Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan Part 7

1782. - On the 26th April died Mirza Najaf Khan, after a residence in India of about forty-two years, so that he must have been aged at least sixty. He appears to have been an even greater and better man than his predecessor, Najib-ud-daulah, over whom he had the advantage in point of blood, being at once a descendant of the Arabian prophet, and a member of the Saffavi house, which had been removed from the throne of Persia by the usurpation of Nadir Shah. Captain Scott - who was a good scholar and well acquainted with Native politics, as Persian Secretary to the Governor-General of British India - records of the Mirza that no one left his presence dissatisfied. If he could grant a request he would, and that with a grace as if it pleased him; if he could not, he could always convince the pet.i.tioner of his sorrow at being obliged to refuse. The faulty side of him appears to have been a love of money, and (towards the last part of his life, at least,) of pleasure. It will be seen in the sequel how soon his gains were dissipated, and his house overthrown. At his death he wielded all the power of the Empire which his energies and virtues had restored. He was Deputy Vazir of the absentee Viceroy of Audh, and Commander-in-Chief of the army. He held the direct civil administration, with receipt of the surplus revenues, agreeably to Eastern usages, of the province of Agra and the Jat territories, together with the district of Alwar to the south-west and those portions of the Upper Doab which he had not alienated in Jaidad. But he died without issue, and the division of his offices and his estates became the subject of speedy contests, which finally overthrew the last fragments of Moghul dominion or independence. The following notice of these transactions is chiefly founded on a Memorial, drawn up and submitted to the British Governor at Lucknow in 1784, by the Shahzada Jawan Bakht, of whom mention has been already made more than once, and who had, for the ten years preceding the Emperor's return to Dehli, in '71, held the Regency under the t.i.tle of Jahandar Shah. After referring to the fact that Majad-ud-daulah (the t.i.tle, it may be remembered, of Abdul Ahid Khan) had been and still was in custody, but that an equerry of the Emperor's procured the issue of patents confirming existing appointments, the Prince proceeds, - "The morning after the Mirza's death, I saw the attendants on His Majesty were consulting to send some persons to the house of the deceased, in order to calm disturbances; and at last the Wisdom enlightening the world resolved on deputing me to effect that object. [I] having departed with all speed, and given a.s.surances to the afflicted, the friends of the departed had leisure to wash and dress the body, and the clamour began to cease. After necessary preparation, I attended the corpse to the Masjid, and the rites of Islam having been performed, sent it to the place of interment, under the care of Afrasyab Khan, who was the cherished-in-the- bosom" (adopted) "son" of the n.o.ble deceased; whose sister also regarded him as her adopted son.

"Afrasyab Khan soon became ambitious of the dignities and possessions of the deceased, and the Begam (deceased's sister) pet.i.tioned his Majesty in his favour, with earnest entreaty; but this proved disagreeable to the far-extending sight of the royal Wisdom, as Mirza Shaffi Khan, who had a great army and considerable resources, looked to the succession, and would never agree to be superseded in this manner, so that contentions would necessarily ensue." There can be no doubt of the correctness of Shah Alam's views. Mirza Shaffi was the nearest relative of the deceased, and in actual possession of the command of the army. He was thus not merely the most eligible claimant, but the best able to support his claims. But the Emperor - never, as we have seen, a man of much determination - was now enfeebled by years and by a habit of giving way to importunity.

"Instigated," proceeds Jawan Bakht, "by female obstinacy, the Begam would not withdraw her request, and her pet.i.tion was at length, though reluctantly, honoured with compliance. The khillat of Amir-ul-Omra and acting Minister was conferred upon Afrasyab by his Majesty, who directed this menial (though he [the writer]

was sensible of the ill-promise of the measure) to write to Mirza Shaffi to hasten to the presence."

