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Rh dency, though in respect of the civil administration they had in 1835 been cut off from Bengal, and had been placed under a separate government of their own. Sir Charles (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor with his capital at Agra. Before the Mughal Empire the seat of Moslem power was never at Agra, but always at Delhi. It was Akbar the Great who founded this Mughal Empire and set up his throne at Agra. It was chosen to be the first British Capital of the North-West Provinces, but some thirty-five years ago the headquarters were transferred to Allahábád.

Thomason now found himself placed over territories extending from the 21 st to the 23rd degree of north latitude, and from the 77th to the 88th degree of east longitude, including about 100,000 square miles: with a population of about twenty-two millions: the average density being 220 to the square mile; the southern tracts being sparsely populated, while the middle portion, or immediate valley of the Ganges, was densely peopled. If he did not foresee he may have hoped that the population would multiply under the régime to be established by him: certainly the twenty-two millions of his time have to-day grown to more than thirty millions.

The kingdom of Oudh, a Native State, ran into the heart of these Provinces like a great wedge. Imperial Delhi, with its territory then belonging to these Provinces, stretched far westwards towards the river Sutlej. A hilly tract to the south across the