GUALIOR, or Goualier, a large town of Hindoostan in Asia, and capital of a province of the same name, with an ancient and celebrated fortress of great strength. It is situated in the very heart of Hindoostan Proper, being about 80 miles to the south of Agra, the ancient capital of the empire, and 130 from the nearest part of the Ganges. From Calcutta it is, by the nearest route, upwards of 800 miles, and 910 by the ordinary one; and about 280 from the British frontiers. Its latitude is 26° 14' and longitude 78° 26' from Greenwich.

In the ancient division of the empire it is clasped in the foubah of Agra, and is often mentioned in history. In the year 1088, and during the two following centuries, it was thrice reduced by famine. It is probable that it must in all ages have been deemed a military post of the utmost consequence, both from its situation in respect to the capital, and from the peculiarity of its site, which was generally deemed impregnable. With respect to its relative position, it must be considered that it stands on the principal road leading from Agra to Malwa, Guzerat, and the Decan; and that too, near the place where it enters the hilly tract which advances from Bundelcund, Malwa, and Agimere, to a parallel with the river Jumna, throughout the greatest part of its course. And from all these circumstances of general and particular situation, together with its natural and acquired advantages as a fortress, the possession of it was deemed as necessary to the ruling emperors of Hindoostan as Dover castle might have been to the Saxon and Norman kings of England.—Its palace was used as a state prison as early as 1317, and continued to be such until the downfall of the empire.—On the final dismemberment of the empire, Gualior appears to have fallen to the lot of a rajah of the Jat tribe; who assumed the government of the district in which it is immediately situated, under the title of Rana of Gualior, or Goldh. Since that period it has changed masters more than once; the Mahrattas, whose dominions extend to the neighbourhood of it, having sometimes possessed it, and at other times the Rana; but the means of transfer were always either famine or treachery, nothing like a siege having ever been attempted.

Gualior was in the possession of Madajee Scindia, a Mahratta chief, in 1779; at the close of which year the council-general of Bengal concluded an alliance with the Rana; in consequence of which four battalions of sepoys of 500 men each, and some pieces of artillery, were sent to his assistance, his district being overrun by the Mahrattas, and himself almost shut up in his fort of Goldh. The grand object of this alliance was to penetrate into Scindia's country, and finally to draw Scindia himself from the western side of India, where he was attending the motions of General Goddard, who was then employed in the reduction of Guzerat; it being Mr Hastings's idea, that when Scindia found his own dominions in danger, he would detach himself from the confederacy, of which he was the principal member, and thus leave matters open for an accommodation with the court of Poonah. It fell out exactly as Mr Hastings predicted. Major William Popham was appointed to the command of the little army sent to the Rana's assistance; and was very successful, as well in clearing his country of the enemy, as in driving them out of one of their own most valuable districts, and keeping possession of it; and Mr Hastings, who justly concluded that the capture of Gualior, if practicable, would not only open the way into Scindia's country, but would also add to the reputation of our arms in a degree much beyond the risk and expense of the undertaking, repeatedly expressed his opinion to Major Popham, together with a wish that it might be attempted; and founding his hopes of success on the confidence that the garrison would probably have in the natural strength of the place. It was accordingly undertaken; and the following account of the place, and the manner of our getting possession of it, was written by Captain Jonathan Scott, at that time Persian interpreter to Major Popham, to his brother Major John Scott.

"The fortress of Gualior stands on a vast rock of about four miles in length, but narrow, and of unequal breadth, and nearly flat at the top. The sides are so steep as to appear almost perpendicular in every part; for where it was not naturally so, it has been scraped away; and the height from the plain below is from 200 to 300 feet. The rampart conforms to the edge of the precipice all round; and the only entrance to it is by steps running up the side of the rock, defended on the side next the country by a wall and bastions, and farther guarded by seven stone gateways, at certain distances from each other. The area within is full of noble buildings, reservoirs of water, wells, and cultivated land; so that it is really a little district in itself. At the north-west foot of the mountain is the town, pretty large, and well built; the houses all of stone. To have besieged this place would be vain, for nothing but a surprize or blockade could have carried it.

"A tribe of banditti from the district of the Rana had..." Gualear had been accustomed to rob about this town, and once in the dead of night had climbed up the rock and got into the fort. This intelligence they had communicated to the Rana, who often thought of availing himself of it, but was fearful of undertaking an enterprise of such moment with his own troops. At length he informed Major Popham of it, who sent a party of the robbers to conduct some of his own spies to the spot. They accordingly climbed up in the night, and found that the guards generally went to sleep after their rounds. Popham now ordered ladders to be made; but with so much secrecy, that until the night of surprise only myself and a few others knew it. On the 3rd of August, in the evening, a party was ordered to be in readiness to march under the command of Captain William Bruce; and Popham put himself at the head of two battalions, which were immediately to follow the storming party. To prevent as much as possible any noise in approaching or ascending the rock, a kind of shoes of woollen cloth were made for the sepoys, and stuffed with cotton. At 11 o'clock the whole detachment marched from the camp at Keypour, eight miles from Gualear, through unfrequented paths, and reached it at a little before daybreak. Just as Captain Bruce arrived at the foot of the rock, he saw the lights which accompanied the rounds moving along the rampart, and heard the sentinels cough (the mode of signifying that all is well in an Indian camp or garrison), which might have damped the spirit of many men, but served only to inspire him with more confidence, as the moment for action, that is, the interval between the passing the rounds was now ascertained. Accordingly when the lights were gone, the wooden ladders were placed against the rock, and one of the robbers first mounted, and returned with an account that the guard was retired to sleep. Lieutenant Cameron, our engineer, next mounted, and tied a rope-ladder to the battlements of the wall; this kind of ladder being the only one adapted to the purpose of scaling the wall in a body (the wooden ones only serving to ascend from crag to crag of the rock, and to assist in fixing the rope-ladders). When all was ready, Captain Bruce with 20 sepoys, grenadiers, ascended without being discovered, and squatted down under the parapet; but before a reinforcement arrived, three of the party had so little recollection as to fire on some of the garrison who happened to be lying asleep near them. This had nearly ruined the whole plan: the garrison were of course alarmed, and ran in great numbers towards the place; but ignorant of the strength of the assailants (as the men fired on had been killed outright), they suffered themselves to be stopped by the warm fire kept up by the small party of the grenadiers, until Major Popham himself, with a considerable reinforcement, came to their aid. The garrison then retreated to the inner buildings, and discharged a few rockets, but soon afterwards retreated precipitately through the gate; whilst the principal officers, thus deserted, assembled together in one house, and hung out a flag. Major Popham sent an officer to give them assurance of quarter and protection; and thus, in the space of two hours, this important and astonishing fortress was completely in our possession. We had only 20 men wounded and one killed. On the side of the enemy, Bapogee the governor was killed, and most of the principal officers wounded.

Thus fell the strongest fortress in Hindostan, garnished by a chosen body of 1200 men, on August 4, 1783; and which, before the capture of it by the British, was pronounced by the princes of Hindostan, as far as their knowledge in the military art extended, to be impregnable. In 1783 Madajee Scindia besieged this fortress, then possessed by the Rana of Golnud, with an army of 70,000 men, and effected the reduction by the treachery of one of the Rana's officers, who formed the plan of admission of a party of Scindia's troops; these were immediately supported by another party, who attacked an opposite quarter, and got admission also.