Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 10.3.5

10.3.5

and indeed, no principle of life and action could be communicated by those impotent Lords, and those Monsubdars and dignitaries so fertile in excuses, who swarmed in the capital as well as in camp, and most of whom were men of no capacity at all. As to those amongst them, that were capable of thinking, they did not dare to open any advice that might clash with QhandoSran's opinion, and the Emperor himself, whose favourite he was, and on whose mind he had acquired an unbounded influence followed by an absolute power over the whole Empire, was unwilling to listen to anything that might give him umbrage. That Prince used to write both to QhandoSran, on one hand, and to Camer-eddin-qhan, on the other, whatever came into his mind; and these two did not fail to excuse themselves by far-fetched reasons, and out-of-the-way considerations. Letters and consultations were perpetually passing and repassing between the Emperor and QhandoSran, and as an open communication was maintained betwixt the city and camp, it came at last to be the general wish of the Court, that an agreement should take place with the Marhattas. Qhandor-ran himself, now fully sensible, that to give a complete defeat to those freebooters was more than he could perform, and much beyond his courage, thought it best to leave both peace and war in a profound obscurity, and to envelope them both in a cloud of delicate policy that left every thing in suspense.