A History of the Mahrattas v1.c30.126

v1.c30.126

The management of the police, and the administration of civil and criminal justice, were in a great degree entrusted to the Mamlitdars. The police magistrates were the Patell, the Mamlitdar, and, where the office existed, the Sur-soobehdar. The Deshmookhs and Deshpandyas were left in the enjoyment of their hereditary rights, but their ancient power was suspended, and though permitted to collect their own dues, they were seldom referred to, except in ascertaining local usages, and occasionally in arbitrating differences. The police, except in the city of Poona, was very imperfect; but considering the defective state of the executive authority, even in the best times of the Mahratta government, and the unsettled predatory habits of so large a portion of undisciplined soldiery accustomed to violence and rapine, it is, at first view, surprising that the lives and properties of the peaceable part of society were so secure. But the military were pretty equally dispersed; every village could defend its inhabitants or avenge aggression; and members who disgraced the community were too much bound by the opinion of their family connections, their own interests, and the power of the village officers, to become entirely lawless. The Mahratta usage, of generally returning during the rains, preserved all those ties; and though it might prove inconvenient to an ambitious sovereign, it greatly tended to domestic order and tranquillity. The great use which the Peishwas made of attachment to wutun, and the preference in promoting an officer, shown to those who could boast of hereditary rights, was in many respects a most politic and judicious mode of encouraging a species of patriotism, and applying national feelings to purposes of good government.