tion proved only delusive. Rughoba returned to Poona, where he was severely taken to task by Sudasheo Ráo Bhow, for a conquest which yielded nothing, and had already cost a million sterling. It was in vain that he pleaded the value of the Punjâb, and the necessity of its retention; and the dispute ended by Rughoba's resigning the command of the army of the north, which was assumed by Sudasheo Ráo, under the Péshwah's sanction. Abdally enters the Punjab and defeats the Mahrattas. On leaving Hindostan, Rughoba had divided his forces into two portions, one of which was at Lahore, the other at Dehly, under Duttajee Sindia. The latter was induced by Shaháb-ooddeen to undertake a campaign against Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah and the Rohillas; but, after some success, and the plunder of 1,300 Ahmed Shah villages, the force under Govind Punt was routed, and driven across the Ganges. Meanwhile Ahmed Shah Abdally was advancing, in September 1759, to recover the Punjab. On his arrival in the province, the Mahratta commander at Lahore was defeated with serious loss, and fell back upon Dehly. Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah, who had formed a junction with Ahmed Shah, assisted him with supplies, and under his guidance, Duttajee Sindia was surprised, and totally overthrown, with immense loss in men. Holkar, who at first obtained some advantages over the Afghans, was in turn pursued, defeated, and his army utterly routed; but the unfortunate emperor did not escape: before he could be rescued by Ahmed Shah and Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah, Shaháb-ood-deen, dreading the The Emperor effect of his restoration to power, caused him to be is murdered murdered, in November, and raised to the nominal by the vizier, throne a son of the Prince Kámbuksh, who, however, was never acknowledged. At this period, Ally Johur, the real prince imperial, was a fugitive in Bengal, and thus the Moghul empire was virtually extinct. The perfidious vizier, who dared not trust himself at Dehly, betook himself to the protection of the Rajah of the Játs; and there can be little doubt, had the Mahrattas defeated Ahmed Shah, that Duttajee Sindia would have proclaimed the Péshwah emperor of India. Alumgeer November 1759. News of these disasters reached the Péshwah after his victory over Salabut Jung and Nizam Ally, and produced much excitement. Sudasheo Ráo Bhow at once volunteered to lead the Mahrattas to conquest, and boasted that he would drive the Afghans across the Indus. The army which set out from the Deccan was the most complete and magnificent that had ever taken the field. In addition to 20,000 chosen cavalry, the corps of Ibrahim Khan Gardee, composed of disciplined infantry and artillery, was 10,000 The army Budasheo Ráo from the strong; and these forces were augmented by the various contingents of the Mahratta chieftain. Wiswas Ráo, the son and heir of the Péshwah, accompanied Sudasheo Ráo, who proceeded direct to Dehly, of which he took possession; and having plundered the royal palace of all its valuables, and stripped the hall of audience of its ceiling of silver, which, when coined, produced no less than seventeen lacs of rupees, plunders or 170,000l., took up a position for the monsoon. These acts of spoliation, with others of destruction, coupled with the peevish rejection of his advice, so disgusted Sooruj Mul, the able leader of the Játs, that he left Sudasheo Ráo, and re- Sooruj Mul tired into his own territory. His advice had been, that Jat recedes the Mahrattas should trust to their ancient method of Mahrattas. warfare, and cut off all supplies to Ahmed Shah; and that their heavy artillery should not be used in the contest. Sudasheo Ráo, however, had placed more than ordinary confidence in Ibrahim Khan's corps, and treated Sooruj Mul's advice, with similar counsel from many of his own most experienced officers, with scorn. As the monsoon declined, he raised Mirza Prince Mirza Juwán Bukht, the son of the prince imperial, Ally Juwan Bukht Johur, to the throne, and appointed Shujah-ood-Dow- emperor. lah, viceroy of Oudh, to the office of vizier. He then moved into the field, and about the same time Ahmed Shah crossed the Jumna above Dehly, and skirmishes between the armies commenced. created Relative fleld. Entrenched Paniput. The Mahrattas had 55,000 horse, 15,000 foot, and 300 pieces of