A reign of five years, by his son Humaioon, who was driven from his throne by the rebellion of Sheer Khan, whose successful usurpation was succeeded by such a period of disorder, five sovereigns having appeared on the throne in the course of nine years, that Humaioon was recalled in 1554, and died the following year, leaving his son, the celebrated Achar, only fourteen years of age, the heir to the throne. His was a long and glorious reign of fifty-one years, in which the revolted provinces were reduced from Ajmere to Bengal, and consolidated into one empire by the unlimited toleration of the Hindus and all others, and generally by a just and wise policy. In 1585 and the subsequent years he invaded the Deccan, which, by the dissolution of the Bahmence empire, was divided among the sovereigns of Bejapore, Ahmednagar, and Golconda, whilst another army was reducing the country of Cashmere in an opposite direction. At the time of Achar's death in 1605, he had possession of the western part of Berar, Candesh, Tellingana, a division of Golconda, and the northern part of Ahmednagar, the capital of which was taken in 1601, after a long and bloody siege, and an unsuccessful attempt to relieve the place by the confederated princes of the Deccan. Achar died in 1605, at which time his empire was divided into fifteen viceroysalties, called subas; namely, Allahabad, Agra, Oude, Ajmere, Gujerat, Bahar, Bengal, Delhi, Cabul, Lahore, Moultan, Malwah, Berar, Candesh, and Ahmednagar. He was succeeded by his son Selim, under the title of Jehangir. It was in his reign, in 1615, that Sir Thomas Roe, the first English ambassador, was sent to the Mogul emperor of Hindustan; and the Portuguese had by this time acquired considerable settlements in Bengal and Gujerat. Shah Jehan, who disturbed his father's reign by constant rebellions, succeeded to the throne in 1627, and pursued his conquests in the Deccan with renewed vigour, filling the country with plunder and devastation. It was in this reign, in the year 1633, that the first serious quarrel took place between the Portuguese and the Moguls, when the former were expelled from Hooghly on the Ganges. In 1658 the country was again distracted by the civil wars of the emperor and his sons, and of the sons amongst themselves contending for dominion. Shah Jehan died on the 21st of January 1666, after being seven years confined in the castle of Agra. The Mogul empire at his death extended from Cabul to the Nerubbah, westward of this river to the Indus, and eastward it comprehended Bengal and Orissa; and to the south the Moguls had reduced a large tract of country bounded by Berar on the east, westward by the hills towards Concan, and by the dominions of Golconda and Bejapore to the south. These convulsions, by which India was at this time distracted, ended in the elevation to the throne of the renowned Aurungzebe, the youngest son of Shah Jehan, whom he had deposed; he had also murdered or expelled his three brothers. In 1660, Aurungzebe, who took the title of Allumgere, or Conqueror of the World, was firmly seated on the throne; and from that period until the year 1678, Hindustan enjoyed more profound peace than it had ever before known. In the mean time Aurungzebe invaded the Deccan, which during the latter part of his reign was, with the exception of a few mountainous tracts, subdued by his victorious arms, and rendered tributary to the ruler of Delhi. He was afterwards engaged, in 1678, in quelling the rebellion of the Patans beyond the Indus, and the Rajpoot tribes, by whom he was hemmed in amongst the mountains, and narrowly escaped. He again invaded the country in 1681, and took and destroyed Cheitore, the capital, and all the objects of Hindu worship found there. The obstinate resistance of these gallant mountaineers at last extorted peace from the mighty monarch of the Mogul empire.

But Aurungzebe had now to contend with another enemy for the dominion of India. In the south the Mahratta of the power was fast rising into importance. Sevaje, the founder of this new state, was a military chief, the illegitimate son of the rana of Odepoor, the chief of the Rajpoot princes. In his youth he resided at Poonah, on a zemindary estate obtained by his father. Here he collected around him a numerous banditti, and plundered the country. The number of his followers gradually increasing, he extended his ravages still farther into the dominions of Bejapore, and acquired an immense booty, which enabled him to increase his force, and openly to resist the troops of Aurungzebe which were sent against him. He expired in his fortress of Raynee, of an inflammation in the chest, at the age of fifty-two, on the 5th of April 1682. His whole reign was one continued scene of war and political intrigue, in which he displayed the talents of a consummate general and an able and crafty statesman. "He met," says Orme, "every emergency of peril, however sudden and extreme, with instant discernment and unshaken fortitude; the ablest of his officers acquiesced in the eminent superiority of his genius, and the boast of the soldier was to have seen Sevaje charging sword in hand." At his death, his empire, with the exception of the small territory of Goa on the south, Bombay, Salsette, and an inconsiderable tract on the north, comprised a tract of country about 400 miles in length and 120 in breadth. He was besides in possession at one time, towards the Eastern Sea, of half the Carnatic. By his own talents he had thus acquired a permanent sovereignty, "established," says Orme, "on a communion of manners, customs, observances, languages, and religion, united in common defence against the tyranny of foreign conquerors, from whom they had recovered the land of their own inheritance." Sevaje was succeeded by his son Sambajee, who was afterwards betrayed into the hands of Aurungzebe, and barbarously put to death. Aurungzebe died in 1707, in the ninety-eighth, or, according to some, the ninety-fourth year of his age, at Ahmednagar, in the Deccan, in the subjugation of which he had been engaged from the year 1678 until his death. He was for the most part engaged in the field during the last fifteen years of his life. Whilst he was absent in the Deccan, the peace of the empire was disturbed by insurrections of the Rajpoots in Upper India, and of the Jauts, now for the first time known in any other character than that of banditti. Under his reign the Mogul empire attained to its height. His dominions extended from the tenth to the thirty-fifth degree of latitude, with nearly as many degrees of longitude; and his annual revenue was equal to thirty-two millions sterling.

After the death of Aurungzebe, the sovereignty of the Internal empire was disputed by his four sons, Munzum, Azem, disorders, and Kaum Buksh, who severally contended with their elder brother, and Achar, who thirty years before had been engaged in rebellion, and fled to Persia. Munzum and Azem met in the field with armies of 300,000 men on each side, when the latter was defeated and slain, and Munzum ascended the throne under the title of Bahader Shah. He reigned five years, and the empire had been so distracted by civil wars and anarchy, that it required all his exertions to restore order. He was soon after his accession called into the Deccan by a rebellion of his brother Kaum Buksh, which was quelled by his death. He now turned his arms against the Rajpoots and the Sikhs, who for the first time appeared in arms in the province of Lahore. These insurgents he reduced after much trouble and delay; and he took up his residence at Lahore, where he died in 1712, after a short illness, having never during his reign visited

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1 Rennell, p. lix. 2 Orme's Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 94. 3 Rennell, Memoir of a Map of Hindustan, p. 62. Hindustan either Agra, or Delhi his capital. He left four sons, who immediately commenced a contest for the throne. Azem Ooshawn, who took possession of the treasures, was killed in a battle with his other brothers. Jehamder Shah, the youngest, next lost his life in a battle with Jehamder Shah, who was the eldest, and who successfully disputed the possession of the throne with the remaining brother. At the end of nine months, however, he was dethroned by Ferokseere, a son of Azem Ooshawn, and great grandson of Aurungzebe, who was elevated to the throne by the influence of two brothers, Abdoola Khan and Hussun Khan, Seids by birth, or descendants of the prophet, whose talents had raised them to reputation and power. It was in this reign that the English East India Company obtained their famous firmans or grants, by which they were exempted from all custom duties on the export and import of their goods. This was considered as the commercial charter of the Company as long as they required protection for their trade.

In 1717 Ferokseere was deposed and blinded by the two Seids, Hussun and Abdoola, to whom he owed his elevation to the throne. In his place they chose Ruffieh-ul-Dowlat, a son of Bahader Shah; and in less than a year deposed and put him to death. His brother, who by their means was also made king, met with the same treatment; so that in the course of eleven years from the death of Aurungzebe, four princes of his line had ascended the throne, whilst six others had met the usual fate of unsuccessful aspirants to that dignity. Mahommed Shah, the grandson of Bahader Shah, was placed on the throne by the Seids in 1718, from whose influence he contrived at length to free himself, though not without a rebellion and a battle, in which they were both slain. In the mean time Mahommed Shah was deficient in the vigour which his difficult situation required, and the provincial governors at a distance began to show symptoms of independence. Nizam-ul-Mulk, the viceroy of the Deccan, was the most formidable of those pretenders to sovereignty. He had reduced the provinces of Gujerat and Malwah; and having paid a visit to the imperial court, and observed the dissolute administration of affairs, he quitted the capital in disgust, under pretence of a hunting excursion, for his government of the Deccan. He was deprived of the administration of Gujerat and Malwah, the two provinces which he had acquired. In revenge he encouraged the rulers of these provinces to resist the imperial authority; whilst at his instigation also the Mahrattas invaded the country, and after a severe struggle succeeded, about the year 1732, in completely reducing this long-disputed territory.

But a more dreadful calamity was now impending over the distracted empire. The sceptre of Persia had been long swayed by a feeble race of monarchs, and the country became an easy prey to the hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, who in 1722 laid siege to Isphahan, when the feeble Hussun Shah surrendered the crown to the invader. He had a son Thomas, however, who escaped from the general massacre which ensued, and who was joined by many partisans, amongst others by Nadir, the son of a shepherd of Khorassan, who, with his band of followers, soon distinguished himself as a brave and active supporter of the fallen prince. In 1729 he retook Isphahan, and finally, by his talents, raised himself to the throne of Persia in 1736, having put out the eyes of the unfortunate son of the late monarch. Being afterwards engaged in an expedition against the Afghans, he advanced to the frontier of Hindustan, but without any ulterior views of hostility, when a messenger and his escort, whom he had despatched to the emperor at Delhi, were murdered at Jellalabad by the inhabitants; an outrage which being approved by Mahommed Shah, Nadir prepared for revenge. He gave up the offending city to be pillaged by his soldiers; and advancing to Delhi, was met by the imperial troops, who were totally defeated. The views of the conqueror, however, were not hostile, and two crores of rupees would have purchased his retreat from Hindustan. But this amicable arrangement was frustrated by a dispute between Sandut Khan, subadar of Oude, and the nizam of the Deccan, for the vacant office of Ameer-ul-Omrah, formerly paymaster of the forces. Sandut Khan, the disappointed candidate, persuaded Nadir Shah that the promised sum was no adequate ransom for Hindustan; on which Nadir advanced to the capital, which opened its gates to receive him; and for two days thereafter the Persian troops observed the most exact discipline. But in the course of the night a rumour was spread that Nadir was killed, on which the inhabitants rose against their invaders, and massacred many of them. Nadir took severe and immediate revenge. He dispersed his irritated soldiers throughout every quarter of the city, with orders to spare neither age nor sex; and in this indiscriminate slaughter 100,000 persons are said to have perished, whilst the city was set on fire in several places. The imperial treasure was plundered; plate, jewels, and specie, were carried off to the incredible amount of thirty-two millions sterling. Rich bankers and others were forced by torture to disclose their hidden wealth, and a heavy contribution of thirty millions was imposed on the city by the relentless conqueror. Nadir Shah departed from Delhi, of which he had held possession thirty-seven days, in the year 1739; and the nizam still retained possession of the whole power of the empire, which he sacrificed to his own views in the Deccan, where he established an independent kingdom. Nadir Shah died in 1747. In the subsequent confusion, the eastern provinces of Persia, and those bordering on India, were formed by Abdallai, one of his generals, into an independent state, which comprised the ancient empire of Ghizni, and was known under the name of the kingdom of the Abdalli. Mahommed Shah died the same year, after a reign of twenty-nine years. Every day had disclosed the growing weakness of the empire, and strong symptoms of its early and entire dissolution. In 1738 Bengal became independent under Aliverry Khan, and it was soon afterwards invaded by a numerous army of Mahommed Shah, Nadir prepared for revenge. He gave up the of-

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1 Rennell's Memoirs of Hindustan, p. lxx. In 1753 the Emperor Ahmed Shah was deposed by Gazi, the son of Gazi o'Dien, vizir to Mahomed Shah, who placed on the throne Allumguire II., grandson of Bahader Shah, and invested himself with the office of vizir. His perfidious conduct to the family of the viceroy of the provinces of Moultan and Lahore, under Abdallai, the king of the Afghans, involved the emperor in a quarrel with that powerful prince, who advanced from Candahar to Lahore, and thence to Delhi, the gates of which were opened by the feeble emperor, and the defenceless city abandoned for weeks to a licentious soldiery. After the retreat of the Abdallis, the vizir advanced with an army to Delhi, which he entered after a siege of forty-five days. The Mogul emperor was now reduced to the most abject state of dependence, and was at last assassinated by order of the vizir, who was irritated by his correspondence with the Afghan monarch Abdallai Shah, the Rohillas, and the nabob of Oude, with whom he himself was at war. His son took the title of Shah Aulum; he escaped from Delhi when it was besieged by the vizir, and, after a series of misfortunes, at last surrendered to the British, who gave him an asylum, and a pension for his support; and with him, the last of the Mogul sovereigns who enjoyed independent power, closes for ever the glory of this renowned empire.

In the meantime, amidst anarchy and desolation, the Mahrattas were daily increasing in power; they were engaged in every scene of politics and warfare, from Gujerat to Bengal, and from Lahore to the Carnatic; they possessed extensive sway and vast armies; and their ambition was now to reconstruct a new Hindu empire out of the decayed fragments of the Mogul power. The rising influence of the Afghans under the rigorous sway of Abdallai was the only obstacle to this patriotic or ambitious scheme; and the Mahrattas, in the progress of their conquests northward, encountered for the first time their great rival for the dominion of India. Ahmed Abdallai, king of the Afghans, was taken prisoner when very young by Nadir Shah; he was first his slave, afterwards his mace-bearer, and at his death, having collected a body of troops and other adventurers, he proceeded to his own country, and proclaimed himself king of the Afghans, with the title of Doordowan, or pearl of the age, which was corrupted into that of Doorance, and became the name of one of the Afghan tribes. Ahmed had extended his dominion over the frontier provinces of Moulton and Lahore, which, in retiring from India, he had left under the administration of his son. These provinces were first invaded by the Sikhs, and afterwards by the Mahratta generals, who advanced to Lahore and expelled the Abdalli prince, and afterwards extended their conquests to the Indus. Ahmed Shah, roused by the loss of his provinces and the dishonour of his arms, collected his troops, and encountered the Mahratta army, amounting to 80,000 veteran cavalry, which was almost entirely destroyed, and the general Duttah Sindia slain. The news of this defeat spread alarm amongst the Mahrattas, and roused them to the greatest exertions. A vast army, consisting of 140,000 horse, besides a numerous train of camp followers, commanded by the most renowned chiefs, took the field, and being unable to cross the Jumna, still swollen by the rains, proceeded to plunder Delhi, the capital. Ahmed Shah, with 150,000 well-disciplined troops, now advanced, and, in his impatience to meet the enemy, plunged with his whole army into the foaming waves of the Jumna, which he crossed in safety. The Mahrattas, struck by this daring exploit, retired to the plain of Paniput, and the armies continued in sight of each other from the 26th October to the 27th January 1761, during which interval several bloody skirmishes took place. On this latter day was fought the battle of Paniput, one of the most decisive and sanguinary recorded in history. The Mahrattas were overthrown with a dreadful carnage. The general, Bhaow, the nephew of the peshwa, the chief of the Mahratta nation, was killed early in the action; most of the other chiefs were slain, and those of the soldiers who escaped from the slaughter of the field were massacred by the irritated peasantry, in revenge for the depredations of the Mahratta cavalry. And of the mighty host engaged in this fatal conflict, only a small remnant, with three generals, returned to the Deccan. This great battle gave an irreparable blow to the Mahratta power, which from this time sensibly declined, and the victorious Abdallai sought no other fruit of his victory. He returned to his capital after remaining a few months at Delhi, having recognised the grandson of Allumguire as emperor, under the title of Shah Aulum the Second.

A new scene was now about to open in India. The Europeans, who as traders had long maintained establishments on the coasts, began to assume an entirely different character; to contend with each other in the field for dominion, and to mingle in all the wars and politics of the interior. It was necessary, for carrying on the domestic trade of India, and more especially in providing goods for the supply of Europe, that a body of experienced servants should reside on the spot, in order to collect and to purchase commodities for exportation; an employment which, owing to the poverty and abject state of the natives, and their peculiar customs, involved duties of the most minute and laborious detail. During the decline of the Mogul government, the tranquillity of India was frequently shaken by the contentions of rival chiefs; and the slight security afforded, even in the best times, to commerce, became in this manner more imperfect. For the reception of the goods which it was necessary to collect and store up, that cargoes might always be in readiness for the Company's ships, warehouses were built, which, with the counting-houses, and other apartments for the agents and business of the place, constituted the factories of the Company. These factories contained a valuable store of property, which, in the disordered state of India, it became necessary to secure from the rapacity both of governments and of individuals. They were therefore strongly built and fortified; their inmates were armed and disciplined; and, for better security, regular troops were occasionally maintained in those mercantile garrisons. In these defensive arrangements of the Company we may discern the rudiments of their future empire.

The territorial acquisitions of the European companies were, however, still inconsiderable. The English East India Company had in 1698 been permitted to purchase the zemindaryship of the three towns of Sootanutty, Calcutta, and Govindpore, with their districts, to which was afterwards added a district extending ten miles from Calcutta, on each side of the river Hooghly, containing thirty-seven towns. On the Coromandel coast the English possessed Madras, with a small adjoining territory five miles along the shore, also Fort St David, in 11° 40' north latitude, with other places, such as Vizigapatam and Balasore; and on the west coast their principal settlement was the island of Bombay. Factories were also established at Surat, Tellicherry, and several other places. The business of the Company was managed by the three independent presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. The presidency consisted of a governor and council of nine, twelve, or any greater number of members, as might seem expedient, in a majority of whom all power was vested. The members of the council were not excluded from other more lucrative offices, which were, in general, shared amongst them. These offices were chiefly in the gift of the president, and, by means of his influence, the council were, in a great degree, placed under his control. The governor and council exercised the most ample powers over the servants of the Company; and with regard to all others, they could seize and imprison them, and afterwards send Hindustan: them to England. The powers of martial law were bestowed on them at an early period, for maintaining the discipline of the troops under their orders; and, in 1661, a charter of Charles II. gave them the power of administering civil and criminal justice according to the laws of England.

Pondicherry, with a small appendage of territory, was the principal seat of the French power on the continent of India. It had under its authority three factories, one at Mahé, on the Malabar coast, not far south from Tellicherry; one at Karikal, on the Coromandel coast; and one at Chandernagore, on the river Hooghly, in Bengal. The form of government was the same in the French as in the English settlements.

In 1744 France and England, from being auxiliaries, became principals in the war which was then raging in Europe, and the flame soon communicated to their distant colonies. In India the two rival powers were quickly involved in hostilities, which, however, were followed by no important result; and the English settlement of Madras, which had been taken by the French king, was restored at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. It was soon after this that the French and English, in supporting the contending claims of the native princes, again came into collision. At the respective settlements of the two Companies, the number of troops assembled during the previous war was greater than was necessary for defence, and the servants of the Companies, with such means at their disposal, now began to meditate schemes of conquest. The intricacies of Indian politics, and the family connexions of the different claimants who contended for power and dominion, need not be described in detail, as it would neither be instructive nor acceptable to the general reader. A brief sketch is all that will be necessary to explain the nature of those transactions which so deeply affected the future condition of India, and the relations of the parties engaged in them.

When Nizam-ul-Mulk was appointed ruler of the Deccan, with the title of subahdar, by the Emperor Aurungzebe, a chief named Sadatullah was nabob of the Carnatic. At his death, his son Doost Ali succeeded him as nabob, which proved displeasing to the nizam, who claimed the right, as delegate of the emperor, to appoint the viceroy of the Carnatic. He accordingly chose, first his general Cojah Abdoola, and afterwards Anwar ad Dien Khan, known to the English as Anoverdy Khan, to be governor of the Carnatic in 1745. It was between these two families that the contest now began for the government of the Carnatic; Chunda Saheb, a distant relative of the family of Sadatullah, being supported by the French under their aspiring and ambitious governor Duplex. The death of Nizam-ul-Mulk, in 1748, at the extreme age of 104, occasioned another dispute in the succession to the government of the Deccan, between Nazir Jung, his son, who was supported by the English, and Mirzapha Jung, his grandson by a daughter, who was aided by Chunda Saheb and the French. The latter in 1749, with 40,000 native troops, 400 French, 100 Caffres, and 1800 Sepoys, advanced against Anwar ad Dien. His camp was gallantly stormed by the French troops, he himself was slain, at the age of 107, his eldest son was taken prisoner, and his second son, Mahommmed Ali, with the wreck of his army, escaped to Trichinopoly. Nazir Jung, hearing that the nabob of the Carnatic was defeated, collected an army, and summoned Mahommmed Ali from Trichinopoly to his aid. He also requested assistance from the English, who sent Major Laurence from Fort St David with 600 Europeans to join his army. When the armies approached each other, D'Auteuil the French commander, being deserted by some of his officers, suddenly retreated to Pondicherry, leaving to their fate Mirzapha Jung, who surrendered to his uncle, and was immediately put in irons, and Chunda Saheb, who followed with his troops to Pondicherry. But the enterprising Duplex made new exertions, and having again taken the field, he attacked the camp of Nazir Jung, his former ally, who in the confusion was shot through the heart. Mirzapha Jung being now freed from imprisonment, assumed the authority of subahdar. He was afterwards shot dead with an arrow in an action with the rebellious Patan chiefs, and, by the influence of M. Bussy, who commanded the French troops, Salabut Jung, the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was raised to the government. After some unsuccessful operations, the English, with their allies, were compelled to take shelter under the walls of Trichinopoly, which was now besieged, though with little effect, by the enemy.

In this indecisive state of affairs at Trichinopoly, it was suggested by Captain Clive, who had already distinguished himself by desperate bravery and great military skill, that it would be advantageous to carry the war into the enemy's country; and being intrusted with the execution of his own bold designs, he began an attack on Arcot, the capital of Chunda Saheb. He had under him 210 Europeans and 500 Sepoys; and so secret and sudden were his motions, that he was master of the enemy's capital ere they were apprised of his march. Here he was soon invested, in the fort which defends the town, by a numerous army, and several practicable breaches being made, an assault took place, which was repulsed with loss; the assailants were finally compelled to raise the siege, and being pursued by Clive, were attacked and totally defeated on the plain of Arani, on the 3d of December 1751. The forts of Tinnery, Conjeevaram, and Arani, immediately surrendered to Clive, who returned in triumph to Fort St David. He was soon recalled by the operations of the enemy, who were encouraged by his absence again to take the field. With a very inferior force he adventured on a battle, and by the well-concerted manoeuvre of sending round a detachment to fall upon the rear of the enemy, whilst the English charged with the bayonet in front, he obtained a decisive victory, and the hostile army was saved from total ruin only by the darkness of the night. On his return to Fort St David, Clive was superseded in his command by Major Laurence, who detached him with 400 Europeans, a few Mahratta soldiers, and a body of Sepoys, to cut off the enemy's retreat to Pondicherry, in which he was, as usual, completely successful, having made the French commander M. d'Auteuil prisoner, with all his troops. The enemy were greatly distressed for want of provisions; and Chunda Saheb, deserted by his troops, surrendered to the king of Tanjore, an ally of the English, by whom he was beheaded, in order to prevent all disputes with the Mysoorean and Mahratta chiefs about the custody of his person. After the flight of Chunda Saheb, his army was attacked and routed by Major Laurence; and the island of Syringham, where his troops were encamped, was taken, with about 1000 French soldiers, under the command of Mr Law, the son of Law the author of the Mississippi scheme. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, Duplex was not discouraged. The English resolved to commence the siege of Gingee, which was garrisoned by the French. In this operation they failed. But the French were afterwards defeated in an action near Babhoor, two miles from Fort St David; and the two forts of Coveling and Chingleput were reduced by Captain Clive.

Early in January 1753 the two armies again took the field. The French force consisted of 500 European infantry, sixty horse, 2000 Sepoys, and 4000 Mahrattas, commanded by Morari Row. The English had 700 European infantry, 2000 Sepoys, and 1500 horse belonging to the nabob. The two armies, avoiding a general action, watch- Hindustan.

Hindustan ed each other's movements; when General Laurence was apprised that Captain Dalton, the commandant of Trichinopoly, had only provisions to serve him three weeks. He immediately marched with all his forces to his relief, and being followed by the French, this place became the object of an active contest, from May 1753 till October 1754. We have already stated that the two main points of dispute between the French and English were, first, the succession to the government of the Deccan; and, secondly, to that of the Carnatic; the English, in the first of the disputes, supporting the claims of Nazir Jung, the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, against Mirzapha Jung, the grandson of the nizam, who was supported by the French. After the death of Nazir Jung, who was killed in the attack of the French upon his camp, Mirzapha Jung succeeded to the subahdardship of the Deccan. He was killed in battle, as already related, by an arrow, when, through the influence of the French commander, M. Bussy, Salabut Jung, the eldest surviving son of Nizam-ul-Mulk, was raised to the vacant throne. But on the death of Nazir Jung, his eldest son Ghazee ad Dien solicited and received from the Mogul the appointment of subahdar of the Deccan; and he appeared at Aurungabad in October 1752, to support his title, at the head of 150,000 troops. The Maharrats at the same time supported him, and entered the province of Golconda with 100,000 horse. The French general Bussy and Salabut Jung now took the field to meet these armies, with very unequal numbers, when Ghazee ad Dien Khan suddenly died. The Maharrata generals continued the war, but in every encounter they were repulsed with such fearful loss by the French, that they agreed to conclude a peace on the cession of certain frontier districts, to which Salabut Jung willingly agreed.

In the other point in dispute, namely, the government of the Carnatic, the English espoused the cause of Mahomed Ali, the second son of Anwar ad Dien, who was appointed nabob by Nizam-ul-Mulk; and the French supported Chunda Saheb, the heir of the first deputy Sada-tullahi, appointed also by Nizam-ul-Mulk. On his death they claimed the right of appointment for Salabut Jung, the subahdar, and who, owing his throne to their powerful support, had become a passive tool in their hands. From him M. Bussy had obtained the cession of the four important provinces of Mustaphanagar, Eilore, Rajamundry, and Chicacole, called the Northern Circars. It was in these circumstances that a suspension of arms was agreed upon in October 1754; and on the 26th of December following a provisional treaty was signed at Pondicherry, by which both parties agreed to abstain from interfering in the internal affairs of the country, and to establish their territorial acquisitions on a principle of equality. These terms were entirely in favour of the English, as they left Mahomed Ali nabob of the Carnatic, and obliged the French also to the cession of the four Circars which they had obtained from Salabut Jung. But this treaty was in truth a dead letter; and the moment it was concluded the English, in virtue of their alliance with the nabob, proceeded to reduce to obedience, and to collect the revenues of the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly. Here, however, they encountered the Colleries, a fierce tribe inhabiting the hilly districts, who obstinately contested every inch of ground; so that they got abundance of hard blows, and little money, scarcely enough indeed to pay the expense of this plundering adventure. The English, when they made their first conquests in India, having conceived vast ideas of its wealth, set no bounds to their rapacity; they were eager to revel in the spoil of the country, and it was only stubborn facts and repeated disappointments that at last dispelled their dreams of avarice. The French, after remonstrating in vain against this conduct of the English, proceeded to follow their example, by reducing to obedience and plundering the petty chiefs of the country.

Whilst the two contending armies were maintaining this predatory warfare, the active and enterprising Bussy was in another quarter securing the ascendency of the French; and, whether in the cabinet or in the field, he still signalled his talents as a warrior and a statesman. Salabut Jung, influenced by his courtiers, had induced the French troops to quit his territories, which order Bussy speedily obeyed, and commenced his march. Finding that he was betrayed, and his progress intercepted by hostile chiefs, he skilfully selected a strong position, which he defended till succours arrived from Pondicherry; when the fickle prince again solicited his alliance, and he was restored to still higher influence than before. Salabut Jung, when he had resolved to dismiss the French troops, had applied to the presidency of Madras for a force to supply their place; and this opportunity of extending their influence would have been eagerly embraced by the English, but their power was now threatened in another quarter, by new and unexpected dangers. Bengal now became the great scene of Indian warfare, in which were concentrated all the resources of the English, from every part of their territories. This extensive province, with Orissa and the province of Allahabad and Berar, was governed, towards the latter end of Aurungzebe's reign, by his grandson Azeez Ooshan, second son of Shah Aulum, who succeeded to the throne. Jaffier Khan was appointed his deputy; and, as frequently happened during the decline of the Mogul empire, from a deputy he became an independent sovereign. Sujah Khan, who was married to the daughter of Jaffier Khan, was appointed his deputy in the government of Orissa. In this elevated station, a distant relative, Mirza Mahommend, who had once been in the service of Azeez Shah, the second son of Aurungzebe, and had since fallen into poverty, resorted to his court for employment, and he was kindly received. He was followed by his two sons Hadjee Ahmed and Mirza Mahommend Ali, who both obtained employment; and, by their respective talents for business and war, they soon acquired favour and influence in the court of Sujah Khan. Jaffier Khan died in 1725, and was succeeded by Sujah Khan, who supported Sereffraz Khan, the destined heir. In 1739 he added to his dominions the province of Bahar, and intrusted its administration to Mirza Mahommend Ali, under the title of Aliverdy Khan. In 1739 Sujah Khan died, and was succeeded by his son Sereffraz Khan, who hated Aliverdy Khan and his brother, and took no pains to conceal it. Aliverdy in the mean time obtaining from the imperial court his nomination to the government of Bengal, collected his troops, and having defeated Sereffraz in a battle in which he was slain, he reduced the country to subjection, and governed it with a regard to justice and humanity very unusual in the East. His reign was, however, one continued scene of commotion, from the irruptions of the Maharrats, who, though they were often vigorously repelled by Aliverdy and his troops, always returned with new vigour to the invasion of the country. Aliverdy died on the 9th of April 1756, at the age of eighty, and was succeeded by his nephew Surajia Dowlah, who had all the vices of a regularly educated prince. His first act was to plunder the sister of Aliverdy Khan, who was reputed to possess great wealth; he gave orders to seize the treasurers of her family, one of whom, however, contrived to escape, and found an asylum in Calcutta. Incensed by the protection given to this fugitive, and jealous besides of the designs and growing power of the Europeans, he took the field on the 30th of May 1756, with an army of 40,000 foot, 30,000 horse, and 400 elephants. The factory at Cossimbazar was seized, and its chief, Mr Watts, and his surgeon, who accompanied him, were retained prisoners. Calcutta was in- Hindustan. vested on the 18th of June. It was feebly defended, and at last a retreat was resolved upon, which was executed so precipitately that numbers were left behind in the fort by the ships and boats. In this trying situation Mr Holwell was chosen commander, who, seeing no chance of a successful defence, proposed a capitulation in a letter which he threw over the ramparts. In the mean time the troops having gained access to the liquor, were so intoxicated as to be incapable of defence, and the enemy entered the fort without resistance. The subahdar appears on this occasion not to have intended any inhumanity to the garrison; and when Mr Holwell was brought into his presence with his hands tied, he ordered them to be loosed, and pledged his honour as a soldier to him and his companions that not a hair of their heads should be touched. But, notwithstanding these assurances, the tragic scene which ensued has no parallel in the annals of human misery. When night approached, it became necessary to secure the prisoners in some place of confinement; and for this purpose the common prison of the garrison was chosen, which was about eighteen feet square, with only two small windows barred with iron. Into this small apartment the garrison, 146 in number, were compelled to enter, by threats of being instantly cut down if they resisted. Their sufferings from want of air were dreadful, and bribes were offered to the guard to obtain a room for them in which they could breathe. But none dared to awake the sleeping tyrant whose prisoners they were; and, after a night of inexpressible horror, only twenty-three out of 146 were found alive in the morning. The presidency of Madras being apprised of these disasters, determined on sending Colonel Clive, who had now returned to India, to Bengal, with as large a force as could be collected; and an armament accordingly sailed from the roads of Madras on the 16th of October, consisting of five king's ships under Admiral Watson, besides transports having on board 900 European troops and 1500 Sepoys. Having arrived in the Ganges on the 20th of December 1756, they found the fugitives at Fulia, a town at some distance from Calcutta, down the river. The first operation was against a fort; and Clive, lying in ambush to intercept the garrison, was himself surprised by the troops of Suraj Dowlah, and, after a conflict long doubtful, extricated himself from the dangers that surrounded him, by that admirable presence of mind which never deserted him in the hour of danger. On the 2d of January 1757, the armament arrived at Calcutta, which surrendered after a cannonade of two hours. Almost the whole property of the Company was recovered, having been preserved for the subahdar; but the houses of individuals were all plundered. On the 10th of January, the city of Hooghly, about twenty-three miles higher up the river, was attacked, and a breach being made, and an assault begun, the garrison sought safety in flight. In the mean time, intelligence was received from Europe of the commencement of hostilities between France and England, which placed in a very critical situation the Company's settlements in Bengal. The English were already engaged in a war with a powerful prince, who had a formidable army in the field; and a coalition with the French, who could muster 300 European troops, with a train of artillery, would have overwhelmed their infant power. Happily for them, the French were desirous of a neutrality, and refused the alliance of Suraj Dowlah, who advanced with his whole army and surrounded Calcutta. The perils which now environed the English roused the daring spirit of Clive, and he resolved to surprise the enemy's camp before daylight. But this bold enterprise failed in the execution; the troops suffered severely, and a thick mist augmented the causes of confusion; still the boldness of the design produced the desired effect, by alarming the subahdar, and inclining him to peace. He accordingly concluded a treaty with the English, by which he agreed to restore to the Hindustan Company their factories, and all their former privileges; to make compensation for the losses they had suffered, and to permit them to fortify Calcutta. The danger which now threatened the Company being averted, the active mind of Clive was directed to other objects; and as war was now declared between France and England, he resolved, in return for the neutrality observed by the French when the English were involved in hostilities with the nabob, to attack their settlement at Chandernagur. This scheme was opposed by the nabob, and was disapproved by the council and Admiral Watson. Reinforcements, however, arriving, the attack was resolved on, and the English force advanced. The French defended themselves with gallantry; and the nabob, alarmed, began to put his army in motion. But the fort was in the mean time reduced by the irresistible fire of the ships. The nabob viewed these proceedings with secret alarm and resentment, and refused to give up the other French factories and subjects in his dominions. He even afforded protection to the fugitives from Chandernagur, and evinced his decided hostility to the English, until he received intelligence of the progress of the Afghans in the north, when he became extremely desirous of peace. But the English were now dazzled with other schemes, and Clive strongly insisted on the rooted disaffection of the nabob to the English, and on the necessity of dethroning him, and of elevating Meer Jaffier, who had married the sister of Aliverdy Khan, to the throne in his stead. It is unnecessary to dwell particularly on the dark intrigues by which this scheme was carried into effect. It was concerted that, for the destruction of Suraj Dowlah, the English should take the field; and that Meer Jaffier, who still had a considerable force under his command, should join them at Cutwa. The English, having arrived at Cutwa, found not their expected ally Meer Jaffier; only an intimation from him that he could not join them before the day of battle, but that during the action he would desert the nabob and join his enemies. This intelligence damped the ardour of the English, and it was deemed hazardous to advance further, and to risk a battle, when, "if defeat ensued, no one would return to tell it." But caution at length gave way to bolder counsels; the army crossed the river a little past midnight, at Plassy. Here also was intrenched the army of the subahdar, consisting of 50,000 foot, 18,000 horse, and fifty pieces of cannon. The English force consisted of about 1000 Europeans and 2100 Sepoys. During the battle, which took place on the 23d of June 1757, Meer Jaffier was observed moving off with his troops. Clive, now assured of his intentions, ordered an attack; the subahdar's army was dispersed, and he himself fled from the field with only 2000 attendants. Arriving at his palace, he found no friend on whom he could rely; and disguising himself as a fakir, he escaped, with a favourite concubine and a single eunuch, intending to make his way to the French. But he was discovered at Rajee Muhl, dragged back to Moorshedabad, and placed under the custody of Meer Jaffier's son, who gave orders for his assassination. On the 25th of June, Clive arrived with his victorious army at Moorshedabad. Meer Jaffier took possession of the capital, and on the 29th was installed into his high office, in the presence of the rajahs and grandees of the court. Enormous sums were exacted from Meer Jaffier as the price of his elevation; for the Company 10,000,000 rupees, as a compensation for losses; 5,000,000 rupees to the English inhabitants, 2,000,000 to the Indians, and 700,000 to the Armenians; for the squadron 2,500,000; an equal sum for the army; and for the members of the council, which they actually received, namely, for Mr Drake the governor, and Colonel Clive, 280,000 rupees each; and Mr Becker, Mr Watts, and Major Kilpatrick, 240,000 each; the whole amounting to The English, deluded by their avarice, still cherished their extravagant ideas of Indian wealth; nor would they listen to the ungrateful truth. But it was now found that there were no funds in the Indian treasury to satisfy their inordinate demands. They were in the end obliged to be contented with one half the stipulated sum, which, after many difficulties, was paid in specie and in jewels, with the exception of 584,905 rupees.

The Company's servants, whilst their force was so actively engaged in Bengal, were anxious to remain quiet in the Carnatic. In endeavouring to collect the land-rents of the nabob Mahommed Ali, they, however, undertook the reduction of Madura and Tinnevelly; but with no great success, Captain Calliaud being repulsed in an assault on the fort of Dindigul, and another division of the English force at Nellore. The French now resolved to take advantage of the division of the enemy's force, and to strike a decisive blow; and having collected every soldier that could be spared from garrison duty, they suddenly with their whole force invested the fortress of Trichinopoly. On the 14th of May 1757, Captain Calliaud being apprized of their design whilst he was besieging Madura, instantly began his march for the relief of this important place. It was surrounded by an army five times as numerous as his own force, and every avenue to it was strongly guarded. But the English commander, well acquainted with the localities, took his route through a large plain consisting of rice fields covered with water, which was deemed impassable by the French, and therefore left unguarded; and thus he entered the fort. The French general, disconcerted by this successful stroke, drew off his forces and returned to Pondicherry. Having thus secured Trichinopoly, Colonel Calliaud resumed the siege of Madura, and being repulsed, with heavy loss, in an attempt to storm, he turned the siege into a blockade. He was at last received into the town on payment of 170,000 rupees. In the mean time Bussy was eminently successful in all his operations within the Circars; he reduced the fortress of Vizigapatam held by the English; and, after some uncertainty in the unstable councils of Salabat Jung, he finally established an entire ascendancy over that prince and throughout the Deccan.

