386
940
970
1316
935
981
330
86
1381
927
810
321
842
1616
1328
1409
1238
1020
i2ie
699
70S
40
420
686
220
430
189
1103
1445
1314
748
475
510
12%
155
1286
930
660
1156
600
916
280
234
1170
600
815
10
906
1384
1305
1236
1180
1035
670
1701
585
855
1349
234
669
1277
779
1167
1281
1116
1098
686
410
1125
1044
1279
620
1066
1306
1105
686
645
865
1186
1475
778
805
365
1383
1196
1306
1188
820
1125
1531
220
1037
1312
313
660
1034
923
774
862
618
686
562
560
699
1143
806
98
705
736
740
146
555
865
622
1605
288
1120
177
674
616
845
075
270
761
250
952
500
214
1206
600
251
649
1030
1336
1313
764
722
1106
1268
340
1130
1208
665
1192
619
1232
806
694
1170
325
934
455
1238
1230
1312
1238
1029
1252
657
925
670
160
763
540
88
627
40
1182
1430
1199
70O
460
340
1281
220
1271
841
793
1200
820
789
220
82
1204
903
709
216
738
1369
12%
1383
1120
981
1076
1423
415
1110
1383
784
976
919
1166
345
400
184
432
656
973
220
12%
354
396
494
228
524
310
8.50
1196
162
1498
260
1120
671
380
188
303
230
225
614
1709
710
1441
1680
1165
1344
1244
14%
459
150
252
751
986
1370
no
1121
360
770
790
180
820
622
1224
1524
190
1794
665
1461
1046
316
140
180
290
482
900
1233
430
1015
1108
730
880
743
1070
165
410
380
223
560
900
286
1195
226
507
318
205
348
414
750
1000
231
1308
300
1026
726
349
331
260
110
379
438
1452
320
955
1368
646
658
948
920
440
496
190
478
520
876
340
1475
260
268
470
360
500
180
676
976
260
1492
196
985
623
502
270
485
340
100
580
140
1241
699
110
1120
690
429
748
1211
1492
1488
931
1011
1069
1446
447
1319
1377
842
1202
812
1109
720
813
1403
130
1109
665
1413
1438
1498
1377 1225
1462
716
1476
380
668
1130
110
460
1062
560
1129
1259
896
848
470
220
1103
845
1206
416
840
1044
1067
531
420
660
1023
1260
664
680
261
1134
964
1166 1120
611
880
1202
748
416
896
500
27U
882
280
1298
1694
1412
1109
662
230
1435
661
448
90O
1022
1402
1022
958
370
210
1356
1103
898
506
675
1533
1323
1473
1230
1098
1072
330
970
410
80
1060
630
464
581
1230
1517
1513
%4
740
920
1628
234
1324
1326
824
1317
794
1170
650
631
1428
190
1080
420
1258
1443
1628
1422
1240
1300
714
969
40O
913
840
758
718
475
706
314
688
584
45
398
838
668
946
396
681
50
425
80
510
698
11)4
499
1044
378
863
736
614
699
618
310
490
160
994
560
240
698
470
90
707
110
1114
1180
1070
853
410
260
1231
400
1220
7-54
766
160
770
819
210
110
1055
870
090
265
540
1319
1240
1189
1070
969
1156
1042
605
223
727
530
140
858
111
1165
1495
1348
968
465
280
1376
481
1366
858
870
1296
796
009
250
65
1299
921
730
312
760
1434
1155
1434
1215
1049
935
1282
690
498
579
816
.570
90
637
697
938
860
370
400
940
866
445
736
720
290
813
260
742
510
690
839
094
610
466
860
889
939
855
660
800
170
1545
340
1080
1385
602
933
1076
1025
589
629
215
611
625
825
375
1260
611
265
661
410
681
160
803
1148
393
1620
210
1090
469
638
305
618
487
30
761
1550
360
1041
1128
734
834
763
1024
264
438
322
296
514
830
300
1149
290
350
338
260
368
310
714
964
230
1342
230
979
652
418
280
320
190
•573
448
1313
660
495
976
600
350
962
360
1358
1514
1313
1181
738
230
1416
741
1360
7%
1033
1412
1098
930
480
290
1336
1183
924
584
666
1449
1360
1471
1344
1070
1148
1152
260
786
1157
666
650
683
840
388
640
•509
218
330
670
491
900
480
387
225
410
250
302
530
770
417
1227
170
735
668
569
500
649
330
350
320
■....
1202
739
250
1456
919
501
888
1280
1586
1563
1014
740
1199
1618
500
1330
1458
916
1442
869
1482
1056
933
1429
190
1184
704
1488
1436
1662
1488
1279
1502
807
Jaalnah..
620
990
300
480
690
1600
668
756
535
468
230
470
652
865
682
168
430
6)3
506
210
3.50
650
572
1277
156
695
247
790
680
713
640
370
600
Juan poor..
