Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/52

46 with his demands on the first summons, he more than once stopped their trade; however, all they paid from his accession did not exceed 100,000 pounds sterling; which on an average was not two in a hundred on the amount of their investments to the end of the war.

The Morattoes during the war made only one considerable depredation on the English trade. This was in the year 1748, when they stopped a fleet of boats coming from Cossimbuzar to Calcutta, and plundered it of 300 bales of raw silk belonging to the company. But the advantages of the European commerce in general were much impaired by the distresses of the province, which enhanced the prices and debased the fabrics of all kinds of manufactures.

The difficulties which Allaverdy had encountered and surmounted since his accession, obliterated in the minds of his subjects whatsoever detestation they might have conceived against his usurpation of the sovereignty: his attention to protect them from the violences and iniquities of his officers, acting either with civil or military authority, had gained him the public reverence and esteem: and such was the openness and generosity of his character on all occasions in which his ambition was not thwarted, that his ingratitude to his benefactor Sujah Khan, the murder of Baschir Pondit, and his intentions to cut off Mustapha Khan, were imputed, although absurdly, to the influence which his brother Hodgee was supposed to have over all his resolutions: he remained, perhaps, the only prince in the east whom none of his subjects wished to assassinate. But he was no sooner arrived at this degree of reputation and fortune, than increasing infirmities warned him of his approaching end; and his injudicious choice of a successor, embittered his latter days with as many anxieties as he had suffered in the rest of his reign.

Having no male issue or descendants, the succession naturally devolved into the family of his brother Hodgee, who had three sons, Nowagis Mahomed, Zaindee Hamed, and Sid Hamed: Nowagis married the only daughter of Allaverdy, by whom he had no issue; Sid Hamed had a son; and Zaindee Hamed left two, of whom