On the commencement of the war between France and England in 1756, the French ministry resolved to send a formidable armament to India; and the Count de Lally, an Irishman, who had left his country with James II., and who had distinguished himself in the battle of Fontenoy, was appointed commander-in-chief of all the French forces in India. Count Lally, with his armament, arrived on the coast of Coromandel on the 25th of April 1757. The English Admiral Pococke had been previously joined by a squadron of five ships of war, and an engagement took place between the two fleets, which terminated to the advantage of the English. Another action took place after the ships were refitted, with the same result. But neither was decisive; and, notwithstanding these successes at sea, the French had a preponderating force on shore, which consisted of 2500 Europeans, and the same number of Sepoys. With this force they commenced, on the 17th of May 1758, the siege of Fort St David. The place capitulated on the 1st of June, and its fortifications were razed. Devicottah surrendered on the 7th of June, and the English now fully expected that Lally would next lay siege to Madras. But the want of money embarrassed all his operations; and in order to relieve his necessities, he undertook the siege of Tanjore. A breach was effected, and preparations made for an assault, when the arrival of the English fleet, after another engagement with the French before Carical, whence the besieging army derived all its supplies, determined Lally to raise the siege; and, after a disastrous retreat, his shattered force arrived on the 28th at Carical. The hostile fleets again encountered on the 2d of August, and after an hour's fighting the French bore away, and Hindustan were soon beyond the reach of shot. Lally, to relieve his pecuniary wants, which were only augmented by the unsuccessful siege of Tanjore, now prepared for an expedition against Arcot. This place capitulated on the 4th of October, and the French force proceeded forthwith to Chingleput, about forty-five miles south-west of Madras. But the English, aware of its importance, reinforced the garrison, and Lally did not attempt its reduction. His situation was beset with difficulties, from the total want of money and all necessary supplies; and in order to retrieve his affairs, he resolved on the bold enterprise of laying siege to Madras. His force consisted of 2700 European troops, and 4000 Indians. In this attempt he signalily failed, with great loss, after continuing the siege from the 16th of December till the middle of February 1759; and this disaster greatly contributed to depress his spirits, and to abate his vain confidence in his own schemes. The French army retreated in the direction of Conjeveram, whither they were followed by the English. Here the two armies manoeuvred for some time in sight of each other, when the English marched upon Wandewash, and afterwards on Conjeveram, which they took by assault. On the 28th of May 1759 both armies went into cantonments.

In the end of September the campaign was resumed with spirit by the English, who laid siege to Wandewash, but were repulsed in all their attempts to carry it by storm. But it was attacked and taken on the 29th of October, as was also Caranjoly on the 10th of December. Bussy had been recalled from the Carnatic, where he had exerted himself so advantageously for the French cause, and he joined the army the day after the repulse of the English. Lally had resolved to divide his force; with one part to collect the rents of the southern, with the other to protect what belonged to the French in the northern districts. He contrived by skilful manoeuvring to amuse the English, and in the mean time he surprised and took Conjeveram, and thence proceeded to the attack of Wandewash. The English army under Colonel Cooto now approached, consisting of 1900 Europeans, 2100 Sepoys, 1250 black horse, and twenty-six field-pieces; and the French general determined to try the issue of a general battle. The French, including 300 marines and sailors, consisted of 2250 Europeans, and 1500 Sepoys. The battle commenced on the 22d of January 1760, at eleven o'clock, and terminated in the total defeat of the French, who lost nearly all their cannon. Lally retreated to Chittapet, about twenty-eight miles from the field of battle, and afterwards to Gingee and Valdore. The victorious general resolved on the reduction of Arcot, and having previously taken Chittapet, he arrived before that fortress upon the 1st of February, and upon the 9th the garrison capitulated. The affairs of the French now rapidly declined. The English had acquired a decided superiority in the field, and fortress after fortress fell into their hands; Tinery on the 1st of February, Devicottah about the same time, and Trincomalee on the 29th. To complete this train of misfortunes, Admiral Cornish arrived at Madras with six men of war; and there being no longer a hostile fleet in the Indian Seas, he readily agreed to co-operate with the land forces. The consequence was, the reduction of Carical on the 5th of April, of Valdore on the 15th, of Chittambaram on the 20th, and about the same time of Cuddalore; and on the 1st of May the whole French force was shut up in Pondicherry, which was their last remaining hope in India, whilst the English forces encamped within four miles of the town. It was in the beginning of September that the English laid formal siege to this place. The batteries were opened about the beginning of December, and it capitulated on the 15th of January 1765; and thus terminated forever the power of France in this quarter of the world. Whilst the English were thus establishing their ascendency in the south of India, and also in Bengal, Meer Jaffer, the new nabob, was wholly unable to answer the exorbitant demands of the Company's servants, who, still deluded with the idea of eastern riches, refused to abate one iota of their demands. His situation thus became extremely difficult. His treasury was exhausted, his people impoverished, he had no funds for the expenses of government, and still less for the demands of his rapacious allies. He was compelled to extort money from his ruined subjects by cruelty and terror. He himself, and his son Meerzaus, soon fell into universal odium and contempt, from their merciless exactions, and the weakness, negligence, and disorder of their administration. The troops mutinied for want of pay, the rajahs and nobles were discontented, and rebellions multiplied throughout his dominions. The nabobs of Oude and Allahabad entered into a dangerous confederacy with the eldest son of the Emperor Aulangzeer II. for supporting his claim to the imperial throne, and to the subordinate provinces of the Mogul empire; and their combined forces advanced to the invasion of Bengal. But European troops, though few in number, and European counsels, proved an overmatch for the ill-organized masses of Indian cavalry; they were accordingly defeated in every encounter, and Meer Jaffer secured in the undisputed possession of the throne. Lord Clive, who bore so conspicuous a part in these transactions, resigned the government in February 1760; and by his influence Mr Vansittart was raised to be president or governor of the council, consisting of from nine to twelve persons, by a majority of whom the affairs of the Company were now administered. The English, by their prompt and decisive measures, had defended the nabob against foreign aggression; and he had now to defend himself against their own domestic treason, which proved to be the more serious danger. In raising him to the sovereignty they were actuated by purely interested views; and being disappointed, they entered into schemes for dethroning him, and for again selling the throne to the highest bidder. Meer Cossim, married to his daughter, was the person now pitched upon to supply his place. The conditions were, that he should assign to the Company the revenues of the three districts of Burdwan, Midnapore, and Chittagong; that he should pay the balance due by Jaffer; and besides, make a present of five lacs of rupees for the war in the Carnatic. Mr Vansittart now proceeded, with a body of troops under Colonel Callicaud, to persuade, or rather to compel, the nabob to abdicate the sovereignty. At day-break his palace was surrounded with troops, and a letter was sent to him explaining the views of the English, which filled him with rage. He treated with disdain the assurances of safety for his person, and that a reform in his government under his son-in-law as his deputy was all that was proposed; and he finally preferred, rather than away a barren sceptre, to retire to Calcutta under the protection of the English. Against the deposition of Meer Jaffer several members of the council protested, and this spirit of opposition for a considerable time distracted the English councils. The party who had elevated Meer Cossim highly commended his whole administration, which his opponents were equally solicitous to criticise and to condemn. Meer Cossim was a person of quite a different stamp from his weak and indolent predecessor. By the assistance of his new allies he cleared his dominions of all invaders, and strengthened his frontiers; he reduced the rajahs or independent Indian chiefs, who had rebelled against Jaffer, obliging them to pay the usual tribute, by which means he repaired his finances; he introduced order and economy into his whole administration, and by regular pay secured the discipline and fidelity of his troops. But his conduct was viewed in a sinister light by the members of the council who opposed his elevation; and four of them being dismissed by the directors at home for insubordination to their authority, this faction became the majority; and the most violent amongst them, Mr Ellis, was sent to superintend the factory at Patna, the residence of the nabob, where his whole conduct was one continued insult and defiance of his authority. He made no scruple of seizing and punishing the officers of the nabob, who acted under his express sanction; sometimes throwing them into prison, or sending them in chains to Calcutta, to be there punished at the discretion of the council. To these were added other and more extensive injuries; and at length the usurpations and tyranny of the English were carried to such a height, that the authority of the government either became a mere name, or an instrument of violence and extortion in the hands of the Company's servants. The causes of these disorders, which led to a new and important revolution in the political condition of India, we shall now briefly explain.

In India the transit of goods from one place to another was, under the native governments, subjected to a tax; these duties, and upon all the roads and navigable rivers toll-houses were erected, where this tax was paid. These toll-houses of the internal trade; and as the duties varied in different places, there was here a wide field for abuse, and the traders were frequently oppressed by the arbitrary extortions of the collectors. The East India Company had, at an early period, procured a firman, which exempted from all internal duties, both the goods which they imported from Europe, as they passed into the interior, and those which they purchased in the interior in their passage to the sea. They were, in fact, protected by a certificate signed by the president or chiefs of the factories, called a dustack, and shown at the toll-houses or chokes through which they passed. The servants frequently endeavoured to abuse the Company's privilege, by claiming an immunity from taxation for all their own goods, which they had neither imported nor were to export, but which, for the internal supply of the country, they were transporting from one place to another. The subahdars of Bengal, whilst they retained their power, restrained the Company's privilege within its appointed limits, and steadily refused to exempt the trade of its servants from duties to which all others were subject. But when, by the elevation of Meer Jaffer to the throne, the English acquired the undisputed ascendancy, they broke through all the equitable restraints imposed upon them; in every district, in every market and village, they dealt in rice, the common food of the people, paddy, betel-nut, oil, fish, straw, bamboos, &c., and, without scruple, used the Company's passport to screen these articles from internal duties; and so dreaded was the English name, that the toll-house keepers no longer exacted the public dues on the transit of their goods through the country. In some cases where the demand was made and the goods stopped, the toll-keeper was arrested by a party of Sepoys, and carried prisoner to the nearest factories; and he was frequently exposed to even greater severities, being tied up and lashed. The confusion into which the country was thrown by the injustice, the violence, and the cruelty, of those rapacious intruders, can scarcely be imagined. The native merchant, still burdened with the heavy duties, which were rigorously levied on him, was undersold in every market; and the Company's servants in a short time engrossed the whole commerce of the country. The unhappy natives were subjected to various other oppressions. It was a common practice of the Company's servants to defraud them both in purchase and in sale; to force goods from them at a lower, and to compel them to buy their own at a higher rate than the market price. Nor did the ordinary tribunals afford any protection against their injustice; a band of foreign adventurers, to call Meer Cossim, the ruler who had been set up by the Company, was extremely displeased with the conduct of their servants, and he represented in the strongest terms to the president and council the enormities to which the private trade had given rise. But the majority of the council were too deeply interested in these enormities to be moved by this just appeal of the sovereign in behalf of his oppressed people. They all participated more or less in the profits of the private trade, and they had no disposition to part with or to restrict this lucrative abuse. They even refused to pay nine per cent. of transit duties upon their goods, though this rate was far inferior to that paid by the native traders; and all that they would agree to was, out of their own liberality and free choice to pay a duty of two and a half per cent. on salt alone. The nabob, when he heard of the proceedings in council, and of the injurious treatment of his officers for duly executing his orders, was naturally filled with indignation; and he came to the resolution of abolishing all internal duties. There could not possibly have been a more moderate or equitable measure. It gave freedom and equality to all parties; it threw down at once all the restraints to fair and open competition, and gave to the Company's servants the unlimited freedom of trade. This just and liberal policy, however, was far from corresponding with their views, and it excited amongst them the most violent clamours. They were discontented at losing so far an opportunity of amassing enormous wealth. Their conduct, as Mr Mill justly observes, furnishes one of "the most remarkable instances on record, of the power of interest to extinguish all sense of justice, and even of shame." They first insisted on an exemption for themselves from all internal duties, now they cried out in the rage of disappointed avarice against the extension of the same privileges to the inhabitants; and thus they reversed all the usual maxims of fair policy, in seeking immunities for foreigners which were refused to natives.

The conduct of Meer Cossim, in claiming justice for his oppressed subjects, was highly displeasing to the majority of the council. The exaction of legal dues upon English goods was represented as a violation of the Company's rights, and as evidence of a design to expel them from the country; and, for this new species of treason against the offended majesty of usurped power, it was resolved to depose him, and to replace Meer Jaffier on the throne, as nominal ruler of Bengal, on the well-understood condition of subservience to their views. A treaty was concluded, confirming the immunity which they claimed from all internal duties, with the exception only of two and a half per cent. on the article of salt, whilst those duties were re-imposed on the goods of all other merchants. Large presents were bargained for, and other payments to a great amount, as compensation for losses alleged to have been sustained by the Company's servants, in the course of their illicit interference in the domestic trade. These sums, which at first were estimated at ten, but soon afterwards mounted up to fifty-three lacs of rupees, equal to about L625,000, were rigidly exacted, whilst large payments to the Company were still undischarged, and the public finances were sinking under the burden of an expensive war, great sums having been borrowed by the Company from its servants, at an interest of eight per cent., and, with all these aids, supplies were wanting both for the war and for the investment, the Company's ships frequently returning, in consequence, half loaded to Europe. Meer Cossim, on his side, saw plainly that matters were fast approaching to the extremity of war, and he made preparations for the contest. He transferred his capital from Moorshedabad, as being too near Calcutta, and under the inspection of the English, to Mongheer, a place 200 miles farther up the Ganges, which he fortified in the best and most expeditious manner. He introduced European discipline among the troops, and he recruited his ranks with all the Armenian, Persian, Tartar, and other soldiers of fortune whom he could collect, and especially with such wandering Europeans or Sepoys as had borne arms in the English service. He substituted European muskets for matchlocks, and formed a train of artillery.

Hostilities commenced sooner than was expected, with the surprise and capture of Patna by Mr Ellis; a violent and rash measure, disapproved by several members of the council. The nabob immediately gave orders to stop several boats laden with arms that had been seized, and released on the representation of the English. Resistance was made, and in the course of the struggle which ensued, Mr Amyatt, a member of the council, and several other Englishmen, were slain. The contending armies now hastened to take the field; and Meer Cossim was overwhelmed by one unbroken series of disasters, which terminated in his dethronement and flight. A division of his army, which had advanced for the protection of Moorshedabad, was totally defeated on the 19th of July, by the English army, which consisted of 650 Europeans, 1200 Sepoys, two troops of native cavalry, and was afterwards joined by a battalion of Sepoys and a hundred Europeans. In advancing to the capital, Major Adam found the enemy strongly posted, with intrenchments fifteen feet high, defended by a numerous artillery. These were stormed, and the city of Moorshedabad was entered by the conquerors. The English, pushing forward, encountered the Indian army on the 2d of August 1763, consisting of 20,000 horse and 8000 foot, in the plain of Ghirah, near Sootie. They resembled European troops in clothing and accoutrements, and in their division into brigades; and the battle that ensued was obstinately contested for four hours. But the discipline and steadiness of the European troops finally triumphed, and the enemy fled, leaving all their cannon behind them. From this time the English were no longer opposed on equal terms in the field. It was only in strong positions and intrenchments that the enemy made a stand. A strong intrenchment at Oodwa was carried on the 5th of September, after it had detained the English for nearly a month; and Mongheer, the last stronghold of Meer Cossim, capitulated, on which he fled into the dominions of the nabob flight to Oude, and afterwards into the Rohilla country. Irritated by his misfortunes, the nabob wreaked his vengeance on the unhappy English prisoners who were in his power. He had formerly put to death several Hindus of rank who were thrown into prison on account of their wealth; and he now gave an order for the execution of about two hundred English, who had been taken at Patna; amongst others, of Mr Ellis, who had formerly tyrannized over and insulted him, and Mr Lushington, also high in the Company's service. They were invited to an entertainment, and, according to the odious maxims of eastern treachery, were barbarously murdered. A German of the name of Sumroo was the chief agent in this scene of cruelty. Dr Fullarton, who had gained favour

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1 See Ninth Report of the House of Commons on India Affairs; also a Letter of Meer Cossim, dated Backergunge, May 25, 1762, which states that the inhabitants who refused to sell to the Company's servants were flogged or confined. Hindustan by his medical services, was the only Englishman who escaped.

Meer Cossim was received in the most friendly manner by Sujah Dowlah, the nabob of Oude, who was far from being well disposed to the English. He considered them as rapacious usurpers, the natural enemies, as they fatally proved to be, of Indian independence, and who, under pretence of commerce, aspired to the dominion of the country. In reply to a letter from the English, threatening, that if he assisted the nabob of Bengal, they would carry the war into his own country, he remonstrated with them on their ambitious views, and on account of the disturbances which they had created in the country; and he added, "to what can all these wrong proceedings be attributed, but to an absolute disregard of the court (of Delhi), and to a wicked design of seizing the country to yourselves. If these disturbances," he continues, "have arisen from your own improper devices, deviate from such behaviour in future; interfere not in the affairs of government; withdraw your people from every part, and send them to their own country; carry on the Company's trade as formerly, and confine yourself to your own commercial affairs." To these reasonable remonstrances, which were repeated in another letter to Major Carnac, the president and council were so far from listening, that they determined upon commencing an immediate and offensive war against him.

Major, afterwards Sir Hector Munro, who had arrived from Bombay with a reinforcement, was appointed to the command. His first care was to repress the mutinous spirit which had of late prevailed among the troops, and this he effected by the severe measure of blowing away twenty-four of the ringleaders from the mouths of cannon. He then advanced, with a force of 6215 Sepoys and 856 Europeans, towards the Saone, where the enemy, to the number of 40,000, with a train of artillery, were entrenched in front of the village and fort of Buxar. On the 22d of October 1764, a battle took place, in which the Indian army was completely overthrown, with the loss of about 2000 men. On the side of the British eighty-seven Europeans and 712 Sepoys were either killed or wounded. Major Munro followed up his success, though in two attempts to storm the fortress of Chanda he was repulsed with loss, and it was only through the mutiny of the garrison that it was at length taken by Sir R. Fletcher, who had succeeded to the command. Lucknow, the capital of Oude, was also occupied by the battalions of Sepoys, the fortress of Chunar was attempted, though without success, and that of Allahabad surrendered. Sujah Dowlah was abandoned in his reverses by his ally the Mogul, who concluded a treaty with the English. But he did not yet despair of his fortunes; and having received the aid of a Mahratta force, the combined armies encountered the English on the 3d of May 1765, when they were defeated; and Major Carnac, again attacking them at a place called Calpi, they were overthrown, and driven with precipitation across the Jumna. The vizir, Sujah Dowlah, seeing no hope of retrieving his affairs, resolved to trust entirely to the generosity of the English; and on the 19th of May he surrendered to Major, now General Carnac.

The final settlement of terms was reserved for Lord Clive, who had arrived in Bengal, with full powers from the directors, as governor, to regulate all their complicated concerns, whether of sovereignty or of trade. It was agreed that, with the exception of Allahabad and Corah, he should still retain his dominions, which he was judged more capable of defending than the Mogul emperor, to whom they had been promised. For this concession the vizir agreed to pay fifty lacs of rupees as the expenses of the war; but he remonstrated so earnestly against the establishment of factories in his dominions, or any permission to trade free of duties, as the certain cause of trouble, that all such propositions were abandoned. He agreed not to molest Bulwunt Sing, who held the zemindaries of Benares and Gauzeepore, and who had assisted the English in the late contest, and never to afford an asylum to Meer Cossim, or the German soldier Sumroo. With regard to the Mogul emperor, he was told, that of the thirty lacs of annual tribute due to him from the subhahs of Bengal, not a rupee would ever be paid; that twenty-six lacs of rupees, which had been assigned him as the revenue of these provinces, would be continued; and that he should receive possession of Corah and Allahabad. In return, the Company received the imperial firman, dated the 12th of August 1765, granting the diwanee, or the right of collecting the revenues of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, in which is implied, according to the laws and constitution of the Mogul empire, the right of sovereignty; and thus was this body of merchants constituted in form, as well as in substance, the rulers of a vast empire.

To this issue affairs had been evidently tending for some time past. Meer Jaffier, worn out with anxiety and indisposition, died in the beginning of the year; and Jaffier, his son, was chosen his successor by the Company's servants. From each successive sovereign it was the custom of the electors to exact not only a large donation, but also an extension of power and privileges, so that the native ruler was at length left in possession of little more than a nominal authority. It was now resolved by the English that they should take upon themselves the whole charge of defending the country, and that they would only allow the nabob a few troops for the sake of parade, or for other necessary purposes; whilst, in regard to the civil government, he was to choose a deputy, with the advice of the governor and council, on whom the whole internal administration of the country should be devolved. So completely had the government fallen under the control of the English, that the accountants of the revenue could not be appointed without their approbation. In the mean time the directors were distracted by the contradictory reports of their affairs which they received from India; and it was because they were alarmed by the expensive wars so readily undertaken by their servants, by their rapacious proceedings in regard to the private trade, and by the general embarrassment of their affairs, that they had resolved to appoint Lord Clive to the supreme government of Bengal, conferring on him and a select committee of four, full authority to act and determine all matters, without any dependence on the council; of which authority they were not slow to avail themselves upon all occasions. They also sent along with him a strong representation against the rapacity and tyranny of their servants. In a letter to the governor and council they observe, "Your deliberations on the inland trade have laid open to us a scene of the most cruel oppression." "The poor of the country," they continue, "who used always to deal in salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, are now deprived of their daily bread by the trade of the Europeans, whereby no kind of advantage accrues to the Company, and the government's revenues are greatly injured." The directors accordingly issued the most peremptory instructions for the prohibition of the inland trade of salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, or rather of the monopoly held by the Company's servants, by which the country was so cruelly oppressed. The practice of receiving presents from the native rulers and princes, which had been carried to a great extent, was also prohibited. At a general meeting of proprietors, however, it was urged, in opposition to those wise and salutary restrictions, that the servants of the Company in India ought not to be deprived of such precious advantages, which enabled them to revisit their native country with independent fortunes." This reasoning convinced the majority of the proprietors, and a recommendation was moved in consequence to the directors, to re-consider their resolution in regard to the private trade. The governor and council were therefore instructed, after consulting with the nabob, to form a "proper and equitable plan for carrying on the inland trade." (Mill's British India, vol. ii., p. 217.) In other words, they were to contrive how they could oppress the country, and yet adhere to the rules of equity. This transaction places in a very strong light the corrupt nature of the local administration. It was admitted on all hands that it was by extortion and rapine, that is, by compelling the oppressed inhabitants both to purchase and sell at prices fixed by the Company's servants, that such profits were gained, and that they were enabled to return to Europe with enormous accumulations of ill-gotten wealth. It was, indeed, as we have just seen, acknowledged by the directors, that the poor of the country were deprived of their daily bread by the trade of their European servants, who monopolized every profitable channel of business; yet, with these facts before them, we find the sovereigns of India delivering over their oppressed subjects to the rapacity of their servants, for the avowed purpose of enriching them with the spoils of the country.

Lord Clive assumed the supreme power in India in May 1765. At this period the servants of the Company, in defiance of the peremptory orders of the directors, still persisted in all the ruinous practices connected with the inland trade; and instead of abolishing these, and thus remedying some of those abuses of which he so violently complained, Lord Clive entered into a partnership for the monopoly of salt, of which large quantities were accordingly purchased, and sold for a profit of forty-five per cent., which was divided amongst three of his own dependents, his secretary, surgeon, and another friend, for whom he wished, as he expresses it, to realize a fortune. The plan of a more extensive monopoly, including salt, betel-nut, and tobacco, the chief articles of consumption in the country, was afterwards devised to be carried on exclusively for the benefit of the superior servants of the Company, amongst whom the profit, after setting apart L.100,000 per annum to the Company, was to be divided according to their rank in the service. At the time this corrupt scheme of monopoly was established, the select committee were in possession of peremptory orders from the directors for its abolition; but these orders, under various pretences, they delayed to carry into execution till September 1768.

Although the ascendancy of the English had for some years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty of the country, its affairs were still administered in the name of the native prince, and according to the forms and policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dispensed by the native courts, and by the nabob's officers; the revenues still flowed through the same channels into the public exchequer; and all transactions with foreign powers were carried on under the same authority as formerly. But such was the increasing power of the English, that the government, as far as regarded the protection of the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his officers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign will; and the tribunals of justice, far from being a protection to the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the Gomastals, or Indian agents, employed by the Company's servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious instruments for plundering the people, and for punishing the wretched victims of their oppression if they dared to complain, and if they did not patiently submit to be fleeced and trampled upon by their foreign masters. The native tribunals had no power to afford protection, whilst the English had no legal authority beyond the presidency, either over the natives or over their own subjects; and hence the inhabitants lay entirely at the mercy of the Company's servants. Nor need we wonder that, during this period of anarchy and disorder abroad, the embarrassments of the Company's affairs continued to increase, even during the peaceable administration of Mr Verelst, who succeeded Lord Clive as governor when he left Bengal in February 1767. The Indian revenues were indeed large, but they were plundered by their servants. Lord Clive and the first adventurers were enriched by the presents or bribes of the native rulers. These they were now prohibited from accepting. "It was expedient for them," says Clive, "to find out some other channel, the channel of the civil and military changes. Every man now who is permitted to make a bill makes a fortune." In lieu of the enormous gains which accrued from the monopoly of salt and of other articles, the trade which the directors, early in 1768, sent peremptory orders to lay open, and also of one eighth per cent. of the revenues given to the governor, as a compensation for his share of the salt monopoly, the Company granted a commission of two and a half per cent. on the revenues. This sum was to be divided into a hundred shares, and to be distributed amongst the civil functionaries of the Company, and the military officers, according to their rank.

Whilst the local rulers of India were thus enriching themselves, their masters were reduced to great pecuniary distress. But, in the midst of all their embarrassments, the most flattering accounts of their affairs were circulated in Europe; and the directors and proprietors lent a willing ear to these golden promises, of which their servants were always liberal. The splendid acquisition which the Company had made of the territorial revenues of Bengal, the political events in which they had been involved, and the immense fortunes with which a few individuals had returned to Europe, confirmed the general delusion, and inflamed the impatience of the proprietors of East India stock to participate in the inexhaustible treasures of their new dominions. In pursuance of these views, the dividend on their stock was raised from six to ten per cent.; and India stock rose to 263 per cent. A higher dividend was called for, and it was in vain that the directors represented the heavy debts of the Company, and the general embarrassment of their affairs. The proprietors refused to listen to such disagreeable representations, and at a general court they voted a dividend of twelve and a half per cent. for the year 1767. The attention of government being now directed to the Company's affairs, this vote was rescinded by act of parliament, and the dividend limited to ten per cent.

In the mean time, every day's experience was refuting the fallacious expectations of annual treasures from India. So far from possessing any surplus revenue, the servants were involved in debt for the current expenses of their government; they drew largely on the directors, but they remitted little; and the whole of this complicated scheme of trade and sovereignty laboured in consequence under such pecuniary difficulties, that the directors, to avert a public bankruptcy, were compelled to apply to the bank for a loan of L.400,000, and afterwards of L.300,000. In consequence of this state of things, so different from the pleasing fancies of unbounded wealth, with which the proprietors of the Company and the country at large had been amused, great discontent and a violent clamour was raised against the Company's servants in India, who by their profusion or corruption had failed to realize those golden dreams. The situation of the Company was at length brought under the consideration of parliament by the minister, who introduced two acts for the regulation of their affairs. The first of these was intended to relieve the pecuniary embarrassments of the Company, and provided that the sum Hindustan of L1,400,000 per annum, at four per cent. should be lent to them, and that the stipulated annual payment of L400,000 from the territorial revenue should not be required till the discharge of this debt; the dividend not to exceed six per cent. till the discharge should be accomplished, and not to exceed seven per cent. till the bond debt should be reduced to L1,500,000. Other clauses related to the appropriation of the surplus revenue, which was always fondly hoped for, but never received. The other act, which was heavily complained of as an infringement of the Company's rights of sovereignty, as the first was said to be an invasion of their rights of property, raised the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors from L500 to L1,000; gave two votes to every proprietor possessed of L3,000; three votes to those possessed of L6,000; and four votes to those possessed of L10,000; and only six directors, instead of twenty-four, the whole number, were to be annually elected; and the administration of the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa was to be vested in a governor-general with an annual salary of L25,000, and four councillors with a salary of L10,000 each. The other presidencies were rendered subordinate to that of Bengal; and a supreme court of judicature was established at Calcutta, consisting of a chief-justice with L8,000 a year, and three other judges with L6,000 a year, appointed by the crown. The first governor-general and councillors were to be appointed by the king; and all the political correspondence of the Company with India was to be laid before the ministry. These acts received the royal assent on the 21st of June and 1st of July 1773. Under this act Mr Hastings was appointed governor-general, with General Clavering, Colonel Monson, Mr Barwel, and Mr Francis, members of council.

It will now be proper to revert to the affairs of the Carnatic. After the departure of Bussy from that province, and the decline of the French influence, Nizam Ali resumed his power, which he employed in dethroning and imprisoning, and afterwards murdering, his feeble brother Salabut Jung, the subahdar of the Deccan. The English having received from Shah Aulum, the Mogul emperor, a grant of the Northern Circars, a tract extending 470 miles along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and uniting the English possessions in the Carnatic with their province of Orissa, proceeded to occupy it with a military force. On this Nizam Ali, or the Nizam as he is called by the English, made an irruption into the Carnatic, and greatly alarmed the presidency of Madras. After some operations of little moment, a treaty was concluded, by which the English agreed to pay a rent for the disputed territory, and to give him such military aid as he should require in the affairs of his government. The first operation in which this force was to be engaged was the reduction of the fortress of Bangalore, belonging to Hyder Ali, the sovereign of Mysore; and thus were the English brought into collision with that powerful chief. He was one of those bold spirits who rise to eminence in times of civil confusion. From a common foot soldier, or peon, employed in the collection of taxes, he rose to high command, to wealth and dominion, and finally to the rank of sovereign prince. The nizam, who had joined with the English against Hyder, soon became his ally, and their united forces made incursions into the Carnatic. Several battles were fought to the disadvantage of Hyder, but these were of little advantage to the English, owing to his superiority in cavalry, with which he laid waste the country to the very gates of Madras, and struck terror into the president and council. The nizam, however, wearied of the war, quitted the alliance of Hyder, which so elevated the confidence of the Madras presidency that they resolved on the invasion of Mysore. But Hyder anticipated their designs, and having by his masterly tactics artfully drawn the English army to Hindustan a distance from Madras, he suddenly appeared at the head of 6000 cavalry before that city, having marched 120 miles in three days, and so alarmed the presidency, that a treaty, offensive and defensive, was concluded in April 1769, by which it was also agreed that all conquests should be mutually restored.

At this time the Mahrattas, humbled for a time by the defeat of Paniput, now began to renew their incursions into the northern provinces, and greatly to the alarm of the Rohillas, subahdar of Oude, who dreaded any confederacy between them and the Rohilla chiefs or Afghans, a hardy race from the north, who having frequently aided the imperial armies, were rewarded with lands in the fertile district between the Ganges and the mountains, and to the west of the Oude territories. One of their chiefs, Nujeeb ad Dowlah, had been chosen by Abdallae Shah, on his departure from Delhi, after the battle of Paniput, as the imperial deputy. He had ruled the country with singular prudence and success, and had transmitted the government to his son, Zabita Khan, against whom a coalition was now formed by the Mahrattas and the fallen emperor Shah Aulum, anxious to regain his former power. By their assistance the emperor, in the year 1771, entered his capital of Delhi, with all the pomp of imperial dignity. Zabita Khan, unable to withstand their united attack, fled across the Ganges, leaving his fertile and flourishing territories to the devastations of the Mahrattas, to whom they afforded a rich booty. The Rohillas, alarmed by this aggression, proposed to form an alliance with the subahdar of Oude, who on his side was equally dismayed; and through the intervention of the English a treaty was accordingly concluded, offensive and defensive, by which the Rohillas engaged to pay annually to the subahdar forty lacs of rupees if he would expel the Mahrattas from their territories. He made no effort, however, to perform this service; and the Mahrattas, after retiring across the Ganges during the rains, soon returned to ravage the country, and actually extorted a sum of money from Hafiz Rhamet, chief of the Rohillas, as the price of their retreat. In 1772 they besieged the emperor, who had become weary of their alliance, in Delhi; and having entered the city, they extorted from him a grant of the two provinces of Corah and Allahabad, which he held by virtue of a treaty with the English. The subahdar was now really alarmed, and wrote the most pressing letters to the English for aid. A detachment was accordingly sent under Sir H. Barker, to assist in the defence of his territories, when the Mahrattas were recalled to their own country about the end of May 1773. The subahdar, freed from danger, now became ambitious in his turn, and was intent, either by force or fraud, upon gaining possession of the Rohilla country. With this view, in a meeting with Mr Hastings in October 1773, it was agreed that the English troops should assist in the conquest and extermination of the Rohillas, and that forty lacs of rupees should be paid for this service. In fulfilment of this iniquitous compact, the united forces, the British under Colonel Champion, entered the Rohilla territories in 1774, and on the 23rd of April a battle was fought, in which the unfortunate Rohillas, after an obstinate defence, were defeated, and their gallant chief Hafiz Rhamet slain while rallying his troops; the subahdar and his army, in the mean time, beholding with shameful pusillanimity. The whole country now lay at his mercy, and he proceeded to execute his diabolical purpose, which, as he had expressly informed the English, was the extermination of the Rohillas. Never, probably, says Mr Mill, were the rights of conquest more savagely abused; man, woman, and child were given up to the destroying sword, and the country was reduced to a desert. At length it was

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1 History of British India, vol. iii. p. 509. Hindustan agreed that Fyzoola Khan, the remaining chief of the Rohillas, should surrender one half of all his effects to the subahdar or the vizir, and should receive in Rohilcund a jaghire of fourteen lacs and 75,000 rupees. With regard to the Mogul emperor, the twenty-six lacs of rupees hitherto paid to him as his share of the revenues of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, were withdrawn, because he had accepted the aid of the Mahrattas in his late attempt to regain the throne of his ancestors. He was also deprived of the provinces of Corah and Allahabad, granted to him in terms of a former treaty with the Company.

On the west coast of India, the presidency of Bombay was at this period involved in disputes, which ended in a war with the Mahratta states; and, with a view to the subsequent history of India, it may be necessary here to give a brief account of these disputes, and of the different Mahratta powers who had now risen to political importance in India. In the Mahratta government, as originally constituted, the sovereign or raja was assisted by a council of eight Brahmins, the chief of whom bore the title of peshwa; and in course of time this principal minister of state, on whom devolved the duties of government, usurped all the real power, and the sovereign became a mere pageant in his hands. In the reign of the raja Sahoo, the third in succession from the brave and politic Sevaje, the founder of the Mahratta power, this revolution had been insensibly brought about. He was a weak prince, devoted, as most princes are, to ease and pleasure, and leaving to Kishwanath Balagee the chief powers of the state. He assumed the name of Row Pundit, or chief of the Pundits, or learned Brahmins, and was invested by the raja with a sirpath or robe of office, with which ceremony the peshwa has ever since been installed into their sovereign dignity. Custom or policy had so completely sanctioned the usurpation of supreme power by the peshwa, that Kishwanath had quietly transmitted his dignity and influence to his son Bajerow, who confined the raja as a sort of state prisoner to Satarah, whilst he himself resided at Poonah, the future capital of the Mahratta states. Bow, the son of Bajerow, being slain at the battle of Paniput, the office of peshwa descended to his nephew, who had two sons, Madhoo Row and Narain Row, the eldest of whom, Madhoo Row, a minor, succeeded to his father's dignity at his death, and the guardianship of the peshwa now devolved on Ragobow, more commonly known under the name of Ragoba. The council of state, consisting of the Brahmins, now made an effort to regain their lost influence; and intriguing with the mother of the peshwa, they succeeded in sowing division between the nephew and the uncle, and finally in stripping him of his power. Madhoo died at an early age in 1772, and appointed Ragoba to be the guardian of his brother Narain Row. But he was by the same influence again stripped of his power; and dissensions having arisen amongst the council of Brahmins, or Mutseeds as they are also called, a conspiracy was formed, which ended in the murder of the young prince, when Ragoba was again acknowledged peshwa. But he was still thwarted by the ministerial factions of the Brahmins, and the consequence was a civil war, which was carried on with various fortune, but terminated at length in the flight of Ragoba from his dominions. The presidency of Bombay had been extremely anxious to procure the cession of the island and peninsula of Salsette and Bassein, as adding much to the security and value of Bombay. But all their efforts were in vain. Ragoba uniformly refused to give them up on any terms. He had now retreated to Surat; and in the low state of his fortunes the negotiation was renewed. In the mean time the presidency were informed by their resident at Goa that the Portuguese were making preparations for the recapture of their former possessions, especially of Salsette and Bassein. No longer hesitating, they sent a force from Bombay, which carried by assault the principal fort in Salsette on the 28th of September 1774, and afterwards took possession of the island; in March 1775 War with the Maharratas.

They concluded a treaty with Ragoba for the surrender of these places, with other advantages; and in return they sent a body of troops under Colonel Keating, which joined his army in April, about fifty coss from Cambay; and this combined force, amounting to 25,000 men, now advanced for the purpose of penetrating to Poonah before the commencement of the rains. The enterprise failed for the present, but the armies were quartered in convenient positions; and having concluded a favourable treaty with the rajah of Gujarat, who had agreed, amongst other conditions, to advance the sum of twenty-six lacs of rupees, they prepared, with a friendly country in their rear, and greatly increased resources, to advance to Poonah the next campaign. But all these promising schemes were now frustrated by the interference of the Bengal council, which had been invested with supreme authority over the other settlements in India; and the alliance formed by the presidency of Bombay with Ragoba, the peshwa, and indeed all the other proceedings, were severely condemned by the governor-general and his council. The council at Bombay were ordered peremptorily to retrace their steps, to withdraw their troops from those of Ragoba, and to give him no further aid; and they themselves proceeded to treat, by means of their own agent, Colonel Upton, with the opposite faction of the Brahmin ministers. A long and perplexed negotiation now ensued, which had nearly ended in war, when a treaty, that of Poorunder, was signed on the 3d of June 1776, by which the Mahratta ministers agreed to surrender Salsette, and the English Bassein; and the unfortunate Ragoba finally retired to Surat with only two hundred attendants.

The Mahratta power, which was spread far and wide in India, was now weakened by the same divisions which had occasioned the downfall of the Mogul empire. All indeed acknowledged their allegiance to the peshwa, the representative of Sevaje, their founder, and the nominal head of the whole confederacy. But there was no unity in the component parts of their wide-extended empire. They no longer obeyed one common impulse. The military chiefs to whom were confided the more distant provinces threw off the yoke of sovereign authority, as it was gradually relaxed; and thus, from the extension of the Mahratta power, arose various independent potentates, who, though united by a common tie, yet waged war with each other, or with the peshwa, their head, on any provocation or prospect of advantage. The most important of these independent states was, 1st, that of the Bhonslas, which included the extensive province of Berar, together with Cuttack, a part of Orissa; 2d, the province of Gujarat, broken off from the Mogul empire by Pillagee Guicowar, or the herdman; 3d, the independent chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, whose names figure in the future annals of India, and who ruled over extensive territories in Malwah and in the regions bordering on the territories of Berar and Oude. Other inferior chiefs, offsets from the main stock, possessed smaller portions of territory in different parts; and the internal relations of Hindustan were thus more than usually complicated, and presented a wide field for politics and intrigue.

