Aaly-verdy-qhan being now arrived in his capital, received a respectful letter from Mirza-saleh where it was set forth that his master was now all submission to his commands; having taken a sincere resolution to approve himself henceforwards his obedient servant. Some time having been spent in questions and answers, in a few days the treaty of peace was concluded; and it was on the following terms:—

“That Mir-habib, deemed henceforward to be in the service of the Majestuous in battles, should be invested by him with the honourable office of Deputy to His Highness in the Nizamet or Military Government of the Province of Oressa. That as Deputy-Governor, he should receive orders to appropriate the revenues of that province to the payment of the arrears due to Rhago-dji-bhoslah’s troops. That over and above that assign­ment, the sum of twelve lacs of rupees should be paid to Rhago-dji’s agents yearly, under condition that the Marhattas would never set their foot again within the dominions of His Highness. Lastly, that the M8tusuddies and the Accomptant-office of Bengal would pay yearly the above sum.”

“That the river Sonamakia, which runs by Ballisser-bender, should henceforward be reputed to be the wall and boundary betwixt the two dominions, and that the Marhatta armies would never offer to cross it, or to put a foot in its waters.”

These conditions having been notified to Mir-habib, were accepted by that General, who sent a paper under his hand and seal, in the form of an obligation, to Aaly-verdy-Qhan; and the negotiation being now concluded, the envoy, Mirza-saleh, was honoured with the appellation of Musaleh-eddin-mahmed-qhan,* decorated with many favours, and dismissed with the patent of the treaty, and with an elehphant, a Qhylaat of investiture, and several other presents for his master.

This treaty of peace restored tranquillity and security to all the campaigns in Bengal; and as no apprehension remained of any invader, or of any commotion from abroad, Aaly-verdy-qhan made a great reduction in his army; and then turned his views entirely towards rebuilding villages, tilling abandoned lands, cherishing the husbandmen, and recalling to their homes the inhabitants of an infinity of towns, plundered and ruined by the Marhattas. He made the ease of the people as well as of the nobility the foremost care of his mind; and as henceforward the town and province of Midnip8r were to belong to Bengal, he appointed to the Fodjdary of the castle and province Radja Ram-sing, who had been hitherto the Commander of the body of spies in his service, an office in which Ram-sing was succeeded by his brother, Naráin-sing.

It was about this time that Rabiah-begum,* daughter to Hadji-ahmed, and consort to Ata-ollah-qhan, made her appear­ance in Bengal. This Princess on her husband’s being banished from Aaly-verdy-qhan’s dominions, had thought proper to fol­low her lord’s fortunes as far as Lucknow; but the latter having been slain in a battle in which he fought for Nevol-ráy against Amed-qhan-bangash, the Princess availed herself so well of her being a niece to Aaly-verdy-qhan, and she placed so appositely several rich presents, which she distributed to the Grandees of Lucknow, and to the Zemindars of those parts, that she found means to retreat from that dangerous country, and to repair to Azim-abad with all her fortune, riches, furniture, children, family and dependants, great and small. From Azim-abad she went down to M8rsh8d-abad, where she took up her abode under the shade of Aaly-verdy-qhan, her glorious uncle’s protection. It was about this time also that Bir8-dutt, Superintendent of the finances of Bengal, coming to die of an hydropsy, his deputy, Omid-ráy, without being appointed Divan himself, was ordered to attend to the duties of that high office, until Radja Kyret-chund, son to the Ráy-ráyan Aalum-chund, who had been at the head of the Qhalissah-office in Shudjah-qhan’s government, should himself arrive, and take possession of that charge. This Radja Kyret-chund, having some knowledge of grammar and syntax, wrote the Persian more correctly and more elegantly than usually falls to the lot of Gentoos; and he had for sometime been Divan or Prime Minister to Zin-eddin-ahmed-qhan at Azim-abad, as we have already mentioned in the foregoing pages. After his mas­ter’s death, he attached himself to Ata-ollah-qhan, whom he served as his Divan, and from whom he parted at Banaress, where he remained. From thence he was invited over by several civil letters which Aaly-verdy-qhan wrote him, as an acknowledg­ment for his having conveyed to him certain important informa­tion relative to the finances. Being arrived, he was received with distinction, honoured with a rich Qhylaat in investiture of the Divanship of all Bengal, and at once put in possession of that office, where he thought proper to continue Omid-ráy, as his deputy. Kyret-chund being son to a Minister who had long been at the head of all the accounts of Bengal, and was there­fore furnished with many important papers, soon found means to prove undeniable balances against several Zemindars, and some other persons of high rank, but chiefly against Djagat-seat and the Radja of Bardevan. These were all confessed; and the whole, amounting to one coror and some lacs, was paid into Aaly-verdy-qhan’s treasury, to the discoverer’s great credit, and to his master’s great satisfaction, who henceforward reposed an unbounded confidence in him. The new Minister shone in the An immense balance long forgotten, recovered from treasury by a Gentoo Min­ister. full zenith of power and influence for two full years, after which falling sick of an hemorrhoidal distemper, he quitted this life of strife and contention, and departed to the other world. On his death-bed he recommended Omid-ráy for his successor; and as this man bore a good character, and had already acted as deputy for a length of years, he was honoured with a Qhylaat, decorated with the title of Ráy-ráyan, and appointed head of the Qhalissa or Accomptant-General’s office.

