Storia do Mogor 238.7.3

238.7.3

I will give [77] as an example the case of some Arab merchants, who came to court to complain that on their voyage with some Arab horses from Masqat to India, when about the latitude of Surat, some Farangi pirates had robbed them. Without another question the king ordered a letter to be sent forthwith to the governor of that port, ordering him at once to bind the Farangls, and send them to court to be punished. By these words he did the utmost that he could do. For the governor of Surat was unable to seize the thieves, nor could he send them to court. It is the habit of these kings to talk like this as a demonstration that they do not recognise any other power than their own. Usually there is some rebellion of the rajahs and zamindars going on in the Mogul kingdom. When the king is informed, he issues in public an order that the governors and faujdars be written to directing that they must assemble, destroy the rebels, and send their heads to court. If their forces are insufficient, let them report it, that he may send them troops to overcome the rebels, and eject them from the kingdom. At other times he will order the rebel to be sent in alive or dead, or else the governor must send his head (such orders are very easy to give and very difficult to execute).