and 1743, with armies said to contain 80,000 horsemen each. The leaders of these armies appearing each to act for himself, the consequence was, that the wily Aliverdy found means to bribe one party, and to sow difsensions between both; by which the consequences were lefs dreadful to the Bengallers, than they otherwise must have been. Still, however, they are remembered with horror: and I have myself beheld many of the objects of their wanton barbarity, mutilated and defaced. As 160,000 horsemen were let loose over the level country on the west of the Ganges; and the capital, Moorshedabad, being 12 miles from that river, it was cut off from all supplies of provisions and necefsaries,* until Aliverdy doubly intrenched the road leading from the city to the Ganges; and thus, supplies were conveyed in safety to the city, which was inclosed by another intrenchment, or rampart, of about 18 miles in circumference. The Mahrattas did not depart out of the provinces until the year 1744, when they had collected a vast mass of plunder, and had established the claim of the chout; which, however, was never regularly paid. The Berar Mahrattas having, some years afterwards, obtained possession of the Orifsa province, partly by conquest, partly by cession from Aliverdy, their proximity to Bengal, from which they were separated only by a shallow river, afforded them frequent opportunities of plundering its frontier provinces: and it was not till the year 1761, when Cossim Ally, Nabob of Bengal, ceded the provinces of Burdwan and Midnapour to the English, that the Mahrattas ceased to plunder them. The demand of the chout, however, although made occasionally, previous to the cefsion of Bengal to the English, had never been enforced: and during the war of 1780, when almost all the powers of Hindoostan were leagued together against the English, it was very feebly, if at all, insisted on, although the Berar Rajah had an army at Cattack.

* The city of Moorshedabad is situated on the westernmost branch of the Ganges: which branch is navigable only during a part of the year. See the Appendix.

The administration of Bajirow was as vigorous as could possibly be expected, considering how the reins of government had been slackened: to the Mahratta empire, it was glorious; for he wrested out of the hands of the Portuguese, the fortress of Basseen, and the island of Salsette, near Bombay; places that stood in the next degree of importance to Goa. He died in 1759, leaving the paishwahship, which was now considered as an hereditary establishment, to his son Ballajee.

At this period the Mahrattas pushed their conquests into the Panjab, and even to the banks of the Indus. But the time was approaching, when this sudden elevation (which seems, in some instances at least, to operate in states as in individuals) was to serve only to make their downfall more conspicuous. They and Abdalla had given each other mutual umbrage; and the wars that ensued between them, which ended with the famous battle of Panniput, of which we have already given an account in page lxxiv, was decisive of the pretensions of the Mahrattas as Hindoos, to universal empire in Hindoostan; which they at that time (1761) found themselves strong enough to dispute with the Mahomedans.

Ballajee died soon after. To him succeeded his son Maderow, a youth. The Mahrattas had now abated of their ardour for distant expeditions, and their quarrels were chiefly with their neighbour, the Nizam; whom they by degrees stripped of a considerable portion of his territories on the north and west of Aurungabad. Maderow died in 1772; and was succeeded by his son Narain Row, who was murdered the following year by Ragobah, his uncle, and son of Bajirow, the first paishwah who afsumed the sovereignty. The atrocity of this crime, made the author of it (who had been a general of reputation in the war against Hyder Ally, and the Nizam) detested by the body of the people, and caballed against by the chiefs: he besides failed in the object of clearing his way to the paishwahship, for the widow of Narain produced a boy, who was acknowledged heir.

Ragobah, who stood in need of allies, had engaged the government of Bombay in his cause; with whom a treaty, very advantageous to the English, and indeed, embracing the principal advantages so long desired by the East-India Company, was entered into; and the fleet and army belonging to the Presidency of Bombay, were accordingly put in motion, to second the views of Ragobah, and to secure the advantages derived from the treaty. Hostilities were commenced both by sea and land; and the island of Salsette, separated from Bombay only by a narrow channel of the sea, was taken possession of by the English. This was a most desirable acquisition, as the settlement of Bombay possessed no territory beyond the extent of the small island in which it is situated; and consequently depended on foreign supplies for its subsistence.