cannon; the Mahomedans, 41,800 horse, 38,000 foot, and 70 pieces of cannon; the irregular troops on both forces in the sides were also very numerous, On October 25, Sudasheo Ráo moved with his whole army to Paniput, the great battle-field of India since the age of the Máhábhárut, and where its fate had frequently been decided; and position of threw a wide ditch and rampart round the camp, the town being in the centre of his position. Ahmed Shah also entrenched himself at a short distance; and thus the parties lay, watching each other for two months, scarcely a day passing without severe conflicts, with varied advantage. But provisions ran short in the Mahratta camp; and as no supplies arrived, the army, both officers and men, could endure the privation no longer. On January 6, 1761, they implored to be led against the enemy, and Sudasheo Ráo, having no other resource, Paniput. gave orders for battle. Next morning, before break of day, the Mahrattas were in motion, and formed their line regularly. Ahmed Shah, whose personal activity had been surprising, had just fallen asleep in his tent, but he was already dressed, and, Battle of G G Defeat of the mounting his horse, proceeded to reconnoitre. A glance showed him that an action must be fought, and his army took Mahrattas. up their several positions. The details of the great battle, given at length by Elphinstone, vol. ii. pp. 642-652, and Grant Duff, vol. ii. pp. 143–156, are more than usually interesting, but need not be repeated here; suffice it to say, that after an obstinate combat, and varying fortune, King Ahmed at length, watching his opportunity, directed charges of bodies of 10,000 cavalry to be made in succession at a gallop on the Mahratta centre. They proved successful, and the Mahrattas, fighting desperately, finally broke and fled, being pursued with a vast carnage. Of all that were taken in the camp, women and children became slaves, and next morning the males were cruelly butchered in cold blood. Wiswas Ráo and many other chiefs were slain, and a body, believed to be that of Sudasheo Ráo, was afterwards found. Thus, at the zenith of their power in Northern India, the Mahratta forces were destroyed so completely that any junction or re-formation of them became impossible. The Péshwah had moved up to the Nerbudda in support, in November; and when, in his anxiety for news, and fears that disaster must have occurred, he was crossing the river in January, he received advice of the national defeat, which had been written by a banker to his correspondent in the following terms:- Two pearls have been dissolved, twenty-seven gold mohurs have been lost, and of the silver and copper, the total cannot be cast up." The details soon followed, and the Péshwah never recovered the shock caused by them. His mind became affected, and he returned to Poona, where he lingered till June; and about the end of September, Mahdoo Ráo, his second son, then about seventeen years of age, was invested in his room. Conse quences. CHAPTER XIII. OF THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF INDIA, 1761. THE various revolutions which had already altered the territorial divisions of India will have been traceable from the narrative of its history; but a brief definition of them, as they existed at the battle of Paniput, may be found useful to the student, and may serve as an introduction to the further changes which were to ensue. 1 Grant Duff. the empire I. The great empire of Dehly had virtually ceased to exist; and with the murder of Alumgeer II., in 1760, the last of Final disthe emperors had passed away. His son, Ally Johur, ruption of a fugitive in Bengal at the period of his father's death, of Deuly. subsequently ascended the throne, under the proud title of Shah Allum, or king of the world, when, in fact, all that actually remained to him were a few small districts in the immediate neighbourhood of Dehly. All else had been alienated and usurped, either by the viceroys or foreign powers, and was totally irrecoverable. empire. Commencing from the north-west, the whole of the former Afghan territory of Dehly had been conquered, and was Details of now possessed, by Ahmed Shah Abdally. It included the former Kandahar and Kabool, some of the north-western portions of both having been gained by the Persians. Ahmed Shah had received from Dehly the cession of the whole of the Afghanistan Punjab; and