This was a measure both delicate and difficult, for the fortified palace in which Shah Jehan resided was capable of withstanding a long siege; which pressed by a parent against a son, a monarch so popular and highly respected, would have placed him in a very odious position. It was most desirable, therefore, to effect his purpose by stratagem; but he had to deal with one versant in all the wiles of policy and in all the forms of human deceit. Determining, however, to make the trial, he sent a messenger to the emperor, expressing deep regret at the situation in which he found himself, assuring him that he still retained all the affection of a son, and all the loyalty of a subject. Shah Jehan gave very small credit to these professions, yet he resolved to temporize, and sent his favorite daughter Jehanara to visit her brothers, and to ascertain how affairs really stood. She went first to Morad, who, knowing her to be entirely devoted to the interests of Dara, received her with very slender courtesy. The offended princess returned to her palanquin, and was hastening out of the camp, when she met Aurungzeb, who saluted her with the utmost kindness and respect, complained of her having held so little communication with him, and prevailed upon her to enter his tent. He then professed the deepest remorse for the conduct into which he had been hurried, and his anxiety by any means to make reparation. He even expressed a willingness to espouse the cause of Dara, were it not that it already appeared quite desperate. Jehanara was thus induced to lay open all the resources of that prince, and to name the chiefs who remained still attached to him, disclosing to her brother many most important secrets of which he afterwards fully availed himself. He then declared that he was entirely satisfied, and that in two days the emperor would see at his feet his repentant son.

“Jehanara, now hastened to her father with this joyful intelligence. But the monarch did not place full reliance on these professions, yet believing that Aurungzeb really intended to pay him a visit, he determined to take advantage of the opportunity to secure his person. He was not aware that he was playing the game with one who possessed skill superior to his own. Aurungzeb sent a humble message, representing that the guilty are always timid, that being scarcely able to conceive how

crimes such as his could be forgiven, he could in no way be reassured, unless his son Mohammed were allowed previously with a small guard to enter the palace. Shah Jehan was so bent on his object and so convinced of the sincerity with which the proposal was made, that he hesitated not to agree to it. The youth entered, and being cordially received, he stationed his party in a convenient situation. But his eager eye soon discovered a large body of troops occupying a very suspicious position. He went to the emperor and stated the apprehension to which this circumstance could not fail to give rise, observing that unless these men were removed, he must immediately inform his father, who would then probably renounce his intended visit. The old man, still credulous and determined to make every sacrifice rather than fail in his object, consented that the soldiers should quit the palace, thus rendering Mohammed and his party the real masters. Then indeed it was announced that Aurungzeb had mounted his horse and was approaching with his retinue. Shah Jehan seated himself on his throne in the highest exultation, expecting to see the complete accomplishment of his schemes and hopes. He soon learned, however, that Aurungzeb, instead of entering his presence, had gone to pay his devotions at the tomb of Acber. Considering this as a decided slight to himself, Shah Jehan indignantly inquired of Mohammed, "What means Aurungzeb by this behavior?" Mohammed deliberately replied, " My father never intended to visit the emperor." "Then why are you here?" inquired Shah Jehan. "To take charge of the citadel," replied Mohammed. Shah Jehan saw at once the abyss into which he had plunged himself, and burst into a torrent of invective and self-reproach, which induced his grandson to withdraw. On sober reflection, he sent again for the youth, and painting the miseries of his condition, he urged the most pressing entreaties that the prince would restore to him his liberty, promising in reward even the empire of India, which his influence with the army and the people would be sufficient to secure. Mohammed appeared to hesitate for a moment, but then hastening out of the apartment, turned a deaf ear to every subsequent solicitation.” *

* History of India, p. 272, 273.

Shah Jehan lived for several years, but here his reign ended. From this time he was a mere prisoner of State. He had a princely allowance, and was treated with great respect, but he never again saw either of his sons, nor went outside of the walls of the citadel. He reigned 30 years. He was 67 years old when he was deposed, and 74 years old when he died.

