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CHAPTER XX

Progress of events during the Seven Years War in Europe, America, and the East Indies. DURING the period we have been describing, in which the west and north of Europe resounded with the cries of distress or the shouts of victory, the throne of Hindostan was filled by Mahmoud Shah, a voluptuous prince; who, in order to avoid becoming the object of personal hatred, confided all public business to the nobles and his ministers: these officers offended or neglected the subahdar of the Deccan, who invited Nadir Shah to invade the East Indies. In 1738 the Persian warrior marched into that country at the head of an army inured to war and greedy of plunder, and defeated with the utmost ease the innumerable but disorderly troops of the mogul. The crown and sceptre of Mahmoud lay at the feet of his conquerer: Delhi, his capital, was taken; every individual whose appearance rendered it probable that he was acquainted with concealed treasures, was subjected to the most horrid tortures; and it is asserted that 100,000 persons were massacred in one day! He plundered the country of upwards of thirty millions sterling, and extended the bounds of his empire to the banks of the Indus.