From this time Mr. Francis suffered a diminution in his influence, whilst there accrued to the Governor an accession of power; and although Mr. Wheeler, who had succeeded Colonel Monson, sided with Mr. Francis, and became his friend, yet the latter’s party benefited nothing by it, being overborne by the Governor’s high station, and overawed by his superior genius and superior knowledge. The fact is, that the Governor’s influence had already taken the upper hand; and soon after Colonel Mon­son’s death, the General’s party had lost much of its energy, insomuch that those English rulers and others, who had been appointed by his interest against the Governor’s mind, now lost their usual support; but after the demise of the General himself, their fate could not long remain in suspense. Mr. Bristow was recalled from Lucknow; Mr. Sage from Azim-abad; Mr. Fouk from Banares, as well as Mr. Goran from Moorshood-abad; and others were appointed in their stead, that is, Mr. Middleton and Mr. Law, and Mr. Gram; but Mr. Baber was sent to Moorshood-abad, to be the hinge and centre of all business there. As to Radja Goordass, son of the deceased Nand-comar, the Governor both to condole with him, and likewise to oblige the General, promoted him to the Divanship of Mubarec-ed-döwlah’s house; and after that, still out of regard to the General, he appointed him to the Divanship of the Khalissah of Bengal, although he was little capable of such an office. But he did not enjoy it long, and on the General’s demise, or even after Colonel Monson’s demise, he lost that appointment, and remained shut up in his house for a long time; when by Menny-begum’s interest, he was appointed a second time to the superintendence of Mobarec-ed-döwlah’s house; and he arrived at the city about the middle Mahmed-reza-qhan dis­graced and dismissed. of the second Djemady, of the year 1192. As to Mahmed-reza-qhan, he lost by the General’s demise, much of his strength. His influence grew daily feebler, and at last it was reduced to nothing. They add that the Governor struck with some particulars of his conduct, did not trust him altogether; so that he was dismissed from the office of General Fodjdar and principal Magistrate of Bengal; and he lost also his appointment of Deputy to Mubare-ed-döwalh. Sadr-el-hac-qhan was appointed to succeed him in those two offices, although the Governor him­self must have been sensible, that so much business was by all means above the old man’s capacity and strength. Nevertheless, as he had become one of the Governor’s acquaintances, so early as the latter’s first appearance in Bengal; and at his second coming he had proved himself an assiduous worshipper at the altar of his power, without ever relaxing in the revolutions that had followed; and as great men with much tenderness of heart, are apt to prefer a personal attachment to any public qualification; the Governor devised those two offices for him as a reward for his attachment, although they seemed to be so much above his desert The man was at once raised to the summit of honour and power. Radja Goordass, who had preceded him by some time, brought an order for Mahmed-reza-qhan’s dismission, and a letter to Mubarec-ed-döwlah, resquesting that until Sadr-el-hac-qhan’s Sadr-el-hac-qhan, an old decrepit man, appointed Fodjdary General. arrival, he should continue all the officers of the Fodjdary as they stood with Mahmed-reza-qhan, but under his own order. Such a revolution could not but please Menny-begum, who had been all this while putting up fervent prayers for such a return of happy days as these. She assumed a new life, but became desirous of keeping from the old man the office of Mubarec-ed-döwlah’s Deputy; and she even carried her views so far as to endeavour to wrest also the Fodjdary and the Divanship from his hands, if possible. Full of this scheme, she dispatched her household Divan to Calcutta, to lay her requests before the Gov­ernor, especially about wresting the Deputyship from the old man’s hands. The Governor, to humour her, promised wonders; and some days were spent in conference with the two parties; but at last the matter ended just as the Governor had determined at first, with some slight alterations, however, to oblige Mubarec-ed-döwlah and Menny-begum. At last, on the second of Djemady, Sadr-el-hac-qhan arrived at Moorshood-abad. As he was a man of much simplicity of manners, and had become decrepit with old age, it happened that in transacting business, and even in going to or coming from Court, and in presenting himself before Mubarec-ed-döwlah, he was unadvertently guilty of some actions that discovered the debility of his body, and not only detracted much from his weight, but also rendered his person ridiculous. He had appointed (for a sum of money, they say) one Aga-mahmed-aaly, a Persian born, to the Fodjdary of Azim-abad, the magistrature of which city, he gave at the same time to Aga-abdol-raheem. But as this Mahmed-aaly, who was a man of narrow principles, came soon to behave very ill, he soon lost his command, which lasted but little, and he acquired the aversion of all the inhabitants of that city, which he filled with discontents and heart-burnings. But it is time for us now to take our leave of these transactions of interior police all over Bengal, in order to turn our eyes upon those events in which that country has cut so great a figure in the Indian world, and especially in those southern parts of it known under the name of Decan.

