INDIA. 



but as his policy was to rule there in the name'ot' the 

 bwt'ul emperor, he invited Shah Allum to return thither, 

 promising to seat him on the throne of his ancestors. 

 This invitation, however, was not accepted ; and Ab- 

 dallah, in order to secure to himself the attachment of 

 the people as far as he could, set up Shah Allum's son, 

 under the protection of N'tdjib Dowlah, exacting at the 

 sane time an annual tribute. It is highly probable 

 that he meant afterward* to have changed the dynasty, 

 and to have eaUbfohed himwif on the Mogul throne ; 

 but his presence was required hi Lxhore, where the 

 Seiks threatened to overpower his garrisons. Scarcely 

 had Abdallah left Deli.i. before the small portion of 

 territory which remained to the Mogul emperor, con- 

 satins; 'merely of the northern part of the province of 

 Delhi, was invaded both by the Gauu and the Mah- 

 raitas ; but Nidjib Dowlah, under whose guardianship 



Abdallah had left Shah Allum's son, either baffled them History. 

 or bought them off. ^"-V 



We nave been induced to carry the history of Hin- 

 dortan rather beyond the limits which we fixed to the 

 first division of this article, in order that we might era* 

 brace as many of the events of that history as possible, 

 which did not mainly or directly depend upon the 

 principle or auxiliary operations of the Europeans ; but 

 from the period to which we have brought it down, 

 the Europeans acted such an important part in Hintlos- 

 tan, that it will be proper to consider them, and espe- 

 cially the British, as the pivot on which its future his. 

 tory turns. This, therefore, leads us to the second di- 

 vision of this article, hi order that we may trace the 

 rise and progress of that power which, proceeding from 

 the western extremity of Europe, established such a 

 vast empire in Hindostan. 



PART II. 

 RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN ESTABLISHMENTS IN INDIA. 



At the European-; were induced to form their esta- 

 blishments in India, in order to be nearer the source, 

 and have a more ready and complete command of those 

 luxuries which, for many centuries before the forma- 

 tion of these establishments, had become in mch high 

 and general request in the western world, it may be 

 proper to introduce this pirt of our subject by a rapid 

 glance of the commerce of the ancient* with India, and 

 of the means and route by which these luxuriet were 

 intro-: ..pe before the discovery of the 



Cape of Good Hope. 



Of all the nation- of antiquity, the Prieniciant were 

 the most enterprising and extensive in their commerce. 

 Hiving obtained possesuon of Exiongeber, and other 

 parts at the head of the A rattan Gulf, they were en- 

 abled to keep up a regul ,rse with India and 



ty were obliged to 



convey their merchandise from the ports of Mumea to 

 Tyre ; but ba\ Korera, the present 



F.I Arisen, the i . ,rt t port of the Mediterranean to 

 the Arabu <y brought the produce and ma- 



nufactures of India to thii port, and thence conveyed 

 them by sea to Tyre. This was one of the roott an- 

 cient routes of communication between the western 

 parts of Asia and India. Another route, which seems 



.:.. . !-. i.,- . x!.-..i ; r ,,|.i t!,. , tA : dm *, *.,, v, .;.< 



Peru -ourfh Mesopotamia, the coast of Sy- 



ria and Palestine. Besides these two routes, two others 

 ued by the ancients, by the Caspian and 

 Black Seas. The fin* route, according to Strabo, was 

 as follow.: The productions of India having been 

 collected at PattaJa, the present T.tu. near the mouth 

 of the Indus, were carried up thit river as far as it was 

 navigable ; and thence they were conveyed by caravans 

 to the Oxui. Gihon, where they were again sent by 

 water, and descended tlu river as far as the point 

 where it most nearly approaches the Ochas, T. 

 Tb lhi latter river they were conveyed by caravans. 

 The Ochus brought them to the Caspian Sea, across 

 which they were embarked to the mouth of the Cyrus, 

 Kur : op this river they were carried to its nearest ap- 

 proach to the Phasw, Rioni, where caravans were again 

 employed to convey them Jo Serapana, Schoroban, a 

 town on this river. The communication between this 

 and the Black Sea, by the Phaais, was easy and 



short. In some instances, it appears that the merchan- 

 dise of India was carried down the Oxus till it arrived 

 at Lake Aral, into which that river falls ; and, being 

 transported across this lake, was sent in caravans to the 

 Caspian. The Wolga was next ascended, to the point 

 where it approaches nearest to the Tanais ar Don ; to 

 which latter, crossing by land, the merchandise was 

 carried down it to the tea of Asoph. The fourth route, 

 according to Strabo, was across the Caucasus from the 

 Caspian to the Black Sea. 



i were the routes by which the merchandise of 

 India arrived in Europe, prior to the time of Alexan- 

 der's invasion of that country ; but he determined, as 

 soon as he became master of Egypt, to found a city 

 which should not only eclipse Tyre, but carry on a 

 more direct and easy ,--e with India than had 



been formerly done. The Romans had not been very New route 

 long elabli*hed in Egypt, before, having acquired a fromKgypt 

 knowledge of the monsoons, they perceived that, by 

 taking advantage of them, a more direct communica- 

 tion with India might take place. Their merchants, 

 accordingly, ascended the Nile from Julianolis, about 

 two miles from Alexandria, to Copto.. Hence they 

 tram ported their good* in caravan* i > !'< renice. Here 

 they arrived in tlie middle of tumuier ; and imme- 

 diately embarking, reached the coast of Osellis, Gel- 

 la, on the east coast of Arabia Felix : thence they 

 coasted to Muiiris, Merjee, on the west of India. It 

 is probable that some of their nsvigntors even dou- 

 bled Tranobanr, Ceylon, and ascended the Ganges to 

 Palibrotha, at that time the most commercial city in 

 India. They retained from India with the north-east 

 monsoon, performing the shorter voyage within the 

 year. 



The great mass of the commerce between India and Commerce 

 Europe wa< carried on in the same route of the Red of ''" 

 Sea, till the seventh century, when the conquest of " 

 Egypt by the Saracens transferred it by the Black Sea % 

 to Constantinople. As soon, however, as the Mame- ^ 

 lukes became masters of Egypt, they permitted the century. 

 Venetians to follow the ancient route ; and when De 

 Gama displayed the Portuguese flag in the Indian seas, 

 Alexandria was the sole entrepot of Indian com- 

 merce. 



Having tbtu traced the various routes of comoiuni- 



