1816.]

TUMULTS AT HYDERABAD.

233

taken place between them, but during the governorgeneral's progress through the upper provinces, Saadet Ali Khan expired at Lucknow. His son, Refaut-oodDowlah, succeeded him on the musnud, and immediately offered the government of Calcutta about two millions sterling, as a mark of gratitude for their support. This sum the Company accepted in the shape of a loan, for which it was agreed that they should pay six per cent. interest, to be disbursed in pensions formerly defrayed by the Nabob-Vizier. Subsequently, however, the latter remitted one half of this debt, in consideration of the cession of the district of Kyreghur, and some other tracts, by the Company.

The

An expedition to Cutch obtained for the English the fort of Anjar, thus advancing the frontiers of the AngloIndian Empire nearer to the mouths of the Indus. success of the British arms in Nepaul about the same time, put a stop to the intrigues of the Mahrattas, and enabled the governor-general to arbitrate with effect between Scindiah and the Rajah of Bhopal. Two events, however, which occurred at the Courts of Hyderabad and Poonah, sufficiently demonstrated the impossibility of placing implicit reliance upon the friendly disposition of native powers. The Nizam's sons, youthful debauchees, whose excesses their father was unable or unwilling to restrain, seized upon a servant of the English resident, and subjected him, although innocent of any criminality, to imprisonment and torture. the demand of the resident, the Nizam sanctioned the arrest of his sons, but these princes collecting together a disorderly force of Patans and other irregulars, defended themselves against the sepoys sent for the purpose of capturing them, and only surrendered when they heard that a further reinforcement of English troops had been ordered up by the resident. They were despatched forthwith, as prisoners, to Golconda, but the tumult brought to light much latent hostility towards the

At

English that existed in the minds of the people. It moreover became evident, that the general dissatisfaction, although stifled for the present, threatened, at no very distant period, to burst forth into a flame.

The extreme partiality of the Peishwa for a minister of the most abandoned and unscrupulous character, occasioned eventually a breach with the Court of Poonah. The police agent or spy of Bajee Row in past times, Trimbuckjee Dainglia, had succeeded in gaining his master's confidence, by pandering to his depraved tastes, and, although of humble origin, soon raised himself to the highest office in the state. Being at the same time a man of some ability and ambition, he amused the vanity of his master by specious schemes for the re-establishment of Mahratta independence. Treaties were made under his auspices with Scindiah, Holkar, and the Pindarees; while the Peishwa began to evince hostile feelings towards the Nizam and the Guicowar family, both of whom continued friendly to the English government.

By the intervention of the latter, it was, however, decided that the dispute with the Nizam should stand over for the present, until the Guicowar and the Peishwa had arranged their differences. The Guicowar state accordingly despatched, as their ambassador to Poonah, Gungadhur, the Shastree, a Brahmin of high reputation for austerity and learning. He was treated at first with great distinction by the Peishwa and his minister, the latter having even arranged a matrimonial alliance between his daughter and the Shastree's son. The envoy, however, failed in his endeavours to serve his new friends with his employers at home, and this, with other circumstances, irritated the Peishwa against him, and rendered Trimbuckjee averse to the proposed affinity. The unprincipled minister, therefore, determined upon the death of one, to whom he had so far committed himself that he could not now retract.

1816.]

MURDER OF THE SHASTREE.

235

The unsuspecting Brahmin was requested to accompany the Peishwa and Trimbuckjee on a pilgrimage to Nassick, whither, also, Mr. Elphinstone, the English resident, repaired by special invitation. From Nassick the Shastree went to visit Punderpoor, where stood a temple more than ordinarily reverenced by the Hindoos; here he had some conversation with Trimbuckjee, and having finished his devotions, was returning alone and unarmed, when five armed men attacked him, and cut his body literally to pieces.

