was a serious blow to the reduced Empire of Dehli, which was just then beginning to enjoy a gleam of sunshine such as had not visited it since the day when Mir Mannu and the eldest son of Mohammad Sháh defeated the Abdáli, in 1748. Had the career of Shujäá-ud-daulah been prolonged a few years, it is possible that his ambitious energy, supported by British skill and valour, and kept within bounds by Mirza Najaf Khán's loyal and upright character, would have effectually strengthened the Empire against the Mahrattas, and altered the whole subsequent course of Indian history.

But Shujäá's son and successor was a weak voluptuary, who never left his own provinces; and although the Mirza, his deputy in the Vazirship and real locum tenens, received for his lifetime the reward of his merits, yet he was unable of himself to give a permanent consolidation to the tottering fabric.

It has been seen that he was meditating a campaign against the Játs, whom Zábita's recent fall had again thrown into discontent, when summoned to Rohilkand, in 1774. In fact, he had already wrested from them the fort of Agra, and occupied it with a garrison of his own, under a Moghul officer, Mohammad Beg, of Hamadan. Not daunted by this reverse, Ranjit Singh, the then ruler of that bold tribe the Játs, advanced upon the capital, and occupied Sikandrábád with 10,000 horse. The forces left in Dehli consisted of but 5,000 horse and two battalions of sepoys; but they sufficed to expel the intruder. He shortly afterwards, however, returned, reinforced by the regulars and guns under Sumroo; but by this time the Mirza was returned from Rohilkand, and after the rains of 1774, marched against them, aided by a chief from

I

Hariána, named after himself Najaf Kuli Khán, who brought into the field some 10,000 troops. This man, who was a good soldier and a faithful follower of the minister, was a converted Hindu, of the Rathur tribe; a native of the Bikanir country bordering on Rajputána Proper to the south, and to the north on Hariána and other states immediately surrounding the metropolis. Having been in service at Allahabad, under the father of Mohammad Kuli, the connection and early patron of the Mirza, he became a Mohammadan under the sponsorship of the latter, and ever after continued a member of his household. At the time of which I write, he had been appointed to the charge of districts returning twenty lakhs a year, with the title of Saifud-daulah.

The departure of the Mirza for this campaign was extremely agreeable to the Diwán, Majad-ud-daulah, for he never lost an opportunity of prejudicing the Emperor's mind against this powerful rival, in whose recent appointment to the office of Naib Vazir, moreover, he had found a special disappointment. Indeed, Shah Alam, between these two ministers, was like the hero of medieval legend between his good and evil angels; only differing in this, that in his case the good influence was also, to a great extent, the most powerful. What the wily Kashmirian might have done in the way of supplanting the Mirza, if the latter had been signally worsted, and he himself had been otherwise fortunate, cannot now be certainly conjectured, for a fresh revolt of Zábita's summoned the Diwán to the northward, whilst his rival was successfully engaged with the Játs. In this expedition Majad-ud-daulah displayed a great want of spirit and of skill, so that Zábita became once more extremely

formidable. Fortunately at this crisis Dehli was visited by an envoy, soliciting investiture for the new Viceroy of Audh, Asaf-ud-daulah. Accompanying the embassy was a force of 5,000 good troops, with a train of artillery, the whole under command of the deceased Shujäá’s favourite general, Latáfat Khán. This timely reinforcement saved the metropolis, and allowed of a settlement being made with the incorrigible Zábita, which preserved, to some extent at least, the dignity of the Government (vide next chapter).

Meanwhile the Imperialists had found the Játs, under their chieftain, intrenched near Hodal, a town sixty miles from Dehli, on the Mathra road. Dislodged from this, they fell back a few miles, and again took up a position in a fortified village called Kotban, where the Mirza endeavoured to blockade them. After amusing him with skirmishes for about a fortnight, they again fell back on Dig, a stronghold, to become the scene of still more important events a few years later. Dig-the name is perhaps a corruption of some such word as Dirájgarh-is a strong fort, with a beautiful palace and pleasure-grounds adjoining, on the shores of an artificial lake, fed by the drainage of part of the Alwar Highlands.t Observing that the sallies of the Játs had ceased, the Mirza left their camp at Dig in his rear, and marched to Barsána, where a pitched battle was fought.