460
676
190
470
135
1143
1425
1294
788
410
517
1276
160
1233
861
700
1195
705
840
270
185
1202
603
7.50
40
815
1854
285
1334
1116
970
610
Jumalpoor..
1110
640
460
609
1240
1483
1660
974
760
930
1393
300
1340
1211
830
1667
810
1190
740
669
1434
143
1120
430
160
1446
1657
1388
1223
1340
720
Kalra
460
1033
580
1025
1153
872
768
763
520
416
330
682
270
308
790
997
1147
1028
840
376
570
1077
1140
870
377
654
1002
746
1037
1070
900
766
685
350
443
400
620
917
253
513
675
122
1084
911
1064
1208
993
981
572
908
Kaltali. . .
583
137
1024
1290
1040
675
690
869
130
170
1077
783
576
660
210
639
219
1050
990
359
670
Kttttack..
619
812
1063
1059
330
490
664
974
680
430
1042
988
1074
785
033
260
1
Lucknow
1232
1480
1249
760
265
570
510
704
970
380
1058
122G
1331
283
148
316
1266
1605
1321
88
200
897
672
764
777
1260
779
394
678
897
616
676
260
50
1254
752
730
16-'>
788
419
118^'
1389
207
80
1170
979
1060
Madras...
tact
446
366
370
648
219
137
918
1282
284
366
46^
093
%3
206
405
87
666
498
Uadura
1170
1410
236
1661
690
435
I03ii
105
94i
245
666
768
MaDgalore ....
572
839
1108
198
1474
480
480
634
240
664
370
860
1160
130
1638
380
304
755
376
90
355
3X5
230
744
Masulipatam ..
443
883
515
1090
378
546
80
428
100
520
643
800
404
064
388
738
745
496
661
475
290
633
190
NairD£
lor .,
440
A...
821
1122
d...
636
673
1391
811
1160
209
451
660
608
374
814
603
740
1176
88
388
828
633
430
725
620
200
300
1021
542
370
1261
744
1100
80
047
1073
1693
340
634
492
380
502
1288
400
435
782
909
1260
166
720
1070
106
879
1183
136
660
1010
209
660
7.55
405
410
K
ossecraba
860
OotacamuQ
723
DISTANCES
F&OM
Patna
J
1291
1067
704
446
140O
121
693
482
1066
608
440
1010
366
1371
1217
231
443
1443
975
543
165
1270
1020
953
1.544
118
400
308
1431
118
1265
91
195
360
627
'ondlcher
ry.. 673
686
BOMBAY.
Poon
I
ih
612
Iry..
628
475
637
30
66
527
624
574
869
1230
626
649
1498
984
1.58
395
920
656
2.55
7%
776
648
504
649
750
553
677
380
196
640
686
lajahmun
120
Adoni 754
Asseerghur 290
Azimgliur 977
Salem
605
ih...
a ....
640
552
940
630
500
1180
832
860
300
110
579
140
982
1515
954
1477
840
488
420
132
480
1145
595
904
265
928
721
320
450
90
578
706
1099
196
679
450
930
70
683
6.56
1079
121
411
485
860
435
570
136
729
623
amulcotta
Sftt.tnr
80
622
Saugor
570
Beitool .^. 390
Becjapoor 245
Belgaum 318
Bhopal 449
Broach 190
Ca]i>ce 803
Indore 377
Loodiana 1077
Malliganra 175
Mirzapoor 890
Mhow 360
Mysoor 636
Nassick 100
Ondo 1013
Oojein 408
Seetap
Se
oor..
1286
n...
802
1633
780
412
1256
236
1160
605
805
820
702
1507
391
710
1339
248
1560
630
1335
1262
100
1633
425
1V35
1319
225
I-56.5
641
1284
1100
176
1395
420
1170
063
330
577
220
940
113
•inga
Sill
patar
let..
059
864
Sliolanonr
628
Sultai
1
npoorCBen
562
Chunar 962
Damaan 101
Ellichpoor 345
Golconda 475
Gwalior 680
.(.nriil
:....!
1051
789
270
927
33
240
811
ICS
276
165
455
.575
335
626
517
740
1
668
759
Distancei from Bombay (contd.)
Rnttunpoor 772
Tattah 773
lanjo
1
re
ftlH(.ii«rrv
Trich
nono
y...
673
Velloi
•A...
603
Vlnim
rla..
670
II
J
JTKM
igauB
T
lU
4bU
745
P.I
(Jkot<
itnag
l.cria
i
158
98
Sir
Vi
onl
ziadr
oog.
. 6
.. 2
95
43
.. ... 1
Ylzagapa
tarn.
■^7
■%'S'' '
.•^
-IK
DS
436
M35
1858
v.l
Martin, Robert Montgomery
The Indian empire
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