It is not quite clear whether the measure, to which this parenthesis represents the prince as objecting, was the appointment of Afrasyab, or the summons to the Mirza. He was evidently opposed to the former, who was a weak young man, devoid of resources either mental or material. On the other hand, his own matured good sense should have shown him that no good consequences could follow the temporizing policy which brought the rivals face to face at Court. Afrasyab's first measure was to release the Kashmirian Ex-Minister Majad-ud-daulah (Abdul Ahid Khan) from arrest, and by his recommendation this foolish and notorious traitor was once more received into the Imperial favour. In the meanwhile, Mirza Shaffi arrived at Dehli, and took up his quarters in the house of his deceased uncle, whose widow he conciliated by promising to marry her daughter, his first cousin. A period of confusion ensued, which ended for the time in the resignation of Afrasyab, who retired to his estate at Ajhir, leaving his interests at Court to be attended to by Majad-ud-daulah and by the converted Rajput Najaf Kuli. Shortly!

after his departure, Mirza Shaffi surrounded the houses of these agents, and arrested Majad-ud-daulah on the 11th September, 1782, and the Rajput on the following day, confining them in his aunt's house under his own eye. The Prince upon this received orders to negotiate with the Mizra, who was appointed to the office he had been so long endeavouring to compa.s.s. But Afrasyab Khan, his absent compet.i.tor, had still allies at Court, and they succeeded in bringing over to his cause M. Paoli, the commander of Begam Sumroo's Brigade, together with Latafat Khan, commandant of the battalions that had been detached to the Imperial service by the Viceroy of Audh. This took place a few days only after the arrest of the agents, and was almost immediately followed by the desertion from Mirza Shaffi of the bulk of the army. The Emperor put himself at the head of the troops, and proceeded to the Minister's house. Finding the premises had been evacuated the Shah marched in triumph - not quite after the magnificent fas.h.i.+on of his ancestors - to the Jamma Masjid, and Mirza Shaffi fled to Kosi, in the vicinity of Mathra, acting by the advice of the prince, as the latter informs us. The army did not pursue the fugitive, and the latter enlarged Majad-ud-daulah, who promised to intercede for him with the Emperor, and also made a friend in Mohamad Beg of Hamadan, whom we have already met with as Governor of Agra.

1783. - While the Moghuls were disturbing and weakening the empire by these imbecile contentions, Madhoji Sindhia, the Patel, was hovering afar off, like an eagle on the day of battle. His position had just been greatly improved by the treaty of Salbai, an arrangement which was probably the result of the spirited policy pursued by Hastings, of which the storming of Gwalior was a specimen. Coote and Stuart too, in Madras, and G.o.ddard in the Deccan, struck repeated blows at the confederacy. Peace, too, was concluded between the French and English in India as in Europe.

Sindhia was one of the first to submit, and in 1782 acceded to that famous instrument, in which the British authorities had recognized him as the representative chief of the Mahrattas, the Peshwa being still a minor, and the ostensible head of the Regency, Nana Farnavis, being a mere civilian, though otherwise an able man. The British Governor-General also, naturally alarmed at what was going on, and foreseeing danger from the interposition of the Mahrattas, with whom his Government had, till lately, been engaged in a deadly conflict, soon after sent two officers to the Imperial Court, being the first English Emba.s.sy that had visited the city of the Moghul since the memorable deputation from the infant Factory to the throne of Farokhsiar.

But before these officials could arrive, further complications had occurred; Mirza Shaffi returning to Dehli, in company with Mohamad Beg, requested that his new opponents, Paoli and Latafat, might be sent to them with authority to treat, and the application was granted, much against the advice of the prince, who tells us that he proposed either that an immediate attack should be made upon the rebels before they had time to consolidate their power, or else that they should be summoned to the presence, and made to state their wishes there. To the envoys elect, he observed that, even were the concession made of sending a deputation to treat with refractory subjects, he would advise that only one should go at a time. "But," he continues, "as the designs of Providence had weakened the ears of their understandings, an interview appeared to them most advisable; - a mutual suspicion rendering each unwilling that one should go and the other remain in camp, lest he who went should make his own terms without the other." What a glimpse this gives of the dissolution of all that we are accustomed to call society! The two envoys set out, but never returned: like the emissaries sent to the Jewish captain, as he drove furiously along the plain of Esdraelon to ask, Is it peace? The European was slain at once, the Audh general being imprisoned and deprived of sight. Mirza Shaffi and Mohamad Beg next began to quarrel with each other. The Emperor was now much perplexed, but matters were arranged for the time through the instrumentality of the prince and by the return of Afrasyab, who became reconciled to his late compet.i.tor. The three n.o.bles were presented with khillats (dresses of honour) and Mirza Shaffi became Premier, under the t.i.tle of Amir-ul-Umra, while Majad-ud-daulah reverted to his ancient post of Intendant of the Home Revenues. We pursue the prince's narrative.

