73 
HI NDOOS T A N. 
The lamentable condition to which the unfortunate 
emperor Shah Aulum was reduced, the indignities he had 
fuffered, and the plunder and devaftation of his palace, 
appear to have made a deep impreiTion on the mind of 
Scindia; to whofe inactivity, ojj want of information of 
the movements of the enemy, thefe misfortunes were in a 
great meafure to be attributed. The Mahratta chief, 
therefore, refolved to make immediate and ample repri- 
ials for the injuries fullained. He marched full of indig¬ 
nant rage and refentment into the Rohilla country; no¬ 
thing could' Hand agairift the torrent of his impetuous 
arms: thoufands after thoufands fell before the unabated 
valour of his troops, urged forward by the fpirit of re¬ 
venge, and the hope of plunder. In a very ffiort period 
he reduced the whole of Rohiicund, transferring its re¬ 
venues to the treafury of Delhi. He next levied contri¬ 
butions upon the rajahs of Jeypour, Oudipour, and Jodi- 
difcipline. In all thefe meafures the rnoft flattering fuc- 
cefs attended him; no lefs than twenty thoufand French 
fepoys, well armed and difciplined, had formed canton¬ 
ments on chofen ground in the vicinity of Coel, and were 
commanded by officers felefted by Bonaparte himfelf. 
Scindia, and a French council, had poffiefTed themfelves 
of the palace of Delhi, as well as of the perfon and fa¬ 
mily of the Mpgul emperor; and feveral vaft armies of 
the Mahrattas and their allies were in motion, to carry 
into effeft the plans of devaftation, which this council 
had in its fanguinary policy laid down for the fubjuga- 
tion of the whole country ; when, fortunately, thefe deep- 
laid fchemes were penetrated and circumvented, by the 
indefatigable activity and wifdom of the then governor- 
general of Bengal, the earTof Mornington, now marquis 
of Wellefley. He moll judicioufiy directed the military 
operations of lord Lake and fir Arthur Wellefley againft 
pour, who had taken part with the Rohillas; obliging this hydra-headed combination ; and, by the gallant at- 
them to cede half of their territories to Shah Aulum, and 
pay him an annual tribute for the moieties they retained. 
In. the conduCt and profecution of thefe meafures, Ma- 
.hadjee Scindia appears to have been governed by the prin¬ 
ciples of juftice, and the feelings of a generous mind. 
But iuch feems to be the nature of the conltitution and 
character of the eaftern worid, that avarice and ambition 
will foon or late predominate, and direCt the views of 
every powerful individual; while the lower orders, prof- 
trate and humble, appear to think themfelves born to lick 
the feet of their arbitrary governors. So Scindia, after he 
had fuccefsfully annihilated the\power and authority of 
the late oppreft'ors of Shah Aulum, finding himfelf with¬ 
out an enemy to fear, or an army to contend with, be¬ 
came himfelf the oppreffor of the opprefted, in the reftraint 
he exercifed over the fallen reprelentative of Tamerlane 
the Great. All the revenues attached to this royal houfe, 
formerly fo incalculable in their amount, and fo un¬ 
bounded in their extent, were now reduced almoft to no¬ 
thing. The various diftant provinces of the realm had 
been feized by the rich and overgrown fervants of the 
crown to their own ufe, or re-conquered by the defcen- 
dants of the original rajahs of thofe diftriCts ; while the 
traCf of country round Delhi, with the recent conquefts, 
and the fmall revenues arifing to Shah Aulum, together 
with the internal regulation of the city, and the manage¬ 
ment of the ftate, fell entirely under the arbitrary con- 
troul of Scindia; and thus the nominal emperor, blind 
both of body and mind, became a mere penfioner and de¬ 
pendent on the bounty and will of this Mahratta chief. 
