It was in this critical conjuncture that a mobleman from the Imperial Court announced his arrival in Bengal. It was M8rid-qhan, who came on purpose for enforcing payment of the revenue of that country, which of late had proved much arreared. The Viceroy who had objections both to his errand, and to his entrance into Bengal, requested his stopping at Azim-abad, where he was to wait until the Marhatta invasion could be brought to a conclu­sion. Meanwhile, he wrote to the Emperor (and this was Mahmed-shah), “That at present his faithful servant had it not in his power to forward, as usual, the Imperial revenue, being totally disabled by the Marhatta’s invasion; which also had obliged him to dismiss the Valiant M8rid-qhan, from M8r­sh8d-abad (a city now become the theatre of war), and to desire him to tranquillise himself at Azim-abad, until an end was put to the Marhatta ravages; but that with God’s blessing, he hoped that, under the fortunate auspices of His Majesty, he would give a good account of those freebooters, especially if at such a critical time as this, it should be his Imperial pleasure to send some nobleman of the presence, or any other General to assist his own efforts; as it was feared that should any accident happen to him in this warfare, the enemy would not fail to possess himself of the country, and to occasion thereby a heavy loss to the Imperial treasury and wardrobe, which both were chiefly supplied from the revenue and manufactures of Bengal. So that to assist his faithful servant, and to pay a proper atten­tion to the state of things, were considerations highly important, and highly deserving the care of the Imperial mind; being in their nature such as would prove highly conducive to the wel­fare of the whole Empire.” The petition having been perused by the Emperor, and the truth of what it contained, ascertained beyond dispute, Mahmed-shah became apprehensive of the con­sequences; and he not only held consultations with his Ministers, but he also asked Emir-qhan’s advice, although that nobleman was now far off at his Government of Ilah-abad. Such being the opinion entertained of his attachment and abilities, that the Emperor wrote him a letter with his own hand. Emir-qhan, in his answer, agreed with all the Ministers on the propriety and necessity of succouring Aaly-verdy-qhan, whose merits were unquestionable. The Emperor, therefore, wrote a letter in his own hand to Ab8l-mans8r-qhan, son-in-law and successor to Saadet-qhan in the province of A8d. That General commanded in a The Emperor sends Ab8l-mans8r-qhan
and Baladji-räo to snccour Bengal. country contiguous to those governed by the Viceroy of Bengal; and he was known to be master of a good army and a good artil­lery. The Emperor commanded his marching immediately to Aaly-verdy-qhan’s assistance; and he wrote also to Emir-qhan, to urge Ab8l-mans8r-qhan’s departure, and to afford him every assistance in his power. He also wrote to Baladji-räo, who was Commander-in-Chief of all the Marhatta forces, and he laid his commands upon him to this purport: “That as great sums accrued to his benefit from the payments made him by the Imperial treasury on account of the Chöut, and those payments were likely to suffer greatly from the ravages made in Bengal by the insolent freebooters, sent thither by Rago-dji-bhoslah, under the command of Bha-suker-pandet; it was proper he should repair thither to inflict such a chastisement on those plunderers as might deter them from ever renewing their insolencies again.”

