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succefsor, the present Timur Shah, married another princefs of the same line.

After the departure of Abdalla, it appears that all the territory remaining to Nidjib Dowlah, for himself and the young emperor, was the northern part of the province of Delhi. In the following year, 1762, both the Jats and Mahrattas pressed hard on Nidjib. Dowlah, but he either baffled them, or bought them off; and held his ground during his lifetime: and then transmitted his country, which is chiefly situated between the Ganges and Jumnah, to his son Zabeta Cawn, the present pofsefsor.

Shah Aulum, the legal emperor (whose son we have just seen in the character of his father's representative), was without territory, and without friends, save only a few Omrahs who were attached to his family; and were, like him, dispofsefsed of their property and station. The expulsion of the Nabob of Bengal, Cossim Ally, by the English, in 1763, by drawing Sujah Dowlah into the quarrel, was the means, once more, of bringing the wandering emperor into notice. But he had more to hope from the succefs of the British arms, than those of his patron, Sujah Dowlah: and the uninterrupted success that attended them in 1763, 64, and 65, by the dispersion of the armies of Cofsim Ally, and of Sujah Dowlah, and by the entire conquest of Oude and Allahabad; left both the emperor and Sujah Dowlah no hopes, but from the moderation of the victors. Lord Clive, who afsumed the government of Bengal in 1765, restored to Sujah, all that had been conquered from him, except the provinces of Corah and Allahabad; which were kept as part of an establishment for the emperor: at the same time he obtained from the same emperor, a grant of the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, together with the northern circars, on condition of paying the emperor 26 lacks of rupees (260,0001.) per annum, by way of tribute, or quit rent. The Corah provinces were valued at go lacks more. Thus was a provision made for the emperor, and a good bargain struck for the English; for Bengal

and the circars might be estimated at a million and a half net revenue, after the charges of the civil and military establishments were paid. The emperor was to reside at the city of Allahabad; and was, in effect, under the protection of the English, to whom he owed all that he possessed. A treaty offensive and defensive was entered into with Sujah Dowlah, Nabob of Oude: and his territories being situated so as to form a barrier to ours, a competent force stationed within them, served to guard both at the same time; and it was convenient to the possessor of Oude, to pay the expence of it, as if it had been retained for his service only.

It was, however, the misfortune of the emperor, that he could not accommodate his mind to the standard of his circumstances, although these were far more favourable now, than at any other period of his life. But being the lineal descendant of the house of Timur, he aspired to possess the capital city of his ancestors; and in grasping at this shadow, he lost the substance of what he already possessed. For after about 6 years quiet residence at Allahabad, he put himself into the hands of the Mahrattas, who promised to seat him on the throne of Delhi: those very Mahrattas, who had wrested the fairest of his provinces from his family, and whose object was to get pofsefsion of the rest; and who intended to use his person and name, as one of the means of accomplishing it. A cefsion of the Corah provinces to the Mahrattas, was the immediate consequence of this connexion: and had not the English interposed, the Mahrattas would have established themselves in that important angle of the Dooab, which commands the navigation of the upper part of the river Ganges, and the whole course of the Jumnah, and which would have brought them almost close to our doors; besides the evil of extending their influence and power, and of feeding their hopes of extending them still further. The principle on which the British government acted, was this: they considered the Corah, &c. provinces, which by right of conquest were originally theirs, as having reverted again to them, when they

were alienated from the purposes for which they had been originally granted to the emperor; and applied to the purpose of aggrandizing a power, which was inimical to them and to their allies. They therefore took possession of those provinces again, and immediately ceded them to the Nabob of Oude, for a valuable consideration. Indeed, it was a mistake originally, not to restore the possession of them to Sujah Dowlah, in common with the rest of his territories; and to settle a certain stipend in lieu of them, to the emperor: for they, forming the frontier towards the Mahrattas and Jats, should have been placed in hands that were better able to defend them.

The Mogul, however, went to Delhi; thereby losing all that he had acquired from the British; and has ever since been a kind of state prisoner; living on the produce of a trifling domain, which he holds by a tenure of sufferance; allowed him partly out of veneration for his ancestors, and partly for the use of his name. It must be allowed, that the princes of Hindoostan have generally shewn a due regard to the distresses of fallen royalty (when life has been spared) by granting jaghires, or pensions. Ragobah's, is a case in point. The private distrefses of Shah Aulum (it is almost mockery to call him the Great Mogul, or Emperor) were, however, so prefsing, during Mr. Hastings's last journey to Oude (1784), that his son Jewan Buckt came to solicit afsistance from the English. Since the peace of 1782, Madajee Sindia, a Mahratta chief, and the possessor of the principal part of Malwa, has taken the lead at Delhi; and has reduced several places situated within the districts formerly possessed by the Jats, Nudjuff Cawn, and the Rajah of Joinagur: and it may be concluded that Sindia has in view to extend his conquests on the side of Agimere: and to establish for himself a considerable state, or kingdom.

