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Full text of "The Indian Empire
"
See other formats
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Jumma Musjid, Mandoo -
The Water Palace, Mandoo.
The Fortress of Dowlutahad -
Aurungzebe’s Tomh, Rozah -
View of Sassoor, inthe Deecan -
Tombs of the Kings, Goleonda_ -
The British Basteleney at Ay, derabad
Bejapoor -
Sultan Mahomed Shah's Ton Bejapoor
Seven-storied Palace, Bejapoor -
Palaec of the Seven Stories, Bejapoor
Mosque of Mustapha Khan, Bejapoor
Tomh of Thrahim Padshah, Sys
Taj Bowlee, Bejapoor - -
Asser Mahal, Bejapoor - Ce
Singhan Mahal, Torway, Bejapoor
Hlindoo Temples and Palace, Madura
Entrance to the Cave of Elephanta
Triad Figure, interior of Elepbanta
Cave of Kar li - - -
Front View of Kylas, Caves of Ellora
To face page 57
To face page 479
479
493
159
- 153
20 face page
Exeavated enaale of Hes Caves of
Ellora - - a
Dus Outar, I tora - - -
Rameswur, Caves of Ellora - -
Skeleton Group in the JET, Caves of.
Ellora - io
Interior of Dher Warra, Ellora -
Sutteeism on the banks ‘of the Ganges -
View of Allahahad, showi inn the Fort
View of Lueknoww -
Dewan Khass, or Hall of Andyenees iPlay of
Delhi - -
Agra— View of the Prineipat Street
Tomh of Elmad-ud-Dowlah, Agra
‘The Residency, Lucknow - -
The 1lill Fortress of Gwalior -
View of Delhi, from the Palace Gate
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INTRODUCTION.
Tus Anglo-Indian Empire! what do these words represent in the minds of the
people of Britain ?
They speak of dominion over a far-distant sunny land, rich in barbaric gold,
. =]
precious stones, and architectural beauty, occupying upwards of a million square
miles of the most varied, fertile, and interesting portion of this globe, and
inhabited by more than one hundred million of the human race.
The carly history of this wonderful country lies hid in deep obscurity. Not
the obscurity that naturally attends insignificance, but, far otherwise, caused by
the dense veil which Time drew around Ancient India, in thickening folds, during
centuries of deterioration; leaving the ruins of magnificent cities, and widely-
scattered records graven in mysterious characters on almost imperishable
materials, to attest the existence of civilised races—regarding whom even
tradition is silent—at a date long prior to the Christian era,
Whenee India was peopled, is quite unknown; but thirty different Jan-
guages, and an cqual diversity of appearance and character, dress, manners,
and customs, seem to indicate long-continued immigration from various quarters.
The Alexandrine era (b.c. 330) throws light on little beyond the Macedonian
invasion of the north-western frontier; the Arab incursions (A.p. 709) afford
only a few glimpses of the borders of the Indus; and the thirteen expeditions of
Mahmood the Ghuznivede (a.p. 1000 to 1025), give little beyond a vague and
general idea of the wealth of the country and the dense population of the
Western Coast, whose idolatry Mahmood was empowered to scourge with the
strong arm of an Iconoclast; though he himself was but an instrument in the
hands of Providence; and in battering down guardian fortresses and destroying
temples and shrines dedicated to false gods, had evidently no higher motive
than that of pillaging the dedicated treasures, and carrying away the worshippers
into slavery.
From this period we can faintly trace the progress of Mohammedan con-
quest in India, to the establishment of the dynasty known as the Slave Kings
of Dethi (A.v. 1208.) Its founder, NKootb-oo-decn, originally a ‘Turki slave,
established the centre of Moslem dominion in the grand old Tindoo capital,
chiefly by reason of the disunion which had arisen among the leading Rajpoot
princes upon the failure of a direct heir, and the consequent jealousies and
disputes regarding the suececssion.
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| of them have left records not only of the public events in which they played a
| Aurungzebe (4.D. 1658), the ablest and most powerful, but the most ambitious and
formed by the Hindoo adventurer, Sevajec, into a powerful state; the hated and
|
=
ee
INTRODUCTION.
Then the page of history becomes more and more legible until it records |
the invasion of Timur or Tamerlane (a.p. 1398), the terrible details of the siege
of Delhi, and the general massacre in which it terminated; and all the horrors
enacted before “the apostle of desolation” took his departure, carrying off men
and women of all ranks and ages into slavery, and leaving the devoted city
withont a government, and almost without inhabitants.
The succeeding Indian annals, though confused, are tolerably full to the
commencement of that important epoch which comprises the reigns of the
Great Moguls. This brings us within the pale of modern history: we can note
the growth and decay of Mogul dominion, and trace, at least in measure, the
operating causes of its extension and decline. Viewed as a mere series of
biographies, the lives of the Great Moguls attract by incidents, which the
pen of fiction, fettered by attention to probability, would hardly venture to
trace. The members of this dynasty had a decidedly literary turn, and several
leading part, but also of the domestic scenes in which they figured as sons,
husbands, or fathers.
The value of these memoirs in elucidating or corroborating the histories of
the period, is, of conrse, very great, and their authenticity rests on solid gronnds,
apart from the strong internal evidence they afford of having been actually
written by the persons whose names they bear.
Nothing can be more characteristic than the intense self-adulation with
which Timur, or Tamerlane, narrates his perfidions and sanguinary career,
except perhaps the peculiar power of observation and analysis brought to bear
on new scenes which mark the autobiography of his descendant Baber, who,
following in his footsteps, invaded India from Cabool, and, after a fierce struggle
on the plains of Paniput (a.p. 1526), gained easy possession of Delhi and Agra,
and sneceeded in laying the foundation of an extensive empire.
Humayun (a.p. 1530), Akber (a.p, 1556), Jehangeer (A.D. 1605), Shah Jeban
(A.D. 1628), all encountered vicissitudes of the most singular and varied character;
and the Mogul history increases in interest until it culminates in the long reign of
bigoted of his race. During his sway the predatory hordes of Maharashtra were
despised Mahrattas grew strong upon the spoil of independent kingdoms demolished
by the hanghty emperor; and finally, his troops, worn by incessant toil, became
mutinous for want of pay and provisions, and suflered their aged leader to be
hunted even to the death by foes he had been accustomed to treat as utterly
contemptible. The decay of the empire, which commenced several years before
= oe
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rebelling against their govermucnt and warring with the rulers of neighbouring
‘states or provinces, aggravated the internal disorganisation. Nor were external |
foes wanting to complete the work of destruction: adventurers of all creeds and
complexions fought ficreely over the ruins; while, distancing meancr com-
petitors, Nadir Shah (a.v. 1739) and Ahmed Shah (a.p. 1759), the robber
Kings of Persia and Affghanistan, swooped down like vultures to seeure
their share of the carcass; and the chicf cities of India, especially Delhi, |
repeatedly witnessed the niost sanguinary enomnitics, and continued to do so
until, one by one, they became gradually included in the widening cirele of
British supremacy.
And why dwell thus on the past at such a crisis as this, when the magic |
circle of our power has been rudely broken—when Delhi, filled to overflowing
with all the munitions of war, has been treacherously snatched from our
unsuspectine hands—and when the Crescent, raised again in deadly strife
against the Cross, has been reared aloft as if in testimony that the Moslems
who came into India proclaiming war to the death against idolatry, have
quite abandoned their claim to a Divine mission, and are affecting to make
common cause with the Hindoos, whose creed and practice they formerly
| declaimed against with so much horror and disgust?) Now Mohammedans
and Hindoos unite in committing crimes of a character so deep and deadly,
so foul and loathsome, that we find no parallel for them; not in the relentless, |
inventive vengeance of the Red Indians; not even in that crisis of civilised |
infidelity, that fierce paroxysm of the Freneli Revolution, still shudderingly
ealled the “ Reign of Terror.” ‘The Red Republicans made publie avowal of
atheism; and awful was the depravity into which they sank, world-wide the |
shame they incurred: but recantation soon followed. ‘hese treacherous |
Sepoys, who have so suddenly risen in a body, violating every oath of fidelity, |
INTRODUCTION, 3
the death of Aurmigzebe (1.p. 1707), then beeame rapid; usurping viceroys,
every tie of feeling and association—they, too, have their watchword: it is
not “There is no God;” it is “ Death to the Christians 1”
As in France, uo religious persecution, but rather a state of conventional |
_apathy, leavened by the poison of Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet, and their |
clique, preceded the atheistical and sanguinary outburst; even so has it | |
been with India, Efforts for the extension of Christianity have been wholly | |
exceptional; the rule has been tolerance, amounting to indifference, in all
religious matters. Jew who have been in the habit of reading Indian
periodicals, much less of mixing in Indian society, will deny that, however
manifest the desire for the diffusion of the Gospel might be in individuals, the
government had remained markedly neutral.
|
t
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4 INTRODUCTION.
The Mussulmans, let it be repeated, subjugated and governed India in
the character of anti-idolaters. They tolerated—and barely tolerated—the
heathenism around them, to which their aversion was, for the most part,
quite undisguised; and they were always eager for individual conversions.
Their open assertion of the superiority of their faith was viewed as natural
by the Hindoos; nor does any angry feeling appear to have been excited, save
‘in exceptional cases of actual persecution. Aurungzebe certainly alienated a
large portion of his subjects by reviving a long-abandoned capitation-tax on
infidels; and whether he did this from a desire to refill the treasury emptied
_ by incessant warfare, or from sheer bigotry, the result was the same. Many
causes (among which may be named, not as the avowed ones, but certainly
not as the least powerful—sloth and sensuality, fostered by an enervatine
elnnate) have concurred in rendering the Indian followers of Mohammed
comparatively regardless of that integral portion of their creed which
enjoins its extension by all and every means. But no earnest believer in
‘the Koran can be tolerant of idolatry; and therefore, when we hear of
| Moslem and Hindoo linked together in a most unprovoked erusade against
Christians, it is manifest that the pretext is altogether false, and that the
Mussulman, who is taught by the book he deems inspired never to name our
Blessed Lord without reverence, or idols without abhorrence, cannot now be
actuated by any religious motive, however perverted or fanatical, in violating
the first principles of his faith and by affected sympathy with the professors
of a creed heretofore declared utterly polluted and debasing, using them
as dupes and tools in carrying out an incendiary plot, the planned details
of which only Devil-worshippers, possessed by unclean spirits, could have
been supposed capable of conceiving and executing. The conspiracy, beyond
a doubt, has originated in the desire of the Molammedans to recover their
lost supremacy in India. Its immediate and secondary causes are involved
in temporary obscurity; but the primum mobile must be sought tor in the
pages of history. It is true the flame has spread like wildtire: but the
important question for those who are capable of grappling with the com-
plicated bearings of this all-engrossing subject, is not—what hand applied
the match? but how came such vast masses of combustibles to be so widely
spread, so ready for ignition?
To understand this in any satisfactory degree, the inquirer must be
content to begin at the beginning, by carefully weighing the fragmentary
records we possess of the history and character of the Hindoos as a distinct
people, noting the causes which led to their gradual subjugation by the
Moslems; next, those which paved the way for the introduction of Muropean
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—
INTRODUCTION. 5
Powers; and, lastly, the establishment and operation of British supremacy
throughout India.
The imdifference which the British nation and its rulers have so
long evinced to the study of Asiatic history, has been most unfortunate.
Wrapped in fancied seeurity, we have been too ignorant to be anxious, too
indolent to be watchful; and the few who have felt it an tnperative duty to
speak words of warning by bringing the experience of the past to bear upon |
the signs of the present, have found themselves set down as alarmists on this
point at lest, whatever their general character for ability and sound judg- |
ment. Yet the fact is certain, that almost every leading anthority from the |
date of our earliest assumption of territorial power, has dwelt forcibly on the |
necessity for unsleeping vigilance im the administration of Indian allairs. |
This conviction has been the invariable result of extensive acquaintanee with |
the natives, and it is abundantly corroborated by the recorded antecedents
of both Hindoos and Mohammedans.
The history of India, whether in early times or during the Mohammedan
epoch, is—as the brief onthne sketched in preeeding pages was designed to
indicate—-no less interesting as a narrative than important in its bearing on
the leading events of the present epoch, which, in fact, cannot, without it, be
rendered intelligible. The struggles of Huropean Powers for Asiatic ascen-
dancy, form leading features in the annals of each of these states. Portugal |
was first in the field, and long and fierce was the combat she waged to
maintain exelusive possession of the rich monopoly of Oriental commerce.
The Dutch (then known as the Netherlanders) enjoyed a share of the
profits in the capacity of carriers between the Portuguese factories and the} |
northern nations of Europe; but when, in 1579, they formed themselves into a | |
separate government in defiance of the power of Philip of Spain, that
monarch, who then governed with an iron sceptre the united kingdoms
of Spain and Portugal, forbade the employment of the Dutch as inter-
mediaries—a prolibition which led to their trafficking on their own account, | |
forming various trading settlements im the Mast in the commencement of
the seventeenth century, aud supplanting their former employers.
The first attempts of England were made, at the same period, by a
company of London merehants, warmly encouraged by the Queen, who
signed a charter on their behalf on the last day of the sixteenth century.
During the following century the English continued to be simply traders,
with no cravings for political or territorial agerandisement—absorbed in the
business of buying and selling, and anxious only for the safety of their flect,
which rapidly became more formidable and extensive in proportion to the rich
Cc
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6 INTRODUCTION,
freight it was destined to bear through seas infested with pirates, and fre-
quently preoccupied by hostile Huropean squadrons.
The eighteenth century opened upon an entirely new phase of Indian
annals, The decay of Mogul power, which had, as has been stated, com-
meneced before the death of Aurnngzebe in 1707, was greatly accelerated by
that event, and by the war of suecession which followed, as a natural con-
sequence, the death of a Mogul emperor. The will of the deceased ruler
decreed the division of his douinions amoug his sons; and had they consented
to this arrangement, and cordially united in carrying it out, their allotted
portions might possibly have been consolidated into distinct kingdoms. But
brotherly love rarely flourishes under the shadow of a despotie throne; and
the House of Timur formed no exception to this rule, having evinced a
remarkable tendency to fratrieide throughout the entire period of its Indian
career. The younger sons of Aurungzebe went to war with their elder
brother, each on his own account, and died the death they had provoked,
leaving the survivor, Bahadur Shah, to rule as best he might the scattered
territories styled the Empire. Anything more devoid of organisation—of any
approach to unity—than the so-called Empire, cannot well be conceived. When
Aurungzebe snatched the sceptre from the hands of his father, Shah Jehan,
and condemned him to lite-long captivity, the dominions he usurped were
comparatively well governed, aud might, under the sway of a ruler of sueh
unquestionable ability, such indomitable perseverance, have been consolidated
into a comparatively homogeneous mass But the unhallowed ambition at
whose shrine he had sacrificed the liberty of his father and the lives of his
brothers, still hurried him on, rendering him reekless of the internal decay
which was manifestly at work in the very heart of his kingdom, while
he was lavishing his resources in spreading desolation and ruin, famine and
the sword, through every independent kingdom within his reach—extending
his own only in name, throwing down governments and ancient land-marks,
| yet erecting none in their stead; becoming terrible as a destroyer, when he
might have been great as a statesman and a consolidator.
A right view of the character of Aurungzebe, and a patient investigation
of his career, is absolutely necessary to the obtainment of a clear insight into
the state of India at the period when the Mnelish Bast India Company began
to exchange their position of traders on sufferance for that of territorial lords.
| The first steps of this strange transformation can hardly be said to have been
voluntary. The Wuglish merchants were still essentially traders.. An exami-
nation of the Hast India House records (and no attempt has ever been made
to garble or lide them away from friend or foe), will prove to the most pre-
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INTRODUCTION. 7
judiced observer, that, us a body, they persistently opposed the acquisition of
dominion. Nothing short of complete indifference can necount for the exces-
sive ignorance of Indian politics manifested in their oflicial correspondence.
Tt may, indeed, be urged that English factors in a foreign land, in addition to
their characteristic reserve, are naturally much engrossed by the duties and
eares of their calling, and, apart from prejudice, may well be excused for a
degree of preoccupation which prevents them trom making any very vigorous |
effort to penetrate the barriers of language and creed, manners and customs,
which separate them from the people with whom they come to traffic. A
time arrived, however, when the English could no longer be blind to the
alarming political and social state of India. Every year, much more every
decade, the disorganisation increased. Certain native Hindoo states, such as
Mysoor, Travancore, the little mountainous principality of Coorg, and a few
others, had been exempted, by their position or their instenificance, froin
Moslem usurpation. With these exceptions, strife and anarchy spread over
the length and breadth of India. It was no organised struggle of race or
ereed; for Mussnlman fought against Mussnlman, Hindoo against Hindoo,
and each against the other; Affghan warred with Mogul, Mogul with
Rajpoot; Mahratta with all. The hand of every man was raised against his
neighbour: the peasant went armed to the plough—the shepherd stood ready
to defend his flock with his life; the energy and determination of local
authorities kept up some degree of order in their immediate districts; but,
in general, the absence of a government strong enough to protect its
innocent subjects from internal vice or external aggression, was manifested
in the fearful audacity with which the Pindarry, Dacoity, and Thue, the
trained marander, thief, and assassin, pursued their murderous avocations, |
in the blaze of noon as in the darkness of midnight.
The Hindoos fell back upon the ancient village system, which the
usurping Mohammedans had vainly striven to destroy; and the imternal
organisation of the > little municipalities, each possessing its own Potail |
or Mayor, enabled them to parry, or at least rally from, attacks from —
without. : .
The English laboured for the effectual fortification of the various factories
gradually established in different parts of India, and included, according to
their situation, m the three presidencies of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.
Armed neutrality, however, would have been barely practicable, even so far
as the numerous warring native powers were concerned. The conduct of |
their European rivals rendered such a position quite untenable. The French
Mast India Company had, so far as trade was concerned, proved a decided ,
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8 INTRODUCTION,
failure: its employés were very interior to the English as factors; but as
politieal agents, they possessed diplomatic instincts peculiar to themselves.
Dumas, Dupleix, and the gifted La Bourdonnais, saw clearly the oppor-
tunity afforded for the territorial establishment of their nation, and they
eagerly took part in the quarrels around them, making offensive and defensive
alliances with the neighbouring states, interfering in cases of disputed
succession, and taking, with bold and unfaltering steps, the apparent road to
political power. None of the English functionaries approached their rivals
in ability; but they could not be blind to the increasing danger of their
situation; and the example set by the Irench, of drilling native troops and
organising them as far as possible in accordance with European notions, was
followed throughout the British settlements. Then came the inevitable
struggle between the two powers whose unsleeping rivalry had so often
evidenced itself in strife and bloodshed at the very ends of the earth. At
first they met in indirect hostility as the auxiliaries of uative princes; but the
first indications of European war were eagerly seized on as a cause for direct
opposinon, aud a fierce strugele ensued, which eventually left the Enelish
complete masters of the field. While the Carnatic, in which Madras is
situated, was the scene of this contest, the English in Bengal were sub-
jected to the most oppressive exactions by the usurping Mohammedan
| governor, Surajah Dowlah, whose seizure and pillage of Calcutta in June,
1756, was marked by the horrible massacre of the “ Black Hole”’—a deed
which, up to that period, even Mohammedan annals can hardly equal in
atrocity; but to which, after the lapse of a hundred years, many terrible
parallels have been furnished,
The tidings spread hke wildfire through the British settlements, and the
conviction became deep and general, that it would be madness to trust to the
fuith or humanity of such men as the depraved Surajah Dowlah and his
Moslem compeers. The Mogul Empire had become an empty uame so far
as the distant provinces were concerned, and there was absolutely no uative
| state either strone enough to protect the [nglish settlements, or just enough
to be trusted. Never was the indomitable resolve of Britons in a foreign
\land more steruly tested, or more triumphantly evinced, than when their
| fortunes seemed at the lowest ebb—when the French and the Mohammedans,
in different quarters, menaced thetr overthrow aud extinction. “'To drive
these dogs into the sea!” was then, as now, the fervent aspiration of every
Moslem regarding every European. But they wished to squeeze the
orange before they threw away the rind. They were themselves divided, and
had plans of individual ageraudizement to carry out against each other, and
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INTRODUCTION. 9 |
generally over the Hindoos; and they well knew the value of Jeuropean
co-operation and instrnetion in the art of war.
The recapture of Calcutta was speedily effected hy a force of 900
Juropean troops and 1,500 Sepoys, commanded by a eci-devant writer, who
had turned soldier, and risen to distinction in the Carnatie war.
Robert Clive—for it was he—looked round and saw the opportunity offered
for exchanging the precarious footing then oceupied by his countrymen for
one of far greater Importance and security. The Iindoos were daily becoming
more impatient of the Mohammedan yoke, and the haughty Mussnimans |
were themselves divided regarding their ruler, whose reckless profligacy and
violent temper had given many of them provocation of a description which | |
excites, in an Oriental, feelings of the fiercest and most enduring revenee. |
The Kuglish watched the course of affairs with deep anxiety, aud soon
ascertained that, in violution of a treaty entered into after the reconquest of
Caleutta, Surajah Dowlah was plotting with the French for their destruction. | |
Unquestionably, this procedure justified them in adopting hostile measures | |
woainst their treacherous foe; though it does not even palliate some of the
minor details, in which the crooked policy of Clive appears in painfnl contrast
to his bravery as a soldier and his skill as a general. The result was the
battle of Plassy (A.D. 1757), rapidly followed by the permanent establishment
of British dominion in Bengal.
After this, the tide of success flowed on fast and full. If the reader will |
patiently peruse the pages of this history, he will see that our power has
inereased with marvellously little effort on our own part. As, when a stone
is flung into a river, the first small circle expands and multiplies beyond |
ealeulation—so, in India, have we gone on extending our mits, as from the |
action of some inevitable necessity ; less from our own will, than because we
could not stand still without hazarding the position already gained. True, |
there have been most distressing instances of injustice and aggression; but
these are the few and comparatively unimportant exceptions. So far as the |
general obtaimment of political ascendancy in India is concerned, we may |
quote the apt comparison used by an old Rajpoot prince to Colonel Tod, in
1804, as conveying a perfectly correct idea of our process of appropriation.
Alluding to a sort of melon which bursts asunder when fully matured, Zalim
Sing said, “ You stepped in at a lucky time; the p’foot was ripe, and you had |
only to take it bit by bit.”* | |
The manner in which we have acquired power in India, is one thing; the |
ist 2
use we have made of it, is another and more complicated question. I*or my
* tunals of Rajast’han, Vol. I, p. 766.
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10 INTRODUCTION.
/ own part, I have long watched the Anglo-Indian government with feelings |
been led to occupy. It is now close upon twenty years since I was permitted,
by the East India Company, to edit the official records of a survey made by
: : : : :
|| Dr. Buchanan in Hastern India; and the impression on my mind was so
forcible, that I could not refrain from prefacing the selections with a declara-
| tion that the handwriting was on the wall, and nothing but a complete and
‘adical alteration of our system of government, could avert the punishment
| justly merited by onr misuse of the great charge committed to us.
The primary reason of this misuse I believe to be the false and wicked
assertion, that “we won India by the sword, and must keep it by the
sword.” There is another aphorism, much older and of much higher authority,
which we should do well to think on—“ They that take the sword shall perish
by the sword.” We did not conquer India by violence: we came as peaceful
traders, and spent long years in that capacity; and during that time we
sueceeded in impressing on the minds of the natives a lively conviction of
our energy, ability, and integrity. When the crisis came—as come it did,
without our knowledge and greatly to our discomfiture—counting-houses were
turned into barracks, bales of piece-goods helped to make barricades, clerks
and writers were metamorphosed into military leaders, and, while themselves
but learners, drilled the natives round them into a state of discipline before
unknown.
Thus was formed the nucleus of that army on which we have leaned as
if that, and that alone, had been the means of our obtaining dominion in
India. For the perfect organisation of that mighty force, which lately
numbered 800,000 men, we laboured with unwearied patience; and to this
grand object we sacrificed every other. So long as the Sepoys were duly
eared for, the condition of the mass of the people was a matter of coim-
parative indifference. It was not the Great Ruler of the Universe, whose
inscrutable deerees had placed this vast tract of heathendom in the hands
of a people who professed to serve Him and Him only; rejecting every
tradition of men; relying only on the mediation of His Son; resting for
guidance only on His written word; asking only the interpretation of ILis
_, Holy Spirit;—not so! The Anglo-Indian dominion had nothing whatever to
do with any such religious speculations. We were not bound to set before the
| people the example of the faith which we affect to believe the very leaven of
the earth. Until the last few years we did not view it even us a case of
stewardship. We were not even called upon to exert our energy for developing
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of deep anxiety, and have labonred to the utmost of my ability to awaken the |
British nation to a sense of the responsible and critical situation they had —
INTRODUCTION. VW
muss of the people. And why? Beeause free Britons, in the middle of the
peo] 5 B
the physical resources of the country, and amehorating the condition of the |
y r oe . eye
| | nineteenth eentury, have scen fit to assume the position of military despots,
drowning the convietion that India was a God-given trust, in the vague
notion of its being “an empire of opinion ;”’ and then sinking, by an easy
transition, from rationulism into the more popular notion of sheer foree—* an
empire of the sword,” held by the might of our own strong arm,
Seepticism and cowardice lie at the reot of our present disasters: delibe-
rately have we chosen the fear of man, which blinds and enervates, rather
than the fear of God, which enlightens and strengthens. With infatuated
credulity we have uursed in our bosom the serpent that has stung us to
the quick. Tolerance is, indeed, an essentially Christian quality; but who
shall dare assume that praise for the Christianity which was made in the
persons of high Protestant (?) ollicials, to bow its head before the licentious
proflizacy of the Mussuhnans, and the heathen abominations and disgusting
impurities of the modern Brahininical priesthood, and to witness, in silence,
the spiritual enslavement and physical degradation of the mass ?
We thonelt, perhans, both Mussulmans and Brahmins too enervated by |
git, | Ps; y
their respective orgics to be dangerous as enemies. This but proves our
utter ignorance of the Oriental character, especially as developed in the
Mohammedans. Let the reader e@lance over the history of their founder
(and I have striven to sketch it in a subsequent page, in faithfulness, and not
with the pen of a caricaturist), he will see in the False Prophet the type of
sensuality, bigotry, ambition,
erounded and rooted in the fiercest fanaticisin ;
and that type has been perpetually reproduced, and will coutinue to be so
until Mobammedanism shall be swept from the face of the earth.
How soon that may be, none ean prophesy; but the general rising now |
taking place among the Mussulmans in Africa and Syria, as well as in India,
ure pointed at by many observers as preceding and indicating the death-throes
of this once powerful, but already deeply sunken race.
For us, if we would hope to conquer, it must be by turning to the Lord
of Ilosts, as a nation, in deep repentance and humility: then only may we
justly look for present help, and anticipate for the future that gift in which |
we have been so ’amentably deficient—*a right judgment in all things.”
Thus favoured, we shall not shrink from the responsibilities of au evangelized
nation; but shall understand, that there is no surer way of obtaining
respect in the eyes of the quick-witted Hindoos, than by a consistent
adherence to our religions professions. The means commend themselves to |
every unprejudiced person really versed in Indian affairs; and, assuredly, none |
|
|
|
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other will be blessed of God. We cannot hope to pass off indifference for
tolerance: the Mohammedans see through the flimsy diseuise, and bil the
and vexatious land-tenure, the defective monetary circulation of India, have
come under discussion; and if, as God in merey grant, Britain is permitted
| educated in India. A noble field has been annually opened fur the youth of Britain, and an expansive tone given to
12 INTRODUCTION. |
heathen throw off the ignominious yoke of Kafirs (infidels.) Christianity
they reverence, and dread to see us manifest any tokens of it. Well they may;
for nothing else will cover our lead in the day of battle. That day has come.
May we now have grace to control the fearful passions provoked by the most |
horrible outrages; and may the memory of our own shortcomings towards -
God, enable us, if He gives the victory, to use it mercifully. Let us not
forget, that the innocent blood spilt in the last few weeks, cannot blot out the
memory of the debt which Jneland owes to India.* The Parliament of
Britain now must dictate the course to be followed in a matter of vital
importance to the nation whose opinions it represents. The portion of the
British public impressed with sound and practical religious views, is, happily,
larger and more influential than would appear to superficial observers. The
fact is indicated in the increase of missionary enterprise, the extension of
education, and, indirectly,,im the progress of public improvements, and thie
initiation of reformatory measures. The faulty judicial system, the partial
to retain the brightest jewel in her crown—the most valuable of her
transmarine possessions—it is fervently to be desired that we may apply
ourselves diligently to remedy all deficiencies, to repair, as far as possible,
past neglects, and provide against future emergencies,
The details of the present terrible episode will be given fully in subsequent
pages; day by day that close seems approaching, with the record of which
the Author hopes to be enabled to terminate this Work. :
* The pecuniary debt is wholly on the side of England. The cost, alike of civil and military government, including
the payment of the royal troops, has been entirely defrayed from the Indian revennes: so, if we sueceed, must be the
expenses of the present insurrection, The money remittances to England from the three Presidencics average five
million sterling for the last sixty years. There is scarcely a country in the United Kingdom but has had the value of
its landed property enhanced by the investments of fortunes, the fruit of civil or military services or of commercial
success in Hindoostan. Again, how many British statesmen and commanders have had their genius clicited and
society by the constant discussion of great subjects.
The merchant and the mannfactnrer can hest estimate the impartance of a large, increasing, and Incrative market,
free from high or hostile tariffs ; and the advantage of an almost unlimited command of commodities, the regular obtain-
ment of which is essential to the steady employment of their operations. Nor must it be forgatten, that Indian
Imports and Exports, to the amount of thirty million sterling, now furnish profitable employment to the best class of
mercantile shipping.
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NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
TILL
INDIAN EMPIRE.
CHAPTER I:
EARLY HISTORY, MYTITOLOGICAL AND TRADITIONAL—PERSIAN AND OTHER INVA-
SIONS—GREKEK EXPEDITION AND CONQUESTS OF ALEXANDER—PLUNDERING |
INCURSIONS OF MAHMOOD THM GITUZNIVEDE—MOHAMMEDAN CONQUESTS, |
DOMINION, AND DOWNFALL—RISE AND PROGRESS OF BRITISH POWER ANID |
SUPREMACY. |
Ancient [listory, ro rie time or ALEX-|cxactions of native or foreign rulers, has
AnpEn.—India or Hindoostan, with its noble | ever been the mainstay of the people. The
rivers, diversificd climate, productive soil, | invaders, if such they were, probably brought
aud extensive coast-line, offered advantages | with them the elements of civilisation; and
for colonization, whieli were availed of at a} the peaceful pursuits of pastoral and agri-
very carly period in the Instory of the|ecnitural life would uecessitate a certain
human race. Ofits first inhabitants we know | amount of concentration, as uo single man
little, heyond their being, as it is generally | or family could dwell alone in a country
believed, still represented by various bar-| whose dense jungle required combined la-
barons tribes who yet inhalit the mountains; hour, both to clear it for use and guard it
and forests, and follow rude religions prae- | from wild beasts. All this, however, relates
tices that are no part of the primitive IJin-| to a period concerning which we posscss no
doo system. By whom or at what time] historical record whatever—in which must
these were subdued or expelled there is no! have originated what may be termed Brah-
ground to rest anything more than a sur-|minical Tlindooism, whose rise and early
mise; and of the many that have been, or] progress is shrouded in dense obscurity.
might be, hazarded ou this diffienlt but in-} From the internal evidence afforded by tie
teresting subject, perhaps not the least rea-| system itself, so far as we are acquainted
sonable is the supposition based on the varied | with it during its carly purity, it would seem
craniclogical development, and distinct lan-! to have been framed by a small confederacy
guages of the existing Tlindoo race—that| of persons, whose knowledge, both religious
they were originally composed of numerons]| and seeular, being far in advanee of their
migrating hordes who, at intervals, poured | age, had enabled them to draw up rules for
in from the wild Mongolian steppes and) the guidanee of their conntrymen, hoth as
Turkomanian rauges, from the forests of) regarded their duty to God and their fel- |
Seythia, the arid shores of the Caspian, and] lows. Fully aware, as it would appear, of
the sunburnt plains of Mesopotamia; from/ the great fact, that human institutions have
the plateaux of Persia, the deserts of Arabia, | strength and permanence only when based
and even from the fertile valley of the Nile, | on a religious principle, they set forth their
allured by the extraordinary fertility of this! own scheme as the direct ordination of the
most favoured portion of the Asiatic econ- | “ Sclf-Existent One,” the “Great First
tinent, or driven from their native land by | Cause,” whose attributes they described in a
tyranny or want. Time and cireumstanees | tone of solemn grandcur not unbefitting their
gradually fused the heterogencous mass into | high theme; and to enforce their precepts
sometinng like homogeneity; the first step to | and heighten their influence, made much use
which was probably made by the introduc-| of the rude lyries extant among the people,
tion, in a rade form, of that village system | to which they added others. These were com-
which so markedly characterises India when | piled under the name of the Vedas (a word
viewed as a whole, and which, under the) derived trom a Sanserit root, signifying fo
scourge of sanguiuary wars, aud the heavy | évow), by one Vyasa, who lived in the four-
D
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14
teenth century before the Christian era.
In describing the religious creed of the
Hindoos, and commenting on the opinions
entertained respecting the comparative an-
tiquity of Brahminism and Boodhism, the
most ancient sacred writings of eaeh of
these great seets will be noticed; but here
it is only necessary to remark, that the
Vedas bear incontestable evidence of having
been written at different periods, some being
in very rugged Sanscrit, others, though an-
tiquated, coming within the pale of that
language in the polished form in whieh Sir
William Jones found it, when he declared it
to be “of a wonderful structure, more per-
fect than the Greek, more copious than the
Latin, and more exquisitely refined than
| either.”* One only of the Vedas, the Sama
Veda, has yet been translated into English.
The translator, Dr. Stephenson, of Bombay,
Jeans to the opinion of its having been com-
posed out of India, but brought there by the
Brahmins from some northern country at
a very remote period. Another authority,
after a careful examination of the same book,
has arrived at a directly opposite conclusion.
Be this as it may, there are expressions in
the Vedas which prove that the majority of
the detached pieces of different kinds of
poetie composition which they comprise,
were Written in a country where maritime
commerce was highly csteemed, where a sa-
crificial ritual had already been fixed, and
| mythological legends abounded. ‘The fre-
quent reference to war and to chariots in-
| dicate, moreover, the previous establishment
of separate states, and the cultivation of
military art.
| ‘The first comprehensive view of the state
of society among the Ilindoos is afforded by
the code of laws which bears the name of
Mcnu, and is supposed, but not on very
convincing data, to have been compiled in
or about the ninth century, w.c.f Whe-
ther Menu himself were a real person-
age or no is au open question, and one of
little importance, since his appearance is
merely dramatie, like that of the speakers
* Asiatic Researches, vol. i., p. 422,
7 Arthur's Dhssion to the Alysore, p. 441.
} Sir W. Jones supposed the Code to have been
compiled about 300 years after the Vedas (4s. Iv.,
vol. vii., p. 283); but Elphinstone fixes the date ut
some time about half-way between Alexander, in the
fourth century, b.c., and the Vedas in the four-
teenth. (Vol. i, p. 430.)
§ Cast, the common word, is not Indian, but Mng-
lish ; and is given in Johnson’s Dietionary as derived
| from the Spanish or Vortuguese, caste, a breed, In
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
CODE OF MENU—NINTH CENTURY, B.C.
in the dialogues of Plato or of Cicero. No
hint is given as to the real compiler, nor is
there any clne to the ancient commentator
Callnca, whose endeavours to gloss over and |
explain away some doetrines of Menn, scems —
to indieate that opinion had already begun
to change, even in his day; while many suc-
ceeding commentators, and some of very
ancient date, speak of the rules of Menu as
appheable to the good ages only, and not
extending to their time.
The chief feature in the eode is its di-
vision of the people into four classes or
easts;§ namely, the Brahmins or sacer-
dotal; the Cshatriya or military; the Vai-
syas or industrial ; and the Soodras|| or ser-
vile. The three first classes were termed the
“twice-born,” their youths being admitted,
at certain ages, by a solemn ceremony, to
participate in the religious and social privi-
leges of theirelders; but the fourth and low-
est cast was rigidly excluded from all these.
The degradation of the Soodras has given
rise to the idea of their being the people
whom the superior classes had conquered ;
and similar inferenees may be drawn from
the fact that, while the “ twice-born” were all
strictly forbidden, under any circumstances,
to leave, what, for want of a better term,
may be styled Hindoostan Proper; the
Soodra, distressed for the means of sub-
sistence, might go where he would. It ap-
pears, however, from the eode, that there
were still cities governed by Soodra kings,
in which Brahmins were advised not to re-
side. From this it seems probable that the
independent Soodra towns were situated in
such of the small territories into which
Ilindoostan was divided as yet retained their
freedom, while the whole of the tracts south
of the Vindya mountains remained un-
touched by the invaders, and unpenctrated
by their religion, On the other hand, it is
remarkable that neither the code of Menu,
nor the more ancient Vedas, so far as we
are at present acquainted with their con-
teuts, cver allude to any prior residence, or
to a knowledge of more than the name of |
Sir W. Jones’ Translation of Menu, the word em-
ployed is ‘elass :” the Brahmins constantly use the
Sanserit term as signifying a species.
|i There ave few things more perplexing in the
study of Indian history than the various modes of
spelling proper names und other words, which have
resulted from the ditheulty of representing them in
the characters of our alphabet. in the present work,
the author has deemed it advisable to adopt that
best known and most easily read, in preference to
what might have been more critically correct,
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
HWINDOO CIIRONOLOGY. SOLAR AND LUNAR DYNASTIES. 15
any country ont of India. [yen mytho-
logy gocs no farther than the Himalaya
mountains for tle loeation of the gods.
