Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/350

344 his elephant, and advanced with what troops were ready to the nearest gate; but after several messages which assured him that Bassaulet jung was safe, he returned in the evening. The day after Bassaulet jung went to the durbar of Salabadjing, spoke standing, and with expressions of unusual disrespect flung down the seal. It is so rare in the manners of Indostan that any indecorum of words or gesture passes amongst equals, and still more from an inferior, that the officers present in the durbar formed sinister conjectures of these animosities amongst the brothers; and although the few, who reason before they believe, imputed the musket-ball to chance, and the confession of the man to subornation, yet the troops even in Salabadjing's camp were persuaded that he had been employed, if not by Shanavaze Khan, at least by Hyder Jung. Mr. Bussy saw the general odium to which this prejudice, if not removed, would expose himself and all his nation, and suggested a means of reconciliation. The seal was sent back to Bassaulet Jung, but an officer, who was a dependant on Hyder Jung, was appointed to keep it in a sealed bag, and to be present whenever it was used. This compliment, such as it was, satisfied the officers of Bassaulet Jung's court, and appeased the puplic; and other advantages were gained by it; for Bassaulet Jung consenting, it placed him in such a relation with the administration of Salabadjing, that he was either likely to relinquish, or would not be able to conceal his intrigues with his brother Nizamally. A few days after this reconciliation, Salabadjing sent a deputation of his principal officers to Nizamally, requesting him to relinquish the government of Berar, and to accept as a compensation a monthly allowance of 20,000 rupees. Nizamally rejected the proposal with disdain, and published it amongst the troops, who with equal indignation cried out, that "Nizamally was a son of Nizamalmuluck as well as Salabadjing." This expression of their attachment precluded the employment of force, and, as the only means left to reduce him to compliance, the principal officers of his army were tampered with, and several of them were gained by promises and money to give assurances that they would not support him in asserting the government