desultory combats were in progress, with much bloodshed, when a proclamation was suddenly made that the emperor had ceased to reign, and that the Prince Rufy-oodDerját had been called to the throne in his stead. The vizier had not quitted the palace. He had sent message after message to his brother to enter the city in force, and put an end to the increasing riot; but before any movement could be made, some Afghan soldiers in his service contrived to enter the private court of the palace from the terrace of an adjoining house, and the terrified women, under threats and tortures, disclosed the The emperor place where the emperor had concealed himself. His is confined. mother, and the ladies of his seraglio, endeavoured to defend him; but he was dragged away from them, and placed in strict confinement. Thus ended the revolution. The prince selected to be emperor, was the nephew of the late Bahadur Shah, and was twenty years old. Next day he ascended the throne in public, and on the petition of the Hindoo officers, issued an edict for the abolition of the poll-tax. Two months afterwards, the wretched Feroksiár, who had resorted to every possible contrivance to procure his escape, or liberty on any terms, was first blinded by order of the brother Syeds, and had then poison administered to him. While he lay in his last agony, he was visited by them, and as he bitterly reviled them for their treachery, they ordered him to be strangled, and stood by till he was dead. Guilty and treacherous as he had been during his life, his murder excited public horror; and as his body was carried to the grave, it was followed by thousands of the people, invoking curses on his destroyers. The poll-tax abolished. The young by his The selection of the new emperor was in one sense unfortunate. He was then ill, and died of consumption on June 16, emperor dies. 1720. His younger brother, Rufy-ood-Dowlah, was Is succeeded then placed on the throne; but his elevation was brother Rufy contested by the officers in charge of Agra, who deood-Dowlah. clared in favour of Nikosiár, the younger son of the late Prince Akbur. This rebellion was quickly suppressed; but the young emperor, who, like his brother, was consumptive, died soon afterwards. The choice of the Syed brothers now fell upon Roshun Akhter, a grandson of the Emperor Bahadur Shah, who had hitherto lived in retirement at Dehly. He had, however, been well educated, and his mother, a woman of great strength of character and ability, was much respected. Roshun Akhter was in his eighteenth year, and ascended the throne under the title of Mahomed Shah. The date of his accession was, however, fixed from the deposition of Feroksiár, or September 1719. The emperor deposed. Rufy-ood Derját suc ceeds Feroksár is blinded, poisoned, and then strangled, Who also dies. Roshun Akhter succeeds as Mahomed Shab. CHAPTER XXIX. OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR MAHOMED SHAH, The Syeds' of the AFTER his accession, the young emperor continued under the strict control of the brother Syeds, who carried on the government of the empire in his name. His mother position. enjoined upon him the most careful observance of their wishes, at least for the present; for it was evident that any attempt on his part to attain independence, would be attended with nothing short of destruction. One of the first acts of his reign was the dismissal of Ballajee Wishwanáth, and the Mahratta forces which had accompanied the viceroy, Hoosein Ally, to Dehly. Settlement It was by no means consonant with the policy of the Mahratta viceroy to behave to them with ill-faith. He had not claims. only been assisted very materially by them, but without the fulfilment of his engagements, he well knew that the Deccan would relapse into the disorder in which he had found it. The Mahratta forces were, therefore, fully paid. Shao's mother and family, who had been hitherto detained at Dehly, were given over to the care of Ballajee Wishwanath; and imperial patents for the collection of the chouth and sur-déshmookhee dues, in confirmation of the engagements between the viceroy and Shao, were duly executed and delivered during the year 1719-20. Nothing so formal or complete in character had ever before been obtained by the Mahrattas; and their hitherto desultory claims, enforced at the point of the sword, were now placed upon a national footing, acknowledged and confirmed by the imperial government. The student will find them detailed with great precision, from the original documents, in chapter 13, vol. i. of Grant Duff's History of the Mahrattas,' pp. 445–462. 