Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 4.djvu/133

MOGHULS. Mahrattas had possession of Central and Western India; and, in place of an empire which had stretched from Assam to Herat, and from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, there remained only a few provinces near Delhi for the emperor's support. To complete the rain, Delhi was again sacked by Ahmed Shah Abdallee in 1751, and the horrors of the outrages of Nadir Shah again repeated upon its miserable people. By this time, another power, destined to subdue all conflicting interests, and unite them under one bond of civilized influences, appeared in the English; and the last memorable exercise of the imperial power was by the unfortunate Shah Allum, on the 12th August, 1765, when, seated on some dining tables, put together to form an extempore throne in Colonel Clive's tent at Buxar, he granted to the East India Company in perpetuity the Dewanny or fiscal government of the whole of Bengal.

It was not long after this, after a variety of vicissitudes of fortune, that the emperor fell into the hands of Gholam Khadir, a cruel monster, who put out his eyes; and he was a prisoner in the hands of the Mahratta chieftain Sindia, when he was released by Lord Lake, who found, as recorded by the Governor-General, Lord Hastings, "the unfortunate and venerable emperor, oppressed by the accumulated calamities of old age, degraded authority, extreme poverty, and loss of sight, seated under a small tattered canopy, the remnant of his royal state, with every external appearance of the misery of his condition." The emperor was allowed to retain a small private estate near Delhi, and an ample provision in the form of a yearly pension was made for him.

In this condition the royal family continued to exist, increasing very rapidly; each member claiming his or her share of the royal income, until its amount became seriously affected. The Photograph gives a representation of the style of these persons. They were, for the most part, vicious and dissolute, idle and ignorant; too proud to seek employment, and too discontented to abstain from plots and intrigues, as futile as they were foolish. For many years the King of Delhi was recognised as the nominal head of Government in India. His name was upon the British, as all other coinage, and the British Governor-General styled himself his servant. On occasions of successions in the native states, the customary offerings were made to the king, who, in return, sent dresses of honour and letters of congratulation and confirmation; while, to the last, the farce of pretending to seek distinction and titles from the king, was kept up by the rulers of states who had shaken off all allegiance to Delhi, and in the days of its great misfortunes had carefully avoided all connection with, or assistance to it. This, indeed, might have been considered a harmless exercise of royal privilege, which could not, under existing circumstances, be interfered with; but, as it subsequently transpired, the palace of Delhi became the focus of all the deep-lying discontents of the Mahomedans of India, and when the native portion of the Bengal army broke out