About this time the Council General of Bengal was invested with a controlling power over the other settlements in India: and the Mahratta war not meeting their approbation, Col. Upton was sent to Poonah in 1776, to negociate a peace (since known by the name of the treaty of Pooroondar), by which Ragobah was to renounce his pretensions, and to receive a pension for life; and the English were to retain possession of Salsette. But in the end of 1777, the Bombay government again espoused the cause of Ragobah, which measure terminated in a disgraceful convention, by which the Bombay army retired to their settlement, and Ragobah surrendered to his enemies. Being of Bramin race, his life was spared.

The war that followed between the English and the Mahrattas, was purely defensive on the part of the latter, after the arrival of a brigade of the Bengal army, under General Goddard; and was attended with the conquest, on the part of the English, of the finest parts of Guzerat, and the Concan; including the important for- · trefses of Bafseen and Amedabad; in short, of the whole country from Amedabad to the river Penn; and inland, to the foot of the

Gauts: and on the side of Oude, the province of Gohud, and other districts, together with the celebrated fortrefs of Gwalior, were reduced; and the war was carried into the heart of Malwa. But the expences of a successful war may be too grievous to be borne: and as a war with Hyder Ally had broke out in 1780, and still continued, it was justly esteemed a most desirable advantage to effect a peace with the Mahrattas, after detaching Sindia, the principal member of that state, from the confederacy. This peace was negociated in 1782 and 1783, by Mr. David Anderson, whose services on that memorable occasion, claim, as is said in another place, the united thanks of Great Britain and Hindoostan. All the acquisitions made during the war were given up, save Salsette, and the small islands situated within the gulf formed by Bombay, Salsette, and the continent.

The government at Poonah, during the minority, was shared among a junto of ministers: and it is probable that so long a minority, may yet make some essential changes in the constitution of a state, so accustomed to revolutions in the superior departments of its government. The present paishwah, by name Maderow (son of Narain Row, as beforementioned), was born in 1774.

The eastern Mahratta state, or that of Berar, under Ragojee, kept itself more free from foreign quarrels than the other; but had its share of intestine wars. For Ragojee dying, after a long reign, left four sons, Janojee, Sabajee, Modajee, and Bembajee. The first succeeded his father: but dying child lefs, in 1772, a civil war commenced between Sabajee and Modajee: the former of whom fell in 1774, and the latter still holds the government of Berar, &c. and Bembajee administers those of Ruttunpour and Sumbulpour, under him: though, I believe, with lefs restraint from his superior, than is ordinarily imposed on governors of provinces. Ragojee, the father of the present Rajah of Berar, being a descendant of Sevajee, the original founder of the Mahratta state, the present rajah is therefore by descent, the lawful sovereign of

the whole Mahratta state; the Poonah branch being extinct:* but it appears that he wisely prefers the peaceable pofsefsion of his own territories, to risking the lofs of them, where the object is no more than the nominal government of an empire, which even manifests symptoms of speedy difsolution.

It is not likely that either of the Mahratta states will soon become formidable to the other powers of Hindoostan. The eastern state has not resources for it; and as for the western, it cannot well happen there, until some one of its chiefs has gained such an ascendancy over the rest, as to re-unite that divided power, to which the late confusions in their government gave birth. It requires some length of time to reduce a feudal government to a simple monarchical one: and till then, the western Mahratta state cannot be formidable; to the British power, at least. If Sindia proceeds with his conquests to the north and west, and establishes a new empire in Malwa, &c. this Mahratta state (the western) must be extinguished; and such a new empire would, perhaps, prove more formidable to Oude, and to the British interests, in consequence, than any power we have beheld since the first establishment of the British influence in India.

Some believe that a rajah of Sevajee's line is still living; shut up in the fortrefs of Sattarah. Is is certain that the new paishwahs go thither, to receive the investiture of their office; as they were accustomed to do, in former times: whether such a rajah be in existence, or otherwise, is of no importance to the state, as matters are now constituted.