With regard to the condition of the Soodras,
it appears to have been in many points
similar, but in some deeidedly preferable,
to that of the helot, the slave, or the serf of
the Greek, the Roman, and the feudal sys-
tems, excepting only its stern prohibition of
any share in the ordinances of religion. But
this might have originated in the probable
cireumstance of the conquered people having
a distinet erccd of their own, to prevent the
spreading of which among their disciples,
the Brahmins* (in whom, Elphinstone has
well said, the common interests of their class,
mingled, probably, with much pure zeal for
their monotheistic faith, was deeply rooted)
united religion and rank so elosely in their
able scheme, that to break through, or even
in minor observances to deviate from the
strict rules of duty laid down for the guidance
of the several regencrate classes, was to forfeit
position, and literally to incur the penalty of
a civil death, far passing excommunication
in severity, and to place themselves undcr a
ban which wearisome penance could alone
remoye. One passion—and it would scem
only one—was strong cnough to break down
the barriers of cast. A mixed race sprang up,
who were gradually formed into classes, and
divided and subdivided, until the result is
now scen in an almost countless number of
small! communities. In subsequent sections,
in describing manners, customs, laws, and
government, it will be necessary to show
what these were in the days of Menu, and
the changes which gradually took place up
to the period of Enghsh dominion; but at
present we are more immediately concerned
with that difficult subject, the chronological
succession of events in ilindoo history.
Oriental research has, as yet, revealed to
us but one Hindoo work that can be strictly
considered historical, the Annals of Cash-
mere, ably translated by Professor Wilson,
which refers chiefly to a hmited territory on
the extreme northern frontier of India, and
contains little more than incidental men-
tion of Hindoostan and the Deeean. There
is, besides, an evident and not unnatural
desire on the part of the native writer to
aggrandize the rulers of Cashmere at the
* Elphinstone suggests a doubt “whether the
ecnquerors were a foreign peopie or a local tribe,
like the Dorians in Greece ; or whether, indeed, they
were not mercly a portion of one of the native states
(a religious sect, for instance,) which had outstripped
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
expense of the neighbouring princes, which
gives an impression of one-sidedness to a
production possessed, notwithstanding, of
mueh value and interest. The student is,
therefore, compelled to fall back upon the
wide field, as yet but very partially explored,
presented in the sacred books, the legislative
records, and the two great epie poems. The
knowledge obtainable from these sources is,
in too many eases, rendered comparatively
useless, by the misleading chronology taught
by the Brahmins, apparently as a means of
sustaining the claim of their nation to a fa-
bulous antiquity. The periods employed in
the computation of time are equally strange
and unsatisfactory, and are rendered pe-
enliarly puzzling by the astronomical data
on which they are partially founded. A
complete revolution of the nodes and ap-
sides, which they suppose to be performed
in 4,320,000,000 years, forms a ealpa, or
day of Brahma. Jn this are ineluded four-
teen manwantaras, or periods, each contain-
ing seventy-one maha yugas, or great ages,
which again comprise, respeetively, four
yugas, or ages, of unequal length. These
last bear some resemblance to the golden,
silver, brazen, and iron ages of the Grenee
and are alone considered by the Brahmins
as marking the periods of human history
since the ercation of the existing world,
which they believe to have oceurred about
four million years ago. The first, or satya
yuga, lasted 1,728, 000 years, through the
whole of which a king named Satyavrata,
otherwise called Vaivaswata, lived and
reigned. This monarch is described as
having eseaped with his family from an mni-
versal deluge, which destroyed the rest of
the world. From him descended two royal
lines, one of which, under the designation
of Soorya, the children of the sun, reigned
at Ayodhya or Onde; the other, Chandra,
or the children of the moon, at Pratisht’?hana
or Vitora, in the tract between the Jumna
and Ganges, through the 1,296,000 years of
the second, or treta yuga; the 864, 000 years
of the third, or diwapat yuga; and the first
1,000 years of the present, or cali ynga, at
which time both the solar and Iunar races
became extinet; as also a distinct cotempo-
rary race, the descendants of Jarasandha,who
began to reign in Magadha or Behar, at the
their fellow eitizens in knowledge, and appropr iated
all the advantages of the socicty to themselves.”—
FIistory of iinet. vol.i., p. 96.
+ It is evident that in the time of Menu there were
no slaves attached to the soil.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| saered writings ealled the Puranas.t
16
commencement of the eali yuga. ‘The last
reigning prince of the Jarasandha family was
slain by his prime minister, who plaeed his
own son, Pradyota, on the throne. Fifteen
of the usurping raee enjoyed the sovercignty
to the time of Nanda, who, in extreme old
age (after a reign, it is said, of 100 years),
was murdered by a Brahman, by whom a
man of the Maurya race, named Chanara-
Gupta, was placed on the vaeant throne.*
The genealogies of the two parallel lines
of the sun and moon are derived from the
Sir
Wiliam Jones framed his list from the Bha-
gavat Purana; Captain Wilford subsequently
collated his genealogieal table of the great
llindoo dynasties from the Vishnu and
other Puranas;{ and, if critieal researeh
should eventuatly sueeeed in enabling us to
eorrect the errors of Indian ehronology,
mueh information may be obtained by
means of those lists respeeting the early
rulers. Wanting this elne, the student will
find abundant material for theory, but the
historian little that he dares make his own;
for the narratives given in the Pnranas
abound in diserepancics regarding time and
plaee, and are so blended with myths and
allegories, that it is next to impossible, at
present, to separate truth from fiction, until
the period of the Maha Bharat or Great War.§
The scene of the adventures of the first
prinees, and the residence of the most fa-
mous sages, appears to be uniformly placed,
both in the Puranas, and the far older in-
* According to Mill (vol. i, p. 160); but Elphin-
stone states Chandra Gupta to have been ninth in
succession from Nanda.—Vol. i., p. 261.
+ There are eighteen Puranas, which are considered
to-have been composed between the eighth and six-
teenth centuries, A.D.; but several of the authors
appear to have made use of much more ancient MS.
histories to interweave among their own.
{ The lines of the Sun and Moon, and the Magadha
dynasty, are given at length by Colonel ‘Tod, in the
first volume of his valuable and voluminous work
the Annals of Rajasthan. They were extracted
from the Puranas by a body of pundits, and differ
more or less in various parts from those published
by Sir W. Jones, Mr. Bentley, and Colonel Wilford.
Yod's view of the vexed question of early Hindoo
records may be understood from his careful enume-
ration of various traditions which all “appear to
point to one spol, and to one individual, in the carly
history of mankind, when the Mindoo and Greek ap-
proach a common focus, for there is litde doubt that
Adnath, Adiswara, Osiris, Baghes, Bacchus, Menu,
Mencs, designate the patriarch of mankind, Noah”
(vol. i, p. 22). The solar and lunar lines he con-
siders to have been established 2,256 years, 1.C.,
about a century and a half after she flood, the former
hy Ichswaca the son of Vaivaswatoo Menu, the latter
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
RESIDENCE OF EARLY TINDOO PRINCES AND BRATIMINS.
stitutes of Menu, in a tract ealled Bramha-
verta, beeause of its sanctity, situated be-
tween the rivers Seraswati (Sersooty) and
Drishadwati (Caggar), 100 miles to the north-
west of Delbi; and about 65 miles long by 20
to 40 broad.|| Probably the next territory ae-
quired lay between that above-mentioned
and the Jumna, and ineluded North Behar,
this country being mentioned in the second
plaee under the honoured name of Brahmar-
shi, while Brahmins born within its boun-
daries were pronounced suitable teachers of
the several usages of men.*{ At Oude, in
the centre of Brahmarshi, the Puranas, (in
whieh the preceding early stages are not
noticed,) fix the origin of the solar and lunar
raees, from one or other of whieh all the
royal families of aneient India were de-
seended. Some fifty to seventy generations
of the solar race, who, in the absence of re-
liable information, appear little better than
myths, bring down the Purana narrative to
Rama, the ruler of a powerful kingdom in
Hindoostan, and the hero of the oldest Hindu
epie—the Ramayana, ‘The chief ineident is
the earrying off of Sita, the queen of Rama,
by Ravana, the king of the island of Lanka,
or Ceylon. Rama leads an army into the
Deecan, penetrates to Ceylon, and, with the
assistanee of a strange people allegorized as
an army of monkeys, led by Hooniman, their
king, gains a complete vietory over the ra-
visher, and reeovers his wife, who vindiecates
her fidelity by successfully passing the or-
deal of fire. Aceording to the system of
by DBoodha, who married Ichswatoo’s sister Ella,
asserted to be the earth personified—Boodha him-
self being “the parent and first emigrant of the
Indu [Sanserit for the moon] race, from Saca Dwipa
or Scythia to Hindust’han” (p. 45). In another
place Tod describes Boodha as the great progenitor
of the ‘Tartars, Chinese, and Hindus, “ Boodha
(Mercury), the son of Indu (the moon), [a male
deity] became the patriarchal and spiritual leader,
as Fo in China; Woden and Teutates of the tribes
migrating to Europe. Hence it follows that the
religion of Boodha must be cceval with the existence
of these nations; that it was brought into India
Proper by them, and guided them until the schism
of Crishna and the Sooryas, worshippers of Bal, in
time depressed them, when the Boodha religion was
modified into the present mild form, the Jain”
(p. 58).
§ See Vrinsep’s Useful Tables, Professor Wilson’s
edition of the TMishnu Purana, Sir W. Jones and
Colonel Wilford’s articles in Asiatic esearches,
vols. ii. and y., and Dr. WY. Buchanan's J7tndvo
Genealogies.
| Menu, book il, v. 17, 18: Wilson, preface to
Vishaw Purana, p.lxvii.
{J Menu, book ii., vy. 19, 20; Elphinstone, vol. 1,,
p. 388.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
NATIVE PRINCES MENTIONED IN THI RAMAYANA.
dcifying great men after thir decease, which
gradually erept into Brahiminism, Rama,
upon his death, was honoured as a god, and
jus image worshipped, his natural form being
declared to have been an inearnation (thee
seventh) of Vishnn, one of the three persons,
or principles, of the Mindoo Trinity.
A remarkable passage occurs in the Raima-
yana, in whieh mention is made of certain
forcign princes, who were invited by Dasaratha
(the futher of Rama) to be present at the As-
waniedha* or solemn sacrifice of a horse about
to he offered up hy the aged monarch, to
proenre from the gods the blessing of male
posterity. The names mentioned are the
“sovereign of Kasi or Benares, the rajalis
of Magadha or Behar, of Sindu and Su-
rashta (Sinde and Surat), of Unga and
Savira (of which onc is conjectured to mean
Aya, the other some district situated on the
Persian frontier), aud, in fine, the princes of
the south or the Decean. Ileeren, who
cites the above passage from the Ramayana,
adds—‘ they are represcntcd as the fricnds,
aut some of them also as the rclations of
Dasaratha, by no means however as_ his
aassals. It is therefore evident that the
author of the most ancicut Tlindoo epic
poem eonsidered India to be divided into a
nnmber of separate and independent princi-
palitics.’+ This opinion, however, is not
founded cn indisputable grounds, for many
of his auxiliarics appear to have stood to
Dasaratha in the relation of viceroys, or at
least inferior chicftains. The antiquity of
tlhe pecm is unqnestioned ; the anthor, Val-
miki, is said to have been cotemporary
with the event he has so ably commemo-
rated,{ but we have no means of fixing the
date of either poem or poct execpt as some-
where between that of the Vedas and the
Maha Bharat, since king Dasaratha is de-
seribed as deeply versed in the preecpts of
* Aswa is thought to be the etymon of Asia,
medha signifies “to kill.”
+ Heeren’s Ilisforical Researches, Oxford Transla-
tion; 1533; vol. iii, p. 291.
} “ Rama preceded Crishna: but as their histo-
vians, Valmika and Vyasa, who wrote the events
they witnessed [this point is, however, questioned],
were catemporaries, it conld not have been by many
years.”—-(Tod’s lnnals af Rajasthan, vol.i., p. 437.
§ The origin of the Pandoa family is involved in
fable, invented, evidently, 10 cover some great dis-
grace. According to tradition, Pandoo, whose eapi-
tal was at Hastinapoora, being childless, his queen,
by a charm, enticed the deities from their spheres,
and became the inother af Yoodishtra, Bhima, Ar-
joona (the famous archer), Nycula, and Sideva. On
the death of Pandoo, Yoodishtra, with the aid of
the priesthood, was declared king, although the ille-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
We
the Vedas and Vedangas, while on the
other hand an epitoine of the Ramayana is
given in the Maha Bharat. After Rama,
sixty prinees of his race ruled in succession
over his dominions, but as no more mention
is made of Ayodha (Oude) it is possible that
the kingdom (which was at one time called
Coshala) may have merged in another; and
that the capital was transferred from Oude
to Canouj. The heroic pocm, entitled the
Maha Bharat” or Great War, affords an
account of many historical cvyents, in the
details of a contest between the lines of
’andoo§ and of Curoo, two branches of
the reigning lunar race for the territory of
Hlastinapoora, supposed to be a place on
the Ganges, north-cast of Delhi, which still
bears the ancient name.{j ‘The rivals are
supported by numerous allics, and some
from very remote parts. ‘She cnumeration
of them appears to afford evidence similar
to that dedueible from the above cited pas-
sage of the Ramayana, that there were many
distinct states in India among which a con-
siderable degree of intercourse and connec:
tion was maintained. Not only are princes
from the Decean and the Judus mentioned,
as taking part in the struggle, but auxilia-
rics are likewisc included belonging to na-
tions beyond the Indus, especially the
Yavans, a name which most oricntalists
consider to apply exclusively to the Grecks.4]
The Pandoos are eventually conquerors, but
are represented as having paid so dearly for
their victory, in the loss of their friends and
the destruction of their armics, that the
chief survivors quitted their country, and
are supposed to have perished among the
snows of the Himalaya.** The hero of the
poem is Crishna, the great ally of the Pan-
doos, who was decificd after his dcath as
having been an inearnation of Vishnu, or
even Vishnu himself. Ile was born of the
gitimacy of himself and his brothers was asserted by
Duryodhanu, the nephew of the deceased sovereign,
who, as the representative of the elder branch, re-
tained his title as head of the Curoos. For the whole
story of the Maha Bharat, and it is a very interesting
one, see the Alsiatie Researches, and the comments
of Tod in the early part of his cfnnals of Rajasthan.
|| Elphinstone, vol. i., p. 290.
€ The Greeks, or lonians, are descended from
Javan, or Yavan, the seventh from Japhet.—(Ted’s
Rajasthan, vol.i., p. 51.
** ‘Tod surmises that they did not perish thus, but
migrated into the Peloponnesus, and founded the
colony of the Heraclide, stated by Volney to have
been formed there 1078 years, B.c. See the reason
for this conjecture, based ehicfly on the supposition
of the Pandoos being the descendants of the Indian |
Hercules, pp. 48, 51.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| milkmaids,
18
royal family of Mattra on the Jumna, but.
| brought up by a herdsman in the neigh-
bourhood, who eoneealed him from the tyrant
who sought to slay him. This phase of his
life is a very favourite one with the Hindoos,
and he is worshipped in an infant form by
an extensive seet, as also under the figure
of a beautiful youth, in eommemoration of
the time he spent among the “ gopis” or
dancing, spor rting, playing on
the pipe, and captir ating the ‘hearts alike of
rural maidens and princesses. Among the
| the Jumna.
mumerous exploits of his more mature age
was the recovery of his usurped inheritance,
whenee, being driven by foreign foes, he
| removed to Divarika, m “Guzerat, where he
founded a prineipality. He soon however
became again involved in civil discord, and,
aeeording to Tod, was slain by one of the
aboriginal tribes of Bheels. The Maha
Bharat deseribes the sons of Crishna as
finally returning to the neighbourhood of
The war is supposed to have
taken place in the fonrteenth century, B.c.,
about 200 years before the siege of Troy,
and the famous and Jengthy poem in which
it is commemorated is, as before stated, attri-
buted to Vyasa, the colleetor of the Vedas.
The princes who suceceded the Pandoos,
"are variously stated at from twenty-nine to
sixty-four in number; they appear to have
transferred the seat of their government to
Delhi; but little beyond a name is reeorded
of any of them. ‘The kings of Magadha
or Behar (the line mentioned as cotem-
porary with the latter portion of the dy-
nasties of the sun and moon), play a more
eonspicuous part in the Purana records;
they afford a connceted chain from the war
of the Maha Bharat to the fifth eentury after
Christ, and present an appearance of proba-
bility, besides reeciving striking confirma-
tions from various quarters. They are fre-
quently referred to in inscriptions seulptured
on stone, or engraved on copper plates,
conveying grants of land, or eharters of
privileges and immuuitics, which are very
vumerous, aud not only contain the date
of the grant, and the name of the prince
by whom they were conferred, but in most
cases enumerate, also, certain of his pre-
deeessors.
The first of the Magadha kings, Jara-
sandha, is mentioned in the Muha Bharat
as the head of a number of petty prinecs.
The rnlg monareh at the eonclusion of
the war was Sahadeva; the thirty-fifth in sue-
ecssion from him was Ajata Satru; and in
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
MAGADHA KINGS TO CHANDRA GUPTA, OR
SANDRACOTTUS.
his reign, aeeording to high anthority,*
Sakya, or Gotama, the founder of the
Boodha religion flourished, and died about
550, n.c. This date, if reliable, does good
serviee by fixing the era of Satru; but
other eminent writers consider Boodhism
of much earlier origin; and some as coeval
with, or even older than Brahminism.t
The sixth in snecession from Satru was
Nanda, who, unlike his long line of regal
aneestors of the Cshatriya, or military class,
was born of a Soodra mother; his ninth sue-
cessor, who bore his name, was murdered
by Chandra Gnpta,f a man of low birth
who usurped the throne. This Chandra
Gupta has been, after much rescarch, identi-
fied with Sandracottus, the cotemporary
of Alexander the Great, and thus a link had
been obtained wherewith to conneet India
with European history, and also with that
of other Asiatic nations. The foregoing
particulars have been given on strictly In-
dian authority, for although much extrane-
ous information may be obtained from early
foreign writers it is difficult to ascertain
how to separate truth from fietion.§ Ac-
cording to Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and
Cieero, the first Indian conqueror was
Baeehus or Dionysus, afterwards deified,
who led an army out of Grecee, subdued
India, taught the inhabitants the use of
wine, and built the eity of Nysa. The Egyp-
tians, who spared no pains to fortify their
elaim to the highest antiquity and carliest
eivilization, and never serupled to appro-
priate the great deeds of the heroes of
other countries, as having been performed by
their own rulers, maintained that Osiris,
their conqueror, having first added Ethi-
opia to lis dominions, marched thenee to
India through Arabia, taught the
wine, and built the eity of Nysa. Both
these stories evidently refer to the same
person; namely, the Indian prince Vaisya-
wata Mcnu; whom Tod, the pains-taking
but wildly theoretical Maurice, and other
writers affirm to have been no other than
the patriarch Noah. Be this as it may,
one of the most valnable of aneient writers,
Diodorus the Sicilian, dcelares, on the
authority of Indian tradition, that Bacehus
(Vaisvawata Menu) belonged to their own
nation, was a lawgiver, built inany stately
* Ulphinstone, vol. i., pp. 209, 261.
+ See note to page 14.
} Chandra Gupta signifies “protected by the moon.”
§ Justin states that. the Scylhians conquered a
great part of Asia, and penetrated to Egypt 1,500
years before Ninus, first king of Assyria.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
use of |
INDIAN INVASIONS.—SEMIRAMIS, SESOSTRIS, IIERCULNS, & CYRUS. 19
cities, instituted divine worship, aud erected
everywhere courts of justice.
The alleged invasions of Seniuramis,* Se-
sostris,+ Icreules,t and Cyrus, are all denicd
by Arrian, execpt that attributed to Ier-
cules. Strabo disputes cven that, adding that
the Persians hired mercenarics from India
but never invaded it.§ The whole question
respecting the nature of the alleged con-
nection existing between India and Persia,
is one which scarecly admits a satisfactory
explanation. Before the time of Cyrus the
Great (the son of King Cambyscs, the con-
queror of Babylon and the Shepherd whose
coming to perform the pleasure of the om-
nipotent God of the Hebrews, was forctold
by Isaiah)||, Persia was no more than an
* The Assyrian invasion, according to the chrono-
logy of Capellus, took place about 1970, a.m. It was
planned by Semiramis, the widow of Ninus, who,
after conseltating her hushkand's Baetrian conquests,
resolved to attempt the subjugation of India, being
led thereto by the reported fruitfulness of the soil
and the riches of its inhabitants. She spent three
years in assembling an immense army, drawn from
all the provinces of her extensive empire, and caused
the shipwrights of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cyprus, to
send to the frontier 2,000 ships or large barks, in
nieces, so that they might be carried thence to the
{ndus, and there put in array against the naval force
ef the Indians. All things being ready, Semiramis
marched from Bactria (Balk) with an army, which it
has been well said, “the Greek historians have, by
their relations, rendered less wonderful than incre-
dible ;” tor they describe it as having consisted of
3,000,000 foot, 500,000 horse, 100,000 war chariots,
and 100,900 camels, a portion of the latter being
made to resemble elephants—by means of a frame-
work being covered with the skins of oxen; this
device being employed to delude the Indians into
the belicf of the invaders being superior to them
even in this respect. Stabrobates, the king of the
eountries bordering the Indus, on receiving intelli-
gence of tho intended invasion, assembled his troops,
augmented the number of his elephants, caused
4,000 boats to be built of cane (which is not subject to
rot, or to he eaten by worms, evils known to be very
prevalent at the present day), to occupy the Indus ;
and headed his army on the eastern bank, in readi-
ness to support them. The attacking flect heing
victorious, Stabrobates abandoned his position, ]eavy-
ing the enemy a free passage; and Semiramis, mak-
ing a bridge of boats, crossed over with her whole
foree. The counterfeit clephants, which play an
important part in the narrative, were marched in
front, and at first created great alarm; but the
deception being revealed hy some deserters from the
camp, the Indians recovered their spirits. A fierce
contest ensued, in which the Assyrians had at first
the advantage, but were eventually totally over-
thrown, and Semiramis fled, accompanied ly a very
slender retinue, and escaped with great difficulty to
her own dominions. Such is the tale related by
Diodorus Siculus; and, however little to be relied on
in many respects, it may at least be cited in testi-
mony of the reputation for wealth and civilization |-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
inconsiderable kingdom, «fterwards compre-
hended in a single province, retaining the
aucient name of Fars; but the conquests of
the youthful general, on behalf of his uncle
and father-in-law, Cyaxares, King of Media,
whom he succeeded, enabled him to unite
the thrones of Persia and Media, as well as
to sway neighbouring and distant states, to
an extent which it is at preseut not casy to
define, though it was amply sufficicnt to
form what was termed the Persian empire,
557, u.c. Wis castern fronticr ecrtainly
touched the verge of India; but whether it
encroached yct farther, is a matter of doubt,
aud has been so for centurics. Nor is it
even an established point where India itself
terminated ; for although Elphinstone aud
enjoyed by India at a very carly period. With regard
to Semiramis, recent discoveries of ruins and de-
ciphering of inscriptions have placed her existence
as an historical personage beyond a doubt.
+ The invasion of Scsostris, king of Egypt, a...
3023, is alleged to have been as successful as that of
Seniramis had proved disastrous. Desiring to render
his subjects a commercial people, he fitted out a fleet
of 100 ships in the Arabian Gulf, or Red Sea (being
the inventor, it is alleged, of ships of war), by means
of which all the countries stretching along the lry-
threan or Arabian Seato India were subjugated, Mean-
while he Icd his army through Asia, and being every-
where victorious, crossed the Ganges and advanced
to the Indian Ocean. He spent nine years in this
expedition, but exacted no other tokens of submis-
sion from the conquered nations than the sending
annually of presents to Egypt. Verhaps this story,
recorded by Diodorus Siculus, and quoted by Harris
and by Robertson (who discredits it), in his Zésto-
rical Disquisition concerning Ancient India, p. 6,
may hare originated in the efforts of Sesostris for the
extension of commerce; but the success of his plans,
whether pursued by warlike or peaceful means, could
have been at best but short-lived, since, after his
death the Igyptians relapsed into their previous
anti-maritime habits; and centuries elapsed before
their direct trade with India became of importance.
{ The Greek accounts of Herenles haying been in
India is thought to have arisen from the fact of
there having been a native prince of that name, who,
according to the Hindoo traditions cited by Diodorus
Siculus (who wrote 44, B.c.), was after his death
honoured as a god, having in life excelled all mere
men in strength and courage; cleared both the sea
and land of monsters and wild beasts; founded many
cities, the most famous of which was Velibothra,
where he built a stately palace strongly fortified, and
rendered impregnable by being surrounded hy deep
trenches, into which he let an adjacent river. When
his numerous sons were grown up, he divided India
equally among them; und they reigned long and
happily, but never engaged in any foreign expe-
ditions, or sent forth colonies into distant countries,
being content with the resources of their own fertile
domains.
§ Arrian’s Indica: Straho, lib. xv.; Elphinstone,
vol,i., p. 440.
"Tsalah; chap. xliv., v. 28.
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————
20 DARIUS CODOMANUS OF PERSIA PIMLIP OF
MACIEDON—..c. 337,
other writers follow Strabo in declaring the
Indus, from the mountains to the sea, to
have formed its western limit, other autho-
rities consider the territory of the Hindoos
to have stretched far beyond. Colonel Wil-
ford adduces a verse in their Sacred Writ-
ings, which prohibits the three upper, or
“ twice-born” classes, from crossing the In-
dus, hut says that they were at hberty to
| pass to the other side, by going round its
source.* Amid so many difficulties and con-
tradictory statements, it is only possible to
note the points which scem most reasonable
and best authenticated.
Darius, the son of Hystaspes, was raised
to the throne of Persia, B.c. 521, by the
seven nobles who conspired against Gomates,
the Magian, by whom it had been usurped
aftcr the death of Cambyses, the son and
successor of Cyrus, whose daughter Atossa
he afterwards married. Desiring to know
the termination of the Indus, and the state
of the adjacent countries, with a view to
their conquest, Darius built a fleet at Cas-
patyrus, in the territory of Pactyica on that
river, which he entrusted to a skilful Greek
mariner named Scylax, who fulfilled his in-
structions by sailing down the whole length
of the Indus, thence coasting to the straits of
Bah-el-Mandeb, and ascending the Arabian
gulf to the port at its northern extremity.
The account given by Scylax of the fertility,
high cultivation, and dense population of
the country through which his route lay,
incited Darius at once to attempt its acquisi-
tion. By the aid of the Tyriaus, who were
intimately acquainted with the navigation,
he brought a numerons force on the coast,
while he himself headed a land attack.
According to Dr. Robertson, he subjugated
“ the districts watered by the Indus ;’+ while
Colonel Chesney speaks of his conquests as
limited to the “ Indian territory westward
of the Indus.{” Both appear to rely exclu-
sively on the testimony of Herodotus, who
states that ‘the Indians” consented to pay
an aunual tribute of 360 Eubean talents of
* Asiatic Rescarehes, vol. vi., p. 585.
+ Dr. Robertson’s Wistorical Disquisition, p. 12.
t Colonel Chesney’s Survey of the Rivers Tigris
and Euphrates. London: 1850; vol. ii, p. 180.
§ Herodotus, lib. iii. and iv.
) || During the reign of Artaxerxes, the third son of
| Nerxes (the Ahasuerus of the book of Msther), Ctesias,
the king’s physieian, and the author of a voluminous
history of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Tersian
empires, wrote a book on India, founded upon the
aceounts he obtained from the Persians. Ifis works
| | are not now extant though various extraets are to be
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
gold, or a talent a day—the Persian year
being then considered to comprise only 360
days. The sum would appear to be over-
stated; for a single talent, at the lowest
computation, was equal to £3,000 English
money ; and even, though India may have
then deserved its high reputation as a gold-
producing region, this tax would have been
very onerous.
at this time the force of Persian gold was
known and feared by neighbouring states,
and had a powerful share in enabling the
successors of Darius to keep together the
chief part of the widely-scattered dominions,
which he displayed great ability in even par-
tially consolidating and dividing into satra-
pies, or governments; of these his Indian
possessions formed the twenticth and last.§
It is, however, ecrtain, that
Xerxes, the son and suecessor of Darius,
had a body of Indian troops in his service ;
bnt he discouraged maritime intercourse,
considering traflic by land more desirable;
and indeed he and his suecessors are said to
have adopted the Babylonian policy of pre-
yenting invasions by sea, by blocking np the
navigation of some of the chief rivers, in-
stead of guarding the coast with an efficient
naval force.
We find but few traces of India|] during
the remaining reigns of the Persian mo-
narchs, nntil the time of their last ruler,
Darins Codomanns, who suceceded to the
sway of a disorganized territory, consisting
of mumerous provinces, or rather kingdoms,
differing in religion, languages, laws, cus-
toms, and interests; and bound together by
no tie of a permanent character. A power-
fal enemy was at hand, in the neighbouring
kingdom of Macedon, which had sprung into
importance almost as rapidly as Persia, and
in a similar manner, having been raised by
the talents of a single individual. Philp had
acceded to the government of an ordmary
state, weakened by war and dissension ; but
taking full advantage of the commanding |
seographical position of the country, and
the warlike spirit of its hardy sons, he ren-
found in different authors. They are all unfavour-
ably commented on, especially that on India, by se-
yeral Greek writers, who pronounce them fabulous,
Plutareh, Aristotle, and even Strabo, notwithstand-
ing their severe censures, haye, however, not serupicd
to borrow from the pages of Ctesias sueh statements
as appeared to them probable; and Diodorus, as
well as Herodotus and Athenrus, are said to have
drawn largely from the same source. Xenophon,
who was personally aequainted with Ctesias, speaks
of him with great respect, though differing from many
of his opiniuns.
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ALEXANDER CROSSES THE
dered it the centre of ar tik and OC cow
sccond only to Persia in power, and snpe-
rior even to Persia in infiuence, on account
of the state of corruption and excessive
Iuxury into which that empire had fallen.
The free Grecian republies, weakened by
strife and division, beeame for the most part
suhjeet to Macedonia, whose ancient consti-
tution——a limited monarchy, which it was
the interest of the community at large to
maintain— proved a source of streugth alike
in offensive and defensive warfare. Still
Macedonia appears to have heen in some
sort tributary to Persia; and it was pos-
sibly a dispute on this point which had ted
Phihp to form the hostile intentions he was
preparing to carry out, and which together, scemed
for the time entirely reconciled, but during
Humayun’s subsequent absence in Trans-
oxiana, the conquest of which he had resolved
on attempting, Kamran once more rebelled,
and after many Vicissitndes, (during which
Cabool and the young prince were again
lost nnd won, and Lindal fell in the canse
of Ilumaynn,) was finally betrayed by the
sultan of the Gukkurs, with whom he had
taken refuge, into the hands of is much-
injured brother. Some chicfs, whose wives
and children had been savagely disgraced and
murdered by order of Kamran during the
siege of Cabool in 1547, now londly urged
that his life should pay the forfeit of his
crimes. ‘This Humayun steadfastiy refused,
carefully weighed, misleading ; but, notwithstanding
their defects, his works (the Adder Namah and
Ayecn Akbery) afford information not to be cb-
tained elsewhere.
+ In the east it is regarded as peculiarly infa-
mous fer cither the giver or receiver of the lowest
deseription of hospitality, to practice hostility against
one another. Thus, salt, which forms an ingredient
still in vogue in India, This account of important | of the most sumptuous or humble meal has become
events is therefore often unsatisfactory, and, unless | a type and pledge of good faith.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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but consented to alleow him to be blinded,
'the barbarous method commonly resorted
to in the East, to crush ambitious pretenders
to that uneasy scat—the throne of a despot.
|The cruel operation was usually performed
by means of a searing instrument, called a
| fire-pencil, held against the visual nerve
| nntil it was annihilated, or by means of an-
|timony; but in this case, perhaps from the
fact of several state prisoners condemned
in late reigns to a similar fate having
escaped its completion—a lancet was em-
| ployed, and after many wounds had been
| inflicted, without drawing a groan, lemon-
| juice and salt were at last squeezed into the
_sightless orbs of the wretched sufferer, who
_ then exclaimed in uncontrollable agony—“ O
, Lord my God! whatever sins I have com-
/mitted have been amply punished in this
world, have compassion on me in the next.”
Humayun shortly afterwards went to visit
-his unhappy brother, and wept Jong and
bitterly wlile Kamran confessed the justice
of his punishment, and asked leave to per-
form a pilgrimage to Mecca. This he was
suffered to do, and died in that place in
1557. Askeri, who had likewise returned to
the course of rebellion after having repeat-
edly abjured it, had been previously cap-
tured, but was only punished by imprison-
ment, from which he also was released, for
the purpose of proceeding to Mecca, and
died on his way thither. Thus delivered
from the difficulties im which the turbulence
and disunion of his brothers had involved
him during so long a period, Humayun
began to take advantage of the unsettled
state in which the death of Selim Shah and
the misgovernment of his suecessor had
involved the territories conquered by Baber,
which had gradually, as has been shown,
been parted by varions usurpations into five
distinct states, whose rulers were at variance
with one another. In January, 1555, he
started from Cahool with 15,000 horse,
obtained possession of Lahore, and sub-
sequently engaged Secander, who being
defeated fled to the mountains near the
Himalaya, leaving Humayun to ocenpy
Delhi and Agra. The portion of his origina:
dominions thus at -length regaincd, aftcr
sixteen years of strife and banishment, had
| been cnjoyed by Tumayun less than six
months, when an accident occurred which
produced fatal results, The monarch had
ascended the terrace at the top of his library
to enjoy the cool evening air, and give orders
respecting tlic attendance of astronomers to
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
CHARACTER AND DEATH OF HUMAYUN—a.p. 1555.
noie the rising of Venus, which was to he |
the signal for the announcement of a general
promotion among the nobility and officers.
While preparing to descend the steep and
highly-polished stairs, protected only by an
ornamental parapet a foot high, a muezzin
or crier announced the hour of prayer from
the minarets of the adjoining mosque, where
the people being assembled had just offered
the monarch the usual kornesh or saluta-
tion. Humayun, intending to repeat the
customary formula, attempted to seat him-
self on the spot, but his foot becoming en-
tangled in the folds of his robe, he fell head-
long down the steps, receiving a contusion
on the right temple, of which he died, aged
somewhat less than forty-nine years.
Historians agree in according him high
rank as a benevolent, forgiving, and munifi-
cent prince, intrepid in the hour of danger,
patient in adversity, moderate in prosper-
ity, and skilled in literature, mathematics,
geography, astronomy, and the mechanical
sciences. These varied gifts, united to a
naturally easy temper, pleasing person, and
courteous demeanour, rendered his society
so delightful that Baber used often to de-
clare Humayun to be without an equal as a |
companion. Procrastination and indecision
were his characteristic failings ; these may be
easily traced to the frequent and intoxicat-
ing use of opium, a vice whose degrading |
influences were heightened by the pecuhar
defects of his religious creed. Perhaps ne
single character, when carefully weighed
would afford an iaquirer into the effects of
Mohammedanism on individuals more strik-
ing evidence than that of Humayun. His
conduct repeatedly affords evidence of the
want of a steady principle of action, direct.-
ing even the passing thonghts of the mind,
and marking with a broad line the differ-
ence between right and wrong. Notwith-
standing the false notions of expediency
which Icd him to comiit, or at least sanc-
tion, crimes from which a naturally gentle |
and easy disposition must have revolted,
col. Dow has said that “had he been a
worse man he would have been a greater
monareh.” The remark sounds strangely,
but it is to be hoped that young students of
history will uot forget that all Christendom
concurs in invoking the same just, mer-
ciful and omnipotent Ruler to give wisdom
to scnators and prosperity to nations—there-
fore any description of greatness, inconsis-
tent with the goodness inculeated in the
Gospel, ought simply to excite abhorrence
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BAHMANIL KINGDOM OF TH
and reprobation. Most assuredly the man
who, in an unrightcous cause, has made mo-
thers childless, and widowed happy wives, de-
solated cultivated lands and spread famine and
pestilence in his train, has attained in the
sight of his Creator a pre-eminence in crime
little in accordance with the idea conimonly
attached to the word greatness. Some ray of
light, breaking through the dense clouds in
which the teaching of the False Prophet had
involved the purposes and results of war,
beamed on the mind of Wumayun, when not
many days before his death he prayed, “ Lord,
ennoble me with the knowledge of thy truth,”
and described himself as “ sorely afflicted by
the perplexities of a troubled mind.” ‘The
faith of Islam and its innumerable obser-
vanees had thus utterly failed to enlighten
or sustain even a follower, so diligent in
their observance, that a seutiment of deep
reverence had all his life long preserved him
from so niuch as uttering the name of his
Creator with unwashen hands.*
A new epoch is formed by the reign of
Akber, since hy him India was consolidated
into one formidahle empire, by the absorp-
tion of the various small kingdoms which
had sprung up during the reign of Molam-
med Toghlak, as also by the annexation of
numerous Hindoo principalities, which Ak-
ber obtained far Jess by force than by the
favours and distinctions which he invariably
bestowed on the native rulers so soon as
they consented to rceognize his supremacy,
without regard to their religious opinions.
