presence of the Nizam of the Deccan. Early in the following year a battle was fought at Carnal, which resulted in the defeat of the imperial army and the submission of Mohammed Shah. The emperor was treated with great consideration, and permitted to reside unguarded in his own quarters. The two monarchs afterwards proceeded in company to Delhi, where they resided under the same roof.8

The stay of the Persian monarch at the Indian capital, though brief, was marked by rapacity and bloodshed. A tumult having arisen in the city, the pretext was afforded the Persian troops of an indiscriminate massacre of the inhabitants, which lasted for a whole day, the loss of life during which time has been variously estimated at from 30,000 to 150,000.

This was followed by a general plunder of the city, from the royal treasury down to the most humble dwelling, when an incredible amount of coin and jewelry of various sorts appears to have been brought together and appropriated by the Persian king as payment for the cost of this most unwelcome visit.

The value of the gold and silver coin thus carried away is said to have been nine millions sterling, whilst the gold and silver plate and jewels amounted to quite as much more. Besides a great number of the finest horses, elephants, and camels, Nadir Shah carried with him several hundreds of the most skilful artisans and workers in the precious metals.

Nadir Shah at length took his departure from the capital of India, after a sojourn of fifty-three days, the memory of which outlived the perpetrators of the atrocities committed therein. Before quitting Delhi, the king of Persia seated Mohammed upon his throne, and with his own hands placed the diadem upon the brow of the re-instated emperor, at the same time enjoining the strictest obedience to him from the nobles and chiefs assembled about them to witness and partake in the ceremony.

Freed from the dreaded presence of these powerful invaders, the emperor had full opportunity to observe and deplore, without the power of remedying, the misery which threatened him. With scarcely the shadow of an army, an exhausted treasury, a devastated country, cities in ruins, and surrounded by many and designing enemies, the prospect for the future was indeed dispiriting.

The nabobship of the Carnatic being at this time (A.D. 1740) the subject of contention between two rival candidates, the aid of the Mahratta army was called in by one, which very shortly settled the 8 Elphinstone's India, vol. ii. p. 627. 9 Scott, vol. ii. p. 212.

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question for the moment, and resulted in the imprisonment of the defeated candidate. This interference was looked upon with a jealous eye by Asof, or, as he was then more generally styled, the Nizam al Moolk, who finally used his influence to bestow the rank of nabob of the Carnatic upon one of his own connection. The French commandant of Pondicherry, anxious to obtain a footing with some of the native chiefs, used his interest and some money to obtain the liberation of Chanda Sahib, the deposed nabob, who no sooner found himself at liberty than he commenced raising troops and sacking such towns and forts as he found unprotected.

From this date to the year 1748 the troubles in the state of Arcot continued to occupy the attention of the nizam, who died at that period, at the great age of one hundred years. This event, as was almost always the case in eastern governments, led to contentions in the family as to his successor, in which both the English and French took an interest, according as their own advantage might be best served.

From the time of the departure of Nadir Shah from Delhi but few events had occurred within the then prostrate empire. The sole exception to this quiescent state of things were the rise of the Rohillas, an Afghan tribe inhabiting a mountain tract near Oude, and an invasion of India by an Afghan chief, Ahmed Shah Durani. The former was put down by the emperor in person; the latter was repelled by the imperial forces at Sirhind under Prince Ahmed, though not without a severe contest.

Immediately after this battle, the prince was called off to Delhi, by intelligence of his father's dangerous illness, which ended fatally a month later. Mohammed Shah had reigned twenty-nine years. There was no opposition raised to the succession of his son, who was accordingly proclaimed emperor under the title of Ahmed Shah.

One of the new monarch's earliest efforts was directed against the Rohillas, who still continued to be troublesome neighbours. The vizier, Safder Jang, was sent against them, but was repulsed; and finally, driven to extremity, was forced to the humiliating expedient of seeking the aid of the two Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Sindia. With the aid of these useful auxiliaries, the vizier obtained a decisive advantage over the Rohillas, and succeeded in driving them from their strongholds to the foot of the Himalayas, when they were glad to sue for peace on any terms, 10

A more formidable enemy appeared next in the person of the Afghan king, who once more marched into the Punjab, seized upon 10 Elphinstone's India, vol. ii. p. 660,

Lahore and other principal cities, and finished by demanding that the emperor should regularly cede to him the possession of the entire country. Too weak to refuse, and fearing another invasion of India, Ahmed Shah at once consented to the terms proposed, and was only too glad to buy off on such terms an enemy of this formidable character.

Dissensions at the court followed closely upon these external troubles. The assassination of a favourite eunuch of the emperor by his vizier led to an open rupture, and eventually to the expulsion of the offending minister. His successor, however, proved not more acceptable to the monarch, who commenced plotting against his life; and upon the discovery of these intrigues open war was declared between the emperor and his subject. The latter proved victorious; and obtaining possession of the monarch's person, he caused his eyes to be put out, and a young prince of the same family to be proclaimed in his stead as Alamghir II.

