25.  It is impossible within the limits of a note to give an account of the extraordinary career of General De Boigne.  His Indian adventures began in 1778, and terminated in September 1796, when he retired from Sindhia’s service, and sold his private regiment of Persian cavalry, six hundred strong, to Lord Cornwallis, on behalf of the East India Company, for three lakhs of rupees (about L30,000).  He settled in his native town, Chamberi in Savoy, and lived, in the enjoyment of his great wealth, and of high honours conferred by the sovereigns of France and Italy, until 21st June, 1830.  He was created a Count, and was succeeded in the title by his son.  See G. M. Raymond, Memoire sur la Carriere Militaire et Politique de M. le General Comte de Boigne, 2ieme ed., Chambery, 1830.  Nine chapters of Mr. Herbert Compton’s book, A Particular Account of European Military Adventurers of Hindustan (London, 1892), are devoted to De Boigne.

26.  The cession of Gohad to Sindhia, sanctioned in the year 1805, during the brief and inglorious second term of office of Lord Cornwallis, was effected by Sir George Barlow.  The transaction is severely censured by Thornton (History, p. 343) as a breach of faith.  Gwalior was given up to Sindhia along with Gohad.  In January 1844, shortly after the battle of Maharajpur, Gwalior was again occupied by the forces of the Company, and the fortress (save for the Mutiny period) continued in British occupation until the 2nd December 1885, when Lord Dufferin restored it to Sindhia in exchange for Jhansi.  In June 1857 the Gwalior soldiery mutinied and massacred the Europeans, but the Maharaja remained throughout loyal to the English Government.

Sir Hugh Rose recaptured the place by assault on the 28th June 1858.  In the changed circumstances of the country, and with regard to the modern developments of the art of war, the Gwalior fortress is now of slight military value.

27.  The territory of the Dholpur chief is about fifty-four miles long by twenty-three broad.  The town of Dholpur is nearly midway between Agra and Gwalior.  The revenue is estimated by Thornton (1858) as seven lakhs, not only three lakhs as stated by the author.  It was about eight lakhs in 1904 (I.G., 1908).

CHAPTER 37

 Content for Empire between the Sons of Shah Jahan.

Under the Emperors of Delhi the fortress of Gwalior was always considered as an imperial State prison, in which they confined those rivals and competitors for dominion whom they did not like to put to a violent death.  They kept a large menagerie, and other things, for their amusement.  Among the best of the princes who ended their days in this great prison was Sulaiman Shikoh, the eldest son of the unhappy Dara.[1] A narrative of the contest for empire between the four sons of Shah Jahan may, perhaps, prove both interesting and instructive; and, as I shall have occasion, in the course of my rambles, to refer to the characters who figured in it, I shall venture to give it a place. . . .[2]