acceffion of the company to the whole. But their ruin now was confidered as being fo inevitable, that the moft petty chiefs and infignificant towns, eager to grafp at fome fhare of the fpoil, either laid claims which never before were heard of, or feized upon fuch villages and fmall diftricts as were within their reach without any claim at all. And while the company's affairs were in this ftate of confufion and danger, the communications were fo entirely cut off, that the governor general was kept in a ftate of almost total ignorance at Chunar, both with respect to what was paffing in the adjoining countries, and the fuccefs or failure of the various expreffes which he had difpatched to different parts for affistance. It was probably during this feafon of inaction that Cheit Sing published his manifefto, which was addreffed to the Rajabs and native chiefs or princes of India. In this piece he gives a narrative of his father's conduct and of his own, of the treatment which he had himself experienced, of the caufes and motives which led to the prefent troubles, and he calls upon them, as in a common caufe against a common enemy, to join in chacing away thofe rapacious ftrangers, who were the authors of fuch numberlefs calamities to their country. This manifefto, is a plain fimple piece of writing, entirely free from those gorgeous ornaments which fo frequently load and disfigure the eastern stile, but at the fame time fo exceedingly pathetic, that it could not fail of going home to the feelings of thofe to whom it was addreffed. After ftating his attachment and It is remarkable, that the charge of mifgovernment, which had b en laid against him, and of violence, robberies, and murthers being authorized or tolerated in his dominions, feems to have particularly touc' ed and affected the Rajah; and his infenfibility upon this occafion leads him away from his immediate fubject, and affords the means for his laying before us a moft curious picture of the ftate of his own country before the troubles, contrafied with that, which he likewife prefents, of thofe extenfive dominions which were under the immediate government of the company. little qualified to judge of the truth of thefe reprefentations, or of the degree of colouring with which they may be charged, but the one prefents fo new and interefting a picture of human felici y, and the other fo many objects of reflection and obfervation, that if they had been purely ideal, we could fcarcely refrain from endeavouring to preferve them. We are The Rajah, in vindication of his government, fays, "Look to my "diftricts, look to theirs! Do not "the different pictures they pre"fent to you mark the limits of "ries which nature itself has "ment in the countries under the " 66 company's management? Were " they not almoft continually rob"bed, and in danger of their "lives?" Such was the feducing reprefentation of his country, and of the ftate of his people, which was at this time given by the Rajah Cheit Sing. The fortrefs of Chunar, which now afforded a fecure afylum to the governor general, is fituated on the fouth fhore of the Ganges. The principal force of the enemy was affembled at a town called Pateetah, lying about feven miles to the fouthward of Chunar, and in the direct way to the noted pafs of Suck root, and the ftrong fort of Luttéefpore. Major Popham's regiment, with what force could be fpared from the garrison of Chunar, were formed into a detachment under his command, and encamped about a mile from the town on the way to the enemy. "drawn out? My fields are cultivated, my villages are full of inhabitants, my country is a "garden, and my fubjects are happy. My capital is the re"fort of the principal merchants "of India, from the fecurity I "have given to property. The "treasures from the Marattas, "the Jaits, and the Saiks, and “the most distant nations of India, are depofited here. Here the orphans and the widows convey "their property, and refide here "without fear of rapacity and " avarice. The traveller, from one end of my country to the "other, lays down his burthen, " and fleeps in fecurity. Look to "the provinces of the company! "there famine and mifery ftalk "hand in hand through unculti"vated fields and deferted villages. There you meet with nothing but aged men, who are not able to tranfpert them"felves away, or robbers watch"ing to way-lay their helpleff"nels. When any of the fervants "of the English have paffed thro' my country, every kindness "has been fhewn them, and all "their wants fupplied; even their very coolies have had their bur"thens taken off, and carried for them, and paffed on from village to village. When any of "these gentlemen travelled thro' my country, my officers have "attended them to know their. wants, fupplied them with neceffary provifion and carriage at my expence, and performed all "their orders as if they were my