"It was at this period that much anxiety and melancholy intruding on the sacred mind of his Majesty, the Asylum of the World, and also on the breast of this loyal servant," their attention was turned towards the English alliance, which had been in abeyance for some years. On the 23rd of September, 1783, Mirza Shaffi, who had been to Agra, was shut out from the palace on his return, probably owing to Afrasyab Khan's renewed desire to obtain the chief place in the State. On this the Mirza retired to Agra again, and naturally adopted a hostile att.i.tude, an emissary was sent forth to treat with him, in the person of Mohamad Beg Hamadani. The meeting took place in the open air in front of the main gate of the old Fort of Agra; and when the elephants, upon which the two n.o.blemen were seated, drew near to each other, the Mirza held out his hand in greeting, when Mohamed Beg at once seized the opportunity, and pistolled him under the arm. It is a.s.serted, indeed, by some that the actual crime was perpetrated by the attendant who occupied the back seat of the howdah; possibly Ismail Beg Khan, nephew of the Hamadani.

Afrasyab, who had instigated this murder, profited by it, and succeeded to the post of his ambition, while the mind of the prince became still more anxious, and still more bent upon opening his case, if possible, in a personal interview with the English Governor.

Meanwhile, the envoys of the latter were not less urgent on their employer to support the Emperor with an army. "The business of a.s.sisting the Shah" - thus they wrote in December, 1783 - "must go on if we wish to be secure in India, or regarded as a nation of faith and honour." Mr. Hastings was not deaf to these considerations, and subsequent events proved their entire soundness. He desired to sustain the authority of the Empire, because he foresaw nothing from its dissolution but an alternative between Chaos and the Mahrattas; and, but for the opposition of his council in Calcutta, he would have interposed, and interposed after his fas.h.i.+on, with effect. Yet his not doing so was afterwards made the ground of one of the charges (No. 18) against him, and he was accused of having intrigued in the interest of Madhoji Sindhia, the Patel. That Mr. Hastings, when overruled in his desire of antic.i.p.ating Sindhia in Court influence at Dehli, preferred seeing the latter succeed, rather than the Empire should fall a prey to complete anarchy; that he "turned the circ.u.mstance to advantage" - to use Grant Duff's phrase - was neither contrary to sound statesmans.h.i.+p, nor to the particular views of the British Government, which was then occupied in completing the treaty of Salbai. Under this compact Central India was pacified, and the Carnatic protected from the encroachments of the notorious Haidar Ali Khan, and his son, the equally famous Tippu Sahib. It is important here to observe that the Calcutta Gazettes of the day contain several notices of the progress of the Sikhs, and the feeble opposition offered to them by the courtiers. All these things called for prompt action.

