. 1793
Taken by Shah Shuja, brother of Shah Zaman . . 1795
Taken by Ranjit Singh, of Lahore, from Shah Shuja . 1813
Inherited by Dilip (Dhuleep) Singh,
reputed son of Ranjit Singh. . . . . 1839
Annexed, with the Panjab, and passed, through
John Lawrence’s waistcoat pocket
(see his Life), into the possession
of H.M. the Queen, its weight then being
186 1/16 English carats . . . . . 1849
Exhibited at Great Exhibition in London . . . 1851
Recut under supervision of Messrs. Garrards, and
reduced in weight to 106 1/16 English carats . 1852

The difference in weight between 268 19/50 carats in 1665 and 186 1/16 carats in 1849 seems to be due to mutilation of the stone during its stay in Persia and Afghanistan.

7.  The policy of the first Afghan War has been, it is hardly necessary to observe, much disputed, and the author’s confident defence of Lord Auckland’s action cannot be accepted.

CHAPTER 49

Pindhari System—­Character of the Maratha Administration—­Cause of their Dislike to the Paramount Power.

The attempt of the Marquis of Hastings to rescue India from that dreadful scourge, the Pindhari system, involved him in a war with all the great Maratha states, except Gwalior; that is, with the Peshwa at Puna, Holkar at Indore, and the Bhonsla at Nagpur; and Gwalior was prevented from joining the other states in their unholy league against us only by the presence of the grand division of the army, under the personal command of the Marquis, in the immediate vicinity of his capital.  It was not that these chiefs liked the Pindharis, or felt any interest in their welfare, but because they were always anxious to crush that rising paramount authority which had the power, and had always manifested the will, to interpose and prevent the free indulgence of their predatory habits—­the free exercise of that weapon, a standing army, which the disorders incident upon the decline and fall of the Muhammadan army had put into their hands, and which a continued series of successful aggressions upon their neighbours could alone enable them to pay or keep under control.  They seized with avidity any occasion of quarrel with the paramount power which seemed likely to unite them all in one great effort to shake it off; and they are still prepared to do the same, because they feel that they could easily extend their depredations if that power were withdrawn; and they know no other road to wealth and glory but such successful depredations.  Their ancestors rose by them, their states were formed by them, and their armies have been maintained by them.  They look back upon them for all that seems to them honourable in the history of their families.  Their bards sing of them in all their marriage and funeral processions; and, as their imaginations kindle at the recollection, they detest the arm that is extended