1775.-The van of the Imperialists was commanded by Najaf Kuli. In the centre of the main line was the Mirza himself, with battalions of sepoys and

*Francklin's "Sháh Alum," pp. 68, 69.

+ Here, on the 13th November, 1804, the army of Holkar was defeated by General Fraser; and the Játs having fired on the victors, the fort was stormed in the following month.

artillery, under officers trained by the English in Bengal, on the two wings. In the rear was the Moghul cavalry. The enemy's regular infantry— 5,000 strong, and led by Sumroo-advanced to the attack, covered by clouds of Ját skirmishers, and supported by a heavy cannonade, to which the Mirza's artillery briskly replied, but from which he lost several of his best officers and himself received a wound. A momentary confusion ensued; but the Mirza, fervently invoking the God of Islam, presently charged the Játs at the head of the Moghul horse, who were, it will be remembered, his personal followers. Najaf Kuli, accompanied by the regular infantry, following at the double, the Játs were broken; and the resistance of Sumroo's battalions only sufficed to cover the rout of the rest of the army, and preserve some appearance of order as he too retreated, though in somewhat better order, towards Dig. An immense quantity of plunder fell into the hands of the victors, who soon reduced the open country, and closely invested the beaten army. Such, however, was the store of grain in the Fort of Dig, that the strictest blockade proved fruitless for a twelvemonth; nor was the Fort finally reduced till the end of March, 1776, when the garrison found means— not improbably by connivance-to escape to the neighbouring castle of Kumbhair with portable property on elephants. The rest of the Thakur's wealth was seized by the victors-his silver plate, his stately equipages and paraphernalia, and his military chest, containing six lakhs of rupees-which may perhaps be regarded as not very inferior, in relative value, to a quarter of a million sterling of our modern money.

In the midst of these successes, and whilst he was occupied in settling the conquered country, the Mirza

received intelligence from Court that Zábita Khán, emboldened by his easy triumph over the Diwán, Majad-ud-daulah (Abdul Ahid Khán), had taken into his pay a large body of Sikhs, with whom he was about to march upon the metropolis.

The enterprising minister returned at once to Dehli, where he was received with high outward honour. He was, on this occasion, attended by the condottiere Sumroo, who, in his usual fashion, had trausferred his battalions to the strongest side soon after the battle of Barsana. Sumroo's original patron, Mir Kásim,* died about the same time, in the neighbourhood of Dehli, where he had settled, after years of skulking and misery, in the vain hope of obtaining employment in the Imperial service. The date of his death is given by Broome (Hist. of Beng. Army, p. 467) as 6th June, 1777 it is added that his last shawl was sold to pay for a winding-sheet, and that his family were plundered of the last wreck of their possessions. But the detail of this year's events and their consequences requires a fresh chapter.

* The Nawab of Bengal (it will be remembered) who caused, with Sumroo's aid, the Patna massacre of 1763. Vide sup. Chap. i.

NOTE.-The following is the text of the supplemental treaty of 1772, as given by Captain Hamilton. (The former portion having provided in general terms for an alliance, offensive and defensive.) The Vuzeer of the Empire shall establish the Rohillas, obliging the Mahrattas to retire, either by peace or war. If at any time they shall enter the country, their expulsion is the business of the Vuzeer. The Rohilla Sirdars, in consequence of the above, to agree to pay to the Vuzeer forty lakhs of rupees, in manner following-viz., ten lakhs, in specie, and the remaining thirty lakhs in three years from the beginning of the year 1180 Fussulee." Only redundant or unimportant