The Fall of the Moghul Empire of HindustanKeene, H. G. (Henry George)
History
The Fall of the Moghul Empire of Hindustan
Keene, H. G. (Henry George)
India -- History -- 18th century; Mogul Empire -- History
FROM the time of the revolution of 1788 each of the dismembered
provinces has its separate history; and the present record
naturally shrinks to the contracted limits of a local history of
the capital, and of the districts more especially connected with
it by proximity or by political ties. Still, since the country is
one that has long been occupying our attention, and the persons
who have made it do so are still upon the scene, it may be
interesting to those who have followed the narrative thus far if
a brief conclusion is presented to them. The story of the
empire's fall will thus be completed, and the chasm between the
Moghul rule and the English rule will be provisionally bridged.
It must, moreover, be remembered that the visible centre of
authority is a thing for which men will always look. And, even in
the fallen state of the Dehli monarchy this was still in the
palace of the descendant of Babar. To use de Boigne's words,
written in 1790: "le respect .... envers la maison de Timour
regnait a tel point que, quoique toute la peninsule se fut
sucessivement soustraite a son autorite, aucun prince .... de
l'Inde ne s'etait arroge le titre de souverain. Sindhia
partageait le respect, et Shah Alam etait toujours assis sur le
Trone Mogol, et tout se faisait en son nom."
It has been already shown how "Maharaja Patel," as Madhoji
Sindhia is called by the native writers, assumed the actual
government, whilst he secured for the youthful chief of the
Mahratta confederacy the titular office of "Agent
Plenipotentiary," which had been once or twice previously used to
designate mighty Viceroys like the first Nizam.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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