26a 



cattle killed or driven away; peasants emigrated, or compelled to 

 join the plundering hosts like beasts of burden. This dreadful 

 system had been so frequently repeated, that when I took charge 

 of the Dhuboy purgunnas, no language can describe their deplo- 

 rable state; and a tew months afterwards, when surrounded by 

 the Mahratta army, I have from the ramparts beheld upwards 

 of twenty villages in flames at the same time. The first female in 

 Europe, when princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, pathe- 

 tically described a similar scene, in a letter to Frederick the Great, 

 kins of Prussia, written when that amiable princess was not six- 

 teen years of age. It ought to be transcribed in letters of gold, 

 and with a set of Callot's miseries of war, occupy a conspicuous 

 place in the cabinet of every sovereign and prime minister in the 

 civilized world ! 



" I am at a loss whether I shall congratulate or condole 

 with your majesty, on your late victory, since the same success that 

 has covered you with laurels, has overspread the country of Meck- 

 lenburgh with desolation. I know, Sire, that it seems unbecom- 

 ing my sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's 

 country, to lament the horrors of war, or wish for the return of 

 peace. I know you may think it more properly my province to 

 study the arts of pleasing, or to turn my thoughts to subjects of a 

 more domestic nature: but, however unbecoming it may be in 

 me, I cannot resist the desire of interceding for this unhappy 

 people. It was but a very few years ago that this territory wore 

 the most pleasing appearance; the country was cultivated, the 

 peasant looked cheerful, and the towns abounded with riches and 

 festivity. What an alteration at present from such a charming 



