fied places remained to the
English.

Hastings, when he heard of the calamity, instantly adopted the most
vigorous measures. He settled his difficulties with the Mahrattas; he
suspended the incapable governor of Fort George, and sent Sir Eyre
Coote to oppose the great Mohammedan prince who threatened to subvert
the English power in India.

But Hastings had not the money which was necessary to carry on an
expensive war with the most formidable enemy the English ever
encountered in the East. He therefore resolved to plunder the richest
and most sacred city of India--Benares. It was the seat of Indian
learning and devotion, and contained five hundred thousand people. Its
temple, as seen from the Ganges, was the most imposing in the Eastern
world, while its bazaars were filled with the most valuable and rare
of Indian commodities; with the muslins of Bengal, the shawls of
Cashmere, the sabres of Oude, and the silks of its own looms.

This rich capital was governed by a prince nominally subject to the
Great Mogul, but who was dependent on the Nabob of Oude, a large
province north of the Ganges, near the Himmaleh Mountains. Benares and
its territories, being oppressed by the Nabob of Oude, sought the
protection of the British. Their protection was, of course, readily
extended; but it was fatal to the independence of Benares. The
alliance with the English was like the protection Rome extended to
Greece when threatened by Asia, and which ended in the subjection of
both Greece and Asia. The Rajah of Benares became the vassal of the
company, and therefore was obliged to furnish money for the protection
he enjoyed.

But the tribute which the Rajah of Benares paid did not satisfy
Hastings. He exacted still greater sums, which led to an insurrection
and ultimate conquest. The fair domains of Cheyte Sing, the lord of
Benares, were added to the dominions of the company together with an
increased revenue of two hundred thousand pounds a year. The treasure
of the rajah amounted to two hundred and fifty thousand pounds, and
this was divided as prize money among the English.

[Sidenote: Robbery of the Princesses of Oude.]

The rapacious governor-general did not obtain the treasure which he
expected to find at Benares, and then resolved to rob the Princesses
of Oude, who had been left with immense treasures on the death of
Suraj-w Dowlah, the nabob vizier of the Grand Mogul. The only pretext
which Hastings could find was, that the