Before proceeding further, the origin and
condition of these states must be shown, as
the reader may probably need this know-
ledge for subsequent reference.
The Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan was
founded by an Afghan, born in the lowest
condition at Delhi, and servant to a Brah-
min astrologer, named Gungoo, much fa-
youred by Mohammed Yoghlak. In con-
sideration of lis good conduct, Gungoo gave
Wussun 2 pair of oxen, and permitted him
to till a piece of land for his own sustenance.
While ploughing, Ifussun discovered a cop-
per casket filled with ancient gold coins,
which he carricd to his master, who, in re-
turn, used his utmost influence at conrt, and
* Price, from bud Fazil, vol. ili, p. 944.
+ The Ahotbah is the public prayer for the reign-
ing king; S’cca the royal right of stamping coin.
} By the Carnatic is here meant the eountry where
the Canarese language prevails, south of a line drawn
between Colapoor and Beder. It must be remem-
bered that this tract continued, up to the time of
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
DECCAN—FOUNDED a.p. 1317.
93
succeeded in rewarding the honesty of Hnus-
sun by obtaining for him an appvintment
and jaghire in the Deccan, under the gov-
ernor of Doulatabad. Soine time after-
wards, the officers of the Deecan, by refusing
to surrender some fugitive chicfs from
Guzcrat, incurred the displeasure of Mo-
hammed Yoghlak, and fearing to fall into
the hands of this erucl despot, broke into
open rebellion. On the establishment of
their independence ITussun was chosen as |
king, a.p. 1317, and the eapital fixed at Cul-
harga, whence it was snbsequently removed
to Beder or Bidr. IJfussun, on assuming
the regal honours of the mosque and mint,
took the name of Ala-oo-deen, adding
thereto Gungoo Bahmani (Brahmin), in
honour of his early benefactor, whom he
sent for and made treasurer; and the suc-
ceeding princes of the Deccan followed this
example by gencrally committing to Brah-
mins the charge of the revenucs. Notwith-
standing the close connection between the
first Bahmani king and his Hindoo patron,
his son and successor, Mohammed J., proved
a sanguinary foc to that people. ‘It is
computed,” says Ferishta, “that in his
reign [of scventecn years] nearly 500,000
unbelievers fell by the swords of Islam, by
which the population of the Carnatic was so
reduced that it did not recover for several
ages.” { ‘This destruction was aceomplished
by indiscriminate slaughter, without regard
to sex or age, a proceeding at Iength stopped
by the remonstrances of the Hindoo ambas- |
sadors, who urged that since the prinees of |
the Deccan and of the Carnatie might long
remain neighbours, it was advisable that a
treaty should be made, binding both parties
to refrain from taking the life of the help-
less and unarmed. Irom this time, it is
asserted, that the conquered were no longer
slain in cold blood during the hostilitics
earried on by the Bahmanis against the
neighbouring states, and especially the new
monarchy of Becjanuggur, throughout the
whole period of their existenec, cxecpting the
reign of Mahmood Shah J., who, for nearly
twenty years (a.p. 1378 to 1397), by rectitude
and discretion, preserved his subjects alike
from foreigu and domestic strife.§ Although ,
in these conflicts many thousand Moham- |
the Mohammedan writer to be devastated hy almost
incessant wars.
§ The proeeedings of Mahmood Shah I. oceupy but
a few pages in Ferishta’s history, far less than are
often given to the details of a single peannlen. but
quite enough is said to make the reader solicitous to ,
learn more respecting this truly great and gifted mo- |
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94
MAHMOOD SITAH I. AND HAFIZ, THE POET OF SHIRAZ,
medans, in the fantastie and fanatical lan-
guage of thcir historians, “ tasted the sher-
bet of martyrdom,” they were on the whole
gainers. In 1421, Ahmed Shah took per-
manent possession of Warangol, and com-
pelled the rajah of Telingana to relinquish
his ancient capital. In 1471, Mohammed IT.
concluded a strugele of more than forty
years’ duration, in which much life and trea-
sure had been wasted, by the partial con-
qnest of the Concan,* and in 1477 completed
the snbjugation of Rajalimundry and Masu-
lipatam. Notwithstanding these suceesses,
Mohammed was rendered infamous, even in
the eyes of his fellow-believers, by the
slaughter of some Brahmins whom he
found officiating in an idolatrous temple at
Condapilli, and to this ungrateful outrage
on the Order, by whom his ancestor had
been first brought to notice, was popularly
attributed the downfall of the Bahmam
dynasty. Soon after this, the king, while
flushed with wine, was induced, by a forged
letter, fo sanction the immediate execution
of his faithful minister, Mahmood Gawan,
then in the seventy-eighth year of his age.
narch. We are told that he was “naturally of a
disposition wise, merciful, and just, and his judg-
ment in all affairs of state was usually correct.”
»* * «During his reign no disturbances occurred
in the kingdom, nor did any relaxation take place in
the energy of the government.” The praise is coldly
given, but in the present day the character of a
ruler in whom firmness and mildness were so ad-
mirably balanced will be regarded in a very different
light to that in which it was likely to be viewed by
a Mohammedan,who regarded the title of Ghazi (the
holy warrior), bestowed on the blood-thirsty Mo-
hammed, as the most desirable of distinctions. In-
decd the virtues of Mahmood Shah I. savoured little
of the morality ofthe Koran. He had but one wife,
wore plain white robes, and was equally simple and
uupretending inall his habits. As a youth he is said
io have delighted in gaudy attire, but on acceding
to the throne he declared that he looked upon kings
as only trustees of the state, and thenceforth ob-
served in his personal expenses remarkable modera-
tion. A famine occurring during his reign, he
employed 10,000 bnllocks, at his private expense, in
going to and from Malwa and Guzerat for grain,
which was distributed to the people at a cheap rate.
le established orphan schools at the cities of Cul-
barga, Beder, Cand‘har, Mlikpoor, Doulatabad, and in
several other great towns, with ample foundations
for their ere, apportioned stipends to the ex-
pounders of the Scriptures, and gave monthly charity
to the blind throughout his dominions. ‘The fame of
his learning and munificence is said to have reached
the cars of Hafiz, the poct of Shiraz, who resolved to
visit the Deccan. An assurance of an honourable
reception was sent by the king, accompanied by a
present, which, aecording to Ferishta, the poct dis-
tributed among his relations and creditors, and then
het himself on board one of the royal vessels which
ind arrived at Ormus. but the anchor was scarecly
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
By so doing, he sealed the fate of his house,
whose power was speedily absorbed in the
whirlpool of strife raised by the two factions
into which the troops had beeome divided.
The first consisted of Mogul converts, to
whom were gradually added Persians and .
Turks, Georgians, Cireassians, Calmucks,
and other Tartars, who were for the most
part of the Sheiah sect ; the second, or native
troops, called Deceanies, were Sonnites, and
were always jomed by the Abyssinian mer-
cenaries, who came in numbers by the sea-
ports on the western coast.+
The late minister was a Sonnite, and -
although just and kind to both sects, this
circumstance afforded a pretext to Nizam-
ul-Moolk Behri, the son of a eonverted |
Hindoo, and the leader of the opposite
party, for gratifying his ambition. Having
sueceeded in procuring the death of Gawan,
he obtained also his much-eoveted office,
through the fears of the king, who, on learn-
ing the base plot by which he had been de-
ceived, openly bewailed his rash credulity,
but made uo attempt to bring the con-
spirators to justice. A low fever, brought
weighed before a heavy gale arose, and the ship was
compelled to return to port. Hafiz had suffered so
much during the storm that he insisted on being put
ashore, sending to Mahmood Shah a copy of verses,
in which he frankly confessed the reason of his
change of mind—
* The glare of gems confused my sight,
The ocean’s roar I ne’er had heard.”
Unhappily, the line of Bahmani presents an instance
ofa monarch exactly opposite to Mahmood Shah I.
Humayun the Cruel was one of those monsters, who
seem possessed by a demoniac desire to cause and
witness suffering. His own brother he ordered to be
devoured by a tiger, before his eyes; and the tor-
tures inflicted by his command, and in his presence,
were often too shocking to be narrated. On one
occasion, after an unsuccessful rebellion, 7,000 per-
sons, including unoffending females and servants,
perished by such agonizing deaths as hewing to
pieces with hatchets, and fiaying in cauldrons of
scalding oil or boiling water. After reigning three
years this tyrant, during a fit of intoxication, was
assassinated by his own servants.—Briggs’ Ferishia.
* The sufferings of the Moslems in the Concan
are very graphically told by Ferishta, who describes
their “ wandering through gloomy defiles, where the
very grass was tongh and sharp as the fangs of ser-
penta, and the air fetid as the breath of dragons.
Death dwelt in the waters, poison impregnated the
breeze.” On one occasion, having halted at night, in
a spot so rugged as to prevent two tents being pitched
side by side, no less than 7,000 of the invaders were
surprised and put to death by the Hindoos, the fierce
gusts of wind rushing through the trees, preventing
the crics of the first sufferers being heard by their
companions.—Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. ii, p. 430.
t The influx of Arabians appears to have been very
small, but it is difficult to conjecture the reason.
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EXTINCTION OF BAHMANI KINGS OF THE DECCAN—a.p, 1549. 95
on by grief and remorse, was aggravated by
intoxication, and Ihe expired in strong con-
vulsions, crying oné that Gawan was tearing
him to picees. The date ef his death,
a.). 1482, is recorded in the Persian charac-
ters (applied numerically) which express “the
‘vain of the Deccan.” Mahmood Shah II.
next ascended the throne. Being but twelve
| years old and of limited ability, he natnrally
became a mere puppet in the hands of thic
grasping nobles, who, thongh for a time
| disposed to co-operate for their own adyan-
tage, soon broke out into new hostilitics.
Bebri, for some years, maintained his as-
cendancy over the young king, and Yusuf
Adil Shah, the leader of the forcign party,
withdrew to his government of Becjapoor,
which he formed into an independent
state. DBehri, when old and defenceless,
was strangled at the instigation of the king,
who then gave himself up to every spccics
of excess, leaving the public affairs in the
hands of the leaders of the forcign party.
The Deceanies and Abyssinians conspired
for lis destruction, and having surprised
the palace during one of the ordinary scenes
of midnight revelry, would have suecceded
| in their object, but for the loyalty of some
half&dozen of his body-guard, who, though
unarmed, threw themselves between him
and the assassins, and by the saerifice of
their own lives, enabled the king to escape
to the terrace of the royal tower, where he
was joined by the forcign troops. Mahmood,
mounting lis throne at sunrise on the fol-
lowing day, gave orders that the houses of
the Deecanies should be broken open, the
inhabitants slain without distinction, and
their property scized by the triumphant
Moguls,* who gladly gave vent to the savage
fury which they had nursed for years; and
all the horrors of a successful sicge, height-
ened by the envenomed bitterness of intes-
tine broils, raged for three days through
the stately city of Beder. Strife and ernelty
naturally bronght Itceutiousness and dis-
order in their train. ‘“ The people, follow-
ing the example of their prince, attended to
nothing but dissipation: reverend sages
pawned their very garments at the wine-
cellars, and holy teachers, quitting tlicir
colleges, retired to taverns and presided
over the wine-flask.”y; The governors of
frontier provinces took advantage of this
* This term must be here understood in the loose
sense in which it was then used, as synonymous with
the whole foreign or Sheiah party.
t Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. ii., p. 535.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
state of affairs, cach one to claim as his
own the territories entrusted to his charge,
Alimednuggur, Golconda and Berar became
distinet principalities, until at length there
remained to the nominal king of the Decean
no more than the province of T’clingana and
the districts adjacent to icder. Even there
he had no real sway, being wholly in the
hands of Kasim DBareed, who had assumed
the reins of government after the failure
of the Deecani plot, and in revenge for
Mahmood’s attempts to get rid of him, as
he had previously done of Behri, by the
hand of an assassin, ruled him so tyranically,
as to forbid him “even to satisfy his thirst,
without permission.” On the death of
Kasim, his son, Ameer Bareed, succeeded him
in the oflice of Vakeel,t and after regaining
the person of the king, who had in vain
endeavoured to assert his rights, confined him
eloscly, uatil lis death, in 1518, terminated
a nominal reign of thiety-scven years. The
two years’ equally nominal sway of Ahmed,
the son and successer of Mahmood, being
ended by his decease, Ameer Bareed raised
to the throne a prince entitled Ala-co-
deen II., who, rejecting all allurements to
the execsses by which the energics of his
predecessors had been destroyed, attempted
to out-manceuvre the wary minister, but
having failed in an attempt to scize his per-
son, was himself made prisoner and put to
death. His successor, also a son of Mah-
mood Shah II., met with a similar fate; for
Ameer Bareed having conecived a passion
for his wife, caused him to be poisoned,
married the queen, and bestowed the empty
title of Shah on another Bahmani prince,
who, having subsequently incurred Ins dis-
pleasure, by making a private and unsuaccces-
ful appeal to Baber, the new emperor of
India, then fully engaged in hostilities with
the kings of Malwa and Guzerat, was so
harshly treated, that, escaping from his
palace-prison, he took refuge at Ahmed-
nugeur, and there resided till his death.
Thus ended the Bahmani line. Bareed
Shah ascended the throne of Beder, aud
founded a dynasty, which reigned over the
fifth of the kingdoms (Beejapoor, Almed-
nuggur, Goleonda, and Berar), formed from
that called the Deccan, but not with gceo-
graphical accuracy, sinee Tlindoo states, in-
dependent and even antagonistic, existed in
{ The Vakcel er Representative was then the first
person in the kingdom, his business being to issue all
orders from the royai closet to the vizier and other |
exceutive officers. — (Dow's Iindoostan, vol. i.p. 202.)
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OG
ADIL SHAH DYNASTY AT BEEJAPOOR—a.p. 1489.
various parts of the territory commonly
comprehended in that term, During the
above period* of two centuries, relations of
a domestie character had gradually arisen be-
tween the Moslems and Hindoos. Feroze
Shah, who began to reign in 1397, made
it an article of a peace with the rajah of
beejanugeur, that he should give lim his
daughter in marriage. This stipulation
perhaps contributed to the blending of the
'twe people, thongh it originated in the
ungoverncd passions of a king, who re-
ceived into his harem 300 females in one
day, being convinecd, by the reasoning of
the Sheiahs, that this proeceding was in
perfeet accordance with the spirit of the
Keran, against whose doctrines his sole
offences are said to have been an addiction
to wine and music. These foibles would
weigh lightly cnough in the judgment of a
Mussulman against a king who earned the
| coveted name of Ghazi, by the unbounded
zeal for Islam evinced during “four and
twenty glorious campaigns, by the success of
which he greatly enlarged lis dominions.”
In reality, the religious feelings of both
Moslems and Hindoos had deteriorated, and
the conscientious scruples of the former
people became frequently little better than
a superstitious regard to certain forms,
Thus the very men, who, for the sake
of gain, entered the service of the rajah of
Beejanuggnr, to fight against their fellow-
believers, cavilled at the idea of making the
obeisance required as a pledge of fealty to
an idolator, but giadly availed themselves of
the miserable pretext of having a Koran
placed before the throne and bending there-
to, it being understood that the rajah would
| appropriate the homage as ofiered to his per-
son, and in return, assign lands for the sup-
port of luis new auxiliaries, and build a mos-
que at his capital for their cncouragement.
The carly Bahmani kings lived in great
pomp. Mohammed Shah I. had 3,000
elephants, a favourite evidenee of regal
splendour.t Ife obtained from the rajah of
Tclingana a throne six cubits long by two
broad, of ebony, covered with plates of pure
gold and inlaid with gems, to whieh ad-
ditions were made in sucecssive reigns, until
the whole attained tlie value of a erore of
* Ferishta makes some remarkable statements re-
specting the use of artillery in the Deecan. For in-
stance, he asserts, that in 1368, (22 years after their
| alleged employment by Edward IL]. at Cressy) 300
un carriages were among the spoil captured from the
Rajah of Becjanuggur; and the Moslems, by the aid
of Turks and Europeans, are said to have used artil-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
hoons (£4,000,000 sterling), when it was
broken np by Mahmood Shah IL, who
took it to pieces to make vases and goblets.
Some terrible famines are recorded at inter-
vals, oceasioned, according to Ferishta, by
the absenee of the -periodical rains, but
more likely by the slaughter and oppressive
exactions of the Mohammedans. During
one of these visitations, about a.p. 1474, no
grain was sown in Tclingana, Maharashtra,
and throughout the Bahmani dominions for
two years, and on the third, scarcely any
farmers remained to cultivate the land,
having for the most part perished or emi-
grated to Malwa and Guzerat.
Adil Shah dynasty at Beejapoor.—The first
king of this linc, Yusuf Adil Shah, reigned
from a.p. 1489 to 1510. A romantic story
is related of his royal descent. He is said to
have been a son of the Ottoman emperor
Amurath, at whose death he eseaped destruc-
tion by the contrivance of his mother, who
had him conveyed to Persia, from whence,
at the age of sixteen, he was compelled to
fly, by the suspieions entertained regarding
his birth, was eaptured, and sold at the
Bahmani court as a Georgian slave. He
rose, according to the eourse of Mameluk
adventurers, until he beeame the governor of
Beejapoor, and then, by one of the acts of
flagrant disloyalty so common at the period,
took the first opportunity of deelaring him-
self an irresponsible prmmee. From that time
he was occupied in hostilities with Kasim
Bareed of Beder, and other neighbouring
ehiefs, who were also endeavouring to form
independent principalities; but his most
formidable foe was the Hindoo rajah of Bee-
jannggur. With the new rulers of Ahmed-
nuggur and Berar, Yusuf entered into a
sort of partition treaty, by which he reeog-
nised them in their unlawful seizures, and
they him in the possession of the country
bounded by the Beema and Kishna rivers
ou the cast, the Tumbuddra river on the
south, the sea from near Goa to near Bom«
bay on the west, and perhaps the Neera
river on the north,
Ibrahim Adil Shah, the fonrth king, a.p.
1535, formed an alliance with Bhoj Tirmul,
(who had obtained the throne of Beejannggur
by the murder of its young oeeupant, his
lery for the first time in the following campaign.
There ean be little doubt that guns were common in
India before the arrival of the Portuguese in 1498.
+ The king in return signed a treaty pledging his
suecessors to forbear further encroachment on the
territory of the Telingana rajahs, which, as might be
expected, did not prevent its entire seizure,
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|
|
own nephew), against Rama Rajah, the regent
and brother-in-law of the late sovereign.
Ibrahim sent an army to the assistance of
Bho) Virmul, who, i return, paid down
fifty lacks of hoons* (.€2,000,000 sterling),
and promised to acknowledge himself tribu-
tary. No sooucr had the foreign troops
quitted Beejapoor, than Rama Rajah, break-
ing, it is alleged, a promise of allegiance
which had been extorted from him, surprised
the city. Bhoj Tirmul, mad with rage and
despair, shut himsclf up iu the palace,
blinded all the royal elephants and horses,
collected together, in one glittering heap,
the diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls, and
other gems, amassed during many ages, and
caused them to be erushed to powder he-
tween mill-stoues ; then, fixing a sword-blade
into a pillar of his apartment, rushed upon
it just as the palace-gates were opened to
his enemies. Rama Rajah beeame the un-
disputed master of Becjanuggur, and [bra-
him, after having received from his prede-
eessor so large a bribe to take the field
against him, now stooped to the humiliation
of soliciting, with a costly preseut, the aid
of Rama against a brave chief, Seif Ein-
oo}-Moolk, driven into rebellion by his own
suspicious tyranny. The required assistance
was sent under the guidance of Venkatadri,
the Raiah’s brother. Ibrahim died soon
after, of a complication of disorders brought
ou by the most abandoned conduct, having
| first caused several physicians to be be-
headed or trodden to death by clephants
for failing to eure him, upon which the rest
fled for their lives, leaving him to ‘perish
unheeded. His snecessor, Ali,f entered
into a new alliance with Rama Rajah, and
the two monarchs having, at the request of
the former, nnited their forecs, jointly in-
vaded the territory of Nizam Shah, and,
says Ferishta, “ laid it waste so thoroughly,
that from Purenda to Joonere, and from
Ahmednugegur to Doulatabad, not a vestige
of population was left.” AH at length be-
came “ scandalised by the behaviour of his
Hindoo allies,” and alarmed at the growing
strength and haughtiness of Rama; there-
fore, after recciving the full benefit of his
power, while continuing cvery outward
* The hoon varics in value from 33 to 4 rupees—
eight shillings sterling may be taken as the average.
¢ This monarch (whose death by the hand of a
eunuch shamefully insulted by him, has rendered his
name infamous) greatly improved the capital by eon-
structing the city wall and the aqueducts which still
convey water through every street. Mention is
made of his receiving tribute from several petty
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
EXTINCTION OF TLINDOO MONARCILY OF BE
IJANUGGUR—a.p. 1565. 97 |
mark of friendship, he made a sceret league
with his late enemy, Nizam Shah, and with
the kings of Beder and Golconda, “ to crush
the common enemy of Islam.’ A decisive
battle took place on the Kishna, near Tali-
cot, the Hindoos commencing the attack by
vast flights of rockets and rapid discharges
of artillery. A general engagement fol-
lowed, in which, after great numbcrs had
been slain on both sides, the Moslems were
victorious, aided by the treachery of two
Mohammedan chiefs in the pay of the rajah.
Rama, although seventy years of age, gave |
orders from his clephant throughout, bnt |
was at last captured, and brought into the |
presenee of Nizam Shah, by whose orders |
his head was struck off and stuck upon a
pole. It is no small proof, cither of the |
barbarity of the conquerors or the dread |
which their victim must have inspired, that
the head of the brave old mau should have
been annually exhibited at Ahmednnggur
for more than two centurics and a half,
covered with oil and red pigment, by the
descendants of his executioners, while a sculp-
tured representation of it was made to serve
as the opening of one of the sewers of
the citadel of Becjapoor.
Thus ended the monarchy of Becjanugeur, |
which at that time comprehended the greater
part of the south of India. The city of that
name was destroyed, and is now uninhabited;
the country fell into the hands of the tri-
butary chiefs and officers, since so ‘ well
known as zemindars or poligars; but the
covfederate kings were prevented by their
mutual jealonsics from gaining any great
addition of territory, the balance of power
being pretty evenly maintained among them,
until all were overwhelmed by Akber. Ven-
katadri, the brother of the Jate rajah, re-
moved his residence further cast, and finally |
settled at Chandragiri, seventy miles north-
west of Madras, at which last place his
descendant first granted a scttlement to the
English, a.p. 1640. The wars between the
Adil Shah dynasty and the Portuguese sct-
tlers are very slightly mentioned by the |
native historians; they state little more than
that Goa was lost under Yusuf, retaken by |
that king, lost again under his son Ismael
principalities, the government of which was hcredi-
tarily vested in females, who ruled with the title of
Ranies, their husbands having no power in the state.
Colonel Briggs remarks upon this statement of Fe-
rishta, that “the gynecocracy of the Ranies of Mala-
bar and Canara scems to have suffered no alteration ,
from the period alluded to, to the present day.” —Note
to Ferishta, vol. iit. p. 140.
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l
98 NIZAM SHAH DYNASTY AT AHMEDNUGGUR—FOUNDED a.v. 1109, |
(alluding to the second capture by Albu-/|In fact, these kings appear to have been
| querqne, in 1510), and attacked simulta-|proud of their Brahminical descent, and
neonsly with Choul, in 1570, by the kings | frequent wars took place between them and
of Beejapoor and Ahmednuggur, who were
doth repulsed.
The reigns of the carly Beejapoor kings
were marked by fierce sectarian strife, for
| Yusuf had imbibed in Persia a strong at-
tachment to the Sheiah doctrines and cere-
monial, which be endeavoured to introduce
in his dominions, but was compelled to re-
nounce the attempt by the displeasure of
his subjects and the combination formed
against him by all the other Mohammedan
sovereigns. The same division prevailed
among the troops as that previously de-
scribed as existing under the Bahmani
| dynasty, and according to the opinion of
the king or his elief ministers, the Dec-
canies (including Hindoos), or the foreigners,
were uppermost. After the extinction of
their native rulers, the Llindoos formed th
chief part of the infantry of most of the
Moslem governments, and appear to have
been well paid* and cutirely relied upon.
Yusuf is said to have given a command of
12,000 infantry to a Mahratta chief, and
Ismael raised “a vast number” of Mahratta
cavalry, under the name of Bergies, who,
for an annual subsidy, engaged to appear
fully equipped whenever thei services were
required. Ibrahim, the fourth king, caused
the public accounts to be kept in the Mah-
ratta language instead of the Persian, a very
politic and almost necessary measure, since
the village accountants and the revenue and
finance officers were for the most part Hin-
doos. Ibrahim 1T., who aceeded to the throne
| of Beejapoor, a.p. 1579, was cotemporary
with Akber, and will be again mentioned.
Nizan Shah dynasty at Ahmednuggur.—
Ahmed, the first of these kings, began to
reign a.p. 1490, having, as before stated,
ou the assassination of lus father, Nizam-ool-
Moolk Behni, assumed the title of Shah, and
made Ahmedunggur his capital. Not only
tolerance, but great favonr was shown to the
HWindocs by this monarch and his successor,
Boorhan, who appointed a Brahmin, named
Kawar Sein, Peshwa or prime minister, and
| had every reason to rejoice in the selection.
| * Briggs gives a table (vol. ii. p. 504) showing
how much more liberally Indian troops were paid by
| Mohammedan sovercigns in 1470 than by the Pritish
| in 1828 (the date at which he wrote).
| + Duf's Listory of the Mahrattas,vol. i. p. 84,
| £The chivahous Rajpoot probably intended to
| waive the performance of this galling act, for when
| Hussun entered his tent, he rose and took him by
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
the Berar sovereigns, for the possession of
the village of Patree, situate just within the
Berar territory, where the ancestors of the
Nizam Shah family had held the office of
coolcurny ov hereditary village accountant.
It was, however, by the orders of Hussun,
the third king of this dynasty, that Rama
Rajah was beheaded, in revenge for the
humiliations previously suffered from his
brave foe, to whom he had been compelled to
sue for peace, by paying the Hindoo a visit,
and receiving a pin (aromatic leaf) from
his hand, which, thus given, implies the
superiority of the donor, and is equivalent
to the English custom of kissing hands ; but,
when presented in a silver or gold box,
or on a salver, denotes equality.f Hussun
died shortly after, from the consequences
of unbounded dissipation. His suecessor,
Murtezza, appears to have become insane, ,
and growing suspicious of his son, Meeran
Hussun, the heir apparent, endeavoured to
destroy him, by setting fire to the couch on
whieh he lay sleeping. Meeran escaped, suc-
cessfully rebelled, and seized the person of
his father, who, although ill of a mortal
(lisease, he confined in a bath-room, and
suffocated with hot air. Ferishta, who was
at the time on guard at the palace, relates
this horrible tale, adding, as the reason of his
life being spared during the general massacre
of the few who remained faithful to the king,
“the Prince fortunately knew me, and re-
fleeting that we had been school-fellows, and
brought up together, ordered my life to
be spared.”’§ Mfccran Ifussun retained the
throne less than a year, but during that period
he inflicted great nusery, frequently riding
through the streets m fits of intoxication, ac-
companied by a party of abandoned courtiers,
and putting to death persons guilty of no
erime. Fifteen prineesof the royal family were
massacred in one day, in order to establish
an authority obtained by parricide, at the
instigation of the vizier, Mirza Khan, who,
at length terrified by the menaces of the
king during his drunken revels, deposed and
slew him. and the Rajpoots, having
at length caught something of the intolerant
spirit of their foes, plundered the mosques,
burned the Koran, and insulted the Moollahs.
A strange turn was given to affairs by the
conduct of Prince Akber, then only twenty-
three, who was induced to join the Rajpoots,
on condition of being proclaimed emperor,
‘in lieu of his father. This rebellious attempt
, proved unsuccessful; and after being deserted
by every Mohammedan follower, Akber
resolved to take refuge with the Mahrat-
tas, and, under the escort of Durga Das
and 500 Rajpoots, arrived safely in the Con-
‘can, A.D. 1681. Great changes had taken
place in the affairs of the Deccan since the
withdrawal of the flower of the Mogul troops
to the north-eastern frontier, in 1672. Se-
vajee having turned his arms against Beeja-
poor, had, in the course of the year 1675,
become master of the whole of the southern
Conean (excepting the points held by the
English, Abyssinians, and Portuguese), and
of a tract above the Ghauts, extending to
the cast beyond the upper course of the
Kistna. In 1675 he crossed the Nerbudda,
and began to invade the Mogul territory.
_In the nest four years he formed separate
alliances with the kings of Golconda and
Beejapoor against the Moguls, now under
‘the command of Dileer Khan; and, in return
for his co-operation, received valuable ces-
sions of termtory, including the jaghire
in Mysore, which had been suffered to de-
scend to his half-brother, Venkajec.
One singular feature in this period of the |
history of Sevajee, is the flight of Sumba-
jee, the elder of his two sons, who had been
imprisoned in a hill-fort for, attempting to
violate the wife of a Brahmin. This young
man, of his father’s better qualities, seems to
have only inherited personal daring. Le
sueceeded in making his escape, and took
refuge with Dileer Khan, who welcomed
him gladly, but on learning that Aurnng-
zebe was treacherously disposed, connived at
his quitting the imperial camp. Sumbajee
then threw himself upon the merey of his
father, who sent him back to the fort of
Panalla, From thence he was speedily re-
leased by aa unexpected erent. Sevajee,
shortly after dictating a letter to Venkajee,
in which he bade him “arouse and be
doing,” for the present was the time for
great deeds, was seized with a painful swell-
ing in the knee-joint, which threw him into
a fever, and in a few days cut short his
extraordinary eareer, in the fifty-third year
of his age, a.p. 1680.
The emperor expected, that deprived of
their leader, the Mahrattas would sink into
insignificance. But he was mistaken. Se-
vajee well knew the character of his coun-
trymen, and had carefully used that know-
ledge in laying down rules for their govern-
ment. The Bralminical creed could not
be used as a weapon of persecution, but
its mingled tolerance and exclusiveness
made it a powerful instrument for concen-
trating the religious feelings of the Hindoos,
aud directing their full force against the
cruel and higotted oppression commanded
by the Koran, and practised by Aurungzebe.
Sevajee made it his mainstay, scarcely less
when the boy-chief of a band of half-naked
and superstitious mountaineers, than when
these had become the nucleus of a powerful
army, and he the crowned king of a state
(under Providence) of his own creation, with
yearly-increasing territory and revenue. It is
* About this time Aurungzebe had sent a body of
| 2.000 horse to escort to his court a princess of
| Roopnagurh, a younger branch of the Marwar
house, whom he demanded in marriage. The
maiden, indignant at the thought of wedding the
enemy of her race, sent a message to Maj Sing by
_her preceptor (the family priest), entreating him to
| come to her reseue. ‘Is the swan,” she asked, “te
| he the mate of the stork ; a Rajpootni, pure in blood,
; to be wife to the monkey-faced barbarian?” he
| rana aceepted the ehallenge, appeared suddenly he-
| fore Roopnegurh, eut off the imperial guard, and
| carried away the princess in triumph to Oudipoor. | phinstone remarks, that “lis enemies bear witness to
+ iIphinstone, vel. it, p. 498. The same para- | his anxiety to mitigate the evils of it [war] by humane
| graph states, “their orders were te employ part of | regutations, which were strietly enforecd.”
their troops to cut off all supplies from the fugitives in
the hills; and with the rest to lay waste the eountry,
burn and destroy the villages, eut down the fruit-
trees, and carry off the women and children,” of
eourse as slaves, or for the serviees of the harem
and its degraded ecunueh guards. This barbarity
contrasts with the practice of the Hindoos, whether
Rajpoot or Mahratta. Sevajee himself decreed, that
“cows, cultivators, and women were never to be
molested; nor were any but rien Mohammedans, or
Jindoos in their serviee, who could pay a ransom, to
be made prisoners” (Dulf, vol. i, p. 230); and El-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary . NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
CHARACTER OF SEVAJEE. AURUNG
Z
not wonderful that the memory of the
man whose well-digested plans “ raised
the despised Hindoos to sovereignty, and
bronght about their own accomplishment,
when the hand that had framed them
was low in the dust,’ should be grate-
fully remembered by his countrymen; bnt
it alfords melancholy evidence of the dark-
ness of heathenism to be told, that the
murder of Afzool Khan is spoken of as a
* commendable exploit,” and its perpetrator
“as an incarnation of the Deity setting an
example of wisdom, fortitude, and picty.’”*
Impartial judges admit that Sevajee pos-
sessed qualities which, in an unenlightened
Vindoo, may be termed admirable. Pre-
pared for every emergency, peril could not
daunt, nor success intoxicate him. Frugal
even to parsimony in his habits, courteous and
endearing in manner though passionate in
disposition, he continued to the last to move
frecly abont among the people, inspiring
them with his own spirit of determined op-
position to the Mohammedans. Intent on
following every turn and winding of Aurung-
zche’s snake-hke policy, he also practised
treachcronus wiles; but the use of these un-
worthy weapons did not detract from his
personal courage. To have scen him charge,
was the favonrite boast of the troops en-
gaged in the Deccani wars; and his famous
sword (a Genoa blade of the finest temper,
named after his tutclary goddess, Bhavani)
was preserved and regarded with nothing
short of idolatrous veneration.
On the death of Sevajec, one of his sur-
viving widows burned hersclf with his body.
The other, Soyera Bye, endeavoured to place
her son, Rajah Ram, a boy of ten years old,
on the throne, to the exclusion of Sumbajce,
whose mother had dicd during his infancy.
The attempt failed, and Sumbajee was pro-
claimed king. Ile caused Soyera Bye to
be pnt to a painful and lingering death;
imprisoned lier son; threw the leading
Brahmin ministers into irons; and slew
such of his other enemies as were not pro-
tected by the sanctity of their caste. Prince
* Tistory of the Mahratias, vol. i. p. 297. The
above aceount of Sevajee is almost exclusively de-
rived from the able and interesting narrative of
Grant Duff, whose labour of love has rendered him
as eminently the historian of the Mahrattas, as Colo-
nel Tod of the Rajpeots.
+ Dileer Khan died in this year. He was, perhaps,
the ablest officer in the service of Aurungzebe, whose
battles he fought for six-and-twenty years; but he,
like Jey Sing and Jeswunt Sing, found, in the sus-
picion and negleet of his crafty master, fit punish-
x
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
Akber reached the Decean in June, 1681,
and was honourably received by Sumbajee,
who acknowledged him as emperor, but
showed no intention of supporting his pre-
tensions; devoting such time as he could
spare from drinking and debauchery to mak-
ing war upon the Abyssinians of Jinjecra
and the Portuguese. The vast treasure
accumulated by his father was soon dis-
sipated; the people were harassed by op-
pressive taxes; and the troops, being left
in arrears of pay, began to appropriate the
plunder taken on expeditions for their own |
use, and to degenerate from comparatively
regular bands into hordes of rapacious and
destructive frecbooters.
Such was the state of things when An-
rungzcbe, in 1683, arrived at the head of the
whole force of the empire. Snmbajce awoke
from his stupor; and ably scconded by his
father’s trained troops, cut off the greater
part of the army sent under Prince Man-
zim to overrun the Conean, in 16814;+ and,
in the following year, retaliated this inva- |
sion by taking advantage of the march of |
to |
the emperor against Ahmednugenr,
sack and burn the great city of Boorhan-
poor. In 1685, the Moguls being again
drawn off to the sonth, Sumbajec made |
another bold imroad into the territory in
their rear, and plundered Baroach with the
adjacent part of Guzerat. About this time
he entered into a defensive alliance with
the king of Golconda, which Anrungzebe
resenting, sent an army against that state,
then weakened by internal dissension. Its
sovereign, Abool Hussun, though indolent
and voluptuous, was popular, and his go-
vernment and finances were ably managed
by Maduna Punt, an active and upright
Brahmin, in whom he placed full con-
fidenee, thereby exciting the discontent of
the Mussulmans, especially of Ibrahim
Khan, the commander-in-chief, who, on
the approach of the imperial force, under
Prince Mauzim, deserted to him with the
greater part of the army. The obnosious
minister was murdered; the king fled to
ment for treachery to the brave and unfortunate
Dara. The emperor confiscated the property of the
deeeased, and being disappointed in its value, vainly
strove to extort, by torture, from his sceretary, a
confession of the manner in which the supposed sur-
ae had been employed. The relatives of Dileer
han were not, however, more unfortunate than
these of Khan Jehan Bahadur, foster-brother to the
emperor, whe visited his death-bed, but appropriated
his property, giving the usual order to seek for hid-
den deposits, and recover all out-standing debts.
