Mughal Administration c6.s1.5

c6.s1.5

From this it will be seen that the Mughal Emperor had no Cabinet in the modern sense of the term. His ministers were mere secretaries who carried out the royal will in matters of detail ; but they could never influence his policy except by the arts of gentle persuasion and veiled warning ; they never resigned if he rejected their counsels. In short, the ministers directed the administration only when the Emperor slept. Such ministerial control was really a violation of the spirit of the constitution, (if I may use the name, where the thing did not exist) ; it indicated a state of anarchy like the periods when the Witenagemot effectively controlled the royal government of Anglo-Saxon England.