to this had added Mooltan, which could and Punjab. not be defended. He was not so successful in Scinde, where the Tálpoor chiefs had asserted their independence, and were maintaining it; but his dominions were of great extent, and, as the result of the battle of Paniput proved, he was at once powerful and popular among his subjects. II. Omitting the few districts on the Upper Ganges and Jumna which remained to Dehly, the Rohillas, who were de- Rohillas. scended from the former Afghan troops and settlers at Dehly, had become very powerful, and were actually independent under their chief Nujeeb-ood-Dowlah; but to the period of the Emperor Alumgeer II.'s death, they had assisted him against his treacherous vizier, Shaháb-ood-deen, and were the active allies of Ahmed Shah Abdally in the campaign of Paniput. Their territory was called Rohilkhund, and occupied a position between Dehly and the lower range of the Himalayas, with the city of Bareilly as its capital. III. On the south-east of Rohilkhund lay the great province of Oudh, heretofore a viceroyalty of the empire, and still Oudh. preserving that designation; but now, to all intents, independent. Shujah-ood-Dowlah had succeeded his father Sufdur Jung, and for a time became the nominal vizier of the empire; but his interests lay completely apart from those of the nominal emperor, and his great power and wealth enabled him to preserve the independence he had assumed. IV. Bengal, Behar, and Orissa were united under the government of Meer Jaffier, who, upon the support of the Bengal, English, had become Nabob, or, more properly, Nawab. and Orissa, His position was an anomalous one, in contrast with that of other Bebar, nominal viceroys; for he was perfectly independent of Dehly, and, though he may have kept up communication with officers at the court, it is certain that he rendered it no assistance; and, as has been related, resisted the prince imperial when he attempted, in 1759, to assume the viceroyalty. These provinces were therefore, in all respects, completely alienated from the empire. States. V. The Rajpoot States had become perfectly isolated. It is The Rajpoot uncertain how long their annual tribute was paid; but it is questionable whether they had contributed anything to the imperial exchequer for some time previous to the invasion of Ahmed Shah, and it is certain that the emperor and his vizier had, for many years, been too weak to attempt to enforce payment. The principal states were Jeypoor, Joudhpoor, and Oodypoor, and there were others of minor extent and consequence, whose chiefs belonged to the Rajpoot confederation, but whose condition does not need particular specification. Over the whole of Rajpootana, the Mahrattas had imposed their demands of chouth; but they were irregularly paid, and their enforcement was by no means easy. The Rajpoots took part with the Mahrattas in the contest at Paniput, and their independence was absolute. VI. The Mahrattas had possessed themselves of the whole of Guzerat and Malwah, having gradually driven out the Mahrattas. imperial viceroys and garrisons. They also occupied Khandesh, and Berar, with Kuttack; and the recent cessions by the Nizam had given them the province of Beejapoor and most part of Aurungabad. The province of Malwah had been divided between Sindia and Holkar; the Gáikwar possessed Guzerat; the Péshwah's estate of Kalpy and Jhansy extended their territories to the Jumna on the north, while south-westwards they reached unbroken as far as the northern boundary of Mysore; and they possessed, in the extreme south, the principality of Tanjore, the remains of one of the most ancient Hindoo kingdoms. Such had been their growth in territorial acquisition during a hundred years, while their demands for the national chouth and sur-déshmookhee now extended all over India. VII. Between Agra and Jeypore, the Játs, a tribe of martial The Játs, and cultivators from the banks of the Indus, had established Central India. themselves about the close of the reign of Aurungzebe. They were now, under their famous chieftain, Sooruj Mul, exceedingly powerful, and his capital, Bhurtpoor, was undoubtedly the strongest fortress in Northern India. South-eastward from the Bhurtpoor State, lay the province of Bundelkund, divided into several minor principalities, the chief of which was Rewah; and on the borders of Malwah a small tract of country had become |