a quill or a roll of paper is inserted in the orifice to prevent it from closing.  Hastings placed in the cars of his messengers letters rolled up in the smallest compass.  Some of these letters were addressed to the commanders of English troops.  One was written to assure his wife of his safety.  One was to the envoy whom he had sent to negotiate with the Mahrattas.  Instructions for the negotiation were needed; and the Governor-General framed them in that situation of extreme danger, with as much composure as if he had been writing in his palace at Calcutta.

Things, however, were not yet at the worst.  An English officer of more spirit than judgment, eager to distinguish himself, made a premature attack on the insurgents beyond the river.  His troops were entangled in narrow streets, and assailed by a furious population.  He fell, with many of his men; and the survivors were forced to retire.

This event produced the effect which has never failed to follow every check, however slight, sustained in India by the English arms.  For hundreds of miles round, the whole country was in commotion.  The entire population of the district of Benares took arms.  The fields were abandoned by the husbandmen, who thronged to defend their prince.  The infection spread to Oude.  The oppressed people of that province rose up against the Nabob Vizier, refused to pay their imposts, and put the revenue officers to flight.  Even Bahar was ripe for revolt.  The hopes of Cheyte Sing began to rise.  Instead of imploring mercy in the humble style of a vassal, he began to talk the language of a conqueror, and threatened, it was said, to sweep the white usurpers out of the land.  But the English troops were now assembling fast.  The officers, and even the private men, regarded the Governor-General with enthusiastic attachment, and flew to his aid with an alacrity which, as he boasted, had never been shown on any other occasion.  Major Popham, a brave and skilful soldier, who had highly distinguished himself in the Mahratta war, and in whom the Governor-General reposed the greatest confidence, took the command.  The tumultuary army of the Rajah was put to rout.  His fastnesses were stormed.  In a few hours, above thirty thousand men left his standard, and returned to their ordinary avocations.  The unhappy prince fled from his country for ever.  His fair domain was added to the British dominions.  One of his relations indeed was appointed rajah; but the Rajah of Benares was henceforth to be, like the Nabob of Bengal, a mere pensioner.

By this revolution, an addition of two hundred thousand pounds a year was made to the revenues of the Company.  But the immediate relief was not as great as had been expected.  The treasure laid up by Cheyte Sing had been popularly estimated at a million sterling.  It turned out to be about a fourth part of that sum; and, such as it was, it was seized by the army, and divided as prize-money.