• A rcot.
company a' fword enriched with diamonds. Thefe did not
countervail the unmerited mortification impofed on him. In
1755* he had the pacific employ o f being fent to invite the
Nabob o f Arcot to Madras. He died in London, on January
ioth, 1775, aged 78; having attained only the rank of major-
general. He was lamented as a man and as a foldier. Let me
repeat his great eulogy in refpect to his military conduit, by
faying, that he was the f ir s t who introduced difcipline into
India, and of courfe enfured conqueit over native troops, till we,
by the wifdom o f an Ayder or a Lippoo, are faced by troops
equally trained in the leiTons of war taught by our illuitrious
veteran.
N ear to the banks of the Paliar, about fixty-fix miles from
the fea, Hands Arcot, the Arcati Regia Sorce o f Ptolemy, and
Soro-mandalam, corrupted into the modern Coromandel, giving
name to the whole coaft. The princes of which were called for
a long fucceflion Soren *. In far diitant times it became a
nabobihip: on the confufion which enfued after the invafion
o f Hindoojlan, by Kouli Khan, the perfidious Nizam al Muluc,
viceroy or foubah of the Decan, kept poffeffion o f that vaft
truft. Something ihould be given refpeding that infamous
traitor, who, to gratify his revenge againft rival courtiers, invited
KouliiKhan to invade Hindoojlan, After being the caufe
o f the ruin o f his mafter, the defolation of his country, and the
maffacres o f thoufands of his fellow-fubjeds, amidft the confufion
which enfued, he feized on great part of the Decan, over
which he prefided by the authority o f the emperor, dignified
* D ’Anyille, Antiq. de l'Inde, p. 327,
. with
with the title o f N izam u+ Muluc, or Regu lato r of the
Emp ir e . He made himfelf independent, and became lord
paramount over thirty nabobihips, fuch. as that o f Arcot, which
then comprehended the greateft part o f the Carnatic. Over
this.he appointed, in 1743, Anwar-o'Dien *, the fir ft particular
nabob. Future nabobs were gradually ftripped of much of
their territory. The Nizam had been educated under Aureng-
zebe, and lived to the year 1748, in which he died, at the uncommon
age o f 104; certainly a miracle for a great man to ef-
cape during fo long a period, the rage o f battle, private affaffi-
nation, or the jealoufy o f cotemporary princes. His fon fuc-
ceeded to his vaft dominions, which remain now in his pofte-
rity, and form one o f the great powers o f Hindoojlan in the
prefent time. The reigning Nizam was. one o f the confederate
alhqs engaged in our late war with Tippoo Sultan. At this time
the reigning Nabob o f Arcot, weakened and overwhelmed with
debts, has been told by us that it would be prudent in him to
cede to us his government. He feemed not quite o f our opinion,
and remonftrated againft i t ; and the affair, was referred
to the court o f dir«ftors : whether the equivalent offered to his
highnefs has been accepted by him, I am yet to learn. He lives
at Chepauk, a mile from Madras, in princely ftate; upon part
of the poffeflions for which the Rnglijh paid a fine to his pre-
deceffors, in acknowlegement o f the original permiftion, there
to form their fettlement.
T he city o f Arcot is of vaft extent. The fort is a mile in ClTr.
■circumference, ill built, and weakly defended in refpeft to
* Orme, p* 158. ;
V o l . II. • H ,1 11 v- ... - * walls,