Reported On This Day 280 Years Ago (July 7 1739): Iran leader blitzes his way through Afghanistan towards India

From the Belfast News Letter of June 26 1739 (which is July 7 in the modern calendar:
The News Letter of June 26 1739 (July 7 in the modern calendar)The News Letter of June 26 1739 (July 7 in the modern calendar)
The News Letter of June 26 1739 (July 7 in the modern calendar)

PERSIA. Ispahan, August 30. [This must be 1739, see note below about slow way news travelled]

THAMAS Kouli-Kan is thought to be aiming at the conquest of Indostan; for after the victories he gained over the Turks, and making peace with them, he returned to Ispahan, the capital of Persia, where, after a short stay to settle the kingdom to his mind, he set out with a very numerous army for Candahar, a frontier town belonging to the Mogul, which by these people was thought impregnable, (‘tis the place where Merrweys, that plunder’d Ispahan about twelve years ago, carried the riches of Persia) but the Schach Nadir took it at one assault, razed all the fortifications and built a new wall round it, and strong forts, and call’d it Nadirabad.

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He has since taken Cabull, another very strong place, and the only one that can hinder his march to Delhi, where the Mogul keeps his court.

He has not yet taken the castle of Cabull; but we expect to hear the news of its surrender daily, for he is making preparations for the march of his army to the province of Multan, which is the road to Delhi.

Notwithstanding these great successes, the Mogul does not seem inclinable to meet him himself, nor send any of his generals with an army to oppose him, tho’ he certainly can raise a multitude of people, Moors and Tartars only, besides the forces of the Gentoo Rajahs, who are tributary to him, and four or five of them capable of sending him 200,000 men each; but such is the case, the kingdom for several years past has been in a distracted state occasioned first by the Omrah’s jealousies of each other’s greatness, which led them to indulge the Mogul with women, and every thing that tended to luxury, to give them an opportunity the better to pursue their separate interests; which management of the courtiers in a short time encouraged the Gentoo princes to play their game in turn, and sometimes one, sometimes another, disputed paying their tributes, which has given them a deal of trouble to the Mogul to keep them in tolerable order;

and it’s believed, if they take it in their heads to oppose Thamas Kouli-Kan, by the time they could all agree to unite their forces, he would reach Delhi;

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and if so, his judgment in war so far exceeds the best of the Mogul’s generals, and his men being so much superior in courage and strength to any in those parts, it’s more than probable he’d shortly have it in his option to sit on the throne of Indostan or Persia.

[Ispahan was capital of Persia in the 1600s. Kouli-Kan, or Schach Nadir, was shah of Iran or Persia. Indostan would now be much of northern India. This is a report on the invasion of the Mogul empire, that covered much of that area. At the time of this report, the shah had in fact already sacked the capital of the empire, Delhi, in March, slaughtering thousands of civilians. However, it seems that word of this bloody victory had not reached his Persian base, because it was a vast distance away, 2,000 miles, to be covered on horseback or foot. Even if a messenger had travelled at the then swift pace of 40 miles a day, it would have taken two months]

ITALY. Rome, May 20, O.S. The Chevalier de St. George, with his two sons, set out yesterday for Albano, where they intend to pass away the summer. [James, Chevalier de St George, was son of James II, who lost the 1690 Battle of the Boyne]

Leghorn, June 3. The famous rebel Sare-Bey-Oglou being no longer in a condition to support himself, has made overtures of submission to the Porte; and it is thought they will be accepted.

FRANCE. Paris, June 15.

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The 15th, a woman 38 years of age in Clery-street, was brought to bed of two daughters, joined together: their heads turn’d to each other’s face; the breasts and the rest of the body well formed, and both of the same size, holding together by the belly, and having but one navel.

They were very weakly, and died soon after their birth.

[The phrase Siamese twins would not be coined for another century, until the mid 1830s]

The 13th at night arrived at court a courier from Corsica, with the remarkable News, that the marquis de Maillebois having attack’d the rebels on the side of Nebbio, whilst M. de Chapel by concert did the same on the side of Balagna, and M. de Larnage on that of St. Pelegrino, gained a compleat victory, and made themselves masters of the whole province of Balagna, whose inhabitants they have since disarmed. The loss of the enemy was very considerable, but on our side very small. [De Maillebois was a French general. France was helping Genoa suppress Corsican rebels]

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