The presidency of Madras, as well as the other two presidencies of Bengal and Bombay, were now deeply involved in the disputes of the native powers. The nabob of the Carnatic, Mahammed Ali, was incapable of ruling or defending his country against the Mahrattas or Hyder Ali, and he relied entirely upon the English for protection and for the collection of his revenues. The disorder of his finances, already great, was much increased by the extortions of his allies, who were insatiable in their thirst of gold; and funds failing, as in Bengal, to supply their exorbitant demands, they anxiously sought elsewhere the means of relief. The kingdom of Tanjore, by the prudence of its sovereign, had enjoyed peace amidst the wars and desolations of surrounding countries; his powerful neighbours, supposing that he had amassed great wealth, mustered up against him a world of complaints, of which he readily showed the futility; and when he saw that his ruin was resolved on, that he was to be stripped of his dominions, and that he and his family were to be put to death or imprisoned for life, he pleaded for mercy with the most affecting earnestness; but avarice had extinguished every softer feeling in the breasts of his oppressors. The troops were ordered to advance; the rajah agreed to terms which he could not fulfil; and failing to pay within the exact time which the contribution imposed upon him, though he made the fairest offers, Tanjore, his capital, was taken by assault; and he and his family were delivered into the power of the nabob. This act of oppression, encouraged at first by the directors, was afterwards disapproved by a court of proprietors; and Lord Pigot was sent out as governor of the presidency, to restore the rajah, and to enforce economy and reform. The corrupt and dishonourable practices of the Company's servants were nowhere carried to a greater length than at Madras. They were in the habit of lending, or pretending to lend, money, to the nabob, at an exorbitant interest, and to receive in security assignments on the land. Paul Benfield, with a salary of some hundred pounds a year, had assignments on the lands of Tanjore to the amount of L234,000; and Sir Thomas Rumbold, with a salary of L20,000 a year, remitted to Europe the first year he was in office L45,000, and in the two subsequent years a further sum of L119,000, alleging that he had property to this amount in India before he left Europe. The lands belonging to the Company were let at an under rate to the renters, and large bribes received in return; and it was by such unworthy means that the servants of the Company so quickly acquired their enormous fortunes. Lord Pigot, in carrying into effect the views of the directors, by restoring the rajah of Tanjore, and opposing the existing abuses, was resisted by a faction. He was at last put under arrest by the members of his own council, and died after a confinement of about eight months. The authors of this violence were afterwards tried in England, and condemned to pay a pittance fine of L1000, which was no adequate punishment for such an offence, and, to men of their fortunes, no punishment at all.

The growing ascendancy of the English naturally excited the hostility of the native powers; and Hyder Ali, irritated by their increasing influence, and by their breach of the treaty of 1769, in refusing the aid which he demanded, was now preparing to assail them with the whole weight of his power. He accordingly made peace with the Mahrattas, who formed, with the Nizam Ali and Hyder, a coalition for the expulsion of the English from India. In the year 1778, war having commenced in Europe between France and England, the presidency of Madras besieged and took Pondicherry, and Mahé, a small fort, the only remaining possession of the French on the coast of Malabar, and ranked by Hyder amongst his dependencies. Irritated by this new offence, he assembled his army, and having seized and guarded the passes of the Eastern Ghauts, through which alone the Carnatic would be invaded from Mysore, he suddenly poured down on the country below with a mighty host of 100,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, besides the European troops of Colonel Lally, of undoubted bravery and experience in war. Everything gave way before this overwhelming flood of invasion; and the cavalry inundating the open plains, the inhabitants fled from their homes to the woods or the mountains, whilst the unresisted invader laid waste the country with fire and sword for many miles round Madras, and even threatened the city itself. The council were confounded by the intelligence of this sudden calamity. They were apprized on the 21st of July that Hyder had come through the pass, that he had next day plundered Porto Novo on the coast, and Conjeeveram, not fifty miles from the capital. Each succeeding day brought its tale of calamity; and on the 10th of August Madras was alarmed by the approach of the enemy's horse, and the inhabitants of the open town began to take flight. The governor and council were very indifferently provided for the fearful struggle in which they were engaged. They were destitute both of money and provisions; their small force was scattered throughout the country; and, lastly, their councils were distracted by the dissensions of the civil and military authorities. Immediate action, however, was necessary, in order to avert impending ruin. The scattered troops were therefore directed to assemble at St Thomas' Mount, for the defence of the capital. Colonel Brathwaite's detachment from Pondicherry having joined the main body on the 18th of August, an express was sent to Colonel Baillie at Gumeponda, about twenty-eight miles from Madras, directing him to repair to Conjeeveram, whither the main body now advanced under Sir Hector Munro, consisting of 1500 Europeans and 4200 Sepoys, with a train of artillery, and arrived after a distressing march of four days, during which two hundred men belonging to the seventy-third regiment were left lying on the road. They found the town of Conjeeveram in flames, large bodies of the enemy's cavalry advancing on both flanks, and no appearance of Colonel Baillie's detachment, which had been impeded in its march for a day by a small torrent swollen with the rains. Hyder Ali having learned from his spies the movements of the English army, abandoned the siege of Arcot, in which he was engaged, and, upon the 3rd of September, the day on which Baillie's detachment crossed the river in its advance to the main body, he encamped at five miles distance in front of the English army, near Conjeeveram; thus interposing between Colonel Baillie's detachment and the English forces; and he sent his son Tipppo with 30,000 cavalry, the flower of his army, and 8000 foot, with twelve pieces of cannon, to cut off the troops under Colonel Baillie, who had now arrived at a small village about fifteen miles distant from Sir Hector Munro's army, the movements of which he himself watched in the neighbourhood of Conjeeveram. The troops under Colonel Baillie gallantly repulsed the repeated charges of Tipppo's numerous cavalry; and being now joined by a detachment under Sir R. Fletcher, sent to their aid by General Munro, they resisted long and bravely all the attacks of the overwhelming force by which they were surrounded; they even at times became the assailants; and an attack by five companies of Sepoys on the enemy's guns, which had begun to do great execution, spread amongst them such terror and confusion, that a seasonable and bold assault of their camp would, it is thought, have completed their route. The English commander maintained the same position till next morning, for which he has been much blamed; and when, at five o'clock, he began the day's march, he was assailed by the whole army of Hyder, who had left his ground without shifting his tents, to conceal his design. Colonel Baillie, with his handful of men, still maintained his ground in spite of the enemy's superior fire and the fury of his closer attacks, when, by an accident, the blowing up of two tumbrils, the English line was not only disordered, but the ammunition was destroyed, and the guns disabled. But though their fire was now silenced, they maintained a gallant resistance till three o'clock in the morning, when the commander, Baillie, despairing of relief, sent a flag of truce to the enemy; and the men having laid down their arms on receiving a promise of quarter, Hyder's troops rushed on them with savage fury; and, but for the humane inter- position of the French officers, would have massacred all who survived. After this disaster, Sir Hector Munro retreated to Madras, whilst Hyder returned to the siege of Arcot, which was taken by storm on the 31st of October, with an immense quantity of ammunition and military stores.

On the intelligence of Colonel Baillie's disaster, the supreme council of Bengal requested Sir Eyre Coote to take the command of the army in the Carnatic; and on the 17th of June 1781, the English force, consisting of 7000 men and 1700 Europeans, marched from the encampment at Mount St Thomas. Hyder now changed his plan of operations, and detached different divisions of his force against the strong places of the Carnatic. But he was so overawed by the arrival of a new commander with reinforcements, that he abandoned the siege of Wandewash, and of every place which he had invested, and retired without even disputing the passage of the Palaur. The English took the opportunity of this short respite to secure possession of Pondicherry, and to disarm the inhabitants, who had revolted. Hyder having received large reinforcements, resumed the offensive; and as the plan of the English was to march southward to protect the district of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, he resolved to oppose their advance to Cuddalore. A battle was fought on the 1st of July 1781, in which Hyder was driven from his strong position with great slaughter. On the 27th of August, another battle was fought on the ground where Colonel Baillie's disaster had occurred, when he was again defeated, after an obstinate action, in which the English suffered severely; and, some weeks afterwards, he experienced a third defeat, with greater loss than before. Far from being discouraged, this warlike prince proceeded to lay siege to Vellore, eighty-eight miles south-west from Madras. Sir Eyre Coote, though he had placed his army in cantonments, advanced to its relief, and forced his way through a strong pass guarded by the enemy's force. Returning by the same pass, he was again attacked at a disadvantage with the utmost vigour; but Hyder's cavalry suffered so severely from the English artillery that he retired with loss, while Sir Eyre Coote returned to his cantonments near Madras. Whilst the war was thus carried on with doubtful success in the eastern districts of the Carnatic, hostilities now commenced on the opposite coast of Malabar. The English detachment, by which the French settlement of Mahe was captured in 1779, had since that period occupied the fortress of Tellicherry, when it was besieged by a superior force of Hyder's tributaries. Major Abingdon, the commander, having received a reinforcement from Bombay on the night of the 7th January 1782, assaulted the enemy's lines, and threw their whole army into confusion; and he soon afterwards gained possession of Calicut. Here he was joined by Colonel Humberston Mackenzie with a thousand Europeans, and offensive operations were undertaken with vigour and success, when the army returned in May, as the rainy season approached, to its cantonments at Patacalah, in Calicut. Operations were resumed in September with the reduction of a strong fort, and the army had arrived at Palacatcherry, when, being surprised in a narrow defile, the whole baggage and ammunition was captured. A retreat to the coast was the only alternative now left to the English, in the course of which they were attacked from every thicket, both on their flank and rear, and harassed in their march, by 20,000 horse under Tippoo. Arrived at the town of Paniany, on the Malabar shore, their lines were assaulted by the enemy's force in four columns, including Lally's corps, when the forty-second regiment advancing to the charge, repelled the enemy. Tippoo now hearing of his father's death, immediately departed to take the necessary measures for securing his succession to the throne.

In the south of the Carnatic a French fleet landed 2000 men at Porto Novo early in 1782; and Tippoo having arrived with a large detachment from Hyder's army, by a brilliant and successful movement surrounded Colonel Brathwaite's force, consisting of a hundred Europeans, five hundred Sepoys, and three hundred horse, encamped upon the Colecroon, before there was the smallest suspicion of his march. Forming a hollow square, this little band held out for twenty-six hours, and repulsed every attack, until, exhausted with incessant conflict, they were at last broken by a charge of the French under Lally, and would have been all massacred as formerly, but for his vigorous and humane interference. Hyder was now enabled, by the succours he had received from France, to invest Cuddalore, which quickly surrendered, when he determined to undertake the siege of Wandewash. Its importance brought the army of Sir Eyre Coote to its relief; when Hyder still declined the hazards of a battle. The English general then proceeded to the attack of Arnee, the great depository of the enemy's warlike stores and necessaries. But Hyder outstripping the slow movements of the English force, hung upon their march; and, whilst they were galled by the attacks of his cavalry, he dexterously detached a division of his army, which carried off all his treasure from Arnee, and reinforced the garrison. In the retreat to Madras, after these operations, a regiment of European cavalry, drawn into an ambuscade by the skilful tactics of the enemy, was either killed or made prisoners. Whilst the English army was cantoned in Madras, Hyder, ever active and enterprising, was concerting with the French admiral an attack on Nagapatnam, a settlement of the Dutch, which had been conquered by the English at the commencement of the Dutch war in 1780. But the French fleet having been brought to an action by the English, was prevented from co-operating in this well-planned enterprise. On the return of the army to Madras, Lord Macartney, who had arrived as governor in December 1781, now concerted a plan for the recovery of Cuddalore. But the admiral steadily refused co-operation in this, or apparently in any other operations of the land forces. On the 15th of October, one of the most dreadful tempests ever known occurred at Madras; the shore was in a short time strewed with the wreck of a hundred trading vessels, and famine raged in the city, multitudes daily perishing for want. The enemy had fortunately no information of the helpless and starving condition of the place, and considerable supplies of provisions were received from Bengal and the Circars. Hyder Ali died in December 1782, at the age of eighty years; and this event produced a great and favourable change of affairs. The Mahratta war, undertaken in favour of the claims of Ragoba to the dignity of the peshwa, which had continued since 1778, was now also concluded by a peace. The capitulation by which a British force that had invaded the Mahratta country surrendered, having been violated, the Mahrattas joined the confederacy against the English. But by the great successes of General Goddard, who, in the course of three months, from January 1780, had reduced the province of Gujarat, and completely defeated Scindia, the Mahratta general, they were now detached from the alliance of Hyder, the great enemy of the English.

Tippoo, after he joined his army in the Carnatic, undertook no operation of consequence, and he was recalled to the defence of his own territories, which were assaulted by the enterprising movements of the English armies, both from the west and from the south. About the beginning of January 1783, a force concentrated at Merjee, on the western coast of India, about 300 miles north of Paniany, under General Mathews, after storming the forts of Onore, Aranpore, and Mangalore, on the sea coast, with the slaughter of every man taken in arms, Hindustan laid siege to Bednore, a rich capital of one of the Mysore provinces, which soon surrendered. A vast treasure, amounting to L800,000 in pagodas, besides jewels, was found in this place, which immediately occasioned disputes, in consequence of the general refusing to divide the booty among the captors. He was on this account superseded by the presidency, and the command given to Colonel Macleod. But the hope of spoil appears to have corrupted the virtue of the army, which was dispersed in plundering detachments over the country, when Tippos suddenly took possession of Bednore, making prisoners of the English garrison, which capitulated, with General Mathews, and sending all of them in irons to the strong fortresses of Mysore. Mangalore was next besieged, and taken after a gallant resistance, on the 23rd of January 1784. In the mean time Colonel Fullarton, who commanded a force in the Southern Carnatic, having reduced to order the districts of Madura and Tinnevelly, and taken, in April, May, and June, the forts of Caroor, Dindigul, and Daraparam, advanced to the strong fortress of Palacatcherry, which surrendered after a short siege. Coimbatore was taken possession of in November, and every preparation was made for advancing to Seringapatam, and terminating the war by the capture of the enemy's capital, when a treaty was signed on the 11th of March 1784, upon the general basis of a mutual restitution of all conquests.

The state of affairs in Bengal under the administration of Mr Hastings now claims our attention, and we shall endeavour briefly to describe the leading transactions of that memorable period. The new council, to whose care was committed the administration of India, and of which Mr Hastings was president, commenced its deliberations in October 1774, with an insuspicious appearance of mutual coldness and jealousy, which quickly broke out into open dissension. The Rohilla war was the first subject of deliberation, and it unhappily afforded too good grounds for doubt and for inquiry. Other subjects succeeded, equally difficult to handle without offence, as they involved the governor in a suspicion of corruption in the business of the revenue. The rannee of Burdwan, a widow who enjoyed an extensive district, accused her agent the duan of corruption, and the English resident of being bribed to support or to connive at his iniquities. In the accounts that were presented to the council, a sum of 15,000 rupees was charged to Mr Hastings, and 4500 to his native secretary. Another accusation of the same nature was preferred by one of the natives, namely, that the phouzdar of Hooghly, out of the salary of 72,000 rupees which he received from the Company, returned 36,000 to Mr Hastings, and 4000 to the native secretary; and Mr Grant, accountant of the provincial council of Moorshedabad, produced a set of accounts, from which it appeared that Munny Begum, a concubine of the late Meer Jaffer, who had been appointed to the guardianship of the nabob by Mr Hastings, had received 967,693 rupees more than she had accounted for; and when pressed on this subject, she told that she had given 150,000 rupees to Mr Hastings for entertainment money, which was at the rate of L73,000 per annum, and the like sum to Mr Middleton, the agent of Mr Hastings. A still more serious charge was brought forward by the rajah Nundcomar, who had been the agent of Mr Hastings in the prosecution of Mahommed Reza Khan, duan or manager of the revenues of Bengal, whose embezzlements, as well as those of Shitabray, he now accused the governor-general of overlooking; and further exhibited the particulars of a sum of 354,105 rupees, which he affirmed that he had accepted for the appointment of Munny and Goordass to their respective dignities and powers. In answer to these accusations, Mr Hastings chiefly pleaded his dignity as governor-general. He resented them as personal insults; and when it was proposed to inquire into them by the other members of the board, he lost all calmness, and accused them of a design to supersede him in his office. "I declare," he said, "that I will not suffer Nundcomar to appear before the board as my accuser. I know what belongs to the dignity and character of the first member of this administration. I will not sit at this board as a criminal." After this he dissolved the council, in virtue of a power which he assumed as president. The majority declared the dissolution void, and continued the inquiry, when Nundcomar declared the particular sums which he himself had paid to the governor-general, gave in the names of several persons who were privy to those transactions, and presented a letter from Munny Begum, which, on examination of the seal, was found to be authentic, mentioning a gift of two lacs (L20,000) given to the governor by herself. The governor being called upon to refund, refused to acknowledge the authority of the council, and returned no answer. At this critical stage of the proceedings, a prosecution was instituted against Nundcomar, at the instance of the governor-general and his supporters in the council, which, after some ineffectual proceedings, was dropped. But a few days afterwards, Nundcomar, at the suit of a native, was arrested on a charge of forgery; tried before the supreme court by Sir Elijah Impey and a jury of Englishmen, though it was far from clear that the court had any jurisdiction over him, being a native of Hindustan; convicted on doubtful and contradictory evidence; and finally executed, amidst the tears and loud lamentations, and even shrieks of horror, of a vast assemblage of his countrymen. This transaction, viewed in all its bearings, leaves a stain on the character of Hastings, from which it has never been relieved by the zealous testimonials of his friends. In reviewing the whole evidence and circumstances of the case, we cannot well doubt, that if Nundcomar had not accused Mr Hastings, he would never have been arrested; that his real crime, therefore, was the charge which he had brought against Mr Hastings, and not the alleged forgery; and hence that he was tried and executed because he was a witness whose testimony it was more easy to put out of the way than to confute. If this be a just inference, Mr Hastings must be considered as guilty of murder, committed under the forms of law. This is the character which must be fixed upon him by the impartial verdict of history; and his political merits, however magnified by his admirers, cannot be accepted for a moment as any palliation of his moral guilt.

In adverting, as we shall now do, to the transactions of the governor-general with the independent or tributary states of India, it may be observed, that when he assumed the government of Bengal, the Company still laboured under great pecuniary difficulties. Disorder and waste pervaded every department of the administration; the Company's servants were intent, as we have seen, on enriching themselves rather than their masters; and the consequence was a constant want of funds for the public service. The arduous duty of providing these now devolved upon the governor-general; and the necessities of the state, if they do not justify, afford at least a key to some of those dark, and, we must add, atrocious transactions, which distinguished his administration. Bengal

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1 Nine lacs sixty-seven thousand six hundred and ninety-three rupees. A lac of rupees is 100,000, and a crore is 100 lacs, or ten millions. We have adopted the English mode of notation, as more familiar to the reader. Hindustan had been exposed to such heavy exactions that the country was exhausted; and Mr Hastings, instead of adopting economy, and improving the revenue at home, sought relief in the plunder of foreign princes, who were now laid under contribution to the necessities of the state. The rajah Cheyt Sing, who ruled at Benares, was the son of Bulwunt Sing, who had sided with the English in the war with Sujah Dowlah, subahdar of Oude, and who had been confirmed in his inheritance by the British for a fixed tribute, which was paid with an exactness not very usual in India. Mr Hastings proposed in 1778 to increase this contribution; and because the rajah pleaded poverty, and required time, he became offended, replied to him in harsh and imperious terms, refused to allow time for raising the money, and threatened military execution in case of delay. These exactions were renewed from year to year, and increased, the rajah remonstrating in the most humble terms, and being treated on account of his remonstrances as a delinquent whom it was necessary to punish. "I was resolved," says Mr Hastings, "to draw from his guilt the means of relieving the Company's distresses." This was truly his object, and he accordingly found out guilt in the whole conduct of the rajah, though it was meek and humble, such as the weak naturally assume when they are in the power of the strong. At last Mr Hastings proceeded to Benares, and, notwithstanding the supplications of the rajah, craving forgiveness if he had offended, on the ground of his youth and inexperience, he ordered him under arrest; a tumult arose between the Sepoys and the inhabitants, in which the former were all put to the sword; the rajah fled; war commenced, which ended in his discomfiture, and he was dethroned. His mother, the wife of Bulwunt Sing, the faithful ally of the British, took refuge in the fort of Bidgegore; she surrendered her treasure on condition of being allowed protection for herself and female attendants. But the articles were shamefully violated; and she and her followers were plundered of their effects, and their persons subjected to the rude examination of the licentious soldiery and the followers of the camp. In a letter, Mr Hastings says, "I think that every demand she has made to you, except that of safety and respect for her person, is unreasonable." He afterwards adds, "I apprehend she will contrive to defraud the captors of a considerable part of the booty, by being suffered to retire without examination. But this is your consideration, not mine. I should be sorry that your officers and soldiers lost any part of the reward to which they are so well entitled." The ideas implied in this hint not to suffer these illustrious females to pass without examination cannot be mistaken; it is sufficient to sanction the grossest outrages; and it appears, indeed, that those to whom it was addressed were not slow to profit by the instructions given them.

The treasures of Cheyt Sing and his widowed mother fell so far short of the expectations of Mr Hastings, that they did not even pay the expense of quelling the revolt which he had occasioned; and hence this transaction, impolitic as well as unjust, increased the embarrassments of the Company. The governor-general was therefore compelled to look elsewhere for treasures that might be profitable to the state, and he fixed his eye on the two princesses of Oude, known by the name of the Begums, the one the mother of Sujah Dowlah, the late nabob, eighty years of age, and the other his widow, and mother of the reigning nabob, who were possessed of treasures to a great amount, and of jaghires or estates, from which they maintained their own state and dignity, and the numerous families of the preceding nabobs, with a suitable train of attendants. The nabob of Oude, Sujah Dowlah, had long been unable to pay the contributions imposed on him by the English; he was in arrear to the amount of L1,490,000, and Mr Hastings now entered into a negotiation with him for the seizure, or resumption, to use the official phrase, of the jaghires or estates which belonged to the Begums, for the purpose of enabling him to pay up this arrear. It is unnecessary to dwell on the proceedings by which a son was persuaded or compelled to aid in the spoliation of his mother and grandmother. Suffice it to observe, that Mr Middleton, the agent of Mr Hastings, in order to extort the surrender of the treasure from the princesses, ordered the zenana, the dwelling of the princesses at Fyzabad, with their numerous families, to be blockaded by troops; and these measures failing to obtain the treasures, the eunuchs Jewar Ali Khan and Behar Ali Khan, the confidential servants of the princesses, were imprisoned and put in irons, and were kept from all food, and exposed to secret tortures. These dreadful measures so wrought upon the feelings of the princesses, that the elder Begum surrendered the treasure to the amount of the nabob's bond given to the Company in 1779–1780. But another balance still remained, and new severities were applied to the ministers of the princesses, which drew from them an engagement to complete the demanded sum; but they were still tortured; and though the princesses now delivered their whole effects, even to their table utensils, and had paid upwards of L500,000 before the 23d of February 1782, and the resident himself reported "that no proof had been obtained of their having more," yet the prisoners were not released, as they earnestly entreated. On the contrary, they were threatened with greater severities to enforce a payment of L25,000, according to their account, and of L50,000, according to the resident, still due on the extorted bond; and though they had now lain two months in irons, were sickly, and the officer who guarded them wrote to the resident Middleton, craving that their irons might be taken off, and that they might be allowed to walk in the garden, the nature of his orders allowed no mitigation of their sufferings; they were even threatened a few days after, on the 1st of June, with being removed, and were actually removed to Lucknow, where they were tortured in secret, of which the letter addressed by the assistant resident to the commanding officer of the English guard affords the odious evidence. The cruelties to which the women and children of the zenana, composing the household of the late rajahs, were exposed, are truly shocking to humanity. They were distressed for want of food to that degree that they uttered the most piteous cries, and were even driven to the extremity of appearing publicly before the Sepoys, an exposure dreaded more than death by Hindu females of rank; and these barbarities were executed under the orders of Englishmen, a disgrace to the name, and by English officers, unwilling agents, we may well believe, in such cruelties, and whose letters describe the extreme sufferings of these helpless females. In the letter of the commanding officer, it is said, "they are in a starving condition, having sold all their clothes and necessaries, and now have not wherewithal to support nature." "Last night the women of the zenana assembled on the tops of the buildings, crying in the most

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1 We subjoin the two letters. The first, dated January 1782, is addressed by the resident to the officer guarding the eunuchs: "Sir,—When this note is delivered to you, I have to desire that you order the two prisoners to be put in irons, keeping them from all food, &c. agreeable to my instructions of yesterday. (Signed) NATH. MIDDLETON." Letter of the assistant resident to the commanding officer of the English guard: "Sir,—The nabob having determined to inflict corporal punishment upon the prisoners under your guard, this is to desire that his officers, when they shall come, may have free access to the prisoners, and be permitted to do with them as they shall see proper." lamentable manner for want of food; that for the last four days they had got a very scanty allowance, and that yesterday they had got none. The melancholy cries of famine are more easily imagined than described. These cruelties were continued for nearly a year, and persevered in after all the treasures were surrendered, in the vain hope that some secret hoard might still be retained, which torture would compel them to bring forth. Amongst other particulars, it may be added, that Mr Hastings received from the nabob a present of L100,000, and craved permission to accept it from the directors, whose orders were positive against the receipt of presents. These princesses were accused of aiding in the rebellion of Cheyt Sing. But of this charge no proof beyond mere rumour was ever adduced; and, in considering all the circumstances of the case, it appears to have been invented as a pretext for despoiling them of their wealth. Mr Hastings resolved to draw from the guilt of Cheyt Sing, to use his own words, the means of relieving the Company's distresses; and the same patriotic motive seems to have dictated the accusation against the Begums. In other countries it is the poor, those who are discontented and in debt, that are turbulent; but here it is the rich, aged women of fourscore and upwards, living in affluence and splendour under the protection of the English, that are accused of rebelling against their benefactors, and of raising disturbances which could bring no advantage, but, on the contrary, were fraught with danger, to them. The directors in Europe disapproved of these proceedings against the princesses; they saw no evidence of their rebellion; and they ordered their estates to be restored, and an asylum to be offered them within the Company's territories. But the authority of the directors was little respected in India, the governor-general never wanting a pretext for disobeying their express commands. It appears, however, that some provision was afterwards made for these princesses, and for the restoration of a portion of their estates. The remaining transactions of Mr Hastings before he quitted Bengal relate to Fyzoola Khan, who survived the ruin of the Rohilla nation in 1774; and he now entered into a scheme with the nabob of Oude for dispossessing him of his dominions. In a journey which he afterwards undertook to the upper provinces, in order to regulate the affairs of Oude, he was a witness to the desolation of the country from the exactions of his own deputies, a country which was flourishing and happy under the milder sway of Cheyt Sing.

On the 8th of February he resigned his office and embarked for England. For a more full detail of the conduct and character of Mr Hastings, the reader is referred to the work of Mr Mill, which contains a clear and well-digested view of all the dark and complicated transactions of his stormy administration. The calm and philosophical tone maintained by Mr Mill; his impartiality and love of truth and justice; and the interest which he uniformly manifests in the cause of suffering humanity, give a peculiar value to his work as a history. In his estimate of Mr Hastings' character, he seems to consider it due to truth to state the difficulties and temptations under which he acted, as to a certain extent palliating his guilt. We may remark, however, that crimes, especially those of a deep dye, are never committed except under strong temptation; and when we consider that those of which Hastings is accused are tyranny, extortion, and corruption in his high office; cruelty, the secret torture by his agents of innocent individuals, by means of famine, stripes, and imprisonment; violence threatened to females by the same agents as the means of extortion, he chiding them all the while for delay; his bargain for the extermination of the Rohillas by fire and sword; and the provinces of Oude and Benares reduced, under his unhappy rule, from contentment and prosperity to desolation; we can scarcely admit the palliations suggested by the candour of the historian. Mr Hastings was impeached, on his return to Europe, before the House of Peers, of high crimes and misdemeanours, of which he was declared innocent by a great majority of his judges. But there were various circumstances which detracted from the value and authority of this acquittal. The House of Lords, from its constitution and character, is unfit to act as a judicial tribunal. It is a political assembly, consisting of the two opposite parties, the one against, and the other in favour of the ruling power; it is thus exposed to the corrupting influence of politics, and is generally ruled, even in its judicial capacity, by the minister of the day, of which, in our more recent history, we have had ample proofs. It wants impartiality, therefore, that essential attribute of a court of justice; and there were, besides, in the present case other sources of delusion. The hope of sharing in the wealth of India had now shed its baneful influence over the land; that hope swayed all the higher classes, including the peers, who lent an unwilling ear to the charges; and this, joined to the reputed favour of King George III. for the accused, rendered the prosecution unpopular. The value of the acquittal was also lessened by the mode of conducting the defence. Mr Hastings was far from courting inquiry; on the contrary, he availed himself of all the legal subtleties of a technical defence. He constantly objected to evidence, and to the production of papers. He acted wisely, if he was guilty, in screening his conduct under legal pleas; but not so if he was innocent, because by resisting inquiry he hindered his innocence from being made clear, to the confusion of his enemies.

The mal-administration of India had now become a standing topic of declamation at home, in which all parties in parliament eagerly joined; and as the privileges of the Company were to expire after the 25th of March 1780, some new arrangement became necessary for the future government of India. Negotiations for this purpose had been begun between the ministers and the directors; and an act was at length passed in 1781, which, besides regulating the dividend, and other financial matters, more fully detailed in the account given at the conclusion of this article, of the commercial transactions of the Company, ordained that the directors should communicate to the ministers all despatches sent to India with respect to revenues, and to civil and military affairs. In 1783 Mr Fox brought forward his celebrated measure for regulating the commercial concerns of the Company at home, and for the better government of their territories abroad. He proposed to supersede the two existing courts of proprietors and directors, by vesting the whole administration of the territories, revenues, and commerce of India, in seven commissioners, to be chosen by parliament; these to have the power of appointing and of dismissing all persons in the service of the Company; nine assistant directors, being proprietors of India stock to the amount of L2000, to be named by the legislature, and to assist

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1 See Hastings' Trial. Letters of Captain Leonard Jaques, of 6th and 7th March 1782; also letter of Major Gilpin, dated 30th October 1782. At last the unhappy females became desperate from want, and resolved to break into the market-place; and with this view "they arranged themselves in the following order: the children in the front, behind them the ladies of the seraglio, and behind them again their attendants." They were, however, opposed in their intentions by the Sepoys. On the following day their clamours were more violent than usual. It was resolved to drive them back by force. "The Sepoys," it is added, "consequently assembled, and each one being provided with a bludgeon, they drove them by dint of beating into the zemana." (Letter to the Resident at Lucknow.) Hindustan in the details of commerce, and to be under the authority of the superior board. This was the substance of Mr Fox's bill; by which the government of India was transferred from the directors and proprietors to these seven parliamentary commissioners. There were, however, numerous other provisions for securing the punishment of Indian delinquents, for ensuring publicity; and all the serious abuses which had been committed by the servants of the Company were specially enumerated and forbidden. Monopolies were abolished, the land-tax was to be fixed, and it was provided that the zemindars should be reinstated in their dignities and lands.

In 1784 Mr Pitt introduced a new bill for the better administration of Indian affairs, the chief distinction of which from the other was the institution of a board of control, or of six commissioners, to be chosen, not by parliament, but by the king, who were not to supersede the court of directors, but only to "check, superintend, and control" all the acts and concerns which in anywise relate to the civil or military government, or revenues of the Company's dominions; and with this view all letters and orders were to be submitted, before being sent out to India, to the inspection of the board, who might alter and amend these as they should deem expedient; and all communications from India were in like manner to be submitted to its inspection, and this board might even transmit orders to India without being submitted to the directors. The power of the court of proprietors was greatly diminished; a secret committee of directors was appointed; a provision was made for enforcing the disclosure by individuals of the fortunes brought home by them from India; and a new tribunal was erected for the trial of offences committed in that country. The nomination of the commander-in-chief was vested exclusively in the king; that of governor-general, presidents, and members of all the councils, in the directors, subject to the approbation of the king; which clause, rendering the approbation of the king necessary, was afterwards modified, but he was still allowed the power of recall. The servants in India were forbidden to engage in war, to receive presents, or to disobey orders transmitted by the board; and provision was made for the restoration to the zemindars of the lands from which they had been ejected. In the year 1786 no less than three acts were passed for the amendment of this act, by one of which power was given to the governor-general to act without and even against the consent of this council; by another the military was subjected to the civil power; and by a third act, the most efficient clause of Mr Pitt's bill was repealed, which ordained every public functionary of the Company, on his return to Europe, to make a full disclosure on oath of the property he possessed. This was considered as too severe a test for the Company's servants, though it could not have affected those who acted honestly. It is the guilty only who suffer by inquiries of this nature.

Mr Pitt's bill defined rather loosely the respective powers of the board of control and the directors; and the consequence was, that they speedily came into collision. The first question which came under their joint consideration, was the settlement of the nabob of Arcot's debts. These debts were owing to the Company's servants, and it was not very clear that any equivalent had been given for them. Paul Benfield, a principal creditor, who, as we have already mentioned, acted as a junior clerk of the Company, with a salary of some hundreds a year, advanced a claim, which, with interest, amounted to £592,000. Such transactions, therefore, were of so very doubtful a character, that they presented a prima facie case for inquiry; and Mr Pitt's bill accordingly provided that the court of directors "should take into consideration the origin and justice of such demands." But how great was their surprise when the board of control ordered that Hindustan, these debts, some of them contracted in 1767, should be paid without inquiry, and with the addition of interest at the rate of twelve per cent. The directors remonstrated against this proceeding, but in vain. The board ordered the debts to be paid immediately, though, in a similar case in 1805, the commissioners appointed to inquire into the more modern debts of the nabob of Arcot, out of claims to the amount of L20,390,570, allowed only L1,346,796. These facts too clearly point to the parliamentary influence of the East India interest as the true spring of this corrupt transaction; and the same interest also prevailed in subverting the plan which Lord Macartney had adopted for the management of the Carnatic revenues, and in restoring the administration of the nabob, which was a system of misrule that impoverished the country exactly as it tended to enrich the Company's servants. This, and other differences which arose, induced the directors to question the powers of the board of control; and a declaratory act was in consequence brought forward by Mr Pitt explaining these powers, according to the interpretation, not of the directors, but of the ministers. This act vests the real power in the board of control, though in practice a large share both of power and patronage has been still left to the directors.

Lord Cornwallis assumed the government of India in War with September 1786. He had ample instructions both from Tipoo, the court of directors and the board of control; and he carried into effect several very important reforms, both in the management of the revenue and in the administration of justice, whilst in his arduous contests with Tipoo he fully maintained the honour of the British arms. To the native and dependent powers his conduct was moderate and just; and one of his first cares was to relieve the nabob of Oude from the extortions of the former government, by which the country was impoverished, and in many places deserted and desolate. The wretched condition of the people is described in strong terms by Lord Cornwallis; and he now reduced the annual payment of the nabob from eighty-four lacs, equal to L940,000, to fifty lacs, and left in his hands the internal government of his country. But the mind of the governor-general was soon engrossed by other and more momentous concerns. Tipoo, who naturally viewed with jealousy the growing ascendancy of the British, began to take hostile measures. He descended from the Ghauts with a large military force, and spread alarm along the whole western coast. At length, throwing off all disguise, he commenced an attack on the raja of Travancore, an ally of the British, and invaded his dominions. Lord Cornwallis now prepared for war. He formed a league with the Mahrattas and the nizam, who agreed to aid with a military force in the approaching contest. The plan of the campaign was, that a division of the British under General Meadows should penetrate through the province of Coimbatore into the heart of the Mysore country, whilst General Abercromby should reduce the territory of Tipoo on the coast of Malabar, and Colonel Kelly remain to protect the Carnatic from the ravages of the enemy. The division of General Meadows marched from the plains of Trichinopoly on the 15th of June 1790, and all the fortresses in the line of its march, namely, Caroor, Daraparam, Erroo, Coimbatore, Sattimungul, Dindigul, and Palacatcherry, were necessarily occupied, by which the army was divided into three bodies, one at Coimbatore, another at Sattimungul, sixty miles distant, and a third at Palacatcherry, about thirty miles in the rear. In this situation, Colonel Floyd at Sattimungul, was attacked and forced to retreat with loss, and with great difficulty effected a junction with General Meadows. The sultan now resolved to attack, and, if possible, surprise the English chain of posts. He Hindustan. retook Errad; approached Coimbatore, which had been previously reinforced; and afterwards turned to Daraparam, which capitulated. Colonel Maxwell with his corps being ordered to invade Barramahal, the sultan, leaving part of his army to watch General Meadows, hastened to attack, and, if possible, to cut off this detachment. The British, and a regiment of cavalry, inveigled in a defile, were driven back with great loss. But the able dispositions of Colonel Maxwell frustrated any further attempts on the part of Tippoo; and he soon afterwards effected his junction with General Meadows. The sultan having thus succeeded in defeating the original plan for the invasion of Mysore by a rapid march into the Carnatic, arrived before the English depot of Trichinopoly, whither he was followed by General Meadows, and afterwards to Trincomalee; and thus ended this indecisive campaign. The Malabar country was in the course of three weeks completely reduced under the British power by the force under General Abercromby.

Lord Cornwallis now resolved to assume the command of the army, and, advancing to the Ghaut Mountains in the direction of Velore, to lay siege to Bangalore, and thence to proceed against Seringapatam, the capital of Mysore. Early in February 1791 he was on his march to Velore; and on the 5th of March the English army sat down before Bangalore, which on the 21st was carried by assault; an event which, fixing the seat of war in the enemy's territory, proved decisive of its success. On the 28th Lord Cornwallis began his march from Bangalore, in the course of which he was joined by the nizam's force, amounting to 10,000 cavalry, which were found to be of little service. On the 13th of May the British army reached Anika, about nine miles from Seringapatam, destitute both of provisions and of draught cattle. It was the intention of Lord Cornwallis that General Abercromby, ascending through the passes of the Ghauts from Malabar with the Bombay army, and the Mahratta force under Purseram Bhow, should penetrate into the centre of the sultan's dominions, and co-operate with the main army in the attack of the capital. Of the movements of this force Lord Cornwallis had received no intelligence; and having defeated Tippoo's army in the vicinity of Seringapatam, he now resolved, as the Cavery was too large to be crossed in safety, to ascend to a ford at Cansambaddy, eight miles above Seringapatam. In this march the troops were exposed to unexampled hardships; to disease, from scarcity of food, and of the means of conveyance owing to the complete failure of the draught cattle; and all their calamities were aggravated by the small-pox, which raged in the camp. It was now apparent that the army could only be saved by a timely retreat, and by the sacrifice of the battering train and all the heavy equipments. On the 21st of May, accordingly, the retreat was begun; and immediate orders were sent to General Abercromby to follow the same course, which occasioned a similar destruction of the battering train and other heavy equipments. So great was the destruction, that the ground on which the army of Lord Cornwallis had encamped at Cansambaddy was covered to an extent of several miles with the carcases of the cattle and horses; and the last sight of the gun-carriages, carts, and stores of the battering train, left in flames, was the melancholy spectacle which the troops beheld, as they passed along, on quitting this deadly camp.

