Storia do Mogor 210.3
Storia do Mogor (Irvine) 210.3
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210.3.1
Sometimes the soldiers sell their papers to these money-changers, who for a note of hand for one hundred rupees will give them twenty or twenty-five. It is by these and such-like extortions that these generals ruin the wretched soldier, who, unable to find other means of gaining his bread, is forced to remain on in his service. Speaking generally, it is impossible for them to escape such extortions, for these disorders reign throughout all the princes' establishments. If anyone resigns service at his own request, they deduct two months' pay. Actually, as I am writing on this subject, an affair has arisen at St. Thomé which proves the truth of what I say. One thousand soldiers from the fortress of Gingy (Jinjī), which is in the Carnate (Karnātik), have come to the aforesaid St. Thomé to pray the dīwān to give them enough to meet their expenses, not only for themselves, but for seven thousand others who had remained behind in the fortress. They ask this as a sum on account in respect of three years of pay owed to them by the king. At first he refused, but in spite of that they have so pressed him that at last he has given them five months' pay, half in money and half in old clothes, reckoned by him at a good deal above their value.
210.3.2
In these days many similar disputes occur, owing to the want of order in the government, and everybody's only thought is to steal. But whatever happens, it rarely reaches the king's ears, for he being old — some eighty-five years of age — and also taken up with this war against the Shiva Ji (the Mahrattahs), his empire, too, being of such a vast extent, he is unable to put a stop to all this injustice and misrule, which his ministers carry on with impunity. They tell him what they please, and having their friends and agents at court, they cause presents to be made to this man and that, by which means they obtain what they want, joined with impunity for everything. There are even some officers who, being far away from headquarters, do not obey the orders coming to them from the king; and when they are [30] commanded to relieve any place or assist any person, they invent excuses on the ground that they have not the requisite funds. Thereupon the king makes payment to them of some money out of his treasury, to be deducted thereafter from their pay. But in the interval it often happens that the enemy invade the country and carry off all they can find. These officers think only of their own interests, and they occasion great loss to private individuals recommended to them. This I have seen happen many times, and here is an instance which is quite recent.
210.3.3
It consists in what happened to the Chevalier Nouris (Sir William Norris), ambassador of England, this gentleman being on the point of starting from the port of Machhlipatnam on his way to court with four halberdiers with silver maces, men sent to him by the king to accompany him, and also a asbelocum (hasb-ul-hukm)—that is, a special order to all the viceroys, governors, and deputies to allow him passage, and to escort him to the frontier of each man's province. He made a start, but from the very first stage he was stopped by the faujdar, or king's deputy, who asserted that he must pay customs duty on what he was carrying. The man said the king's orders were worth nothing in this matter; the halberdiers wanted to intervene, but their protestations were equally without effect. The result was that the ambassador was forced to retrace his steps and sell all the animals he had, such as horses, camels, bullocks, etc., his carts, and other requisites for such journeys. This has caused him considerable loss through the great expense incurred, the whole of which was thrown away.
210.3.4
This ambassador afterwards embarked for the port of Surat in the month of August of the year 1700, meaning to travel thence to the court, and there renew his efforts for the establishment of the new English company's trade within the Mogul empire. Those gentlemen wrote me several letters, principally Jean Pitt, consul of the new company, praying me to help them in their business at the court, which I was unable to perform for many reasons.
210.3.5
By all that I have stated above it can be seen that the government of the Mogul empire is nothing but one vast disorder. Upon this it will not be, I think, inappropriate to recount another adventure concerning an old woman. This old woman complained to the king that the officials had taken her land ; and in reference thereto at six different times did the king give her his asbelocums (hasb-ul-hukm), or his written order, to get her back her property. In spite of all this, nothing came of it. When she came with a seventh rescript, the officials lost their temper, and had her thrust out with the words that, if she came again with orders like that, they would throw her into a place which they named plainly enough, but decency requires me to leave unsaid. Back went the good lady to complain to the king while he was seated giving audience ; she shouted out to him the answer she had got from his officials. Without getting angry, the prince replied that as they would not obey, he could do nothing, and she must lay her plaints before God. Yet it is by similar neglect that the kingdom has now been brought to ruin, for if Aurangzeb followed the course of his father, there would not be seen so much disorder as is to be found nowadays. For any such disobedience he (Shahjahan) had the man's head cut off, or took his life by means of venomous snakes.
210.3.6
In addition to all this, it is not alone the Mogul's officials who cause the maladministration, but the prince himself many a time does not keep his word. For he may make, be it to a prince or to a subject, the present of a province or of some allowance from it, or some other thing of considerable extent ; and he may confirm it by the royal farmdn usually issued in such cases (I will give a delineation of one further on). Nevertheless, it often happens that the present Mogul has no hesitation in falsifying his word and that of others, and making a mock of his own farmans. As an example of what I say, Shahjahan had given a village to 'All Mardan Khan, quite near the river Chenon (Chinab); it was called Nicader (Nikodar). It was given in perpetuity, for himself and his descendants. Aurangzeb, disregarding the word of his father and his king, and without the commission of any fault by 'All Mardan Khan, took possession of the place and ousted the possessor. He did just the same to Rajah Jai Singh, and occupied the lands conquered by that noble from the rebel Mewatls and those in the province of Saomber (Sambhar). This is just the way he behaved to Shiva jT, as I have related (II. 17). The Hindu king, the Rana, and many others that I do not mention, have suffered from the same sort of deception, not to call it anything more.
210.3.7
He also broke faith with the Dutch. On different occasions they sent embassies to the court to ask for a farmdn according them some privileges that they had long asked for without ever being able to obtain. At last, in the year 1688, they sent a person called Mr. Bald as their ambassador, with a superb and magnificent retinue, as a means of demonstrating their power. They also sent a considerable present for the King, which had cost more than two hundred thousand pieces of eight, this without counting all the expenses he incurred during the year's time he was made to wait before he got his letters answered. Nevertheless, during his stay the king gave him many marks of favour, honoured him with the title of Golzar can (Gulzar Khan)—that is, 'Great and Flourishing'—and at length sent him away with a properly-executed farman, which granted to his nation the privileges they asked for.
210.3.8
When the ambassador had returned to Masulipatam, the Dutch, relying on the king's word and on the farman they had obtained from him, sent some bullocks and carts loaded with merchandise, such as spices, broadcloth, copper, and other things, to be sold at various spots in the empire. But at the very start the whole was stopped by the king's officers, who demanded payment to them of customs' duty, saying that the farman did not deal with that question. This affair raised some amount of dispute between the two parties, and the officers wrote to court that the farman obtained by the Dutch had raised their pride and haughtiness to such a degree that, abandoning all respect for His Majesty's officers, they had raised their hands against them. They aggravated still more the offence [32] they pretended to have received by several additional details. Thereupon the king, without having heard the Dutch story, set aside the farman he had issued to them, and declared it of no effect.