The new emperor evinced (A.D. 1754) as little cordiality towards the vizier, Ghazi-udin, who had placed him on the throne, as had his predecessor. It was evident that the minister intended to rule with an iron hand, whilst his royal master should look on and sanction his acts. The rigorous severity of his government soon caused an open mutiny, which had nearly cost him his life. Nor was this the sole result of his conduct. Having treacherously seized on Lahore and other cities in the Punjab, contrary to the treaty lately entered into with Ahmed Shah of Afghanistan, that king again crossed the Indus, marched to Delhi, and meeting this time with no opposition, took possession of the capital, and abandoned it to slaughter and plunder.

Having no intention of retaining possession of Delhi, the Afghan king contented himself with securing such treasures as had escaped Nadir Shah, and then retreated across the Indus; having meanwhile left a Rohilla chief in command of the capital, as a check upon the tyrannical power of Ghazi-udin over the emperor. The ambitious minister once more had recourse to his old friends the Mahrattas, to second his efforts at supremacy. By the aid of that power, he eventually succeeded in wresting the Punjab from the hands of the Afghan monarch, took forcible possession of Delhi, and having made the unfortunate and helpless Alamghir prisoner, put him to death.

Shah Alum, the heir to the throne, owed his safety at this moment to his absence from the capital. Ahmed Shah Durani of Afghanistan was not long in taking revenge for the occupation of the Punjab. He prepared a formidable body of troops for a further invasion of the empire, crossed the Indus at a time when armies seldom take the field,

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and marching southwards, encountered the Mahratta forces in the plains of Paniput, near the Jumna, under Sedasheo Bhao. The forces of the latter comprised about 100,000 cavalry and 15,000 infantry, many of whom were sepoys, besides a large park of artillery and a liberal supply of rockets. The Durani brought against this army about 50,000 horse, composed of Persians and Afghans, with 30,000 infantry, partly of Rohillas and partly Indian soldiers, but ill trained.11

After facing each other for some time, during which the Mahrattas suffered much from want of supplies, an engagement took place, when, after a terrible slaughter on both sides, the Durani's army was victorious. The survivors of the Mahrattas fled from the field, but were so hotly pursued that but very few of them escaped to tell the tale of their disasters. The power of this people was so effectually broken by this battle, in which most of their chiefs fell, that many years elapsed before they were in a position to exercise any influence in Indian affairs.

The invading army having thus effectually broken up the last remnants of the empire, retired beyond the Indus, and appeared no more on the eastern side of that river.

The history of the Tartar dynasty may now be said to have closed, as the remaining events which occurred in the various provinces and states of India comprising that once powerful empire belong so entirely to the history of the British power in the East, as to render it necessary to link them together. The fugitive Shah Alum subsequently obtained possession of the capital of his ancestors; but being without the power to retain it, he fell into the hands of a Rohilla chief, who deprived him of sight, and afterwards gave him into the power of Sindia, one of the Mahratta chiefs, who retained him in close confinement at Delhi until that city was taken by the British forces in 1803. Shah Alum and his son, Akbar Shah, both died pensioners on the bounty of the East India Company; and with the last of these princes ended the race of the Tartar monarchs of India.

11 Duff's History of the Mahrattas, vol. ii. p. 152.

THE EUROPEAN PERIOD.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE EASTERN AND WESTERN world, WITH SUBSEQUENT EUROPEAN PROGRESS, TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH SUPREMACY IN INDIA.

THE

HE earliest records which we possess of commercial intercourse between the inhabitants of India and those of countries to the west of Arabia relate to the Jewish kingdom (B.c. 1014). History informs us that Solomon drew large and frequent supplies of spices and cotton goods from the southern and eastern parts of Asia, and even in his time the Phoenicians were said to have been long in possession of the bulk of the Indian tråde, which was chiefly carried on by way of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. An overland communication appears to have existed through Persia and Arabia; but with this double intercourse, the western nations remained in deepest ignorance of the country and the people that lay towards the rising sun.

All that Europe knew of India prior to the expedition of the Macedonian monarch was through its gold, its pearls, its spices, and its rich cloths. But the length of time occupied in the voyage, the circuitous route by which these goods were conveyed, and the many hands through which they passed, rendered it highly improbable that any but the most wild and fanciful pictures of the East ever reached those who consumed the products brought from those distant lands.

It was reserved for Alexander the Great (B.c. 331) to achieve, amongst other things, the opening of this hidden region, although he himself visited but its confines on the west. Unlike the progress of those northern conquerors who came after him, carrying fire and sword and scattering death and ruin about their footsteps, the Macedonian carried with him the softening influence of civilisation. Of the knowledge of