Whilst the Emperor was writing to the Viceroy, and exort­ing the Marhatta General, Aaly-verdy-qhan was assembling a numerous army with a great train of artillery; and having invoked the assistance of the Omnipotent succourer, he quitted the city, accompanied by his two sons-in-law, by his kinsman, Abdol-aaly-qhan, and by a great number of persons of distinction, attached to his person. Nevazish-mahmed-qhan, his elder nephew, was left in the city with his brigade and a sufficient number of troops for the protection of that Capital, in which he was appointed Deputy Governor. So that the Viceroy quitted the suburbs on the decline of the rainy season, indeed, but whilst the ground was yet miry and intersected by an infinity of waters; such being his eagerness to fight Bha-sukur, and his settled resolu­tion to drive those ravagers out of Bengal. In a few days’ march he arrived at the wished for spot which was over against Catwa, from which he was parted only by the Bagrawty, the river that flows at M8rsh8d-abad. For eight days together, the two armies cannonaded each other across the river, Bha-sukur being encamped on the other side; but he had also troops on this side the river which fronted Aaly-verdy-qhan. The main of his army was on the other side with the Bagrawty on his flank, and the lesser river of Adji on his front; and so well was he served by Mir-habib, that he had also a sloop anchored on the middle of the river, the artillery of which played on the flank of the Bengal army, and proved a great bar to their crossing the river. So that Aaly-verdy-qhan ordered his troops to cross over in a dark night upon a bridge of boats; after which they were to cross the Adji also, upon another such a bridge, and then to fall immediately on the Marhatta camp. As the country extending from the Adji on both sides of the Bagrawty was free from Marhattas, the Vice­roy found means to form a bridge with large boats, and to carry his whole army over with a great deal of ease and in one night; after which the boats of the middle of the bridge being let down the stream, by one and two at a time, were ranged at the mouth of the Adji. It happened that the Marhattas were fast asleep, (and so was their fortune) and that no body did hail the boats, or if any did, the boatmen would give them an answer, and then would continue to slide down. By such a manœuvre a number of boats were assembled in the Adji, where they served to make a bridge over it, and it was completed a little before day-break at about half a cosse above the Marhatta camp; nor did the Mar­hattas get any intelligence of this double manœuvre, or even suspect anything of either, and therefore they made no kind of opposition. The second bridge then being finished, Aaly-verdy-qhan ordered his best Commanders with their brigades to pass on foot and in silence. These were Mutapha-qhan, and Shimshir-qhan, and Umer-qhan, and Rehem-qhan, and Djaafer-qhan. He was himself at the head of the bridge, and recommended to them to cross over briskly, and to fall at once upon the enemy, with­out giving them time to recover from their surprise, assuring them at the same time that, whilst they should be engaged, him­self with the main of the army would cross the river, and support them betimes, without giving the enemy time to form and to remedy the disorder. The scheme was well laid; and the bravest and most forward of the army, resolved to gain honour, were A bridge breaks and occasions a great loss of men to the Viceroy. already passing over the bridge, when by an unforeseen accident, one or two of the boats in the middle of the bridge gave way, and sunk. The night being dark and those on the bridge mak­ing haste to advance, whilst those behind were heedlessly push­ing forwards, vast numbers of men fell in the water, and were swallowed up in the eddies of an unexpected death. It is cred­ibly reported that fifteen hundred brave men lost their lives by that accident, and some say much more. It was after losing such a number of men, that the breach at the bridge became known, and people stopped short where they were, in expectation of seeing it repaired. But Aaly-verdy-qhan was so well served, that the breach was made up instantly by other boats; and the foremost and bravest passed on eagerly. The day was going to dawn, and hardly two or three thousand men had passed, when these having consulted together, concluded that if they gave time to the enemy to take a view of their numbers, the affair might take a bad turn; but that if they should fall to immediately, everything might be expected from the surprise. The valorous chiefs, after a short consultation, took to their sabres and bucklers; and mak­ing a short prayer, they pushed on at full speed, and in an instant broke through the enemy’s encampment. Cries arose immediately that Aaly-verdy-qhan was arrived, and that mighty army of Marhattas, without further inquiry and without further intel­ligence, mounted immediately and fled on all sides; whilst the braves that pursued them, with sabres as destructive and as sud­den as lightning, were slaughtering them by shoals, and strew­ing the ground with their dead. Aaly-verdy-qhan having crossed the river in his boats of pleasure, sent them back to ferry the people over; and in a little time elephants and cannon, and heavy artillery, and numbers of troops were already on this side, and eager to engage the enemies. Their General having ranged them in order, departed immediately, overtook his vanguard, and con­tinued the pursuit, making a great slaughter of the enemies. The Marhattas with all their boasts and all their power, having just taken up what any one could carry upon his horse, left the remainder where it was, and continued flying incessantly, without ever looking behind, or taking notice of the small number and disorder of their enemies. After having run over a deal of ground and distanced their pursuers, some of them took time to breathe, The Marhat­tas severely handled. and on looking behind, they observed the small number of their pursuers; upon which they turned about and skirmished in advancing about one mile; when having discovered that Aaly-verdy-qhan was in full march with his whole army and artillery, ready to chastise them, they made no stand, but turned about and continued their flight.