Fortunately for the British army, it was met, before the end of the first day's march, by the allied force of the Mahrattas, under Purseram Bhow and Hurry Punt. Every despatch sent to these chiefs had been intercepted by the vigilance of the enemy, and they were astonished when they learned the disasters which had been occasioned by their delay. Their arrival, which evinced their sincerity in the cause, produced general satisfaction in the Hindustan, British camp, and a conviction, that the ruin of the sultan, though delayed, was now certain and inevitable. Tippoo, Treaty overawed by this formidable confederacy, made overtures with Tip to Lord Cornwallis for the conclusion of a peace; but that nobleman would listen to no terms of accommodation in which his allies were not included, and which were not preceded by the release of all the prisoners that had been detained during the present and former wars. The arrival of the Mahratta troops, amounting to 32,000 cavalry, however fortunate it might be deemed at the critical moment in which it happened, brought little additional effective strength to the allied army. Their battalions were unwieldy, irregular, and ill disciplined; their force had declined as much as Tippoo's had advanced in improvement; and they were at present far inferior to those troops who, under Madha Row, had defeated Hyder Ali in 1772.

The combined armies amounted to about 80,000 men; and if to these be added four times the number of camp followers, brinjaries or grain carriers, and the carriage department, the number of strangers to be subsisted in the Mysore alone could not be much less than half a million. That no distrust, jealousy, or counteraction, should have disturbed the combined operations of such an immense multitude, must be ascribed to the unexampled moderation and the vigilant conduct of the commander-in-chief. Such a vast army had never taken the field in India in the British cause; yet no murmurs, nor even the slightest appearance of distrust, were ever manifested by the allies towards the British commander. They submitted with implicit confidence, not only to his arrangements in carrying on the war, but, which was little to be expected among allies so much alive to their particular interests, they acquiesced in his distribution of the conquered territories, with a deference which evinced the most perfect confidence in his liberality and justice. With these coadjutors, Lord Cornwallis set out in the month of June towards Bangalore. He determined on a new and circuitous route northward by Naggemungulum; and in order to facilitate the communication between the Mysore and the Carnatic, from which the supplies were chiefly to be drawn, the various hill forts which command the different passes were to be reduced. Amongst these forts, remarkable for natural strength, Oossoor, Rayacottabad, and Nundydroog, were assaulted and taken. There remained Kistnaghery, Savendroog, and Ootradroog, on the first of which an unsuccessful attack was made. Savendroog consists of a vast mountainous rock, which rises above half a mile in perpendicular height above its own base, which covers a space of eight or ten miles in circumference. This rock is surrounded by walls on every side, and defended by cross barriers wherever it was deemed accessible. Towards the upper part, the immense pile is almost precipitous, and has the further advantage of being divided on the top into two hills, which have each their defences, and are capable of being maintained independently of the garrison in the lower works. To the siege of this tremendous fortress, Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart, commanding the right wing of the main army, was appointed. The attempt commenced on the 10th of December. In three days a practicable breach was effected, and both hills were stormed, with only one private soldier wounded. Colonel Stewart's detachment marched in two days against Ootradroog, another fortress strengthened by five different walls, and so steep as to prove tenable by a handful of men against the largest army. After the refusal of a summons to surrender, the lower fort was escaladed with such rapidity, that the kiladar requested a parley. But on some appearance of treachery in the upper fort, the assault was ordered; some of the gates were instantly broken, others were es- Hindustan caladed, till five or six different walls on the face of the steep rock were passed, when the troops gained the summit, and put the garrison to the sword. The assault of these fortresses, which had hitherto been deemed impregnable, made so serious an impression on the enemy, that in none of the hill forts, however inaccessible, did they afterwards make any attempt to resist the British troops. Hence the strong mountainous country between Bangalore and Seringapatam, which, studded with forts, had so much checked all communications, now afforded security to the convoys. These henceforth reached the army without opposition; and the supplies of warlike stores of every description were as completely re-established as they had been at the beginning of the last campaign.

To prevent any future scarcity of the great article of grain, the commander-in-chief encouraged the native binnaries, a class of men of whom we have already given some account. They form a peculiar caste, who are traders in grain, and whose utility is so universally acknowledged that they are regarded as neutral in war, and are not hindered by either of the belligerents from carrying supplies of grain to the other. By constantly affording regular payment and a good price to these native merchants, they supplied the camp to an extent far exceeding what could ever be furnished by the most extensive carriage establishment. With such ample supplies, preparations were made for the commencement of the campaign. The Bombay troops, destined again to act from the same quarter as last season, marched from Cananore, and arrived at the foot of Poodicherrim Ghaut in the month of December. Several weeks of hard labour were necessary to drag the artillery through woods extending nearly sixty miles, and over mountains of immense height, when this force, consisting of 8400, with all their baggage and artillery, and a supply of rice for forty days, penetrated with safety into the Mysore frontier, which they reached on the 22d of January 1792. To facilitate the return of the army, batteries were constructed to defend the pass; a precaution which, if the sultan had not overlooked, he would have suffered no invasion on this quarter of his dominions.

The Mahratta forces, after taking the important post of Simoga, which, however, was soon retaken by one of Tippoo's generals, and defeating Reza Saib and nearly 10,000 of the sultan's cavalry, effected their junction with the Bombay army, though somewhat later than the appointed season. The main army under Lord Cornwallis, being joined at Ootradroog by the battering train under Colonel Duff, and the last convoys under Colonel Floyd, and also by the army of the nizam, was at last fully prepared to resume its enterprises against the sultan, who, in imitation of his father when formerly attacked in 1767, had encamped with the whole of his force in a strong position under the walls of his capital. On the 1st of February the allied armies marched from Hooleadroog, the last hill fort of which they had taken possession, lying at the distance of only forty miles from Seringapatam. The last march, of the 5th of February, stretched across a range of barren hills lying six miles north-east of Seringapatam. From these heights a view of the whole city was presented to the army, and the encampment of the sultan under its walls. Every circumstance was eagerly viewed by our troops; and, from the sultan's position, it was evident that he meant to defend the place in person, and to make it the grand concluding scene of the war. The camp of the allies was pitched on the north side of the island. The British formed the front line, and extended along both sides of the Lockany, a small river which at this place flows into the Cavery. The reserve was placed a mile in the rear, to afford space for the baggage and stores; and the nizam and Mahrattas were stationed still farther in the rear, to prevent interference with the Hindustan, British camp.

Opposite to Seringapatam, on both sides of the river, a large space was enclosed by a bound hedge, which marks the limits of the capital, and afforded a retreat to the peasants during the incursions of cavalry. Tippoo's front line, or fortified camp, lay immediately behind this hedge, where it was defended by heavy cannon in the redoubts, and by a large field train advantageously placed. In this line there were a hundred pieces of artillery, and in the fort and island which formed his second line there were above thrice that number. The redoubts on his left were intrusted to two of his best officers, and a corps of Europeans commanded by Monsieur Vigie; Sheik Ansar, a general of established reputation, was stationed on the right, and the Carighaut Hill; whilst Tippoo himself commanded the centre, having his tent pitched in the sultan's redoubt. The fort and island, where there was the greatest number of guns, were intrusted to Syed Saib and other commanders. The whole army of the sultan thus stationed consisted of about 50,000 men.

The whole attention of Tippoo, on finding that he could not keep the field, was directed to the fortifying of this camp, and the strengthening of his defences in the fort and island, under the idea that the want of supplies, or the approach of the monsoon, would again force his enemies to abandon their enterprise, as they had been compelled to do on former occasions. In these circumstances, Lord Cornwallis resolved on the bold enterprise of a night attack on the enemy's fortified camp. Accordingly, on the evening of the 6th of February 1792, just after the troops had left the parade, orders were issued for an attack at seven o'clock, of the enemy's camp and lines, in three divisions. The British camp was left to be defended by the artillery and cavalry; whilst the assailants, who were instantly furnished with guides and scaling ladders, marched in perfect confidence that muskets alone, for they were unprovided with artillery, would prove the finest instruments for opening their way into the enemy's camp. The allies of the British, to whom this design was not communicated till after the column had marched, were struck with surprise and consternation on learning that Lord Cornwallis, like a common soldier, was personally to lead the attack on the enemy's fortified camp. They not only deemed his success impossible, but they dreaded that the ruin of the allied army would be involved in the attempt.

The three columns into which the assailants had been divided marched with equal intrepidity to execute the different objects which had been allotted them. Many obstacles intervened; various conflicts ensued in different quarters of the enemy's camp; each party was uncertain of the fate of the rest, and each individual of his associates. The return of day at last removed their fears and uncertainty, by disclosing the complete success which had crowned their exertions throughout the whole line of attack. The enemy having lost all their positions on the north side of the river, where the siege was to commence, and almost the whole of the island, every material object of the assault was secured. On the side of the British, the loss, though considerable, amounting to 536 men, was small in proportion to the importance of the victory and the disasters of the enemy, of whom it afterwards appeared that 4000 had been slain in the various conflicts during this night of enterprise, danger, and death, besides a much greater loss which was suffered by desertion.

The British army, now in possession of the island and town of Seringapatam, and flushed with the pride of victory, immediately began to make the necessary preparations for the siege of the fortress or citadel. The mosques Hindustan, and religious buildings on this enchanting island, watered by the Cavery, and the seat of perpetual verdure, were converted into hospitals for the wounded and sick; and the trees, now for the first time assailed by the axe, furnished materials for fascines and gabions for the approaching siege. The sultan was now seriously alarmed; and after vain efforts to retard the siege by a distant cannonade, which occasioned little injury, he at last began to meditate seriously on the necessity of a peace. In order to smooth the way for his overtures, he previously liberated two British officers, who had been detained contrary to capitulation in Coimbatore. These officers, who had not been treated with his usual rigour, he loaded with presents, and made the bearers of a letter to Lord Cornwallis, suing for peace. He at the same time had recourse to another daring expedient, which might have been attended with fatal consequences. He despatched a small party of horsemen in the night to surprise the tent of Lord Cornwallis, and put him to death. The party were detected by their eager inquiries after the commander's tent; and being fired upon, effected their retreat. The Bombay army, which was at this time approaching, effected its junction with the main army on the 16th; and on the second night after this event the trenches were opened, and a parallel formed within eight hundred yards of the north face of the fort. General Abercromby, stationed on the southern quarter with a strong detachment, was ordered to cannonade it from the heights. This attack being directed against the weakest part of the fort, occasioned the greatest alarm. Tippoo himself, therefore, at the head of his troops, marched to dislodge the general. Being supported by the guns of the fort, he maintained the action for the whole day; but towards evening he was forced to retreat. This desperate effort was the last that Tippoo made for his defence. His affairs hastened to a crisis; cabals were formed by the chiefs, and his troops deserted in multitudes during the night. He saw his capital blockaded on every side by a powerful army, plentifully supplied with provisions, which must infallibly reduce his troops by famine, should they even prove successful in repelling its assaults; even his last hopes of relief from the monsoon, and the swelling of the river, were thus finally cut off.

On the 23rd of February, therefore, the preliminaries of peace were signed by Tippoo, amidst the conflicting emotions of pride, resentment, and fear; and orders were issued to the troops on both sides to cease from further hostilities; a stipulation of which the dread of an immediate assault alone enforced the observance.

By the terms of this treaty, Tippoo was compelled to pay, as an indemnification for the expenses of the war, three crores and thirty lacs of rupees, at two instalments, the first to be advanced immediately, and the second at the end of four months. Other articles of this instrument provided further, that all the prisoners taken from the allied powers, from the time of Hyder Ali, should be unconditionally restored; that no less than one half of his territories should be ceded to the allies, and that two of Tippoo Sultan's three eldest sons should be given as hostages for the due performance of the treaty.

About noonday on the 26th, the young princes, the one eight, and the other ten years of age, mounted on their elephants richly caparisoned, and attended with a splendid retinue, left the fort, the walls and ramparts of which were crowded with spectators. Amidst the vast multitudes whom curiosity or affection had drawn out to witness this scene, Tippoo himself was beheld standing above a high gateway, through which, as they passed, the princes were saluted by the guns of the fort; a compliment which they again received as they approached the British camp. They were seated in silver howdahs, attended by their father's minister and a numerous retinue. The procession which they thus formed was equally grand and interesting. It was led by several camel harcaras and standard-bearers, carrying green flags suspended from rockets, followed by one hundred pikemen, with spears inlaid with silver. Their guard of two hundred Sepoys, and a party of horse, brought up the rear.

Lord Cornwallis, attended by his staff, and the principal officers of his army, and a battalion of Sepoys, received them at the door of his tent, and embraced them with a cordiality and tenderness that resembled parental affection. The manners, dress, and appearance of the young princes themselves, formed an interesting spectacle to their European hosts. They were clothed in red turbans and long white muslin gowns, everywhere sparkling with emeralds, rubies, and pearls. Thus attired, the young princes, immediately after their reception, were seated on each side of Lord Cornwallis, when Gulam Ali, the head vakeel of Tippoo, thus addressed the British general:

"These children were this morning the sons of the sultan my master; their situation is now changed; they must look up to your lordship as their father." The scene now became most interesting; the faces of the children brightened up; and not only their attendants, but all the spectators, were delighted to observe, that any fears they might have harboured were removed, and that they would soon be reconciled to their change of situation. After being regaled, in the eastern manner, with ottar of roses and betel-nut, the princes were presented each with a gold watch from Lord Cornwallis, a gift from which they seemed to receive great delight. Lord Cornwallis next day visited them in their tents; and each of them made him a present of a Persian sword, and he made them a present of some elegant fire-arms in return.

Some difficulty occurred in adjusting the terms of a definitive treaty. When the territory of the Coorga raja, in particular, was required, the demand seemed unexpected both by the sultan and his ministers, and was at first received with astonishment and disdain. This raja was considered as a chief cause of the war, and Tippoo, therefore, wished to crush him. Lord Cornwallis seemed equally resolute in his defence; for he again manned the works, and threatened to recommence the attack. Happily, his stock of provisions was ample; and although upwards of 400,000 strangers and half a million of cattle were daily to be fed, the supply was sufficient for the whole; whilst one million sterling of the fine imposed on Tippoo had already been paid. The firm determination of the commander-in-chief, aided by these circumstances, which were not unknown to the sultan, damped his resolution. His resentment cooled, and he finally acceded to the terms agreed upon, and copies of the treaty were delivered to the confederated powers.

From the conclusion of this treaty, dictated to Tippoo Nabob by an English army at the gates of his capital, no great event occurs in the history of India till the renewal of the war in 1798, during the administration of Lord Mornington. The affairs of the nabob of Oude, and his dominions, were both hastening to ruin under his own mismanagement and that of the English; and, with a full knowledge of this, his sway was now extended over the district of Rampore in the Rohilla country, granted to Fyzoolah Khan, the Rohilla chief, who survived the ruin of his nation, and who died at an advanced age in 1794, leaving the territory of which he was ruler in a high state of cul-

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1 For the substance of this account, see Major-general Dirom's narrative of this campaign. On the pretence of the usurpation of the reigning prince, who had made his way to the throne by the murder of his brother, the British troops made war on the Rohillas, and defeated them. The treasures of the late chief, amounting to 332,000 gold mohurs (£607,000), were given to the vizir or ruler of Oude, who returned twelve lacs of rupees (£1,27,000) to the British army; ten lacs of revenue were assigned for the support of the lawful prince, now dethroned; and the unhappy country was handed over to be pillaged and destroyed by the vizir and his English allies. He soon afterwards died, and was succeeded by Mirza Ali or Vizir Ali, who was set aside by the English on the reputed spuriousness of his birth, and Saadat Ali, the eldest surviving son of Sujah Dowlah, was placed on the throne. The annual subsidy to the English was at the same time raised to seventy-six lacs of rupees.

The Nabob Mahomed Ali, the first ally of the English, died in 1795, at the age of seventy-eight, and was succeeded by Omdut-ul-Omrah, his eldest son. Lord Hobart, governor of Madras, now determined to interfere with a strong hand in the affairs of the Carnatic, and, if possible, to rescue the country from the merciless exactions to which it had been exposed. These evils he describes to arise from the numerous loans of the English to the nabob. "Some of the principal houses of business in Madras," he observes, "or even some of the Company's servants, enter into an agreement with the nabob for the payment of sums which may have become due to the Company's treasury. They receive a mortgage upon a portion of the territory. To render this availing, they stipulate for the appointment of the manager of the territory. It is also requisite to establish an understanding with the military commanding officer of the district. And then the chain of power is complete. Then the unhappy ryots (husbandmen) are delivered over to the uncontrolled operations of men who have an interest in nothing but exacting the greatest sums in the shortest time; of men hardened by practice, and with consciences lulled to rest by the delusive opiate of interest upon interest." Lord Hobart prepared to remove these evils by assuming the management of the nabob's revenues, and, in short, the internal government of the country. But these arrangements being opposed by the supreme government, were not at this time carried into effect.

The British had now acquired an undisputed ascendency in India. The other ruling powers were the Mahrattas, under the peshwa and Scindia; the nizam of the Deccan, an ally and dependent of the British; and Tippoo, so greatly humbled and weakened by the late war as to be no longer formidable. Each of these powers was jealous of the others, though the balance of power was chiefly endangered by the ascendency of the British. The nizam, after the conclusion of the war with Tippoo, was extremely desirous of forming an alliance with the English as a defence against the encroachments of the Mahrattas, who, he was well informed, were planning an incursion into his dominions, for the purpose of levying the contribution of the chout, amounting to one fourth of the land revenues, to which they laid claim, on condition of guaranteeing the remainder. The English, though bound to the nizam by a treaty offensive and defensive, refused to join in any alliance against the Mahrattas, who, under the command of Dowlut Row Scindia, Mahadjee Scindia being lately dead, now invaded the nizam's territories, and having defeated his army and shut him in one of his fortresses, dictated a treaty of peace to him, by which he ceded a country yielding thirty-five lacs of revenue, paid them a large sum, and gave up his minister as an hostage for the performance of these conditions. Tippoo, since the conclusion of the peace negotiated by Lord Cornwallis, had laboured assiduously to regain his lost power and influence, and had employed all the means which suggested themselves for inducing the French to lend their assistance in expelling the English from India.

Lord Mornington arrived in Calcutta as governor-general in May 1798, and he had scarcely been a month in India when printed copies of a proclamation announcing the hostile designs of Tippoo, and inviting French subjects to join his standard, were circulated at Calcutta. The inquiries instituted by the governor-general not only substantiated the authenticity of this document, but developed a variety of facts illustrative of the irreconcilable enmity of Tippoo against the British. No course now remained but to establish a permanent restraint upon Tippoo's future means of offence; and Lord Mornington at once resolved upon a series of extended operations against Mysore. Tippoo, as the event too fatally for himself proved, was unprepared for war. Stripped of half his dominions and revenues by the last treaty, he had not the means of maintaining war; whilst the power of his rivals was formidably increased, and their numerous and well-appointed armies, and extended dominions, justly excited the dread and the jealousy of the native powers, and probably of Tippoo amongst others. But the humbled king of Mysore was no longer himself an object of jealousy and dread: the last treaty was dictated by a victorious army at the gates of his capital; its terms, from his unprovoked aggression of the British allies, were necessarily severe; and circumstances had since occurred which fully justified the British in exacting additional securities from the fallen prince. It was known that he had been in communication with Zemaun Shah, the ruler of Caubul, and that his intercourse with that prince had for its object the invasion of the N. of India in order to facilitate the projected hostile measures on the part of Tippoo in the S. It was ascertained that an embassy consisting of two natives, accompanied by a French officer, had been despatched by him to the executive directory of France. At Poona and at Hyderabad his efforts had been directed to counteract British influence, and to engage both Mahratta and Mohammedan chiefs in his views. The objects of the governor-general, as explained by himself, were, by obtaining the whole maritime territory remaining in the possession of Tippoo on the coast of Malabar, to preclude him from all future communication by sea with his French allies—to compel him to defray the entire expenses of the war, thus securing reimbursement of the outlay rendered necessary by his hostility, and, by crippling his resources, increasing the probability of future security—to prevail on him to admit permanent residents at his court from the English and their allies; and to procure the expulsion of all the natives of France in his service, together with an engagement for the perpetual exclusion of all Frenchmen both from his army and dominions. Before hostilities commenced, however, the sultan was allowed time to avert them by timely concession. Intelligence of Lord Nelson's recent victory over the French fleet was communicated to him with suitable remarks; and a letter addressed to him by the governor-general adverted to the transactions between that prince and the French government of the Mauritius, and contained a proposal to send an English officer to Tippoo, for the purpose of communicating the views of the Company and their allies. Tippoo's answer contained a ridiculous attempt to explain away the embassy to the Mauritius and its consequences, and his communication in other respects was so extremely vague, that the governor-general determined to suspend all negotiation with the sultan until the united force of the arms of the Company and of their allies should have made such an impression on his territories as might give full effect to the just representations of the allied powers. Three armies were now assembled for the invasion of Mysore—namely, the army of General Harris at Velore, which was to advance from the Hindustan east; the army of General Stuart at Cananore, on the western coast; and a force under Colonels Read and Brown in the southern districts of the Carnatic. On the 9th of March the army made its first united movement, and in the course of its advance experienced no serious resistance. The greatest obstacle to its progress arose from the want of provisions, and an adequate supply of carriages. All these difficulties were, however, overcome; and on the 5th of April the united army took up its position for the siege of the capital, exactly one month after it had crossed the frontier. Tippoo made a last and vain appeal to his enemies. But the governor-general was now resolved on the conquest of the country. His views expanded with the success of his arms; and towards the end of April he declared his opinion, that "it would be prudent and justifiable entirely to overthrow the power of Tippoo;" and "that the power and resources of Tippoo Sultan should be reduced to the lowest possible state, and even utterly destroyed, if the events of the war should furnish the opportunity." On the 3rd of May a practicable breach was made, and next day the assault took place, which notwithstanding an obstinate defence, was successful at every point. The assailants, carrying everything before them by the impetuosity of their attack, met over the eastern gateway; and the palace, in which were the family of the sultan and a body of his most faithful adherents, was the only place within the fort that still held out. From motives of humanity, the English were extremely averse to expose its inmates to the horror of an assault, and they at length succeeded in effecting its peaceable surrender. Major Allan, who was admitted to the apartments of the young princes, endeavoured, by every expression of tenderness, to soothe the agitation of their minds. They were conducted to the presence of General Baird, who assured them, in the kindest manner, of protection from violence and insult, and gave them in charge to two officers, to be conducted to the head-quarters of the general. The sultan lost his life in the defence of his capital, and his body was found amidst heaps of slain. He had been repeatedly wounded in the course of the conflict; and his attendants having placed him in his palanquin, he was observed by the English soldiers who first entered. One of them in attempting to pull off his sword-belt, which was very rich, received a wound from the sultan, who still held his sabre in his hand; on which, putting his musket to his shoulder, he fired, and the sultan, receiving the ball in his temple, expired.

The kingdom of Mysore, which was now in possession of the English, was partitioned amongst the allied powers. The English and the nizam received equal portions of the conquered territory, and a smaller portion was reserved for the Mahrattas. The possessions of the sultan on the Malabar coast, the district of Coimbatore and Darampoom, the whole country which lay between the Company's territory on the eastern and western coasts, the passes of the Ghaunts, the district of Weynaad, and the city and island of Seringapatam, were surrendered to the British, who now occupied the country from sea to sea. A territory of equal value was ceded to Nizam Ali, in the districts of Gooty, Gurrumconda, and the tract of country which lies along the line of the great forts of Chittledroog, Sera, Nundydroog, and Colar, with the exception of the forts. The territory ceded to the Mahrattas, from one-half to two-thirds of the other portions, was to include Harpoonelly, Soonda above the Ghaunts, Annagoudy, and some other districts; also the territory, though not the fortresses, of Chittledroog and Bednore. The remaining portion of the sultan's territories was erected into a separate state, over which was placed a descendant of the ancient rajas, who had been retained in confinement by Tippoo and his father; with such conditions, however, as provided for the transfer of the entire administration to the British in the event of misgovernments. The treasures of Tippoo, amounting to sixteen Hindustan lacs of pagodas (£640,000), and his jewels, valued at £360,000, were divided amongst the troops. The fortress of Vellore was commodiously fitted up for the future residence of the royal family, to whom, and to all Tippoo's confidential servants, such pensions were assigned, that they were no less surprised than gratified by the liberality of the conquerors.

The influence of British authority is not confined to the dominions immediately subjected to it; it is exerted over nearly the whole of India, by virtue of protective treaties with the native princes. In the states thus situated the prince exercises the functions of sovereignty, under the control of the British power, which is represented by a resident agent. The presumed advantages of this arrangement are mutual. The prince and his successors are guaranteed in the possession of their dominions; and in return, the ruling prince renounces all external connections, except with the British, through whom alone negotiations are conducted, and by whose decision he is bound in all matters of dispute with other states. In some cases the prince consents to receive a subsidiary force; in others this provision is dispensed with. But the great principles which pervade them all are the supremacy of the British, and the dependency of the native government. In 1798 a treaty was concluded with the nizam, by which he agreed to dismiss a force under French officers, which he had hitherto maintained, and to receive and to pay a British force in its stead, whose aid, it is certain, was absolutely necessary for the defence of his dominions. This was therefore the commencement of British ascendancy in that country. In Oude the military power had long been vested in the Company. Upon the death of Shujah-ul-Dowlah in 1775, and the succession to the throne of his eldest son, it was stipulated that a brigade of British troops, consisting of two battalions of Europeans, one company of artillery, and six battalions of sepoys, should be stationed in Oude whenever required by the vizier, for the support of which he engaged to pay an annual sum of about £300,000. Additions were made to this force in 1781, and again in 1787, when the Nawab vizier agreed to fix his subsidy at £500,000, in which sum were included the expenses of the British Residency. In 1797 the vizier consented to defray the expense of two regiments of cavalry, one European and one native, making the total subsidy £555,000 per annum. Shortly afterwards the Company bound themselves to defend the territories of Oude against all enemies. In order to enable them to fulfil this engagement, and at the same time to provide for the protection of their own dominions, they had largely increased their military establishment by the addition of new levied regiments, both of infantry and cavalry; and in consequence thereof Saadat Ali agreed, in 1798, to increase the subsidy to £750,000 per annum. The Nawab vizier also ceded the fortress of Allahabad, and gave £80,000 to the Company for its repairs, and £30,000 for those of Futtehghur. The British troops in Oude were not to consist of less than 10,000 men, including Europeans and natives, cavalry, infantry, and artillery; and should it become necessary to augment the Company's troops beyond the number of 13,000 men, the vizier agreed to pay the actual difference occasioned by the excess above that number. The threatened invasion of Zamaun Shah attracted the attention of the Marquis Wellesley (then Earl of Mornington) to the state of Oude. It was desirable to substitute efficient troops for the unskilful and undisciplined force maintained by the vizier, and to place the defence of the Oude frontier against foreign invasion upon a more substantial basis. To accomplish these objects the pecuniary subsidy was commuted for a territorial cession; and by treaty, 10th November 1801, the Nawab vizier ceded the Southern Doab and the districts of Allahabad, Azimgurb, Western Goruckpore, and some others, estimated to yield in the aggregate an annual revenue of L1,352,347.

About the same time the nabob of Surat, the nabob of Arcot, against whom a lucky discovery was made of a criminal correspondence with Tipoo, and the rajah of Tanjore, were all dethroned, and pensions assigned them for their support. The benefits anticipated from these measures have been fully realised. Most of the protected states have been wretchedly misgoverned; and there cannot be the slightest doubt that the people have been far happier as British subjects. Yet some suspicion must attach to the motives of those who, after the death of Fyzoolah Khan, could transfer the flourishing country of the Rohillas from the mild sway of its lawful rulers to the misrule and oppression of the nabob of Oude. A bad was here substituted for a good government. If good government had been the sole object, how greatly would it have been promoted by the transfer of the territory from native to British rule. The British provinces have been steadily advancing in prosperity; the progress of the protected states has been from bad to worse.

The Mahratta powers, namely, the peshwa, the nominal head of the confederacy, whose capital was Poonah, the rajah of Berar, Holkar, and Scindia, now remained the only rivals of the English for the dominion of India; and it was the policy of the Marquis Wellesley, as he himself explains at large in his correspondence with the residents in India and the directors at home, to form subsidiary alliances with them, on the same terms as with the other states of India; namely, that a British force should be permanently stationed within their dominions, and that they should assign a sufficient quantity of land for its maintenance and pay. The effect of this alliance, as indeed its object, as stated by the marquis, was to secure the dependence of the different states of India on the British power. "The measure of subsidizing a British force, even under the limitations which the Peshwa has annexed to that proposal (namely, its being stationed without the limits of his dominions), must immediately place him in some degree in a state of dependence on the British power." This effect was very plainly seen by the Mahratta princes, as well as by the governor-general; and accordingly, though the arrangement was very zealously pressed upon the peshwa, as well as on Scindia, it was steadily rejected by both, until the former was reduced by necessity to accept the alliance of the British on their own terms. This necessity was brought about by contentions amongst the Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia, for political ascendancy in the court of Poonah. Mahadjee Scindia, who was the founder of the family, was the son of Ramoje Scindia, whose humble employment at the court of Poonah was to carry the peshwa's slippers, but who afterwards rose to eminent rank, and was known as an enterprising soldier. Mahadjee was also a soldier, and was present in the fatal battle of Paniput, from which he narrowly escaped with a severe wound in his knee by a battle-axe. He afterwards acquired land and troops, and rose, as the power of the peshwa declined, to the rank of an independent chief. He died at Poonah in 1794, leaving to his grand-nephew, Dowlut Row Scindia, only thirteen years of age, vast possessions and a well-disciplined army. Mulhar Row, the founder of the Holkar family, was born about the year 1693. He was at first a keeper of sheep, afterwards a commander of horse in the service of the peshwa, and at last one of the great military leaders of the Mahratta confederacy. He died in 1766, at the age of seventy-six years, with the character of a plain and generous soldier. Mulhar Row Holkar had only one son, Kundee Row, who was slain, some years before the battle of Paniput, at the siege of Kumbhire. This prince had married the renowned Ahalya Bacee, by whom he had one son and one daughter, both of whom died, the daughter on the funeral pile of her deceased husband. Ahalya Bacee succeeded to the sovereignty, and assumed as the commander of her army, and her minister for those duties which a female could not perform, Tukajee Holkar, the chief of the tribe, though not related to Mulhar Row. The administration of Ahalya Bacee, who is celebrated by Sir John Malcolm as a shining example of great qualities and amiable virtues, was fraught with blessings to her subjects, the country enjoying under her rule more than thirty years of prosperity and peace. Tukajee Holkar, who reigned till the year 1797, left four sons, Cashee Rao, Mulhar Rao, Eithojee Holkar, and Jeswunt Rao Holkar. The succession was disputed by the two elder brothers, who repaired to Poonah for the decision of the peshwa. The influence of Scindia was at this time paramount at Poonah; and having made his terms with Cashee Rao, he surprised and murdered Mulhar Rao, with all his attendants, at Poonah, in September 1797. The wife of Mulhar Rao left a posthumous child, Khunde Rao, of whose person Scindia got possession, and retaining Cashee Rao in a state of dependence, proposed to govern the dominions of Holkar in his name. The two brothers, Eithojee and Jeswunt Rao, who were at Poonah at the time of the murder, made their escape, the first to Kolapoor, where he was taken, sent to Poonah, and executed; the latter to Nagpoor, where he was arrested and thrown into confinement. Having made his escape, he fled to Meyhsyer on the Nerbuddan. Here he collected a band of adventurers, and in October 1801 was enabled to fight a battle with Scindia, in which he was defeated with the loss of his baggage and artillery. Before the middle of 1802 Holkar had assembled a new and well-disciplined army. He insisted on the release of the posthumous child Khunde Rao, the head, as he proclaimed him, of the house of Holkar; and to enforce his demand, he advanced with his troops from Malwah towards Poonah. Scindia collected his army, and on the 25th of October a battle was fought, in which Holkar obtained a decisive victory.

It was during these transactions that the governor-general deemed the occasion favourable for drawing the policy of Mahratta chiefs into a subsidiary alliance with the Bri. Lord Wellesley; and it was proposed to Scindia that he should receive a British force into his dominions, that he should cede to the Company a territory sufficient to maintain this force, and that he should admit the arbitration of the British in all disputes with the nizam and with the other states of Hindustan; and the governor-general explains, that if he consent to receive a British force within his dominions, "the arbitration of the British government will necessarily be admitted to an extent proportioned to the ascendancy which that government will obtain over Scindia under the proposed engagements, and to the power which it will possess of controlling his designs." Was this system, we may ask, of general alliance and subjection to the British, now proposed by the governor-general, a scheme of benevolence for establishing universal peace throughout India, or one of ambition? War is no doubt the great scourge of humanity; and if it could be superseded by the peaceable arbitration of neutral powers, a great blessing would be conferred on mankind. But it is vain to suppose that the potentates of the earth will voluntarily submit to the curb of reason; and vain was it therefore for the governor-general to endeavour, by persuasion or address, to draw the powers of India into an alliance which would reduce them from the rank of independent princes.

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1 Memoir of Central India, by Sir John Malcolm, vol. i. chap. v. Hindustan.

That the entire ascendency of the Company's government in India would, in preventing intestine war, have been, as it has since proved, highly beneficial to India, no one could doubt; but it was obvious that the supremacy of the British was to be established not by pacific measures but by the sword. The policy, however, of the British government in India was at this time opposed to conquest, and to the influence of this principle must be ascribed the conduct of the governor-general. His motives are entitled to respect, but it is to be regretted that he was not actuated by a less scrupulous spirit. In point of fact, it is by war that all India, happily we sincerely believe for the people, has been at length brought under the control of one ruling power, and that universal peace now reigns over that vast continent. It was not yet time, however, for this desirable consummation; and the Mahratta chiefs, as might have been supposed, received with decided aversion the propositions of the governor-general, which amounted to nothing less than a renunciation of independent power. In the defeat of Scindia, however, by Holkar, and the advance of this latter chief to Poonah, the peshwa saw the overthrow of his power; and he quitted his capital, leaving in the hands of the British resident a preliminary engagement, by which he agreed to receive into his territories six battalions of troops, with their proportion of artillery, and to cede a territory for their support either in Gujarat or the Carnatic, yielding twenty-five lacs of rupees.

This treaty, in which it was further agreed that the peshwa should, by the aid of the British, be restored to his dominions and to his sovereign authority, was formally signed at Bassein on the 31st of December 1802; and immediately Sir Arthur Wellesley, on a report that Poonah was in danger of being burned, advanced on that city by a rapid and unexpected march, with a body of cavalry. At the approach of the British, Holkar's disorderly bands fled with precipitation, and soon abandoned the territory of Poonah; and the deposed prince returned in triumph to his capital, amid the acclamations of the people. The treaty of Bassein, and the entire ascendency of the British at the court of Poonah, excited the jealousy of the other powers; and Scindia and the rajah of Berar now entered into a confederacy for repressing this desire of encroachment on the native states. But their motions were narrowly watched by the British; and their armies having taken hostile positions, from which they refused to withdraw, the British were induced to take the field. A vast force was collected. An army under General Lake assembled on the north-western frontier of Oude, which on the 7th of August marched from Cawnpore, and crossing Scindia's frontier on the 28th, took by assault the fort of Allyghur, and on the 9th of September totally defeated, about six miles from Delhi, the Mahratta force, formerly under Perron, a French officer, and still commanded by one of his countrymen, with the loss of all the artillery and baggage. General Lake entered Delhi, evading the enemy on the 14th, and paid his respects to the Great Mogul Shah Aulum, afflicted with age, infirmities, and poverty, in all respects a touching spectacle of fallen dignity. On the 4th he reached Agra, which was taken by assault after a severe contest; and on the 31st defeated, in the well-fought battle of Laswaree, the remaining force of Scindia; and thus in the course of three months overran all his territories in the region of the Jumna. Nor was General Wellesley, who now gave an early promise of that genius for war which was afterwards more fully displayed in the arduous conflicts of Europe, less successful in the south. His first operation was the assault and capture of the strong fortress of Ahmednuggur on the 12th of August; after which, being apprised that the combined armies of Scindia and the rajah of Berar meditated a march on Hydrabad, he concerted with Colonel Stephenson, who commanded a separate corps, a joint attack on the 24th. In the mean time, apprehensive that the enemy meditated a retreat, he attacked with his own division alone the combined Mahratta armies, encamped on the Kaitra river, near the village of Assye, and obtained the victory after a sanguinary conflict; in which, out of 4500 men, the British lost 428 killed and 1138 wounded, and were entirely disabled from pursuing the enemy. Colonel Stephenson, who joined on the 24th, was sent on this duty, and was also instructed to attack Boorhampore and Asseerghur, of which, and of all Scindia's territories in the Deccan, he took possession. The British arms were now turned against the rajah of Berar; his army was entirely defeated on the plains of Argaum on the 29th of November. Colonel Stephenson, advancing to Elllichpoor on the 5th of December, laid siege to the strong mountain fortress of Gawilghur, near the source of the Taptree, which was carried by assault. The British were equally successful in every other quarter. The country of Bundelcund was speedily reduced; a force from Bombay attacked Scindia's possessions in Gujarat; and a division of the Madras army the maritime province of Cuttack. The Mahratta chiefs now bethought of peace as their only refuge from impending ruin. A treaty was accordingly concluded with the rajah of Berar, by which he ceded to the Company the province of Cuttack, with the port of Balasore, to his ally the nizam, the country lying between his own frontier and the river Wurda to the eastward, and between his own frontier and the hills, in which are situated the forts of Gawilghur and Nermulla to the northward. By the treaty concluded with Scindia, he ceded in full sovereignty the country between the Jumna and the Ganges, to the northward of the territories belonging to the rajahs of Jeepoor, Joudpoor, and Gohud, the fort and territories of Baroosh, of Ahmednuggur, and all the possessions which he held on the south side of the Ajuntee Hills to the Godavery river. Provision was made for the independence of all those minor states in the region of the Jumna which had joined the English in the late war. Of these cessions, it was agreed that the territory situated to the westward of the Wurdah, and to the southward of the hills on which were the forts of Gawilghur and Nermulla, together with the territory between the Ajuntee Hills, should be given to the nizam; that the fortress of Ahmednuggur and its territory should belong to the peshwa, and that the English should have the remaining portion. The minor princes near the Jumna, namely, the rajahs of Bhurtpeere, Joudpoor, Jeepoor, Machery, and Boondi, the ramah of Gohud, and Ambajee Rao Englath, now became dependents on the British, by whom they were guaranteed in the possession of their dominions, they defraying any charge which might be incurred. Scindia, now weakened by the loss of territory, was really anxious to secure a subsidiary alliance with the English for the security of his remaining dominions against the designs of Halkar. It was agreed that six thousand infantry, with the usual complement of artillery, should be allotted for his defence; that they should be maintained by the English from the revenues of the ceded territories; and that they should be stationed near the frontier, but not within his dominions. It was further agreed, as formerly in the treaty of Bassein, that the British should not in any case interfere between him and his subjects, but that the subsidiary force, if required, should aid in suppressing rebellion and internal disturbances; a condition of doubtful policy, since it evidently implies that the British were to stand still, the quiet spectators of any cruelties the Mahratta chief might inflict upon his subjects; but, the moment they took up arms in their defence, they were to aid in crushing them, as disturbers of the public peace. The short period of tranquillity that succeeded the peace with Scindia was speedily interrupted by Holkar, who, though he kept aloof from the confederacy of his countrymen, with an indifference which seemed to argue at once a deficiency of patriotism and a want of sound policy, was, nevertheless, alarmed by the success of the British arms, and his whole conduct evinced his determination to try the fortune of war. His power and resources had gradually been increased, like that of the other chiefs, by the introduction of European officers into his army, and by an improved system of discipline, which he had established. He was, besides, protected by the nature of his country, which is very mountainous, and, during the rains, impassable from jungles and morasses. His skill in maintaining the predatory warfare, so congenial to a Mahattra army, was far superior to that of the other chiefs, whose ruin had so fully taught him the danger of any regular engagement with European troops. Thus, although his territories were invaded on all sides by detachments of the Company's forces, he constantly eluded their attacks; and, by the singular rapidity of his movements, he was enabled suddenly to assemble almost his whole force, and overpower whatever detachments he might find at a distance from support. In this situation, the troops under Colonel Monson were surprised. This officer, in concert with Colonel Murray, who invaded Holkar's dominions from Gujarat, and captured Indore, the capital, without much opposition, had advanced fifty miles beyond the Mokundra Pass, towards the Chumbul, when, alarmed by the fear of his supplies running short, he resolved to retreat. Being betrayed by his guides, and deserted by part of his troops, he was attacked by a superior force under Holkar himself, before which he was forced to retreat towards Agra, through a country impassable from the rains, and destitute of provisions. After several disastrous conflicts, during a retreat of seven weeks, which degenerated into a flight, the greater part of his guns, and the whole of the baggage and military stores, were lost. A few only of the troops reached Agra at midnight, in a state of extreme distress; the greater part had been overtaken in their flight, and were either massacred, or cruelly mutilated, by their ferocious pursuers.

