27. Francklin says that the troops overtook the fugitives 'at the village of Kerwah, in the begum's jaghire, four miles distant from her capital', (p. 58.)
28. 'For three days it lay exposed to the insults of the rabble, and was at length thrown into a ditch.' (Francklin, p. 60.)
29. According to George Thomas (whose version of the story is given by his biographer), the Bēgam, when the mutiny broke out, was actually preparing to attack Thomas. A German officer, known only as the Liègeois, strenuously dissuaded the Bēgam from the proposed hostilities, and was, in consequence, degraded by Le Vaisseau. The troop then mutinied, and swore allegiance to Zafar Yāb Khān. (Francklin, p. 37.)
30. Thomas says that the overtures came from the Bēgam. 'In a manner the most abject and desponding, she addressed Mr. Thomas . . . implored him to come to her assistance, and, finally, offered to pay any sum of money the Marāthās should require, on condition they would reinstate her in the Jāgīr. On receipt of these letters, Mr. Thomas, by an offer of 120,000 rupees, prevailed on Bāpū Sindhia to make a movement towards Sardhana.' After negotiation, Thomas marched to Khataulī, and 'publicly gave out that unless the Bēgam was reinstated in her authority, those who resisted must expect no mercy; and to give additional weight to this declaration, he apprised them that he was acting under the orders of the Marāthā chiefs.' After some difficulty, 'she was finally reinstated in the full authority of her Jāgīr'. This version of the affair, it will be noticed, does not quite agree with that given more briefly by the author.
31. The paper was written by a Muhammadan, and he would not write Christ the Son of God. It is written 'In the name of God, and his Majesty Christ'. The Muhammadans look upon Christ as the greatest of prophets before Muhammad; but the most binding article of their faith is this from the Korān, which they repeat every day: 'I believe in God, who was never begot, nor has ever begotten, nor will ever have an equal,'—alluding to the Christians' belief in the Trinity. [W. H. S.] For Mohammed's opinion of Jesus Christ see especially chapters 4 and 5 of the Korān.
32. To my mind the circumstances all tend to throw suspicion on the Bēgam. The author evidently was disposed to form the beat possible opinion of her character and acts.
33. After the Bēgam's death the revenue settlement of the estate was made by Mr. Plowden, who writes in his report, as quoted in N.W.P. Gazetteer, 1st ed., vol. iii, p. 432, 'The rule seems to have been fully recognized and acted up to by the Bēgam which declared that, according to Muhammadan law, "there shall be left for every man who cultivates his lands as much as he requires for his own support, till the next crop be reaped, and that of his family, and for seed. This much shall be left to him; what remains is land-tax, and shall go to the public treasury." For, considering her territory as a private estate and her subjects as serfs, she appropriated the whole produce of their labour, with the exception of what sufficed to keep body and soul together. It was by these means . . . that a factitious state of prosperity was induced and maintained, which, though it might, and I believe did, deceive the Bēgam's neighbours into an impression that her country was highly prosperous, could not delude the population into content and happiness. Above the surface and to the eye all was smiling and prosperous, but within was rottenness and misery. Under these circumstances the smallness of the above arrear is no proof of the fairness of the revenue. It rather shows that the collections were as much as the Bēgam's ingenuity could extract, and this balance being unrealizable, the demand was, by so much at least, too high.' The statistics alluded to are:
Average demand of the portions of the Bēgam's Rs.
Territory in the Meerut district . . . . 5.86.650
Average collections . . . . . . 5.67.211
Balances . . . . . . . . 19.439
'Ruin was impending, when the Bēgam's death in January, 1836, and the consequent lapse of the estate to the British, induced the cultivators to return to their homes.'
Details of the Bēgam's military forces are given in N.W.P. Gazetteer, vol. iii, p. 295. For the last thirty years of her life the Bēgam had no need for the large force (3,371 officers and men, with 44 guns) which she maintained. In her excessive expenditure on a superfluous army, in her niggardly provision for civil administration, and in her merciless rack- renting, she followed the evil example of the ordinary native prince, and was superior only in the unusual ability with which she worked an unsound and oppressive System. She left £700,000. The population of Sardhana town has risen from 3,313 in 1881 to 9,242 in 1911.