Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/513

 CiiAP. A' 1.1

MAHOMED ALL

479

^ii.— t. A-*'---:

Oatkwav ok rA(oi>A Ai StiuiNCiHAM. — From FergTisson's

Ancient Architecture of Uindootttnn,

eleven battering cannon, mostly eighteen -pounder-s, twenty field - pieces, four a.d. 1752 thirteen-inch mortars, and two petards; they had also a large quantity of ammunition, stores, and carriages of all descriptions The native horse and foot

within the pagoda of Ser- ^

inghani were allowed to depart without molestation They all embraced the offer except 1 Rajpoots, who, having vowed to defend the sanctity of the pagoda, kejit their station, and threat- ened death to any one who should dare to penetrate beyond the third inclosure. It was deemed unnecessary to disturb them. The onh- point still to be decided was the fate of Chunda Sahib. He was still the prisoner of Monacjee, who held him as his prize and refused cmeifateof to part with him. Major Lavi'ence proposed his safe custody in one of the aawb. English settlements; but the confederates were unanimous in rejecting this ])roposal. They were, however, far from being agreed as to any othei', and Monacjee began to suspect that his prisoner would eventually give him more trouble than profit. The Dalaway of Mysore, Mahomed Ali, and Morari Row were all equally bent on securing possession of his person ; and it was impossible to gratify one of tiiem without offending the other two. In these circum- stances Monacjee took the com"se which his savage nature dictated, and rid himself of further importunity on the subject of Chunda Sahib by putting him to death. Mahomed Ali, now freed from a rival in the Carnatic, became nabob in reality as well as in name, and will in future be mentioned under that title.

No sooner was the surrender of the French completed than Major Lawrence Miihomed urged the nabob to lose no time in proceeding into the Carnatic at the head of ous poUcy. the confederate army. The soundness of his advice was readily admitted ; still the nabob lingered and betrayed a mysterious backwardness to move. Major Lawi'ence had no idea of the cause, till the Mysorean explained it by refusing to move until Trichinopoly and its dependencies were yielded up to him as the stipulated recompense of his services. The secret had been well kept; but now, when dissimulation could no longer avail, the nabob, when questioned on the subject, readily admitted that he had promised all which the Mysorean jisked. This ought to have settled the question ; and be the consequences what they might, the only honest coui-se was to fulfil the promise. Nothing, however, was farther from the nabob's intention, and it was easy to devise plausible pre-