Colonel Willot of the Bengal artillery was almost equally unsuccessful in an attack which he had planned against a strong post in the interior; he failed in the attempt, and soon after died of the wounds he had received. It was in Bundelkund, and the country of the Rohillas, that Holkar received the most considerable checks, which produced a reverse in his fortunes. From both those territories he was completely driven by Lieutenant-colonel Fawcet and General Smith. On the escape of Colonel Monson to Agra, Holkar advanced with his whole army to Muttra, whither he was followed by General Lake, who arrived at Muttra on the 1st of October 1804, Holkar retiring as he advanced. Here he put in practice a stratagem, which had nearly gained for him great advantages. Leaving his cavalry to engage the attention of the British general, he proceeded with his infantry in secret and by forced marches, and on the 8th he appeared before Delhi, on which he opened a heavy cannonade. Next day he erected breaching batteries, and made a determined assault. But this and a subsequent attack was repelled with such determined gallantry by the small garrison under Colonels Ochterlony and Burn, that he desisted from all further attempts, and departed during the night with his whole force.

Parties of his cavalry had been repeatedly defeated by Lord Lake; but the rapidity of their movements as often saved them from destruction, and it was not till the decisive battle of Deeg, on the 13th of November, that the main strength of this enterprising chief was completely broken. At this place his army, trusting to the great strength of its position, behind successive ranges of batteries, was induced to hazard a general action. From these different batteries, which extended to the depth of two miles, they were successively driven by the gallant General Frazer, who had the credit of forcing a post which had been deemed impregnable, and which at this period was defended by twenty-four battalions of infantry and 150 pieces of cannon. In this brilliant achievement the general received a wound in the leg, of which he afterwards died, and was carried off the field. The completion of the victory thus fell to Colonel Monson, who now saw complete vengeance inflicted for his past disasters, and for the unexampled cruelty of his enemy, 2000 of whom were killed, either in the battle or during the retreat. An immense number was wounded, and amongst these many considerable chiefs; whilst eighty-seven pieces of cannon fell into his hands, which partly consisted of the same guns which he had himself lost during his disastrous retreat to Agra. The important fortress of Deeg was besieged and taken at night, by assault, on the 23rd of December.

Had Holkar confined merely to his effective force in the field, his cause might have now been regarded as desperate. His boldness, however, and his unexampled success, had gained him the support of several of the native princes. Among these he had seduced the rajah of Bhurtpore, an ally of the British, and the chief of the celebrated caste of the Jauts, the most warlike tribe in upper India. General Lake was therefore obliged to concentrate his army, and to employ it in the reduction of Bhurtpore, a fortress which experience has proved to have been the strongest and most impregnable in the whole peninsula. Whilst thus employed, the dispersed troops of Holkar had time to rendezvous in distant quarters, and were successful in cutting off his supplies of provisions, and in plundering the surrounding districts, by that predatory mode of warfare for which the Mahatrattas have always been celebrated. Scindia, also, who had been engaged in continual disputes with the British respecting the treaty which had been concluded, now openly showed his hostile dispositions by invading the territories of the British allies, by attacking and plundering the camp of the British resident, and by his ill-concealed correspondence with Holkar, whom he now openly joined.

The reduction of Bhurtpore, defended by the indefatigable efforts of Holkar, by its intrepid garrison, and its Bhurtpore own natural strength, proved the most arduous enterprise which the British troops had ever undertaken in Asia. The success of the besieged in repelling four different assaults animated them with fresh courage and intrepidity. The rajah and his whole tribe were united by the ties of blood, as well as of civil authority. They laid claim to a high caste among the natives, which they knew must be forfeited for ever by unconditional submission. Unfortunately these were the only terms which General Lake, in the peremptory instructions which were given for its reduction, was permitted to accept. The rajah, therefore, having collected in the fort his women, his children, and his treasures, resolved to bury them all with himself under its ruins, rather than submit to terms which were deemed as disgraceful to his religion and his rank, as they were mortifying to his feelings as a soldier. Compelled by the orders of his superior, and undaunted by all the past disasters which the troops had already suffered, General Lake resolved to hazard another attempt, which was equally unsuccessful with all the others. In the official account given of this last attack, it is said, "the bastion, which was the point of attack, was extremely steep, the resistance opposed to them was vigorous, and as our men could only mount by small parties at a time, the advantages were very great on the side of the enemy. Discharges of grape, logs of wood, and pots filled with combustible materials, immediately knocked down those who were ascending; and the whole party, after having engaged in an obstinate contest..." Hindustan, for two hours, and suffering very severe loss, was obliged to relinquish the attempt, and to retire to our trenches." The loss of the British army in this last assault, and that of the 20th, amounted to 300 killed, and 1564 wounded; its whole loss, during the different attacks, amounted to upwards of 3000 of the bravest of our troops, whilst the unconditional surrender of the place, though the ultimate object of all these perilous attempts, was never attained. The rajah, however, again proposed the terms he had formerly offered, and consented to pay three lacs of rupees to the army, and the expenses of the war. Hostages were given for the regular discharge of these sums, at different instalments. Thus the last prince in India who resisted the British arms was found to have made the most glorious defence of his independence, and to have secured for himself the most honourable terms. Holkar, unable any longer to face the British troops, was reduced to the condition of a fugitive; and flying from place to place, often beaten, and at last deserted by almost the whole of his troops, was obliged to escape with a retinue so scanty as was hardly sufficient for the protection of his person.

Arrival of Lord Cornwallis were dazzled for a time by the splendid successes of the wallis. British arms, were at length startled by the warlike policy and prodigal expenditure of the Wellesley administration; and, with a view to retrieve their embarrassed affairs, the Marquis Cornwallis was sent out as governor-general to Calcutta, where he arrived on the 80th of July 1805. He entirely disapproved of the system of subsidiary alliances adopted by his predecessor, by which the British were entangled in the labyrinth of Indian politics. He censured in strong terms the treaty of Bassein, which reduced the British, as he states, to "the alternative of mixing in all the disorders and contentions incident to the loose and inefficient constitution of the peshwa's administration, or of suffering the government and dominion of his highness to be completely overthrown by the unrestrained effects of general anarchy and rebellion. Under such circumstances," he adds, "the alliance with the peshwa, far from being productive of any advantage to the Company, must involve us in inextricable difficulty, and become an intolerable burden to us." In pursuance of these views, he resolved, as soon as Scindia should release the British residency, to conclude a treaty with him, and to restore to him Gualior and Golhud, the points in dispute. At this critical period Lord Cornwallis, languishing under age and infirmities, expired. But his successor, Sir George Barlow, entered entirely into his views. A treaty was concluded with Scindia on the terms proposed; the British agreed to renounce all interference, by treaties or otherwise, with the rajas of Odeypoor, Joudpoor, Kotah, and other chiefs, the tributaries of Scindia, in Malwah and Mewar. A treaty was concluded with Holkar, on the 24th of December 1805, by which all his former territories were restored to him, both on the north and on the south of the Chumbul. According to his system, Lord Cornwallis dissolved all the alliances which had been formed with the petty princes of India, several of whom had aided the British in the late contest. Lord Lake earnestly remonstrated in vain against this abandonment of the British allies, several of whom were now left, contrary to the faith of protecting treaties, to the vengeance of the Mahrahta chiefs, Holkar and Scindia.

General peace. From the year 1805, when a general peace was established by Lord Cornwallis, to the year 1813, when Marquis Hastings assumed the government, the political relations of the Company with the native powers had undergone little alteration. The tranquillity which prevailed was, however, more apparent than real; and it was naturally to be supposed, indeed, that the widely extending domination of a foreign power would excite the jealousy of the native princes of India. Such of them, accordingly, as retained any sense of national honour were naturally hostile to the British, and were well disposed to unite against them as the common enemies of Indian independence. In 1814 the war with the Nepalese commenced, and in the outset the reverses sustained by the British in their attempts to penetrate into the hill country strongly excited the hopes of the native princes. In the following year, the valour and military talents of Sir D. Ochterlony brought that war to a brilliant close; and the bravery and discipline displayed by the troops in the course of the campaign renewed among the Indian princes the former impression of their invincible superiority. Whatever might be their ulterior views, therefore, they were compelled for the present to temperize, and to soothe their conquerors by an outward show of humility and peace.

A more favourable opportunity, as they conceived, soon occurred for successful resistance to the British power. From the constant wars and commotions in which India had from time immemorial been involved, it happened that a great proportion of the native population were trained to habits of disorder and military license. At the general settlement concluded in 1805, it was naturally supposed that those bands of adventurers, having no longer any scope for their predatory enterprises, would betake themselves to pacific pursuits, and would thus be gradually dissolved among the mass of the people. It happened otherwise. Those hordes of freebooters, known under the general denomination of Pindarees, improved both in strength and union, and Scindia and Holkar, in whose neighbourhood they were settled, if they did not openly abet them, made no active efforts for their suppression. The nature of their force may be shortly described. It consists of a species of light cavalry, which was formerly attached to the native armies, in the same manner and for the same purpose as the Cossacks are to the armies of Russia. Their horses were trained to long marches and hard fare, it being their object to plunder the country, and to elude pursuit by the celerity of their movements. They were generally armed with a bamboo spear, from twelve to eighteen feet long; every fifteenth man carried a matchlock; about four hundred out of every thousand were well mounted; of the remaining six hundred, four hundred were indifferently mounted, and the rest were slaves, attendants, and camp-followers, mounted on wild ponies, and keeping up with the corps as they best could. About the year 1814, these predatory bands comprised about 40,000 horse, who followed plunder as their mode of subsistence, and were indeed a most formidable species of gang-robbers; but, like other robbers and murderers on a great scale, they assumed all the form and pomp of military array. The strength and numbers of this disorderly mass were daily increasing by deserters from Holkar's irregular bands, and from the loose cavalry establishments of Scindia and others, where they were retained by no tie but that of present advantage, and where their pay was always in arrear. The central situation of the Pindarees, at an equal distance from the three presidencies, rendered their hostility still more formidable, and enforced on the British the necessity of maintaining an extensive line of defence, which was always penetrated by those flying hordes, and the territories of our allies exposed, in consequence, to annual devastations. In 1808-1809, and in 1812, they carried their incursions into the British territories, and returned loaded with spoil. The fame of these successful exploits recruited their bands, and enabled them to extend their ravages. In October 1815, a force of 8000 Pindarees crossed the Nerbudah in a north-west direction, and dividing into two parties, they penetrated to the Kistnah, though they were watched, and one party was surprised by a body of infantry and cavalry, which did them, however, little damage. They were only deterred from cross- ing into the Madras presidency by the swollen state of the river, along the fertile and populous banks of which they took their course, plundering as they went along, and committing every kind of enormity. In their return along the line of the Godavary and the Wurda, they passed the British positions, making good their retreat with an immense booty, and with utter impunity. A second expedition was soon planned, which, crossing the Nerbuddah, appeared on the western frontier of the district of Masulipatam, under the Madras presidency, on the 10th of March 1816. Next day they made a march of thirty-eight miles southward, plundering ninety-two villages, with every circumstance of unheard-of cruelty; and on the 12th they marched thirty-eight miles, plundering fifty-four villages. By the 17th May they had nearly all recrossed the Nerbuddah, loaded with spoil, and with scarcely any loss. During the twelve days that they had remained within the Company's territories, it was ascertained that 182 persons had been put to a cruel death, 505 were found severely wounded, and 3603 had been put to different kinds of torture.

It now became necessary to adopt efficient means for protecting the country against these destructive visitations. For this purpose a defensive line of posts was extended along the Nerbuddah, and across the country for about 150 miles. This was, as usual, soon penetrated by the activity of the enemy, and various expeditions advanced southward for the purpose of plunder. By the singular activity of the different corps, and by a train also of fortunate accidents, almost all of these expeditions were intercepted, broken, and discomfited, so that very few of the plunderers made good their retreat. It was resolved, however, in the year 1817, to commence offensive operations; to attack the enemy in their native haunts, and either to exterminate them, or to drive them from the advantageous position which they occupied, in the very centre of India. The season of inaction was accordingly spent in making preparations for a great military effort; and, by the end of the rainy season of 1817, a numerous and well-appointed army was ready for the field. The plan of the campaign was, that the armies of the different presidencies should advance northward, and gradually converging to a common centre, hem in on every side, the devoted territory of the free-booters.

But whilst this plan was in progress, it was interrupted, and part of the troops engaged in executing it were suddenly recalled, by the unexpected hostility of the native powers. Bajee Rao, the peshwa or prince of Poonah, who had long been impatient of the British yoke, availed himself of this opportunity to make a fresh attempt to recover his independence. With a view of more vigorously prosecuting the war against the Pindarees, all the troops had moved northward, with the exception of a brigade which had been left at Poonah; and it was to overpower this small body of troops that the peshwa's first efforts were directed. They were completely unsuccessful; he was repulsed at all points by the steadiness of the Company's troops. This action took place on the 5th of November. On the 13th, the British were joined by General Smith's division, which had advanced on the Godavary, on an understanding, that if he did not hear daily from the resident at Poonah, he should countermarch to that place. It was resolved to attack the enemy's camp next day; but it was found deserted. General Smith immediately commenced an unremitting pursuit of the peshwa, who was hunted from place to place by the different corps of the British army, until he at length deemed it prudent to surrender. He was deposed from his throne; a residence in a particular city was fixed upon for him; and a pension of about L100,000 per annum assigned him for his support. His dominions were of course taken under the administration of the British.

The rajah of Nagpoor, Appa Saheb, who was held in War with the same thraldom by the British, pursued a similar course, the Rajah and with the same results. On the 26th of November, at Nagpoor, he attacked, with a great superiority of force, the poor brigade left at the residency, which was in consequence in great peril. A doubtful contest was maintained through the night, and next day the attack on the British was renewed with fresh vigour. Under every disadvantage those attacks were finally repulsed, and the weak prince, Appa Saheb, taking flight, sent to ask forgiveness from his enemies. The conditions offered him were, that his territories should be placed at the mercy of the British government; that he should give up all his artillery, disband his troops, and come in person as a hostage into the British camp; on an understanding that if he acceded to these terms, the former relations between him and the British would be restored; it being at the same time understood that he should cede part of his territory, and that due provision should be made for a greater degree of internal control over his future movements. Being threatened with an immediate attack, he came to the British camp with a few attendants. His troops, as if to shame their pusillanimous prince, fought an unsuccessful battle for his rights and independence; after which the city of Nagpoor, with its fort, was surrendered to the conquerors, and this second war was brought to a triumphant close. Appa Saheb, afterwards repenting of his spiritless conduct, began to plot new schemes, when he was arrested by the British resident, and detained in close confinement. He found means to escape in the summer of the following year, and making good his retreat to the hills, where he was joined by a band of irregular followers, he distracted the country for a time by desultory hostilities. Having thus fled from his dominions, the conquerors determined to invest Bajee Rao, a grandson of Raghojee Bhoonsla, with the sovereignty, and to take the internal administration wholly under their own control. It had been the professed intention of the Anglo-Indian government, which had now become the conservator of the general peace, to force the two independent chiefs, Scindia and Holkar, into an acquiescence with its views in regard to the Pindarees, and also the Patans, a species of infantry, better appointed, and more regularly disciplined, than the Pindarees, but associated together on the same unlawful principle of indiscriminate plunder. Scindia had been compelled to temporize, and finally to accede to the British propositions. The court and administration of Holkar were distracted by contending factions. The late prince, after the unfortunate issue of his war with the British, became deranged, and soon afterwards died. His heir, Mulhar Rao, was at the time under age; and Toolsyee Bhye, the widow of Holkar, and now appointed regent, contended for supremacy with the Patan chiefs. Their views were entirely discordant, the queen-regent soliciting an alliance with the English, on condition of receiving a subsidiary force; a measure so strongly opposed by the military chiefs and the troops, that they conspired against Toolsyee Bhye, and having seized her person, carried her to the banks of the river, where she was put to death. After this outrage, they prepared for war, and troops were concentrated in such hostile positions, that Sir John Malcolm judged it expedient to fall back. Having effected a junction with the corps under Sir J. Hishp, they attacked, on the 21st of December 1817, the army of Holkar, encamped at

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1 *Narrative of the Political and Military Transactions of British India under the Administration of the Marquis of Hastings*. By Henry T. Prinsep, chap. i. and v. Hindustan. Mehedpoor, and advancing to close action under a severe fire of artillery, the enemy's troops gave way at all points, and the camp, artillery, and baggage, fell into the hands of the victors. Peace was sought and obtained by the Patan chiefs, who ruled in the councils of Holkar; they accepted the protection and alliance of the British; and thus they enrolled themselves amongst the dependents and tributaries of the new sovereigns of India.

The main object of the war, which was the destruction of the Pindarees, was not, in any material degree, impeded by these incidental contests. According to the plan proposed, the different divisions of the grand army proceeded northward, converging as they advanced for the purpose of surrounding the haunts of these freebooters, and preventing their escape. They were driven out of the province of Malwah, retiring as the British advanced; but were at length so effectually hemmed in, that in attempting to retreat they were intercepted at all points, and the greater part of them destroyed. The remainder were so humbled by fatigue and misery, that they were glad to submit upon any terms; and at length the three principal leaders surrendered on condition that their lives should be spared.

All open resistance being thus successfully put down, the more important task still remained of quieting and conciliating the country, overrun by lawless hordes of troops or banditti. The history of Hindustan is, from its earliest period, one unvarying scene of intestine violence, of war, rapine, rebellion, and bloodshed. For twenty years prior to the Pindaree war, these disorders had been increasing; and to still this intestine storm, to overawe the turbulent, and to settle on a permanent and equitable basis the conflicting claims to dignity, power, and property, which had arisen in a long period of trouble, when might was the test of right, was a task that required unusual prudence, firmness, and patience. This difficult and all-important duty now devolved on Sir John Malcolm, who to his glory as a warrior now added the still greater glory of a legislator and a statesman. Whilst he distributed his troops in such positions throughout the disturbed districts, as entirely to overawe the fiercer mercenaries and turbulent Arab soldiers, he conciliated the peaceable inhabitants by mildness, moderation, and justice. To all ranks, to the head of a village as well as to the sovereign of a kingdom, to the leader of a gang of robbers as well as to the commander of an army, he explained that his sole object was to establish the peace of the country. By kindness and conciliation he succeeded in reclaiming the Grassia, Rajpoot, and Bheel freebooters, and the discharged Patan mercenaries, accustomed to prey on the country. Persecuted and oppressed as outcasts and robbers, they were won by the generous confidence of Sir John Malcolm, who offered them pay in the British service, and employed the most notorious of the Bheels to guard his person and treasure, in which they proved invariably faithful. Thus the disorderly bands amongst the Pindarees and Patan soldiery, for many years the disturbers of India, were gradually converted into its industrious cultivators; and a great and happy change was effected in the habits of the people and in the aspect of the country. The several princes and rajahs of Central India were enriched by increased revenues and diminished expense. The troops maintained by Scindia were reduced from 39,000 to 22,000; and those maintained by the rebellious chiefs and tributaries, always ruinous to the country, were disbanded. His revenues were increased twenty-five per cent, and the expenses of collection reduced fifteen per cent. The revenues of Holkar were increased from four lacs in 1817, to sixteen lacs in 1819-1820. The condition of all the other inferior rulers and feudatories was improved in the same degree. "In 1817," says Sir John Malcolm, in his admirable work on Central India, "there was Hindustan, not one district belonging to Scindia that was not more or less disturbed; in 1821 there existed not one enemy to the public peace."

After the contest was brought to a close, the country was petty still overspread with disorderly bands of Arabs, Mekranites (from Meckran in Persia), Mewassies, and Patans; and the India, general result of the arrangements now adopted was the expulsion of these disturbers of the country, and the restoration of the just rights and dignities of Scindia and Holkar, as well as of a crowd of petty feudatories and renters, who were before the prey of freebooters. The same system was extended to the Rajpoot states to the N.W. of Malwah and the Chumbul River. The petty rajahs who occupied this country were continually at war; and the country was besides laid waste by the predatory bands of Ameer Khan, Holkar, and Scindia, who, on pretence of exposing the quarrels, invaded and plundered the territories of the different chiefs. These evils had risen to such a height, that they were all desirous of being admitted into a federal union with the British government, offering in some cases half their dominions for protection. In 1818 they were admitted into this union, of which the British are at the head. They agreed, in the event of any future differences amongst them, instead of appealing to arms, to submit their differences to the arbitration of the British government. In this manner their country, freed from the scourge of internal war, has progressively improved. The military adventurers who fled before the victorious armies of Britain, were reduced to submission by the wise and conciliatory measures of Sir D. Ochterlony, combined with skilful military movements. The Patan battalions, with about 3000 horse, were taken into the British service, the officers being dismissed with pensions. These measures have been followed by the happiest effects. The wretched peasantry have emerged from their hills and fastnesses, the usual refuges of the oppressed, and have occupied their deserted villages; the ploughshare is again at work on a soil undisturbed for years, except by the hoofs of predatory horse; and although the fierce habits of war may occasionally recur, yet the foundation of improvement is laid. The daring robber, moulded by time and the force of circumstances, will gradually exchange his wild and disorderly habits for those of the peaceful cultivator, and commerce and industry succeed to scenes of desolation and war.

The tranquillity which succeeded these events was but of brief duration. The rajah of Bhurtapore, confiding in the strength of his fortress, committed several enormities in his government, such as the seizure of the infant rajah, and the murder of his uncle and followers; and he even treated the remonstrances of Lord Amherst with indifference and contempt. In these circumstances, the reduction of this formidable stronghold was essential to the glory of the British arms, on which former failures had left a stain. The siege was accordingly commenced with 25,000 efficient troops; and as no impression could be made by cannon on walls of clay sixty feet in thickness, they were thrown down by the explosion of a mine. The assault took place next day, the 17th January 1826, which was completely successful, with the loss of 163 killed, and 466 wounded. The principal works of the fortress have since been demolished.

The British rulers of India and the Burmese monarch Burmese had long been involved in mutual disputes, and these were war brought to an issue in 1822, by a claim set up by the sovereign of the Burmese to the petty isle of Shaparee, in the province of Bengal, on the Chittagong frontier, and by aggressions on the British territory, which were repelled by a force stationed at Chittagong, whilst a large armament was sent to Rangoon, the naval arsenal of the Burmese empire, which was captured; and, after a series of hard-fought actions by the British, who endured much privation

India, and distress, the monarch of Ava was compelled, in 1826, to sue for peace, by the near approach of the army to his capital. Thus terminated the first Burmese war. After the lapse of several years it was followed by a second, rendered necessary by the wrongs, public and private, inflicted by the Burmese government. It was neither long in duration nor brilliant in events, and concluded with the annexation in December 1852 of the extensive province of Pegu, in satisfaction to some degree of the injuries sustained, and in aid of the means of defending British territory and property from further aggression.

The Afghan war, commenced in 1839, with a view to raising a barrier against the aggressive power of Russia, brought to the British no accession of territory, of power, or, taken on the whole, of glory. It was ostensibly undertaken to restore to the throne a former Afghan ruler, Shah Shogah, supposed at least to be actuated by friendly feelings towards the British, though doubts on that point may well be entertained. The advance of the forces destined for the conquest of Afghanistan was attended by much difficulty and dreadful suffering; but at length a part of the invading army reached the chief city Cabool. Here it was thought the object of the expedition was gained; but the commencement of a new and frightful series of calamities was at hand. Insurrection broke out; the British envoy was treacherously murdered; a large part of the British force was destroyed, and the remainder compelled to retire under the most disastrous circumstances—incessant annoyance and fearful slaughter marking its progress. Many deeds of heroism, never surpassed, tended indeed to add fresh lustre to the British name, and among others the noble defence of Jalalabad by Sir Robert Sale can never be forgotten so long as Afghanistan is remembered. But the war and its consequences contribute to furnish an awful page in the history of British enterprise in India. Ultimately the country was avenged, and its reputation vindicated through the vigorous counsels and the vigorous acts of Generals Pollock and Nott. The former arrived first at Cabool, and replanted the British colours there; the latter arrived shortly afterwards. The British could now withdraw without discredit from a country where, for the first time, the prestige of their national character seemed endangered. That at least was vindicated and upheld, though looking at the expenditure of blood and treasure, at the mass of suffering, and the imminent danger of irreparable disgrace which must have followed a premature retirement, every Englishman must wish that the war had never been undertaken.

The country of Lahore, or the Punjab, as far as the Sutlej Mountains, was occupied by the raja Ranjeet Singh, who in the year 1805, when Lord Lake had an interview with him, seemed to be one among many petty chiefs. Between this and the year 1812 he subdued the whole country, but while proceeding in 1808 to extend his power over all the petty chiefs as far as the Jumna, he was opposed by a strong military detachment of British troops stationed at Loodiana. A treaty was concluded in 1809, by which it was mutually agreed that the raja should not encroach on the territory to the S. of the Sutlej, nor the British on the territory to the N. of that river. The death of Ranjeet Singh gave rise to a series of excesses terminating in a state of things in which the army was triumphant over the government, and was an object of its dread rather than of its dependence. At length a portion of it crossed the Sutlej, and invaded the British territories. This, of course, was repelled; and, first at Moodkee, subsequently at Ferozeshah, in December 1845, the Sikhs were defeated. At Aliwal and at Sobraon fresh triumphs attended the British forces, who finally crossed the river and dictated the terms of submission at Lahore, the Sikh capital. Here a treaty was concluded under which the British obtained a cession of all the territory between the Beas and the Sutlej; the native government of Lahore being retained with some requisite modifications. But this arrangement proved of short duration. The atrocious conduct of a chief holding the fortress of Mooltan, where two British officers were murdered; the generally distracted state of the country; the open violation by the government and people of the treaty so recently concluded; and the actual levying of war against their peaceful neighbour, demanded further intervention of a hostile character. One step only remained to be taken, and the success which again attended the British enabled the governor-general to take it. The Punjab was annexed, and was thenceforward a part of the vast empire of India.

Various attempts had at different times been made to establish friendly relations with the ameers or rulers of Sind, but they had been met reluctantly and unfavourably. Two or three treaties had been entered into; but they were brief, dry, and to neither party satisfactory. The ameers of Sind hate the alliance which the British were anxious to establish, at first for commercial, latterly for political purposes. When the British commenced the march to Afghanistan, a treaty was forced upon the rulers of Sind, which was more distasteful than any former one. Under this treaty, a British military force was to be permanently stationed in Sind; and after some considerable time, Sir Charles Napier, whose career in Sind has given rise to such a mass of controversy, was appointed to the chief command there. He commenced his course certainly with vigour, but as certainly with little consideration of the existing rulers. Treaties were proposed which, though rejection must have been looked for, were accepted, whether with sincerity or not;—probably there was little of that quality on either side. But, notwithstanding the acceptance of the treaties, Sir Charles Napier continued to advance. During his progress the British residency was attacked. It was gallantly defended, but weakness of numbers, and deficiency of ammunition, soon rendered retreat necessary. This was effected in good order, but at the sacrifice of the greater part of the property within the residency. The battle of Meeanee followed, in which the British gained a brilliant victory. Another battle, fought near Hyderabad, the capital, may be said to have terminated the contest; and Sind in 1843 became a British possession.

The conclusion of the contest in Sind found the British government involved in difficulties in Gwalior, or the dominions of Scindia. The death of the representative of that house without heirs rendered an arrangement for the appointment of a successor necessary. A child said to be the nearest relative of the deceased prince was selected, and the British government approved. But every Indian court is a focus of intrigue, and that of Gwalior formed no exception. A rabble army of 30,000 men was a source of weakness, not of strength; and through the influence of a profligate and reckless court, combined by that of a disorganized army, the state appeared rapidly tending to dissolution. Internal war had in fact commenced, when the British government, somewhat tardily, though at the last rather hastily, put in motion a military force towards the disturbed country. It soon came into hostile collision with the enemy; and two victories in one day, gained by two separate portions of the British force, decided the questions at issue. A new treaty followed, dated January 1844, in which a variety of arrangements for the safety of Scindia's territories, and the security of those adjacent, were embodied.

The wars and commotions of India have thus at length come to a close, and Great Britain remains the sole ruler of system of India.

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1 For a full account of the operations of this war, see the article Ava. Hindustan, that vast empire. The native princes, rajas, and petty feudatories of the country, hold their several dignities and stations in the great political system of which they form a part, under the guarantee of her sovereign authority. The nature of the subsidiary alliances of the British with the Indian states has been already described—namely, the furnishing a force, which is stationed in the dependent state for its protection, and the latter a territory equivalent to its maintenance, and further submitting, in its foreign relations and differences with other states, to the arbitration of the British government, though free from all control in its internal concerns. The powers with whom subsidiary alliances have been formed are the nizam or ruler of Hyderabad; the king of Oude; the Guicowar, whose dominions are in the province of Gujerat; Holkar, who has been deprived of all his dominions S. of the Nerbuddah; Scindia of Gwalior, reduced since 1844 to insignificance; the rajas of Cutch, of Mysore, of Travancore, and of Cochin. The protected states are so far reduced to dependence that they agree to maintain no correspondence with foreign powers of a political tendency without the privilege or consent of the British government; and not to go to war, but to submit all their differences with other states to the arbitration of the British. They are independent in their internal concerns, and have not, like the others, a British force stationed within their territories. They are bound to furnish a contingent of troops when required, which in the field act in subordination to the British commanders. These states are—

1st, in the N.W., Cashmere and the Sikh and Hill states, on the left bank of the Sutlej.

2nd, Rajpoot states; Bicanere, Jesselmere, Jeeepoor, Joudpoor, Odeypoor, Kotah, Boondi, Serowey, Kishengurh, Dowleah and Pertauburgah, Doongapore, Jhallawar, Banswarra.

3rd, Jaut states on the right bank of the Jumna; Bhurtapore, Ulwar or Macherry, Kerowlee.

4th, Boondelah states; Sumptthur, Jhansi, Oorchha or Tehree, Duteebah, Rewah, &c. &c.

5th, States in Malwah; Bopaul, Dhar, Dewas, Ruttalam, Silana, Nursingbur, Amjherrn, &c.

6th, States in Gujerat; Pahlunpore, Rahidumpore, Rajpeepal, Loonawara, Soonth, the states in the Myhee Caunta, the Kattywar states.

7th, States on the Malabar coast (chiefly Mabratta); Sawunt Warree and Colapore.

8th, North-eastern frontier; Siccin, Coosh Behar, Cossya Hills, &c. &c.

Yet even in some of these protected states, as for instance, in Colapore and Sawunt Warree, the British government has been compelled to assume the administration, and to carry on the government in the names of the native rulers, who are placed in the position of stipendiaries. With respect to Colapore the retransfer of the government to the chief is made dependent upon the opinion which may be entertained by the British government of his character, disposition, and capacity to govern. In Sawunt Warree the heir-apparent having forfeited his rights by participating in the rebellion of 1844, the country, upon the death of the present chief, will be at the disposal of the paramount authority. In some other states, as those in Kattywar, the Myhee, and Rewa Cauntas, and others which are tributary to the guicowar, 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 government has conferred important benefits upon the country, by abolishing infanticide, suttee, and slave-dealing. It will thus be seen that, with the exception of the king of Burmah, and the rajah of Nepaul, there now remain no independent princes in India. The rajah of Nepaul, moreover, though not otherwise dependent, is bound by treaty to abide by the decision of the British government in the event of any dispute arising between himself and his neighbour the rajah of Siccin, and he is also restrained from employing in his service any European or American subject. The rajah of Dholpore, in Central Hindustan, India, holds his possessions in absolute sovereignty, free from any right of interference on the part of the British government, as does also the rajah of Tipperah, a wild jungly tract lying on the eastern frontier of Bengal towards Burmah, with the ruler of which the British government has never established any diplomatic relations; but the resources of these petty potentates are too unimportant to entitle them to be regarded as forming exceptions to the general rule of dependency. Over all the other native states in India the paramount authority of the British power has been established, and the relation of ally has in all cases merged into that of superior and dependent.

The rise of the British power, from small beginnings in so vast an empire, is one of those surprising revolutions in human affairs which gives to history the air of a romance. The managers of a trading company in London are now the lords of a kingdom ten times the size of England, and containing upwards of 150 millions of inhabitants; they engage in war and make peace; they rule over kings and princes, dethroning some and setting up others in their stead; and in their counting-house in Leadenhall Street they regulate, not the chances of profit and loss, but the concerns of a vast empire. Yet the causes of this great revolution are simple and obvious. The extensive dominion acquired by the British in India is the consequence of long-continued military success; it is the fruit of victory in many a well-fought field, the triumph of European discipline and science over the rude valour of the hasty levies and imperfectly trained militia of the East. In the course of this long contest the British had frequently to contend with few against many, and their empire sometimes tottered on the verge of ruin, as in the invasion of the Carnatic by Hyder Ali. But the steadiness of the European infantry still repelled the irregular charges of the Maharatta horse, and triumphed in the end; and to this powerful instrument, namely, a well-disciplined military force, wielded by skilful hands, the British are indebted for the conquest of Hindustan. The extension of their empire in India was always discountenanced by the Directors at home, who issued their repeated and peremptory commands on the subject. Yet it might have been easily foreseen, that, the foundation once laid, the superstructure would naturally arise; that having made the first step, the British would not readily stop short in their course. The frailty of man has never been able to resist the allurements of ambition; the dazzling prize of extensive dominion has in all ages been pursued through the paths of blood; and it was scarcely to be imagined that the Company's servants in India would resist its temptations, more especially as there were many circumstances which gave a plausible colour to their ambitious views. The native powers, alarmed by the territorial acquisitions of the British, naturally combined against them as the common enemies of Indian independence. The British, on the other hand, convinced of their strength, and of the hatred and jealousy which they had excited throughout India, and easily yielding to the least surmise of hostile coalitions, often took up arms to avert distant and doubtful dangers; and victory being still the result of each new struggle, they assured their safety by the ruin of their enemies, and by the extension of their power. Thus the hostile designs of Tippoo failed to attain maturity, and he was overthrown before he could become formidable.

It will now be proper to give a brief account of the domestic policy of the Company as sovereigns of India, especially in those important departments in the civil administration of every country, namely, the revenue, the judicial establishments, and the police.

Under the Mogul government, the public revenue was under the chiefly derived from a general land-tax, and the regular Mogul payment of this tax was the tenure by which property empire. Hindustan was held throughout the empire. The lands were possessed by different descriptions of owners or occupiers, under the titles chiefly of zemindars or polygars, the military chieftains of the Carnatic, talookdars, ryots, maliks, meerassadars, nair mulugueens, bhoomins, &c. When Hindustan was brought under the sway of the British, they were necessarily ignorant of the manners and usages of the people, and of the peculiar structure of a Hindu community; and hence the nature of the tenures under which land was held, and of the different descriptions of land owners and occupiers, has been a standing subject of controversy amongst the Company's servants, some insisting that under the Mogul despotism, as over all the East, the sovereign is the sole proprietor of the lands within his dominions; that no private right of property has ever been recognised in any of the great monarchies of Asia; and that all grants of land are resumable at the pleasure of the prince.

According to this theory, the zemindar is considered merely as a species of steward or factor, appointed by the government, to collect and superintend the land revenues; and after reserving a suitable portion for his own maintenance, to remit the surplus to the imperial treasury. The rights of the talookdars, an inferior description of holders, and the ryots, and other occupiers of land, were still more imperfectly understood by the English when they acquired the dominion of Bengal; but, under the idea of the sovereign's indefeasible right in the soil, they naturally considered them as tenants at will, to be dealt with like other tenants in the same situation, at the pleasure of the proprietor. This hypothesis of the sovereign's proprietary right was eagerly adopted by the English, and has been boldly followed up in practice. It has, as might have been expected, led to extensive confiscations of land, to great changes in the state of property, and to much distress and confusion, as will be afterwards narrated; and it will be proper, therefore, briefly to inquire how far this claim accords with any legal right, and still more with any principle of enlightened policy.