It might be expected that the Rajpoots of Agimere, &c. would be less averse to receiving a sovereign of their own religion, than

they were to submit to the Mahomedan emperors: and, more

over, that it would be more for the interest of their people to be subjects, than tributaries, of the Mahrattas; these being mild as governors, although the most unfeeling, as collectors of tribute, or as enemies: yet it appears that they entertain the greatest jealousy of Sindia's designs; the accomplishment of which would make their princes sink into a state of greater insignificance than they are at present.

In a country so fruitful of revolutions, it is difficult to foresee the event of Sindia's present measures; but they point strongly towards raising him to the head of the western Mahratta state, or to that of a new empire founded on its ruins. The provinces of Agra and Delhi, and that whole neighbourhood, are in the most wretched state that can be conceived. Having been the seat of continual wars for near 50 years, the country is almost depopulated, and most of the lands, of course, are lying waste: the wretched inhabitants not daring to provide more than the bare means of subsistence, for fear of attracting the notice of those, whose trade is pillage. Nothing but the natural fertility of the soil, and the mildness of the climate, could have kept up any degree of population; and rendered the sovereignty of it, at this day worth contending for. So that a tract of country which possesses every advantage that can be derived from nature, contains the most miserable of inhabitants: so dearly do mankind pay for the ambition of their superiors; who, mis-calculating their powers, think they can govern as much as they can conquer. In the Mogul empire, many parts of it were 1000 miles distant from the seat of government and accordingly its history is one continued lefson to kings, not to grasp at too much dominion; and to mankind, to circumscribe the undertakings of their rulers.

It is highly improbable that the house of Timur will ever rise again, or be of any consequence in the politics of Hindoostan. It was in 1525 that the dynasty of Great Moguls began: so that reckoning to the present time (1788), it has lasted 262 years: a long period for that country.

SKETCH of the MAHRATTA History.

We have frequently had occasion, in the course of the above sketch, to mention the MAHRATTAS: and as the rise and progrefs of that state is of much importance to the general history of the decline of the Mogul empire; and so remarkable in itself, from the suddenness of its growth; it may not be improper to give a short history of it, in an uninterrupted narrative; although some part of the former one may be repeated.

The origin and signification of the word MAHRATTA (or MoRATTOE) has of late been very much the subject of inquiry and discussion, in India: and various fanciful conjectures have been made concerning it. We learn, however, from Ferishta,* that MARHAT was the name of a province in the Deccan; and that it comprehended Baglana (or Bogilana) and other districts, which at

This information occurs not only in Ferishta's history of Hindoostan, but in that of the Deccan, &c. likewise. The former we have before spoken of, as being translated by Col. Dow: but the latter has never yet made its appearance in any European language. It is expected, however, that the public will soon be in possession of it, from the hands of Capt. Jonathan Scott, who has already exhibited a specimen of one part of his intended work; and has engaged to complete it, on conditions, which the public, on their part, appear to have performed. Ferishta lived in the court of Ibrahim Audil Shah, King of Visiapour; who was cotemporary with Jehanguire in the beginning of the last century. Ferishta's history of the Deccan, &c. opens to our view the knowledge of an empire that has scarcely been heard of, in Europe. Its emperors of the BAH MINEAH dynasty (which commenced with Hafsan Caco, A. D. 1347) appear to have exceeded in power and splendour, those of Delhi; even at the most flourishing periods of their history. The seat of government was at Calberga (see Orme's Historical Fragments, p. cxxxvi.) which was centrical to the great body of the empire; and is at this day a considerable city. Like other overgrown empires, it fell to pieces with its own weight: and out of it were formed four potent kingdoms, under the names of Visiapour (properly Bejapour), Golconda, Berar, and Amednagur; whose particular limits and inferior members, we are not well informed of. Each of these subsisted with a considerable degree of power, until the Mogul conquest; and the two first, as we have seen above, preserved their independency until the time of Aurungzebe. It is worthy of remark, that the four monarchs of these kingdoms, like the Cæsars and Ptolemies, had each of them a name, or title, common to the dynasty to which he belonged; and which were derived from the respective founders. Thus, the kings of Visiapour, were styled Audil (or Adil) Shah; those of Golconda, Cuttub Shah; and those of Berar and Amednagur, Nizam Shah, and Amud Shah, A.

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