ud-Dowlah, to the command of the ordnance. But a strong party at court, composed of Ghaze-ud-Dein*, Najeb-ud-Dowlah, the Rohilla chief, and Tameid Khan, a court eunuch, prevailing against the interest of Sufdar Jung, he was compelled to leave Delhi; but not before he had cut off Janied Khan, whom he caused to be assassinated in his own house, at an entertainment given to the eunuch.

SUFDAR Jung, having collected a large force, invaded the Imperial territories, and laid siege* to the capital, which was closely invested for the space of six months. He is accused of committing many enormities and wanton acts of violence during the siege, particularly of cannonading the palace, the destruction of which could not have facilitated the capture of the fort. The court of Delhi was compelled to accede to the terms of the rebel, who required a formal grant of the provinces of Oude and Allahabad, for himself and his heirs.-Sufdar Jung died in the year 1754, during the reign of Alumguir Sani, and was succeeded in the subahdarry of Oude, by his son Shujah-ud-Dowlaht, then about twenty

*The grandson of the great Nizam-ul-Mulck. †This event happened in 1753.

der.

The domestic name of this prince was Tillah-ud-Dein HyHis father, who was in the Oude province during the birth of Shujah-ud-Dowlah, built, in the neighbourhood of Luckthe fort of Tillahabad, in commemoration of the event.

now,

five years of age. As the design of this work does not admit of any enlargement on the subject of Sufdar Jung, it will suffice to say, that his disposition was severe, often cruel; and that his rapacious avarice threw uncommon odium on his name.

To illustrate the commencement of Shudahud-Dowlah's public life, it is necessary to describe the situation of the court of Delhi at that period. Ghaze-ud-Dein, who had in 1753 deposed and deprived of sight Ahmed Shah, raised to the throne Alumguir Sani, whose eldest son AlyGhohir, fearing the treacherous disposition and ill designs of the minister, fled from Delhi*. This prince, accompanied by a small body of Marhattas, levied for a few months, a scanty contribution in the districts lying to the southward of the capital. But being soon involved in embarrassments from so slender a provision, he solicited the aid of the Rohilla, Najeb Khan, who refusing to engage in his cause, he retired into the territory of Shujah-ud-Dowlah. The prince was treated for a certain time with hospitality and respect at Oude, but could not obtain any military aid: and being at length civilly dismissed, he proceeded to Allahabad, which was then held by Mahomet Khuli-Khan, a native of

Persia, and a cousin-german of Shujah-ud-Dowlah. Mahomet Khuli, readily entering into the schemes of the prince, which were directed at the reduction of the provinces of Bahar and Bengal, the joint forces crossed the Caramnassa, and were, after various successes, defeated in 1761, by the English troops, at Suan. The honourable and humane treatment which AlyGhohir experienced during his residence in the English camp, created a jealousy in Cassum Ali Khan, who from the recent testimony of the prince's hostility to his interests, and seeing also the English officer much attached to his person, expressed a virulent dislike of the connection. The prince accused Cassum of fomenting those dissensions in his army, which ultimately produced a desperate mutiny; when he probably would have suffered much indignity, had he not been protected by the English army. This event induced Aly-Ghohir to retire into the dominions of Shujah-ud-Dowlah, who received the fugitive king in a manner expressive of zealous attachment, and avowed himself the champion of the royal cause.

To illustrate an event in the history of Shujahud-Dowlah, we must advert to the annals of a

* At this period, Ali Ghohir had nominally succeeded to the Empire, by the title of Shah Alum. His father died in

1760.

former period, and notice its origin. Sufdar Jung had appointed to the command of Allahabad, his nephew Mahomet Khuli Khan, who, on the accession of Shujah-ud-Dowlah, seems to have wholly withdrawn himself from the authority of the court of Qude. Aware of the popularity and military abilities of this officer, Shu-' jah-ud-Dowlah did not prosecute any directly hostile measures against Allahabad. During his expedition into Babar, Mahomet Khuli had placed the government of his possessions in the hands of Nudjef Khan; the chief, who at a future period became so conspicuous in the upper parts of India. Shujah-ud-Dowlah, embracing

the favourable occasion of Mahomet Khuli's absence, advanced with a small army towards the limits of Allahabad. He maintained an amicable intercourse with Nudjef Khan, whom he amused by solemn protestations of attachments to the welfare of Mahomet Khuli; and represented, that the Duranny invasion had induced him to come into that quarter to solicit an asylum for his family in the fort of Allahabad, as his own country possessed no place of equal safety. Nudjef Khan would not listen to the request, but waited the instructions of Mahomet Khuli, who directed, that Shujah-ud-Dowlah's family should be admitted into the fortress with a certain number of domestic guards.

It

is said, that Shujah-ud-Dowlah introduced into the female equipages a body of armed men, who rushed on the garrison, and took the fort without any effusion of blood. This capture, which happened about the year 1761, rendered the affairs of Mahomet Khuli desperate, and obliged him to become a dependent on the bounty of Shujah-ud-Dowlah; who, in the course of few months, threw him, on a charge of state crimes, into prison. Mahomet Khuli, from his valour and liberality, was held in high estimation in the Oude army, which in loud murmurs, and in comparisons not favourable to their prince, warmly lamented his misfortunes. Nudjef Khan, on the capture of Allahabad, had entered into the se vice of Shujah-ud-Dowlah, and exerted himself with a zeal that endangered his own safety, to procure the release of Mahomet Khuli; but this officer had become an object

* Mahomet Khuli was cut off at the fort of Tillalabad :-this example disclosed an evil, which is usually seen to pervade Asiatic states. A despotic Prince cannot always impart so full a force to his system of tyranny, as to shape to the spirit of its edicts, the minds and language of his subjects. Without the compendious savage aid of the dagger, the road to conquest and empire would not perhaps have been so widely opened to a Timur, a Nadir Shah, or, in our day, to a Hyder Ali. When Shujah-ud-Dowlah had formed the resolution of cutting off Mahomet Khuli, he had not yet consolidated the structure of his government. The officers of his army, Persians, Moghuls, or Afghans, were daring turbulent men, and had large claims of pay, They saw in Mahomet Khuli,