precious metal should tempt some gang of robbers; and, in place of the ring, a quill or a roll of paper is inserted in the orifice to prevent it from closing. Hastings placed in the ears of his messenger letters rolled up in the smallest compass.

'Things, however, were not yet at the worst. An English officer of more spirit than judgment, eager to distinguish himself, made a premature attack on the insurgents beyond the river. His troops were entangled in narrow streets, and assailed by a furious population. He fell, with many of his men, and the survivors were forced to retire. The hopes of Cheyte Singh began to rise. Instead of imploring mercy in the humble style of a vassal, he began to talk the language of a conqueror, and threatened, it was said, to sweep the white usurpers out of the land. But the English troops were now assembling fast. The officers and even the private men regarded the governor-general with enthusiastic attachment, and flew to his aid with an alacrity which, as he boasted, had never been shown on any other occasion. Major Popham, a brave and skilful soldier, who had highly distinguished himself

in the Mahratta war, and in whom the governorgeneral reposed the greatest confidence, took the command. The tumultuary army of the rajah was put to rout. His fortresses were stormed. In a few hours about thirty thousand men left his standard and returned to their ordinary avocations. The unhappy prince fled from his country for ever. His fair domain was added to the British dominions. One of his relatives indeed was appointed rajah; but the Rajah of Benares was henceforth to be, like the Nabob of Bengal, a mere pensioner."

Such was his condition at the period of this narrative, to which we return. The decision, as to deposing Vizier Ali, being once made, there was no difficulty in fixing on the rightful successor. Saadut Ali, as before stated, was the eldest surviving son of Soojah ul Dowlah, the late nawaub's father. When the treaty proposed by the governor-general was communicated to that prince, 'it was not the time,' as Mill observes, to dispute about terms.' His consent being obtained, he was conveyed secretly to Cawnpore,* and once safely arrived

* There was something interesting in the mode of Saadut Ali's journey to Cawnpore. Mr. Cherry ordered relays to be

C

there, was openly escorted by a large body of European troops from Cawnpore to Lucnow. 'The governor-general committed the peace of the city to the charge of the elder Begum (the late nawaub's mother), whose influence over the turbulent elements of discord now collected within its walls he knew to be paramount; and he moreover enjoined her to be in readiness on the following morning to bestow the khelaut of investiture on the rightful heir to the throne; overcoming her reluctance to accept the twofold duty by threatening, in the event of her refusal, to entrust it to other hands. Saadut Ali, as he entered the city at the appointed time, manifested considerable alarm; and, to quiet his fears, Sir John Shore placed him on his own elephant. As they advanced through the streets to the palace, the governor-general amused the immense multitude, assembled to

prepared as for himself, and had his clothes packed in the baskets which accompany a traveller on such occasions. For these baskets, others belonging to Saadut Ali were afterwards privately substituted; he put on a travelling dress, and let it be supposed, when he retired for the night, that he had set off on his journey. Meanwhile Saadut Ali was introduced into his palankeen, and in this he travelled night and day through the territory of his rival as far as Cawnpore, without guard or protection of any kind but his pistols.

witness the inaugural procession, by showering rupees among them, while he did not neglect the opportunity of inculcating on the nabob advice respecting his future conduct."* As both the disposition of the natives and the power of the British rendered resistance hopeless on the part of Vizier Ali, the rightful nawaub was proclaimed without opposition on the 21st January, 1798.†

In his treaty with the governor-general, he agreed to allow an annual pension of a lac and a half of rupees (£15,000) to the deposed Vizier Ali, whose future residence was to be at Benares. It might perhaps even then, and without any reference to succeeding events, have been questioned how far the measure was prudent of allowing the deposed sovereign to fix his abode just on the frontier of his late domain, and, as it were, 'within hail' of it. The shadow of power which he was allowed to retain, in a most numerous retinue, and certain personal distinctions, was by no means calculated to diminish the risks of future trouble, arising from those natural hankerings which

* Life of Lord Teignmouth, by his son.
† Appendix B.

beset deposed sovereigns, and which (if we may compare together things of very unequal magnitude) so soon brought Napoleon back from Elba.

India, besides, was at this time in a far from settled or comfortable state. Zemaun Shah, the king of the Afghans, and the remaining head of the Mahomedan power in the East, was with a powerful army at Lahore, hanging over our frontier; there were large bodies of French troops with Scindia and the Nizam; and the war with Tippoo Sultaun, which ended in the destruction of the kingdom of Mysore,was on the eve of breaking out; while, in addition to these salient points, there was a general ferment in the minds of the Mussulman princes and nobles, many of whom had but very recently been deprived of power. When one looks back,' says a very distinguished Indian governor, in a letter now lying before the writer of this narrative, 'when one looks back on those times, one can hardly believe in the panic (Afghanistan) lately felt in India, which led to so many real dangers and evils.' Sir John Shore, soon after created Lord Teignmouth, had no sooner returned to Calcutta from Lucnow than he embarked to re