1785.-The latter, at all events, immediately stepped into the dead man's shoes, leaving the title 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 title of Plenipotentiary of the Empire, formerly borne (it may be remembered) by the first Nizám," he professed to administer as the Peshwa's deputy. He assumed 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 Patel 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

* Vide sup. p. 25. The Persian word is Vakil-i-Mutlak. Major Brown was the head of the Dehli Mission already mentioned.

from the Court of Sháh Álam, 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 Sháh Alam was to be informed that the justice of the English to his illustrous 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 GovernorGeneral, and upon circumstances which passed 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. Zábita Khán 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,

* Mr. Anderson was the British Resident in Sindhia's camp.

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, Afrásyáb Khán, 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 Khán had wrested from the Játs, 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 Afrásyáb 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 Jahán, 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

L

large, is a great cause of regret and disappointment to me. A few particulars will be found in the concluding chapter.

In 1783, when Afrásyáb Khán 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 shillings, 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 massacre and rapine that accompanied the chronic warfare of those times. The drain on the population,

Vide Preliminary Observations, p. 4.

+ Vide Calcutta Gazette, for Thursday, 13th May, 1784."The 12th.-Wheat is now selling at Battalah, 9 seers; at Lahore, 4 seers; and Jumoo, 3 seers per rupee."-Seton Karr's "Selections," I. 14.

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 principal authorities for this chapter have been Francklin's " Shah Alum" (v. inf. p. 194), the narrative of the Sháhzádah 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 assisted 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 Irádat Khán have also been consulted-a Dehli noble 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 circumstance 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, 'Assaur and Sawun, passing 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 assistance 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