The reign of Shah Jehan, when compared with his predecessors, was quiet, and the people generally were prosperous. The wars in the Deckan and Cabul, did not much disturb the general state of the empire. Previous to his accession to the throne, he had much experience in war, and had exhibited great military talents. And if he did not exhibit equal wisdom and ability in administering the affairs of the empire, still his government was generally satisfactory to the Hindus, and decidedly popular with the Mohammedans. The historians of that period describe the state of the empire as very flourishing, while some of them declare him to be the greatest and best of all the Mohammedan sovereigns of India. Khafi Khan, who is generally considered the best of the Mohammedan historians, is of the opinion that Acber excelled all the other emperors as conqueror and lawmaker, yet that no monarch in India ever excelled Shah Jehan in the general administration of all the departments of the government. Tavernier and Bernier, who had passed several years in India, and saw the state and circumstances of the inhabitants, describe the government as good, the country as prosperous, and the people as generally quiet and contented. In pomp and display, this emperor exceeded all his predecessors, and wherever he went, into the Deckan, or to Cabul, or to Cashmere, he appeared in the same splendor and magnificence. The royal pavilion, with all its different parts and appurtenances, was as large as a small city, and could accommodate many thousand people. Cashmere was his summer retreat. In the cool and delightful climate of that valley, the time was spent in feasts, dances, illuminations, excursions by land and water, hunting, and other sports and pleasures congenial with the climate, the seasons, and the scenery.

The public works of this reign are monuments of taste, skill, and enterprise. The royal cities of Delhi and Agra were greatly enlarged, and acquired their highest state of splendor.

The palaces, mosques, and baths were on a royal scale. The Jumma Musjid, or royal mosque, was a magnificent edifice and cost half a million of dollars. The gardens of Shalemar with their baths, fountains, statues, etc., now in ruins, were a mile in circumference, and are said to have cost more than four millions of dollars. The imperial palace, in which the emperor was confined for the last 7 years of his life, was large and magnificent. When the Mahrattas, in 1760, obtained possession of the city, their chief Sudashew Bhow caused the silver ceiling and ornaments of the audience hall to be taken and coined into money, and the value was nearly $800,000. No one of the emperor's works excited so much curiosity as his celebrated peacock throne. This curious work took its name from a part of it resembling the expanded tail of a peacock, the natural colors of which were imitated by sapphires, emeralds, rubies, etc., all wrought into it, and forming the chief ornament of a mass of diamonds, and other precious stones of surpassing brilliancy. Tavernier, who saw it and was himself by profession a jeweller, and so a competent judge in such matters, says that the common estimation of its cost exceeded £6,000,000, or nearly $30,000,000. This sum included the precious stones in it.

The mausoleum called Taj Mahal, erected by the emperor over the tomb of his favorite wife, exceeded all his buildings. It stands on the banks of the Jumna in a large park, which is beautifully situated and highly ornamented. Two elegant mosques stand, one on each side of the mausoleum, at a moderate distance. The edifice is built of white marble with a minaret at each corner, and a high dome, 70 feet in diameter, over the central part. In the middle, under the dome, is the tomb, which is inclosed by an open screen of marble inlaid by mosaics. "The walls," says Elphinstone, "are of white marble with borders of a running pattern of flowers in mosaics. The graceful flow, the harmonious colors, and above all the sparing use of the rich ornament with the mild lustre of the marble on which it is displayed, form the peculiar charm of the building, and distinguish it from any other in the world. The materials are lapis lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, or blood-stone, a sort of golden stone (not well understood) with chalcedony, and other agates, cornelians, jade, and various stones of the same

description." "A single flower in the screen," says Veysey, “contains a hundred stones, each cut to the exact shape necessary, and highly polished." Tavernier (already referred to) who lived many years in India in the reign of Jehangheer, and who saw this edifice when it was commenced, and when it was completed, says that 20,000 men were employed upon it for 22 years, and that it cost 31,748,000 rupees, or nearly 15,000,000 dollars.

The construction of these works must have cost Jehangheer immense sums of money. The expenses of his wars in the Deckan, and of his frequent expeditions to Cabul, Candahar, and Balk must have been very great. His regular standing army of 200,000 men was maintained in an efficient state, and at the time he was deposed the royal treasury contained more than $100,000,000 of coined money, besides a great accumulation of uncoined gold and silver, and of jewels and precious stones.

Shah Jehan, whose reign commenced with the murder of all his brothers and their families, that he might obtain the throne and then be rid of all who might trouble him, passed the last 7 years of his life a prisoner in his own palace, deprived of all power by a son who had usurped the throne, and who to secure it for himself and his family had not only deposed and imprisoned his father, but had also put to death his 3 brothers and their families. What an exhibition of the lust of power in the conduct of this emperor in the early part of his reign, and again in the sufferings and circumstances of himself and his family in the latter years of his life!

AURUNGZEB, A.D. 1657.

Aurungzeb, having thus made his father a prisoner of State in his own palace, had next to dispose of his brother Morad. This unhappy and deluded prince was confidently expecting soon to be acknowledged emperor of India. Aurungzeb continued for awhile to deceive him with this expectation, pretending himself at the same time to be making preparations to embark on a pilgrimage to Mecca as soon as Morad should be safely seated on the throne. But in the mean time he was secretly using all the means in his power to prejudice the army