Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/31

Rh The conqueror reserving to himself all the countries lying to the westward of the river Indus and Attock, restored all the rest to Mahomed Schah, and reinstated him in the throne with formalities; after which he returned to Persia, carrying with him out of Indostan a treasure, which in effects, silver, gold and jewels, was valued at more than seventy millions of pounds sterling. He entered India from Kandahar in the beginning of the year 1738, and returned to Kandahar at the end of the year 1739. This dreadful incursion is reckoned to have cost Indostan, besides its treasures, the loss of two hundred thousand lives. THE cruelties exercised in India by Thamas Kouli Khan, were such, that a dervise had the courage to present a writing to him, conceived in these terms: "If thou art a god, act as a god; if thou art a prophet, conduct us in the way of salvation; if thou art a king, render the people happy, and do not destroy them." To which the barbarian replied, "I am no god, to act as a god; nor a prophet, to shew the way of salvation; nor a king, to render the people happy; but I am he whom God sends to the nations which he has determined to visit with his wrath."