The Marhatta Empire which has still its two seats or Capitals in those southern regions, had been for a length of time governed by Baladji-ráo, who on the demise of Saho-radja*, The author takes his leave of the interior parts of Bengal, in order to speak of the Decan, and especially of the Marhatta Empire. had assumed the administration, and become Sovereign of the Marhatta dominions, where he cut so great a figure, that we shall be obliged to make full mention of him in the sections relative to Decan, as much at least, as his affairs are come to our knowledge. On his demise, his son succeeded him of course. But the deceased had also a brother, and it was Ragonat-ráo; who thinking his pretensions much superior to those of the young Prince, his nephew, undertook to support them. This produced some civil dissensions, which ended by putting the uncle under some confinement; and he was thought well secured, when he found means to gain his guards, and by treason and artifice, to kill his nephew, after which he took possession of the administration, and sate in his stead. But as a great differ­ence of sentiments prevailed amongst the Grandees of that Empire, whilst several of them took party with Ragonat-ráo, the greatest number, however, sided with the relict of Baladji-ráo’s son, who was left pregnant. Her party raised the Princess to the supreme command, displayed the standard of contention, and having vanquished Ragonat-ráo in battle, they confined him again. Nevertheless, after some time, they concluded a treaty of friendship and union between the Princess and the uncle; but the latter dissatisfied with the terms imposed upon him, found an opportunity of escaping again; and he fled to the English of the factory of Bombay, where he entered into an agreement with them, and was received under their protection. Nor is this a novel event. It is in consequence of such and the like divisions that most of the strongholds, nay, almost the whole of Hindostan, have come into the possession of the Manner by which the English have found their way into most parts of India. English. For instance, two Princes contend for the same country, and one of them applies to the English, and informs them of the way and method of becoming masters of it. By his insinuations and by their assistance, he draws to himself some of the leading men of the country, who being his friends, are already fast attached to his person; and meanwhile the English having concluded to their own mind some treaty and agreement with him, they for some time abide by those terms, until they have acquired a good insight into the government and customs of the country, as well as a thorough acquaintance with the several parties in it; and then they discipline an army, and getting themselves supported by one party, they soon over­come the other, and little by little introduce themselves into the country, and make a conquest of it. And although their intro­ductor should prove too shrewd for them, and should give them the slip, still they never dispute with him; but being a set of men always wise and always in temper, they patiently wait until by his death some unworthy son comes to succeed him; at which time under his name and without opening any dispute with him, or creating any ill renown to themselves, they complete the conquest, and have the art to finish their business in such a sly manner, that no reproach can be made to them. By which means the downfall of the people of those parts, especially of the great and powerful ones, is soon obtained by the hands of one another; and all this is brought about so artfully, that the idiots set up by them, unaware of the above management, do of their own accord and motion work at the ruin of their equals; and meanwhile the English who seem quite passive, as if suffer­ing themselves to be lead, are in fact giving motion to the machine, and turning those sots into so many objects of endless Dark and severe hints against Mahmed-reza-
qhan. contempt and raillery, both in Hindostan and in Europe. Mean­while those fools fancying themselves shrewd in business, plume themselves and strut about, until the seeds of mischief planted by them, coming to shoot up, the day of retribution and vengeance comes with them, and they pay and smart in their turn for having squandered away the little money they had scraped together in working themselves into those honours and those stations they so little deserved. They seem to be the centre of a mighty bustle, but in fact do nothing more than ruin still more, a country already ruined; fall at last under the lash of out­standing ballances; and after paying into the treasury of the English as an equivalent, all the money they have before hoarded, they are now obliged to sit down with the odious character of having been the carriers and porters of exaction and tyranny. So that those glorious rulers, after ruining all the world, and burning their own feathers, now become sensible of their losses, turn repentants; but it is only at a time when repentance cannot mend their circumstances, and when they have become already so infamous and so odious, that this distich becomes quite applicable to their case:

“Have you seen what has done that jackass of a little man?* He has borne all the odium of the exaction, and another has run

away with all the profit.”