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ABE MARCHES TO THE DECCAN. 119 |
bs
{50 BEEJAPOOR AND GOLCONDA ANNEXED TO THE EMPIRE—1686~7.
the hill-fort of Goleonda; and Hyderabad
was captured and plundered for three days
by the Mogul soldiery, notwithstanding the
efforts of the prince to chcck this breach of
diseipline, whieh his suspicious father attri-
buted to his connivance, as a means of em-
bezzlement for ambitious purposes. :
By a large peeuniary payment, Abool
I[ussun purchased a brief respite from
-Aurnngzebe, who then moved in person
against Beejapoor. The army of this mo-
narehy had been so reduced by prolonged
warfare, that the city, although snrrounded
by walls six miles in eirenmference, was
soon completely invested. ‘lhe Patan gar-
rison seemed determined to perish sword in
hand, and were therefore suffered to capitu-
late after a practicable breach had been
made, through which Aurungzebe entered
the place on a portable throne. ‘The state
was extinguished, a.p. 1686; and Beeja-
poor, after attaining a grandeur quite dis-
proportioned to the extent of the kingdom
of whieh it formed the capital, sunk rapidly
into the deserted condition in whieh it now
stands. The young king, after three years’
close imprisonment in the Mogul camp,
perisued suddenly, it is said by violence,
the fears of his imperial gaoler having been
raised by a popular commotion in his favour.
Goleonda, the last independent Moham-
medan state, was next destroyed, after a
duration of 175 years. Abool Hussun strove
by eostly gifts to deprecate the ambition
of Aurungzebe, who, while receiving these
offerings, was sceretly oceupied in in-
trigues with the ministers aud troops of the
uohappy king; and at length, his plans
being matured, denouneed him as a pro-
teetor of infidels, and laid siege to Gol-
conda, Roused by this treachery, Abool
Jlussun, though deserted on all sides, de-
fended the fort for seven months, but was
eventually betrayed into the hands of his
merciless foe, by whom he was sent to eud
his days in the fortress of Doulatabad.
This fate and treatment awakened the eom-
passion of Prinee Manzim, whose media-
tion he solicited; and the prince, touehed
by the dignity and resignation with which
the monarch bore his misfortunes, or rather
injunies, made an carnest appeal in his
favonr. The result was his own imprison-
* Tn all these countries Aurungzebe acquired little
more thana military oceupation. ‘The districts were
farmed to the Jlesmoont and other zemindars, and
were governed by military leaders, who reeeived
twenty-five per cent. for the expense of collecting;
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ment for nearly seven years, after which he
was released and sent as governor to Cabool.
All the territories which had been aequired
by Beejapoor and Goleonda were annexed
to the empire, as well as many of Sevajee’s
conquests; Venkajee was deprived of the
Mysore jaghire, and confined to Tanjore;
and Sumbajee seemed to have sunk into
a state of inertia, and become heedless of
passing events. Prinee Akber, dreading to
fall into his father’s hands, fled to Persia,
where he remained till his death, about
eighteen years afterwards.
Aurungzebe had now reaehed the culmi-
nating point of success; neither humanity
nor policy had stayed his covetous grasp:
he stood alone, the sole Moslem ruler in
India—the despotic master of an unwieldy
empire, over whieh the seeds of disorgani-
sation and dissolution were sown broadeast.
In Hindoostan, the finest provinces were, for
the most part, entrusted to the care of in-
competent and needy governors, chosen
purposely from the lower ranks of the co-
bility. These men oppressed the peopie
and neglected the troops—evils which
Aurungzebe preferred to the risk of being
supplanted by more able and influential
officers. His policy in the Deccan was
equally selfish and short-sighted. In the
governments of Beejapoor and Golconda, he
might have found valuable auxiliaries in
keeping under the power of the Mahrattas ;
but, by their destruction, he threw down
the chief barrier to lawless incursions, set-
ting aside constituted anthoritics without
supplying any efficient substitute * Of the
disbanded armies, the Patans and foreign
mereenaries probably obtained serviee under
the emperor; the remainder joined Sumba-
jee, or plundered on their own aecount ; and
amid the general anarchy and distress, the
new-born fecling of religious opposition
rapidly gained ground. Notwithstanding
the inefficieney of their rajah, the Mah-
ratta chiefs cxerted themselves individually
against the invader, and their energies were
rather stimulated than eufeebled by the un-
expected capture of Sumbajee, with lis mi-
nister and favourite companion, a Brahmin
named Kaloosha, who were surprised by a
hody of Moguls during a revel ata favonrite
pleasnre-house in the Conean, It was sug-
and sent up the balance, after paying their troops, to
the emperor; unless, as often happened, assignments
were made for a period of years on fixed districts for
the payment of other chiefs."—(Elphinstone’s His-
tory of India, vol. 1i., p. 622.)
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SUMBAJEE EXECUTED, 1689.—MOGUL AND MAIHRATTA ‘TROOPS,
15t
gested, that Sumbajee might be uscd as a
tool to obtain possession of the Mahratta
strongholds; and with this view, he was
offered life on condition of becoming «a
Mussulman. But misfortune had awakened
in him a sense of degradation, and the only
reply was 4 sarcastic message to Aurungzche,
and an inveetive on the False Prophet, for
whieh offenee a crucl punishment was de-
creed, this eyes were destroyed by a red-
hot iron, his tongue eut out, and he was at
lust belieaded in the camp bazaar, together
with Kaloosha, a.p. 1689,
Sumbajee had neither deserved nor ob-
tained the confidenee of his subjects; but
they were deeply mortified by his ignominiaus
fate. The chiefs assembled at Raighur,
acknowledged the infant son of the deeeased
as his sueeessor, and nominated his unele,
Rajak Ram, regent. Raighur was invested
by a Mogul forec, and taken in 1690, after
a siege of several months, through the
treachery of 1 Mawulee leader. The young
rajah and his mother fell into the hands of
Aurungzebe, who treated them with un-
usual kindness.* Rajah Ram remaining at
liberty, proeecded to the distant fortress of
Jinjee, in the Carnatic, and assumed the
soverciguty. He did not attempt more than
the general direction of affairs, scuding two
able leaders to create a diversion in his own
country, and leaving independent com-
manders to earry on desultory operations
against the Moguls, with whom a tedious
and harassing struggle commenced, in whieli
the advantage lay on the side of the ap-
parently weaker party.
Yet Aurungzebe was indefatigable. Al-
though far advaneed in years, le superin-
tended every hostile operation, and besieged
in person the chief places.t Uis imincuse
armies were marshalled forth in splendid
array. ‘The nobles went to battle iu quilted
cotton tunies, covered with ehain or plate
armour, and rode on chargers, whose huge
* Begum Sahib, the emperor’s daughter, evineed
| unremitting kindness to both mother and child
' emerald in the turban.
during their long captivity. ‘The boy, being much
with ier, attracted the nntice of Aurungzebe, who
jesling!y applied to him the nick-name of Sahoo or
Shao, a word signifying the oppesite of thief, robber,
and similar terns, by which he habitually designated
Sumbajee and Sevajec.—(Dufl’s 3fahrattus, vol. i.)
+ The traveller, Gemelli Carreri, who saw Aurung-
zebe at Bevjapoor, in 1695, describes him as slender
and of Jow stature, with a smiling pea bright
eyes, a long nose, and a beard whose silvery white-
ness contrasted with an olive-eoloured skin. His
dress was of plain white muslin, with one large
He stood amid his omrahs
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
saddles, housings of cloth or velvet, satin
streamers, bells, chains, aud other ornaments
of gold and silver, with the frequent ad-
dition of pairs of the bushy ox-tails of Tibet
hanging down on cither side, were better
adapted for a triumphal procession, than
for warfare with mountaineers in their own
country. The common soldiers imitated
their superiors in their enmbersome attire,
und likewise in sloth and effeminacy: the
result was a total relaxation of discipline.
The Mahrattas, on the contrary, were
mounted on horses, small, strong, aud aetive
as themselves, with a pad for a saddle, and
a black blanket folded over it for nightly
covering during their expeditions, when
each man slept on the ground, with his
spear stuck by him, and his bridle tied to
his arm, ready for any emergeney. A led
horse, with bags to contain the expected
plunder, foriued the remainder of their
camp equipage. ‘Their common food was a
eake of millet, with perhaps an oniou; their
dress, a small turban, a fold of whieh was
frequently passed under the chin, a quilted
cotton tunic, tight drawers descending to
the knee, and a scarf or sash rolled round
the waist. Some earried a sword and shicld;
a certain proportion were ured with mateh-
loeks, or bow and arrows; but the prevailing
weapon was a bamboo spear, thirteen or
fourteen feet long, whieh they wielded with
extraordinary skill. Thus armed and habited,
they wisely adhered to the desultory war-
fare which could alone be successfully
waged against the heavily-attired legions of
the Mogul.§ Then, as now, their only
name for a vietory was, “to plunder the
enemy,” this being, in their eyes, the chief
object as well as sole irrefragable evidence
and meusure of couqnest.
Fort after fort was captured by the in-
perial ariny ; but the Mahrattas meanwhile
issued from their lurking-places and over-
spread the newly-acquired territories, as
leaning on a staff or crozier (like those used by the
fakeers); received petitions, read them without spec-
tacles, and endorsed them with his own hand. In
youth, says Manouchi, he was pale even to ghastliness.
} The Mahratta description of a very fierce-look-
ing person, includes a turban tied beneath the
ehin, and mustachios ‘as thick as my arm.” heir
national flag, swallow-tailed and of a deep orange
eolour, is emblematic of the followers of Mahdeo.
§ The Mawulees were famous for sword-in-hand
combat; the Iletkurees (Concan mountaiscers)
used a species of firelock, and excelled as marks-
men: both partics could, with ease, scale rocks and
mount preeipices, which the Mouls would have
found certain destruction in attempting.
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|
| 152 DISTRESS AND HUMILIATION OF MOGUL ARMY —1700 10 1707.
|
| well as Berar, Candeish, and Malwa. De-
tachments were sent against them in various
| aeerobis but to little avail; for, on per-
ceiving their approach, the wily mountai-
neers dispersed at once,without attempting to
stand acharge; and after leading the Moguls
a weary, and generally fruitless chase, were
themselves ready to follow the retreating
track of their disheartened pursuers, and
take advantage of any opening or confusion
m the ranks, occasioned by accident or
exhanstion. Fighting such foes was hke
beating the air, and even worse; for while
their number and power were rapidly in-
creasing by the alliance of the zemindars
of the countries which they overran, the
| troops of Aurungzebe, thinned by long and
sanguinary sieges, required frequent recruit-
ment from Hindoostan, whence also supplies
of money had to be drawn.
Rajah Ram died a.p. 1700, and was suc-
ceeded by his infant son, Sivajee, under the
regency of Tara Bye, mother of the young
rajah. This change had little effect on the
war. Aurungzebe went on taking forts,
nntil, by the close of the next five years, all
the principal Mahratta strongholds had
fallen before him; but then the tide turned,
and the rapidly-multiplying foe themselves
became besiegers, and regained many for-
tresses, at the same time intercepting several
convoys, and thus depriving the emperor of
the means of paying his army.* No writer
has delineatcd the condition of the agricul-
tural population of the Deccan; but their
sufferings from these prolonged and deso-
lating wars must have been frightful. rom
them the circle of distress sprcad gradually
but surely, until scarcity of food began to be
felt even in the imperial camp, and was aggra-
vated by the devastating effects of heavy
rains. On one occasion, a sudden flood of
the Beema inundated the imperial canton-
ment during the night, and causcd the de-
struction ef 12,000 persons, with horses,
cattle, and stores beyond calculation.
The contempt with which the Moguls
ouce regarded the Mahrattas had long given
place to dread; while the Mahrattas, on
their part, began to see the emptiness of
the pomp which surrounded the Great
Mogul, and mocked the Mussulmans, by
pretending to ejaculate devout aspirations
for the prolonged life of their best patron,
* Among the many letters extant, written by Au-
rungzebe, are several addressed to Aulfikar Khan,
desiring him to seareh for hidden treasures, and
hunt out any that may have fallen into the hands
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
Anrungzebe. The news from Hindoostan
was of an increasingly-disheartening cha-
racter ; the Rajpoots were, for the most part,
in open hostility, and their example had been
followed by the Jats (a Hindoo people of
the Soodra class), near Agra: against these,
as also against a body of Sikhs at Mutira,
it had been necessary to send a force under
a prince of the blood. Zulfikar Khan, the
chief Mogul general, being treated with
irritating distrust by his sovereizn, seems to
have grown dilatory and indifferent, if, in-
deed, the dark clouds which were gathering
over the political horizon did not induce
him, like other nobles, designedly to tem-
porize with the foe. The princes—now fa-
voured, now disgraced—turned pale when
summoned to the presence of their father ;+
while he, remembering the fate of Shah
Jehan, trembled yet more at the semblance
of overstrained humility than at open insu-
bordination.
At length overtures of peace were made
to the Mahrattas, and Aurungzebe was
brought to consent to the liberation of
Shao, the son of Sumbajee, and to the pay-
ment of ten per cent. of the whole revenues
of the six soubahs of the Deccan (as Sur-
deshmooki), on condition of the maintenance
of a body of horse to keep order; but the
negotiation was broken off by the exorbi-
tant demands and overbearing conduct of
the Mahrattas. Disgusted and unhappy,
with dispirited troops and exhausted cattle,
the aged emperor retreated from Beejapoor
to Ahmednuggur, harassed all the way by |
the enemy, who succeeded in dispersing |
and destroying a portion of the grand army; _
and, had they chosen to hazard a general
attack, would probably have captured the
person of their inveterate foe. That no
such attempt was made is a subject of fer-
vent exultation with Mussulman writers,
Aurungzebe gained Ahmednugger in safety;
and, when pitching his camp on the same
spot whence it had marched in so much
pomp and powcr twenty years before, he
sorrowfully remarked, that his campaigns
were ended—his last earthly journey com-
pleted. He had now entered the fiftieth
year of his reign, and the eighty-ninth of his
age; but the extreme tempcrance and regu-
Jarity which characterised his physical ex-
istenee, had preserved his facultics in an
of individuals, that means may be afforded to
silence “the infernal foot-soldicrs,” who were croak-
ing like the tenants of an invaded rookery.
+ Khafi Khan.—(} de Elphinstone, vol. ii, p. 544.)
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extraordinary degree of perfeection.* Yet to
litm, freedom from the imbeeility frequently
attendant on extreme age was rather a
eurse than a blessing. The few sands still
remaining in his measure of life would, he
feared, be rudely shaken by the ambition of
his heirs, and, to avoid this danger, he made
a last exertion of power by sending away
his favourite son, Kaumbuksh, to Becjapoor,
and preventing Mauzim (then in Cabool) or
Azim (in Guzerat) from coming to Ahmed-
nuggur. lis own children could not be
trusted to minister to their aged father,
although, in this awful period, he scems to
have had a newly-awakened yearning for
human sympathy. Death was fast ap-
proaehing ; and what provision had he made
for the stability of the empire, the welfare
of the people, the salvation of his own soul?
After his deeease, which took place in Feb-
ritary, 1707, a willf was found beneath his
pillow, deereeing the division of the empire
among his sons: but he probably foresaw
the little attention which would be paid to
it, and might reasonably have adopted the
saying of another crooked politician, ‘dpres
* Khafi Khan says, “none of his five senses were
at al} impaired, except his hearing in a small degree ;
but uot so that others could perceive it.” Aurung-
zele possessed, in perfection, what Lytton Bulwer,
following a French proverb, calls the twin scerets for
wearing well—*a bad heart and a good digestian.”
+A. previous will contained directions for his
funeral, the expense of which was to be defrayed
hy a sum, equal to ten shillings, saved from the price
of caps which he had made and sold: 805 rupees,
gained by copying the Koran, were to he distributed
among the poor. (Elphinstone's Zndéu, vol. ii., p.551.)
; Lhese remarkable and weil-authenticated letters
contain many characteristic and interesting pas-
sages: for instance, “the camp and followers, help-
less and alarmed, arc like myself—full of affliction,
restless as the quicksilver. ‘he complaints of the
unpaid troops are as before. * * * ‘The fever
has left me; but nothing of me remains but skin
and bone. My back is bent with weakness; my
feet have lost the power of motion. * * * The
Begum [his daughter] appears afilicted ; but God is
the only judge of hearts.” ‘To Kaumbuksh he says,
“Odiporee, your mother, was a partner in my ill-
ness, and wishes to accompany me in death; but
everything has its appointed time.”~(Scott’s History
of the Deccan, vol.i., pp. 8 and 9.) According to
Tod, this lady was a princess, not of Oudipoor, but
of Kishenghur, a minor division of Joudpoor.
§ Asin the Deccan, so also throughout Hindons-
' tan, we can only form an idea of the condition of the
| mass of the people by an incidental remark, scattered
here and there, amid many weary pages filled with
details of invasion and slaughter, pomp and intrigue.
The Mussulman writers were usually pensioners of
the monarch, whose deeds they chronicled; the Hin-
doo annalists were the bards of the leading families,
of which they formed important and cherished mem.
bers. Neither the une nor the other could be ex-
DEATIY OF AURUNGZEBE, 1707--STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
153
moi le déluge.’ tis suhjects—at least the
Mussulinan portion—he commends to the
eure of his sons, in his farewell letters, as a
charge committed to them by God himself;
and then proceeds to give vent, in discon-
nected sentenecs, to the terrible apprehen-
sions before which his spirit shrank in dis- |
may. “ Wherever ] look,” writes the dying
emperor, “TI see nothing but the Deity. I
know nothing of myself—what I am—and
for what Iam destined. The instant whieh
passed in power hath left only sorrow be-
hind it. Ihave not been the guardian and
protector of the empire,” he adds, in the same
toue of remorse rather than repentanec.
* * * “T have committed many erimes; and
know not with what punishments I may be
seized. The agonies of death come upon me
fast. Farewell! farewell! farewell !’t
It has been shown that, during the latter
part of the reign of Aurungzebe, the empire
was manifestly losing its coherent power.
After his death, strife, luxury, and corrup-
tion in the court; disorganization in the
camp, and discontent among the people ;§
pected to rise above the class of mere annalists.
To have given a true and lively picture of the actual
state of the Indian population under Moslem rule,
would have tasked to the utmost the intellect of a
philosopher, the zeal of a philanthropist, the courage
of a martyr. And to whom should an_ historian,
thus richly gifted, have addressed himself? Would
either the degraded Hindoo or the sensual Moham- |
medan have cared to trace “the practical operation |
of a despotic government, and rigorous and san- |
guinary laws, or the effect, upon the great body of
the nation, of these injurious influences and agen-
cies.”——(Preface to Elliot's Bibliographical Index of
Ifistorians of Mohammedan India.) No; for to
Christianity alone belongs the high prerogative of
teaching men to appreciate justly their rights, duties,
and responsibilities. Even with her teaching, the
lesson is one which nations are slow to learn. Con-
ecrning the reign of Aurungzche, we know less than
of many of his predecessors; hecause he not only
left no autobiography behind him, hut even, for a
considerable number of years, forbade the ordinary
chronicling of events. Of the wretchedness pre-
vailing among the people, and the indignation with
which the imposition of the jezia was generally re-
garded, a forcible representation is given in a letter,
addressed by Raj Sing of Oudipoor (wrongly attributed
by Orme to Jeswunt Sing of Marwar) to Aurungzebe,
in which he reminds him of the prosperity atten-
dant on the mild conduct of Akber, Jehangeer, and
Shah Jehan towards the Hindoos, and points out
the opposite results of the present harsh measures,
in the alienation of much territory, and the devasta- |
tion and rapine which universally prevailed. “ Your
subjects,” he says, “are trampled under foot, and |
every province of your empire is impoverished; de-
population spreads, and difficulties accumulate. * * *
The soldiery are murmuring; the merchants com-
plaining; the Mohammedans discontented; the Hin-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
154 CONTESTED SUCCESSION—REIGN OF BAHADUR SHAH, 1707.
fostered by the imposition of the jezia and
excessive imposts upon land, grew apace, and
the power of the great Moguls crumbled into
ruins, its decay being hastened by the rapid
inerease of the Mahratta nation; the struggles
of the Rajpoots for independence ; the irrup-
tion of the Sikhs; and ihe desolating inva-
sion of the Persian monarch, Nadir Shah.
The career of the successors of Aurungzebe
need be but briefly narrated, since their
reigns are not of sufficient interest to occupy
space which can be ill-spared from more
important matters ; beside which, the leading
events of the eighteenth century will again
come into notice in sketching the marvellous
rise of the English from humble traders to
lords paramount of India.
Bahadur Shah,*—Pyrince Mauzim, the
rightful heir to the throne, on receiving
tidings of his father’s decease, assumed the
crown at Caboo! with the title of Bahadur
Shah, and offered to confirm to his brothers
the territorial possessions bequeathed to them
by Aurungzebe: viz., to Azim—Aera, with all
the country to the south and south-west; to
Kaumbuksh—Beejapoor and Goleonda. The
generous and upright character of Bahadur
Shah warranted belief in his good faith ; but
Azim, who, on the death of the emperor, had
hastened to the camp, from which he was
not far distant, and caused himself to be
proclaimed sovereign of the whole empire,
could not be prevailed upon to retract this
unwarrantable pretension.
Despite the exhausted state of the king-
dom, very large armies were assembled on
both sides, and a sanguinary contest took
place to the south of Agra, in which Prince
Azim and his two grown-up sons were slain.
The third, a child, was taken by the soldier
who decapitated his father, as he lay sense-
| less in his howdah, and earried into the
| presence of the emperor, together with the
bloody trophy of vietory, the head of Azim.
Bahadur Shah burst into tears, and strove
doos destitute; and multitudes of people, wretched
even to the want of their nightly meal, are beating
their heads throughout the day in want and destitu-
tion. Iow ean the dignity of the sovereign be pre-
served who employs his power in exacting tribute
from a people thus miserably reduced ?’—(Orme’s
Historical Fragments of the Moyul Empire, p. 252.)
Aurungzebe’s perseeution of his Iindoo subjects
consisted in peeuniary exactions and systematic dis-
eouragement: they were exeluded from office, their
fairs and festivals forbidden, and even some of their
temples destroyed; but bodily suffering was rarely, if
ever, inflicted from mere bigotry; and eapital punish-
; ments, for any offenee whatever, were infrequent.
to pacify the weeping boy with caresses,
promising to treat him as one of his own
children, a pledge he faithfully redeemed, in
spite of the jcalons insinuations of his own
sons. In this important battle the valour
and ability of Monaim Khan, who had been
Bahadur Shah’s chief officer in Cabool, were
very conspicuous, Concealing his own dan-
gerous and painful wounds, he remaiacd on
the field till late at night to restore order
and prevent plunder; and then, perfectly
exhausted, was lifted from his elephant, and
earried into the presence of the emperor, by
whom he was appointed vizier. Zulfikar
Khan and his father, Assud Khan, who had
at first taken part with Prince Azim, quitted
his camp, disgusted by his arrogance, before
the late engagement, of which they had
remained spectators. On presenting them-
selves with fettered hands before the emperor,
they were gladly welcomed, and appointed to
high positions.
Prince Kanmbuksh,avainand flighty young
nan, persisted in refusing to acknowledge the
supremacy of his elder brother, who, after
repeated attempts at negotiation, which were
rejected with seorn and defiance, marched
against him to the Decean, and was again
vietor in a battle near Hyderabad. Kaum-
buksh died of his wounds the same day ; his
children fell into the hands of their unele,
by whom they were treated as kindly as
their orphan cousin.f The next important
event was a truce with the Mahrattas, among
whom internal dissensions had arisen, owing
to the release of Shao (by Prince Azim,
immediately after his father’s death), and
the disputed sucecssion between him and the
son of Tara Bye, whose claims, although an
idiot, were actively upheld by his ambitious
mother. The ascendancy of Shao was
recognised by the Mogul government, and
the chout, or fourth, of the revenues of the
Deccan conceded to him. The Rajpoots
were likewise permitted to make peace on
very fayourable terms. ‘The territory cap-
* Sometimes entitled Alum Shah Bahadur.
+ Eradut Khan, one of the many rebellious nobles,
who, after the defeat of Azim, were freely pardoned,
says, that the sons of the fallen prinees were always
permitted to appear fully armed before the em-
peror, to accompany him daily in the chase, and
share in all his diversions. Seventeen princes—
his sons, grandsons, and nephews, sat round his
throne: the royal eaptives of Beejapoor and Gol-
eonda were likewise suffered to take their place im-
mediately behind the royal princes; and a crowd
of the high nobility daily thronged “the platform
between the silver rails.”"—(Scott’s Decean, vol. ii.,
p. 49.)
S$
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ee
| peror was about to advance against them,
ORIGIN OF HV SIRNS—BATADUR SHAH DUES, avy. 1712. 100
tured froin the rana of Oudipoor was restored, |
and he became again independent in all but
name. Aject Sing, the rajah of Marwar,
aud Jey Sing, of Jeypoor, appear to have
obtained nearly similar advantages, but rather
from necessity than good-will, since the em-
when his attention was diverted by intelli-
genee of the capture of Sirhind by the
Sikhs. These people, from an inoffensive,
religions sect, founded abont the end of the
fifteenth century by a Thindoo named
Nanuk,* had been changed by persecution
into fanatical warriors. When driven from
the neighbourhood of Lahore, which had
been their oviginal seat, they took refuge in
the northern mountains, a.p. 1606, and
there remained for nearly scventy years,
until the accession of Guru Govind, the
tenth spiritual chief from Nanuk. This
leader conceived the idea of forming the
Sikhs into a religious and military common-
wealth. To inerease their numbers, he
abolished all distinction of caste, and all
prohibitions regarding food or drink, except
the slaughter of kine, which was strictly
forbidden. 1lindoo idols and Brahmins were
to be respected, hut the usual forms of
worship were set aside. All converts were
admitted to a perfect equality, and were
expected to take a vow to fight for the
cause, always to carry stecl in some part of
the person, to wear blue clothes, allow the
head and heard to grow, and neither clip nor
remove the hair on any part of the badly.
The Sikhs fought desperately, but were
too few in number to accomplish the plans
of resistance and revenge planned by Guru
Govind, who, after beholding his strong-
holds taken, his mother and children mas-
sacred, his followers slain, mutilated, or
dispersed, was himself assassinated by a
private enemy. To his spiritual authority,
as Guru, no snecessor was appointed. The
temporal command of the infuriated Sikhs
was assumed by a Hindoo ascetic, named
Bandu, under whose Jcadership they overran
the cast of the Punjanb, and, true to their
* The beauty of Nanuk, when a mere boy, attracted
the attention of a learned and wealthy Seyed, who
caused him to be educated and instrueted in the
doctrines of Islam. As he grew up, Nanuk extended
his reading, colleeted maxims alike from the Koran
ant the Vedas, and endeavoured to unite Moham-
medan and Hindoo doetrines on the basis of the
unity of God. Converts floeked around him, taking
the name of Sikhs (the instructed), and giving to
vengeful motto of unceasing enmity to
the °*Mohammedans, not only destroyed the
mosques and slaughtered the moollahs, but
massacred the population of whole towns,
sparing neither age nor sex, and cren dis-
interring the bodies of the dead, end ex-
posing them as food for carrion, ‘The chicf
seat of these atrocitics was Sirhind, whick
they occupicd after defeating the governor
ina pitched battle: they subsequently retired
to the country on the upper course of the
Sntlej, whence they made marauding in-
cursions, extending to the neighbourhood of |
Lahore on the one side, and of Delhi on the
other.
Bahadur Shah marched against them in
1711, and soon obliged them to take refuge
mn the hills, where they long continued to
struggle against the imperial force. Bandu
was at last shut up in a fort, which was
strictly blockaded; but the Sikhs continued
the defence until large numbers perished of
hunger, and then made a desperate sally,
upon which the enemy took possession of
the fort without further resistance ; but
Bandu escaped through the self-devotion
of one of his followers, by whom he was
personated.t
After this success, the empcror took his
departure ; but the Sikhs had received only
a temporary check; and their power was
again in the ascendant, when Bahadur Shah
expired suddenly at Lahore (not without
suspicion of poison), in the scventy-first
(lunar) ycar of his age, and the fifth of his
reign, ap. 1712.
Jehandar Shah.—On the death of the
emperor, a deadly conflict commenced be-
tween his four sons, in which three perished
—the eldest ascending the throne, notwith-
standing lus well-known incapacity, by the
aid of Zulfikar Khan, who had taken part
with him from ambitious motives, hoping to
govern absolutely under the name of vizicr.
All the princes of the blood, whose persons
were within reach, were slain, to secure the
authority of the new ruler. But this iniquity
only served toheighten the hatred and disgust
gradually embodied in sacred volumes called Grunts,
and the Sikhs silently inercased; until. in 1606, the
Moslem government took offence at their leading
tenet—that the form of worship offered to the Deity
was immaterial—and put to death their existing
chief, whereupon the Sikhs took up arms under his
son, Hur Govind. —(11. ‘T. Prinsep’s Sikh Porer.)
+ Though struck by the gencrosity of the impostor,
Bahadur is said to have nevertheless sent him pri-
their preceptor the name and authority “of Guru soner, in an iron cage, to Jelhi, an act singnlarly at |
(spiritual chief.) The doctrines of the seet were | variance with his compassionate nature.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
excited by the pride and tyranny of Zulfikar
Khan, and the viees and follies of his impe-
rial protégé, who lavished honours upon his
favourite mistress (origiallya public dancer),
and promoted her relations, although, like
herself, of a most disereditable class, to the
highest dignities in the state. Dissatisfac-
tion prevailed throughout the court, when
| tidings arrived that Feroksheer (the son of
one of the fallen princes whom Jehandar
had vainly striven to get into his power)
had prevailed upon two Seyed* brothers,
the governors of Behar and Allahabad, to
espouse his cause ; and having, by their aid,
assembled an army, was now marching to-
wards Agra. Jchandar and Zulfikar met the
mvaders, at the head of 70,000 men; but,
being defeated, the emperor fled in disguise
to Delhi, and took refuge in the house of
Assud Khan. The treacherous old man
made him a prisoner, and persuaded Zulfikar
(who arrived soon after, with the remaining
troops) to make terms with the conqueror,
by the surrender of their unfortunate master.
The father and son then presented them-
selves to Feroksheer, with fettered hands, as
they had done to his grandfather, Bahadur
Shah, some six years before, but with a very
different result. Zulfikar and Jehandar
were strangled with a leathern thong, after
which their bodies were fastened to an ele-
phant, and dragged through the leading
thoroughfares of Delhi, followed by the
wretched Assud Khan, and all the female
members of his family, in covered carriages.
Thus ended the nine months’ sway of Je-
handar Shah, a.p. 1713.
Feroksheer’s first aet of sovereignty was
to appoint the Seyed brothers to the highest
offices in the empire—the elder, Abdullah
Khan, being made vizier; the younger,
Hussein Ali, amecr ool omra, or com-
mander-in-chief. He next proeceded to
| remove from his path, by the bow-string,
| such of the old nobility as might be disposed
| to combine against him; and the same in-
* Lineal descendants of Mohammed.
+ The mother of Feroksheer had taken a leading
part in persuading the Seyed brothers, for the sake
of her husband who had befriended them, to uphold
her son; and had sworn upon the Koran, that if they
would do so, no plot should ever be formed against
them, of which she, if eognizant, would not give them
immediate information. This pledge was conscicn-
tiously redeemed, and her timely warning more than
once preserved their lives.— Vide Col. Briggs’ revised
translation of the Styar-el- Mutakherin—(Manners of
the Moderns), a work comprising the history of the
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
strument was freely used among the remain-
ing members of the royal family, including
even his own infant brothers. These eruel-
ties were snre indications of a suspicious
and cowardly nature; and, as might be ex-
pected, his distrust was soon excited against
the very persons by whom he had been
raised to the throne. The consequence was,
that his whole reign was a continued,
though long-disguised struggle with the two
Seyeds, whose watchfulness and confidence
in each other rendered them eventually
victorious.t Feroksheer endeavoured to
weaken, by dividing them; and, for this end,
sent Hussein against Aject Sing, of Marwar,
to whom a private intimation was for-
warded, that the emperor would be well-
pleased by the defeat and death of his own
general, The plot failed; for the parties
immediately concerned wisely consulted
their mutual interest, by making a speedy
peace, and Hussein returned to court, bear-
ing with him the daughter of the rajah, to
be the bride of his ungrateful sovereign.
The nuptials were celebrated on a scale of
extraordinary magnificence; but were no
sooner terminated, than Hussein Ali was
sent to the Deccan, ostensibly to prosecute
hostilities against the Malhrattas. Daud
Khan Panni, an Afghan commander, re-
nowned for reckless courage, received orders
to join Hussein, and, under pretence of
co-operation, to take the first opportunity of
effecting his destruction. But the agent
selected to carry this nefarious scheme into
execution was ill-chosen. Daud Khan,
though well-disposed to revenge the death
of his old patron, Zulfikar Khan,t would
not stoop to stab in the dark; he therefore
set the Seyed at defiance, engaged lim as
an open enemy, and, by the impctuosity of
his charge, had nearly triumphed, when a
ball pierced his brain, and at once changed
the fortune of the day. Hussein Ali pro-
cecded to exceute his commission against
the Mahrattas, without openly attributing
Tlussein, a Delhi noble. My. St. George Tucker, late
chairman of the Fast India Company, who met him
repeatedly at Gya Behar, in 1786-7, alludes to him
as “the finest specimen of a nobleman I had ever
seen.” —(Tucker’s Life and Correspondence, edited
by J. W. Kave, vol. i., p. 40.)
{ Zulfikar Khan, on reeciving the appointment of
viceroy of the Decean, had been permitted to reside
at court, leaving Daud Khan as his representative,
or, as it was then termed, nazk subuh-dur, deputy
viceroy. Ife was himself sueeceded, in 1713, by
Cheen Kilich Khan (afterwards well-known under
greater part of the cighteenth century, written in a| the titles of Nizam-ool-Moolk and Asuf Jah), who
very elear and interesting manner, by Mir Gholam | was in turn removed by Ilussein Ali.
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|
_ [i
156 SEYED BROTHERS DEPOSE AND SLAY JEMANDAR STIAN, a.p. 1718.
(
DEFEAT OF SIKITIS—MASSACRE OF PRISONERS, avy. 1715,
to the emperor the opposition which he had
encountered, and sent a strong detachment
against a chief named Daban, who had
established a line of fortified villages in
Candeish, and by his depredations on ecara-
vans, shut up the great road from Itindoo-
stan and the Deccan to Surat. While one
portion of the imperial troops was thus
employed, another was dispatched against
the Sikhs, who had renewed their ravages
with increased fury. Bandu was defeated,
captured, and put to death in a most barba-
yous manner, and a large number of his
followers were slanghtered in cold blood.*
Those who remained at large were hunted
down hke wild beasts, and a considerable
time clapsed before they became again for-
midable. In the Decean the Moguls were
less sueeessful: the Mahrattas practised
their usnal tactics of evacuating assaulted
positions, and leading their foes, by the oft-
repeated expedient of a pretended flight,
among hilly and broken ground, where they
were easily separated and defeated in de-
tail, many being cut to picees, and others
stripped of their horses, arms, and cven
clothes. This inauspicions campaign was
at length brought to a disereditable con-
clusion; for Tlussein Ah, determined at
any cost to rejoin his brother at Delhi,
made a treaty with Rajah Shao, acknow-
ledging his elaim to the whole of the terri-
tory possessed by Sevajee, with the addition
of later conquests, and authorising not only
the levy of the chout, or fourth, over the
whole of the Deccan, but also of surdesh-
mooki,t or one-tenth of the remaining re-
venuc. In return, Shao was to pay a tribute
of ten laes of rupees; to furnish a contin-
* The majority were exeented on the field of
battle; hut 740 were sent to Delhi, and after being
paraded through the streets on eamels, were be-
headed on seven suecessive days, having firmly re-
jected the offer of life, on condition of belying their
religious opinions. Bandu was exhibited in an iron
cage, elad in a robe of cloth-of-gold and a scarlet
turhan: around him were the heads of his followers,
fixed on pikes; and even a dead eat was stuck up to
indicate the extirpation of everything belonging to
him. On his refusal to stab his own infant, the
ehiid was slaughtered before his eyes, and its heart
forced into his mouth. The wretehed father was then
torn to pieees with hot irons, and died defying his
persecutors, and exulting in the helief that he had
been raised up to scourge the iniquity and oppres-
sion of the age.—(Seoit's /istory of the Deccan.)
+ The Desmookh, literally chief of the district, was
an hereditary officer under the Hindoo government,
who reeeived a portion of the revenue in money or
in kind; “and,” says General Briggs. “in the loeal
or modern appellations of Dessavi, Nat Gour, Na-
YG
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
aS
157
gent of 16,000 horse; to preserve the tran-
quillity of the country; and to be answerable
for any loss occasioned by depredations,
from whatever quarter.
As Shao was at this time engaged in
eivil war, it was manifest that he could but
very imperfectly perform his part of this
extraordinary agreement, since a consider-
able portion of the country recognised as
his, was really in possession of the hostile
party. Feroksheer refused to ratify the
treaty ; but Hussein Ali gained his point,
by returning to Delhi, where his presence
was much needed by his brother, Abdullah
Khan. This noble, though a man of talent,
was indolent, and devoted to the pleasures of
the seraglio; he therefore delegated the
business of the vizicrat almost wholly to
his deputy, a Hindoo named Ruttnan Chand,
whose strict measures, arbitrary temper, and
zeal for the Brahminical faith, aggravated
the jealous feelings with which his adminis-
tration was regarded by the Mussulman
nobility. Of this state of affairs Fcroksheer
endeavonred to take advantage, by forming
a combination of the chief persons to whom
the vizier was known to have given offence.
