vided amongst them; but the jewels were reserved to Murzafajing.

This agreement was figned by the nabobs, who likewife took on the Alcoran an oath of allegiance to the foubah; declaring at the fame time that Nizam-al- muluck himself had never been able to obtain from them this mark of fubmiflion; and he on his part fwore to protect them whilft they remained faithful.

All diffentions being now in appearance reconciled, feafts and entertainments enfued, in which Mr. Dupleix fpared no expence to raise in his guefts a high opinion of the grandeur of his nation by the fplendour with which he affected to reprefent his monarch. Amidft thefe rejoicings was performed the ceremony of inftalling the foubah in the throne of the Decan. It was very pompous; and Mr. Dupleix appeared, next to the foubah, the principal actor in it; for in the drefs of a Mahomedan lord of Indoftan, with which the prince himself had clothed him, he was the firft who paid homage; after which he was declared governor for the Mogul of all the countries lying to the fouth of the river Kristna; that is, of a territory little lefs than France itfelf; he likewife received the title of munfub, or commander of 7000 horse, with the permiffion of placing amongst his enfigns that of the fish; neither of which diftinctions is ever granted excepting to perfons of the first note in the empire. It was ordered, that no money fhould be cur

rent in the Carnatic, but fuch as was coined at Pondicherry ; and that the Mogul's revenues from all the countries of which Mr. Dupleix was now appointed vicegerent fhould be remitted to him, who was to account for them to the foubah; and Chundafaheb was declared nabob of Arcot and its dependencies, under the authority of Mr. Dupleix. All the Mogul and Indian lords paid homage and made prefents; penfions, titles of honour, and governments, were bestowed on those who had affifted in the revolution, or had otherwise merited favour; but he granted none of these to any, but fuch as prefented requefts figned by the hand of Mr. Dupleix.

The immediate advantages arifing to the French Eaft-india company by thefe conceffions, were the poffeffion of a territory near Pondicherry, which produced annually 96,000 rupees; of that near Karical in the kingdom of Tanjore, valued at 106,000; and the city of Mafulipatnam with its dependencies, of which the yearly income amounted to 144,000 rupees; in all, a revenue of 38,000 pounds fterling, according to the accounts publifhed by the French, which there is reafon to believe are greatly extenuated. But these advantages were small in comparifon of those which Mr. Dupleix expected to obtain from the extenfive authority with which he was now invefted; and although not one of these grants could, according to the conftitution of the Mogul empire, be of any validity, unless confirmed by the emperor, he, without fcruple,

affumed

affumed them as lawful acquifitions; it is certain that, imperfect as they were, they ferved greatly to raife the reputation of his importance in the Carnatic, where the foubah of the fouthern provinces is more refpected than the great Mogul himself. Even Mahomed-ally appeared to be confounded by thefe conceffions; and from Tritchanopoly, to which place he had efcaped with great difficulty, impowered the Morratoe, Raja Janagi, to treat with Mr. Dupleix for the furrender of the city, and offered, as the French affirm with great confidence in more than one memoir, to relinquish his pretenfions to the nabobfhip of Arcot, provided Murzafa-jing would give him fome other government in the territory of Gol-kondah, and leave him in poffeffion of his treasures, without demanding any account of his father An'war-adean Khan's adminiftration. Mr. Dupleix agreed to these terms, and imagined that they would very foon be carried into execution; fo that nothing now retarded the departure of Murzafa-jing to Gol-kondah and Aureng-abad, where his prefence became every day more neceffary. As the power of Mr. Dupleix depended on the prefervation of this prince, whofe government, in a country fubject to fuch fudden revolutions, probably would not be free from commotions, he propofed that a body of French troops fhould accompany him until he was firmly established in the fubahfhip; and from experience of the fervices they were capable of rendering, this offer was accepted without hesitation.

The treasures of Nazir-jing were computed at two millions fterling, and the jewels, at 500,000 pounds; in the partition of this wealth, the private fortune of Mr. Dupleix was not forgot, notwithstanding the offer he had made in the conference with the Pitan nabobs to relinquish all pretenfions to any private advantage by the revolution; for, befides many valuable jewels, it is faid, that he received 200,000 pounds in money. Murzafa-jing gave 50,000 pounds to be divided among the officers and troops who had fought at the battle of Gingee, and paid 50,000 more into the treasury of the French company, for the expences they had incurred in the war. The long experience of Shanavaz Khan in the adminiftration of the Decan rendering his knowledge neceffary to the inftruction of a new regency, he was invited by Murzafa-jing to enter into his fervice, and came from Chittaput and made his submiffion.

