The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-06-06
THE CONQUERORS OF
INDIA

INDIA
| When the present king of England
was proclaimed emperor of India, all
! the princes and governors of that en-
| pire presented their swords in hom-
age. This homage was rendered at
Delhi, the ancient capital of Hindu
stan; and it is only one hundred and
twenty years since Delhi fell, and Hin
dustan surrendered to the British
arms. We have to deal with the events
that led up to the conquest of India.
The Moslem sultans, sons of the
Great Mogul, had long reigned over
Hindustan, but in 1854 Shah Alan,
last of these emperors, was driven
from Delhi. In his ruin he appealed
for help to Madhoji Scindhia, Hindu
! prince from the South, who kindly
| restored the emperor to his palace,
then gave him into the keeping of a
| jailer, who gouged out the old mans
eyes. Still Shah Alan, the blind, help
less, and at times very hungry pris-
oner, was emperor of Northern India,
and in his august name Scindhia led
the armies to collect the taxes Of Hin
dustan. No tax was collected without
battle.
| Scindhia himself was one of many
turbulent Mahratta princes subject to
the peshwa of Poona, near Bombay.
He had to sit on the peshwa's head
at Poona, and the emperor's head at
Delhi, while he fought the whole no
bility and gentry of India, and kept
one eye cooked for British invasions
| from the seaboard. The British held
the ocean, surrounded India, and were
advancing inland. Madhoji Scindhia
was very busy man.
He had never heard of tourists, and
when De Boigne, an italian gentle
| man, came up-country to see the sights,
his highness, seeming spy, stole the
poor mans luggage. De Boigne, vet
eran of the French and Russian armies,
and lately retired from the British
service, was annoyed at the loss of
his luggage, and having nothing left
but his sword, offered the use Of that
| to Scindhia's nearest enemy. In those
days scores of Europeans, mostly
French, and scandalous rogues as a
rule, were serving in native armies.
| Though they liked a fight, they so
loved money that they would sell their
masters to the highest bidder. Scind-
hia observed that De Boigne was a
pretty good man, and the Savoyard
adventurer was asked to enter his
service
De Boigne proved honest, faithful
| to his prince, tireless worker, glori-
| Gus leader, the very pattern of manli-
ness. The battalions which he raised
| for Scindhia were taught the art of
war as known in Europe, they were
| well armed, fed, disciplined, and paid
their wages; they were led by capable
| white men, and always victorious in
| the field. At Scindhia's death, De
Boigne handed over to the young
prince Daulat Rao, his heir, an army
Of forty thousand men, which had
never known defeat, together with the
sovereignty of India.
The new Scindhia was rotten, and
now the Italian, broken down with
| twenty years of service, longed for
his home among the Italian vineyards.
Before parting with his highness, he
warned him rather to disband the
whole army than ever be tempted into
conflict with the English. So De
Boigne laid down the burden Of the
Indian empire and retired to his vine
| yards in Savoy There for thirty years
he befriended the poor, lived simply,
entertained royalty, and so died full
! of years and honors.
While De Boigne was still fighting
| for Scindhia, a runaway Irish sailor
had drifted up-country, and taken serv-
| ice in one of the native states as a
| private soldier. George Thomas was
as chivalrous as De Boigne, with a
great big heart, clear head, ter
| rife sword, and a reckless delight in
war. Through years of rough-and-
| tumble adventure he fought his way
upward, until with his own army OF
| five thousand men he invaded and
| conquered the Hariana. This district,
| inst to the westward of Delhi, was a
desert, peopled by tribes so fierce that
they had never been subdued, but
| their Irish king won all their hearts,
and they settled down quite peacefully
! under his government His revenue
was eighteen hundred thousand pounds
q year. At Hansi, his capital town,
he coined his own money, cast his
own cannon, made muskets and pow
der, and set up a pension fund for
| widows and orphans of his soldiers.
| All round him were hostile states, and
| whenever he felt dull he conquered
kingdom or so, and levied tribute.
IL his men went hungry, he starved
with them; If they were weary, he
marched afoot; the army worshiped
him. and the very terror of his name
brought strong cities to surrender, put
legions of Sikh cavalry to flight. All
things seemed possible to such a man,
even the conquest of great Hindustan.
De Boigne had been succeeded as
| commander-in-chief under Scindhia
by Perron, runaway sailor, a
| Frenchman, able and strong. De
Boigne's power had been little thing
! compared with the might and splendor
of Perron, who actually reigned over
Hindustan, stole the revenues and
treated Sctndhia's orders with con-
tempt. Perron feared only one man