Mahadjee Scindia dying in 1794, his influence and au¬ 
thority were transferred to his nephew' Dowlat Rao Scin¬ 
dia ; who, fucceeding him as chief over this powerful 
tribe of Mahrattas, acquired the fame arbitrary controul 
over the perfon and palace of the reigning emperor. His 
views, after the death of his uncle, foon became more 
widely extended : and he even pictured to his heated ima¬ 
gination the fanciful idea of one day alcending himfelf 
the imperial throne of Delhi, by firft feizing upon all the 
territories in amity with Shah Aulum, and then conquer¬ 
ing the inferior provinces which might be inimical to his 
aggrandizement. To this end he foon found means to 
form a powerful connection with the French. By com¬ 
municating to them an earneft with to circumfcribe the 
growing power of the Englifh, he in a ftiort time found 
himfelf furrounded with French volunteers, devoted to 
his interefts, and fubmiffive to his commands. Under 
their direction he eftablilhed founderies for modern can¬ 
non in the neighbourhood of Delhi, to take place of the 
old unweiidy artillery of the Hindoos; and he invefted 
thefe new allies with full authority to form numerous 
battalions- of foldiers and fepoys, and train them for war 
upon the moft rigid principles of European taffies. He 
now made treaties of co-operation with Holkar, and 
other Mahratta chiefs, which formed the principal ftrength 
of the native troops of Hindooftan ; and recommended 
Frenchmen to new-organize their armies, and direft their 
tacks and brilliant victories of thofe two brave generals, 
thefe vaft armies were in one campaign annihilated ; and 
the furviving French, almoft to a man, made prifoners of 
W'ar. Lord Lake then, with a retinue of his officers, waited 
upon the aged Shah Aulum, and once more reftored him 
unlhackled to his throne in Delhi. The brave general 
proffered the belt fervices of his victorious army to defend 
in future his rights, and the alliance of iiis mailer, the fo- 
vereign monarch of Great Britain, to fecure him from 
the infldious deiigns and artifices of the French. The 
Mogul emperor, overcome with fentiments of genuine 
gratitude for this providential deliverance, gladly threw 
himfelf .on the protection of the Englifh; and, were it 
poffible for a man deprived of both his eyes to cry, the 
fympathetic tears of heart-felt joy mult have ftolen down 
his aged Cheeks. This great event was accompliftied in 
September 1803, when Shah Aulum had nearly reached 
his eightieth year; and after he had languiftied for fif¬ 
teen years under the oppreflion of the Scindia Mahrattas. 
He afeended the throne of Delhi in 1761 ; but his reign, 
though comparatively long, had been compofed of one un¬ 
broken chain of unparalleled misfortunes. He furvived 
this happy turn of fortune more than three years : his 
death happened on the 8th of December, 1806 ; and he 
was fucceeded by his fon Akbar Shah, the prefent feeble 
reprelentative of the fallen houfe of Timour. 
ESTABLISHMENTS of the PORTUGUESE, DUTCH, 
FRENCH, and ENGLISH, in HINDOOSTAN. 
In whatfoever country gold and diamonds, fine linen 
and gaudy filks, fweet-fmelling perfumes, jewels and 
gems, to decorate the fair, or exalt the pride of man, are 
to be found, there will the adventurous merchant bend 
his courie, and brave the moft alarming dangers, to found 
a traffic in thole highly-prized articles. The choice!! re¬ 
gion of the earth for the production of thefe treafures, is, 
as w'e have already feen, that part of the Afiatic con¬ 
tinent called India, or Hindooftan ; but, inftead of that 
luxuriant country being fublimely bleffed, or even bene¬ 
fited, by this overflowing bounty of Nature, all its mif- 
fortunes, and moft bitter calamities, have refulted from 
the fplendour of its riches, by holding out a conftant lure 
to bloodlhed and daughter, affaffmation and murder:— 
juft like the iplendid glow-worm, which, from its luftre 
alone, becomes the prey of the watchful nightingale. And 
whether it be Mogul or Turk, Afiatic or European, Mo¬ 
hammedan or Chriftian, with the felf-fame incitement be¬ 
fore him, the felf-fame dilpofition to fpoliation and plun¬ 
der, to chicanery and robbery, is found to exift. But for 
thofe glittering baubles, the defolating irruptions of the 
bloody-minded Mahmood, of Gengis, and of Tamerlane, 
had never taken place ;—but for them, the nations of 
which we are about to fpeak had never explored the In¬ 
dian Seas, nor embrued their hands in biood-guiltinefs 
abroad, or furniflied the baneful examples of Eaftern lux¬ 
ury and voiuptuouihefs at home. 
Almoft the only channel through which the goods of 
India 