Mr. Dupleix and Murzafa-jing feparated with profeffions of mutual gratitude and attachment, and the army left the neighbourhood of Pondicherry on the fourth of January; the French detachment was commanded by Mr. Buffy, and confifted of 300 Europeans and 2000 Seapoys, with ten field pieces. The march was continued without interruption until the latter end of the month, when they arrived in the territory of Cudapa, about fixty leagues from Pondicherry. There fome ftraggling horsemen quarrelled with the inhabitants of the village, and, with the ufual licentioufnefs

of the cavalry of Indoftan, fet fire not only to that, but likewife to two or three other villages in the neighbourhood. The nabob of Cudapa, pretending to be greatly exasperated by this outrage, ordered a body of his troops to revenge it, by attacking the rear-guard of Murzafa-jing's divifion. A fkirmish enfued, and the troops of Cudapa, overpowered by numbers, retreated to their main body. Their attack, whether by chance or defign is uncertain, had been directed againft that part of the army which efcorted the women; fo that this defiance was aggravated by the moft flagrant affront that the dignity of an Indian prince could receive; for the perfons of women of rank are deemed facred, even in war. Murzafa-jing no fooner heard of this infult, than he ordered his whole army to halt, put himself at the head of a large body of troops, and prepared to march against the nabob of Cudapa. Mr. Buffy, who had been inftructed to avoid if poffible all occafions of committing hoftilities in the route to Gol-kondah, interpofed, and with much difficulty prevailed on him to fufpend his refentment, until the nabob explained the reafons of his conduct. Meffengers were fent both from Murzafa-jing and Mr. Buffy; to thofe of Murzafa-jing the nabob of Cudapa anfwered, that he waited for their mafter fword in hand; but to Mr. Buffy he fent word, that he was ready to make fubmiffions to the foubah through his mediation. The difference of these anfwers ftung this prince to the quick, and nothing could

He

now ftop him from proceeding to take instant revenge. told Mr. Buffy, who ftill attempted to reclaim him, that every Pitan in his army was a traitor born; and in a very few minutes the truth of his affertion was confirmed; for his fpies brought intelligence, that the troops of all the three nabobs were drawn up together in battle array; that they were pofted to defend a defile which lay in the route of the army, and that several pofts leading to the defile were defended by cannon, which had been brought there fome days before. Thefe preparations left no doubt that the rebellion of the nabobs was premeditated; and indeed they had begun to concert it from the very hour that they had taken the oath of allegiance in Pondicherry. Murzafa-jing, in full march at the head of his cavalry, grew impatient of the flow pace of the French battalion, and hurried away to attack the rebels without their affistance. The Pitan nabobs had in their fervice many of their own countrymen, who, although much inferior in number, ftood the fhock with great intrepidity, and had even repulfed his troops before Mr. Buffy came up. The fire of the French artillery, after a fevere flaughter, changed the fortune of the day, and obliged the Pitans to retreat; when Murzafa-jing, irritated by the repulfe he had fuftained, rallied his troops, and heedlefs of the remonftrances of Mr. Buffy, purfued the fugitives, and left once more the French battalion behind, who endeavoured voured to keep fight of him, bụt

in vain. They foon after came up to fome of his troops, who were cutting to pieces the body of the nabob of Savanore dead on the ground. The nabob of Cudapa had fled out of the field defperately wounded, and in purfuing him, Murzafa-jing came up with the nabob of Canoul, who finding he could not efcape, turned with the handful of troops that furrounded him, and pushed on towards the elephant of his enemy. Exafperated by this defiance, the young prince made a fign to his troops to leave the perfon of the nabob to be attacked by himself. The two elephants were driven up clofe to each other, and Murzafa-jing had his fword uplifted to ftrike, when his antagonist thruft his javelin, which pierced his forehead with fo much force that the point entered the brain; he fell back dead: a thousand arms were aimed at the nabob, who was in the fame inftant mortally wounded; and the troops, not fatisfied with this atonement, fell with fury on thofe of the nabob, whom they foon overpowered, and cut to pieces. The French battalion was preparing to hail them returning from the field with acclamations of victory, when the news of Murzafa-jing's fate ftruck them with the deepest confternation. They immediately marched back to the camp, which they found in the utmoft confufion; for large arrears of pay were due to the army; and it was to be apprehended that the foldiery would mutiny and plunder, and every general fufpected all the others of finifter intentions.