Among these were Jey Sing, of Jeypoor,t
Cheen Kilich Khan, and others of impor-
tanec, who entered warmly into the matter;
but the irresolution and timidity of the
emperor, together with the continued pre-
ference which he cvineed, even at this
critical period, for incapabie and profligate
advisers, disgusted and disbeartened the
nobles who were inclined to take part with
him, and all except Jey Sing deserted his
cause,§ and made their peace with the
vizier, from whom Cheen Kilich Khan re-
tumkur, Naidu, Dessye, Desmookh, and Zemindar,
we recognise the same person, from Ceylon to Cash-
mere, to the present day.”—(Note to Siyar-ul-Mutak-
herin, p. 146.) It was as compensation for an
hereditary elaim of this description, purchased by
Shahjee, that his son Sevajee stipulated with Au-
rungzebe for certain assignments on the Beejapoor ,
revenue as early as 1666,—(Grant Duff, vol. i., p. 497.)
{ This ehieftain had been employed against the
Jats, whom, after a long course of operations, he
had sueceeded in reducing to extremities; when the
vizier opened a direct negotiation with them, in a
manner considered very derogatory to the honour
of the Rajpoot general. The eanse of offenee to
Cheen Kiheh Khan was his removal from the viee-
royalty of the Deeean to the petty government of |
Moradabad.—(Elphinstone’s India, vol. ii., p. 550.)
§1n marehing throngh Amber, Hussein Ali, to
punish the fidelity of Jey Sing to the emperor,
gave full scope to the rapaeity of the soldiery, who |
ravaged the land and earried away many persons, of |
both sexes, into captivity.—(Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
|
ecived large promises of inereased rank and
influence, in return for co-operation against
Fer oksheer, whose doom was now sealed by
the arrival of Hussein Ali, at the head of an
army devoted to him, and str engthened by
10,000 Mahrattas. Hussein immediately
demanded the dismissal of Jey Sing to his
| own principality. Feroksheer complied, and
strove to deprecate the vengeanee of his
enemics by the most abject submission,
giving no encouragement to the few nobles
who were still inclined to take part with
him. All was gloom and uncertainty, when
the townspeople suddenly rose against the
Mahrattas, upon which the Seyeds, taking
advantage of the disturbance, marehed into
the city, forcibly oceupied the palace, and
wrung by torture, from the women of the
seraglio, a knowledge of the hiding-place of
| the unhappy emperor, who was seized, flung
into a dark closet, and soon afterwards put
to death in a cruel and insulting manner.
The body was then buried in that general
receptacle for the murdered princes of the
house of ‘Timur—the sepulehre of Hn-
mayun: but the people evinced an nn-
looked-for degree of grief; and of the needy
multitude who followed the funeral proces-
sion, no one could be induced to aceept the
money brought for distribution, or partake
of the vietuals prepared in eonformity to
eustom. ‘Three days afterwards a number
of poor persons assembled at the place where
the corpse had been washed and perfumed,
according to Mussulman rites, and having
distributed a large quantity of food, sent for
several readers of the Koran, with whom
they passed the whole night in tears and
lamentations, separating in the morning in
an orderly manner.
Oh, wonderful God!” exclaims Khafi
Khan, in eoneluding the above narration,
“how did thy Divine justice manifest
itself in the several events of this revolu-
ist, Feroksheer, in his days of power,
had strangled his own brothers, yet in their
tender years:
innocent persons, and blinded others ; and
he was, therefore, destined to suffer all these
erueltics before he was permitted to die:
he was doomed to experience, from the
|
| * Vide Styar-ul-Mutakherin, vol. i., p. 193. From
using such language respecting two ao Khafi
Khan was evidently a Sonnite or Sunni (see note to
p- 62); and disputes hetween this sect and the
Sheiahs had risen to an alarming height during the
late reign, a violent affray having taken plaee be-
tween them in the eapital. In Ahmedabad, a still
more serious contest, in which many lives were lost,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
he had inuileren numbers of
158 SEYEDS MURDER FEROKSHEER AND CROWN MOHAMMED SHAH.
hands of strangers, all those agonies which
others had suffered at his. Nor did the two
brothers eseape the day of retribntion, or
go themselves unpnnished: in a little time
they met with that same usage which they
had inflicted on others.’”’*
During their remaining tenure of pros-
perity, the Seyeds exercised unlimited power.
Upon the deposition of Feroksheer, a sickly
prince of the blood-royal was brought forth
from the seraglio, and crowned under the
name of Rafi-ed-derjui. We died of con-
sumption in httle more than three months,
and his younger brother, MRafi-ed-dowlah,
being set up in his stead, fell a victim to
the same discase in a still shorter period.
Mohammed Shah was the title bestowed
by “the king-makers” on MRoshen-akhter,
grandson to Bahadur Shah, whom they
raised to the throne on the death of Rafi-ed-
dowlah. This prince, now in his eighteenth
year, had been edueated, like his predeces-
sors, in cuervating seclusion; but he pos-
sessed an able counsellor in lus mother, who
enjoined the most unhesitating acquiescence
with the will of his imperious protcetors,
until the time should arrive when he might
safely defy their anger. ‘The desired oppor-
tunity was not Jong in presenting itself,
The decease of the two pageant emperors
so soon after the murder of Ferokshcer
(although really uot the interest of the
Seyeds, but the reverse), had served to
deepen the distrust and dislike with which
they were generally regarded ;+ and in Alla-
habad, Boondi, and the Punjaub, efforts
were made to take advantage of a govern-
ment which was daily beeoming weaker.
In Cashmere, a furious contest took place
between the Hindoos and Mussulmans, pro-
voked by the perseeuting and insnlting con-
duct of the latter, in which some thousand
lives and mueh property were destroyed
before the authorities could restore tran-
quillity. But the most important event of
this period was the revolt of Cheen Kiheh
Khan, the governor of Malwa, ‘This chief,
whose descendants were the fumous Nizamst
of the Decean, is better known by his titles
of Nizam-ool-Moolk or Asuf Jah, by whieh
he will henceforth be indiscriminately
had occurred between the Hindoos and the Mussul-
mans, in which the governor (Daud Khan Panni)
took part with the former.
+ Rufi-ed-derjut was said to have heen poisoned
for attempting to eontravene the will of the Seyeds.
{ Nisam-ool-Moolk, signifies regulator of the state ,
“ the Nizam,” though scareely a eorrect expression, is
eommonly used by European writers to this day.
Sr
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
MOUAMMED SHATT TRIUMPIHS OVER THE SEYEDS.
termed. lis father, a Turk, had been a
favourite officer with Aurungzebe, under
whom he had himself served with distine-
tion. The waywarduess of Ferokshecr had
induced him to take part with the Scyeds,
from whom he received the government of
Malwa; but their evident weakness tempted
his ambition, and induced lim to levy
troops, and attempt the establishment of an
independent power in the Decean. March-
ing to the Nerbudda, he obtained possession
of the fortress of Ascerghur, by the simple
experlient of furnishing the garrison their
two years’ arrears of pay ; the citadel of Boor-
hanpoor was acquired in a somewhat similar
.manmer; and many Deceani officers, both
Mussulman and Mahratta, jomed the in-
vader. Two armies were dispatched against
him from Malwa and Aurungabad; but Asuf
Jah, knowing the impctuous character of
one of the commanders (Dilawur Khan),
drew him into an cngagement before he
could be supported by his colleaguc, Alum
Ali (a nephew of the two Scyeds) ; and both
forecs were separately engaged and defeated,
with the loss of their respective leaders.
Much alarm was ereated at Delhi by the
tidings of these disasters; and a violent
carthqnake, which occurred about this time,
decpened the gloom of the political horizon.
The usnrping brothers shared the gencral
fecling; and the young cmpcror, though
closely watched, began to form plans of de-
liverance from his wearisome tutelage, being
aided in this perilous enterprise by a noble-
man, named Mohammed Amcen Khan,
with whom he conversed in Turki, a Jan-
guage unknown to the Indian Seyeds. A
party was sceretly formed, in which the
second place was occupicd by Sadut Khan,
| originally a merchant of Khorasan, who had
risen to a military position, and cventually
became the progenitor of the kings of Oude.
These combinations were not unsnspected
by the brothers, between whom it was at
length resolved that the younger, Hussein
Ali, should march against Asnt Jah, carry-
ing with him the emperor and certain no-
bles, icaving Abdullah at Delhi to watch
over their joint interests. Shortly after
* We appears to have been poisoned; but popu-
lar belief assigned a different cause for his death.
An impostor, named Nemud, had established
himself at Delhi, and promulgated a new scripture,
written ina language of his own invention, framed
from those spoken in ancient Persia, and had founded
a sect, of which the teachers were called Bekooks,
and the disciples, Feraboods. The influence of the
new pretender tnercased. Jlis proceedings induced
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
159
their separation, Tussem Ali was stabbed
in dus palanquin while reading a petition
presented to him by the assassin (a Calinnck
of rank), who inuuediately fell under the
daggers of the attendants, s.p. 1720. Ab-
dnifah, on learning his brother’s death, set
up a new emperor, and hastily assembling a
large but ill-disciplincd forec, marched
against Mohammed Shah, who had now
assumed the reins of government. Chora-
man, chief or rajah of the Jats (whose num-
ber and influenee had thriven amid the
gencral disorganisation), joined the vizicr,
while Jey Sing sent 4,000 men to reinforce
Mohammed, who was furtlicr strengthened
by some ehicfs of the Rohilla Afghans,
a tribe now rapidly rising into importance.
The armies met between Delhi and Agra, a
cruel signal beiug given for the commencc-
ment of the conflict. Ruttun Chand hay-
ing been seized immediately after the murder
of Iusscin Ali, was severely beaten and kept
in chams until the day dawned on which
the decisive encounter was to take place.
Then, when “the trumpets sonnded and the
heralds had published three times, as usnal,
that courage in war is safcr than cowardice,”
the prisoner was decapitated, and his body
fastened to the elephant on which Ma-
hommed Shah sat, in the centre of his
troops, throughout the whole of the ensuing
day and night, which the contest occupied.
Abdullah Khan was at length defcated and
made prisoncr, having reecived several se-
vere wounds, of which he diced in the course
of a few months. Mohammed Shah entered
Dell in triumph: the cmpress-mother re-
ceived him at the entrance of the haram,
bearing a basin filled with gems and new
coins, which she poured over his head, as a
“wave-offering” of joy and thanksgiving.
The puppet-prince, crowned by Abdullah
Khan, was sent back to his former seclusion,
happy in thus cscaping punishment for the
part which he had been made to bear in the
late events. Mohammed Amcen Khan he-
came vizier, but had searecly entered upon
the duties of his offiec, before he was taken
ill, and died, after a few hours of extreme
agony.* || Brother =) 2 Assassinated.’
dbrshim sf es = « + | 1058 Ditto Son .. .. . | Natural death.
Masaud II. . . . . . «| 1089 | Do.and Lahore One -| Natural death.
Arslan ¢ oo oo © || ie! Ditto A Brother . - | Murdered.
Behram . . . op oy WS HCO een SO eee aturaledcnols
Khoi « « w = 2 « L160 IDE) 5 5 6 lf Sill 6 . | Natural death,
Khosrum™alik 5.405 5p 167 Ditto . . .| Conqueror . . Imprisoned and murdered.
Ghordynasty} Shahab-oo-deen . . . «| 1186 Ditto . . .| Hisslave& general Assassinated.
Kootb-oo-deen . . . . «| 1206 |fGhor, Ghuz-1] Son . . | Natural death.
vam 3) ci no eee romcmnen | ULL 0! nee, & Beles Brother-in- ake . | Natural death.
Altamsh . . . . . . «| T21L | Delhi. Son ... . . | Natural death.
Rukn-oo-deen . . . . «| 1286 Ditto . . .| Sister . . . . | Deposcd after7 mths. reign.
Slave Kings Rezia (Sultana) . . - | 1236 Ditto . . .} Brother . . . . | Imprisoned and murdered.
Behram (Voiz-oo deen). + | 139 Ditto . . .| SonofRukn . . | Imprisoned and‘murdered.
Masand (Ala-oo-deen) . . | 1241 Ditto . . . |Grandson of Altamsh| Imprisoned and murdered.
Mahmood (Nasir-oo-deen). | 1246) sDitto . . .| His Vizier . . .j Natural death.
Bulhun, or Balia. . . . | 1266 Ditto . . .| Son of Bakhara . | Natural death,
Kei Kobad taep ees Ce T2S6 Ditto . | A Khilji Chief. . | Assassinated.
rouse of Jelal-oo-deen . . . . . | 1288 Ditto » . .| Nephew. . . . | Assassinated.
Khiliii. Ala-oo-deen . . . . . | 1295 Ditto ol Sits 6 o 6 6 «|| Boece,
J WEIS 5 4 6 pb o 5 & ||| WEY Ditto Vizier. . . . . | Murdered.
Gheias-oo-deen . . . . | 1321 Ditto | Son. . . . . «| Milled, supposed by his son.
Mohammed (Juna) . 1325 sDeoghiri, or } Nephew Natural death
ae ~2 1. Doulatabad .f P ‘Sao ee
itiemea oF crO7 Cl mae ao 6 off Wei | belli, 6 4 Grandson. - | Natural death.
GRaycieibl. Gheias-oo- edeen b 6 » 0 || JESS Ditto . . 4 Ditto of Feroze. Deposed and murdered.
8 Almbokiy. (4 9 ae = | 1389 Ditto . . .| SonofFeroze . .} Deposed.
Nasir-oo-deen . . . . . | 1390 OO) 5 5 || Salle o . | Natural death.
Humayun. o 6 6-1) 1a Ditto . . .| Brother, a Minor . | Natural death.
lieiaesd Toghlak . . . | 1394 Ditto. ||) Noltelativcme. Driven from Delhi by Timur
Lodi. Doulat Khan Lodi . . . | 1412 Ditto . . .| No Relative . | Expelled.
Seyed Khizer Khan . .4 1414 Ditto . . . | Eldest Son . .| Natural death,
The Seyeds, Sade ais ap el } 1421 IM) 6 4 PSs « - | Murdered in a Mosque.
BESuS, Seyed Mohammed? 6 f |) JERS Mite) Gg 6 6 || SOs « « . | Natural death.
S-ved Al-oo-deen. . . 2 | 1444 Ditto . . .]| Conqueror . . .| Abdieated.
iReman of Bheilol Lodi. ee a) IBS Ditto . + » |] Som. « « « « » | Natural dea,
Tica Secander Lodi . . . . . {| 1488 prey Gg oll SHG 5 5 o 4 o |) Nealrollieniln,
Ibrahim Lodi . . . - | 1517 Ditto . . .| Conqueror . . . | Slain in hattle at Paniput.
Mogul Baller meme oa 6 o o || HERG Ditto 2 2 sams 5 ye) || Naturalideaths
dynasty. eee REM 6 5 6 6 o |) eo ae . .f{ Usurper . . { Driven into Persia,
Sheer Shah Soor . . . . | 1542 } Agr Youngest Son . . | Milled at a siege.
Selim Shah Soor . . . . | 1545 Delhi & Gwalior! Son. . . . . »| Natural death.
Afghan Feroze Soor . . 1652) Gwalior] . | Uncle | Assassinated in 3 days.
dynasty. Mohammicd Shah Soor Adili| 1552 | Chunar . . . | {Division of Domi- Expelled and slain.
Ibrahim TIT... 5 oo || Wee aS on 5 MENG © o 4 } Imprisoned and slain.
Sceander Soor . . . . .| 155f} Agra . . . .| Ilumaynn . . . | Defeated in battle. and fled
Tlumayun . . . . . . | 1558 aun Ao 6 so SGis @ oc 6 o 6 sie bya at
PVM a og 6 6 oo Go || ERG 7 . £| Son. = 5 = © || Naturalidestis
Jehangeer . . . . © . | 1605 } Delhi & Agra 4 S One - . .| Natural death.
Shah Jehan. . . a || Ge | bal a 6 4 2 || Jbomatah Son ‘ . | Deposed.
Aurungzebe (Alumgecr) . | 1658 Ditto Son . . | Natural death,
Mogul Bahadur Shah. . 5 |t sbatie/ Ditto | ] 1 | Eldest Son . Natural deatb.
dynasty. Jehandar Shah. . . | 1712 Ditto | | | |Son of Azim-u-Shan] Murdered
Ferokshere . . 6 a 6 || Wile Ditto . . .| Nephew . . | Deposed and slain.
Mohammed Shah. . . | 1719 DULG Gerais, | OOtie « Natural death.
Ahmed Shah . . . .” . | 1748 Ditto Meme mren Lain cc10l the Blood Deposed and eyes put ont,
Alompecr lege meee leas IDM 5g ol) Bia a 6 . .| Murdered.
ZU EWEIN 5 5 6 6 4 o |) Hyd) Dittomemmentel| | NO successor . «| Natural death.
~ Note.—Of the above 65 conquerors and rulers, 24 were assassinated or poisoned; 11 were deposed, driven from the throne,
or abdicated; two were slain in battle; one killed by a fall; and 27 were said to have died a natural death. Fifteen
priaecs of the Ghaznivede dynasty had an ayerage duratinn "of reign af 1} ycars; 10 Slave kings of cight years; three
Ahiljt of 10 years; cight Toghlak of 11 years; four Seyeds of nine years; three Lodi of 25 years; two Mogul
of cight years; six Afghan of two years; and Io Mogul nf 17 years cach. If the reign of Akher, which lasted for
49 years, and that of Aurungzche, for 49=98, be dedueted, the average duration of the remaining 10 princes’ reigns
) was only 10} years. The poriod of 751 ycars gives an average reign, to cach prinec, of exactly 11 ycars. ‘hese state-
ments must, however, he regarded rather as affording a general view of the Indo-Mohammedaa Dynastics, than as
asacrtions of opinions on various disputed poiats respecting the death and exact date of accession of several potentates :
for accounts of the minor Mohammedaa kingdoms see pp. 93 to 107. Tho Great Moguls alone assumed the title of
Padsha, or Emperor.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Some light is thrown on the communication
between the eastern and western hemis-
pheres by the scriptural aceount of the fre-
quent supplics of spices aud other oriental
products obtained by Solomon from the sou-
thern parts of Asia, s.c. 1000. The Phee-
nicians were even then snpposed to have
long been the chief carriers in the Indian
trade, by way of the Red Sea and the Per-
sian Gulf; but an overland intercourse ap-
pears to have been simultaneously main-
tained through Persia and Arabia. Of the
Asiaties themselves, and of their territories,
little was known in Europe until the inva-
sion of the Indian frontier by Alexander the
Great, b.c. 831. For nearly three centuries
after his death, the Indian traffie was chiefly
conducted by Egyptian and Arabian mer-
ehants, by way of the Red Sea, the Nile,
and the Mediterranenn; the marts heing
Berenice, Coptos, and Alexandria. There
were, besides, two other and far less fre-
quented routes: the first lay through Persia
and the upper part of Arabia to the Syrian
cities, and stretehed over a long and dreary
desert tract, in whieh the only halting-place
was the famous Tadmor or Palmyra—tlic
city of palms—whose independenee and
growing prosperity exeiting the jealousy of
imperial Rome, proved the oceasion of its
destrnetion, notwithstanding the determined
eflorts of its brave queen, Zenobia. With
| Palmyra the overland traftic of the desert,
which had existed sinee the time of Abra-
ham, terminated; but the other ronte,
aeross the rocky passes of the ITindoo
Koosh, is still in existenee, and by this
means an inland trade is maintained between
India, Persia, and Russia (vid Bokhara.)
In the middle of the first century of the
Christian cra a discovery was made by a
Greek, named Hippalus, the commander of
‘an Kevptian East-Indiaman, of the steady
course of the monsoon, at fixed periods, in a
| eertain direction. The result of his observa-
tion and daring adventure was to reduce a
tedions voyage, of two months’ duration,
within the compass of a few days; mariners
, theneeforth steering from the mouth of the
Red Sea directly across the ocean to Neleunda
(the site of which Dr. Vineent traces in the
2g
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
SEC IG IT.
EUROPEAN INTERCOURSK—RISK AND GROWTIL OF BRITISH POWER,
modern Nelisuram), instead of following the
cirenitous line of the Arabian and Persian
coasts. ere pepper in great abundance, cot-_
ton cloths, and exqnisitcly fine muslins, silk,
ivory, spikenard, pearls, diamonds, amethysts,
with other precious stones, and tortoiseshell, |
awaited the arrival of the merchants, and
were largely exported, as also from 'fyndis
and Musiris (Bareclore and Mangalore), and
other emporia on the Indian coast,inexehange |
for gold and silver, (in vessels and specic,)
cloth, coral, incense, glass, and a little winc.
The weakness and distraction of the Ko-
man empire checked this profitable traffic,
and the rise of Mohammedan power subse-
quently ent off all direct communication
between Europe and India. The Arabians
then formed settlements on
eoasts of the Deeean, and by their yesscls, or
by inland earavans, the rich productions of
India were sold to the Venetians or Genoese
on the shores of the Mediterranean or of the
Euxine. These merehant-prinecs, though
characterised by maritime enterprise, were
naturally little desirous of prosecuting dis-
coverics calculated to break up their mono-
poly, and transfer to other hands at Icast a
large proportion of the Indian trade. The
leading European states, engrossed by na-
tional or internal strife, were slow to recog-
nisc the superiority of an extended eommeree
as a means of even political greatness, over
the sanguimary warfare into which whole
kingdoms were repeatedly plunged to gratify
the ambition or malignity of a few persons—
often of a single individual. The short-lived
triumphs of the sword only paved the way
for new contests, envenomed by bitter recol-
leetions; and it followed inevitably, that all
peaceful interests—arts and sciences, me-
chanies, and agriculture—were neglected in
the paramount necessity of finding means
to mect the heavy drain of blood and treasure
so wantonly ineurred. The true principle of
trade—the greatest good of the greatest
number—was quite overlooked: the citizens
of a leading emporium forgot, in triumphing
over a defeated rival, that they were exulting
in the destruction of one of their own mar-
kets; and were far from understanding the
more remote connexion which, in the absence
the eastern |
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
182
of a holier prineiple of union, binds nation
to nation, forming of the whole a body-cor-
porate, through which the blood cirenlates
more or less freely aecording to the héalthy
or diseased action of each and every memher.
Portucvrse Discovery Ann Dominion.*
—A new epoch commenced for Enrope,
dating from the time when John I. and
Prince Henry—worthy representatives of
the royal house of Portugal—struek out for
themselves and their country a path to power
and renown, by becoming the patrons of
maritime discovery. Portugal was then, as
now, of limited extent and fertility: her
previous history afforded little scope for
boastful recolleetion, either while under the
sway of the Romans, as the province of
Lusitania, or when, in the middle ages, she
lay crushed beneath the iron yoke of the
Moors, who, after having overrun nearly the
whole Peninsula, erected Portugal into a
kingdom, under the name of Algarve. But
the fiery furnace of adversity developed mar-
yellonsly the latent energies of the Portu-
guesc. Rcligious zeal became the inspiring
theme with them, as it had formerly been
with their conquerors; and, after a struggle
of many hundred years’ duration, they, like
their Spanish neighbours, succeeded in ex-
pelling from their shores the numerous, war-
like, and fanatical hordes united under the
banner of the ereseent.
Acting on the false principle of their late
persceutors,—that hostilities against infidels
were meritorious in the sight of God,—the
Portugnese pursued the Moors into Africa,
retaliating by every possible means the long
* The authorities for the Portuguese proceedings
are Lopez de Castanheda; Stevens’ translation of
Faria y Sousa; and the accounts given in Harris's
Voyages,the World displayed; Murray’s Discoveries ;
and other eollections of travels by land and sea, in
which Jnan de Barros and Osorio are largely quoted.
+ Pp. 92 to 106. t Page 41.
§ The origin of the zamorins, or Tamuri rajahs, is
discussed by Buchanan (vol. il., p. 474) and Sousa
(vol. ii, p. 225.) Tn accordanee with the custom of
the eountry, the name of the individual then reigning
was withheld from the Portuguese ; but their inter-
preter, a Moor of Tunis (long resident at Calieut),
described him “as a yery good man, and of an hon-
purable disposition.” Ice proved to be a person of
majestic presence and advanced age: dressed in fine
white calico, adorned with branehes and flowers of
beaten gold, and rare gems (with which latter his whole
person was bedecked), he reclined on cushions of white
silk, wrought with gold, under a magnifiecnt eanopy.
A golden fountain of water stood beside him, and a
gold basin filled with hetel and areca: the hall of
audience was richly carpeted, and hung with tapestry
| of silk and gold. De Gama found some difficulty
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
FIRST EUROPEAN VOYAGE TO INDIA, 1498—VASCO DE GAMA.
| series of cutrage and thraldom to which they
had been subjected. ‘The peevliar situation
of Portugal, and its long range of coast-
line, bordered by the yct unmeasured ex-
panse of the Atlantie, favoured maritime
‘enterprise ; and the exploration of the shores
of western, southern, and eastern Africa
was followed by the expedition of Vaseo de
Gama, who, after erossing the Indian Ocean
(by the aid of a Hindoo pilot, obtained at
Melinda), sueceeded in gaining the Malabar
coast, and landed at Calicut in May, 1468.
The general condition of India at this
period has been shown in previous pages.
Secander Soor sat on the throne of Delhi:
in the Deccan, the Moliammedan rulers
were Mohammed II., of the Bahmani
dynasty ; Yusuf Adil Shah, of Beejapoor ;
and Ahmed Nizam Shah, of Ahmednuggur.
The country visited by the Portugucse had
aneiently formed the southern division of
the kingdom of Kerala;+ but in the course
of the ninth eentury had revolted from its
prince (who had beeome a Mohammedan),
and heen formed into many petty Hindoo
principalities. Of these, the ehief was that
now governed by a ruler styled the zamorin,
or Tamuri rajah,§ to whom several lesser
rajahs seem to have been fcudatory; his
capital, called Calicut, had attained wealth
and eelebrity as a commereial emporium.
By this prince the adventurers were well
received; and notwithstanding some awk-
ward blunders, oceasioned by their igno-
ranee of the language, eustoms, and religion
of the country,|| all went on favourably
until their proceedings excited the jealousy
of the Mohammedan traders, whom they
from the want of the costly presents with which all
diplomatic intercourse in the east begins and ends.
The zamorin desired an image of Mary, in gold, of
which he had heard: this was refused, on the plea
that it was only wood, gilt, but valuable “because it
had preserved them at sea’”’—an answer calculated te
confirm the assertion of the Moors, that these Euro-
peans, unlike the native Christians, were idolaters.
|| The Portuguese, acquainted by the accounts of
Marco Polo and other travellers with the existenee
of a Christian community on this eoast, looked for
the signs of Christian or rather Romish worship;
and, filled with this idea, actually entered a splendid
pagoda with lolty pillars of brass, and_prostrated
themselves before an assemblage of strange and
grotesque forms, which they took for the Indian
ideal of the Madonna and saints. ‘The strings of
heads worn by the priests, the water with which the
company were sprinkled, the powdered sandal-wood,
and the peal of bells, could not, however, quell
the suspicions exeited hy the numerous arms and
singular accompaniments of many of the figures;
and one of tho Portuguese started to his fect, ex-
claiming, “If these be devils, it is God 1 worship.”
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
— ol
termed the Moors,* scttled in Calicut. These
merchants having, through their factors,
reecived intelligence of the contests which
had taken place, during the voyage, between
Vasco de Gama and the people of Mozam-
biquc, Mombas, Melinda, and other places
ou the coast of Afiea, informed the zamorin
of the outrages that had been committed
on this and previous occasions, urging,
with sufficient reason, that people who, on
frivolous pretences, fired npon and destroyed
towns, carried off the inhabitants as slaves,
and serupled not to extort information hy
the most barbarous tortures, were more pro-
bably pirates than ambassadors,} especially |
as they came unprovided with any ofler-
ing from their sovereign. Notwithstanding |
these representations, the Portuguese were
suffered to wake an advantageous disposition
of their cargo (of scarlet cloth, brass, coral,
&e.) at Calicut; but a dispute subsequently
arising, the factor and sceretary were made
prisoners. De Gama dissembled his alarm,
aud continued to communicate with the
Indians as if nothing had oceurred, until he
had sueceeeded in entrapping on board his
vessel a party, comprising six nairst and
fifteen other persons of distinction. IIe
then demanded the release of his officers as |
their ransom; but when this condition was |
complied with, forfeited his pledge by re-
taining possession of several of his captives.
Enraged by this dishonourabic and insulting
conduet, the zamorin dispatched a squadron
of boats against the Portuguese, and suc-|
eceded in procuring the co-operation of
neighbouring powers; so that in a short
time every bay, ereck, and river was filled |
with boats, ready, at a given signal, to
attack the intruders. Such at least was’
the intelligenee, wrung by tortures of the
most crucl and disgusting description, from
aspy who came out from Goa. De Gama,
by the aid of favourable winds avoided the
encounter, stecred homewards, and reached
* This designation seems frequently applied to
Arabian and African Mohammedans, in contradis-
tinction 10 Moguls and Patans. Sousa speaks of
them as “inhabiting from Choul to Cape Comorin.”
+ Prince Henry’s characteristic motto, “ Talent de
bien faire,” was sadly misapplicd by the Portuguese
commanders, who, almost without exception, treated
the natives of newly-discovered territories with sucli
shameless cruelty, that their skill and courage faiis
to disguise the fact, that they were little else than
pirates and robbers on an extensive scale ;-—worse
than all, they were stealers of men; and thereby
guilty of a crime whick could not and did not fail
to bring a curse upon their nation. In vain they
strove to strengthen themselves with forts and can-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
| | PORTUGUESE EXPEDITION UNDK
R ALVAREZ CABRAL—a.v. 1500. 183
the Tagns in August, 1199, after an absence
of two years and two montlis; only fifty-five
of the 160]| men who had accompanied him
on his perilous encerprise, surviving to share
the honours of his triumphant entry into
Lishon; but of these, every individual re-
ecived rewards, together with the personal
commendation of King Emanuel.
An armament, comprising thirteen ships
and 1,200 men, was immediately fitted out
and dispatched to take advantage of the
new discovery. The command was entrusted
to Alvarez Cabral, De Gama being excluded
on the plea of being spared the hazard, but
probably either on account of an opposite
interest having begun to prevail at court, or
beeause even his own report of his Indian
proceedings may have borne evidence that
the beneficial results of the skill and courage
which had enabled him to triumph over the
perils of unknown seas, were likely to be
neutralized by his indisercet and aggressive
conduct on shore. Cabral reached Caheut
in September, 1500, having, on his way,
discovered the coast of Brazil, and lost four
of his ships in the frightfal storms cncoun-
tered in rounding the Cape of Good Hepe,
Bartholomew Diaz being one of those who
perished in the scas he had first laid open
to European adventure. ‘The captives car-
ried off by De Gama were restored by Cabral,-
and their representations of the honourable
treatment they had reecived in Portugal,
together with costly presents of vessels of
gold and silver of delicate workmanship,
and cloths ingeniously wrought, obtained
for the admiral a gracious reception, and
permission to establish a factory at Calicut.
Cabral endeavoured to ingratiate himself
still further by intercepting and driving into
the harbour or roadstead of Calicut a large
vessel, then passing from the neighbouring
port of Cochin, laden with a rich cargo, in-
cluding seven clephants, onc of which the
zamorin had vainly cudeavoured to pur-
non—spreading the terror of their name over the
whole African sea-coast: their power has dwindled
away like a snow-ball in the sun; and now only
enough remains to bear witness of lost dominion.
Five-and-twenty years ago, when serving in the
navy, I visited the great fortress of Mozambique,
where we landed the marines of our frigate to pre-
vent the governor-gencra] (then newly-arrived from
Lisbon) being massacred by a horde of savages. «At
Delagoa, Inhamban, Sofala, and other places, the |
Portuguese governor and officers were unwilling to
venture beyond the reach of the rusty cannon on
the walls of their dilapidated forts.
{ Military class of Malabar, of the Soodra cast.
\\ Aceording to Sousa, Castanheda says, 108. \
|
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
184
chase; but this unserupulous use of power
eave alarm rather than satisfaction, and
added weight to the arguments of the Moors,
regarding the danger of eneouraging such
oflicious intcrlopers. The result was, that
the Portngucse, unable to effeet any pur-
chases from the native merehants, in their
impatience construed a hasty expression,
dropped by the zamorin when wearied by
their solicitations and complaints, into per-
mission to seize a Moorish cargo of rich
spices, on condition of the payment of an
equitable price. This outrage provoked the
resentment of both the Moors and the Hin-
doo inhabitants of Calicut. The newly-
erected factory was broken open, and out of
its seventy oceupants, fifty-one were killed,
the remainder eseaping ouly by leaping into
the sea, and swimming to their boats. Cabral
retaliated by the capture and destruetion of
ten Moorish ships, seizing the cargoes, and
detaining the crews as prisoners. Then,
bringing his squadron as close as possible to
|
ih
the shore, he opened a furious discharge of
artillery upon the city, and having set it
on fire in severa! plaecs, sailed southward to
Coehin, whose ruler, having rebelled against
the zamorin, gladly embraeed the ollcr of
foreign commerce and alliance. Here an
abundant supply of pepper, the commodity
chiefly desired by the Europeans, was ob-
tained, and Cabral returned to Lisbon,
taking the opportunity of a favourable wind
to ayoid a flect of sixty sail, sent against
him from Cahieut. 1t was now manifest
that the ageressive policy of the Portuguese
could sueeced only if powerfully supported ;
and manuel being desirous, in the words
of Faria y Sousa, “to earry out what the
apostle St. Thomas had begun,” daring |
his alleged visit to India, resolved, at all)
hazards, to avail himself of the papal grant |
to Portugal of all the eastern regions
diseovered by her fleets, aud tenanted by |
infidels. He assembled a larger armament
than had yet been sent into the castern
seas, and assuming the title of “ Lord of
the navigation, conquest, and eommerce of
Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and India,” dis-
patched Vasco de Gama to enforce his
uuthority, The conduet of the cnvoy was
marked by the most savage cruclty. On
the coast of Arabia he met and captured a
large Moorish ship, seized its stores, shut up
the crew in the hold, and set it on fire.
Appearing before Calient, he colleeted fifty
Indians from several captured vesscls, and
in consequenee of some delay which oc-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
HOSTILITIES PROVOKED BY PORTUGUESE IN MALABAR—a.p, 1501.
eurred during a negotiation, opened by his
demand of compensation for the destruetion
of the factory and its occupants, he took up
an hour-glass, and declared, that unless the
matter were settled before the sand had
passed through, the prisoners should all be
massaered. This savage threat he fulfilled
to the letter, flinging on shore the heads,
hands, and feet of the wretched victims.
After pouring a destruetive fire on the eity,
he proceeded to Cochin and Canaunore,
eemented the Portuguese alliance with the
rulers of these territories, and then returned
to Lisbon, leaving a squadron of five vesscls
under his uncle, Vineente Sodre, to blockade
the Red Sea, exelude the hostile Moors
from any communication with the coast of
Malabar, and do what he could to protect
the aihes of Portugal against the anger of
their liege lord, the zamorin. Instead of
following these injunctions, Sodre engaged
in piratical pursuits, and at length perished
in a violent storm. ‘Triumpara, rajah of
Cochin, was left to make his own defence,
and being driven from his eapital, took refuge
in the isle of Vaipeen, whose natural strength
and sacred eharaeter would probably not
have sufficed to ensure him a safe asylum
but for the succour that arrived from Por-
tugal, one detachment being sent under the
afterwards famous Alphonso Albuquerque,
auother under his brother Francisco, and a
third under Antonio Saldanha. With their
assistanee, Triumpara was replaced on his
throne, and peace coneluded with Calicut,
but soon broken by the outrageous conduet
of the Portuguese. The Albuquerques, after
endeavouring to intimidate the zamorin into
a renewal of the violated treaty, sct sail for
Europe,* leaving Duarte Pachceo with four
vessels and a few hundred men to assist in
guarding their ally, the rajah of Cochin.
The struggle that ensued afforded the first
notable instauee of the superiority of a small
foree, strengthened by Kuropean strategy
and diseipline, over an unwicldly Indian
host, and may be said to have laid the
foundation of Portuguese power in India.
Pacheco was skilful and resolute: Trium-
para confided to him the sole dircctton of
the defenec to be made against the advane-
ing naval and military armament of the
zamorin; and the well-directed fire of his
little squadron enabled him to obtain a com-
plete triumph, which was greatly faeilitated
* Alphonso reached Europe safely. Trancisco,
with the ships under his command, is supposed to
have perished in a storm near Melinda, in Africa.
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ALMEIDA VICEROY--WAR WITT EGYPT AND GUZERAS—1508.
by a destructive sickness that broke out |
among the enemy, and compelled their re-
treat to Calicut.* Pacheco was, perhaps, the
ablest as well as the most humane and dis-
interested of the commanders of his nation
in India; for uo other, not even Albuquer-
que, obtained sueh uniform sueecss with
such inadequate means. It would haye_
heen good policy to have left him in the posi- ,
tion he had so well filled; instead of which,
he was superseded by Lope Soarez. On re-
turning to Portugal, le was treated by
manuel with well-merited distinction ; and
his disrezard of his own interests, and zeal for
the public serviec, were rewarded by the ap-
pointment of governor of I} Mina, the chief
settlement on the African coast; but a
violent faction being there raised against
him, he was sent home in chains, impri-|
soned for years, and although at length
honourably acquitted, suffered to die in
poverty and neglect.
