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With Cassum Ali* ended, virtually, the power of the subahdars of Bengal. Meer Jaffier, in his last administration, made a feeble attempt to resume his authority, but it soon terminated in his death, and in leaving the English the supreme rulers of an extensive and valuable territory.

I SHOULD be ill entitled to a place, event amongst the most trite observers, did I not, before I quitted this part of the country, throw my mite into the fund of general applause which has been bestowed on Mr. Cleveland. This gentleman, whom I never saw, but whose works loudly proclaim his merit, and diffuse his praise, has, by an equitable and judicious management of the Rajah Mahl and Bauglepour districts, considerably increased the number of inhabitants, and improved, as well as facilitated, the collection of the revenue. The increase of population is conspicuously seen in the dependency

* Cassum Ali Chan, after wandering about the upper provinces, and soliciting the aid of various chiefs against the English, sought protection at the court of Delhi. He evinced the same intriguing and sanguinary disposition in domestic life, as had marked his public character. He endeavoured, it is said, to supplant the Minister at Delhi, by an offer of a large donation to the King; and he is accused of murdering, at different times, the women he carried with him from Bengal. At his death, which happened at the village of Kutwall, in 1777, the Court seized on his estate, the value of which was computed at one thousand pounds;---a small residue of the plunder of Bengal and Bahar!

of Mongheer, and in the extensive mercats of that place, which are resorted to by a concourse of various traders. He hath also made strenuous exertions, in drawing the adjacent Mountaineers, from their fastnesses to the plains. Nor have his labours failed of success. Twelve hundred of these men have entered into our service, and are embodied in a corps, which bears the appearance of becoming useful to the state. The indulgent treatment shewn them, with the superior advantages which they derive, must operate as powerful inducements to their brethren, in following so profitable an example. The depredations of these people had, at former periods, rendered the passage of the roads in that quarter so unsafe, that escorts were stationed at certain posts, for the protection of travellers; and detachments of two or three battalions, have occasionally been sent against the savage inhabitants of the Baglepour hills; who are now become the guardians of a country, which they had long wasted, by rapine and bloodshed.

Mr. Cleveland has established small buildings, at most of the halting places within his districts, for the accommodation of travellers; and the natives of those parts, who seem to have profitted by the conduct of tir chief, are pecul ly attentive to strange Sach have bee vantages, whiche state, and a b

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ple have derived, from the public spirit, and the benevolent efforts of one man! But his reward hath been bounteous and complete. He hath enjoyed the honour of exalting, in a distant land, the character of his nation, and felt sensations which transport the mind beyond the reach of fortune.

ON the 3d of July, I left Mongheer; and arrived, on the 5th, at Patna, by water. This city is spacious and populous, though much fallen from the importance it held, during the residence of the Subahdar of Bahar. The great quantity of poppies cultivated in the contiguous districts, from which opium of an excellent quality is produced, together with together with extensive salt-petre works, have rendered Patna opulent, and the center of an extensive commerce. The different manufactures of silver, iron, and woot are little inferior in this city, to those of Ear rope; and when the rudeness of the tools, with the simplicity of the process, is examined, the degree of delicacy which the artisans have acquired in their several professions, must diallenge a high admiration.

THE numerous ruins of public and private edifices, scattered through the town of Patna, and its environs, indicate a former grande d extent, which now no longer exist. As ancient

this place, still known to some of tac

more intelligent inhabitants, and bearing an affinity to that given, by Strabo and Pliny, to the supposed capital of India, has suggested an opinion, that Patna occupies the situation of the celebrated Palibertha; which is farther substantiated by the geographical observations of Major Rennel.-Curiosity, and the desire of the moment to indulge a melancholy idea, led me to the spot, where the English were massacred by the order of Cassum Ali. The former buildings are removed, and a well-proportioned monument has been erected in commemoration of that dreadful event, though without any inscription. Perhaps it had been consistent with sounder policy, that no such memorial had been fixed; but as it was judged expedient to record, thus publicly, an act of treacherous cruelty, the cause, I think, should have been explained,

On the 13th of July, I left Patna, and on the same day arrived at Muzufferpour, the residence of the Collector of Tirhoot, an extensive district, about forty miles to the northward of Patna, and producing a revenue of about six and a half lacks of rupees.

IN the neighbourhood of Muzufferpour, an action was fought in 1760, between Mherim, the eldest son of Meer Jaffier, assisted by the English troops, aud Kadim Hussein Khan, the chief of Purnea, in which the latter was defeated,

A few days after the engagement, Mherim died, struck, it was said, by lightning. The father believed that his son had been cut off by an assassin, and he loudly accused Cassum Ali of the murder. The event having removed a string bar to Cassum's ambition, and there also appraning some suspicions circumstances, attending the alleged cause of his death, Meer Jaffer may be justified in believing, that his son had been take....ff, by an avowed rival, who was seen at a subi.equent period, indulging an im placable and sanguinary temper.

On the 36th of July, crossed the country, and went to Choprah, a long straggling town, lying on the northern side of the Ganges, about twenty miles above Patna. Choprah is the residence of the Collector of Sarun and Champoran ; districts yiciding an annual revenue of fourteen and an half lacks of rupees The French and Dutch had* factories at this place, chiefly for the purpose of manufacturing salt-petre, in which commodity this part of the country profusely abounds. It is not unworthy of notice to remarks, that the Dutch, though obliged to purchase the greater portion of their crude salt-petre from the English, were enabled to sell it in its

* This letter was written during the war with France and Holland, when these places had been captured by the English,

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