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
Agency of Restoration Madhoji Sindhia - Zabita attacked Mirza
Najaf Khan Flight of Zabita Treaty with Rohillas Zabita
regains office Mahrattas attack Dehli Desperation of Mirza
Najaf Mahrattas attack Rohilkand Opposed by British Advance
of Audh Troops Re-employment of Mirza Abdul Ahid Khan
Suspicious conduct of Hafiz Rahmat and Rohillas Tribute
withheld by Hafiz Rahmat - Battle of Kattra Death of
Shujaa-ud-daulah Campaign against Jats Najaf Kuli Khan
Successes of the Imperial Army Zabita and Sikhs Death of Mir
Kasim.
IT would be interesting to know the exact terms upon which the
Mahrattas engaged to restore the Emperor to his throne in the
palace of Shahjahan. But, since they have even escaped the
research of Captain Grant Duff, who had access to the archives of
Punah, it is hopeless for any one else to think of recovering
them. The emissary employed appears to have been the person of
indifferent character who, like the Brounker and Chiffinch of the
English restoration of 1660, had been usually employed in less
dignified agencies. Unacquainted with this man's name, we must be
content to take note of him by his title of Hissam, or Hashim Ud
Daula. The Mahrattas were, amongst other rewards, to receive a
present fee of ten lakhs of rupees (nominally expressible at
£100,000 sterling, but in those days representing as much,
perhaps, as ten times that amount of our present money), nor
would they stir in the matter until they received the sum in hard
cash. It is also probable that the cession of the provinces of
Allahabad and Korah formed part of the recompense they hoped to
receive hereafter.
Though the Emperor, if he guaranteed this latter gift, was
parting from a substance in order to obtain a shadow, yet the
very receipt of that substance by the others depended upon
circumstances over which they had (as the phrase is) no control.
Early in the year 1771 the Emperor had sent to the authorities in
Calcutta, to consult them on his proposed movements; and they had
strongly expressed their disapprobation. But Shujaa-ud-daula, for
reasons of his own, earnestly, though secretly, encouraged the
enterprise. The Emperor set out in the month of May, at the head
of a small but well-appointed army, amongst whom was a body of
sepoys drilled after the European fashion, and commanded by a
Frenchman named Medoc, an illiterate man, but a good soldier. The
command-in-chief was held by Mirza Najaf Khan. A British
detachment, under Major-General Sir Robert Barker, attended him
to the Korah frontier, where the General repeated, for the last
time, the unwelcome dissuasions of his Government. The Emperor
unheedingly moved on, as a ship drives on towards a lee shore;
and the British power closed behind his wake, so that no trace of
him or his Government ever reappeared in the provinces that he
had so inconsiderately left.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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