own. Let any of them be afked, if they met with fuch treat 66 Towards the end of the month, Lieutenant Aug. 27th. Polhill arrived from Illahabad, with fix companies of fepoys belonging to the Nabob Vizier's body life-guard; and was ordered to encamp on the oppofite shore of the river, in order to keep the communication on that fide open. In two days after the arrival of this officer, he unexpectedly attacked, and easily defeated a confiderable body of the enemy, who were ftationed, under the command of a principal chief of the country, at a small fort and town called Seeker, which lay within fight of Chunar. A confiderable booty in grain, an article which was then exceedingly wanted, was the the principal reward as well as object of this enterprize. The vicinity of the enemy, who lay without motion, and feemingly without object or defign at Pateetah, could not but prove an inceffant and painful fpur to the enter prizing fpirit of Major Popham. He accordingly detached Captain Blair, with his Chunar battalion, and two companies of his own grenadiers, to furprize their camp at that place. The detachment marchSept. 3d. ed at three in the morning, and arrived at the ground by day-light, but to their aftonish-, 'ment found the camp abandoned, and the enemy in complete order, waiting their attack about a mile beyond it. Though this was a ftile of acting little to be expected from fuch raw troops and inexperienced commanders, yet the firmnefs with which they ftood a fevere and bloody action was ftill more extraordinary. They fought with fuch zeal and intrepidity, that the fepoys, feafoned as they were, and doubly fortified by mechanical and natural courage, were at length thrown into disorder, and it seemed as if all was over; but at that critical inftant, the fpirited and admirably timed attack made by the lieutenants Fallon and Birrell, at the head of the two companies of grenadiers, upon the enemy's cannon, fuddenly turned the fortune of the day, and left the field, and four guns, in the poffeffion of the company's troops. he guns were very old and bad; but they were fo well ferved as to excite admiration, and the apparatus for the artillery was modern and excellent. This fuccefs was dearly purchafed by Captain Blair's party, who had 48 men killed, and 85 wounded, being about one fourth of their whole number. It was, however, a victory; and produced its effect as fuch, in ferving to difpirit one fide, and to reftore that confidence to the other, which the affair at Ramnagur had rendered neceffary. The governor general had written early for affiftance to Colonel Morgan, who commanded far up the Ganges at Cawnpore, in the Vizier's dominions; and as the danger increased, he dispatched a fecond express to that officer, requiring him to follow the detachment (which was then fuppofed to be far advanced on its way) with his whole force, and enclosing an order to Sir John Cumming, who commanded at Futtehgur, to fupply Morgan's place at Cawnpore. Tho the expreffes did not arrive in time, the vigilant zeal, and the comprehenfive judgment of Colonel Morgan, were fufficient to fupply the defect of inftructions. Reports of the dangerous ftate of affairs in Benares having reached him, he at once confidered the failure of official intelligence and inftruction, as a proof that the communications were interrupted; and conceiving what orders were likely to be fent in fuch circumftances, he determined to act as if they had been received. So fpirited a conception of duty. was not liable to be rendered abortive by any narrowness in the measure of the fupply. He difpatched a very effective force to the aid of the governor general, confifting of two regiments of Lepoys, 1 fepoys, (which may probably be eftimated at four battalions) of 30 European artillery men, and two companies of European infantry; befides four fix pounders, one howitz, with tumbrils, ammunition, draft and carriage cattle, and every other provifion neceffary for active fervice. Major Crabbe was appointed to the command of this powerful and exceedingly well provided detachment; which, in the fame fpirit that fixed its deftination, was ordered, for the greater expedition, to proceed by water down the Ganges. The zeal of the officers correfponded fo well with the defign and withes of the colonel, that though the refolution was only taken on the 29th, the whole party was embarked and on its way the 31ft of Auguft. On the 10th of September, early in the morning, Major Crabbe, with his detachment, appeared on the fhore oppofite to Chunar. He had been much retarded on his courfe to Illahabad by firong adverfe winds; and finding that thefe ftill continued, and that the courfe of the river from thence was befides extremely winding, he disembarked both men and ftores, and proceeded the reft of the way by land. On the following day, the Nabob Vizier arrived and encamped