1781. - On the 27th March, the British Governor arrived at Lucknow, and Jawan Bakht resolved to escape from the palace, and lay before him an account of Dehli politics, such as should induce him to interpose. The design being communicated to his maternal uncle, a body of Gujars, from the prince's estate, was posted on the opposite bank of the river, and everything fixed for the 14th of April. About 8 P.M., having given out that he was indisposed, and on no account to be disturbed, the prince disguised himself, and, secretly departing from his chamber in the palace, pa.s.sed from the roof of one building to the roof of another, until he reached the aqueduct which crossed the garden of the palace. The night was stormy, and the prince was suffering from fever, but he found a breach where the ca.n.a.l issued, by which he got to the rampart of the Salimgarh. Here he descended by means of a rope, and joined his friends on the river sands; and, with a considerable mixture of audacity and address, found means to elude the sentries and get across the river. One trait is worth preserving, as ill.u.s.trative of the characteristic clemency of the house of Timur. "I believe," said the prince, in talking of this night's adventure to Mr. Hastings, "I ought to have killed the guide who showed me where to ford the river; but my conscience disapproved, and I let him go, preferring to trust myself to the care of Providence. In effect, the man justified my suspicions, for he instantly went to the nearest guard and gave him information of my route, as I learned soon after; but I made such speed that my pursuers could not overtake me."

His Highness reached Lucknow, where he impressed all who met him with a highly favourable opinion of his humanity, his intelligence, and his knowledge of affairs; but the only consolation he received, either from the Viceroy or from Mr.

Hastings, hampered as the latter was by the opposition of his council, was the advice to turn to Madhoji Sindhia. Captain Jonathan Scott (who was on Hastings' staff) says that the prince received an allowance of 40,000 a year from the British Government (Scott's Ferishta, vol. ii. 242.)

In the meanwhile Mohamed Beg, who had returned to his old residence at Agra, continued to trouble the repose of the new minister Afrasyab, so that he also turned to the redoubled Patel, and this successful soldier who had barely escaped four-and-twenty years before from the slaughter of Panipat, now found himself master of the situation. The movements of the Mahratta chief began, indeed, to be all-important. They were thus noticed in the Calcutta Gazette for 18th April: - "We learn that Sindhia is going on a hunting party. ... . We also learn that he will march towards Bundelkund." He marched in the direction, as it proved, of Agra.

He sent an envoy to Lucknow to treat with the Governor-General, and proceeded in person to Hindustan, proposing to meet the Emperor, who was on his way to dislodge Mohamad Beg from the fort of Agra.

The Calcutta Gazette for May 10th says, "His Majesty has signified by letters to the Governor-General and Sindhia that he will march towards Agra."

The Emperor's desire to put himself into the hands of Sindhia was very much increased by the violent conduct of Afrasyab towards one who, whatever his faults, had endeared himself, by long years' a.s.sociation, to the facile monarch. Majad-ud-daulah, the Finance Minister, having attempted to dissuade his Majesty from going to Agra, the haughty Moghul sent Najaf Kuli Khan with a sufficient force to Majad's house, and seizing him, with the whole of his property, kept him in close arrest, in which he continued for the most part till his death, in 1788.

On his arrival, Sindhia had an interview with Afrasyab Khan, at which it was agreed to concert a combined attack upon Mohamad Beg forthwith. Three days after, the minister was a.s.sa.s.sinated, viz., 2nd November, 1784. The actual hand that struck this blow was that of Zain-ul-Abidin, brother of Mirza Shaffi, who, no doubt, was not unwilling to have an opportunity of punis.h.i.+ng the supposed author of his uncle's murder; but there were not wanting those who, on the well-known maxim, cui bono, attributed the instigation to Sindhia. Francklin records, on the authority of one Said Raza Khan, that Zain-ul-Abidin found shelter with Sindhia immediately after the murder, which was effected in the very tent of the victim. Rajah Himmat Bahadur (the Gosain leader) at once proceeded to Sindhia's tent, accompanied by the chief Moghul n.o.bles, where all joined in congratulations and professions of service.

