48 PERSIA. 



vinces are called soubahs, and the governors or viceroys over them 

 soubahdars and navaubs, or nabobs. 



Present political divisions... .The invasion of the empire of 

 Hindoostan by the celebrated Persian usurper, Nadir Shah (which has 

 been mentioned in the history of Persia) so weakened the authority 

 of the emperor, that the viceroys of the different provinces either 

 threw off their allegiance, or acknowledged a very precarious depen- 

 dence ; and engaging in wars with each other, called in as allies the 

 East India companies of France and England, who had been originally 

 permitted, as traders, to form establishments on the coasts. These, 

 from the great superiority of European discipline, from allies, became 

 in a short time principals in an obstinate contest, that at length ter- 

 minated in the expulsion of the French from Hindoostan ; and thus a 

 company of British merchants have acquired, partly by cessions from 

 the country powers, and partly by conquest, territories equal in extent, 

 and superior in wealth and population, to most of the kingdoms of 

 Europe. 



The Mahrattas originally possessed several provinces of Hindoos- 

 tan, from whence they were driven by the arms of the Mogul conquer- 

 ors ; they were never wholly subjected, but, retiring to the northern 

 part of the Gauts, made frequent incursions from these inaccessible 

 mountains : taking advantage of the anarchy of the empire, they have 

 extended their frontiers, and are at present possessed of a tract of 

 country 1000 British miles long by 700 wide ; besides the territory 

 they acquired from that of Tippoo Sultan in 1792 and 1799. 



Hyder Ally, a soldier of fortune, who had learned the art of war 

 from the Europeans, having possessed himself of that part of the 

 ancient Carnatic called the kingdom of Mysore, within a few years 

 acquired, bycontinual conquests, a considerable portion of the southern 

 part of the peninsula. This able and active prince, the most formida- 

 ble enemy that the English ever experienced in Hindoostan, dying 

 in 1783, left to his son Tippoo dominions superior in extent to the 

 kingdom of England. Tippoo engaged in two wars with the Eng- 

 lish, in the former of which he lost a considerable part of his terri- 

 tories, and in the latter his life and the remainder of his dominions, 

 which were divided between the British, the Nizam, and the 

 Mahrattas. 



In consequence of these revolutions, the present Mogul, Shah 

 Aulum, the descendant of the great Tirnur, such is the instability of 

 human greatness, is merely a nominal prince, of no importance in 

 the politics of Hindoostan : he is permitted to reside at Delhi, which, 

 with a small adjacent territory, is all that remains to him of that vast 

 empire which his ancestors governed for more than 350 years. 



The sovereignty of this great country is, therefore, now divided be- 

 tween the British, some nabobs or governors tributary to and de- 

 pendent on them ; the nizam, or soubahdar of the Deccan : the Mah- 

 rattas ; sbme independent rajahs, or Hindoo princes ; and, in the 

 north, the Afghans and the Seiks. 



The British territory consists of the soubahs, or provinces of Bengal 

 and Bahar, the district of Benares, and part of the soubah of Orissa ; 

 the city and district of Cuttack and port of Balasore, lately ceded, 

 after a short campaign, by the Mahratta chief Bounsla ; the Dooab, or 

 country between the Ganges and Jumna, ceded at the same time by 

 Scindta; four of the five northern circars ; the Jaghire, or territory 