But this difafter affected no intereft more feverely than that of the French; for by it were annihilated all the advantages which were gained by the murder of Nazir-jing; and Mr, Buffy was left without pretenfions to interfere any farther in the concerns of the Decan. This officer faw all the defperate confequences of his prefent fituation, without lofing his prefence of mind: he affembled the generals and minifters, and found them as ready as himself to admit of any expedient by which the lofs of their fovereign might be repaired: befides the fon of Murzafa-jing, an infant, there were in the camp three brothers of Nazir-jing, whom that prince had brought into the Carnatic, under ftrict confinement, to prevent their engaging in revolts during his ab fence; and after his death they were continued under the fame reftraint by Murzafa-jing. Mr. Buffy propofed, that the vacant dignity of foubah fhould be conferred on the eldest of the brothers, by name Salabat-jing; and the generals, from a fenfe of the convulfions to which the reign of a minor would be expofed, readily acquiefced to the exclufion of Murzafa-jing's fon, and unanimously approved of Mr. Buffy's advice. It was immediately carried into execution; the three princes were releafed from their confinement, and Salabat-jing was proclaimed foubah of the Decan, with the univerfal confent of the army. His elevation, and the fignal cataftrophe of this day, in which three of the confpirators of Nazir-jing's death, fell in the battle fighting

against each other, were regarded by many as a retribution of the divine juftice."

The advantage and necessity of the Christian Revelation, shewn from the state of religion in the ancient heathen world, especially with respect to the knowledge and worship of the one true God, a rule of moral duty, and a state of future rewards and punishments; to which is prefixed a preliminary discourse on Natural and Revealed Religion. In two volumes. By John Leland, D. D. author of the View of the Deistical Writers, &c, London.

T

HE world is already well acquainted with the labours of this ingenious and learned author in the cause of religion, by his View of the Deistical Writers, and his masterly refutation of their various fyftems of infidelity. We are, therefore, prepared to receive favourably any other work of the fame writer upon the fame fubject, in which he is fo perfectly, and, with fo much ability, converfant. The great drift of this book is to attack deifts in one of their principal ftrongholds, the fufficiency of natural reafon for the purposes of rational religion and fpeculative as well as practical morality. Agreeably to this intention the author propofes" to represent the ftate of religion in the gentile world, with refpect to that which lies at the foundation of all religion, the knowledge and worship of the one true God, in oppofition to idolatry and polytheism.

2dly, To confider what notions they had of moral duty, taken in its juft extent; a thing of the higheft importance to mankind. 3dly, To take a view of the notions which obtained among them of a future ftate of rewards and punishments; which is alfo a point of vaft confequence to the cause of religion and virtue in the world. Under thefe feveral heads, he does not pretend to argue from fpeculative hypothefes concerning the fuppofed powers of human nature; or to affirm that it is not poffible for any man, by the mere force of his own reafon, to attain to any rational perfuafion of these things; but proceeds upon fact and experience, which will help us to form the trueft judgment in this matter, and will fhew us what we are to expect from human reafon, if left merely to its own unaffifted force, in the present state of mankind."

This plan he has executed with great force of reafoning and great perfpicuity of ftyle; with a vaft compafs of erudition; and with that candour and ingenuoufness, with that mild and amiable temper, which always ought to accompany chriftian controverfy; and mult contribute fo highly to the efficacy of those powerful arguments, which are brought to fupport our religion. On the whole, we know no one performance fo full and fatisfactory on this fubject; nor any in which the author has fo fully accomplished what he propofes. Every thing is not new; though there is much that is fo. Perhaps the author did wifely in avoiding that af fectation; but then every thing