6 So far, therefore, the Mahrattas were safe for the present; but elements of trouble were thickly strewn in the empire, which were not long in assuming decided forms. Several formidable insurrections broke out in different quarters; that in Kashmere, assuming the aspect of a religious war, was with difficulty suppressed. These, however, were minor occurrences in comparison with the proceedings Moolk of Nizam-ool-Moolk. He had been relieved from his government of Moorádabad, and sent for to the capital, where the Syeds had hoped to make him subservient to their Nizam-ool appointed governor of Malwah. BB Insurrections His vigour the Deccan. views; but, finding him impracticable, appointed him governor of Malwah. Under his vigorous administration, the local disorders were soon suppressed, and he began to turn his attention to the Deccan, then scantily garrisoned by imperial troops. in regard to Among these he had many friends; the people were favourable to him, and the position of the brother Syeds at Dehly rendered it improbable that they could dispatch any considerable force against him. They were not, however, without apprehension; and after remonstrances, which proved to be of no avail whatever, an army of observation was stationed by them on the northern frontier of Malwah. Nizam-oolMoolk attacked by The latter measure seems to have decided Nizam-ool-Moolk as to his course of action. He marched suddenly southwards from Seronje in the month of April 1721, and after passing the Nerbudda, the great fortress of Aseergurh was given up to him by its commander. Boorhanpoor followed; and Ghous Khan, the governor of Berar, joined him with all his troops and a train of artillery, as did also several Mahratta chiefs, who were at variance with Shao, with their forces. Dilawur Ally Khan, the general who was in command of the army to the north of the imperial Malwah, saw that no time was to be lost; and followare defeated. ing Nizam-ool-Moolk across the Nerbudda, found him in a position near Boorhanpoor, and attacked him furiously on June 20; but he was killed in the action, and the whole of his artillery, camp-equipage and treasure captured. This victory secured Nizam-ool-Moolk in his position, and the news of it gave secret satisfaction to the emperor and his party, while to the Syeds it was a subject of profound disquiet; and after much consultation, it was determined that Hoosein Ally should take the field against the conqueror. forces, which Nizam-ool Moolk advances into that province. Pope Innocent XIII. troops again Meanwhile the defeated troops of Dilawur Ally Khan had The imperial formed a junction with Alum Ally, the imperial comattack Nizam- mander-in-chief in the Deccan, who advanced into Berar ool-Moolk. at the head of a very powerful army. On the other hand, Nizam-ool-Moolk had been able to equip his artillery from the imperial magazines in Boorhanpoor and Aseergurh, and his forces were now little, if at all, inferior to those of the imperialists. The armies met near the town of Balapoor, in Berar, on August 8, 1721. Nizam-ool-Moolk had posted his artillery under cover of some brushwood, and Alum Ally, believing that the troops opposed to him were flying from the field, pressed ardently in pursuit, when the masked guns Alum Ally opened upon him with deadly effect in showers of grape. It was impossible to withdraw, and, fighting is killed. By whom they are again defeated. bravely to the last, he perished on the field with several of his best officers. This victory was as complete as that Effects of the over Dilawur Ally Khan; and Nizam-ool-Moolk was afterwards joined by several of the commanders who had been opposed to him. victory. Ally march Deccan. No troops in the imperial interest now remained in the Deccan by whom the progress of Nizam-ool-Moolk could be opposed; and, on the news of the defeat of Alum Ally reaching the The emperor capital, Hoosein Ally prepared to march to the Deccan and Hooseln and to take the emperor with him, leaving his brother, for the the vizier, in charge of the government. For some time past, a private understanding had existed between the emperor and Mahomed Ameen Khan, a noble of the court attached to his person, in opposition to the Syeds; but it does not seem to have taken any definitive form till the march to the Deccan was commenced. On August 24, the emperor joined the camp, and by September 14, it had reached a point