In a government purely arbitrary, where every man holds life and liberty at the mercy of the sovereign, it is extremely difficult to distinguish between the exercise of legal rights and the outrages of abused power. That the despotic rulers of the East might take possession of the land, or of any other description of property belonging to their subjects, and that this was their practice, can hardly be questioned. But might does not constitute right; nor by such acts of tyranny can they become lords of the soil in any legal sense, any more than of the lives and liberties of their subjects, because they often massacre and torture them at their pleasure. The law of conquest, which is the law of the strongest, gave to the Mahommmedan possession of India, which they desolated with fire and sword, and took possession of the lands and properties of the inhabitants, who, according to their approved practice, might have been all put to the sword, as the redemption price of their blood. This was the only title which the Mogul emperor could have had to the lands within his dominions, namely, that he had seized upon them by force; and in countries long subject to Mahommmedan rule, or to the Mahattas and other domestic tyrants, all the ancient rights of the proprietors have accordingly been obliterated. But these acts of Hindustan's tyranny and spoliation can never be construed into legal precedents, nor can they ever confer any title; and it seems a gross abuse of words to call that a right which is merely a deed of violence.

The monarch or the emperor was no doubt styled, in the true strain of oriental flattery, the sole proprietor of the soil, and the lord of the universe; and this he may have been originally, in the same manner as the monarchs of Europe were under the feudal system. According to the feudal law, they were the supreme lords of all the conquered territories, which they granted as fiefs to their vassals, on condition of military service; and from the monarch a subordinate chain of vassalage extended downward to the lowest tenant. These lands were at first granted for a year, but afterwards for life; at length they became hereditary, and descended to the son, or to more distant relations; and thus they finally became a permanent property. But the form of the original tenure is still maintained. They still hold of the sovereign, to whom, at the death of each heir, a formal surrender is made of the property, and a new charter is granted as a matter of course. But this right of the crown, by which in former times the property was actually resumed at the death of the proprietor, has now become a mere legal fiction, an evidence only of the original tenure by which the property was held; and we may easily imagine the disorder and injustice that would be introduced into any European country by a conqueror, who, guided by feudal forms, in opposition to immemorial usage and fixed law, was to resume all property holding of the crown, or of any other superior. In like manner, in Hindustan, though the sovereign was styled the proprietor of all the lands within his dominions, and in legal theory might be so, it would be rash to infer from this the actual extinction of all proprietary rights. Under the Mogul government a heavy tax was, no doubt, laid on the land, which was the main source of the public revenue. But individual rights of property might nevertheless exist; and their non-existence has certainly never been satisfactorily proved; so far from it, that the advocates of the sovereign proprietary right seem to have nothing to oppose to immemorial usage, and to the principles of justice, but legal forms and the acts of despotic power.

But the abstract question of right here merges into the higher question of policy. It would be the interest of a sovereign, even if he were proprietor of the soil, to commute his rights for a moderate assessment, which in the end would ensure the general prosperity of the community. A land-tax which leaves a bare maintenance to the cultivator discourages agriculture, population, and the growth of capital; it is indeed an interdict on all improvement. Its produce cannot be increased except by the most ruinous extortions, though it will necessarily decrease with the desolation of the land, which it tends to promote. No country can be improved and cultivated where the rights of property are loaded by a public tax. Would the wastes of America, we may ask, be so quickly converted into fruitful fields, if the government were to come in for the largest share of the produce, if the owner were placed under the strict surveillance of the excise, and obliged to account for every

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1 See Colonel Todd On the Feudal System in Rajahsham, vol. i. chap. i. p. 167. See also Fifth Report, p. 322-23, Extracts from Mr Thackray's Report, dated 4th August 1807.

* The masterly reports of the Company's collectors in Southern India all concur in stating the hereditary rights of individuals in the land to be clear and unquestioned from the most remote ages. "In tracing their (the Hindus') past situation," says one of the collectors, "it is not to be discovered, that during the revolutions of many ages, from the reign of their first princes, until the final downfall of the Hindu authority, any questions ever existed, in any stage of the Hindu history, as to the right of the people to the lands of the country, excepting villages or lands totally waste, and that had escheated to government. On the contrary, they appear to have been transmitted to them, from the most remote era, down to the present time, without interruption; these rights are supported by usages, which could never have prevailed, but for their universal acknowledgment; and, in the repositories of their history and their laws, we find the right of the people to property in lands repeatedly acknowledged and preserved." (Extract from Report of Collector of Southern Polygar Peshchus, 20th December 1800, Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 826.) particle of his crop. In Europe the church tithes have been justly complained of as a great obstruction to improvement. But a tax such as we have described, which, however it varied in its amount from a fourth, a third, or half the gross produce of the soil, generally left only a bare maintenance to the cultivators, is far more pernicious in its operation; and it is indeed owing to its pressure that so large a portion of Hindustan still remains a primitive wilderness. Mr L. Place, to whom was committed, in 1790, the settlement of the Jaghire, a tract of country in the Carnatic that had been ruined by the invasion of Hyder Ali, after mentioning the desolation of the country, and that the inhabitants would not cultivate any fields except under a secure tenure, adds, that "by granting them lands to them and their heirs for ever, so long as they continued in obedience to the circular (government), and paid all just dues, he was enabled to convert the most stubborn soil and thickest jungle into fertile villages."

It was extremely natural for those who had succeeded to the rights of the sovereign to exaggerate the extent of those rights, and to believe in the convenient doctrine of his proprietary title to the land. But although many ancient rights were unquestionably trampled down and forever lost in the violence of the Mahommedan conquest, yet recent investigations have discovered, amidst the ruins of Hindu institutions, many relics of ancient manners, and the clearest titles of individual proprietors to the possession of the soil. In carrying into effect the permanent settlement by Lord Cornwallis of the land revenues in Bengal, the collectors were embarrassed by the claims of the petty talookdars, who insisted on a hereditary right of property in the soil; and the maliks, who with vehemence urged the same claims, and affirmed that the zemindars and talookdars had no deeds to show that could deprive them of their just rights. They claimed the land as their paternal inheritance, and refused to settle for the public revenue on any other terms than as proprietors. The collector was deeply impressed with the justice of their claims; and Mr Rickards, in his masterly work on Indian finance, affirms that the maliks were really proprietors, stripped of their rights by the usurpations and exactions of the zemindars and their amuls or collectors. In the district of Dacca, the private rights of property were found to exist in their full force; even the unproductive jungle and waste around the town was claimed by individuals, "who," says the collector, "though they receive no profit from it, and are too indolent themselves to make it productive of any, will not suffer others to bring it into a state of cultivation without some recompense; and so very tenacious are they of it, that even in the suburbs of the city, which for three or four miles is almost an impenetrable jungle, infested by wild ferocious animals, a man cutting down a single tree will be sued by the proprietor for damages." A clearer idea cannot possibly be conveyed of the rights of property, and of the solid foundation on which they rest in Bengal, as in all other countries. The accurate researches of Colonel Todd, who drew his information not merely from written records and deeds, but from the more durable tablets of stone found amidst the ruins of the fallen pile, have laid open the ancient tenures and institutions of Northern India; and in his lively delineation of those ancient manners we recognise all the peculiar features of the feudal system.

There were in Rajasthan or Rajputana two classes of landholders, the one the Grassya-tha-cour or lord, the other the bhoonias; the first holding land by a grant from the prince on the condition of military service, "renewable," says Colonel Todd, "at every lapse, when all the ceremonies of resumption, the fine of relief, and the investiture, take place;" the other an allodial proprietor, who holds prescriptive possession, who succeeds to his inheritance without any fine, though he pays a small annual quit-rent, and may be called upon for military service in the district where he resides, which is chiefly composed of the rocks and wilds that afford a refuge from oppression, and where the bhoonias, being numerous, form a species of local militia.

In the southern countries of India, in Tanjore, Tinnevelly, Canara, Malabar, &c., where the Mahommedan rule had only been temporary or partial, the rights of property in the South were not extinguished; they were indeed encroached upon, and were, as Mr Rickards observes, "in progress of actual extinction, and approached nearer and nearer to this term in proportion to the duration of Mussulman tyranny." The tyranny and exactions of Hyder Ali and his son Tippoo had nearly extinguished all proprietary rights in Mysore and in Malabar; and most of the Hindu landholders were compelled to seek refuge in Travancore. "I was," says Mr Rickards, "personally acquainted with some who, from the same causes, deserted their estates, and retired for safety into Coimbetoor." But those rights were not obliterated, and the investigations of the British functionaries, skilled in the native languages and manners, brought to light in these countries the ancient condition of property, and the clearest titles of individual proprietors.

The notion of the sovereign's proprietary right to the whole

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1 See Fifth Report, p. 493, Copy of a Letter from the Collector of Shahabad to the Board of Revenue, dated 29th September 1789. Rickards, vol. i. chap. i. sect. iv. p. 363. Malik means master, lord, proprietor, owner of such rent.

2 Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 495. Letter from the Chief of Dacca to the Board of Revenue, dated 23rd July 1786. It was proposed that the government should clear away this jungle, and cultivate the land. But this "laudable plan," says Mr Day, chief of Dacca, cannot therefore be carried into effect, "without creating great dissatisfaction," as every seizure of private property necessarily does; yet he observes, that the "prejudice (i.e. the robbery) of a few individuals, should be no impediment to the adoption of a plan which has for its object the benefit of the community at large."

3 The word bhoonia is, according to Colonel Todd, a most expressive and comprehensive name, importing absolute identity with the soil; bhoonia meaning land. (Todd, vol. i. p. 166.)

4 Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Todd, vol. i. p. 164.

5 Vol. i. p. 263.

6 See Fifth Report of Select Committee, p. 714. Report of Mr Place respecting the land tenures in the Jaghire; Report of Mr Hodgson on the revenues of Tinnevelly, Fifth Report, p. 392; Report on Revenues of Dindigul, p. 978. Mr Place at first agreed to the favourite theory that the sovereign was lord of the soil, and that the occupants of land in India were mere tenants at will. But on further inquiry, he was convinced that the mercurasters were hereditary proprietors. Report of Collector of Tanjore and Trichinopoly, 9th September 1805: "Immemorial usage," he observes, "has established, both in Tanjore and Trichinopoly, that the occupants, who are distinguished by the names of mercurasters or mahajans, have the right of selling, bestowing, devising, or bequeathing their lands in the manner which to them is most agreeable." It is fortunate that, at the moment when we are consulting on the means of establishing the property and welfare of the numerous people of these provinces, we find the lands of the country in the hands of men who feel and understand the importance of the interests of those who occupy them. Such men will be found to be before the British name was known in India; and who, in consequence of them, have rendered populous and fertile the extensive provinces of Tanjore and Trichinopoly. The class of proprietors to whom I allude are not to be considered as the actual cultivators of the soil; the far greater mass of them till their lands by means of hired labourers, or by a class of people termed pallers, who are of the lowest, and who may be considered as the slaves of the soil. The landed property of these provinces is divided and subdivided in every possible degree. There are proprietors of 4000 acres, of 400 acres, of forty acres, and of one acre." produce of the land was interwoven with the Mogul system of finance, and the East India Company had always acted on the same maxims. Accordingly, Mr Place and others, when they entered on the management of the Jaghire, Canara, Malabar, &c., were prepossessed with the same ideas, and gave the most liberal interpretation to the Company's proprietary rights, considering the occupants and cultivators of the land as mere tenants at will. But they were soon undeceived by glaring facts. They found that the possessors of the land had the right of selling, bestowing, devising, or bequeathing their lands, in whatever manner they might deem expedient; that the lands, whether they belonged to villages, and were cultivated in shares by their common labour, or to individuals, were their absolute property, of which they could only be deprived by an act of violence. This proprietary right was termed meras, a Persian or Arabic term for land; and the proprietor a meerassadar. "Whatever may have been the origin of these rights," says the Fifth Report (p. 105), "they are regarded by the people as hereditary rights," and were, according to the Hindus, far more ancient than the Moorish conquest. Estates were found to consist of from 4000 to one acre of land; and where they were large, or were divided amongst a numerous proprietary, they were tilled by parakudis or pyacaris, who were paid for their labour, and who possessed hereditary rights of occupancy as cultivators. Common labourers were also occasionally hired; and slaves are numerous all over the country, attached to the soil, and in a state of villeinage, as were formerly the cultivators in Europe. In Canara, the same rights of property exist in the land; and the proprietors are known under the appellation of nair mul guenies, who, like the meerassadars, have tenants in perpetuity, or shud mul guenies; and tenants at will, or chalie guenies. Of these tillers it is observed in the Fifth Report of the Select Committee on the affairs of the East Indiaman Company, that "the lands in general appear to have constituted a clear private property, more ancient, and probably more perfect, than that of England. The tenure, as well as the transfer, of this property, by descent, sale, gift, and mortgage, is fortified by a series of regular deeds, equally varied and curious, and which bear a very strong resemblance in both parts of the country. The proprietary right is either vested in individuals, or in copartnerships of persons, each of whom possesses an unalienable interest in the estate, proportioned to the share of the property of which he has become possessed."

There is another class of landholders in Malabar, denominated jelmahars, or jemahars, who possess allodial rights, acknowledging no superior, and who were exempt from the government-tax. When Hyder conquered the country, his first act was to declare half the produce of the soil to belong to the sovereign; and it was in this manner that in Hindustan all private rights were trampled upon and gradually obliterated. But these exactions of tyranny are not to be confounded with the legal claims of the state. Mr Hodgson, in his report on the revenues of Coimbatore, justly observes, that whatever abuse took place under the Hindu or Mahommedan princes, "what was fair assessment, and what was exaction, was well known to the party governing and those governed." From all this concurring evidence, it is clear that the sovereign's proprietary right in the soil was in Hindustan, as in Europe, more nominal than real; that prior to the Mahommedan conquest the land was divided amongst individual proprietors, and that the bloo-mia of Rajputana, the malik of Bengal, the meerassadar of Southern India, the nair mul guenies of Canara, and the jelmahars of Malabar, were all hereditary landholders, with legal rights, of which they could only be dispossessed by the violence of despotic power.

The Mahommedan conquest subverted most of the ancient Zemin-rights and titles of the Hindu landholders, and introduced dars into Bengal the title of zemindar or landholder, from the Persian word zemun, land; respecting whose rights and duties so wide a difference of opinion has prevailed. Without entering further into this controversy, which, as respects the zemindar, is more a speculative than a practical question, it may be observed, that the zemindars had lived for centuries in great splendour on the produce of their lands, which had quietly descended under the existing tenure through successive generations; that they had the power to sell, to alienate, or to mortgage; and that as long as they paid the annual tribute to government, they enjoyed secure possession of their lands. Under a despotic government arbitrary ejectments might no doubt occur; but these were rare, and they were universally regarded, both in law and in usage, as the illegal outrages of abused power. It is admitted on all hands that these rights belonged to the zemindars; and the only point that still remains in dispute, and it does not appear very material, seems to be, whether, according to the theory of the Mogul constitution, the receipt of the land-tax by the sovereign, or of his allotted share of the produce by the zemindar, entitled the one or the other to the character of proprietor of the land.

The zemindars, being bound to the state for the revenue, were necessarily invested with the power of collecting the land-tax from the subordinate landholders and tenants. They united, in this manner, legal authority with the possession of property, whilst, as judges and magistrates, they administered both civil and criminal justice, and were held responsible for all crimes committed within their respective boundaries. These powers they frequently abused, and oppressed the inferior landholders, the talookdars and the ryots, the hereditary cultivators, or, as others consider them, the proprietors of the land, by the most cruel exactions. It was to the principal landholders that government looked for the discharge of its demands, whilst the inferior occupants and tenants were bound each to his immediate superior for their several proportions of the stipulated tax.

There were various other tenures by which lands were held in Bengal, namely, the Jaghire, Altumgha, Muddudhares, Mash Ayma, and others. The first were grants of land on the condition of military service, or for the support of garrisons or any other public establishment, especially of a military nature. This would appear also to have been the conditions of the zemindary tenure, as Mr Rickards states that the zemindars of Bengal are expressly mentioned in the

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1 This term of meras was introduced by the Mahommedans. "Swastrium," says Mr Hodgson, "is the Sanscrit word, and is generally used by the Brahmans; and scarcely by those Shudras (cultivating castes) who may not have adopted the general term meras." (See Fifth Report, Appendix, p. 632, Extract from Hodgson's Report on the Revenues of Tinnevelly, 24th September 1807.) Canistalikdar is possessory or proprietor, and fully answers to jelmakar. (See p. 633, Fifth Report, Mr Hodgson on the Revenues of Dinajpur, 28th March 1809.)

2 Fifth Report, p. 634. "Neither the Hindu nor Mussulman government appear (supposing their right in the soil as proprietors to be indisputable, and proprietary right to be a right to demand what the proprietor pleases for his land) ever to have exercised the right. What was fair assessment, and what was exaction, was well known to the party governing and those governed. It is true, where, as under Tipper Saulta's reign, exaction had no limit, landed property could have no value; but where fraud could not counteract oppression, a hope of change for the better, or inability to resist, produced submission, till the load became too heavy to bear, and emigration the only source of relief." Ayeen Akberry as furnishing their several contingents of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. The Altumgha grant, according to the terms of it, was in perpetuity. The other grants were for the support of learned men, or religious establishments. Many of the public functionaries of the Company denied the validity of these grants; they estimated the average loss, as it was called, as if there could be any loss where there never was any right, on these grants in Bengal and the ceded provinces at two and a half millions sterling, and contended that they were resumable, and were often actually resumed, at the pleasure of the prince.

Colonel Todl, however, mentions, that in Rajpootana this right of resumption had fallen into disuse. "The right to resume," he observes, "may be presumed to exist; while the non-practice of it, the formalities of renewal being gone through, may be said to render the right a dead letter;" and, quoting a passage relative to the fiefs in Europe, that they were first moveable or resumable at pleasure, then perpetual or for life, and finally hereditary, he adds, "this is the precise gradation of fiefs in Mewar, a division of Rajpootana. There is reason to believe that these grants were in a progress to permanency all over India." But all permanent property in land was discountenanced by the policy of the British in India, who were perpetually picking holes in the tenures by which it was held, even where the deed of grant expresses in the plainest terms that it is perpetual, "from generation to generation."

The country of Hindustan is divided into villages or districts, each comprising some hundreds or thousands of acres of arable and waste land. Every village is a separate community or township, and has its own establishment of public officers and tradesmen. These consisted of the potali, or head inhabitant, whose business it was to superintend the affairs of the village, to settle disputes amongst the inhabitants, to attend to the police, and to the collection of the public tax; the curmum, to whom it belonged to keep an account of the cultivation and produce of the land, to register the proprietors of the village, and to attest all deeds of sale, transfer, or assignment; the boundaryman, who preserves the limits of the village, or gives evidence of them in case of dispute; the priest, the schoolmaster, the astrologer; the smith, the carpenter, the potter, the washerman, the barber, the cowkeeper, the doctor, the dancing-girl, the musician, the poet, who were each rewarded for their labours out of the produce of the village lands. The amount of their shares on the gross produce is estimated at five and a half per cent. The collectors were allowed ten per cent., and after these and other minor deductions had been made, the remaining proportion of the crop was divided between the sovereign and the cultivator, in equal proportions. "Under this simple form of municipal government," says the Fifth Report, "the inhabitants of the country have lived from time immemorial. The boundaries of the villages have been but seldom altered; and though the villages themselves have been sometimes injured, and even desolated, by war, famine, and disease, the same name, the same limits, the same interests, and even the same families, have continued for ages. The inhabitants 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, or to what sovereign it devolves; its internal economy remains unchanged; the potali is still the head inhabitant, and still acts as the petty judge and magistrate, and collector or renter of the village." So deeply attached are the Hindus to their native villages and local manners, that, however they may be scattered by the desolation of war, their affections still centre in one common and cherished spot; insomuch that, in 1817, as is mentioned by Sir John Malcolm, and as has already been noticed, when peace was re-established in Central India, by the expulsion of the Pindarees and other freebooters, who laid waste the country, the inhabitants and officers of the villages re-assembled from every quarter, and the resurrection of these communities into life and action seemed to have been the work of an instant.

The land-tax of the village is collected by the potali, assisted by a train of petty officers or under collectors, the putwarries, the peons, the pykes, and others, whose salaries form a deduction from the gross rent. The potali pays his collections to the zemindar, from whom they were received, under the Mogul government, by a higher officer, and finally remitted to the imperial treasury. The accounts of the curmum, or the canongoe, were also transmitted through various gradations of accountants, who superintended and checked the collection and receipt of the public revenue. In the year 1573, during the reign of Akbar, when the Mahommadans had completed the conquest of Hindustan, Rajah Torrel Mull, minister of finance to the emperor, from the accounts furnished by the canongoes and collectors of the revenue paid by the ryots, formed a general rent-roll for all the country, as well as a scheme of division, fixing the separate proportions of districts and villages. The revenue thus settled for Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and usually called tamar jumma (rent), or standard assessment, amounted to Rupees.

| Year | Rent | |------|------| | 1622 | 10,693,152 | | 1623 | 1,202,979 |

In 1722, being a period of 149 years, it was increased, under Jaffier Khan, by means of Abwabs, which are arbitrary taxes added to the original or standard assessment, to...........13,115,907

In 1728, by the additional taxes of Sujah Khan.............16,418,513

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* Colonel Munro, a great authority on all Indian questions, in a paper of remarks on a decision of the chief justice of Madras respecting a jaghire estate that was resumed by the Company, argues, from the arbitrary practices of Indian princes in taking away these rights that no such rights exist, although they are defined in the clearest terms. "The grant," he observes, "is in the usual form, to be enjoyed by him and his descendants for ever, from generation to generation." He is authorized to divide it among his descendants; and the local officers are required to consider the perwannah as a most positive peremptory mandate, and not to require a fresh summons every year. The terms employed in such documents, "for ever," "from generation to generation," or, in Hindu grants, "while the sun and moon exist," are mere forms of expression, and are never supposed, either by the donor or the receiver, to convey the durability which they imply, or any beyond the will of the sovereign. The injunction with which they usually conclude—"Let them not require a fresh summons every year;" is plainly enough the opinion that such grants were not secure from revocation." (In Consultation, 15th March 1632.) The language here may be seen a more firm of expression," yet it is impossible to frame in words a clearer legal title; and the doubt is, whether the subversion of such a title, however common amongst the despotic princes of Hindustan, ought not to be regarded as a tyrannical act rather than a legal precedent. No landed proprietor would, with such a title, surrender his estate, except to the power of the strongest. Custom may have rendered such acts familiar and practised in Hindustan; but if words like these are to be held as mere official forms, it is clear that no legal title to property can exist in India. Sir Thomas Munro mentions several examples of land held under common jaghire grants descending through several generations. He still insists, however, that, by the invariable custom of the country, they are resumable at the pleasure of the prince, though it seems extremely doubtful how far the practice of a despotic government in resuming lands can be received as a precedent against such a clear legal title. In 1755, by Ali-verdy Khan, to........18,644,067 L2,097,550 In 1762-3, by Cossim Ali..............24,118,912 2,713,377 In 1763-4..................17,704,766 1,991,785

The arbitrary taxes termed Abwaha, added to the original standard assessment, consisted of duties on the transit of goods through the different chokies or toll-bars of the country, of taxes on cattle and stock of every description; of a capitation tax; of a tax on shops, manufactures, or stock in trade; and of fines and other arbitrary exactions; and, in proportion to the demands made on the zamindars, he was empowered to augment the contribution of his tenants. The standard revenue of Torrel Mull, amounting to L1,202,979, appears to have been all that the country could bear; for, inconsiderable as was the augmented revenue of Jaffier Khan, it was only obtained by the most cruel tortures inflicted on the zamindars, many of whom he confined in pits filled with ordure, which he termed in derision Bykaut, or Hindu Paradise. In the reign of Meer Cossim, who was set up by the English, to whom he promised large sums as the price of his elevation, these oppressions were carried to a still greater height. The policy was to ascertain, by exact money, the produce of the land; and the whole surplus, after allowing a bare maintenance to the cultivator, was swept into the treasury.

Although the ascendancy of the English had for some years been thoroughly established in Bengal, and although they were formally invested in 1765 with the sovereignty of the country, its affairs were still administered in the name of the native prince, and according to the forms and policy of the ancient constitution. Justice was still dispensed by the native courts, and by the nabob's officers; the revenues still flowed through the same channels into the public exchequer; and all transactions with foreign powers were carried on under the same authority as formerly. But such was the increasing power of the English, that the government, as far as regarded the protection of the people, was dissolved. Neither the nabob nor his officers dared to offer any opposition to their sovereign will; and the tribunals of justice, so far from being a refuge to the oppressed, became subservient to the rapacity of the gomastahs, or Indian agents, employed by the Company's servants, and were converted by them into most efficacious instruments for oppressing and plundering the people.

The directors had been long dissatisfied with the proceedings of their servants, and with the produce of the land revenues, which had fallen far short of their expectations, and they now resolved to put an end to the double administration of the nabob and the Company; and, dispensing with the empty name of the former, to take upon themselves, ostensibly as well as really, the entire care and management of the land revenues. The dewanny of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, or the office of collector of the public revenues, which in the East implies the right of sovereignty, was conferred in perpetuity on the East India Company by a grant from the Mogul Shah Alum, dated the 12th of August 1765. The assessment imposed on the country by Cossim Ali is stated by Sir John Shore to have been mere "pillage and rack-rent;" and it was an assessment on paper, as, out of the sum of L2,882,724, there remained a balance undischarged of L1,987,054, notwithstanding the cruelty with which the collection had been enforced. It was found necessary to reduce the assessment, in 1763-64, to L1,991,785, out of which the sum realized was only L857,070. In 1764-65 the assessment imposed amounted to L1,990,988. In Hindustan, 1765-66, the first year of the Company's administration, the assessment was 16,029,011 rupees, equal to L1,803,263, of which 14,704,875 rupees (equal to L1,654,298) were actually collected. In the two following years it was slightly increased, but deductions were afterwards made, as it was found impossible to collect it. Yet the sum actually realized was greater than ever was extorted from the country by all the cruelties of Jaffier Khan. But the methods by which it was collected were most ruinous. The landlords, failing almost universally in their engagements, were left to the mercy of the revenue-officers, by whom they were grievously oppressed. In many parts, the villages were deserted by the cultivators, and the land was left desolate. All these evils were still further aggravated by a grievous famine which prevailed in Bengal in the year 1770, by which it is computed that about one-third of the inhabitants perished. But, in the midst of all this misery, the revenue was still violently kept up to its former standard. The deficiencies occasioned by the famine were re-assessed on those who survived this calamity; and so strictly were they levied, that the land revenue for that year exhibited an increase above that of the year preceding. The ruinous effects of this heavy exaction are stated at length in the different letters from the governor-general to the directors. In a letter, dated the 3rd of November 1772, he observes, "It was naturally to be expected that the diminution of the revenue should have kept an equal pace with the other consequences of so great a calamity; that it did not, was owing to its being violently kept up to its former standard." He then describes the method by which this was accomplished, which was by "an assessment upon the actual inhabitants of every inferior division of the lands, to make up for the loss sustained in the rents of their neighbours, who are either dead or have fled the country." "The tax," he continues, "not being levied by any fixed rate or standard, fell heaviest on the wretched survivors of those villages which had suffered the greatest depopulation, and were of course the most entitled to the lenity of government. It had also this additional evil attending it, in common with every other variation from the regular practice, that it afforded an opportunity to the farmers, or shidars, to levy other contributions off the people under colour of it, and even to increase this to whatever magnitude they pleased, since they were in course the judges of the loss sustained, and of the proportion which the inhabitants were to pay to replace it." To the same effect, Mr Middleton, one of the superintendents of the public revenue, observes, "When a very considerable portion, supposed even a third of the whole inhabitants, had perished, the remaining two thirds were obliged to pay for the lands now left without cultivators. The country has languished ever since, and the evil continues enhancing every day. The first remedy, without the adoption of which all other measures will be fruitless, is an universal remission of some considerable portion of the revenue throughout the provinces. Such remission should have been made immediately on the famine. Its not taking place then has made it more and more necessary every day; and the longer it is delayed, the more ruinous the consequences must be to this country and its revenue."

To correct these evils, supervisors, chosen from the Company's servants, were in 1769 stationed in different parts of the country, to superintend the native officers in the collection of the revenue and in the administration of justice; and two councils were appointed over the super-

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1 See Sir John Shore's Minute, Fifth Report, p. 176. These supervisors were instructed to procure information respecting the amount of the land revenues, the manner of collecting them, the amount of the cesses or arbitrary taxes, the origin and progress of those modern exactions, and also to inquire concerning the regulations of commerce and the administration of justice. The reports made by these supervisors concurred with all the other evidence received as to the wretched and oppressed state of the natives. "The nazims," they observed, "exact what they could from the zemindars and great farmers of the revenue, whom they left at liberty to plunder all below; reserving to themselves the prerogative of plundering them in their turn, when they were supposed to have enriched themselves with the spoils of the country."

It was now resolved to make a settlement of the land revenues for five years commencing from the year 1772. For this purpose, a committee of the board, consisting of the president and five members, named the "Committee of Circuit," was appointed, who were to make a journey through the country, and were empowered to receive proposals for a new lease of the lands, first from their ancient possessors, and if their offers were deemed unsatisfactory, they were to be let by public auction to the highest bidder. These persons proceeded in their circuit through the country, publicly advertising and letting in farm, for the highest rent that could be obtained, the estates of such as hesitated to contract for the assessment proposed.

A great proportion of the landed property throughout Bengal was thus exposed to auction; and, in the general sale, the former owners and the great nobility of the country were outbidden by adventurers, to whom property was acceptable on any terms; and were generally dispossessed of their lands, from the surplus produce of which a provision was assigned them by the indulgence of the revenue committee.

The supervisors who had been stationed in the different districts were invested with the necessary powers for the collection of the revenue, and were henceforth denominated collectors. A native officer was to be joined with them under the title of duan, to confirm and to check accounts, and to assist in all those multifarious details which were intelligible only to a native. Various regulations were adopted to check the exertions of the collectors; but the governor and council express their regret that it was not in their power wholly to remedy this evil. Under the Mogul government, the duty of collecting the revenues and of administering justice was united, as formerly mentioned, in the person of the zemindar. The new scheme for the management of the revenues subverted this ancient order of things. The zemindar was superseded both as collector and as judge, and his place was supplied by two courts, the one for civil, called the Dewanny Court, the other, called the Fondarry Court, for criminal proceedings, established in each district. In the criminal court the new collector of taxes was to act as president, to be assisted by two Mahommedan officers, the cauzee and the muttee, and by two Mohillavies, as interpreters of the law. The civil court consisted, in like manner, of the collector as president, assisted by the duan and other officers of the native court. Two supreme courts were, at the same time, established at Calcutta, for the review of the inferior courts, the one for civil cases, being called Dewanny Sudder Adawlut, and the other the chief court of criminal justice, or Nizamut Sudder Adawlut. To one of these all capital cases were reported, and were ultimately referred to the governor and council, who, finding the labour too great, restored, in 1774, this branch of administration to the nominal nabob, and carried back the court to Moorshedabad. It appeared that, for a long period before this, the administration of criminal justice was wholly at a stand. In the new arrangements all disputes about property not exceeding ten rupees in value were referred to the head man of the district to which the parties belonged.

In considering those regulations, the question naturally occurs, how these supervisors, who were now to act in the double capacity of collector and judge, became qualified for the discharge of such important functions. In all other countries, it is only by a previous course of laborious preparation that any one is qualified for the office of a judge; and to appoint an unqualified person would be reckoned both dangerous and absurd. But how much more dangerous and absurd was it to appoint uninstructed persons to act as judges in a foreign land, with whose language they are but imperfectly acquainted, and of whose laws, manners, and customs, they are thoroughly ignorant? If, among a comparatively rude people, the mode of proceeding be loose and arbitrary; if there be no books of written law, or of precedents to govern judicial decisions, which must consequently depend on the imperfect lights and analogies afforded by manners, religion, or customs, the incapacity of a foreigner for the discharge of such nice duties becomes even more glaring. By disposing of the administration of justice in this manner, it was clear that the judicial duties would either be neglected, or that they would still be performed as before, and with no increased chance of amendment by native officers. This new arrangement was, therefore, like many others, a useless innovation on the established practice of the country. There is another weighty objection to the union in one person of the duties of collector and judge, namely, that it was in the collection of the duties that the greatest oppression had been committed; the powers of the collectors being frequently perverted to the most iniquitous ends. Under this new project, those who sought redress from the courts of justice met with their oppressor in the capacity of judge. He judged in his own case, and of complaints brought against his own conduct. Justice was in this manner an empty name, unless it was supposed that the judge would pronounce himself an oppressor.

Under the five years' lease on which the land revenues had been farmed in 1772, the country was grievously overtaxed. The revenues fell into a heavy arrear the very first year, and the lands were let on a progressive rent. To collect the outstanding balances, and to force up the revenue to its standard, a host of extortioners was, under the name of aumils, or collectors, let loose upon the afflicted country. But the rents contracted for by the farmers of the revenue were greater than they could pay, and, notwithstanding all their efforts, the arrears continued to increase. On the five years' lease, they amounted to a sum equal in value to L1,454,277, which was judged to be wholly irrecoverable; while, during the same period, the sums remitted, even under the rigorous management of public farmers, amounted to L1,396,451. Nor was this the only evil arising from the mal-administration of the Company's servants. The zemindars, who are admitted on all hands, even by those who advocate the sovereign's right to the possession of the soil, to have lived in splendour on their hereditary possessions; in all cases to have possessed the powers of magistracy within their district, and, where the territory was large, to have exercised a species of sovereignty; were either deprived of their estates, or, where they were induced, by a hereditary attachment to their possessions, to engage for the rent proposed, they were overwhelmed with taxes which they could not pay, and were thus involved in poverty and ruin. Where the zemindar was himself the farmer of the revenue, he exercised the same extortion on his inferiors which was applied to himself; where a money-jobber, having no interest whatever in the property of the ten- Hindustan-ants, was the farmer, there was no limit to his extortion and cruelty.

The defects in this system for the administration of the land revenues soon began to disclose themselves; and the rulers of India, whose government was one continued innovation, immediately resolved to make another considerable change in the state machinery which they had just set in motion. They abolished the superintendence of the collectors; and the country, with the exception of Chittagong and Tipperah, being formed into six grand divisions, viz. Calcutta, Burdwan, Moorshedabad, Dinazapore, Dacca, and Patna, a council was appointed for each of the last five, consisting of a chief and four senior servants, to whom were transferred the powers and duties of the collectors. They were to preside in the courts of justice, and to superintend the collections; and, in subordinate districts, they delegated their powers to naibs or amuls, who were natives, and who were appointed, like their superiors, to collect and to judge in all cases under the value of 1000 rupees. The empty privilege of appeal was, as formerly, reserved to the unsuccessful suitor in the provincial courts; and, to superintend the whole collections of the country, a grand revenue-office was established at the presidency. The district of Calcutta was placed under the peculiar superintendence of a committee of revenue, consisting of two members of the council and three inferior servants. These regulations, which were declared to be temporary, and only preparatory to something more permanent, failed as usual in all their important objects. The defective administration of justice amongst the natives was admitted and complained of by all parties, and the peace of the country was in consequence disturbed by the general prevalence of robbery and other enormous crimes. The truth is, that the new arrangements had subverted the ancient institutions and local manners of the country, and had thus left a void in its internal economy which the government was in vain endeavouring to fill up.

The lease of the lands expired in 1777; and, after various suggestions and consultations, it was resolved that the rent should be regulated by the average collections of the three preceding years, and that the lands should be let, not by auction, but by an agreement with their ancient possessors in preference to other competitors. The liberal views of Mr Francis, who proposed that, in lieu of the monopoly of salt and opium, a moderate duty should be imposed on those articles, and that a long series of oppression should thus be terminated, by giving freedom to trade, were rejected by the governor-general. In pursuance of the plan proposed, the lands were let from year to year until the necessary arrangements could be completed for the system which was now to be adopted of a permanent land-tax.

The attention of the British parliament had frequently been directed to the state of our Indian possessions, and to the transactions of the resident government; and, in 1784, a new system, of which we have already given an account, was established in Britain for the control of the local administration, under which Lord Cornwallis, who was chosen governor-general, was specially directed by the act of parliament, as well as by instructions from the directors and the board of control, "to inquire into the alleged grievances of the landholders, and, if founded in truth, to afford them redress; and to establish permanent rules for the settlement and collection of the land revenue, and for the administration of justice, founded on the ancient laws and local usages of the country."

Lord Cornwallis, on his arrival in India, did not deem matters fully ripe for the execution of the proposed plan, namely, the permanent settlement of the land revenue. On this important subject he found that the most intelligent of the Company's servants differed widely in opinion. Neither the nature of the land tenure, nor the rights of the different orders of people who shared amongst them the Hindustan produce of the soil, were well understood. All that was distinctly known was the amount of the revenue; but whether it was too high or too low was still a disputed point amongst the English in India, although the country was visibly declining under the weight of assessment. In such diversity of opinion, the governor-general, anxious to proceed with caution, delayed for a little the plan of a permanent settlement. He let the lands, in the mean time, from year to year, through the agency of the district collectors; and information on which to found a more durable arrangement was diligently sought from every source.

In 1789, Lord Cornwallis had resolved on the permanent settlement of the land revenues. This he conceived next set to be essential to the relief of the country, the condition of element which he described to be wretched in the extreme. "I am sorry," he observes, "to be obliged to say, that agriculture and internal commerce have for many years been gradually declining; and that at present, excepting the class of shroffs and banyans (bankers and merchants), who reside almost entirely in towns, the inhabitants of these provinces are advancing hastily to a general state of poverty and wretchedness." In this description I must even include every zemindar in the Company's territories, which, though it may have been partly occasioned by their own indolence and extravagance, I am afraid must also be in a great measure attributed to the effects of our former system of management." "I may safely assert," adds he, "that one third of the Company's territory in Hindustan is now a jungle, inhabited only by wild beasts." In pursuance of his plan, Lord Cornwallis entered into a permanent settlement of the land revenues for ten years, which was afterwards declared unalterable; and the zemindars of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, were formally constituted legal and perpetual proprietors of their respective estates, on the payment of a fixed rent to the state. The ten years, or, as it is called, the decennial settlement, was completed in every district in 1793.

In thus excluding itself from any prospective increase of revenue by limiting its demand upon the zemindar, there can be no doubt that the government committed a grave error. One of the great results of the measure was to elevate the zemindars from the grade of revenue-agents to that of landlords; but it never could have been the intention of government to increase the old zemidary allowance of 10 or 15 per cent. to above 100, and yet this has been the result of the permanent settlement. Mr Holt Mackenzie produced before the Commons' committee of 1832, a statement showing the aggregate government demand on various estates within certain districts of Bengal, farmed by the court of wards on account of minor and other disqualified zemindars, the rent paid by the farmer, and the profit accruing to the ward. The result shows a profit on the whole of rather more than 100 per cent. If some portion of this vast overplus were appropriated to recruit the government revenue, and the remainder permitted to remain in the pockets of the cultivators, both the state and its subjects would be greatly benefited. This, however, cannot take place on account of the existing settlement. It must be recollected that this income is not to be regarded as the rent of a landlord but the profit of a collector. Never was service so magnificently requited by any government as the collecting the revenue in India under the permanent settlement. One estate particularized in Mr Mackenzie's paper, is situated in the Twenty-four Pergunnahs, where the settlement was made upon a detailed measurement. On this property the share of the government is 6625 rupees; that of the zemindar 1976. The profit here, though very ample, falls far short of the average. Of course, there are other instances in which it is very much above the average. One of these is in the district of the Jungle Mehals, where the govern- ment revenue is 3654 rupees, and the zemindar's profits no less than 16,023 rupees. The settlement was obviously made in a state of great ignorance on the part of the government as to the real amount of the land revenue payable by the cultivators; and in consequence, the zemindar's payment was, in many instances, fixed at a sum quite inadequate. Another cause for the great excess of the zemindar's receipts over their payments to government, arises from the further occupation of waste lands since the settlement; an advantage which was surrendered by government as imprudently as unreasonably.