on the fame fide of the river, where he continued during the time of his ftay; and in two days after Major Roberts, who had been fent with his regiment to Lucknow, to ferve as a guard to the governor general's perfon during his intended vifit in that capital and country, arrived from thence with the troops; and bringing with him what was more wanted even than their aid, the very welcome fupply of a lack of rupees in filver. This was foon followed by another fupply of money, though to a lefs amount, from the Vizier's receiver at Illahabad. were It was now evident, to all who had only a moderate knowledge of military affairs, that the fate of the Kajah, Cheit Sing, was finally decided. Major Popham had now under his immediate command, (exclufive of the garrifon of Chunar) four complete regiments, and one battalion of fepoys, being all feafoned, tried, and excellent troops; he had along with thefe three European companies, of which one grenadiers, one light infantry, and the third French Rangers; and he had befides fix companies of the Nabob's body guards, under Lieutenant Polhill, and 30 European artillery men. Thefe were led by officers who had not only feen much fervice, but who were already highly diftinguished for enterprize and action; the "fubalterns were equal to commands, and among the principal commanders were fome of the beft in the company's fervice. this force in hand, was to be added the hourly expectation of farther and confiderable reinforcements from different quarters; à circumftance which never fails to increafe the prefent energy in action. To Such troops, fo commanded, would probably have little to apprehend in the field from any native force that could be collected in India, Hyder Ally and the Marattas being only left out of the eftimate. To oppofe to thefe, befides 7690 regular and irregular troops of his establishment, the Rajah, Cheit Sing, had a numerous, ill armed, and undifciplined rabble, including almost every order of men in India, haftily collected by different chiefs in the neighbouring parts, as well as in the country, under the various denomina. tions of fword men, pike-men, matchlock men, and others, of fimilar value, though lefs intelligible, and probably worfe provided, and led by commanders as ignorant of every kind of military fervice as they were themfelves. Even among the troops of the Ra jah's eftablishment, no lefs than 1,800 were matchlock-men, and there was not a man on his fide who could be confidered as a foldier. As fear and ignorance always place their confidence in numbers, fo the diforder and confufion of this heterogeneous crowd was ftill farther increased, by the junction of many thousands of husbandmen and labourers, who, inftigated by zeal or the hope of plunder, caught up fuch weapons as they could lay their hands on, and were eagerly received as fresh additions of ftrength. The Rajah himself, fo far as may be judged from what appears of his character, feems to have been totally deftitute of every talent or quality fitting for war.— So far as can be gathered from Mr. Haftings's account of him, he feems to have been a weak, pliant, good-natured, inexperienced prince, who was cafily led to any thing by thofe about him, and who had been involved in the prefent troubles, through the rafh and ambitious councils of his brother, Shujan Sing, and of Saddanund, his favourite, and prime minifter, who had fome time before been his envoy at Calcutta. But however violent thefe councils might have been, the Rajah himself seems to have anxiously endeavoured, if that had been poffile, to accommodate matters. He accordingly, notwithstanding the failure of his former attempts for that purpofe, renewed his ap plications to the governor general upon the fubject, during that feafon of inaction which fucceeded his retreat to Chunar, as well by a variety of letters directly from himself, as by others, written under his immediate direction, by Mr. Barnet, and Contoo Baboo, who were held prisoners by him at Lutteefpore. Some of thefe letters were preferved, and others, faid to be loft. The governor general obferves that they were all alike in fubftance; that they contained acknowledgments and profeffions of fubmiflion, affertions of his own innocence, particularly with refpect to the maffacre at the palace, which he was utterly incapable of preventing, and a claim of merit, founded upon his having in each of the three paft actions borne the fuffering part, though in all uccessful, and his having in no inftance been the aggreffor; and that they all concluded with general offers of accommodation. That the letters which were written, either under his direction, or by his order, contained a pompous display of his inexhauftible wealth, of the multitude and bravery of his troops, and the devoted affection and fidelity of all his fubjects.The governor general perfevered |