about 100 miles to the south of Agra. Meanwhile the conspirators had decided on putting Hoosein Ally to death, and drew lots for against the purpose. The execution of the act fell upon a Kalmuk Tartar, named Meer Hyder, a savage fanatic, who, as the minister entered camp, approached his palankeen with a petition, and as he was reading it, stabbed him to the heart. The assassin was instantly cut to pieces; but the camp assassinated. was filled with tumult and bloodshed, and it is probable the emperor would have perished in his tent but for the presence of mind of some of the officers of his guards, who seated him on an elephant and rallied the guards around him. Mahomed Shah A great seems to have been by no means deficient in the tumult and courage of his race, for he took an active part in the follows. furious conflict which followed, exposing himself freely in the thickest of the fight. The attack on the emperor's camp had been made by the nephew of Hoosein Ally, who was killed; and upon the event becoming known, the rest of the troops submitted. Conspiracy who is conflict The news of Hoosein Ally's death, and the revolution in camp, reached the vizier on September 16, who at once pre- Rufy-oolKudr placed pared to resist ; and on the 19th Rufy-ool-Kudr, a grand- on the throne son of Bahadur Shah, was brought out of the palace by the vizier. and placed on the throne. The vizier also attempted to conciliate the troops by largesses and increased rates of pay, and to attach the old nobility to him by grants of offices and estates. On October 1, the new emperor and the vizier took the field; and their army moved in the direction of Mahomed Shah's camp, being much strengthened by the junction of many of Hoosein The rival Ally's veterans. After some changes of position on forces meet. The vizier taken prisoner. both sides, the armies met in battle on October 20. Partial contests ensued, with varying advantage, from that day till the 24th, when, in a charge on foot at the head of a body of Syeds of his own clan, the vizier was severely wounded, and wounded and with his younger brother taken prisoner and carried to the emperor, whose victory was now complete; and on November 2 he entered Dehly in triumph. Mahomed Ameen Khan had been created vizier, and his predecessor, though kindly treated, was for the present confined to his palace. The power of the family, so long dominant in the State, was, however, completely broken, and was never afterwards restored. The emperor received letters of congratulation from all the viceroys of the empire, ingratulations. cluding Nizam-ool-Moolk, and from all the inferior officers, as well as from the chiefs of the European factories, and for a time it appeared that the revolution had been the precursor of a long and peaceful reign; nor at this period of profound tranquillity did it seem as if any element of serious danger or apprehension existed. Victory of the Emperor Mahomed Shab. He receives public con On January 10, 1721, Mahomed Ameen Khan died; and Nizam ool-Moolk, whose resistance to the Syed brothers had laid the foundation of the successful revolution, was created vizier in his stead. He was not for the present, however, able to leave the Deccan in order to assume office; and it soon became evident that the appearances of peace in the Rebellion of empire were delusive. Ajeet Singh, rana of Jondhpoor, Ajeet Singh. had been a partisan of the Syeds, and watching his opportunity, possessed himself of Ajmere. No offensive movement against him was undertaken, and he was pacified or restrained by being allowed to retain it, and being made governor of Agra. Nizam-ool- becomes vizier. Nizam-ool at Dehly. Intrigues. This weakness in the executive power was temporarily redeemed by the arrival of Nizam-ool-Moolk at Dehly, Moolk arrives on January 18, 1722. He found the emperor given up to sensual pleasures, surrounded by favourites, whose only care was to gratify him; and, as might be supposed, little attention being paid to the affairs of State. Nizam-oolMoolk was of too proud a disposition to conciliate the emperor, and was probably meditating his final proceedings; for the emperor and his courtiers were already supporting a rival against him in Hyder Kooly Khan, the late governor of Guzerat. The vizier was too astute a statesman to hesitate between preserving a difficult and distasteful office at court, and taking up an entirely independent position. On October 9, 1722, having been appointed to the viceroyalty of Nizam-ool- |