1785 - The latter, at all events, immediately stepped into the dead man's shoes, leaving the t.i.tle of Vazir to the Audh Viceroy; and contenting himself with the substance of authority. Calling the Peshwa of Puna - the head of the Mahrattas - by the revived t.i.tle of Plenipotentiary of the Empire, formerly borne (it may be remembered) by the first Nizam, he professed to administer as the Peshwa's deputy. He a.s.sumed with the command of the army, the direct management of the provinces of Dehli and Agra, and allotted a monthly payment of sixty-five thousand rupees for the personal expenses of Shah Alam. In order to meet these expenses, and at the same time to satisfy himself and reward his followers, the Pate] had to cast about him for every available pecuniary resource. Warren Hastings having now left India, the time may have been thought favourable for claiming some contribution from the foreign possessors of the Eastern Subahs. Accordingly we find in the Calcutta Gazette the following notice, under the date Thursday, 12th May, 1785: -

"We have authority to inform the public that on the 7th of this month the Governor-General received from the Emperor Shah Alam and Maha Rajah Madagee Sindia an official and solemn disavowal, under their respective seals, of demands which were transmitted by them, on Mr. Macpherson's accession to the Government, for the former tribute from Bengal.

"The demands of the tribute were transmitted through Major Brown, and made immediately upon his recall from the Court of Shah Alam, but without any communication of the subject to Mr. Anderson.

"Mr. Anderson was immediately instructed to inform Sindhia that his interference in such demands would be considered in the light of direct hostility, and a breach of our treaty with the Mahrattas; and Shah Alam was to be informed that the justice of the English to his ill.u.s.trous house could never admit the interference or recommendation of other powers, and could alone flow from their voluntary liberality.

"A disavowal of claims advanced unjustly and disrespectfully was insisted upon; and we are authorized to declare that Mr.

Anderson's conduct in obtaining that disavowal was open and decided, highly honourable to him as a public minister. He acted in conformity to the orders of Government even before he received them. He founded his remonstrances on a short letter which he had received from the Governor-General, and upon circ.u.mstances which pa.s.sed in the presence of Sindhia, at Shah Alam's Darbar, as Major Brown was taking his leave.

"The effects which Mr. Anderson's remonstrance produced are very satisfactory and creditable to Government, and such explanations have followed upon the part of Sindhia, as must eventually strengthen our alliance with the Mahrattas, expose the designs of secret enemies, and secure the general tranquillity of India."

The revolution begun by the Patel was soon completed. Zabita Khan died about this time; and Mohamad Beg, being deserted by his troops, had no resource but to throw himself upon the mercy of the Mahratta chief. The fort of Agra surrendered on the 27th of March, 1785; and all that remained of the power of the Moghul party was the fort of Aligarh, where the widow and brother of the late minister, Afrasyab Khan, still held out, in the hope of preserving the property of the deceased, the bulk of which was stored there. This stronghold, which the late Najaf Khan had wrested from the Jats, had been fortified with great care, and it had a strong garrison, but, having held out from July to November, the Governor was at last prevailed upon, by the entreaties of the ladies, to avert from them the horrors of a storm, and make terms with the besiegers. The result of the capitulation was that the eldest son of the deceased Afrasyab received an estate, yielding a yearly revenue of a lakh and a half of rupees. The rest of the property - valued at a crore, a sum then corresponding to a million of money, but really representing much more of our present currency - was seized by Sindhia.

The latter was now supreme in Hindustan; the disunited Moghul chiefs, one and all, acknowledged his authority; and a Mahratta garrison, occupying the Red Castle of Shah Jahan, rendered the Emperor little more than an honourable pageant. He joined, however, personally in all the operations of 1785, and did not return to Dehli until the middle of the following year. Sindhia did not at the time accompany him, but retired to his favourite cantonment of Mathra.

It has been already mentioned that there is little or nothing recorded of the condition of the country or of the people by native historians. It must not, however, be thought that I am satisfied with recording merely the dates of battles, or the biographies of prominent men. On the contrary, the absence of information upon the subject of the condition of the nation at large, is a great cause of regret and disappointment to me. A few particulars will be found in the concluding chapter.