There was another defect in the decennial settlement, that it provided no security for the under-tenants and ryots in the hereditary privileges which they claimed in the soil. As they varied in different places and depended on different rules, the subject appeared to involve details too intricate for European management; and the important task of settling with the ryots was, therefore, devolved upon the zemindars, with a mere general recommendation to be guided by the custom of the place, and to give the ryot a written copy of his lease. According to this plan, it was the great proprietors only who had any permanent interest in the lands, while the inferior proprietors and tenantry were at the mercy of the principal landholders, who might exact from them whatever they pleased. The under-tenants and cultivators, in this ill-defined state of their rights, had no interest whatever in the improvement of the soil, being well assured that they would in no case be left more than a bare maintenance; and this was one among the other errors of the settlement, that it was made entirely with the zemindars, who were notoriously ignorant, oppressive, and corrupt. Maliks and other inferior landholders were crushed, and the just titles of the talookdars and ryots were extinguished; they were placed in the power of the zemindars, on whom alone the government relied for the improvement of the country, but many of these were capitalists who entered on the office of zemindar in the spirit in which they embarked in a mercantile speculation, and whose only object was of course to make the largest profit on their outlay. They were often unacquainted with the habits, the feelings, the wants, and even the language of the cultivators. Many, moreover, were purchasers who were destitute even of the recommendation of commercial respectability. It is represented that banyans, money-lenders, menial servants of Europeans, vakeels, and other retainers of the courts of law, seized the opportunity of elevating themselves in society by purchasing into this new aristocracy.

The producers of agricultural wealth being thus divested of their rights, frequently combined to keep down cultivation, and force the zemindar to give up the estate. It soon appeared, that, in order to realize the revenue, it would be necessary to sell the lands; and this evil once begun, continued to increase. The revenue was not punctually paid; and, for the recovery of outstanding balances, lands to a great amount were at stated times exposed to auction. In the year 1796–97, the lands advertised for sale bore a rent of 2,870,061 sicca rupees (£1,332,927); and those actually sold yielded an annual rent of 1,418,756 rupees (£1,164,576). In 1797–98, the quantity of lands sold bore a rent of 2,274,076 rupees (£255,833); and it is observed in the Fifth Report, p. 56, that "among the defaulters were some of the oldest and most respectable families of the country;" "the dismemberment of whose estates," continues the Report, "at the end of each succeeding year, threatened them with poverty and ruin, and, in some instances, presented difficulties to the revenue officers in their endeavours to preserve undiminished the amount of the public assessment." In order to check those evils, several alterations were made from time to time by Lord Cornwallis. But they appear to have been unavailing; and, in the year 1802, in a report from one of the collectors, we have the following melancholy picture of the state of the country:—"All the zemindars," it is observed, "with whom I ever had any communication, in this and in other districts, have but one sentiment respecting the rules at present in force for the collection of the public revenue. They all say that such a harsh and oppressive system was never before resorted to in this country; that the custom of imprisoning landholders for arrears of revenue was, in comparison, mild and indulgent to them; that though it was no doubt the intention of government to confer an important benefit on them, by abolishing this custom, it has been found by melancholy experience, that the system of sales and attachments, which has been substituted for it, has, in the course of a very few years, reduced most of the great zemindars in Bengal to distress and beggary, and produced a greater change in the landed property than has perhaps ever happened, in the same space of time, in any age or country, by the mere effect of internal regulations." In another part of the same document, the collector, after commenting on a regulation then recently introduced, observes, "Before this period (1799), complaints of the inefficacy of the regulations were very general among the zemindars, or the proprietors of large estates; and it required little discernment to see that they had not the same powers over their tenants which government exercised over them. It was notorious that many of them had large arrears of rent due to them which they were utterly unable to recover, while government were selling their lands for arrears of assessment." The collector adds, "Farmers and intermediate tenants were, till lately, able to withhold their rents with impunity; and to set the authority of their landlords at defiance. Landholders had no direct control over them; they could not proceed against them, except through the courts of justice; and the ends of substantial justice were defeated by delays and costs of suit." To the same purpose Sir Henry Strachey observes, "That the men of opulence are now all men of yesterday; that the greatest men formerly were the Mussulman rulers, whose places we have now taken, and the Hindu zemindars. These two classes are now ruined and destroyed."

The ruin of the zemindars was partly occasioned by another cause, namely, the want of any effectual method of enforcing their claims against the small tenants. The public officer was empowered to proceed against defaulters by a summary process, and to attach and sell, by public auction, the zemindar's land for the discharge of arrears; whilst against the under-tenants the zemindar had to seek redress by an ordinary suit at law, which was both tedious and expensive. To heighten this evil, the courts of justice were overloaded with a long arrear of undecided causes, so that no decision could be expected before the lapse of years. There were in the district of Burdwan above 30,000 undecided suits; and no decision could be expected within the ordinary duration of human life. The zemindar, in this manner, whilst he was compelled to pay, by the prompt and efficient process of government, was left to seek redress from his tenants through a labyrinth of endless litigation; and the knowledge of this impediment to justice gave great encouragement to the tenants to refuse payment of their rents. The ruin of the zemindar, therefore, was the inevitable consequence of this summary process to which he was exposed, while he could have no similar recourse on his tenants; and these regulations were universally complained of, and on the justest grounds. In an address from one of the collectors to the board of revenue, in behalf of the zemindar of Burdwan, who had in vain ap-

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1 Fifth Report, printed in 1812, p. 60. 2 See Answers to the Interrogatories of Government, dated 30th Jan. 1802. plied for redress to the civil courts, it is observed that he (the zemindar) begs leave to "submit to your consideration, whether or not it can be possible for him to discharge his engagements to government with that punctuality which the regulations require, unless he be armed with powers as prompt to enforce payment from his renters, as government had been pleased to authorize the use of in regard to its claims on him; and he seems to think it must have proceeded from an oversight, rather than from any just and avowed principle, that there should have been established two modes of judicial process under the same government; the one summary and efficient for the satisfaction of its own claims, the other tardy and uncertain in regard to the satisfaction of claims due to its subjects; more especially in a case like the present, where ability to discharge the one demand necessarily depends on the other demand being previously realized."

The system which impoverished the zemindars proved equally ruinous to the ryots. It was the practice of the zemindar to contract for a certain rent with a land farmer, who subdivided the land into smaller portions, and let it to a variety of inferior tenants. To this head farmer it appears that a written agreement was given, according to the regulations; but the under-tenants were left, without any security, to the mercy of their superiors. It is well known, and admitted by the servants of the Company, that the ryot, even when he receives written agreements from the zemindar, is liable to indirect oppressions which no law can remedy; and though, owing to the expense and delay in the administration of justice, he could retaliate on the zemindar, by refusing payment of his rents, this privilege could be of little advantage to him, whilst it tended still farther to widen the breach between the landlord and the tenant, and to add to the hatred, strife, and violent destruction of interests by which the community was now, as it were, torn in pieces. To remedy the grievances which the zemindars suffered from the evasion of payment by their tenants, it was enacted in 1799 that they might have recourse to the same summary process against defaulters as was used by the government against themselves. They were empowered to seize the property of their tenants for arrears, previous to any legal judgment, or any proof of the justice of their claim. This regulation gave to the zemindars the power of unbounded oppression, against which the ryot had no redress, as he was effectually shut out of the courts of justice by the enormous expenses of law proceedings. It was undoubtedly just that the zemindar should have the same efficient process for enforcing payment as was used against himself; but such was the unhappy condition of India, under the unskilful management of strangers, that every plan of reform seemed only to increase the general disorder. Her rulers wanted intelligence for the delicate task of domestic legislation; their schemes were crude and inapplicable, nor could they ever mould the various and jarring interests of the Indian community into any consistent scheme of civil order; so that, though they were continually patching their imperfect work, it still bore the same incongruous character, and the cure of one evil was constantly followed by an irruption of other and worse evils from some other quarter.

Notwithstanding these obvious evils, attempts have been made to repeat the unsuccessful experiment of a permanent settlement by extending it to the western provinces. These were in the first instance frustrated by the objections of Mr Cox and Mr Henry St George Tucker, who were appointed commissioners for carrying the plan into effect. It is remarkable that both these gentlemen were advocates for the system; but on being deputed to superintend its establishment in an untried spot, they perceived that objections existed to its introduction; and these they had the Hindustan, manliness and candour freely to point out. But, notwithstanding their representations, the Bengal government persisted in its determination to introduce the permanent settlement; and the commissioners, finding their views thus at variance with those of the supreme authority, felt themselves called upon to resign. The home government appears to have taken a view of the subject more just, calm, and statesmanlike than that of the local government, and, in the words of Mr Sullivan, "uniformly evinced throughout the whole correspondence on this grand question fully as strong an anxiety that the rights of individuals should not be infringed, as that the interests of the state should not be compromised by a premature discussion." A termination was put to the proposed extension of the system in 1817, when the board of control and the court of directors, after ample discussion, finally agreed upon the following points:

"That the system of 1793, though originating in the most enlightened views and the most benevolent motives, and though having produced considerable good, has nevertheless been attended in the course of its operation with no small portion of evil to the people for whose happiness it was intended.

"That the same views and motives which dictated the original introduction of the permanent settlement twenty-five years ago, would not, after the experience which had been had of it, justify the immediate introduction of the same system into provinces for which a system of revenue administration is yet to be settled.

"That the creation of an artificial class of intermediate proprietors between the government and the cultivators of the soil, where a class of intermediate proprietors does not exist in the native institutions of the country, would be highly inexpedient.

"That no conclusive step ought to be taken towards a final settlement of the yet unsettled provinces, until it shall have been examined, and if possible ascertained, by diligent research and comparison of collected testimonies as well as by accurate survey of the lands to be settled, how far the principle of a system which would bring the government into immediate contact with the great body of the people, can be practically and usefully applied to them."

This decision was dictated by a sound policy. The attempt to create a landed aristocracy was from first to last based upon erroneous views. Had it been practicable, it could not be effected without the destruction of a mass of private rights, which it was the duty of the law to protect instead of subverting. The observations of Mr Campbell, of the Madras civil establishment, on this point are just and convincing. "In India," says he, "where the only aristocracy connected with the land are the mere hereditary farmers-general, or contract-agents of the government—and the soil itself is invariably occupied by a numerous class of petty proprietary cultivators—it was obviously impracticable to introduce the European theory of landlord and tenant without an infraction of individual rights. It never ought to have been, nor can it now even justly be, made a question for consideration or decision whether in India it be politic to give the preference to great or to small holders of land. The law and usage of the country have immemorially and irrevocably determined the right in the soil to be vested in particular classes. Whatever may be the extent or value of such right, the smallest no less than the greatest tenure should be held inviolably sacred; and the rights of millions of field proprietors to hold on defined terms directly of the state never can be abrogated for a mere theoretical improvement in the administration of the land revenue, without an act of the most sweeping confiscation ever hazarded by a civilized government. It was clearly the duty of a

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1 All the collectors invariably bear testimony to the oppressions of the zemindars after the passing of the regulation of 1799. Hindustan just government anxiously to protect all existing rights; and by defining its demand on the possessor of each tenure holding immediately of the state, to maintain every class in its respective situation, and to ensure the benefit of any remission or reduction in its land revenue to those who pay it, instead of allowing it to be intercepted by its intermediate revenue contractor, the zemindar.

But had there been no previous rights in the way, the attempt suddenly to call into existence an aristocracy whose claims were based neither on property nor ancient usage, would have failed. The plan, indeed, was nowhere distinguished by even the semblance of success, except in the districts where the zemindar's authority was continued in its ancient line; and in these cases that part of the plan which subjected the zemindar's right to sale in case of default was productive of the most serious mischief. Under the native powers it was not the practice to sell the zemindar's right. The zemindar himself was subject even to corporeal punishment, but his right was never brought to sale. The enforcement of such a system consequently outraged the feelings of all classes, where the institution was ancient; and the description of persons whom the sales frequently introduced to the exercise of the zemindary authority was little calculated to allay the feelings of irritation excited by the forcible expulsion of an old family.

The state of society which prevailed in Hindustan arose from the mixed operation of a peculiar system of laws, customs, manners, religion, and policy; and such an artificial structure required to be nicely and skilfully handled, instead of which it was lacerated in all its delicate parts by the rude hand of foreign interference. The English were ignorant even of the language of the people whom they had brought under their sway, and whom they now attempted to govern; and though they might know generally that the public revenues were derived from an impost on land, they were entirely inexperienced in the usages of the country, and in the financial details of the Mogul government. With what effect, therefore, could they interfere in such complicated details? how could they decide between the claims of justice and of fraud? how could they judge of cases connected with the peculiar usages of the country, and with all those minute local manners with which no foreigners can ever become thoroughly acquainted? The Company's servants, involved in such a labyrinth of complex concerns, possessed no clue to guide them to any equitable issue. Supposing their views to have been honest, they wanted intelligence to give them effect; and although they could enforce submission to their decrees, the country, under their usurped and ill-directed authority, presented one vast scene of anarchy and oppression. The directors in Europe readily ascribed all these evils to the misconduct and incapacity of their servants, which they heavily censured; and, in their correspondence with India, they express the most just, humane, and enlightened sentiments, and a sincere desire to promote the happiness of their subjects. But if they had only said to their servants "lower the assessment," these three words would have been of more avail than volumes of fine sentiment. The glory of a sovereign consists in the felicity of grateful millions, and this is the only true and legitimate end of all government. But the East India Company were intent on profit, on enriching themselves at the expense of their subjects; and the duty of the servants to their masters consisted in sending home a large investment. They were to possess themselves of as large a quantity as possible of the produce of the country, giving nothing in return, and to send it to Europe to be shared amongst the proprietors; and it was, accordingly, the boast of successive administrations how well they had succeeded in this matter; not how happy they had made their subjects, but how much of their property they had taken from them and sent to Europe.

The institutions of Lord Cornwallis for the administration of civil and criminal justice appear to have been equally unsuccessful with his finance measures; and it soon appeared, as has already been stated, that the new courts of judicature had more business than they could manage, and such an arrear of undecided cases accumulated that the course of justice was nearly stopped. In this dilemma, the costs of suit were raised for the purpose of discouraging litigation; and this expedient being found ineffectual, they were raised a second time. To place justice out of the reach of the poorer and more numerous class, by laying a heavy tax on it, was indeed an easy and effectual method of discouraging litigation. It was, in fact, a denial of justice, a direct refusal to hear the complaints of the poor, who might, therefore, be harassed for ever after with impunity. Notwithstanding this discouragement, however, the evil went on increasing, and at last amounted to an almost total dissolution of civil order. As no decision was to be procured before the regularly-constituted tribunals, every man began to arm himself in his own quarrel; and the country thus became the scene of bloody affrays between armed individuals, unhappily left without any other resource for the decision of their differences. In some of those conflicts 4000 or 5000 persons were arrayed on each side, and many lives were lost. In a letter of the court of directors, dated October 1814, it is observed, "As to affrays respecting the possession and boundaries of lands and rents, this has been long a serious evil, and must, we conceive, have existed in a greater or less degree in every part of the country." "These affrays," continue the directors, "which often lead to homicides and woundings, have been very naturally ascribed by several of the judges to the difficulty of obtaining judicial redress." In the district of Tirhoot, where the public peace had been frequently disturbed by those private feuds, the judge for the division of Patna observes, that they chiefly "arose from the accumulated arrears of suits," and "that the parties finding a delay in obtaining redress, had resorted to force." Mr Melville, also a judge in the division of Dacca, expresses himself to the same purpose. "With respect to affrays," he observes, "attended with homicides and wounding, it is known that those disorders arise from attempts to retain by force possession of lands, or rents of lands, to which the different parties alleged separate claims." The same person afterwards states, that "in Chittagong, they (meaning these quarrels) had not only been frequent, but violent; that the police authority had been often resisted, and in one instance overpowered; that it would be wrong to disguise the length of time a claimant must wait, with the sacrifices he must make, before the decision of a civil court can be obtained."

We shall now briefly advert to the system of penal judicature and police established by Lord Cornwallis; the object, in this case, being to give security to the people by the suppression of crimes. With reference to this object, however, the scheme has notoriously failed. Since the year 1793, India has become a prey to disorders of every sort, and to the worst of crimes. The crime of robbery, accompanied with murder, rose to a most alarming height, and was prosecuted with a degree of union, perseverance, and cruelty, inconceivable to those who live in the civilized communities of Europe. Robbery at this time was a regular profession, handed down from father to son; and the decoits, or gang-robbers, were formed, as the title implies, into powerful confederacies, and made their irruptions on the peaceful country with a force which it was vain to They are described by Mr Hastings as "a race of outlaws, who live from father to son in a state of warfare against society, plundering and burning villages, and murdering the inhabitants." In the year 1772, the robbers are mentioned by the committee of circuit, and stated to be "not like robbers in England, individuals driven to such courses by sudden want; they are robbers by profession, and even by birth; they are formed into regular communities, and their families subsist by the spoils which they bring home to them."

All the reports of the judges employed in the administration of criminal justice concur in representing the deplorable prevalence of the atrocious crimes of gang-robbery and murder. Sir Henry Strachey, writing on this subject in 1802, observes, that the crime of decoity (that is, robbery by gangs) has increased greatly since the British administration of justice. Another judge, writing on the same subject in 1808, observes, "That decoity (gang-robbery) is very prevalent in Rajeshahye has been often stated. But if its vast extent were known; if the scenes of horror, the murders, the burnings, the excessive cruelties, which are continually perpetrated here, were properly represented to government, I am confident that some measures would be adopted to remedy the evil. Certainly there is not an individual belonging to the government who does not anxiously wish to save the people from robbery and massacre." (Mill, vol. iii., p.311.) He afterwards adds, that such is the state of things which prevails all over Bengal; and as to his own particular district, he expresses his persuasion that no civilized country ever had so bad a police. To the same purpose Mr Dowdeswell, the secretary to the government in 1809, observes, in a report which he drew up on the general state of Bengal, "Were I to enumerate only a thousandth part of the atrocities of the decoits, and of the consequent sufferings of the people, and were I to soften that recital in every mode which language would permit, I should still despair of obtaining credit, solely on my own authority, for the accuracy of the narrative." "Robbery, rape, and even murder itself," continues he, "are not the worst figures in this horrid and disgusting picture. An expedient of common occurrence with the decoits, merely to induce a confession of property, supposed to be concealed, is to burn the proprietor with straw or torches, until he discloses the property, or perishes in the flames. And when they are actuated by a spirit of revenge against individuals, worse cruelties, if worse can be, are perpetrated by these remorseless criminals. If the information obtained is not extremely erroneous, the offender, hereafter noticed, himself committed fifteen murders in nineteen days; and volumes might be filled with the atrocities of the decoits, every line of which would make the blood run cold with horror." (Fifth Report, p.603.)

It would far exceed our limits to trace in detail the cause of those evils which necessarily arose out of the very nature of the government now established. The truth is, the British were never qualified to act as legislators in India. They were too ignorant of the habits, manners, and character of the people, to meddle with their institutions, on which, however, they were continually innovating. By altering the old mode of settling the land revenues, they compromised the rights of the different classes of landholders and occupiers. Strife and contention immediately ensued, litigation burst upon society like a flood, the civil courts were overwhelmed with suits which they could not decide, and the people, desperate from a denial of justice, were involved in furious affrays with each other in prosecution of their rights, or, being driven from their lands, they had recourse to robbery for a subsistence. Business was thus, from various sources, accumulated in the criminal courts, which being encumbered with the delay, the expense, and all the tedious formalities of the English practice, proceeded with their decisions at much too slow a pace for the wants of the country; and the evil in this manner daily increased. The Hindustan mischief of this delay was twofold,—1st, It allowed criminals, during the long interval between their apprehension and trial, to prepare the certain means of their escape, by the suborning of false witnesses, who, in the gross dissolution of morals in Hindustan, were always to be readily procured, and in any number; and, 2dly, It entailed a grievous hardship on the innocent, great numbers of whom were crowded into jails with the worst of felons, there to wait until the tardy hand of justice should bring them relief.

The inefficient state into which the police had fallen, was also one cause of the general prevalence of crimes. By the police ancient institutions of the Mogul government ample means were provided for the preservation of the public peace. In every village a permanent body of guards and watchmen was maintained, whose business it was to assist in all the subordinate details both of the revenue and police, to convey the rents of the ryot to the district collector, to watch those ryots who were in arrear, to guard their crops from depredation, to act as guides and protectors to travellers, to collect information of any offences committed, and to report the arrival in the villages of suspicious persons. For these various services they had grants of land rent-free, or on very easy terms. Besides this standing force of guards and village watchmen, the zemindar, who was at the head of the police, and was held responsible for all crimes committed within his boundaries, had under his orders a large body of pykars, or armed constables, whom he could call out in aid of the police service, either for the apprehension of offenders, or to prevent breaches of the peace. These establishments, though they had fallen into a state of decay at the time of the permanent settlement in 1793, and though they were frequently perverted from their original purposes, yet existed in all parts of the country, and the police force was found to be in great efficiency and strength. The zemindary of Burdwan, a tract of country seventy-three miles long by forty-five broad, which was in the highest state of cultivation, and well stocked with inhabitants, maintained a body of 2400 village watchmen, who were distributed under their respective chiefs amongst the different villages, for the double purpose of protecting the inhabitants and of procuring information; besides 19,000 pykars, or armed constables, who were liable to be called out, under the orders of the zemindar, in aid of the police. Instead of improving upon those ancient establishments which had taken root in the country, which were interwoven with the frame and texture of Indian society, and which were, generally speaking, efficient, though frequently perverted from their original purposes, Lord Cornwallis demolished the whole structure. According to his new scheme of police, the zemindary constables were disbanded, and their lands, which were allowed them in lieu of pay, were resumed, that is, were seized by government. The country was divided into districts of twenty miles square, over which a native police officer or darogah was placed, with fifteen or twenty armed men under his orders; he was assisted also by the village watchmen, and such of the zemindary constables as were still retained in the public service. It was soon found, however, that the new police officers could not effectually call out this array in aid of the civil power. They wanted the personal consideration of the zemindars, who had long been looked up to with respect and reverence as the hereditary aristocracy of the country. The system, therefore, proved eminently inefficient; nor were the officers employed under the new plan found to be less corrupt than the disbanded constables of the zemindars. The merits of the plan appear to be pretty fairly estimated in the Fifth Report (p. 71), in which it is observed, that the head police officers, and "the inferior officers acting under them, with as much inclination to do evil, have less ability to do good than the zemindary servants employed before them." How vain was Hindustan, it to imagine that any better materials could be found for the regulation and government of the country than those which the country itself afforded. To complain of them was to complain of the general state of society out of which they were produced; and to throw them away because they were corrupt or otherwise imperfect, evinced an ignorance of the legislator's province, which is not to create materials, but to make the best use of those which are provided to his hand. Herein, then, consisted the error of the British legislators. They cast from them the only efficient instruments which were to be found for the government of the Indian community, while they had nothing to substitute in their place; and their plans, when tried in practice, were accordingly found to be idle theories, at variance with the whole frame and order of the society for whose use they were intended.

The pernicious consequences of thus rashly subverting the ancient establishments of the country were soon displayed in the alarming increase of crimes. The disbanded zemindary constables, whose lands were seized, were deprived of the means of living, and they necessarily betook themselves to theft and rapine for a subsistence. The country became infested with gangs of robbers and murderers, whose horrid cruelties struck terror into the peaceable inhabitants, whilst lesser crimes also became more frequent. The police was inadequate to the detection of offenders, the courts of justice to their conviction; and, amongst other evils, a host of false witnesses now arose, amid the general corruption of morals, who swore in the teeth of each other, perplexing all judicial proceedings, and confounding the innocent with the guilty. For remedy of these complicated evils various expedients were resorted to. Amongst others, a feeble attempt was made to revive the ancient powers which the zemindars had over the police; but this was attended with so little success that it was abandoned in 1810. In 1809 a superintendent of police was appointed, with a view, as was stated, of concentrating in his office all the information which might be obtained from different quarters, and of giving unity and vigour to the measures adopted for the apprehension of offenders; and, as a last resource, a regular establishment of police spies, called goyendas, was organized, and placed under a species of superintendents called girdwars, the office of the first being to point out the robbers, that of the latter to apprehend them. Notwithstanding all these measures crimes of every description appear to have gone on increasing; and in a minute of Lord Minto, dated November 1810, it is observed, "That a monstrous and disorganized state of society existed under the eye of the supreme British authorities, and almost at the very seat of that government to which the country might justly look for safety and protection; that the mischief could not wait for a slow remedy; that the people were perishing almost in our sight; that every week's delay was a doom of slaughter and torture against the defenceless inhabitants of very populous countries." The directors, in whose letter of the 28th of October 1814 this passage appears, confirm the truth of the statement by the following brief observation:—"That this representation of the late governor-general is not too highly coloured would appear from the minute of Mr Lumsden, and the reports of Mr Secretary Dowdeswell, forming also part of the proceedings in regard to Mr Earnst."

The new scheme of employing spies, however useful in some cases, was in other respects highly detrimental to the peace of the community. Those spies, and more especially their superintendents (girdwars), became, in many cases, the pests of society. They took advantage of the power which they possessed of apprehending suspected persons to Hindustan, extort money from them; and frequently, under threats of immediate apprehension, they laid under contribution all classes indiscriminately. It is stated, in a letter of the directors dated October 1814, on the authority of Mr Dick, a circuit judge, that "whole villages are put under contribution, or subjected to the rapacity and spiteful machinations of the vilest members of society." In some cases the innocent were brought to trial, and convicted on suborned evidence, procured by these wretches.

Amongst the other causes of these evils may be enumerated the incapacity of Europeans to officiate as judges in a society so peculiarly constituted as that of India. This is a fact which is deeply regretted by all the most experienced servants of the Company, from Sir John Shore downwards. In two essential qualifications for the judicial chair Europeans must always be surpassed by the natives of India. They can neither acquire the same familiarity with the vernacular languages, nor obtain the same keen insight into native character. The ruling authorities have not been insensible to these shortcomings, and a remedy has been sought in the more extensive employment of native agency, subject only to careful European supervision. Europeans mix little with the natives in their ordinary business or amusements; and when, under such disadvantages, they attempt to officiate as judges, they have always found the difficulty of appreciating or understanding even the most ordinary transactions of a society, with the rules and principles of which they are entirely unacquainted. What is intelligible by intuition to a native, is a mystery to them; and it is easy to conceive how these difficulties must be accumulated on them in any case involving a long train of circumstantial or contradictory evidence. It is not, as every one knows, on the mere naked testimony of a witness, that a judge entirely relies; it is the tone, the manner, the living evidence of expression and character, which impresses upon testimony the stamp of truth, which carries conviction to the mind, and saves a judge from the miserable dilemma of being blown about by every wind of opposite evidence. These discriminations are, however, far too nice for a European judge in an Indian court, and he frequently knows not what to believe. He cannot, by any judicious cross-examination, extort the truth from contradictory witnesses. In any train of questions involving the peculiar usages of the country, his stock of knowledge is soon exhausted. A story which hangs together in all its main circumstances may yet be inconsistent in some of its minute and delicate points. But a European can never detect inconsistencies which are wrapt up in the veil of local manners, and hence he lies at the mercy of every perjured witness who chooses to practise upon his ignorance. The truth of this statement is illustrated and confirmed by the concurring reports of many of those who have acted in this trying situation. Sir Henry Strachey, whose reports to the supreme government abound in most just, enlightened, and comprehensive views of Indian society and manners, observes, that "nothing is more common, even after a minute and laborious examination of evidence on both sides, than for the judge to be left in utter doubt respecting the points at issue. This proceeds chiefly from our very imperfect connection with the natives, and our scanty knowledge, after all our study, of their manners, customs, and languages. Within these few years, too, the natives have attained a sort of legal knowledge, as it is called; that is to say, a skill in the arts of collusion, intrigue, perjury, and subordination, which enables them to perplex and baffle us with infinite facility." "We perhaps judge too much by rule; we imagine things to be incredible be-

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1 See Papers relating to the Police and to the Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice in Bengal, Fort George, &c., from 1810 to the present time. Printed in 1819, p. 24. 2 Papers printed by order of the House of Commons, 1819. We make not sufficient allowance for the loose, vague, and inaccurate mode in which the natives tell a story; for their not comprehending us, and our not comprehending them. We hurry, terrify, and confound them with our eagerness and impatience." "We cannot," adds the same discriminating observer, "study the genius of the people in its own sphere of action. We know little of their domestic life, their knowledge, conversation, amusements, their trades and castes, or any of those national and individual characteristics which are essential to a complete knowledge of them. Every day affords us examples of something new and surprising; and we have no principle to guide us in the investigation of facts, except an extreme diffidence of our opinion, a consciousness of inability to judge of what is probable or improbable." "The evil I complain of is extensive, and, I fear, irreparable. The difficulty we experience in discerning truth and falsehood among the natives may be ascribed, I think, chiefly to our want of connection and intercourse with them; to the peculiarity of their manners and habits, their excessive ignorance of our characters, and our almost equal ignorance of theirs." The following passage, from the same document, gives a striking view of the inefficiency of European judges:

"The evidence on every trial convinces us, that innumerable robberies and murders, that atrocities of the worst conceivable kind, are committed, and that very often the perpetrators are before us; yet do we find ourselves, from causes of the nature above described, constrained to let them loose again to prey on society; or, at the utmost, to direct that they be discharged, on giving security for their good behaviour." "The judge of circuit is from day to day engaged in trying large gangs for robbery and murder, and letting them go; and the country continues to be overrun with them, to a degree truly deplorable."

In fact, a grave error had been committed in attempting to transact the public business of the country by means of European agency. This was the early practice of our Indian administration. The Marquis Wellesley, writing to the home authorities at the close of the last century, thus enunciates the principle—"The duty and policy of the British government in India, therefore, require that the system of confining the immediate exercise of every branch and department of the government to Europeans educated in its own service, and subject to its own direct control, should be diffused as widely as possible, as well with a view to the stability of our own interests as to the happiness and welfare of our own subjects." The experiment was fully tried, but resulted in disappointment, inasmuch as it was impossible to carry it out otherwise than very imperfectly, except at an enormous expense. Another mode, that of employing native agency to a large extent, was more readily available. Native functionaries might be obtained upon lower terms, and in some essential points they would enjoy advantages over Europeans. It was feared, however, that they could not be trusted; and if remunerated at the low scale formerly allotted to them, and unwatched by any superior, the apprehension was not unreasonable. The problem was to unite economy and despatch with efficiency and integrity; and the solution is found in the extensive employment of native agency, subject to careful European supervision. This has been tried, and works well. The change has taken place within the last twenty years, during which period several new offices of trust and emolument have been opened to the natives of India, and those previously allotted to them have been materially advanced both in emolument and responsibility. Civil justice, in fact, is almost wholly dispensed by native judges. They are distributed into three grades—principal sudder aumeens, sudder aumeens, and moonsiffs. 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 special 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. Further, suits wherein the amount in dispute exceeds L500 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 adawlut. 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 1837 to no officer below a European provincial judge. By recent enactments 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' imprisonment, 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 term of two months if the fine be not paid. Natives are frequently invested with full powers of magistrate.

The judicial establishments of Bengal, over which European judges preside, are—

1st. A high court of appeal, termed the sudder dewanny adawlut; and the nizamut adawlut, or the chief civil and criminal court, which sits in Calcutta, and is composed of judges selected from the civil servants of the East India Company. On the civil side this court has ceased to exercise any original jurisdiction, but it is the court of final appeal in the presidency, and controls all the subordinate civil tribunals. Besides regular appeals from the decisions of the European zillah judge, and in certain 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 judgments shall appear inconsistent with law or the practice or usage of the courts. The power thus given to the sudder court of hearing special appeals extends 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 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 vernacular tongue, and this affords the sudder court extended means of judging correctly of the individual qualifications of their subordinates. The sudder court sits daily. 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 three sitting together must concur for its reversal, whether the appeal be regular or special. Decisions of the court in suits exceeding in value L1000 may be carried by appeal before the Queen in council. On the criminal side the court has cognizance in all matters relating to criminal justice and the police of the country, but it exercises no original 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-officer 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 sessions judge for crimes punishable by a limited period of imprisonment are also referred for the disposal of the nizamut in cases where the sessions judge differs from the opinion of the Mohammedan law-officer.

2nd, The zillah courts, over which European judges preside and supervise the dispensation of justice by their native functionaries. It is competent to the European judge 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 L500; 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. All capital cases, after trial, must be referred for the disposal of the nizamut adawlut, together with those cases, as already intimated, in which the sessions judge dissents 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 jail delivery, though in fact he may be said to be constantly sitting. He sits in appeal from the sentences passed by the magistrates and their assistants. A similar plan of jurisdiction is in force at Madras and Bombay.

At each presidency there is a supreme or Queen's court, in which the judges are appointed by the crown, and the modes of procedure are assimilated to those of the courts at Westminster. In conclusion, it may be observed that the judicial system of India is necessarily one of most heterogeneous character, and it must probably continue so for a period of which the duration cannot be anticipated. The law of the Hindus is founded upon their religion. It is of course in many respects barbarous and absurd. It is also sometimes extremely vague, and on the whole very imperfect. The Mohammedans introduced their law, which, like that of the Hindus, was closely connected with their religion. The settlement of the British created a necessity for the introduction of a system of law differing from either. The law of England thus obtained a footing in India, but it did not altogether supersede either of the systems which it found previously in operation. But the Hindu and Mohammedan codes were such as no European people could consent to administer; they were therefore modified in practice, and, while their leading principles were adhered to, their more barbarous provisions were softened or rejected. Circumstances also continually arose to show the necessity of some additional rules for the administration of justice; and the governments of India from time to time enacted various regulations, which, unless annulled by the authorities at home, have the force of law. The principles of judicial administration in India are consequently derived from no fewer than four different sources,—the institutions of the Hindus, those of the Mohammedans, the English law, and the regulations of the Indian governments.

The permanent zemindary settlement was extended to Hindustan, Benares in 1795. It has been seen that the attempt to introduce this system into the north-western provinces was delayed in the first instance by the objections of the commissioners, which, however, were directed not against the principle, but the time and local circumstances of its application; and that it was finally suspended by a solemn decision of the home authorities. This was indeed a fortunate circumstance; and we may ascribe to it the fact that the landed estates in these provinces remain in the hands of the true proprietors, and that rapacious intruders have not become lords of the soil. A revenue settlement, based upon a careful survey, has now been effected. Under this settlement, the rights of every cultivator, whether landlord or tenant, have been ascertained and recorded; and, for the protection of these rights, a system of registration of titles to land has been introduced. The government assessment, calculated upon the basis of two-thirds of the net rent, has been fixed for a period of thirty years. By this limitation of the public demand a valuable and marketable private property has been created in the land, and every landholder, however petty his holding, is to a certain extent a capitalist. The following table exhibits the amount of land revenue, together with the population, area, and other particulars relating to these provinces:

**NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES**

| Number of Townships | 80,883 | | Area in Acres | 46,070,658 |

**LAND ASSESSED TO REVENUE**

| Acres | |-------| | Cultivated | 23,112,183 | | Culturable | 9,816,749 | | Total | 32,928,932 |

**LAND UNASSESSED**

| Rent Free | 1,733,443 | | Barren | 11,408,283 | | Total | 13,141,726 |

Total area in Acres: 46,070,658

Demand on account of Land Revenue: 405,29,921 Rupees.

Rate per Acre on Total Area: 0 14 1 On Total Assessed Land: 1 3 8 On Total Cultivation: 1 12 1

**POPULATION**

| Hindoo | |--------| | Agricultural | 13,127,556 | | Non-Agricultural | 6,334,690 | | Total | 19,452,646 |

| Mohammediand Others | |---------------------| | Agricultural | 1,596,277 | | Non-Agricultural | 2,150,745 | | Total | 3,747,022 |

Total Population of the North-Western Provinces: 23,199,668

Number of Persons to each square Statute Mile: 322 3 Number of Acres to each Person: 1 99 Average Amount of Revenue per Head: 1,742

In Madras the course adopted was altogether at variance with the feelings of the people, and the consequences were not more happy. In the Northern Circars, indeed, there was an ancient aristocracy, to whom the people looked up as their hereditary superiors, and through whom the supreme government could most conveniently realize its revenue. But in the other districts to which the permanent settlement was extended a novel and not very happy attempt was made to create an aristocracy by public auction. A cluster of villages called a mootah or zemindary was put up to sale, and the highest bidder became the new hereditary zemindar or mootalidar, the terms being synonymous. The government revenue had been previously assessed, not upon each field, nor upon each village, but upon the whole moo- Hindustan.

tah or zeminary; and for this the new speculator in nobility was held accountable. There was under this system no bond of connection between the cultivators and the purchasers of the zeminary right, who were totally unconnected with the land; they were monied men desirous of elevating themselves by their wealth into the rank of rajahs. Paremus are proverbially haughty and overbearing; and it is represented, and may readily be believed, that the ryots suffered considerable annoyance from these speculators. In consequence, however, of the provision made on their behalf, they frequently succeeded in vindicating their rights, and were generally in the course of time emancipated altogether from the dominion of the newly created zemindars, most of whom gradually failed, and with their families became involved in distress. The zemindars so completely mismanaged their zemindaries, that in the northern districts only one remained in a prosperous condition, their zemindaries having been for the most part transferred to the government officers as security for the payment of the revenue, and that they might be retrieved from the disorder into which they had fallen. In the Company's jaghire, in 1826, the zemindaries were reduced to 651 villages, paying a fixed jumma of 297,940 rupees; while lands had reverted to government to the extent of 1217 villages, paying a revenue of 488,960 rupees. In the Salem district a similar result followed. In the Dindigul district the zeminary settlement was introduced in 1804; but in 1807, the lands, with scarcely any exception, reverted to the government. That the permanent zeminary system is a bad one for the cultivator, there can be little doubt; that it is a bad one for the government, is equally clear. It has been suggested that under a zeminary system the rights of the ryots might be ascertained and protected. This, however, would be to combine two systems, instead of adopting one; and as one of the recommendations of the zeminary plan is its apparent simplicity and facility of application, such an appendage to it as the proposal implies can scarcely find favour in the eyes of those who regard it as an instrument for collecting the revenue with the smallest portion of trouble. But, if the rights of the ryots be admitted (and they are clearer than the rights of any other persons in India), on what principle can we justify the withdrawing from them the natural protection of government.