To these two deaths, we must join that of Mir-habib’s, who being now invested with the supreme command in Oressa, came to have it in his option whether he should dismiss or keep that multitude of Afghans which were in the Marhatta service; for such of the national troops as were left in Oressa, were under the immediate command of an officer, related to Rhago-dji, but who was under Mir-habib’s orders, and could do nothing without directions from him. That General, who had the whole management of the money arising from the revenues of that province, and the disposal of the twelve lacs received from Bengal, used to set apart some of those monies for discharging the arrears due to his Afghans, and transmitted the other part to the treasury of Náigp8r; so that for a year and some months he passed his days agreeably at Catec. But at the end of that time, Djano-dji, elder son of Rhagodji-bhoslah, having been sent to Catec, invested with the office of Deputy to his father, and of Commander-in-Chief of all the Marhatta forces kept on foot for the defence of the province, fortune turned her back upon Mir-habib. As there were numbers of persons jealous of his great power, and the M8tusseddies or men of office, especially could not bear that General’s strictness of command and his imperi­ousness of temper, they incensed the young Djanodji’s mind against him. The young Prince, who presumed much upon his own opinions, and did not always pay an implicit obedience even to his father’s commands, ordered Mir-habib to render his accounts. He sent for that General, made him over to the Accomptant’s office; and that old soldier who had commanded during his whole life, was now obliged to pass the whole day in hearing questions and giving answers. Unfortunately for him, his troops were at some distance from the Marhatta camp, where he actually was; and, what proved still more unlucky, most of the people that had come in his retinue, being tired with the length of the sitting, had gone about their private business; so that in the evening there remained but few of his people to attend his person. Djano-dji seeing this, retired under pretence of performing his devotions, and left the Banglaw* empty, where the Marhatta soldiers and officers immediately crowded, and sent the General word, that unless he gave an account of the monies which he had received, and unless he left a bond under his hand for the balances which he had appropriated to himself, he would not have leave to depart. The General who trusted to his long and meritorious services, and to his high influence with Rhago-dji, made cheap of Djano-dji’s order; and he wanted to get away with the few people about him, sensible that as soon as he should have escaped to his own camp, no one would think of getting him from thence; but although he brought a variety of excuses, he could not extricate himself out of the claws of his destiny. It was now midnight; and the General convinced that words and reasons would be of no avail, put on his clothes; and with his sabre in his hand (this being now the only weapon left in his power), he exhorted the forty or fifty men that were with him, to fight manfully, and to cut their way through the enemy; for he had concluded that without an express order from the young Prince’s father, matters would have not been carried so far with him. The Marhatta troopers, encamped round his Banglaw, formed an opposition to his retreat. A dispute ensued; and both parties proceeding to blows, Mir-habib, who was on foot and unarmed, and had but a handful of men, was slain as he was pushing forward with ardour; and every one of his followers was either killed or disabled. A few that remained alive, although grievously wounded, were made prisoners. Such a fatal event having soon come to Rhago-dji’s knowledge, could not fail highly to incense that Prince against his son; but it was too late, and the unfortunate Mir-habib, after so many years of toil and expectation, was snatched from the world, at the very time he was preparing to eat some of the fruits of that tree which he had planted with so many pains and dangers. Doubt­less so untimely a fate had been ordered by Providence in com­pensation for the many families he had ruined in his wars, and the many houses he had destroyed in his incursions, in one word, for the many violences he had been exercising all over Bengal by himself or by others these ten years past. He fell, without having yet tasted of the fruit of enjoyment, and irrevocably lost in an instant the hopes of a whole life of toil and fatigue. After his death, Mirza-saleh, the late negotiator of the peace, received the investiture of the Government of Oressa both from Aaly-verdy-qhan and from Rhago-dji. He received a double Qhylaat, and passed his time quietly enough, but far, however, from shewing that firmness of command, and that authority of person, so conspicuous in Mir-habib. Nevertheless he made a shift to go on with a difficult administration, where he was obliged alternately to employ threats and dissimulation and forbearance; but in either case, however, he reckoned himself totally dependent of the Government of Náigp8r, without the least deference to that of Bengal.