In 1783, when Afrasyab Khan was distracting the country by his ambitious attempts, occurred a failure of the periodical rains, followed by one of those tremendous famines which form such a fearful feature of Indian life. In Bengal, where the monsoon is regular, and the alluvial soil moist, these things are almost as unknown as in England: but the arid plains of Hindustan, basking at the feet of the vastest mountain-chain in the world, become a perfect desert, at least once in every quarter of a century. The famine of 1783-4 has made a peculiarly deep impression upon the popular mind, under the name of the "Chalisa," in reference to the Sambat date 1840, of the era of Vikram Adit. An old Gosain, who had served under Himmat Bahadur, near Agra, once told the author that flour sold near Agra that year 8 seers for the rupee; which, allowing for the subsequent fall in the value of money, is perhaps equivalent to a rate of three seers for our present rupee - a state of things partly conceivable by English readers, if they will imagine the quartern loaf at four s.h.i.+llings, and butcher's meat in proportion.

These famines were greatly intensified by the want of hands for field-labour, that must have been caused by the constant drafting of men to the armies, and by the ma.s.sacre and rapine that accompanied the chronic warfare of those times. The drain on the population, however, combined with the absence of the tax-gatherer, must have given this state of things some sort of compensation in the long run. Some few further particulars regarding the state of the country will be found in the concluding chapter.

NOTE.-Besides the Mozafari, the princ.i.p.al authorities for this chapter have been Francklin's "Shah Alum" (v. inf. p. 194) the narrative of the Shahzadah published by Warren Hastings and the continuation of Ferishta by Captain Jonathan Scott. This gentleman has already been mentioned (V. sup. p. 132), he was a.s.sisted in compiling his narrative by Maj. Polier, who was at Dehli at the time. All these authorities are strictly original and contemporaneous; and in general agree with each other. The Memoirs of Iradat Khan have also been consulted - a Dehli n.o.ble of the period. A traditional account of the Famine by an "Old Resident" of Aligarh may not be without interest. It is taken from the Dehli Gazette of 6th June, 1874. "As told by many persons who witnessed it, the disastrous circ.u.mstance which occurred during Sindiah's rule and prior to Du Boigne's administration known by the people as the 'Chaleesa Kaut,' the severe famine of A.D. 1783 in a considerable degree desolated the country, and the many ruinous high mounds still visible in the district owe their origin to this calamity. The inhabitants either fell victims, or fled to other parts where they met a similar fate, for the famine was a general one. It was described to me by those who lived then, that for the two previous years the rains were very unfavourable, and the produce very scanty, the third year, A.D. 1783, the people entertained strong hopes that the season would be a propitious one: but sad was their condition when they found the rainy months, 'a.s.saur and Sawun, pa.s.sing off with a scorching sun. In 'Bhadoon' they had clouds but no rain, and when the calamity came, all hopes were gone the price of grain was enormous and with difficulty it could be procured, thousands died of sheer starvation within their walls and streets, and the native governments rendered no a.s.sistance to ameliorate or relieve the wants of their unfortunate subjects.

Children were left to go astray and find their sustenance in the wild berries of the peepul, burrh, and goolur, and thus became an easy prey to the wild beasts who in numbers roved round the country in open day, living on carcases. About the middle of September or 'Kooar,' the rains fell, and so regularly that the grain which was thrown in the fields in the two previous years and did not generate for want of moisture, now came up profusely, and abundant was the produce. The state of things gradually changed for the better in October and November. An old Brahmin of Secundra Rao narrated that some years before 1810 the harvest was so plentiful that on the occasion he built a house which was on a very high plinth: he filled the plinth instead of with mud with an inferior course of small grain called 'kodun,' selling at that time uncommonly cheap, much lower than the cost of mud would be; when the famine came he dug up the coa.r.s.e grain, which was found good, and sold it, and with the money he made his house a pucka one, besides gaining a large sum in coin."

CHAPTER V.

A.D. 1786-88.

Gholam Kadir - Pillars of the State - Siege of Raghogarh - British policy - Measures of Sindhia - Rajput Confederacy - Battle of Lalsaut - Muhammad Beg's death - Defection of Ismail Beg - Greatness of Sindhia - Gholam Kadir enters Dehli - Is checked by Begam Sumroo and Najaf Kuli Khan - Gholam Kadir pardoned; joins Ismail Beg - Battle of Chaksana - Rajput Emba.s.sy - Emperor takes the field - Shahzada writes to George III. - Najaf Kuli rebels - Death of Shahzada - Emperor's return - Battle of Firozabad - Confederates at Dehli - Their difficulties - Sindhia inactive - Benoit de Boigne.