The observations of Sir Thomas Munro on the question are replete with sound vigorous sense. He says—"If, in place of lowering the assessment, and letting landed property rise in the natural way, we want to have great landlords raised at once where none exist, and for this purpose create zemindars, and turn over to each of them some hundreds of ryots, we should commit a gross injustice; because we should enable the zemidar in time to degrade the ryots from the rank of tenants-in-chief to that of tenants-at-will, and often to that of mere cultivators or labourers. We say that we leave the ryots free to act; and to make their own terms with the zemindars or renters, and that if they were wronged the courts will protect them. We put them out of sight, deliver them over to a superior, and then we tell them that they are free to make their own terms, and that there are courts to secure their rights. But with what pretence of justice can we place them under any set of men to make terms for their property, and to defend it against them in courts of law? They have no superior but government; they are tenants-in-chief; and ought not to be obliged to make terms except with government. But it is said that the zemidar does not infringe their rights, because he has no authority to demand more than the dues of government as regulated by the usage of the country, and that if the parties be left to themselves things will find their proper level. They will find the level which they have found in Bengal and several districts under this government, and which the weak always find when they are left to contend with the strong. The question is, whether we are to continue the country in its natural state, occupied by a great body of independent ryots, and to enable them, by a lighter assessment, to rise gradually to the rank of landlords; or whether we are to place the country in an artificial state, by dividing it into villages or larger districts among a new class of landholders, who will inevitably, at no distant period, by the subdivision of their new property, fall to the level of ryots; while the ryots will, at the same time, have sunk from the rank of independent tenants-in-chief to that of sub-tenants and cultivators. It is, whether we are to raise the landlords we have, or to create a new set, and see them fall." The actual working of the system in Madras is described in another part of the minute from which the last quotation is made. "There is no analogy whatever between the landlord of England and his tenants, and the moohadar or new village zemidar of this country and his ryots. In England the landlord is respected by the farmer as his superior; here a zemidar has no such respect, for the principal ryots of most villages regard him as not more than their equal, and often as their inferior. He is often the former pottai or head ryot of the village; but he is frequently some petty shopkeeper, or merchant, or some adventurer or public servant out of employ. Whichever of these he is, he has usually very little property. He has none for the improvement of the village; but, on the contrary, looks to the village as the means of improving his own circumstances. The ryots, by being placed under him, sink from the rank of tenants of the government to that of tenants of an individual. They are transferred from a superior, who has no interest but in their protection and welfare, to one whose interest it is to enlarge his own property at the expense of theirs; who seeks, by every way, however unjustifiable, to get into his own hands all the best lands of the village, and whose situation affords him many facilities in depriving the ancient possessors of theirs. The ryots are jealous of a man whose new power and influence they have so much to fear. They frequently combine in order to keep down the cultivation, and force him, for their own security, to give up the village. And hence it has happened, that on the one side the opposition of the ryots, and on the other the oppression of the new zemidar, have in many instances caused villages which were flourishing and moderately assessed to revert to the circar from inability to pay their assessment." Never, indeed, were good intentions so lamentably frustrated as they have been by this system; and to attempt to make it universal throughout our Indian possessions, might shake the security of our empire. The system is radically vicious. Where, however, it already exists, we must tolerate it; but it would be a most fatal error, as all experience shows, to endeavour to extend it. Again, quoting the words of Sir Thomas Munro, when speaking of the effects produced by the forcible introduction of this system: "Such an innovation would be much more fatal to the old rights of property than conquest by a foreign enemy; for such a conquest, though it overthrew the government, would leave the people in their former condition; but this internal change, the village revolution, changes everything, and throws both influence and property into new hands. It deranges the order of society; it depresses one class of men for the sake of raising another; it weakens the respect and authority of ancient offices and institutions; and the local administration, conducted by their means, is rendered much more difficult. It is time that we should learn that neither the face of a country, its property, or its society, are things that can be suddenly improved by any contrivances of ours, though they may be greatly injured by what we mean for their good; that we should take every country as we find it, and not rashly attempt to regulate its landed property, either in its accumulation or division; that whether it be held by a great body of ryots, or by a few zemindars, or by a mixture. of both, our business is not with its distribution, but with its protection; and that if, while we protect, we assess it moderately, and leave it to its natural course, it will in time flourish, and assume that form which is most suitable to the condition of the people."

The observations of the same distinguished person on the general principles which should guide those who undertake the high task of improving the condition of India, are no less just and instructive:—"We are now," he says, "masters of a very extensive empire, and we should endeavour to improve and secure it by a good internal administration. Our experience is too short to judge what rules are best calculated for the purpose. It is only within the last thirty years that we have begun to acquire any practical knowledge; a longer period must probably elapse before we can ascertain what is best. Such a period is as nothing in the existence of a people; but we act as if this were as limited as the life of an individual. We proceed in a country of which we know little or nothing as if we knew every thing, and as if every thing must be done now, and nothing could be done hereafter. We feel our ignorance of Indian revenue and the difficulties arising from it; and, instead of seeking to remedy it, by acquiring more knowledge, we endeavour to get rid of the difficulty by precipitately making permanent settlements, which relieve us from the troublesome task of minute or accurate investigation, and which are better adapted to perpetuate our ignorance than to protect the people. We must not be led away by fanciful theories, founded on European models, which will inevitably end in disappointment. We must not too hastily declare any rights permanent, lest we give to one class what belongs to another. We must proceed patiently, and as our knowledge of the manners and customs of the people and the nature and resources of the country increase, frame gradually, from the existing institutions, such a system as may advance the prosperity of the country, and be satisfactory to the people. The knowledge most necessary for this end is that of the landed property and its assessment; for the land is not only the great source of the public revenue, but on its fair and moderate assessment depend the comfort and happiness of the people."

In another place Sir Thomas Munro adverts to the mistakes which have been committed in a manner which should operate as a warning against indiscreet zeal for the future:—

"Our great error in this country, during a long course of years, has been too much precipitation in attempting to better the condition of the people, with hardly any knowledge of the means by which it was to be accomplished, and, indeed, without seeming to think that any other than good intentions were necessary. It is a dangerous system of government, in a country of which our knowledge is very imperfect, to be constantly urged by the desire of settling every thing permanently, to do every thing in a hurry, and, in consequence, wrong; and in our zeal for permanency, to put the remedy out of our reach. The ruling vice of our government is innovation; and its innovation has been so little guided by a knowledge of the people, that, though made after what was thought by us to be a mature discussion, it must appear to them as little better than mere caprice."

Such observations, which would scarcely at any time be unseasonable, are peculiarly deserving of notice in an age, the ruling vice of which is that which Sir Thomas Munro ascribes to the English authority in India—innovation. The great error of concluding that laws and institutions which produce good effects in one country will therefore produce good effects in all other countries, must be carefully avoided; and if it be necessary to bear this in mind with regard to that which has been tried, though under different circumstances, the necessity is still more imperious with reference to systems altogether untried, and which have not the sanction of even a partial or local experience.

If we would benefit the people of India, we must legislate for them as they are, and not as theorists conceive they ought to be. We must respect their local usages and institutions, wherever they are not productive of positive evil, and even where they are, they must be removed with a gentle hand. The general habit of the people is submission to authority, and it will be our own fault if they learn a different lesson. If we are content to derive a moderate revenue from the land, and to abstain from all interference with existing rights, except to protect them, the people will advance in wealth and happiness, and the British dominion take root in their interests and feelings. But if fanciful schemes, concocted in the closets of speculators and scholastics, framed with an ostentatious disregard of local peculiarities, claiming an universal applicability, and, like a patent medicine, "warranted to keep good in any climate," are imposed upon a people little addicted to novelty, in place of the institutions to which they have been accustomed—which have grown with the growth of the nation, and become part of its very essence—discontent, disgust, and confusion will be inevitable, and the final results may be such as no friend, either to India or England, can wish to contemplate. But while we discourage such a mischievous activity, we must not take refuge in indolence and supineness. It is at once our interest and our duty to settle nothing permanently till it can be settled in a manner satisfactory to the people; but it is also our interest and our duty to spare no labour that may be necessary to enable us to acquire that minute knowledge of Indian institutions which is indispensable to a satisfactory settlement. Of two plans we must not give the preference to one solely on the ground of its involving less trouble than the other. Nothing must be left to chance or accident, nor must the preservation of any class of rights be suffered to depend upon the clamorous violence with which they may happen to be urged. The weak as well as the strong, the silent as well as the loud, the ignorant as well as the informed, must be protected, and as we must not be parsimonious of labour, so neither must we be impatient of the consumption of time. The work to be accomplished is not that of a day or a year; and provided no time be wasted, it will, if well done, be done sufficiently early. The great principle to be observed in any mode of settlement is to offer as little violence as possible to the habits and feelings of the people. Wherever these do not stand in the way, wherever there is room for the exercise of a free choice, there can be no doubt at all that the ryot-war system is that which is best calculated to secure the cultivator from oppression, best calculated to promote industry, order, and independence, best calculated to advance the general prosperity of the country, and best calculated to protect the pecuniary interests of the government. That it is generally most consonant to the feelings of the people is certain. It is equally certain that the ryot-war system is the only one by which all individual rights can be protected, indeed, the only one by which they can be ascertained. And thus, unless a portion of the rights of the people, probably the most valuable rights of the most valuable class of the people, are to be regarded as unworthy of notice, a ryot-war settlement must be the basis of any other. The observations of Mr David Hill, formerly secretary to the government of Madras, upon this subject are much to the purpose; of course the settlement of which he speaks is such a one as it would become a just and upright government to make. He says, "You can no more form a zemindary settlement without a ryot-war one than you can write a correct hand without spelling, although in either case you may be unconscious of the subsidiary operation. The ryot-war settlement is an essential part of the zemindary one. If the officers of the government do not make settlements with the ryots, the zemindar must, and therefore the objections that are taken against a ryot-war settlement will not be obviated by the substitution of the other, except in as far as those objections apply to the ryot-war settlement being executed by the officers of government." The following account of the practical working of the plan will be acceptable to those who take an interest in the subject:

"In the spring of each year, every native collector, of whom there are generally ten or twelve under the European officer in charge of a large province, makes the circuit of his district to ascertain the fields which are occupied, and the individual holding the highest tenure in each. He then allows the poorer ryots to relinquish any fields they may not desire longer to retain, and grants these or other unoccupied or waste fields to such others as desire to extend their estate.

"The settlement itself is not begun by the European collector until towards the harvest, when the native collector of each district, with his district accountant, is, in the first instance, summoned to meet him. The records of the district accountant show the result of the native collector's previous circuit through the villages of his district. The quantity of land in each village, with its assessment, is ascertained; that portion of it which the ryots have agreed to cultivate is distinguished from the rest, and the reduced field survey assessment on it, after the usual deductions in favour of those who have the revenue alienated to them, or remitted in their favour, forms the native collector's estimate of the probable settlement of the land revenue for the season. He then affords personal explanations as to the general state of the several villages in his district, and the local causes of those changes which are observable in the accounts compared with those of former years.

"This preliminary having been completed, the village accountants are next summoned to attend the European collector. Their more detailed accounts show how far the several ryots have completed the engagements into which they have entered with the native collector, and what fields of the land agreed to be cultivated have been left waste. The causes of these alterations are minutely investigated and explained, and the records of the village accountants are checked by information obtained from their competitors or other sources.

"The collector's native establishment then prepare from their data a separate account for every individual ryot, specifying the name of each field, whether irrigated, unirrigated, or garden-land, cultivated by him, or at his risk and charge, its number in the survey accounts, and its assessments, with the alienations or remissions (if any) in his favour. This account also exhibits the ryot's stock, the number of his cattle, sheep, &c.; that also of the persons of his family, male or female, the extent of land exempted from revenue cultivated by him, invariably on very easy terms; and his actual payments to the government for many years past. These, which are called the rough ryot-war accounts, form the basis of the European collector's final settlement; and when any discussion arises with a particular ryot, they enable the collector to decide the point at issue without delay, for they contain in fact a summary revenue history of each individual contributor.

"These accounts having been prepared for each ryot, the whole of the cultivators themselves in eight or ten villages, are ultimately summoned at the same time to the collector's presence. Here the account of each man, and the deductions (if any) made in his favour, are compared in detail with his own personal information by the collector's native establishment; any items in it to which objections are started are examined, discussed, and, if erroneous, corrected. It is here that the frauds of the village accountants are detected, by the envy, jealousy, or honesty of one ryot pointing out the favours improperly granted to his neighbour. The objections of the ryots, if ill-founded, are overruled by the explanations of the head of the village, the village accountant, or the other cultivators in the same village, or by the exhortations of the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages also present, for these persons never hesitate voluntarily to interfere, and to remand such as start unfounded objections; and a ryot who obstinately demurs for hours to the laboured and authoritative reasoning of the collector's native establishment, will often give way at once to the voluntary arguments of his fellows, whose explanations are, perhaps, better adapted to his capacity, and whose opinion being more disinterested, no doubt carries with it more weight. But if the ryot's objections are valid, he always persists in appealing to the collector himself.

The details of every ryot-war settlement must devolve on the Hindustan native servants. The presence of the European officer is no doubt useful to superintend the whole; but it is chiefly requisite, in order to afford on the spot, to every discontented ryot, this facility of instant access and immediate appeal, which affords the best check against either fraud or oppression in the course of the settlement. The collector, if a judicious revenue officer, seldom has occasion to decide such questions himself; he soon learns to distinguish amongst the ryots assembled which are those universally respected throughout the country for their good conduct, impartiality, and sound sense; and his call upon them for an opinion, invariably given publicly, without any previous preparation, whilst it silences all complaint, relieves the officer of the government from the odium of deciding questions in which its interests may often be involved.

"All discussions with the ryots having thus been terminated, the puttah or lease and its counterpart are drawn out, and the former having been sealed by the collector, the whole of the ryots in each village are called before him. Every man here separately exchanges engagements with the government, to the number of 60,000 or 70,000 in some provinces, and receives from the European collector's own hands his lease, accompanied by the betel-leaf, &c., the usual tokens of native compacts. If any ryot still objects to the terms of his lease, he declines to receive it, and the grounds of his objection are here formally discussed, and finally decided by the collector in open public audience.

"In each village its head or potali, the chief of the police, is also invariably the village collector on account of government. He realizes from each individual ryot the amount of government revenue as the instalments fall due, and remits it to the native collector of the district, also vested with magisterial powers similar to those of a justice of the peace, whence it is forwarded to the European collector, uniting in his person the superintendence of both the revenue and police departments over the entire province."

Such is the mode of proceeding adopted in those parts of the territories under the Madras presidency, subject to the ryot-war system, and it appears to possess many advantages. In Bombay the revenue settlement is chiefly ryot-war. Under the new survey now in progress, the lands are subdivided into fields of moderate size, so that each subdivision is rendered easy of cultivation by a farmer of limited means. The government assessment is calculated separately upon each field, and leases granted for thirty years' duration at a fixed and invariable sum, binding on the government for the whole term, but with the option on the part of the cultivator of surrendering any one or more of his fields, or altogether putting an end to his lease at the close of any given year.

The great source from which the financial wants of the state are supplied is the land revenue. The other chief sources of Indian revenue are the monopolies of salt and opium, the customs duties, the duties included under the term abkarrak, comprising those on spirits, liquors, intoxicating drugs, and some other articles; the post-office receipts, and the mint and stamp duties. Of these various modes of taxation, the monopoly of salt is the only one against which any reasonable objection can be raised. It exists in Madras, in the north-western provinces, and in the lower provinces of Bengal. In the last mentioned provinces the East India Company make advances to a description of persons called Mohunbees, who are the manufacturers, and the salt is disposed of by auction at monthly sales. In Madras the salt is sold at a fixed price, which does not exceed one-fourth of the average price in Bengal; but it is said that the profit derived from it is considerable, the cost of production being comparatively small. Various objections have been taken to this source of revenue; and one of them is certainly not undeserving of consideration. It cannot be denied that a regulation which, for the mere purpose of revenue, adds enormously to the price of an article which must be regarded as a prime necessary of life, is an evil of no small magnitude. But those who urge this are bound to show how the It is quite clear that it must be raised by some means. The wants of the state must be provided for; and an annual deficiency of upwards of a million and a half sterling, which would result from the abolition of the salt monopoly, could not be supplied with any degree of certainty from new sources. Upon this ground the Company have been permitted, notwithstanding the extinction of their commercial character, to retain this branch of trade. Some modification in the mode of realizing the salt revenue is however about to take place. The monopoly of manufacture has been denounced in the House of Commons, and it has been resolved to try the experiment of permitting the manufacture by private individuals under a system of excise. In Bengal the revenue from opium is realized by means of a government monopoly. No person within the Bengal territories is allowed to grow the poppy, except on account of the government. Annual engagements are entered into by the cultivators under a system of pecuniary advances, to sow a certain quantity of land with the poppy, and the whole produce in the form of opium is delivered to the government at a fixed rate. The engagements on the part of the cultivators are optional. A large revenue is derived from the transit of the opium of Malwa through the British territories of Bombay for exportation to China. Previous to the year 1831, the British government reserved to itself a monopoly of the drug which was purchased by the British resident at Indore, and sold by auction either at Bombay or at Calcutta. But in that year it was deemed advisable to relinquish the monopoly in Central India, to open the trade to the operations of private enterprise, and to substitute, as a source of revenue in place of the abandoned system, the grant at a specified rate of passes, to cover the transit of opium through the Company's territories to the port of Bombay. The following table contains the latest account of Indian revenue and taxation:

| Excise | £28,614 | |--------|---------| | Land revenue | £15,391,668 | | Sayer, &c. | £1,157,214 | | Motorphs | £119,257 | | Mint duties | £16,696,751 | | Stamps duties | £129,079 | | Customs | £487,955 | | Salt | £1,684,763 | | Opium | £2,099,959 | | Tobacco | £4,259,778 | | Miscellaneous | £89,677 | | Total | £27,832,237 |

The commercial monopoly of the East India Company was granted by William III. in the year 1698, and it was confirmed by 9th and 10th William III., c. 44. The legislative enactments regarding the territorial possessions of the Company commenced in 1767. In that year it was agreed that, in consideration of an annual payment of £400,000, the territorial possessions should remain in possession of the Company for two years, and afterwards for five years from the 1st of February 1769. There was paid to the public, under these two acts, from 1768 to 1775, the sum of £2,169,398. In 1773 the affairs of the Company were much embarrassed, and they presented a petition to parliament soliciting a loan for four years, and a sum of £1,400,000 was accordingly lent; and at this time parliament first assumed the regulation of the Company's affairs. The dividend was restricted to 6 per cent. till this loan should be repaid, and afterwards to 7 per cent. It was enacted that the directors should be elected for four years, six of them being a fourth part, to vacate their office annually by rotation; the qualification to vote in the court of proprietors to be raised from £500 to £1,000. A new court of judicature was at the same time established at Calcutta, consisting of a chief justice and three principal judges, appointed by the crown; and a superiority was given to Bengal over the other presidencies; an appropriation was made of the revenues and profits of the Company, and they were required to make half-yearly statements of their debts, and of the profit and loss incurred on their trade and revenues. The loan of £1,400,000 having been discharged, two other acts were passed, by which the territory was continued to the Company for one year. In 1781 an act was passed continuing the territorial revenues and privileges of the Company till the 1st of March 1791, and then to be taken away only on a three years' notice; providing also that the Company should pay annually £400,000 to the public, besides three-fourths of any surplus revenue that might accrue. Under this act the Company paid to the public £400,000 in satisfaction of all claims up to the 1st March 1781. But of the annual sum of £400,000, which was afterwards to be paid, the public received only £300,000; and in 1783 the Company were allowed to borrow £800,000, and out of this borrowed money to pay a dividend of 8 per cent. By the act of 33d Geo. III. c. 52, passed in 1793, the British territories in India, together with the exclusive trade, were continued to the Company for twenty years; and the Company agreed to pay £500,000 annually, unless prevented by war expenditure. But only two payments were made, of £250,000 each, under this act, in 1793 and 1794. In 1814 the charter of the Company was renewed for twenty years; the trade to India opened under certain limitations, with the exception of the trade to China, the monopoly of which, with all the territorial revenues, was continued till 20th of April 1834. In 1833 a new act was brought forward by Mr Grant, for the future administration of the vast dominions of the Company, and for the general regulation of their affairs. By this act the commercial privileges of the East India Company were abolished, and the trade to India and to China was thrown open to all British subjects. The government of India was still vested in the directors of the Company, in conjunction with the board of control, according to the provisions of Mr Pitt's bill. All natural born British subjects were permitted to reside without license in any part of the territories which were under the government of the Company on the 1st day of January 1800, in any part of the countries ceded by the nabob of the Carnatic, of the province of Cutchack, and of the settlements of Singapore and Malacca. The only conditions required are,—that the party shall proceed by sea, and shall on arrival give notice of his name, place of destination, and objects of pursuit. A license is still necessary in the territories not specially excepted by the act. A British subject may hold lands in any place where he is authorized to reside. The reform of judicial proceedings, and the compilation of a uniform code of laws for Hindustan and Mohammedan as well as European subjects, a great and important undertaking, forms part of this comprehensive and enlightened plan for the government of India. In 1833, in consequence of the great extension of British territory, it was enacted by parliament that the presidency of Bengal should be divided, and a portion of it formed into a new presidency, to be styled the presidency of Agra. But a later act of parliament authorized the East India Company to suspend the execution of the contemplated division, and provided that during such suspension the governor-general in council might appoint a servant of the Company of ten years' residence to be lieutenant-governor of the north-western provinces under such limitations as may be prescribed. Under that act the establishment of a new presidency was accordingly suspended, and a lieutenant-governor of the north-western provinces appointed. By a later act

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1 On this clause Colonel Munro justly observes, "This is converting India into a rack-rent estate for England." Hindustan, the suspension is to remain until the court of directors shall otherwise determine, and in the meantime the provisions for the appointment of a lieutenant-governor of the north-western provinces, and the arrangements consequent thereon, are to be in force. Under the sanction of the same act a lieutenant-governor has been likewise appointed over the lower provinces of Bengal; and the East India Company are further empowered to erect another new presidency, and, pending its formation, they may authorize the establishment of an additional lieutenant-governorship. This privilege has not yet been exercised.

The objects of the Company were originally purely commercial; and could they have pursued them in peace and security they would have sought nothing further. Their enemies compelled them to unite with the character of the merchant that of the soldier and the civil governor. The British legislature has effected a change scarcely less unexpected. In 1813 the trade with India was thrown open; twenty years afterwards the Company relinquished the field to their competitors. The history of the world affords nothing more extraordinary than the present posture of the Company. Formed exclusively for the prosecution of a desirable branch of commerce, it has renounced trade, yet continues to exist for purposes which its founders never contemplated. Called incidentally to the exercise of civil and military power, it continues to wield that power now that its original character has disappeared, and when it has no longer any interest in those commercial advantages which it was the single purpose of its conquests to secure. The act of 1833 suspended the mercantile career of the Company, and it now exists only as an instrument for governing the country, which the wisdom and spirit of its servants has annexed to the British crown. The whole of the Company's property, territorial and commercial, having been surrendered, its debts and liabilities are charged upon India, and a dividend of L10, 10s. per cent. on their capital stock secured; the dividend redeemable at the rate of L200 for every L100 stock after April 1874, and at an earlier period on the demand of the Company, should they be deprived of the government of India. For the better securing the redemption of the dividend, a fund is formed, under the control of the commissioners for the reduction of the national debt, termed the Security Fund of the India Company. For the purposes of this fund a sum of L2,000,000 has been invested in the public funds, there to accumulate to the amount of L12,000,000.

It will now be proper to advert to the present constitution of the Company and the Government of India as settled by the last and preceding acts of parliament. The authority of the Company is exercised through the court of proprietors and the court of directors. To be qualified to vote in the former court, a proprietor must have been twelve months in possession of stock to the amount of at least L1000; this sum entitles him to one vote, L3000 to two votes, L6000 to three votes, and L10,000 to four votes. The proprietors have the privilege of electing a specified number of the directors; of making bye-laws for the regulation of the Company, which are binding when not at variance with the law of the land, and of controlling all grants of money exceeding L600. The directors are bound to convene a general court on the requisition of nine qualified proprietors; and such court, while it may discuss any matter connected with the affairs of India, has no power of rescinding a measure adopted by the directors, and approved by the board of control. In the election of directors a proprietor may vote by attorney. The constitution of the court of directors has been subjected to considerable modification by the provisions of an act of parliament passed in 1853. By the charter of William III., there were to be twenty-four directors, thirteen or more to constitute a court for the transaction of business; such directors to be elected annually by the members of the Company, and each director to be possessed of at least L2000 stock. By the act known as the regulating act, 13th Geo. III., cap. 63, some alterations as to the qualifications of voters were made; the number of twenty-four directors was retained, but instead of the whole being elected annually, six only were to be chosen in each year to serve for four years, at the expiration of which term the retiring six were to be incapable of re-election until the lapse of one year. This state of the law continued until the act passed in 1853 came into operation. By that act it will be seen that the number of directors is reduced from twenty-four to eighteen; that of these, three in the first instance, and eventually six, are to be nominated by the Crown; that ten directors are sufficient to form a court; that the signatures of three specified members of the court, or of two of them duly countersigned, are to have the effect of the signatures of the majority previously required by a bye-law of the Company; that the term of service for each director, whether elected by the proprietors or appointed by the Crown, will, when the act shall come fully into operation, be six years; that directors having completed this term are to be immediately eligible for re-election or re-appointment; that all directors appointed by the Crown must have resided ten years in India in the service either of the Crown or of the Company, and that six of those to be elected by the proprietors must also have resided in India ten years, no such condition having previously been required; that the stock qualification for a director is reduced from L2000 to L1000; that elections are to be biennial instead of annual, and that a new oath is substituted for those formerly administered to the directors. The chairman and deputy-chairman receive each a salary of L1000, and every other director L500 per annum. The military patronage of India is still vested in the court, but the right of making appointments to the civil service has been withdrawn from the directors, and writerships for India are now thrown open to public competition, as are also the appointments to the medical service of the Company. At the first examination under the new system of parties offering themselves as assistant-surgeons, Mr Chackerbutty, a native of Bengal, came forward as a candidate and succeeded in carrying off an appointment. The successful candidates for civil appointments will not be required to finish their education at Haileybury; and the institution known as the Haileybury College is about to be abolished.

The East India Company consists, according to the latest calculation, of 1750 proprietors, who are privileged to meet in a general court and vote. A proprietor of the Company's stock, provided it has been in his possession for twelve months, to the amount of L1000, has one vote; of L3000, two; of L6000, three; and of L10,000, four votes; several proprietors hold stock under L1000, and are not qualified to vote. The total number of votes is estimated at 2600. The proprietors meet every quarter. Their powers are limited to the election of directors, to the framing of bye-laws, and to the control of salaries or pensions exceeding L200 a-year, or gratuities exceeding L600. In the court of directors and the board of control is vested the sovereignty of India; they regulate by their supreme authority the policy of the resident government, and the court of proprietors has no power to interfere with their orders.

India is divided into the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. The governor-general is governor of the presidency of Bengal, which, in addition to several large provinces and extensive tracts of territory, includes within its limits, as already noticed, the two lieutenant-governorships of Bengal, and the N.W. provinces. The governor-general is appointed by the court of directors, subject to the pleasure of the Crown. His council, nominated by the court, subject to the approbation of her Majesty, consists of four members, three of them being servants of the Company of ten years' standing. The fourth member of council is not to be chosen from the servants of the Company, but his appointment also is dependent on the approbation of the Crown. The act of parliament passed in 1853 provided for the addition of several legislative councillors to the council of India, but these are not entitled to sit or vote except at meetings for making laws and regulations. They consist of one civil servant for each of the presidencies, and for each lieutenant-governorship, and of two of the judges of the supreme court of judicature at Calcutta. The court of directors may also appoint the commander-in-chief of the forces in India, an extraordinary member of council. The governor-general in council is supreme in India, but all laws and regulations disallowed by the court of directors, under the control of the board, are to be forthwith repealed, and no law is to be made without their previous sanction, which shall give to any courts of justice, except those established by royal charter, the power of punishing her Majesty's European subjects with death, or which shall abolish any of the courts established by charter. The presence of the governor-general or vice-president, or some ordinary member of council, and six other members, is necessary to give validity to any act of legislation. The other functions of government may be exercised by the governor-general and one member. If the voices are equal, the governor-general has a second vote; and in cases where he may consider the peace and safety of the country materially affected, he may, after certain forms, act on his own responsibility in opposition to the opinion of the majority of the council. The administration of the affairs of each of the subordinate presidencies of Madras and Bombay is committed to a governor and three councillors. The governor-general is governor of the presidency of Fort-William, in Bengal, and has the power of appointing a deputy-governor in case of necessity; but it is competent to the court of directors to supersede these provisions whenever they shall think fit, and to appoint a separate governor for the presidency of Bengal. The appointments to the subordinate presidencies are subject to the same regulations as that of the governor-general and his council. If the court of directors do not supply vacancies within two months' notice of them, the crown may appoint. The Queen may also remove any person holding office under the Company. The same power of removal is possessed by the court, with the exception of officers appointed by the Crown. And the court, under the control of the board, have the further power of reducing the number of councillors in any of the presidencies, or of suspending the appointment of councils altogether.

Each presidency has its separate army, commander-in-chief, and military establishment. But the commander-in-chief of the Queen's and Company's forces in India has a general authority over the military force in the other presidencies. The total armed force in British India is about 290,000. This force consists—1st, of the Queen's infantry and cavalry; 2d, of the East India Company's European engineers, artillery, and infantry; and, 3d, of the Company's native artillery, cavalry, and infantry. The European troops in India—Queen's, and Company's—amount, according to the latest accounts, to 49,400; the native troops to 240,120, highly distinguished by their valour, good conduct, and discipline. The complement of European officers to each infantry regiment is, one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, one major, six captains, ten lieutenants, and five cornets or ensigns. Of native officers there is a subahdar and jemadar to each company. The expense of the Anglo-Indian army at the three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, in 1854, was respectively L5,278,642, L2,666,069, and L1,589,846, giving a total of L9,534,557. The Indian navy consists of six frigates and eleven armed steamers. The British ecclesiastical establishment consists of three bishops, and 129 European chaplains, the Bishop of Calcutta being the metropolitan bishop in India. There are also Scottish Presbyterian churches at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay; two chaplains of the Church of Scotland being maintained by the government at each presidency.

The British entered India as traders. They were compelled to exchange the operations of commerce for the labours of war. Success attended their military career, and renewed provocations urged them to continue it. Victory has followed victory, and conquest been accumulated upon conquest, until the dominion of Britain embraces the larger portion of India, and its influence extends over the whole. To look back upon the achievements of our countrymen cannot but be gratifying to our national sympathies; to look forward to the probable fate of that empire which their skill and courage raised from such small beginnings, is a duty which is imposed upon us by a regard to our national honour, as well as to the integrity of the British dominions. The stability and permanency of our power may be endangered either from within or from without. Our first attention must naturally be directed to our own subjects. From their hostility, if provoked, our greatest danger would arise; on their attachment, if secured, our safety may be firmly based. To acquire the confidence of the people over whom we rule, and, having acquired, to preserve it, must be the grand objects of our policy. In those parts which have been longest subjected to our rule, our power is most firmly established. The people and the government have become more habituated to each other, and our authority is more cheerfully recognized from a perception of the benefits which it has conferred. For some years past natives of India have been appointed to offices of high trust and emolument. Civil justice, indeed, is now almost wholly dispensed by native judges. This enlightened policy was confirmed by the British parliament in 1833, and again in 1853; and the free admission of the natives, of whatever religion or caste, to all offices, and of British settlers into any part of India, there to acquire property or land, or to carry on any trade or profession, is calculated to promote the lasting advantage of India, establishing, as it does, the principles of freedom, not upon the mere arbitrary regulation of the supreme council, which may be recalled, but on the solid authority of a British act of parliament, which no inferior power can disannul.

Under this liberal and comprehensive law—the Magna Charta of Indian freedom—the British merchant may transfer his capital, and his superior intelligence and industry, to the most remote parts of Hindustan; he may engage in trade, in manufactures, or in agriculture; and this free intercourse of India with Britain must in time produce important effects on the character and manners of the people. Hindustan appears, indeed, to be on the eve of a great moral revolution. The spirit of improvement has long slumbered amongst that singular people; and the division of the people into castes, and those superstitions to which they are attached with a blind devotion, are unfavourable to its progress. But the influence of European manners now begins to be seen; and, considering that the Hindus are a conquered people, long bowed under a foreign yoke, that, on the other hand, power, dominion, honour, and promotion belong to the British, it is no wonder that the prostrate and servile Hindu should be induced gradually to forsake the manners and superstitions, and even the language of his forefathers, for the enlightened views and purer faith of his victorious preceptors. This great and signal revolution is already begun. The manners, the customs, the language of Britain are beginning to take root in India. They have been adopted by many natives of distinction, by zemindars, as well as by the rajas and princes of the country; and from their example they are spreading amongst the other classes. Hindu children of both sexes crowd the British seminaries established at Calcutta; the rising generation resort to the colleges, and are instructed in English literature and science; they frequent the medical and surgical schools; and there is a growing disposition to adopt the free and liberal manners, and all the other improvements of modern Europe. This moral change, which is already begun, will soon, by the free influx of Europeans, reach the remotest parts of Hindustan. Capital will be introduced, agriculture will be promoted, and improved modes of labour will be adopted. And all these changes will be brought about, not by any violent subversion of existing institutions, but gradually, through the quiet influence of moral causes.

Amongst other sources of improvement in Hindustan, may be reckoned the laudable zeal of the government for the instruction of the people, by the institution of colleges and schools throughout the country, in which are taught all the different branches of literature and science. It was stipulated by the charter in 1814, that a sum of L10,000 should be annually applied to the purposes of education; which sum has been augmented, by the liberality of the government, to L80,000 in 1853. Previous to the year 1821 the only native educational establishments founded in India by the British government were the Mohammedan College at Calcutta, and the Sanscrit College at Benares, established respectively in 1781 and 1792. The Hindu College of Calcutta, though founded in 1816, was not subjected to government superintendence until 1823. In 1835 the number of seminaries had increased to fourteen, while, in 1853, in the upper and lower provinces of Bengal alone there were upwards of forty. In the earlier founded colleges the studies were purely Oriental; in those subsequently established they are European. The preservation of native learning was the avowed object in the one case; the communication of useful knowledge, and the affording facilities for the study of elegant literature were the ends sought in the other. The instruction of the masses in this knowledge was the ultimate end to be attained; but much valuable time was unfortunately lost, pending the result of the experiment resorted to in the first instance of translating English literature into Arabic and Sanscrit, the classical languages of the East. Under this arrangement, before a native student could become versed in European knowledge, it was indispensable that he should first become an accomplished Oriental scholar. The scheme was unsuccessful. But upon the termination of the East India Company's charter in 1834 the subject again came under consideration; and on the 7th March 1835 the government of India passed a resolution substituting the English for the Oriental scheme of education. The new plan offers to the native student a complete education in European literature, philosophy, and science, through the medium of the English language; it introduces him to the entire range of science and literature, so far as he is able to receive it, the limit being that alone fixed by nature in regard to his own capacity. English is now the classical language of India. Colleges and schools have been established in the principal cities and towns, and the old Mohammedan and Hindu institutions, though upheld as seminaries of Oriental learning, have had English classes attached to them. Stipends formerly paid to pupils without reference to ability, diligence, or acquirements, have been abolished, and in lieu thereof, scholarships have been founded, which can be gained only by passing a satisfactory examination. Junior scholarships are also attached to the new schools, tenable at the central college to which the school is subordinate, and where a higher course of instruction is available. Another important step in the advance of national education has just been taken, and grants in aid are now bestowed, both upon native and missionary schools, in furtherance of secular instruction—the religious tuition of the scholars being left to the discretion of the masters and proprietors of the schools. And with these institutions for the education of the people is now combined that mighty engine the press, which, though opposed in its first efforts, and rigorously persecuted, has in India, as in all other countries, finally broken down all the restraints of despotism, and achieved its own freedom. To these sources of improvement may be added the missionary labours, which are ardently pursued all over India, in the establishment of schools, in the sending out of preachers, and in the printing and dispersing of the sacred volume and other works in the native languages, on which large sums of money have been expended. Such are the various institutions which are in progress for the civilization of Hindustan, and which are destined ere long to produce important results, not only in that country, but throughout the whole extent of Asia. But those great moral changes which affect the condition of society are in their nature slow and gradual; they cannot be hastened forward, more especially amongst such a people as the Hindus, whose minds are enthralled by the force of their peculiar habits and religion, by immemorial usages, and by the deep-rooted prejudices of ignorance. We cannot expect that long-established habits will be suddenly relinquished, or that fixed impressions will at once yield to the voice of truth. But Great Britain has at last, and in earnest, undertaken the task of instructing her Indian subjects. The foundation is laid; the work of improvement is begun; the seeds of knowledge have been widely dispersed over the congenial soil, and they will assuredly spring up, and in due season yield the desired increase.

But while the arts of peace are treated with favour, we must be prepared for the opposite state if it should become necessary. Looking to this contingency the Indian army becomes an object of vast importance. Our dominions are not assailable from without only. Within their circle are portions of territory under the rule of native powers, nominally allies indeed, but for the most part to be regarded as hollow friends. The formidable alliance formed some years since to drive us from India shows the feelings with which we are regarded by the old Mohammedan authorities; and though their power is now broken and destroyed, we must not imagine that their hostile feeling towards us is abated. We must therefore at all times be prepared to defend ourselves. The knowledge that we are so prepared will be the best security for our safety and the general peace. From without we have little to fear. The frontier of our dominions is singularly unassailable, considering the extent of territory—the country, of which a part is subjected to our direct rule, and the whole to our influence, being in a great degree secured by nature from external attack. The sea rolls around a large portion of it; mountains affording few passes; and desert countries scarcely passable at all, bound the rest. Russia has been regarded with some apprehension, and she may possibly have been well disposed to add India to her vast empire; but her energies and capacity for intrigue have been hitherto directed to a quarter more dear to her ambition than India. The grand object to which Russia has ever appeared willing to sacrifice every other is the incorporation of Turkey with her dominions. But in her recent attempt to accomplish her purpose she has been signally foiled, and as her resources have been severely crippled by the struggle, a considerable period must doubtless elapse before Russia can be in a condition to turn her eyes farther eastward. In the meantime it is gratifying to know that the British empire in India is in such a state of security as must disarm every fear, and leave its rulers at perfect liberty to devote an undivided attention to the advancement of the happiness of the people.