1 A. D, 1758. HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. 17
2 prosperous and profitable: while in the midst of strug-
3 gles for dominion between contending nations, and in the
4 conflict of parties, and the intrigaes of chiefs, all stronger
5 than himself, he contrived to acquire something at every
6 change, and availed himself of every opportunity to ag-
7 grandize and strengthen his power, with adepth of cunning,
8 and a readiness which gained for him a high reputation
9 for wisdom. He was a master of the arts and shifts of
10 Indian diplomacy. The Sikhs he amused, and secured
11 immunity from their depredations, by occasionally paying
12 for their services, and he would even buy their forbear-
13 ance when too weak to coerce them. When his ruin was
14 determined upon by the Abdalee Afghans, he bribed
15 the Muhrattas to enter the field against them, and by this
16 means eflected the expulsion of the prince, who drove
17 bim to such extremity, together with his minister, whom
18 he suspected as the instigator of the mischief. How he
19 would have played his part in the great struggle impend-
20 ing between the Muhrattas and Abdalee Afghans can
21 only be surmised, death having saved him from the
22 vengeance or politic mercy of the Shah. He left no issue
23 or successor to perpetuate his name and authority, but his
24 memory lives in the Punjab, and he is respected even by
25 the Sikhs as the last of the Moghul rulers in their country.
26 The Muhrattas were now the ruling power of Hindoo-
27 stan ; their forces traversed the country, from the
28 Dukhun to the Indus, and Himalaya, and no one ven-
29 tured to take the field against them. The Moosulman
30 Soobahdars, who had asserted independence, in the deca-
31 dence of the Moghul empire, trembled for their prin-
32 cipalities, and seemed to have no alternative but sub-
33 mission, and the payment of Chout to this upstart
34 c