In 1505, Francisco de Almeida arrived off
Malabar, attended by a powerful flect, and
dignified with the new and pompous title
of yiecroy of India. A more formidable
opposition than any heretofore encountered
now awaited the Portuguese, in the combi-
nation formed against them by Mahmood
Begarra, of Guzerat, with the Mameluk
sultan of Cairo, and the angry and disap-
pointed Venetians. The sultan, incensed by
the diminution of his revenues, by the shame-
ful piracics committed on his vessels, and by
the barbarous massaere of pilgrims on their
way to Mecca (whose cause every zealous |
Mohammedan identifies with Ins own),
equipped twelve large ships in the Red
Sea,t and placed them under an officer
named Meer Ilocem, with orders for the
extirpation of the infidel invaders from the |
whole face of the eastern scas. Malek
Niaz, the viccroy of Diu, was sent hy
Mahmood to join the Mameluks, with an
assemblage of vessels, inferior in size, but
greater in number ; and the combined force
fell upon the Portuguese squadron anchored
off Choul with such effect, that the yonng
commander, Lorenzo, the only son of Al-
meida, seeing no prospect of successful re-
sistanec, and his chicf officers, like himself,
being wounded, resolved to take advantage
* Both Moors and Hindoos were provided with
cannon before the arrival of the Portuguese, though
they do not appear to have been skilful in its use.
+ The Venctians sent the timber from the forests
of Dalmatia, by way of Alexandria and the Nile.
Venetian carpenters built the fleet, which was
strongly manned with choice Turkish soldiers.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ithe devoted band, and destroyed their last
185
of a favourable tide aud proceed out to sea.
The movement was commenced at inidnight,
aud went on favourably until the ship in |
which Lorenzo sailed ran foul of some fish-
ing stakes. The enemy having discovered
the manazuvre, pressed on in pursuit, while
ineflectual attempts were made to free the
intercepted vessel. Lorenzo was cntreated
to enter a boat and escape to the flect; but
he refused to forsake his companions, and
drawing them up in fighting order, resolved
to hold out, if possible, until the advancing
tide should float them out to sca. Wostile
ships, bristling with cannon, bore down ou
hope by opening npon them a tremendons
fire. A ball in the thigh incapacitated
Lorenzo for movement; but he caused hini-
self to be lashed to the mast, whence he
continued to direct and cheer his meu till
another shot struck him on the breast, and
terminated at onec his strnggles and_ his
life. The crew, though redueed from one
hundred to twenty men, and all wounded,
were still disposed to resist the boarding of
their vessel; but Malek Kiaz, by gentleness
and promises of good treatment, prevailed
on them to surrender; and by his after-
conduct, amply redeemed his pledge. In
truth, Miaz appears to be almost the only
Mohammedan commander of his age and
country, who in any degree inherited the
chivalry which romance and even history
have associated with Saracen leaders in the
time of the Crusades. Ile addressed Al-
meida in terms of the most delicate con-
dolence, expressing carnest admiration of
the valour of his lost son; but the veteran
sternly replied, that he considered execl-
lenee more to he desired than long life, and
saw no cause for lamentation in the glorious
death of one who was doubtless now enjoy-
ing the reward of his good conduct. This
semblanee of resignation imposed no re- |
straint upon the burning impatienee with |
which he prepared for vengeanee, When |
about to depart at the head of a fect of
nineteen ships, an unexpected event de-
ranged his plans, and inflicted a blow which |
he bore with far less dignity than he had
done his late bereavement. This was no-
thing less than his recall and supercession
{ Sousa says, his countrymen lost 140 men in this |
engagement, and the enemy 600. Unfortunately, we |
eannot cheek the Portuguese accounts by those of |
their foes, beeanse the Mohammedan historians of
the Decean have rarely thought fit to narrate their |
contests with these “foreign idolaters,” whom they
affected to treat with contemptuous indifference.
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186 STORMING OF DIU—PORTUGUESE DEFEATED AT CALICUT—1510.
by Alphonso Albuqnerque, who arrived in
1506, bearing a commission as governor-
general of India.* Almeida positively re-
fused to resign his command until he should
have avenged his son’s death by the de-
struction of the hostile fleet. Being sup-
ported in his disobedience to the royal man-
date by several leading officers, he refused
to allow Albuquerque even to take part in
the intended expedition, and sailed off to
attack Dabul, a leading emporium, which
had zealously embraced the Egyptian cause.
, Thetroops disembarked at Diu, notwithstand-
ing the discharge of powerful batteries ; for
these, having rather a high range, passed
over the soldiers heads as they landed in
boats, without inflicting any injury. Once on
shore, a deadly conflict commenced with thie
bodies of armed citizens who blocked up the
narrow passages to the town: these were
at length overpowered; and by the orders
| of the merciless victor, an indiscriminate
slaughter ensued. The streets strcamed
with blood, and the distracted multitudes
fled to the caves of the neighbouring moun-
tains, finding that even buildings consecrated
to the service of the One Universal Lord
aflorded no refuge from the lust and fury
of the savage men who dared to cast dis-
honour on the great name of the Redcemer,
by styling themselves disciples and propa-
gators of a faith whose very essence is peace
and Jove. This disgraceful scene had a suit-
able conclusion; for Almeida, unable to with-
draw his troops from their horrible employ-
ment, resorted to a violent method of re-
storing some degree of discipline, by causing
the town to be set on fire. ‘Ihe flames ex-
tended rapidly over the light timber roofs,
and after reducing the stately city to a pile
of smoking wood and ashes, reached the
harbour. The native shipping was de-
stroyed ; the Portuguese vessels with difli-
| culty escaped, and proceeded to the Gulf
of Cambay. Here Almeida attacked the
combined fieet, and gained a great but
| costly victory. The Mameluk portion was
completely destroyed, and Malek Kiaz com-
pelled to sue for peace. Almcida stipulated
for the surrender of Meer Ifocem; but Fiaz
indignantly refused to betray his ally, and
would offer no further conccssion as the
price of peace than tlic freedom of all
Suropean captives. Having no power of
enforcing other terms, Almcida was com-
*The office of viceroy and governor-general was
the same, though the title differed.
f Vide British Possesstons in Africa, vol. iii., p. 4.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
pelled ta accept these; bnt unsoftened by
the kindness which the surviving compa-
mions of his son had received from their
brave captor, the Portuguese admiral filled
the measure of his barbarities by causing
his prisoners to be shut up in the prize
vessels and burnt with them. “ Many,”
says Faria y Sousa, “judged the unhappy
end of the viceroy and other gentlemen to
be a just punishment of that crime.” If
so, it was not long delayed. On the return
of Almeida to Cochin, a contest seemed
about to commence with Albuquerque for
the possession of the supreme authority.
At this crisis, Ferdinand Coutinho, a noble-
man of high character, arrived in command
of fifteen ships and a large body of troops,
haying been opportunely dispatched by Ema-
nuel, with powers to act in the very pro-
bable conjuneture whl i actually arisen.
By his mediation, Almeida was induced to
resign the viceroyalty, and set sail for his
native country, which he never lived to
reach,—he, who had brought so many to
an untimely end, himself suffering a vio-
lent death at the hands of some Hottentots
at the Cape of Good Hope, of whose cattle
the Portuguese had attempted to take for-
cible possession. t
Albuquerque was now left fo carry out
nnehecked his ambitious schemes. He com-
menced by the assault of Calicut (January,
1510), in conjunction with Coutinho, who,
being about to return to Portugal, vehe-
mently urged his claim to be allowed to take
the lead on this occasion. As the city could |
only be approached through narrow avenues,
amidst thick woods, in which the whole
army had not room to act, it was arranged |
that the two commanders should advance, at
day-break on the following morning, in sepa-
rate divisions. That of Albuquerque took the |
lead, and obtained possession of a fortified
palace (previously fixed upon as the first
object of assault) before the rival party
reaehed the spot. Coutinho, greatly annoyed
at being thus anticipated, reproached Albu-
querque with a breach of faith, and declaring
that he would not be again forestalled, made
his way through the streets of Calient to the
chief palace, which lay on the other side of
the city, and formed a little town, enclosed
by a wall, Being the only regular tortifica-
tion in the place, it was defended by the
main strength of the army; but Coutinho
succeeded in forcing open the gates, and ac-
quired possession of the whole enclosure.
Flushed with victory, he gave his men full
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ALBUQUERQUE CAPTURES GOA, 1510—MABLACCA, 151] —ORMUYZ, 1515. 187
license to phinder, and withdrew, to seck
rest and refreshment in the state apartments.
This over-confidence afforded the Lindoos
time to recover from their cousteruation ;
and a ery, uttered by one of the chief naira,
passed from mouth to mouth, to the distance
of several miles, until 30,000 armed men
had assembled, aud in turn, surprised the
invaders, Albuquerque, who occupied the
city, vainly strove to maintain the commnu-
nication with the fleet: he was hemmed in
with his troops in the narrow lanes and
avenues, and exposed to a continued shower
of arrows and stones, one of which felled
him to the ground. ‘he soldicrs set fire to
the adjacent buildings, and cscaped to the
ships, bearing away their commander in a
state of unconsciousness. Coutinho was less
fortunate. When, after neglecting repeated
warnings, at last by the clash of arms
to the actual stat the case, he sprang to
the head of his troops, and fought with the
fury of desperation, striving not to retain
possession of the placc—for that was mani-
festly impossible—but only to ent a path to
the shore. In this the majority of the com-
mon soldiers suceceded ; but Coutinho, with
Vasco Sylvicra, and other nobles of distine-
tion, were left dead on the field. Out of
1,600 Portuguese (according to De Barros),
eighty were killed, and 300 wounded. ‘This
disastrous commencement, so far from
checking, only served to imerease the desire
of Albuquerque for territorial dominion, in
opposition to the policy previously pursued
hy Almeida, who had considered that fac-
tories, guarded by a powerful flect, wonld
better suit the purposes of commerce, and be
less likely to excite enmity.
Disappointed in the hope of gaiuing pos-
session of the capital of the zamorin, he
looked round for some other city which
might form the nucleus of a new empire ;
for as yet, notwithstanding their high-
sounding titles, the Portuguese had but a
preearious tenure, even of the land on
which their few forts and factorics were
erected. A useful, though uot creditable ally,
Timojce, a Hindoo pirate, directed his at-
tention to Goa, then comprehended in the
kingdom of Beejapoor. The city was taken
by surprise in the early part of 1510; re-
captured a few months later by Yusuf Adil
Shah, in person; and finally conquered by
-
* Portuguese Asia, vol. i., p. 172.
+ After making large allowatiee for tne barbarities
commion to his age and nation, Alhuquerque seems
to have been more than usually cruel in his punish- ;
Albuquerque, at the close of the same year.
The contest was prolonged and sanguinary ;
and the after-slanghter iaust have been ter-
rific,—sinee, according to Sousa, “ not one
Moor was left alive in the island.’* The
Ifindoos were treated very differently; for
Albuquerque, with a politic view to the cou-
solidation of his newly-acquired power, con-
firmed them in their possessions, and pro-
moted the intermarriage of their women
with the Portuguese by handsome dowrics,
at the same time proving his confidence in
his new subjects, by employing them in
both eivil and military capacitics. A large
quantity of cannon and military stores were
captured in Goa, and probably assisted in
furnishing the fortifications raised by him in
that city; and also in fitting out an arma-
ment, comprising 800 Portuguese and GOO
Indians, with which Albuquerque procecded
to attack Malacca. This kingdom was then
of great importance, being what Singapore
is now—uamely, the chief mart of the com-
merece carried on between Hindoostan, China,
and the castern islands. The inhabitants made
a vigorous resistance with cannon and floats
of wild-fire, and defended their streets by
mining with gunpowder; but they were
overpowered hy the Portuguese, who gained
complete possession of the city, and im-
mediately began to erect a stroag fort from
the ruins of the shattered palaces, and take
other measures for the permancnt establish-
ment of their supremacy. Negotiations
were opened with Siam, Java, and Sumatra;
and friendly embassies are cven asscrted
to have been dispatched from these countries
in return. The restless sword of Albu-
querque next found employment in the de-
fence of Goa, where tranquillity was no
sooner restored, than he resumed his plans
of distant conquest; and after two unsuc-
cessful attempts upon Aden, assembled
1,500 European and 600 Asiatic troops,
in pursuit of the darling object of his am-
bition—the conquest of Ormuz, the famous
emporium of the Persiau Gulf. This he ap-
pears to have accomplished with httle difli-
culty, by working upon the fears and weak-
ness of the sovereign, who felt quite in-
capable of combating a formidable force, led
by a commander whose ability was more
than equalled by his ruthless severity ;+
and Ormuz, notwithstanding the counter-
ments. Among many instances, may be cited that
of his sending Portuguese renegades back to their
country with their ears, noses, right-hands, and
thumbs of the left hand cut off. His passions were
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intrigues of the Persian ambassador, fell an
easy prize into the hands of the Portuguese.
Albuquerque, delighted with lis success,
prepared to return to Goa, there to super-
intend the consolidation of the dominion he
had gained, and at the same time recruit
his own strength, after toils caleulated to
increase the burden of advancing years.
These anticipations were suddenly dashed
| to the ground by tidings which reached
him while sailing along the eoast of Cambay.
He who had superseded Almeida, was now
himself to be ignominiously displaced by a
new governor—Lope Soarez, who, to make
the blow more galling, was his personal and
hitter foe. There was no letter, nor any mark
of respect or sympathy from the king, and
no reason assigned for his removal ; probably
none existed beyond the malice of his foes,
in suggesting that the powerful viecroy
might not long continne a subject. New
officers were nominated to the chief vessels
and forts, selected from the party known
to be hostile to his interests; and even men
whom he had sent home prisoners for
heinous crimes, returned with high appoint-
ments. The adherents of Albuqnerque
rallied round him, and strove to induce him
to follow the example of many Asiatic
governors, byasserting his independence; but
he rejected the temptation, declaring that
the only course now left him consistent with
his honour, which through life had been his
first care, was to die. Then giving way to
profound melancholy, and refusing food or
medicine, he soon found the death he
ardently desired, expirmg upon the bar of
Goa (which he had ealled his land of pro-
mise) in December, 1515, in the sixty-third
year of his age. While writhing under the
torment of a wounded spirit, he was pre-
| yailed upon to address a few proud and
pathetic lines of farewell to his sovercign,
commending to his favour the son whom he
had left in Portugal. “ As for the affairs of
India,” he added, “they will speak for
themselves and me.” This was no empty
boast ; for in five years, Albuquerque had
raised the maritime power of his nation in
the Hast, to a point which, in spite of many
unrestrained, after his nephew, Antonio de Noronha,
was slain in action; this youth having, according
| to Faria y Sousa, exercised a very salutary influence
over his temper through his affections.
| * When on his way to supersede Almeida, he at-
tacked Ormuz, and there committed great crucltics,
such as cutting off the hands, cars, and noses of per-
sons carrying provisions into the city. Being com-
188 ALBUQUERQUE’S RECALL AND DEATH—PORTUGUESE POWER—1515.
changes and conflicts, it never far surpasscd.
The prize thus aequired was little less
than the monopoly of commerce between
Europe and India, which was maintained
for upwards of a century. Faria y Sousa,
indecd, boasts that the empire of his
countrymen stretched from the Cape of
Good Hope to the frontier of China, and
comprehended a coast 12,000 miles in ex-
teut; but this simply signifies, that upon
this immeuse sca-line, they alone, of the
nations of Europe, had established factories.
Of these there were, in all, about thirty—
in some eases 1,000 miles apart ; and of the
surrounding country they rarely possessed
anything beyond that which their walls en-
circled. In India, Goa was the great seat
of their influenee: they there obtained pos-
session of an area, extending, at a subse-
quent period, over above 1,000 square miles.
The town of Cochin may be said to have
been under their control, and probably also
that of Cananore; but both these small states
continned to retain their native rajahs.
Peace had been coneluded with Calicut in
1518, and a fortified factory erected there:
they possibly, also, established a few insigni-
ficant trading depdts on other parts of the
coast. lad the management of affairs
continued to be entrusted to such men as
Albuquerque, it is probable that the strug-
gle, already commenced with the Moham-
medans by the seizure of Goa, would have
continued until the Portuguese had really
aequired extensive territorial sovereignty ;
but as it was, the high-sounding titie of
the viceroy or governor-gencral of India,
was quite inconsistent with his actual
position as ruler of a few scattered scttle-
ments, held at all times on a very precarious
tenure.
Lope Soarez, the new governor, presented
a strong contrast to his predecessor. Albu-
querque was a man of middle stature, with
along white beard, which, for a character-
istie reason, had been suffered to grow
until it reached his girdle, where he wore
it knotted“* When not elouded by fierce
and too frequent paroxysmis of passion, his
countenance was pleasing, and his manner
Atar, the governor or regent for the young king,
the enraged Albuquerque swore, that his beard
should never be cut, until he should sit, for that
purpose, on the back of his adversary. The oppor-
tunity never appears to have arrived (for the name
of Khojeh Ataris not even mentioned in the account
of the eventual seizure of Goa); and Albuquerque
carried to his grave a mortifying memorial of the
pelled to raise the siege by the valour of Khojeh | folly of rash vows.—(Luria y Sousa, vol. i, p. 178.) |
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VASCO DI GAMA DIES VIC
frank and courteons: to the native princes
especially he maintained a respectful de-
meanour, which rendered him popular even
with those who had little real cause for re-
garding him with a friendly eye. Soares,
according to Maria y Sons, “was a comely
man, with yery red hair,” and a haughty
and repulsive bearing. Tis covetous and
grasping conduct set an example which was
speedily followed ; and the whole body of the
inilitary bewan e trade, or rather plun-
der, each one on his own account, with an
utter disregard lor the public service. The
main-spring of the mischief was in Portugal,
where, instead of seleeting men of tricd
ability and rectitude, birth or patronage be-
came the first requisite for an office, in
which the formula of installation required
from the successful candidate a solenin as-
severation, that he had made no interest to
proeure that employment. “ How necdless
the question!” exclaims Faria y Sousa,
“how false the oath!? Iven if a good
governor were appointed by a happy acci-
dent, or in a moment of urgent necessity,
he could hope to effect tthe permanent re-
form; for in the event of his sending home
officers charged with the most ontrageous
offences, they, if men of ‘wealth, however
aequired, were sure of a favourable hearing
at court, and their representations would
probably succeed even im procuring the
dlownfall of their more riglitcons accuser.
Tt is quite unnecessary to follow in detail
the hostilities tn which the Portuguese be-
came involved with the natives of every
place where they had established them-
sclves, being, in some cascs, completely
expelled; in others, barely tolerated: this
fulfilling the prophecy y of one of the despised
Ilindoos,—that “ whatever they gained. as
courageous soldiers, they w ould lose as
coyetous merchants ;?* a it might with
truth have been added, as persecnting
bigots: for the injunetions given to the
eight Pons Sey friars attached to Cabral’s
expedition, to “carry fire and the sword
into every country which should refuse to
listen to their preachlug,” + were not neg-
lected by their sucecssors.
The administration of Soarez, though
generally disastrous,t was distinguished by
* Sousa adds, * Who was most barbarous—he that
said this, or they who did what he said?”
+ De Barros aud Maria y Souso, vol. i. p. 53.
t The wrath excited by the piratical seizure of two
ships, caused the expulsion ef the Portuguese from
Bengal, where they wished to establish factories.
§ Surat (according to Sousa), whenattacked in 1530,
we
EROY OF INDIA—a.p. 1521.
189
the erection of a fort and factory in the
territory of the king of Columbo, in Ceylon
(av. 1517), from “whom, though he had
from the first traded amicably with them,
the Portuguese now cxueted a yearly tribute
of 1,200 quintals of cinnamon, twelve rings
of rubics and sapphires, and six elephants.
ft is probable this payment conld not be
enforced, as the fort itself was abandoned,
in 1624, as not worth the keeping, by Vasco
de Gams, who was sent out as viceroy in
that year. is tenure of office lasted but
three months, being terminated hy death ou
Christinas Eve. Sousa describes De Gama as
a man of “middle size, somewhat gross, and
of a ruddy complexion ;” of a dauutless dis-
position ; capable of enduring extraordinary
fatigue; prompt and resolute in the exeeu-
tion of justice. Eyen during his mortal
sickness the veteran discoverer zcalously
exerted himself to put down piracy by sea
aud peculation by land, preparatory to the
execution of greater designs; but the tem-
porary check given to long-permitted nial-
practices was soon over-stepped; and the dis-
scnsions arising from the unbridled lust and
avarice of the Portuguese reached such a
height, that had the natives combined to-
gether against them, their total expulsion
would scem to have been very practicable.
The zamorin suceceded in driving them
from Calicut, whieh they quitted after per-
forming the humiliating task of destroying
their own fortifications.
Nuno da Cunha was sent out in 152!
Ile was then forty-two years of age, tall,
and well-proportioned, with a fair com-
plexion and black beard, but disfigured by
the loss of an eye. Tis reputation for jus-
tice and moieration, though probably de-
served, so far as his countrymen were con-
cerned, ill accords with the character of his
foreign pohey; for during his administra-
tion a scrics of unprovoked outrages of the
most disgraceful character were committed |
on the territorics of neighbouring rulers.
The coast of Guzcrat was ravaged in 1530;
towns and villages, including Surat,§ Da-
maun, aud others of note, were phindered
and burned; the adjacent land bereft of
every semble of cultivation; and the
wretched inhabitants carried off as slaves. ||
contained “ten thousand families, mostly handicrafts,
and all of no courage :” it was taken almost with-
out resistanee, “and nothing left in it that had life,
or was of yalue. ‘Phen the cily, and some ships
iat lay in the arsenal, were burnt.”
|| The result of a single incursion on the coast of
Diu was “ithe obtainment cf 4,000 slaves and an
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a
190 PORTUGUESE DEFEND DIU AGAINST SOLYMAN PASIIA—1568.
In the two following years an expedition
was carried out, which, though unsuceessful
in its main object—ithe taking of Diu—re-
| sulted in the capture of the strong island of
| Beth, seven leagues distant: the whole of
the towns on the Maharashtra coast, from
Chieklee Tarapoor to Bassein, were burned,
_and contributions levied from Tanna and
Bombay. The contest between Bahadur
‘Shah and the Moguls, drove the former into
.a eomprontise with his Enropean foes, whase
assistance against the emperor, Humayun,
he purchased by granting the long-desired
permission to build a fort at Diu,* and by
| the cession of Bassein in perpetuity, with
authority to levy duties on the trade with
| the Red Sea. The circumstances connected
with the assassination of Bahadur by the
Portnguese have been already repeatedly
meutioned.+ The immediate consequence
was their oceupation of Diu, where they ob-
tained some treasure and an extraordinary
amount of cannon and mihtary stores.
In September, 1538, a determined at-
tempt to reeover Diu was made by a foree
| levied in Guzerat, through the exertions of
a Moorish emef, named Khojeh Zofar, and
supported by a squadron dispatched by the
| Grand Seignior, under the command of Soly-
| man Pasha, the governor of Cairo. The
small and sickly garrison of the fort de-
fended themselves with desperate valour;
and the women, incited by the enthusiasm
of Donna Isabella de Vega (the wife of the
/ governor), and others, bore their part in the
danger and fatigue, by taking upon them-
selyes the task of repairing the works
shattered by the imeessant fire of the
batteries. Attempts to earry the fortress
| by storm were continued during two months,
| and the hesieged were well nigh exhausted,
only forty men remaining fit for duty, when,
| to their joyful surprise, want of union in
| the camp of the cnemy, added probably to
ignorance of the straits to which they were
reduced, led Solyman to abandon the enter-
prise on the very eve of success. During his
way to Egypt he committed great eruelties
on the Portuguese whom he fonnd at differ-
infinite booty.” The fleet, as reviewed in 1531, con-
sisted of * above four hundred sail, many large, more
indifferent, and the greatest number small; several
of them were only sutlers, fitted out by the natives
for private gain,” and manned by 38,600 soldiers,
1,450 Portuguese seamen, 2,000 Malabars and Cana-
rese, 8,000 slaves, and 5,000 scamen.—( Sousa, vol. i.
p. 347.) Nuno is also deseribed as employing as
sailors “1,000 Lasearines of the country.”
* Sousa relates a feat, performed on this oceasion
by a Portuguese, named Botello, who, hoping to
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ent Arabian ports, putting 140 of them to
death, and causing their heads, ears, and
noses to be salted, and so preserved for the
gratification of the Grand Turk. This at
least is the story told by Sousa, who de-
parts from his usual moderation in deseribing
this formidable foe to his nation, represent-
ing him as ill-favoured, short and eorpulent
—“‘more like a beast than a man.” Al
though cighty years of age, and unable to
rise without the assistance of fonr servants,
he obtained the command of the recent
expedition, by yveason of the enormous
wealth gathered by oppression, whieh en-
abled him to furnish the shipping at his
own cost. «At length a eareer of crime was
terminated by suicide, committed in a
paroxysin of envy and wounded pride.
The reason of suceour not having been
dispatched from Goa to Din, was the unset-
tled state of affairs oceasioned by the recall
of Nuno da Cunha, whose ten years’ ad-
ministration was brought to a close as ab-
rupt and humiliating as that of Albuquerque.
dis ayyressive poliey is quite unjustifiable ;
but as King John IIT. was httle disposed to
be eritieal on that account, the perfect dis-
interestedness and energy of the governor
had merited honour rather than disgrace.
Like many other of the world’s gveat
men, who have thonght to serve their coun-
try at the expense of duty to God and the
common rights of mankind, Nuno discovered
his error too late: he fell sick, and died on
the voyage to Portugal, the body being com-
mitted to the deep, in comphianee with the
command of the disappointed statesman,
that his ungrateful country should not have
his bones.
The next memorable epoch in Indo-Por-
tuguese annals, is formed by the adminis-
tration of Martin Alonzo de Sousa, whieh
commenced in 15-12, and lasted about three
years, during which brief period, his fierce,
bigotted, and grasping conduet completely
neutralised the beneficial effeet of the efforts
of lis immediate predecessor, Stephen de
Gama,t War again commeneed with the
neighbonring ,rnlers: cities were destroyed,
regain the favour of King John by being the first
to communicate the weleome news, set out from
India with five Turopeans and some slaves, in a
barque, 16 feet long, 9 broad, and 43 deep. The
slaves mutinied, and were all slain ; the Kuropeans
held on their course without sailors or pilot, and
after enduring great aardships, arrived at Lisbon.
+ Tide preceding section, pp, 85—103.
{ The son of Vaseo held sway during two years.
In evidence of his disinterestedness, it is said that
he left India 40,000 crowns poorer than he cntered it.
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PORTUGUESE WARFARE IN INDIA UNDER Di CASTRO—1515.
tovether with cvery living thing they cou-
tained ;* temples were despoiled, and cruelty
and corruption reigned undisgiised. Fran-
cois Xavier, one of the earliest Jesuits, had
cone to India with De Sousa. Ie exerted
himself strennously in representing the im-
policy of the course pursued, which, if not.
cheeked, threatened to canse the downfall
of Portuguese power throughout Asia; hut
his arguments appear to have been unheeded.
The king of Guzerat, foreed into a renewal
of hostilities, co-operated with his old ally
Khojeh Zofar, who again besieged the fort
of Diu, a.p. 1515. The blockade lasted
eight months, and was carried on after the
death of Khojech Zofar (whose head and
hand were carried away by a cannon-hall)
by his son, entitled Rumi Khan. Provi-
sions became so searee, that nauscous vermin
were uscd for food; while “a crow taken
upon the dead bodies was a dainty for the
sick, and sold for five crowns.” ‘The am-
munition was almost spent, and the soldicrs
exhausted with fatigue. The women dis-
played the same determination as on a pre-
vious occasion, and the fort was maintained
until the new governor, Don Juan de Castro,
arrived to its relicf. On his way he cap-
tured several ships in the vicinity of Damann,
and “cutting the Moors that were in them
in picces, threw them into the mouths of
the rivers, that the tide carrying them up,
they might. strike a terror in all that coast.”
Ansote and other towns were destroyed, and
“the finest women of the Brahmins and Ba-
nians slanghtered.” In fact, these butchers
spared neither youth nor beauty, age nor
infirmity; the sanetity of cast, nor the in-
noeence of childhood. After raising the
sicge of the fort, the city of Diu beeame the
secne of a fierce conflict, in which, when
the Portugnese wavered, the favourite expe-
dient was resorted to of holding up a eruci-
fix as an incitement to renewed cxertion.
The sword was a favourite means of con-
version with Romish missionaries ; priestly
rebes and warhke weapous were quite compa-
tible; and, on the present occasion, one Fra
Antonio played a leading part. The result
is best told in the words of the historian
above quoted, and may serve to illustrate the
manner in which hostilities were condneted
hy Jus countrymen, under the personal
* The rani, or queen of a small raj or kingdom,
situated on the Canarese coast, having refused to pay
tribute to the Portuguese, was punished by the de-
struction of her eapital, Batecala. “The eity,” says
Faria y Sousa, “ran with the blood of all living
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
191
leadership of a governor whose administra-
tion is generally considered one of pecu-
liar prosperity and honour. An arm of the
descerated symbol was shattered in the con-
test, upon which “the priest, calling upon
the men to revenge that sacrilege, they fell
ou with such fury, that having done inere-
dible excention, they drove the eneniy to
the city, who still gave way, facing us. ‘The
first that entered the city with them was
Don Juan, then Dou Alvaro and Don
Emanuel de Lima, and the governor, all
several ways, miuking the streets and houses
rai with blood, The women escaped not the
fate of the men, and children were slain at
their mothers’ breasts, one stroke taking
away two lives. The first part of the booty
was precions stones, pearls, gold and silver;
other things, though of valuc, were slighted
as enmbersome, * * * Of the Portuguese,
100 were killed ; others say only thirty-four :
of the enemy, 5,000 [ineluding Rum Khan
and others of note.] Free plunder was
alowed, * * * There were taken many
colours, forty pieces of cannon of an extra-
ordinary bigness, which, with the lesser, made
up 200, and a vast quantity of ammunition.’ >
After this “glorions victory,” thirty ships
were scent to devastate the Cambay coust:
the people fled in alarm from the burning
towns and villages, and took refuge in the
mountain caves, The inhabitants of a city,
ealled Goga, while sleeping in imagined
security, a leagne distant from their ruined
homes, were surprised at night, and all put
to the sword. ‘The cattle in the fields were
either killed or ham-strung. Jn the various
vessels captured along the coast of Baroacl:,
the same system of general massacre was
earricd out; and the groves of palm-trees,
which afford, in many places, the solé article
of subsistence, were systematically destroyed.
The governor returned in trimmph to
Goa, crowned with laurel, preceded by
Fra Antonio and his crucifix, and followed
by 600 prisoners in chains, the royal stan-
dard of Cambay sweeping the ground. The
streets were hungand carpeted with silk, scat-
tered over with gold and silver leaves. The
ladics threw flowers at the fect of the con-
queror, and sprinkled swect-scented waters
as he passed their windows. This ovation,
whether designed to gratify individual vanity,
ereatures before it was burnt; then the eountry was
laid waste, and ail the woods eut down.”—(Vol ii,
p- 74.) Other small Hindoo states are mentioned by
Sousa as personally defended by female sovereigns.
t Larta y Souse, vol. ii., pp. 110 to 113,
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PORTUGUESE PROCEEDINGS IN INDIA—1546 ro 1571.
or with the idea of making an impression on
the natives, was rendered the more un-,
seemly by the faet, that Don Fernando, the
son of the governor, had perished during
the siege of Diu. The sway of. De Castro
lasted only from 1545 to 1548. Notwith-
standing his sanguinary proecedings, he
appears to have been solicitous for the inter-
ests of commerce, and perfeetly disinterested ;
for, instead of having amassed wealth, like
many other governors of equally short stand-
ing, he was so poor, that in Ins last illness
provision was made for him out of the publie
revenue.* The eause of his death, at forty-
seven years of age, is said by Faria y Sousa
to have been “ grief for the miserable estate
| to which India was reduced”’—a statement
reeoneilable with other aeeounts of this
period, only hy supposing that amid seeming
prosperity, De Castro furesaw the end of an
oppressive and eorrupt system.
The invasion of Sinde, in 1556, under the
administration of Franeiseo Barreto, is al-
leged to have been provoked by the fiekleness
of its ruler, who first solicited and then re-
fused Portuguese co-operation, thus afford-
ing a pretext for his intended auxiliaries to
piliage his capital (Tatta), kill 8,000 persons,
and destroy by fire “to the value of above
two millions of gold,” after loading their
vessels with one of the richest booties they
had ever taken in India. Eight days were
spent in ravaging the eountry on both sides
of the Indus, after whieh the fleet returned,
having, it would appear, seareely lost a man.
The next exploit was the burning of Dabul
and the neighbouring villages, in revenge
for the hostility of the king of Beejapoor.
Religious perseeution, which seems to
liave slumbered for a time, awoke with
renewed ferocity, and was direeted rather
against what-the Romish priests chose to
eall heresy, than absolute paganism. An
aeeount of the alleged mission of St.
Thomas the apostle, and of the Christian
chureh spoken of by Cosmas,f in the sixth
century, properly belongs to the seetion on
the religious condition of India. In this
place it is sufficient to say, that both on
the Malabar coast aud in the kingdom of
Ethiopia—inelnding the state whose ruler
attained such extraordinary eclebrity under
the name of Prester John—the Portuguese
found Christian communities who steadily
* Ve dicd in the arms of Francois Xavier, “In
liis private cabinet was found a bloody discipline
(? a scourge) and three royals, which was all his trea.
sure.” © ( Farta y Sousa, vol. it, p. 129.)
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
'yefused to acknowledge the. supremacy cf
the pope; rejected the use of images, to-
‘gether with all dogmas regarding transub-
'stantiation, extreme unction, celibaey of
priests, &e., and asked fer blessings, whe-
| ther temporal or eternal, only in the name
lof the one mediator, Jesns Christ. These
“ancient Christians,” says Sousa, “ dis-
turbed such as were converted from pa-
ganism”’ by Zavier and his fellow-labonrers :
the Jews ‘also proved a stumbling-bloek.
In 1544, Jerome Diaz, a Portuguese phy-
sician of Jewish extraction, was burnt for
heresy ; and probably many others of less
note shared his fate. In 1560, the first
archbishop of Goa was sent from Lisbon,
aecompanied by the first inquisitors, for the
suppression of Jews and hereties. Throngh-
out the existenee of this horrible tribunal,
erimes of the most fearful charaeter were
perpetrated ; and in the minds alike of the
denonneed schismaties and of pagans, a
deep loathing was exeited against their per-
secutors, ‘Lhe overthrow of the Hindoo
kingdom of Beejanuggur, in 1564, by the
combiued efforts of the four Mohammedan
Deceani states, left these latter at liberty to
turn their attention more fully towards their
European foes; and in 1571, a league was
formed against the Portuguese by the kings
of Beejapoor and Ahmedunggur. The za-
morin of Calicut likewise joined them; but
from some distrust in his own mind, long
withheld his personal eo-operation. Ah
Adil Shah besieged Goa, sustained great
loss, and after ten months was compelled
to withdraw withont having accomplished
anything. Mortezza Nizam Shah sus-
tained a mortifying defeat at Choul, and
was glad to’make peaee with the triumphant
Portuguese. The zamorin, thongh last in
the field, had the best success, obtaining
the surrender of the fort Chale (a few miles
from Calicut) from Don George de Castro,
who, althongh eighty years Toe age, was
heheaded at Goa ‘by ‘orders from Por tugal,
on the ground of having surrendered “his
charge without suflicient reason.
A change was made in 1571 in the duties
of the governor, by the division of authority
over Portuguese affairs in Asia into three
parts: the first, that of Judia, being made
to comprise their possessions situated be-
tween Cape Guardafti and Ceylon ;{ the
+ Surnamed LOGIE or the Indian voyager.
{ ‘The proceedings of the Portuguese in Ceylon
are purposely omitted here : they will be narrated in
the history of that island.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
TI
second, styled J/onomotupa, extending fail
Cape Corrie ntes to Guardafin; the third, or
Malacca, from Peeu to China, The sway
of Portugal was now, however, nearly ended ;
she had misused the trust committed to hee
care, and was punished by the suspension of
her independence, alter maintaining it 500
years. King Schastian fell in Africa, in
1578, und about two years later, Philip 11.
of Spain proeured the reannexation of Por-
tugal, to whieh he laid claim in right of Ri
mother, Isabella, In India, the change wit
only from bad to worse: the furnace of per-
seention was heated seven times hotter than
before. The Syrian Cliristians of Malabar
were eruelly perseented, their bishop seized
and sent to Lishon, and their churehes pil-
laged ; their books, ineludiug ancient copies
of the Seriptures, burned, while Archbishop
Menezes marched, singing a hymn, round the
flames (1599.) ‘The Inquisition increased in
power; and, perhaps, among all the impious
and hateful sacrifices offered up by men
given over to dark delusions, never yet did
idolatrous pagan, or professed devil-worship-
per, pollute this fair earth hy any crime of
so decp adye as the hideous duto da 4,
usually celebrated on the first Sundays in
Advent.* Dellon, a French physician, who
languished two years in the dungeons of
Goa, has given a life-like pietnre of the
horrible Geremoninls of which he was an
oye. paces; and deseribes lis ‘ extreme
joy” at learning that his sentenee was not
to be burnt, but to bea galley-slave for five
years.T Ne speaks of himself'as having heard |
every morning, for many weeks, the shricks
of nnfortunate victims nudergoing the gues-—
tion; and hie judged that the number of pri-
soners must be very large, because the pro-
found silence which reigned within the walls
of the building, enabled him to count the
number of doors opened at the hours of
meals, At the appointed time, the captives
were assembled hy their black-robed jailors,
and clothed in the sax benito, a garb of yellow
cloth, with the eross of St. Andrew before
and behind. The relapsed hereties were
dressed in the samarra, a grey robe, with
the portrait of the doomed wearer painted
npon it, surrounded by burning torches,
flames, and demons; and on their heads
were placed sugar- loaf-shaped caps, called
* The portion of the gospel read on that day men-
tions the last judgment; and the Inquisition pre-
tended, by the eeremony, to exhibit an emblem of
thatawful event.—Wallace’s Memoirs of India, p.394.
