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1675 he bequeathed it to his three sons, Sevajee, Serbogee, and Tuccogee, all of whom reigned in their turns, and left at their demise families to dispute with each other the succession.

It is not necessary to enter into any detail of the intrigues and cabals which ensued. Let it suffice to state, that in 1741, Saujohee, the son of Serbogee, after filling the throne some years, was deposed by his brother, Pratop-Sing, a prince so far of inferior birth, that he was the offspring of a secondary marriage, but of popular manners and considerable ability.

The deposed monarch fled to Fort St. David's, where he entreated the assistance of the English in an attempt to recover his rights. He assured them that the feelings of the people were decidedly in his favour, that he had only to show himself in the principality at the head of an armed force, in order to be joined by a majority of the leading chiefs; and he promised, in return for a compliance with his wishes, to make over to his allies the fort of Devi-Cotah, with the territory dependent upon it. It does not appear that our countrymen were very deeply affected by the narrative of supposed wrongs to which they listened; but the northern branch of the river on which Devi-Cotah stands was understood to offer an advantageous harbour, and the idea of obtaining the command of it determined them how to act. A force of one hundred Europeans and five hundred sepoys was sent, under the orders of Captain Cope, with instructions to make themselves masters of Devi-Cotah, and, if possible, to reinstate Saujohee upon the throne.

This expedition, miserably arranged, and very indifferently conducted, altogether failed of success. The troops, passing the river at low tide, became entangled among thickets, where they were galled by the fire of numerous ambuscades. They pressed on, however, till they arrived within a mile of the place; but of the shipping which conveyed their battering-guns, no tidings could be obtained; and after trying to no purpose the effect of a trifling bombardment, they were compelled to retreat. They suffered severely in this movement, for when they reached the stream the tide was up, and the fords impassable; and they returned to Fort St. David with the loss of many lives, and the endurance of excessive fatigue by the survivors.

Though Captain Cope had effectually ascertained that there was no party favourable to Saujohee, the English authorities could not become reconciled to the disgrace which attached to their arms by this failure. All the disposable force of the presidency, amounting to eight hundred Europeans and seventeen hundred sepoys, was entrusted to the command of Major Lawrence, who transported them by sea to the mouth of the river, and there made good his landing. Many and serious difficulties, however, were yet to be overcome. Between the British encampment and the enemies' works ran a branch of the Coleroon, of great depth and considerable width; while the opposite bank, overgrown with underwood, afforded admirable cover to the Tanjorean skirmishers. Though, therefore, the batteries were enabled to see the rampart, and a breach was in four days effected,

the means of storming would have been totally wanting, had not an ingenious individual, a ship's carpenter, named John Moor, contrived to supply them. This man constructed a flying bridge, sufficiently capacious to transport four hundred men at a time. He swam the stream in a dark night, fastened a strong rope to a tree, within a few yards of the enemy's outposts, and returned, unobserved, to direct the movements of his own machine. After this, all was easy: the artillery soon cleared the bank by its fire, and the troops, passing in divisions, reached the opposite shore, with the loss, altogether inconsiderable, of eighty lives.

Dispositions were immediately made for the assault, which was led by Lieut. Clive, a name of illustrious presage in Indian history. Though the storming party had well-nigh suffered annihilation, and Clive himself narrowly escaped from a charge of cavalry in his rear, the most perfect success attended the operation. Devi-Cotah fell; and the chief prize for which the armament had been organized was secured; but of Saujohee and his claims, little further notice was taken. On the contrary, as there seemed to be no wish whatever on the part of the people to interfere with the existing order of things, the English readily concluded a treaty with Pratop-Sing, by which the latter was secured in possession of the crown, in return for a formal recognition of the right of our countrymen to their recent conquest, and a pension of four thousand rupees per annum settled upon his brother.

Such was the first occasion in which any Euro

pean power presumed to interfere, even as an auxiliary, in the quarrels of the native princes. The time, however, had arrived, when an absolute change of policy was to take place; and the merchants, formerly so submissive to the caprices of every deputy of a deputy, were to give laws to the proudest and most powerful of the Indian princes.

We have had occasion more than once, in the course of this history, to make mention of the province of Carnatic, as a district inferior, in point both of magnitude and resources, to none in subjection to the Mogul. Measuring, from north to south, not less than five hundred and sixty miles, though seldom exceeding eighty or ninety in breadth, it stretches along the sea-shore from the mouth of the little river Gundigama to Cape Comorin, and comprehends almost every variety both of soil and scenery, which is to be met with on the great continent of India. Though, like the petty principality of Tanjore, it long resisted the encroachments of Mahomedan power, it was eventually subdued, first by the sultans of Bijapoor and Golconda, and afterwards by Aurungzebe, in the latter years of his reign. It was then annexed to the great Soubah of the Deccan, the government of which passed into the hands of Nizam-ul-Mulk, a chief whose career was too busy abroad to leave much leisure for a minute superintendence of his legitimate possessions at home.

It was customary, during the reign of the Mogul administration, for each nabob, or governor of a lesser province, though subject, to a certain extent, to the control of the Soubahdar, to receive his commission of office from Delhi. As the energy of

the imperial government declined, the practice was gradually omitted; and in the Deccan especially, the Nizam, or Soubahdar, assumed the privilege of nominating his own representatives. Notwithstanding this innovation, however, it so happened, that in the year 1710, Sabatulla, the Nabob of Carnatic, could boast of a written nomination from the Mogul. Emboldened partly by this circumstance, partly by the state of Nizamul-Mulk's affairs, Sabatulla, who was childless, adopted two of his nephews. To the elder of these, by name Doast Ally, he left, at his demise, the nabobship; whilst the younger, called Boker Ally, he constituted governor of Vellore, one of the strongest fortresses in the south of India.

Nizam-ul-Mulk was too much occupied to resent an affront to which he was far from being indifferent, and Doast Ally was permitted to exercise in peace the authority which had descended to him from his uncle. His family was numerous; for besides two sons, several daughters were born to him, one of whom he married to Mortiz Ally, the son of Boker Ally, while another was united to a more distant relative, by name Chunda Saheb. The latter was a man of more than common ambition; and his father-in-law, glad to employ him at a distance from the court, gave him the command of a force, with which he engaged in an enterprise against the sovereign of Trichinopoly. He succeeded, through the corruption of some part of the garrison, in gaining an entrance into the town, of which, in spite of the remonstrances of Doast Ally, he retained the command, while, the better to fortify himself against future emer