1786. - The eldest son of the deceased chief of the Bawani Mahal was that Gholam Kadir, whom we have seen already in the character of a captive and a page. It does not appear under what circ.u.mstances he had recovered his liberty; but, on the death of Zabita Khan, he at once succeeded to his estates, under the t.i.tle of "Najib-ud-daulah Hoshyar Jang." As in the lower empire of Byzantium, so in the present case, in proportion as the State crumbled, the t.i.tles of its unserviceable supporters became more sonorous, until at last there was not a pillar of the ruinous fabric, however weak and however disengaged from the rest of the body, but bore some inscription equally "imposing" in both senses of the word. Daulah or Daulat means "The State," and the Musalman n.o.bles were called Arkan-i-Daulat - "Columns of the Commonwealth." Of these one was its Sword, another its Asaph (the "Recorder" of David and Solomon), a third its Hero, and a fourth its s.h.i.+eld. The young "Najib" Gholam Kadir Khan, was now the most prominent representative of the Hindustani Afghans. Among the Moghuls the leading spirit was Mohamad Beg of Hamadan, for whom the Patel provided employment by sending him with an army into Malwa, where he was for some time occupied by the siege of Raghogarh. This was a very strong fort, held by a colony of Kachwaha Rajputs since the times of Najaf Khan, and commanding one of the main roads between Hindustan and the Mahratta country.

It had resisted the Mahrattas when they first invaded Malwa, and it was destined to resist Sindhia's successors almost down to our own times. It is now a peaceful market town, and the traces of its former strength are all that it retains of a military character.

Sindhia's progress in the Doab was more rapid, nor was it long before Musalman jealousy began to be aroused. The Patel opened negotiations with Mirza Jawan Bakht, having the object of inducing. that prince to return to the capital; but from this he was strongly dissuaded by the Viceroy Vazir, acting under the advice of Major Palmer, the British Resident at Lucknow. That gentleman considered the interests of the Company and of the Vazir as deeply bound up in the fate of the prince. Whilst he remained under their joint protection, the Mahratta usurpation must be incomplete; should he fall into the power of the Patel, a permanent Mahratta occupation would be established, which would be a serious danger indeed.

1787. - Under these circ.u.mstances the acting Governor-General Macpherson, who, as already noted, had succeeded Mr. Hastings when the latter left India, resolved on retaining a British Brigade in the Doab; and Lord Cornwallis, on taking office the following year, confirmed the measure. That a change began to come over the policy of the British in India about this time is well known, however the English might strive to hide it from others - or even from themselves: see, for instance, the following pa.s.sage from the Calcutta Gazette for March 8th, 1787:-

"Though the Mussulmans dwindle into insignificance, we have nothing to apprehend from the Hindus. Many have urged the necessity of upholding the influence of Moghuls to counterbalance the power of Hindus; but this should seem bad policy, as we would causelessly become obnoxious, and involve ourselves in the interests of a declining State, who are at the same time our secret enemy and rivals."

The new Governor, likewise, further alarmed Sindhia by sending a minister to reside at the Peshwa's Court at Punah, and the Patel anxiously set himself to work to consolidate his power in Hindustan, so as to be ready for the storm, from whatever quarter it might break. Impressed with the success which had attended his predecessor, Mirza Najaf, Sindhia's first care was to organize a body of regular troops - a measure repugnant to the old politics of the Mahrattas, but none the less approving itself to his judgment on that account.

The nucleus of this force was the corps raised and organized, in 1785, by Benoit de Boigne, an officer whose history, as it forms an excellent ill.u.s.tration of the condition of Hindustan in the latter part of the last century, will be given briefly in a note at the end of this chapter. The General in command of Sindhia's forces was a Mahratta, named Appa Khandi Rao, of whom we shall hereafter have occasion to make further mention.