“OLY INQUISITION” IN IN
earrochas, on which devils and flames were
DIA, FROM 1560 ro 1816,
also depicted. The hell of the cathedral
began to ring a little before’ sunrise, and
the gloomy procession commeneed—men and
women indiscriminately mixed, walking with
bleeding fect over the sharp stones, and
eagerly gazed on by innumerable crowds
assembled from all parts of India to behold
this “act of faith’? of a Muropean nation.
Sentence was pronounced before the altar
in the chnreh of St. Francis, the grand
8 inqmisitor and his counsellors sitting on
one side, the viecroy and his court on the
other; and eaeh victim reeeived the final
intimation of his doom by a slight blow
upon the breast from the aleaule. Then
followed their immolation, the viecroy and
/eourt still looking on while the prisoners
were bound to the stake in the inidst of
the faggots, and hearing, as a periodical
occurrenee, the shricks and groans of these
unhappy creatures. The vengeanee of the
Inquisition eecased not even here: the day
after the exeeution, the portraits of the
murdered men were carricd to the chureh
of the Dominicans, and there kept in memory
of their fate; and the bones of such as had
died in prison, were likewise preserved in
smal] chests painted over with flames and
demons.t
These are dark deeds whieh none aspiring
to the pure and holy name of Christian ean
record without a feeling of deep humiliation ;
but they may not be shrouded in oblivion,
since they furnish abundant reason why the
mutilated gospel preached by Romish priests
made so little permanent impression in
India; and, moreover, afford enduring evi-
dence that England, and every other pro-
testing nation, had solid grounds for seve-
ranee from the polluted and rotten branch
which produeed such fruit as-“ the holy In-
quisition.” In Europe, as in Asia, a light
had heen thrown on the true nature of the
iron yoke, with which an ambitious priest-
hood had dared to fetter nations in the
name of the Divine Master, whose preecpts
their deeds of pride and cruelty so flagrantly
belied, The Reformation, faulty as were
some of the instruments concerned in its es-
tablishment, had yet taught men to look to
the written gospel for those laws of liberty
and love whieh nations and individuals are
disparagingly of the adoration of images. He had
also grievously offended by calling the inquisitors
fallihle men, and the “ holy oftice” a fearful tribunal
whieh Franee had acted wisely in rejecting.
+ Dellon was accused of heresy for having spoken’ $ Hough's Christianity in India, vol. i., chap. iv
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
|
194 DECLINE OF PORTUGUESE POWER—END OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
alike bound to observe. Unhappily, this
great lesson was but imperfectly learned ;
for although withheld rights have ever
formed a popular theme, the responsibilities
those rights involve cannot be expected
to commend themselves, save to eonscien-
tious and enlightened minds. Thus it proved
easier to renounce the dogmas of popery,
than to root out the vices it had fostered
or permitted; and tlic very people who had
most cause for gratitude in being delivered
from the oppressive and arrogant dominion |
of Spain, became themselves examples of
an equally selfish and short-sighted policy.
At this period there were many signs in the
commereial horizon, that neither papal bulls,
nor the more reasonable respect paid to the
claims of discovery and _ preoccupation,
could any longer preserve the monopoly of
the Indian trade to Spain and Portugal.
Several causes combined for its destruction.
The conquest and settlement of America
afforded full employment for the ambition
and ferocity of Phihp II.; and his Asiatic
territories were left in the hands of rulers,
who, for the most part, thought of nothing
but the gratification of their own passions,
and the aceumulation of wealth;—which
latter, by pillage of every description, and
by the shameless sale of all offices and posi-
tions, they usually contrived to do in the
period of two to three years,* which formed
the average duration of their tenure of office.
It may be readily imagined that the measures
of his predecessor were rarely carried ont
by any governor; but all seem to have
agreed in comniying at the most notorious
infraction of the general rule which forbade
any Portuguese to traffic on his own aceomnt,
as an unpardonable infringemeut on thic
exelusive rights of his sovereign. Corrup-
tion, mismanagement, and the growing
aversion of the natives, gradually diminished |
the trade, until the average annual arrival
in Lisbon of ships from India was reduced
from five to about three; and the annual |
value of the eargoes decreased in proportion |
to about a million crowns. Thus, notwith-
* From the arrival of Almeida in 1505, to 1640 (the
period at which Sousa terminates his history), there
were some fifty vieeroys or governors, of whom
a very large proportion (about one-third) died in
India or on their voyage home.
t The possessions of Spain and Portugal, at this
time, were the forts of Dinl (on the Indus) and
of Din; a fortified factory at Damaun; the town
and eastle of Choul; a factory at Jabul; the city of
Viasscin ; the island of North Salsette, and the town
of Tanna; the island of Bombay; the city and fort
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
standing the royal monopoly of spices,
Philip soon found that the expense of main-
tuning the various Indian governmentst
exceeded the commercial profits: he there-
fore made over the exclusive privilege of
trading to India, in the year 1587, to a com-
pany of Portugnese merchants, on conside-
ration of a certain aunnal payment; reserv-
ing, however, the appointment of governors,
the command of the army, and every de-
scription of territorial revenne and power.
This change in the state of aifairs created
great excitement and dissatisfaction at Goa.
It was evident that the company, if able
and willing to enforce the rights bestowed
upon them, would reduce the profits of the
various officials to their legitimate hounds;
and the very thought was intolerable to a
community who, “from the viceroy to the
private soldier, were all illicit traders, and
oceasionally pirates.’”~ The general disorga-
nisation was increased, in 1591, by the arrival
of a papal bull and royal command for the
forcible conversion of infidels; whieh was
m effect, free leave and license to every
member of the Romish communion to
torture and destroy all who differed from
them on doctrinal points, and to pillage pa-
godas or churches, publie or private dwel-
lings, at pleasure. Such a course of pro-
ceeding could scarecly fail to bring about
its own termination; and the strong grasp
of tyranny and persecution, though more
fierce, was yet rapidly growing weaker, and
would probably have been shaken off by the
natives themselves, even in the absence of
the European rivals who now appeared on
the scene. England, under the fostering
eare of Elizabeth, had already manifested
something of the energy which, under the
Divine blessing, was to secnre to her the
supremacy of the ocean; to extend her
sway over ancient and populous nations ;
and to lay the foundation of the greatest
colonial empire the world ever saw. ‘This
puissance was still in the embryo, and Eng-
land a little kingdom with a hited trade,
when her soldiers and merchants began the
of Goa; and factories at Onore, Bareelore, Mangalore,
Cananore, Calicut, Cranganore, and Quiloa; sta-
tions at Negapatam and St. Thomas, or Mcliapoor,
(on the Coromandel coast); and several commercial
posts in Bengal. ‘They had also the port of Cochin ;
factories, or liberty to trade at Pegn, Martaban, and
Junkseylon; held the strongly-fortified town of Ma-
lacea, and had, moreover, established themselves at
several commanding points in the island of Ceylon.
(Bruce's Annals of Hast Lidia Company, vol. i. p. 21)
t Maepherson’s Commerce with India, p. 32.
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VIRST DUTCIL VOYAGE TO TITHE INDIAN SEAS—1595-6, 19% |
strugele with the combined forces of Spain| laid an embargo on all piel siiae seized |
and Portugal, in alliance with a people whose | the cargacs, imprisoned the merchants and |
| newly -acquived independence had originated | ship-masters, or delivered them over as
in the reaction caused by thie cormption and | heretics to the tender mercies of the In- |
cruclty of the Spanish government, repre-| quisition, and even forced the mariners and
scuted by such men as the Duke of Alva,| others into his hated service. The Dutch,
and the bigotry of Rome, represented by | driven to desperation by an enemy from
such institutions as the Inquisition.* whom they had all to fear and nothing to
——— hope, incited by the able counsel of Prince
Rise or Duren Pownr.—It was only] Maurice, resolved to attempt procuring the
in the year 1579 that the Netherlanders | necessary supplies of spices direct from Asia.
ventured to defy the power of Philip, and} With the double inducement of avoiding
formed themsclyes into a separate govern-j the fleets which guarded the approach to the
ment, which they did not establish without} Indian scas, and of finding a much shorter
a desperate and prolonged conflict, aided zea-| route, the Dutch (following the cxample
lously by Elizabeth. ‘Their after-progress| of various Mnglish navigators) strove to
was iarvellous; and before neighbouring | discover a north-eastern passage to Iudia,t
countries had well learned to recognise their| and in the years 1591,-’5, and ’6, seut
new position, the “poor distressed people} three expeditions for this purpose. All
of Ilolland” had changed that designation | failed, and the last adventurers were com-
for the “Ligh and Mighty States, the United | pelled to winter on the dreary shores
Provinees.” ‘The eourse that materially} of Nova Zembla. In the meantime some
aided their rapid advancement was forecd| Dutch merchants, not caring to wait the
upon them by the arbitrary policy of Philip. | dowbtful issue of these attempts, formed
Waving very little land, they had ever mainly | themselves into a company, and resolved
depended for subsistence on fisheries, trade, | to brave the opposition of Philip, by com-
aud navigation. While Portugal was asepa-|mencing a private trade with India vid
rate kingdom they resorted thither for Kast| the Cape of Good Hope. Four ships were
India produce, of which they became the | dispatched for this purpose, under the diree-
earvicrs to all the northern nations of] tion of Cornclins Houtman,f a Dutch mer-
Hurope; and after the annexation of that} chant or navigator, well acquainted with the
kingdom to Spain, their slips continucd to} nature and conduct of the existing Indian
sail to Lisbon under ucutral colours, at | traffic; and the coast of Bantam (Java) was
which the Portuguese gladly connived.| reached without hindrance, save from the
| But Plihp, hoping to lay the axe to the} clements.§ Having obtained cargoes, partly
root of the mercantile prosperity which! by purchase from the natives, but chicfly
enabled his former subjects to sustain a} by plunder from the Portuguese, Houtman
costly and sangninary contest with his | returned to the Texel, where, notwithstanding
mighty armics, compelled the Portuguese | the loss of once of the vessels—a very frequent
to renounce this profitable intercourse,— | occurrence in those days, || —the sate arrival of
* Before the people rose against their oppressors, | men, six large cannon, with lesser ones in proportion ;
100,000 of them were judicially slaughtered—the the fourth, of thirty tons, with twenty-four men and |
men by fire and sword, and the women by being cannon: the whole carrying 249 mariners. The fleet
buried alive.—( Groti Annal, Belg. pp. 15—17.) sailed from the Texel the 2nd of April, 1595 ; reached
+ Along the shores of Norway, Russia, and Yar- Teneriffe on the 19th; St. Jago on the 26th; crossed
tary, to China, and thence into the Tndian Ocean. the equator on the 14th of June; on the 2nd of
{ Yhe manner in which he acquired this know- August doubled the Cape of Good Hope (seamen
ledge is variously related :—by Savary, as obtained in in great distress with scurvy), and remained some |
ie Portuguese service; by other anthorities, during a, days on the coast: in September, October, and No-
long imprisonment at Lishon; Raynal says for debt ; vember, the ships were at different parts of Mada-
Sallengre, i in consequence of the suspicions excited gasear, and sailed thenee on the Ist of December
by his inquiries on commereial subjects. His free- | towards Java, which was reached in the middle of
dom was procured hy payment of a heavy fine, sub- | January, 1596; thus terminating the first Dutch voy-
seribed on lis behalf by Dutch merchants. (Sve | age to ‘the Tagters seas.—(See Collection of Voyages
different aceounts, commented on in Maepherson’s | widertalen by Dutch East India Company. London
European Commerce with India, note to p. 45.) translation, 1808.)
§ Two of the vessels were 400 tons burthen, ecar- ll Linschoten says, that almost every vear one or
rying cach eighty-four men, six large brass cannon, | two Portuguese East-Indiamen were lost. Faria
fourteen egaae guns, four great “e patereroes” and | y Sousa gives an account of 9.6 vessels, whieh sailed
_ eight little ones, Pwith “muskers” and small guns in | from Portugal for India, from 1412 (when Prince
proportion; the third, of 200 tons, had fifty-nine | Tlenry first ‘attempted the discovery of a passage by
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=
196
the remainder was welcomed as an auspicious
commencement of the nndertaking. Several
new companies were formed ;—the number
of ships annually inereased,* and succeeded
in obtaining cargoes, notwithstanding the
opposition of the Portuguese, who strove, but
for the most part ineffectually, to prejudice
the natives against their rivals; their own
proecedings having been so outragcons, that
any prospect of a check or counteraction
seemed rather to be courted than avoided.
In 1600, not five years after the first ex-
pedition under Houtman, forty vessels, of
from 400 to 600 tons, were fitted out by
the Duteh. Hitherto the Spanish monarch
had made no effort to intercept their fleet ;
but im the following year he dispatched an
armament of thirty ships of war, by which
eight outward-bound vessels, under the
command of Spilbergen, were attacked near
the Cape Verd Islands. The skill and
bravery of the defendants enabled them
to offer effectual resistance, and they sne-
eceded in making their way to India without
any serious loss. Pluilip did not again at-
tempt a naval contest, but made military
force the basis of his subsequent efforts for
their subjugation; prohibiting them, under
pain of corporal punishment, from trading
with the Spanish possessions, either in the
East or West Indies. These threats proved
only an incitement to more determined
efforts; and it being evident that the com-
bination of the several Duteh companies
would tend to strengthen them against the
common foe, they were united, in 1602, by
the States-General, and reeciyed a charter
bestowing on them, for a term of twenty-
one years, the exclusive right of trade with
India, together with authority to commission |
all functionaries, civil and military, to form
what establishments they pleased, and
make war or peace in all countries beyond
the Cape of Good Hope.
the claims of the proprietors of the minor
associations, the 1few company was divided
into six chambers or boards of management,
of which Amsterdam and Middleburg were
the chief, their share in the funds subscribed
being proportionably represented by twenty-
sca) to 1610: of these, 150 were lost, and with
them he estimates not less than 190,000 persons—
a not improbable number, considering the reat
size of many of the vesscls, which carried 800 or
900 men.
* In 1598, two flects, consisting of cight vessels,
were sent hy the Amsterdam merehants from the
Texel, and five from Rotterdam, which were followed
up by successive fleets in subsequent years, as the
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
TVrom regard to.
UNION OF DUTCIT EAST INDIA COMPANIES—1602.
five and twelve directors; the remaining
chambers of Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, and
Enkhuysen having cach seven directors:
making a total of sixty-five persons, with a
capital of 6,440,200 guilders, or (taking
the guilder at ls. 8d.) about £586,600.
The project was popular, and brought both
money and a valuable class of emigrants into
Yolland, many opulent merchants of the
Spanish provinces in the Netherlands, and
of other places, removing with their effects
into the Dutch territory. No time was
lost im fitting ont a fleet of fourteen large
ships, well manned, and furnished with
soldiers and the necessary military and
other stores requisite for the carrying out of
the aggressive policy henceforth to be adopted
against the national enemies, whom the
Duteh had previously shunned rather than
courted encountering in their foreign pos-
sessions.t The same power, whose co-opera-
tion had so materially contributed to the
suecess of their European struggles, now
came equally opportunely to their assistance
in Asia; for in this same year (1602) the
first ships of the first English Mast IndiaCom-
pany appeared in the Indian seas. It may
be useful to pause here, and briefly review
the circumstances that led to the formation
of a body, which, after long years of trial
and vicissitude, attained such unexampled
and strangely-constituted greatness.
Rise or Encuisn Power.—DBefore the
discovery of the passage by the Cape of
Good Jlope, England, like other northern
European nations, had been supplied from
the Adriatic with Mastern products. A. ship
of great bulk usually arrived every year
from Venice, Jaden with spice (chiefly
pepper) aud some other Asiatic commodi-
ties, which the traders necessaiily sold at
high prices, owing to the circuitous route
they were compelled to traverse. ‘This state
of things terminated with the close of the
fifteenth century, by reason of ihe successful
voyage of Vasco de Gama, wlich gave to
Portugal the monopoly of the Asiatic trade.
At that very time, the Mnglish, stimulated
by a strong desire for the extension of com-
trade gave twenty to seventy-five per cent. of profit
on the adventures.—(} oyages of Dutch Company.)
+ The Dutch at first resorted to Sumatra and
Java, where the Portuguese do not appear to have
had any considerable establishments. tloutman
forined a factory at Bantam in 1595.
The spice trade was opeued with Amboyna,
Ternate, and the Bandas, in 1098; with Sumatra and
China, in 1699; with Ceylon, in 1600,
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
meree, and likewise by curiosity regarding
the far-famed country, then called Cathay
(China), were dlempelvcs attempting the dis-
covery of a sea-passaze to India; and in
May, J497, two months before the departure
of Vasco, fren Lisbon, an expedition com-
prising two ships fitted out by Henry VIL.
and some vessels freighted by the merchants
of Bristol, left nel: ind, under the guidauce
of an enterprising Venetian navigator, named
Giovanni Gavotta, auglicé, John Cabot. On
reaching 67° 30’ N. lat., Cabot was compelled,
by the mutinons conduct of his crew, to stand
to the southward; and in the course of the
homeward voyage he fell in with Newfound-
land and the continent of North America.
Notwithstanding the dissensions which eha-
racterised the concluding portion of the reign
of Henry VIL., and that of his son and suc-
cessor Henry VIII., several commissions of
discovery were issued by them,* but were
attended with no important results. The
commerce with the Levant appears to have
commenced about the year 1511 5+ in 1513,
a consul was stationed at Scio for its pro-
tection ; and in process of time, the Levant
or Turkey merehants came to be looked
upon as the true Mast India traders. lac-
tories were established by them at Alex-
audria, Aleppo, Damaseus, and the different
* Robert Thorne, an English merchant, having dur-
ing a long residence at Seville acquired considerable
knowledge of the benefits derived by Portugal from
the Indian trade, memorialised Henry VITT. on the
subject, urging the advantages which Kngland might
attain from the same source, and suggesting three
courses to be pursued ;—either by the north-east,
which he imagined w ould Iead them to “ the regions
of all the artarians that extend toward the mid-
day,” and thence “ta the land of the Chinas and the
land of Cathaio Oricntall ;” from which, if they con-
tinucd their navigation, they might “fall in with
Malacea” and return to Eugland by the Cape of
Good Hope. The second course, to the north-west,
would lead them, he said, ‘by the back of the New-
found-land, which of late was discovered by your
grace’s subjects,” and pursuing which they might re-
turn through the Straits of Magellan (discavered six
years before.) The third course lay over the North
Vole, after passing which he suggested that they
should “oe right toward the Vole Antarctike, and
then decline towards the lands and islands situated be-
tween the tropikes and under the equinnetiall ;” and
“without doubt they shall find there the richest
lands and islands of the world of gold, precious
stones, balmes, spices, and other things that we here
esteem most.”—(llakluyt, val. i, p. 256.) The con-
sequenee of this memorial was the sending of two
vessels by private merchants in 1627, which re-
turned very shortly without success (Ilakluyt,
iii, 167), and twa by the king in the same year, of
which one was lost off the north coast of Newfound-
land, and the other effected nothing.—(VPurchas’
Pilgrims, iii, 809.)
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
TRADE UNDER TIMENRY VIL. ann VIEL, axnp EDWARD VI.
197
ports of Weypt and the Turkish dont
‘Their growing importanee did not however
extingnish, but rather inereascd the gencral
desire for more direct communication with
India and China; and in 1519, Schastian
Cahot, the son of John Cabot, who had ae-
companicd his father in the expedition of
1.197, and had since attempted the discovery
of the mueh-desired line of ronte, persuaded
a number of London merchants to raise a
capital of £6,000 in shares of £25 cach,
for the prosecution of a new yoyage of dis-
covery and trading adventure. The young
king Edward VL, to whose notice Sebastian
had been previously introduced by the pro-
tector Somerset, had bestowed on him an
aunual pension of .€166, and made him
grand ynlot of England. He now gaye every
encouragement to the infant association.
No time was lost in fitting out three vessels,
which were dispatched under the command
of Sir Hugh Willoughby, in May, 1553,
and furnished with “ Letters Missive” from
King Ndward to the sovereigns of northern
Iurope, bespeaking their protection for his
subjects in their peaceful but perilous enter-
prise.t The court, then at Greenwich, as-
sembled to witness the departure of the
little squadron: vast crowds of people lined
the shore; and the roar of caunon, and the
+ Hakluyt states, that between 1511 and 1534,
“divers tall ships of London, Southampton, “all
Bristol had an ordinary and usual trade” to Sicily,
Candia, Chios, and somewhiles to Cyprus; as also to
Yripoh and Beyrout, in Syria. The exports, ag
proved by the ledgers of Locke, Bowyer, Gresham
and other merchants, were “ fine kersics of divers
colours, coarse kersics, &c.;’ the imports, silks,
camlets, rhubarb, malmsey, muscatel, &e. Foreign
as well as English vessels were employed, “ namely,
Candiots, Raguseans, Genouezes, Venetian galliascs,
Spanish and Vortugall ships.” (ii., 207.)
{ The religious spirit in which the project was
conceived is forcibly evidenced by the instruetions
drawn up by Cabot, for what Fuller truly remarks
“may he termed the first reformed fleet which had
Muglish prayers and preaching therein.” (TVorthtes
of England, Derbyshire, of which county Willoughby
was a native.) Swearing and gambling were made
punishable offences, and # morning and evening
prayer, with other common services appointed by
the king’s majesty and laws of this realm to be read
and said in every ship daily by the minister in the
«fdmira! [ilag-ship]. and the merehant, or snme other
person learned in other ships; and the Bible or
paraphrases to he read devoutly and Christianly to
God's honour, and for his grace to be obtained. and
had by humble and hearty prayer of the navigants
accordingly,’ *—(Iakluyt, 1, 254.) This daily prayer
on board ship was long an acknowledged duty; and
in 1580, in the directions of the Russian company, the
mariners are enjoined, as a matter of course, ‘to
observe good order in your daily service and pray
unto God; so shall you prosper the hetter.”
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=
EASTERN TRADE IN THE REIGNS OF MARY & ELIZABETH.
198
shouts of the mariners, filled the air: yet
the ceremony seemed inauspicious; for the
youthful monareh, on whom the eyes of
Protestant Christendom waited hopefully,
and who felt so deep an interest in the
whole proceeding, lay prostrate in an ad-
vanced stage of that insidious disease, whieh
| then as now, yearly robbed England of many
‘of her noblest sons and fairest daughters.
Sir llugh, and the whole ship’s company
of the Buona Ventura, were frozen to death
near Lapland ;* Captain Chauneelor, the
seeond in command, reached a Russian port
(where Archangel was afterwards built), aud
proceeded thence to Moseow. The ezar,
| Ivan Vasilivieh, reccived him with great
_ kindness, and furnished lim with letters
| to Edward VI., bearing proposals for the
| establishment of commercial relations be-
tween the two countries. These were gladly
accepted by Mary, who had in the inte-
, rim ascended the throne; and a ratifieation
. 1
of the charter promised by Edward to the.
company was granted by the queen and her’
il-ehosen consort, in 1554.¢ Chancelor was
again seut ont in the following year with
agents and faetors, and on his retnrn, an
ambassador accompanied him to England,
in saving whose life in a storm off the
| Scottish coast, Chancelor lost his own.t
This 1s an exeeptional instance of encourage-
ment given by the Crown to commercial
enterprise during this short and sangninary
reign; nor, indeed, could Mary, as the wife
of the bigotted Philip of Spain, herself a
stanch aud unscrupulous adherent of the
Romish creed, be expected to patronize
* When the extreme cold ceased, the peasants of
the country found the body of Sir IIugh in his
cabin, seated as if in the act of writing his journal,
which, with his will, lay before him, and testified his
having been alive in January, 1354.
{ The Russian company, probably the first ehar-
tered joint-stock association on record, exists to the
present day—at least in name.
| The Russian ambassador, Osep Napea, returned
to his own country in the last year of Mary’s reign,
and was accompanied by Anthony Jenkinson, who
represented the company, and was instrueted to at- ,
tempt the extension of their trade through Russia to
Persia and Baetria. Ty permission of the czar, Jen-
kinson quitted Moseow in April, 1558, and pro-
eecded by Novogorod and the Volga river to Astra-
can, on the north of the Caspian: he then crossed
that sea, and on its southcrn shores joined a caravan
af ‘Tartars, with which he traveiled along the hanks
of the Oxus to Bokhara, and having there ob-
tained much valuable information for his employers,
returned to England (by Moscow) in 1460. In the
following year, Queen Elizaheth dispatched him
any adventure likely to trench upon the
monopoly which the pope had assumed to
himself the power of bestowing on her
husband: the only cause for surprise is,
that her signature should ever have been
obtained to the charter of the Russian
company, though probably it was a con-
eession granted to the leading Protestant
nobles, whose support she had secured at
a critical moment by her promise (soon
shamelessly broken) of making no attempt
for the re-establishment of a dominant
priesthood in England.
It was reserved for her sister and succes-
sov Elizabeth, alike free from the trammels
of Rome and the alliance of Spain, to en-
courage and aid her subjeets in that conrse
of maritime and commereial enterprise,
whose importance she so justly appreciated.
The early part of her reign abounded
with poltieal and social difficulties ;—foes
abroad, rebellion in Ireland, discord at
home, gave full and arduous employment
to the ministers, whose energy and ability
best evideneed the wisdom of the mistress
who selected and retained sueh servants.
The fiuanees of the nation did not warrant
any large expenditure which should neces-
sitate the imposition of inereased taxation
for an uncertain result: it was therefore
from private persons, either individually or
im societies, that commereial adventures
were to be expected. The Russian eom-
pany renewed their efforts for the discovery
of a north-east passage, and records of seve-
ral voyages undertaken under their auspices
are still extant; but it does not appear that
jects to open a trade in his dominions for the sale
of their goods, and the purchase of raw silk and
other commodities. ‘The jealousy and intrigues of
some Turkish agents, who were then engaged in
concluding a treaty with the Shah at the fortificd
city of Casvin (where the Persian court then was),
frustrated the mission of the English envoy, and
even endangered his life; so that he was glad to
make bis escape through the friendly interposition
of the king of MHyreania, who furnished him with
eredentials granting various commereial privileges
to sueh English as might desire to trathe in, or
traverse his dominions on the southern shore of the
Caspian. In 1566, another agent, named Arthur
Edwards, was sent to Persia, and succeeded in ob-
taining from the ezar permission for Englishmen
to trade in his dominions with immumity from tolls
or customs on their merchandise, and protection for
their persons and property. In the same year the
Russian company obtained from Elizabeth a charter
with additional privileges, in reward for their ex-
plorations in the Caspian Sea, Armenia, Mecha,
Ilyreania (Astrabad), and Persia, which it was
with letters to the Suffavi or Sophi, king of Persia hoped might lead to the ultimate discovery of ‘the |
(Shah Abbas 1.), requesting his sanction for her sub- country of Cathaia”—(lakluyt, i, 414—418.)
|
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
|
FIRST ENGLISH EXPEDITION TO INDIA—1]57
—————— —
either queen or people eared to defy the
flects of Spain hy sailing rewid the Cape |
of Good Wope, nntil Sir Francis Drake, in
1577, having fitted ont five ships at his own
expense,
the straits of Magellan, into tlie sonth scas,*
where he aequired immense hooty from the
Spaniards. ‘The news reaching Murope, a
strong foree was sent to intercept him,
bnt information of the danger enabled him
to avoid it by changing his route, and after
visiting Ternate (one of the Moluceas),
forming a treaty with the king, and taking
part in some hostilities between the natives
and the Portuguese, Drake shipped a large
qnantity of eloves,and proceeded round the
Cape to Mngland, where he arrived at the
close of 1580, with a single shattered vessel,
having been the first of his nation to cir-
cumnavigate the globe.
The Turkey Company, established by
charter in 1581, scent four representatives
to India, through Syria, Bagdad, and Ormuz,
whenee they carried some cloths, tin, and
other goods to Goa, and proeceded to visit
Lahore, Agra, Bengal, Pegu, and Malacea,
meeting everywhere with kindness from the
natives, and opposition from the Portuguese.
Of the envoys, Vitel alone returned to
Ingland (in 1591); Newberry died in the
Punjaub; Leades, a jeweller by profession,
entered the service of the Emperor Akbar;
and Storey became a monk at Goa. In 1586,
Captain Cavendish commenced his voyage
round the globe, and on the way, sernpled
not to seize and plunder whenever he had
the opportunity, cither by sea or land. IIe
returned lhome in less than two years
flushed with snecess, and some years after
attempted a similar privatecring expedition
(for it was little eter), from which he |
never returned, but diced at sca, worn out
by a succession of disasters. ‘The voyages
of Drake and Cavendish had brought mat- |
ters to a crisis; the Spanish government
complained of the infrmgement of their
exclusive rights of navigating the Indian
seas ;¢ to which Elizabeth replicd—“ It is as
Jawful for my subjects to do this as the
Spaniards, sinec the sea and air are common
* He anchored in a bay (supposed to be that now
called Port San Franeisco) on the coast cf Califor-
nia,and landing, took possession of the country in the
name of Queen Elizabeth, calling it * Nova Albion.”
+ Fitch published a perenne) of his adventures,
which greatly stimulated public curiosity on the
subject; and this feeling was increased by the ac-
counts sent from India ‘by an E nglishman, named
Stevens, who had proceeded thither in a Por tuguese
left Bugland and sailed throngh—
to 1596. 199
The defeat of the so-called
Invineible Armada, in 1588, rendered the
) English and their brave queen more than
ever unwilling to give place to the arrogant
pretensions of their foes; and in 1591, some
London merchants dispatched three vesscle
to India by the Cape of Good Hope, ander
the command of Captains Raymond and
Tuaneaster. A contest with some Portu-
guese ships, though suecessfal, eventually
ruined the expedition by the delay it occa-
sioned; onc of the vessels was compelled to
put back in consequence of the sickness of
the erew and the difficulties encountered in
weathering the “Cape of Storms ;’—tle
second, under Raymond, is supposed to
have perished ;—the third, under Lancaster,
reached Sumatra and Ceylon, and obtained a
eargo of pepper and other spiccrics, but
was subsequently lost in a storm at Mona,
one of the West India isles. ‘The captain
and the survivors of the ship’s company were
rescned by a French vessel bound to San
Domingo, and reached Kngland in May,
159-4. In the meanwhile, mereantile enter-
prise bad received a fresh stimulus by the
capture of a Portuguese carrack, profancly
called Afadre de Dios, of 1,600 tons burden,
with thirty-six brass cannons mounted.
This vessel, the largest yet scen in Eng-
land, was taken by Sir Jolin Burroughs,
after an obstinate contest near the Azores,
and brought into Dartmouth. The eargo,
'to all men.”
consisting of spices, calicoes, silks, gold, |
pearls, drugs, echina-ware, &e., was valucd
by the lowest estimate at £150,000. ‘This
display of oriental wealth incited Sir Robert
Dudley and some other gentlemen to fit out
three ships, which sailed for China in 1596,
bearing royal credentials addressed to tlic
sovereign of that country, vouching for the
probity. of the adventurers, and offering the
fullest protection to such Chinese subjects as
| tet be disposed to open a trade in any
‘nglish port. This expedition proved cven
more disastrous than the preceeding one.
After capturing three Portuguese vessels,
the English erews became so fearfully re-
duced by disease, that ont of three ships’
companies, only four men remained alive.
vessel from Lisbon. According to Camden, a Por-
tuguese carrack, captured by Drake off the Azores
in 1587, and brought to England, contained various
| documents regarding the nature and value of the
India trade, which first inspired English merchants
with a desire to prosecute it on their own account.
{ By the union of Spain and Portugal, the papal
| grants of eastern and western discoverics centred
in one crown.
| |
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
9
w
00
These unfortunates were east on shore on 4
small island near Puerto Rieo, where three
of them were murdered by a party of Spa-
niards, for the sake of the treasure they had
with them, and only one survived to divulge
ENGLISH EAST INDIA COMPANY JNCORPORATED—1600.,
the crime to the Spanish officers of justice, |
soon after which he was poisoned by the
same robbers who had murdered his ship-
mates. The public enthusiasm was some-
what damped by the dense cloud which long
shrouded the calamitous issue of this expe-
dition ; but the suecessful adventnres of the
Dutch (see p. 196), and their grasping policy
in raising the price of pepper from three to
six and eight shillings per lb. (the eost in
India being two to three pence), induced the
merchants of London—headed by the lord
mayor and aldernien—to hold a meeting at
Founders’-hall, on the 22nd of September,
1599,* which resulted in the formation of a
company, for the purpose of setting on foot
a voyage to the East Indies} The stock
embarked, then considered a large one, of
£30,158 6s. 8d., was divided into 101 shares
or adventures, the subseriptions of indi-
viduals varying from £106 to £3,000. The
queen was ever zealous in promoting srmilar
| projects, but in this instance there was need
of deliberation. Elizabeth well knew the
value of peace to a trading nation, and de-
layed granting the charter of incorporation
solicited by the eompany, until it should be
proved how far their interests could be pru-!
dently consulted in the eourse of the friendly |
negotiations newly opened by Spain through
the mediation of Franec. The treaty how-
* At the commencement of this year a merchant,
named John Miidenhall, was dispatched (hy way of
Constantinople) to the Great Mogul, to solicit, in
the name of his sovereign, eertain trading privileges
for his ecuntrymen. Ile did not reach Agra till
the year 1603, and was there long delayed and put
to great expense by the machinations of the Jesuits
then residing at the court of the Great Mogul,
aided by two Italian (probably Venetian) merchatits ;
but he eventually succeeded in obtaining from Je-
hangeer the desired grant in 1606.
+ Ata subscouent meeting, « committee of fifteen
versons was appointed to present a petition to the
lords of the Privy Council, setting forth that, “stimu-
lated by the success which has attended the voyage
to the Hast Indies hy the Dutch, and finding the
Mutch are projecting another voyage, for which they
have bought ships in England, the merchants hav-
ing the same regard to the welfare of this kingdom,
that the Dutch have to their eommonwealth, have
resolved upon making a voyage of adventure, and
for this purpose entreat her Majesty will grant them
letters patent of incorporation, succession, &c., for
_ that the trade being so far remote from hence, ean-
not be managed but by a joint and united stock.”
} Thomas Smith, alderman of London, andan active
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ever soon fell to the ground, in consequence
of a disputed question of precedeney between
the English and Spanish commissioners at
Boulogne. The diseussion of the Mast India
question was eagerly resumed both in the
eity and at eourt; and on the last day of
the 16th century, Elizabeth signed a charter
on behalf of about 220 gentlemen, mer-
chants, and other individuals of repute, con-
stituting them ‘one bodie-corporate and
politique indeed,” by the name of “ The
Governor and Company of Merchants of
London trading into the Hast Indies.’”’$
A petition was addressed to the Privy
Couneil for their sanetion that “the voyage
might be proceeded upon without any hin-
dranee, notwithstanding the treaty: but
they “deelined granting such a warrant, as
deeming it more benefieial for the general
state of merchandise to entertain a peace, than
that the same should be hindered by standing
with the Spanish commissioners for the main-
tenanee of this trade, and thereby forego the
opportunity of eoneluding the peace.” §
[t was a fitting conelusion for a eentury
of extraordinary progress, and also for a
reign, eharacterised throughont by measures
of unrivalled pohtieal sagacity. The ablest
sovereign (perhaps excepting Alfred) the
realm had ever known, was soon to be taken
away under very melancholy eireumstances.
The death of Lord Burleigh, and the rebel-
lion of Essex, were trials which the failing
strength and over-taxed energies of the
queen could ill withstand; and she died in
November, 1603, a powerful and beloved
member of the Turkey company, was declared first
governor. Among the other names mentioned in the
charter are those of George, Earl of Cumberland ;
Sirs—John Hart, John Spencer, Edward Michei-
borne, Richard Staper, and ten other citizens and
aldermen of London, and two hundred and six in-
dividuals of repute, who petitioned for the “ royal
assent and license to be granted unto them, that
they, at their own adventures, costs, and charges, as
well as for the honour of this our realm of Ing-
land, as for the increase of our navigation and ad-
vancement of trade of merchandise within our said
realms and the dominions of the same, might set
forth one or more voyages, with convenient number of
ships and pinnaces, by way of traflic and merchan-
(ise to the East Indies and countries of Asia and
Africa, and to as many of the islands, ports aud
cities, towns and places thereabouts, as where trade
and tratlic may by all likelihood be discovered, es-
tablished or had, divers of which countries and
many of the islands, cities, and ports thereof have
long sinee been discovered by others of our sub-
jects, albeit not frequented in trade of merchandise.”