The news of this outrage excited everywhere sentiments of unusual horror and disgust. The Mahrattas, although habituated to deeds of violence and bloodshed, regarded the caste and character of the deceased as investing him with peculiar holiness, and they heard of his murder with feelings, not only of natural abhorrence, but of superstitious dread. The supposed sanctity of the locality where it happened, added, in their eyes, aggravation to the crime, and as all attributed its commission to the Peishwa and Trimbuckjee, the utter ruin of both was confidently anticipated. The indignation of the people, seconded by the remonstrances of Mr. Elphinstone, made the Peishwa tremble for his own safety; but as the chief odium of the late infamous transaction rested principally upon the minister, the sovereign found it convenient to screen himself by the sacrifice of his favourite. He offered to imprison Trimbuckjee; but the resident, doubting with reason the sincerity of this proposition, insisted that the accused should be placed in the hands of the English. After considerable delays and intrigues without number, Trimbuekjee was finally surrendered, and subsequently imprisoned in the fortress of Tannah, on the island of Salsette, near Bombay.

The captors being well aware of the determination of the Peishwa to compass by any means the liberation of his minister, took every precaution against the escape

of their prisoner. All sepoys, and other natives, were sedulously removed from the island, and their place supplied by European troops. The nature of Indian habits, however, produced a relaxation of the rule, in favour of the servants employed about the persons of the English officers. When, therefore, a common looking man, well recommended, appeared one day to offer his services as horsekeeper or groom, to the commandant of the fort, he was admitted without scruple, and, having been engaged by that officer, continued to pursue his humble avocations for some time unwatched and unsuspected.

He frequently led his horse past the window of Trimbuckjee's prison, and, on these occasions, was in the habit of singing what sounded like a Mahratta ballad.* The rough stanzas, unintelligible to the English guards, reached the ears of the prisoner, and informed him of the measures taken to forward his escape. At length, in December 1816, Trimbuckjee and the groom, taking advantage of an ebb tide, effected their escape from the fort, and found refuge among the Nassack mountains, where the Bheels, and other savage tribes, flocked in great numbers to the standard of the liberated captive.

*Bishop Heber gives the following translation, or rather perhaps paraphrase of these verses :

"Behind the bush the bowmen hide,

The horse beneath the tree;

Where shall I find a knight will ride

The jungle paths with me?

There are five-and-fifty coursers there,

And four-and-fifty men,

When the fifty-fifth shall mount his steed,

The Deccan thrives again."

1816.]

THE PINDAREES.

237

CHAPTER XIX.

THE PINDAREES TREACHERY OF THE PEISHWA-BATTLE OF KIRKEE -CRUELTY OF THE PEISHWA-HIS FLIGHT TO SATTARA-AFFAIRS OF NAGPOOR-PROCEEDINGS OF CHETOO-MURDER OF TOOLSA BAEE -SKIRMISH AT KOREIGAUM-BATTLE OF MUNDAPOOR-SURRENDER OF THE FEISHWA-CAPTURE OF ASSEERGURH-STATE OF BRITISHI INDIA AT THE DEPARTURE OF LORD HASTINGS.

1816-1819.

THE Government of Calcutta had felt, since 1812, the necessity of checking the destructive inroads of the Pindarees. These robbers were originally connected with the Mahrattas, whom at first they accompanied in their predatory excursions; though unlike that warlike race, they did not form a distinct nation, their levies being composed of adventurers from every tribe inhabiting the Indian continent. The usual trysting-place of the Pindaree bands was the valley of the Nerbudda, where they assembled during the celebration of the Desra, a Hindoo festival, that generally occurs at the end of October. There they laid plans for the future campaign, or Lubhur, as it was termed, choosing a Lubhureea, or commander, to preside over and direct the enterprise. Their favourite weapon was a long spear, but a small number of their picked men carried matchlocks of primitive construction.

Το

The incursions of these hordes inspired the timid inhabitants of the villages with the most lively alarm. escape from their insults, whole families frequently assembled together, and shutting themselves up in their houses, kindled with their own hands the flames in which all perished. The rapid marches, the sudden