cultivators migrated in large numbers to other territories, or sought shelter in the forests. There, the refugees formed themselves into a plundering banditti, who became the terror of Western India, and helped to swell the Pindárí hordes during the first quarter of the present century. The mushroom Maráthá princes of Nágpur came into conflict with the British in 1803, and their power was broken by the Duke of Wellington on the field of Assaye. In 1817, the fourth Raja conspired against the English Government, treacherously attacked our Resident, was defeated, and pardoned. A second series of treacheries, however, brought about his ruin, and compelled him to fly into a life-long exile.
In 1818, the State of Nágpur was thus left without a ruler, at the disposal of the British Government. The Marquis of Hastings reconstituted a portion of it as a subordinate Native State under the nominal rule of an infant descendant of the second Raja, but under the actual administration of an English Resident, Sir Richard Jenkins. The period of minority which followed was long looked back to by the inhabitants as the golden age of Nágpur. After the boy prince attained his majority in 1830, the scene changed. He quickly disclosed a distaste for business and a passion for the lowest forms ot debauchery. As he grew older he dissipated the treasure which had been accumu-