In civil matters, the first step taken by the Patel was the sequestration of a number of the Jaigirs of the Musalman n.o.bles - a cause of discontent to the sufferers, and of alarm to the remainder; but even this step had a military character, for the Jaigirs were fiefs bestowed for military service, and their reduction formed part of the system under which he was endeavouring to organize a standing army. With this view he at the same time recalled Mohamad Beg from the siege of Raghogarh and attempted, vainly, to induce that Chief to disband his levies.

Amongst other unpopular measures must also be enumerated the removal of Raja Narayan Da.s.s, who had for some time been in charge of the Home Revenues, and who was replaced by Shah Nizam-ud-din, a creature of Sindhia's. At the same time the Gosain leader, Himmat Bahadur, went into open rebellion in Bundelkand, on being called upon to give an account of the management of his Jaigir, a measure which he construed as portending resumption.

Nor was it an easy matter, at this particular juncture, to set about military reforms, for the Rajputs, emboldened perhaps by the resistance of Raghogarh, now began to organize a combination, which not only implied a considerable loss of power and of revenue, but likewise threatened to cut off the Patel's communications with Punah. Raja Partab Singh (head of the Kachwahas, and Dhiraj of Jaipur), called for the aid of the head of the Rathor clan, Maharaja Bijai Singh of Jodhpur, who had married his daughter, and who adopted his cause with alacrity.

Joined by the Rana of Udaipur, and by other minor chiefs, the Rajput leaders found themselves at the head of a force of 100,000 horse and foot, and 400 pieces of artillery, and with this array they took post at Lalsot, a town forty-three miles east from Jaipur, and there awaited the attack of the Imperial forces, with the more confidence that they were aware of the growing disaffection of the Moghul n.o.bles.

Here they were encountered at the end of May, 1787, by an enormous force under Sindhia in person, with Ambaji Inglia, Appa Khandi, M. de Boigne, and other trusty lieutenants. The Moghul horse and the regular infantry in the Imperial service were under the general direction of Mohamad Beg and his nephew. The latter, a young man who will play a conspicuous part in the succeeding pages, was named Ismail Beg, and was the son of Nahim Beg, who had accompanied his brother Mohamad from Hamadan, the two attaching themselves to their Persian countryman, Mirza Najaf, during that minister's later prosperity. Ismail Beg had married his uncle's daughter, and was a person of great spirit, though not, as it would seem, of much judgment or principle.

The battle, as described by Native history, began by a reconnaisance of Ismail Beg at the head of 300 Moghul horse. A large body of Rajput horse made way before him, but the Mahrattas not following up, and nearly half his men being slain, he was forced to retreat to his uncle's division. This terminated the fighting for that day, but the next morning Ismail renewed the fight, leading on his artillery on foot, and followed by his uncle on an elephant with the rest of the corps. They were throughout the day engaged with the bulk of the Rajput army, but a heavy storm arose from the westward, as evening came on. The Mahrattas, having been in the meantime severely handled by a body of Rajput swordsmen mad with opium, the battle degenerated into a cannonade, at long ranges and at fitful intervals. Suddenly a chance round-shot dropped into the Moghul ranks, which, after overthrowing two hors.e.m.e.n, made a bound and struck Mohamad Beg on the right arm. He fell from his elephant, and, coming in contact with a small stack of branches of trees that had been piled at hand for the elephants' fodder, received a splinter in his temple which proved instantly mortal. Ismail, hearing of this event, exclaimed, "I am now the leader!" and immediately addressed the troops, and concluded the action for that day with a brisk cannonade. The next day (the 1st of June, and the third of this protracted engagement) both sides continued to fight till towards evening, when a body of some 14,000 infantry surrounded Sindhia's tents and clamorously demanded an issue of pay - very probably in arrear - and sent a message at the same time to the Jaipur Raja, offering to join him on receipt of two lakes of rupees. The Raja readily accepting these terms, the battalions joined his camp and received their money on the spot.