to retain it a month. I was then a boy;
but I remember well that there were, besides my mother and sisters,
many respectable females that would have rather perished in the
flames than come out to expose themselves to the crowd that assembled
to see the fires; and had the fires not been put out, a great many
lives must have been lost; besides, there were many old people and
young children who could not have escaped.' The old Aga was going off
to take up his quarters at Delhi when this conversation took place;
and I am sure that he told me what he thought to be true. This
narrative corresponded exactly with that of several other old men
from whom I had heard the story. It should be recollected that among
natives there is no particular mode of execution prescribed for those
who are condemned to die; nor, in a camp like this, any court of
justice save that of the commander in which they could be tried, and,
supposing the guilt to have been established, as it is said to have
been to the satisfaction of the Begam and the principal officers, who
were all Europeans and Christians, perhaps the punishment was not
much greater than the crime deserved and the occasion demanded. But
it is possible that the slave girls may not have set fire to the
buildings, but merely availed themselves of the occasion of the fire
to run off; indeed, slave girls are under so little restraint in
India, that it would be hardly worth while for them to burn down a
house to get out. I am satisfied that the Begam believed them guilty,
and that the punishment, horrible as it was, was merited. It
certainly had the desired effect. My object has been to ascertain the
truth in this case, and to state it, and not to eulogize or defend
the old Begam.

After Paoli's death, the command of the troops under the Begam
devolved successively upon Baours, Evans, Dudrenec, who, after a
short time, all gave it up in disgust at the beastly habits of the
European subalterns, and the overbearing insolence to which they and
the want of regular pay gave rise among the soldiers. At last the
command devolved upon Monsieur Le Vaisseau, a French gentleman of
birth, education, gentlemanly deportment, and honourable
feelings.[20] The battalions had been increased to six, with their
due proportion of guns and cavalry; part resided at Sardhana, her
capital, and part at Delhi, in attendance upon the Emperor. A very
extraordinary man entered her service about the same time with Le
Vai