—(See quarto vol. of Charters granted to the East
India Company from 1601, &e., pp. 4, 5.)
§ Milburn’s Oriental Commerce, vol. i, p. 4.
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MARUPIAE
tuwler, but a broken-hearted woman, As
yet the commercial and colonial enterprises,
commenced nnader her auspices, had pro-
duced no tangible results, so far as terri-
torial aggrandisement was concerned, ug-
lish merchants had, it is true, even then be-
come “the hononrable of the carth;’? and
English ships had compasscd the world,
bearing their part manfully m the perilons
voyages of the age, in the iey straits of
Greenland and Labrador, uplifting the
national flag on the shores of Virginia and
Newfoundland,* amid the isles of the West
Indies,t and the coasts of Brazil, Ginana,
and Pern. The straits of Magellan, the
broad expanse of the Pacific and Indian
Occans, had mirrored that standard on their
waves; and for a brief season it had floated
upon the Caspian Sea, and been earried along
the banks of the Oxus. In the ports and
marts of the Adriatie, the Archipelago, the
Levant, and the southern coasts of the Medi-
terraucan, it became a familiar visitant, as it
had long been to the trallickers of the Canary
Isles, and dwellers on the shores of Guinca
and Benin; and lastly, pursuing its way to
the isles and continents of the Kast, it Hoated
hopefully past the Southern Cape of Africa.§
The initiatory measures are ever those which
most severely task the weakness and _ sel-
fishness of human nature: energy, fore-
thought, patience—all these qualities, aud
many more, are essential ingredicnts in the
characters of those who aspire to lay thie
foundation of an edifice, which future gene-
rations must be left to bring to perfection.
In the history of the world, such “ master
builders” are comparatively few: more com-
monly, we find men carrying on the struc-
ture of national progress with scarcely a
thought beyond their individual interests,
cach one labouring for himself, like the coral
insects, who live and die nneonscious of the
mighty results of their puny labours. Nor
is this blindness on the part of the majority
* North stmeriean Possessions, vol. i., pp. 292-3,
+ TFest Indian Possessions, vol, iv. (diy. viii.),
p- 15. The Rey. James Anderson, in cnumerating the
exploratory proecedings of England, trnly remarks,
that ‘the foundations of her future greatness were
faid in the very efforts which had appearedso fruitless.”
—(ifstory of the Colonial Church, vol. i., p. 128.)
} Repeated efforts were made for the extension of
commeree with Africa. In 1572, a treaty between
England and Portugal provided for the better ad-
justment of the intercourse of their respective sub-
jects with the western shores of Africa; in 1585, the
queen granted a patent to Robert, Earl of Leieester,
for the management of the trade with Barbary and
Morocco: and in 1588, and 1592, some merchants
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
POSITION OF ENGLAND IN 1600.
201
to be regretted, while the minority—those
on whom the stecring of the vessel af the
state more or less evidently devolves—alford
such constant illustrations of the fallible and
unsatisfactory character of lmman_ policy.
Thus, even in attributing to Mhzabeth the pre-
emiuenee in patriotism and statesmanship,
in zeal for religious truth and liberty ;—the
execllenee ascribed is ut best only compara-
tive, since hier administration was decply
stained by the besetting sin of eivilised gov-
ernments—“ clever diplomacy,” or, in plain
words, that constant readiness to take
adyautage of the weakness or ignorance of
other nations, which, among individuals,
would be stigmatised as grasping, overreach-
ing, and unjust, even by those who do not
profess to judge actions by any loftier
standard than the ordinary enstoms and
opinions of society. This admixture of nn-
worthy motives 1s probably often the cause
of the failure of many well-devised schemes:
it may aceount, to some minds, for the career
of Elizabeth terminating when the projects
she had cherished were on the eve of deve-
lopment; when England was about to enter
on a eourse of annually increasing territo-
rial, commercial, and maritime prosperity,
often, however, checked rather than encou-
raged, by the weakness, selfishness, or pre-
judice of lier rulers.
The original charter bestowed on the East
India Company manifested a prudent regard
for the prevention of disputes with other
{uropean powers, or with previously incor-
porated English companies, and reserved to
the Crown the power of accommodating thie
Indian trade to the contingencies of foreign
polities, or of the trade carried on by its
subjects with neighbouring countries. The
charter was granted for fifteen years ; but if
the exclusive privileges thereby conferred
should be found disadvantageous to the
general interests of the country, it might be
revoked upon two years’ notice: if, on the
of Exeter and Taunton were empowered to traffic
with Sicrra Leone and the Gold Coast. In 1597, we
find the ‘indefatigable Elizabeth secking commercial
privileges from “the most invincible and puissant
king of the Abassens (Ahyssinians), the mightie
emperor of Ethiopia, the highcr and the lower.”
§ ‘The Russian company desired, by an overland
trade, to connect the imports from Persia with those
from the Baltic; the Levant company, which traded
with the Mediterranean ports, brought thence, among
its assortments, a proportion of Indian produce, tlie
value of whieh might be affected by the imports
brought into Mngland or for the European market,
by the direet intercourse, though circuitous routes,
of the company.—(Lruce’s -tnnals of £. I. Cy.)
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E. I. COMPANY’S FIRST FLEET SAILS FROM TORBAY—1601.
contrary, the result should prove of public
benefit, new letters patent were to be granted
at the expiration of the first period, for other.
fifteen years.* With these needful limita-
tions, great encouragement was given to
the association ; notwithstanding which, the
delay oceasioned by the Spanish negotiation
had so far damped the enterprise of some of
the individual adventurers, that they refused
to pay their proffered subscriptions; and the
directors, acting under the charter (in which
no amount of eapital was prescribed, as in
the case of modern documents of a similar
character), appear to have wanted power to
compel them to do so, or else to have
deemed its exercise imprudent. The conse-
quence was, the formation of a subordinate
association, endued with authority to adyen-
_ture on their own account, providing the
funds, and cither bearing the whole loss, or
reaping the whole profit of the voyage. A
new body of speculators was thus admitted,
* Under the charter, the plan which they had
already adopted for the management of their affairs,
by a committee of twenty-four anda chairman, both
to be chosen annually, was confirmed and rendcred
obligatory. The chief permissive clauses were as
follow :—the company were empowered to make
bye-laws for the regulation of their business, and of
the people in their employment, whose offences they
might punish by imprisonment or fine;—to export
goods for four voyages duty free, and duties after-
wards paid on goods lost at sea to be deducted from
dues payable on next shipment;—six months’ credit
| to be allowed on custom dues of half imports, and
twelve months for the remainder, with free exporta-
tion for thirteen months (by English merchants in
English vessels) ;—liberty to transport Spanish and
other forcign silver coin and bullion to the value
of £30,000, of which £6,000 was to be coined at the
Tower, and the same sum in any subsequent voyage
during fifteen years, or the continuance of their
privileges, provided that within six months after
every voyage except the first, gold and silver equal
in value to the exported silver should be duly im-
ported, and entcred at the ports of London, Dart-
mouth and Plymouth, where alone the bullion was
to he shipped. The monopoly of the company was
confirmed by a clause enacting, that interlopers in
the Kast India trade should be subject to the for-
feiture of their ships and cargoes, one-half to go to
the Crown, the other to the company, and to suffer
imprisonment and such other punishment as might
he decreed by the Crown, until they should have
signed a hond engaging, under a penalty of £1,000
at the least, “not to sail or traffic into any of the
said Kast Indices” without special license fram the
company. Another clause affords evidence of the
condition of the state by guaranteeing, that “in any
time of restraint,” six good ships and as many pin-
naces, well-armed and manned with 500 Knglish
sailors, should be permitted to depart “ without any
stay or contradiction,” unless the urgent necessities
of the kingdom, in the event of war, should require
by whom £68,378 were subseribed, and five
vesselst equipped, manned by 500 men, pro-
visioned for twenty months, at a cost of
£6,600, and furnished with bullion and
yarious staples and mannfactures wherewith
to try the Indian market. The command
was entrusted to Captain James Lancaster,
who received from the queen general letters
of mtroduetion addressed to the rulers of
the ports to which he might resort. ‘he
fleet sailed from Torbay on April 22, 1601,
and proceeded direct to Acheen,t which
they reached on June 5, 1602; a voyage
now nsnally accomplished in ninety days.
Captain Lancaster, on his arrival, delivered
the queen’s letter to the king or chief of
Acheen, who received him with mneh pomp
and courtesy, and accorded permission to
establish a factory, with free exports and
imports, protection to trade, power of be-
queathing property by will, and other privi-
leges of an independent community. But
would be given to the company.—( Charters of Last
India Company, p. 21.)
+ The Dragon, Hector, Ascension, Susan, and
Guest, of 600, 300, 260, 240, and 100 tons re-
spectively, the smallest serving as a victnaller; the
others are described by Sir William Monson as
“four of the best merchant ships in the kingdom.”
According to the same authority, there were not in
England, at this period, more than four vessels of
400 tons each. In 1580, the total number of ves-
sels in the navy was 150, of which only forty be-
longed to the Crown: a like number was employed
in trade with different countries, the average bur-
den being 160 tons. At the beginning of the six-
teenth century, it appears that wars with Spain, and
losses by capture, had reduced both shipping and sea-
men one-third. The small English squadron seemed
insuflicient to enter on a traffic in which the Por-
tuguese had long becn in the habit of employing
vessels of 1,20@ to 1,500 tons burden: in its
equipment £39,771 were expended, the cargoes were
estimated at £28,742 in bullion, and £6,860 in
various goods, including iron and tin wrought and
unwrought, lead, cighty pieces of broad-cloth of all
colours, eighty pieces of Devonshire kersies, 100
pieces of Norwich stufis, with various smaller articles,
including glass, quicksilver, Muscovy hides, and
other things intended as presents for different local
functionaries. Factors and supercargoes were nomi-
nated, and divided into four classes: all gave secn-
rity for fidelity and abstinence from private trade in
proportionate sums of £500 downwards. Three of the
principal factors were allowed £100 cach as equip-
ment, and £200 for an “adventure ;” and four of
each of the other elasses smaller sums. The salary
of each commander was £100, and £200 on credit
for an adventure. If the profits of the voyage
yielded two for one, they were to be allowed £500;
if three for one, £1,000; if four for one, £1,500;
and if five for onc, £2,009.—(Bruce’s sfnnals, vol. i,
[ps HOSE)
{ Situate on the N.W. extremity of the large
their detention, in which case three months’ notice | island of Sumatra, in 5° 36’ N. lat., 95° 26° V/. long.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
|
|
,
'
RES Ors I COMPANYS PIRST
the crop of pepper having failed in the pre-
ceding season, a sufficient quantity could
not be obtained in that port; and Lancaster,
impressed with a conviction of the intlucuce
the pecmiary results of the first voyage
would have npon the future prosceution of
the trade, concerted measures with the com-
mander of a Dutch ship, then at Acheen,
for hostilities against their joint foe, the
Portuguese.* A carrack of 900 tons was
captured, and her cargo, consisting of cali-
cocs and other Judian manufactures, having
heen divided between the conquering ves-
sclz, the Portuguese erew were left in pos-
session of their rifled ship, and the Dutch and
jnghsh commanders went their way, Lan-
easter procceded to Bantam, in Java, where,
after delivering his ercdentials aud presents,
he completed his lading with spices, and
leaving the remaining portion of his mer-
chandise for sale in charge of some ageuts,
sailed homewards, arriving oll the Downs in
September, 1603.
The company awaited his return with cx-
treme auxicty. They delayed making pre-
parations for a fresh voyage until the result
of the first venture should appear, and per-
sisted in this resolve, notwithstanding the
representations of the privy council, and
even of the queen, who considercd their
delay an infraction of the terms on which
the charter had been granted, and reminded
them of the energy and patriotism of the
Dutch, who annually formed their equipments
and extended their commeree by unccas-
ing exertiou. ‘Lhe safe return of the fiect,
* What authority Captain Lancaster possessed for
this proceeding does not appear, but it is probable
that he acted aeeording to permission granted for a
similar conjuncture; beeause the queen, being unable
to retaliate the attack of the Armada on her own
behalf, by reason of the condition of the treasury,
permitted private adventurers to fit out cxpeditions
against the national foe both by sca and land. Sueh
was the squadron af about 100 vessels, 1,500 sailors,
and 11,000 saldiers, under Sir F. Drake and Sir
John Norris, in 1589, whieh ravaged and plundered
the coasts of Spain and Portugal ; and that of several
ships under the personal command of George Clif-
ford, Earl af Cumberland, in the same year, to the
Azores or Western Isles, where much baoty was
obtained. From this period may be dated English
“privateering,’ which soon degenerated into “ bue-
eaneering ;” and which James J. deserves much
praise for his endeavours to cheek.
+ Elizabeth was dead, and London afilieted with
the plague ; everybody who eould leave it, had taken
refuge in the country; and in the general disarder it
was next to impossible ta raise money cither by
borrowing or by sales of merehandise.
{ In 1604, King James granted a license to Sir
Edward Miehelborne and others to trade with China
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
IX PEDITION—1603.
2038
though at an inopportune moment,f put an
end to all incertitude regarding the feasi-
bility of the projected trade; and notwith-
standing the diflicultics occasioned by the
encouragement given by the king to the at-
tempts of private adventurers, in violation
of the fifteen years’ nonopoly promised by
the charter,{ and the enmity of the Portu-
guesc,—to which the tacit and afterwards
vpen opposition of the Dutch was soon
added,—the company continued to fit out
separate expeditions on the saine terms as
the first, until the year 1614, when tho
twelfth was undertaken by a single ship,
chiclly for the purpose of carrying out Sir
Robert Shirley, who had been sent us am-
hassador to the English sovercign hy Shah
Abbas of Persia. ‘The total eapital expended
in these voyages was 161,281; of which
£263,216 had been invested in shipping
and stores, £138,127 in bullion, and £62,111
in merchandise. Notwithstanding losses
(including a disastrous expedition in 1607,
in which both vessels perished), the gencral
result was prosperous, the total profit reach-
ing 188 per cent.; but it must be remem-
bered that a period of six or seven years
aud upwards elapsed before the proceeds of
a voyage could he finally adjusted, and that
the receipts included the profits of a ship-
bnilder and purveyor, or “ ship’s husband,”
as well as of a merchant.
In 1618, it was deemed advisable to re-
nounce all separate adventures, and continue
the trade on a joint-stock account ; this,
however, being itself an experiment, was
and various Hast Indian ports. The undertaking
was little better than a series of petty piracies, cam-
mitted upon Chinese junks and small Indian ves-
sels encountered in eruising among the Asiatic
islands; but is memorable as marking the appear-
anee of the interlopers or private traders, whose dis-
putes with the company afterwards ran so high.
This very Miehelborne had been recommended by
the lord-treasurer for employment to the eampany ;
but although then petitioning for a charter, the
directors rejected the application, and requested that
they might ‘be allowed to sort their business with
men of their own qualitye, lest the suspicion of the
employment af gentiemen being taken hold of by
the generalitie, do dryve a great number of the ad-
venturers ta withdraw their contributions.”—(Bruee’s
dnuals of the East India Company, val. i., p. 128.)
The same determined spirit was evineed on the pre-
sent Geeasion; and they succeeded in obtaining an-
other charter in 1609, in which, departing from the
eautious policy of his predecessor, the king confirmed
the exelusive privileges of the company, not for a
limited term of years, but for ever, provided how-
ever that the trade should prove beneficial ta the
realm, otherwise the charter was to be annulled, on
giving three years’ notice.—( Idem, p. 157.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
20-4: PROGRESS OF THE EAST INDIAN TRADE—16138.
fixed for the term of only four years; during
which time, the stipulated capital of £429,000
was to be paid up in equal annual propor-
tions. This union was generally beneficial
in its effects, by preventing the international
eompetition resulting from the clashing in-
terests of parties concerned in the different
voyages, whether in the Indian market or
in England, where the imports were either
| sold by publie auction, or divided among the
adventurers in kind, as was best suited to
the interests of the leading persons in the
separate eoncerns; and it often happened
that private accommodation was studied at
the expense of the general good. Besides
these ineonvenicuces, it was necessary that
some specific line of policy should be adopted,
for the general direction of the trade and the
eontrol and guidanee of individual eom-
mauders; since it was evident that the
interested and impolitic eonduet of one ex-
pedition might seriously impede the success
of subsequent voyages.
The proeeedings of Sir Henry Middleton
will illustrate this. Up to 1609, the inter-
eourse of the Mnglish had been exelusively
with Sumatra, Java, aid Amboyna; an at-
tempt was then made to open a trade with
woollens, metals, and other British com-
modities, in barter for spiees and drugs, in
the ports of the Red Sea, Cambay, and
Surat. At Aden and Mocha, they were
opposed by the ‘Turks, and Middleton with
seventy men made prisoners. They sue-
eeeded in effecting their escape, and pro-
eeeded to Surat, where a forcible landing
was effeeted, in defianee of the Portuguese,
who, however, indueed the Moguls to pre-
* The company, finding themselves unable to
charter vessels of sufficient burden either in England
or elsewhere, formed a dockyard at Deptford; and
in 1609 launched, in the words of Sir William Mon-
son, “the goodliest and greatest ship [1,100 tons]
that was ever framed in this kingdom.” King James,
with his son (afterwards Charles J.), presided at the
launch, named the vessel the 7’rade’s Inerease, and
partook of a sumptuous banquet served on China-
ware, then considered a rare mark ol eastern mag-
nificence. From this period may be dated the in-
ercase of large ships; for the king abont this time
caused a man-of-war to be constructed of 1,400 tons
burden, carrying sixty-four guns, called the Prince.
From 1609 to 1610 the company continued to ex-
ercise the now separate vocations of ship-builders,
purveyors, &e, In their yards at Deptford and
Blackwall, not only were vessels constructed of
700, 800, 900, and in one instance (the Royal James)
of 1,200 tons burden, but their masts, yards, an-
chors, sails, cordaye, and entire outtit were prepared ;
the bread was haked, the meat salted and easked,
and the various departments which, by the present‘
upproved system, are subdivided into many distinct
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
vent their attempts at ecommeree. About
this time, the envoy (Hawkins) dispatched
by the company to seck the imperial eon-
firmation of the trading privileges promised
to Mildenhall, threw up his suit in despair,
and quitted Agra, after a residence of
more than two years, Middleton returned
to the Red Sea, and there seized upon
several Mogul ships (ineluding one of 1,500
tons, fitted out by the mother of Jchangeer
for the use of pilgrims), and obliged them
to pay a ransom equivalent to his estimate
of the loss oecasioned by the frustration
of his voyage. After lading two of his
vessels with pepper at Bantam, he prepared
to return homewards; but his chicf ship,
the newly-built Zrade’s Increase,* over-
set in Bantam roads, and was totally des-
troyed; whieh so affected her commander,
that he soon after died of vexation: the
voyage, nevertheless, afforded £121 per eent.
profit on the eapital employed. The un-
warrantable aggression eommitted in the
Red Sea had roused the indignation and
alarm of the emperor; but the discre-
tion of Captain Bestt was suecessfully
exerted in obtaining permission to trade,
through the intervention of the governor
of Ahmedabad, whose concessions were ra-
tified by an imperial firman, which arrived
in January, 1613, authorising the esta-
blishment of English factories at Surat,
Ahmedabad, Cambay, and Goga, with pro-
teetion for life and property, on condition of
the payment of a custom duty of three-and-
a-half per eent. The Portuguese did not
quietly witness the progress of this arrange-
ment, but attaeked the two vessels of Cap-
branches of labour, were then bronght to a eon-
siderable degree of perfection by the combined
efforts of skill and capital possessed by the East
India Company. As trade increased, ship-building
became a distinet and profitable business; and in
1640 and subsequent years, the company were
enabled te hire vessels at £20 to £25 per ton
freight, whereas their own cost £31 per ton: thenee-
forth the eommeree was carricd on partly by their
own and partly by hired ships; and evertually the
dockyards were sold for private enterprise.
+ Captain Vest visited Achcen in 1616, and as the
bearer of a royal letter, formed a new treaty with
its ruler, and obtained permission to establish a
factory at ‘Tikoo or Tieoo (in Sumatra), on condition
of paying seven per cent. import and export duty.
The monarch, who is represented as very ficrce and
saneuinary, replied to the communieation of the
English sovereign with a request, that he would
send him one of his countrywomen for a wife, pro-
mising to make her eldest son “king of all the
pepper countries.” No English lady appears to
have taken advantage of this offer; and whether
from disappointment or avariec, the king of Achcen
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
FRENCH AND DANISIL KAST INDIA ASSOCTIATIONS—1601-1612. 205
tain Best, at Swally, near Surat, with a} the public: dukes, earls, and knights, judges
squadron of four galleons, and a number of
smaller vessels without canon, iutended (o
assist in boarding, for which, however, they
found no opportunity, being driven off with
considerable loss, alter a struggle of more
than a month’s duration.
The chief events which marked the four
years’ existence of the first joint-stock com-
pany, was the embassy of Sir Thomas Roc,
who succecded in obtaining from Jehan-
geer liberty of trade for his countrymen
thronghout the empire;f the formation of
a treaty with the zamorin for the expulsion
of the Portuguese from Cochin, which when
conquered was to be ecded to the English ;
and lastly, hostilities with the Duteh, which
entailed losses and expense, whereby the
total profits of the four voyages were reduced
to cighty-seven per cent. This decreased
dividend did not, however, prevent a new
subscription being favourably received by
impeded the trade of the Europeans by exactions;
and at length, in 1621, expelled both the Duteh and
English faetors; but the intercourse was subse-
quently resumed and earried on at intervals.
* From 22nd of October to the 27th November,
1812.—(Wilson’s note on Mill's Zndia, vol. i., p. 29.)
+ The mission of Sir Thomas Roe to Jehangecr
has been already narrated (p. 123.) The ineidents of
his journey from Surat to Ajmeer evidence a com-
parative state of order in the country traversed:
whereas, the adventures which befel Withington,
one of the company’s agents, who set out from Ah-
medabad to Laribunda, the part of Sinde, where
three English ships had arrived, afford a far less
favourable pieture of the condition of the portion
of India through which his ronte of about 500
miles lay. The earavan with whieh he travelled
was attacked in the night of the third stage, and
“the next day he met the Mogul’s officer returning
with 250 heads of the Coolies,” whom Mr. Orme sweep-
ingly terms, ‘a nation of robbers ;” and who in the
opinion of Jehangeer secm to have merited nathing
less than extermination. Many days were spent in
crossing the desert, but no molestation oceurred un-
til the peopled country was reached, and che cara-
yan separated ; after whieh, Withington and his
sixteen companions (four servants, two merchants
with five servants, and five drivers to their ten
camels) hired an eseort for the march to Gundaiwa,
which saved them from a band of robbers. ‘Twice
afterwards they were attacked, and compelled to
purchase immunity from plunder by a small pre-
sent. ‘They next reached the residence of a laj-
poot ebief, who had recently eseaped from the hands
of the Moguls, by whom he had been blinded. His
son agreed to escort Withington to Tatta, a distanee
| of only thirty miles, but fraught with danger; and
it would appear, from mere covetousness, acted in a
manner quite eantrary to the usual fidelity of a
Hindoo, and especially of a Rajpoot guide, by trea-
cherously delivering over the travellers to a party
of marauders, whe strangled the two Hindoo mer-
chants and their five servants; and binding Withing-
ton and his attendants, marehed them forty miles to
E
and privy counsellors, countesses and ladies,
“widows and virgins,’ doctors of divinity
and physic, merehants and tradesmen, are
all classified in the list of the 951 indivi-
duals, by whom a sum of no less than
£1,629,010 (averaging £1,700 for cach
person) was furnished im 1616 for a new
series of ventures, comprising three distinct
voyages, to be undertaken in the four fol-
lowing years, Surat and Bantam were to
be the chief seats of trade, with factories
at Ceylon, Siam, Japan, Maccassar, and
Banda. A proposition had previously been
made by the Dutch for a union of trade with
the English, that common cause might he
made against the Spanish-Portuguese, and
iL monopoly secured to the combined com-
panies. This offer was repeated in 1617, on
the plea of the rivalry about to arise from
the formation of an Kast India association
in Franee§, and likewise in Denmark ;|| but
a mountain stronghold, whenee they were sent to
Parker, and thence on to Radenpore: their clothes
were stolen fram them on the way, and they sub-
sisted by begging, until their wants were retieved
by the charity of a Banian, whom Withington had
known at Ahmedabad, which place he reached, “ after
a distressful absence of 111 days.’—(Orme’s Origin
of the English Establishment, and of the Company's
trade at Surat and Broach, p. 334.)
t Vide pp. 123-4.
§ The French are said to have made an unsnecess-
ful endeavour to double the Cape of Good Hope as
early as 1503: in 1601 a small commercial associa-
tion was formed in Bretagne. ‘wo vessels were fitted
out and dispatched to the East Indies: both were
wrecked amid the Maldive Archipelago near Cey-
lon; and the commander, Pyrard de Laval, did not
return home far ten years. In 1615, The Molucea
Company” was formed, with exclusive privileges to
trade for twelve years, ‘This new souree of compe-
titian alarmed the Duteh, and their constant hosti-
lity, together with the alleged exactions of the king
of Achecn, obliged the French company to relin-
quish their enterprise. In 1619-20, a French ship
was burnt at Bantam with a cargo valued at 500,000
crowns, “apparently by the Duteh.”—(Macpherson’s
Commerce, p. 256.) Merchants of St, Malo and
Dieppe sent vessels to India at various times in 1622,
and the former had an agent settled at Bantam.
|) A Danish company was formed at Copenhagen
in 1612, and six vessels (three belonging to the
king, Christian 1V., and three to the company) were
sent out under a commander named Boschower, who
had formerly been in the serviec of the Dutch in
Ceylon, and had come to Europe with an appeal
from the natives against the cruclties of the Spanish-
Portuguese. Boschower first applied to the Duieh,
and coneciving himself neglected, proceeded to
Denmark, where he obtained the desired assistance,
and sailed for Ceylon, but died on the voyage. His
second in command became involved in disputes
with the rajah he came to befriend, and sailed for
Tanjore, where, by means of presents and the pr>
mise of a yearly tribute of £700, he obtained from
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
|
|
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
| the rajah a cession of territory, on which the settle-
| which six were of considerable size, under
206 PROGRESS OF THE DUTCH IN THE EAST INDIES.
again rejected.* To guard against the an-
tagonism of the Dutch, and likewise to
defeat the attempts of English interlopers,
who had taken both to trading and priva-
teering on their own aeeount, it was deemed
necessary to send out a fleet of nine ships, of
being at Surat; but about the time of their
establishment in that place, the Dutch at-
tempted to trade with the Malabar eoasts, and
in 1605, made an meflfectual endeavour to
dislodge the Portuguese from Mozambique
and Goa; opened a eommunieation with
Ceylon ; succeeded in expelling them from
the islands of Amboyna and Tidore, and by
degrees engrossed the whole trade of the
Spice Islands; their large equipments and
considerable proportion of military force,
under able commanders, enabling them to
conquer the Moluccas and Bandas.; The
reinforeements of the Portugnese grew
scanty and insufficient; their Spanish ruler
finding full employment for his forees in
maintaining the struggle in the Low Conn-
tries, and, at the same time, guarding his
dominions in the West Indies and South
Ameriea; the Dutch were therefore enabled
by degrees to fix factories at Pulicat, Masu-
hpatam, and Negapatam, on the Coroman-
del coast ; in Ceylon; at Cranganore, Cana-
nore, and Cochin, in Malabar; and thence
pushed their eommercial ageneies to Bussora
aud the shores of the Persian Gulf. The
Amsterdam company also formed establish-
ments in Sumatra and Java.
The twelve years’ truce, entered upon be-
tween Spain and Holland in 1609, checked
open hostility in the Indies; bnt the Dutch
covertly continued their opposition ; and in
1611, sueceeded in opening a trade with the
islands of Japan, despite the exclusive pre-
tensions of the Spanish-Portuguese. The
growing naval strength of England justly
gaye them more uneasiness than the decay-
ing power of a nation whose yoke they had
thrown off; and they already found the
English, eompetitors for the spice trade, of
the command of Sir Thomas Dale, who was
commissioned by the king, and empowered
to seize the ships of illicit traders, and to
declare martial law in case of necessity.
Ilostilities were seldom long intermitted:
even while the nations at home were in
alliance, their subjeets in the Indies were
more or less openly at strife, unless indeed
their jot influence was needed against the
Portugnese, whose powers of aggression and
even defence were now, however, almost neu-
tralised by their disorganised condition.
The Lisbon eompany to whom the exelu-
sive claims of the Spanish erown had been
made over, was nuable to furnish tbe stipu-
lated payments; and the king, finding him-
self impoverished instead of enriched by his
Indian possessions, sent an order to Azevedo,
the viceroy, to make the government sup-
port itself, by selling every office to the
highest bidder. This had already been done
to a great extent; bnt the royal order for so
disgraceful a proceeding annihilated the
few remaining relies of a better system ; and
the Moors and Hindoos, instead of humbly
suing these former lords of the Indian seas
for a passport (which, even when obtained,
often failed to secure their vessels against
the rapacity of Portuguese cruisers), now in
turn became the assailants, thus materially
aiding the aggressive policy of the Duteh.
The Engiish did not often eome in con-
taet with the Portuguese, their head-quarters
London company, who made compensation for the
expenses incurred. ‘The king, in return for this con-
eession, and with a view of sustaining the Russian
company, which had long been in a precarious state,
prevailed on the East India Company to unite with
them in carrying on a joint trade, each party advane-
ing £30,000 per annum during the continuance of
their respective charters; but the experiment failing
after a trial of two seasons, the connexion was dis-
solved at the termination of the year 1619; the loss
of the East India Company being estimated at
£40,000—(Milburn’s Oriental Commeree, p. 16.)
{ Their traflie seems from the first to have heen
always lucrative, though fluctuating. The dividends
to the shareholders in each year, from 1604 to 1613
inclusive, were at the rate of 125, 55, 75, 40, 20,
25, 50, and 87 per cent. Numerous strong squa-
* An attempt was likewise made for the establish- | drons were equipped: in 161314, no less than
ment of a Scottish Mast India Company, and a royal | twenty-seven ships were dispatched to India.—
patent granted in 1618 to Sir James Cunningham, but | (foyages undertaken by Dutch East India Company +
withdrawn in consequence of the interference of the | published in London, 1703.)
ment of Tranquebar and the fortress of Dansburg
were established. By justice and kindness the Danes
acquired the goodwill cf the natives: their trade
extended to the Moluccas and China; they had fae-
tories at Bantam and on the Malabar coast; gained
possession of the Nicobar islands in the Bay of
Bengal (of which they could make nothing); and
built a neat town called Serampore, fifteen miles
above Calcutta, on the Hooghly river. All these
stations were undcr the direction of Tanjore; and
matters went on favourably until the rajah became
involved in along and sanguinary war, which pre-
ventedthe Janes from procuring cargoes with any cer-
tainty, and proved an obstacle to their commerce
which all their eeonomy and perseverance never
enabled them to surmount.—(Anderson’s Commerce.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
which a complete monopoly was their especial
desire. The islands of Polaroon and Rosen-
gin® were fortified by the nglish, with the
permission of the natives, abont the year
1617. This the Dutch resented, on the
ground that they were already possessed of
authority over the whole of the Bandas by
reason of their oceupation of the more im-
portant islands im the group. They attacked
Polaroon and were driven off, but seized two
English ships, and deelared their intention
of retaining them until the Mnglish should
consent to surrender all rights and elaims
on Polaroon and the Spice Islands. Consi-
dering the general, though nnjust, ideas
then entertained regarding the rights ob-
tained in newly-discovered countries by
priority of occupancy, without regard to the
will of the natives, the Duteh had some
plausible pretext for maintaining their claims
to the exelusive advantage of trade with the
Molueeas, as obtained by conquest from the
Spanish-Portuguese ; but with regard to the
settlement in Java, they could not urge that
plea, sinee they had at first welcomed the
arrival and alliance of the English, and made
no Opposition to their establishment in that
island, now sanctioned by time. Their own
notions of the ease are set forth in a memo-
rial addressed to King James in 1618,
complaining of the encroachments of his
subjects, and praying him to restrain their
further aggressions: the London company,
on their part, vindicated their conduet, and
cnumerated a long serics of losses and
injuries entailed upon them by the jealous
enmity of the Duteh. The governments of
the respective companies resolved to make
an arrangement for the regulation of the
East India trade; and after repeated confer-
enees, a treaty was signed in London, in
1619, by which amnesty for all past exeesses
was decreed, and a mutual restitution of
ships and property. The pepper trade at
Java was to be equally divided. The Eng-
lish were to have a free trade at Pulieat on
the Coromandel coast, on paying half the
expenses of the garrison, and one-third of
the trade of the Molueeas and Bandas,
bearing an equal proportion of the garrison
expenses ; joint exertions to be made for the
reduction of the customs and duties clanned
*Two small islands in the Banda archipelago,
chiefly produeing nutmegs and other spices.
+ Bantam, which attracted so much attention in
the early periods of European intercourse with the
Rast, is situated near the north-west point of Java
(lat. 5° 52°; long. 106° 2’), at the bottom of a large
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
TREATY BETWEEN DUTCIL AND ENGLISIL COMPANIES—a.p. 1619. 207
hy the native governments at different
ports; the trade of both the contracting
parties to be free to the extent of the speci-
fied funds respectively employed ; cach com-
pany to furnish ten ships, not to be used in the
Kuropean trade, but only for mutual defence,
and in earrying goods from one port of
India to another. Vinally, a Council of
Defence, composed of four members on cither
side, who were to preside each alternate
month, was established for the local super-
intendenee of the treaty, which was to re-
main in foree twenty years.
Some months before these arrangements
were concluded, the fleet under Sir Thomas
Dale combined with the king of Bantamt+
for the expulsion of the Dutch from Jaccatra ;
whieh being accomplished, the place was left
in the possession of its native owners; but
shortly afterwards again seized from the
Javanese by their former conquerors, who
thereupon laid the foundation of a regular
fortified eity, ou whieh was bestowed the an-
cient name of Holland, “Batavia,” and which
beeame, and still remains, the scat of their
government and the centre of their trade.
The scheme of making the two companies
politically equal, and commercially unequal,
was soon found to be impracticable; and
before the Council of Defence had heen well
established in Jaceatra, the dominecring
conduct of the Duteh clearly proved their
determination to take an unjust advantage
of their superior capital and flect. Consi-
derable exertions were, however, made by
the English company, and ten large ships
sent out, with £62,490 in money, and
£28,508 in goods. Nine of these vessels
were detained in the East Indies; but one
returned home freighted with a eargo which
realised £108,587 ; and had the Dutch acted
up to the spirit or letter of their agreement,
the returns would have been immense.
Instead of this, they gradually laid aside the
flimsy veil which they had at first cast over
their intentions, and at length ceased to at-
tempt disguising their continned determina-
tion to monopolise the spice-trade. In fram-
ing the treaty, no distinetion had been made
between past and future expenses: the Eng-
lish intended only to bind themselves for the
future; the Dutch demanded from them a
hay, between the branches of a shallow river. A
factory, it will be remembered, had heen formed
there by the English, under Captain Laneaster, in
1602, and this had been burned by the Dutch, who
had also attacked the palace of the king of Bantam,
with whom they were constantly at variance.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
t
208 ENGLISH AND PERSIANS EXPEL PORTUGUESE FROM ORMUZ—10622.
share of the past, and carried themselves in
so overbearing a manner, that the English
commissioners soon reported the worse than
uselessness of maintaining a connexion which
involved the company in a heavy outlay,
without adequate remuneration. In the
cirele of which the ancient city of Snrat*
was the centre, affairs were proceeding more
prosperously. A treaty of trade and friend-
ship had been coneluded with Persia, in
1620, on very advantageous terms for thie
English, to whom permission had been ac-
corded to build a fort at Jask; but an
expedition sent there in the following year
found the port blockaded by a Portuguese
fleet, consisting of five large and fifteen
small vessels. The English having but two
ships, did not attempt to cope with so dis-
proportionate a force, but sailed back to
Surat, where, being joined by two other
vessels, they returned to Jask, and suc-
ceeded in forcing an entrance into the
harbour. The Portuguese retired to Ormuz,t
and after refitting, made a desperate attack
upon the English, who gained a decisive
victory over a much superior foree. This
event produced a deep impression on the
minds of the Persians, who urged the victors
to unite with them for the expulsion of the
Poringuese from the island of Orniuz; and,
although it was against the royal imstrue-
* Surat, already repeatedly mentioned in connec-
tion with the Moguls, Portuguese, and Mahrattas,
is the present capital of Guzerat, situated on the
bank of the Taptee river, about twenty miles above
its junction with the sea, in 21°11’ N. lat. 73° 7 E,
long. On the establishment of European intereourse
with India, different nations resorted thither, as it
bad long been a commercial emporium, and was
deemed ‘‘one of the gates of Meeca,” from the num-
ber of pilgrims who embarked there on their way to
visit the tomb of Mohammed. ‘The Dutch did not
visit Surat until 1617, and then only by accident, being
shipwrecked off the coast, and kindly treated by the
| English, who aided them in disposing of their ear-
goes at Surat, by whieh means they learned the im-
portance of this ancient emporium, of which they
were not slow to take advantage.
+ Ormuz, six miles long by four miles broad, is
situated at the entranee of the Persian Gulf, in 27°
12’ N., within seven miles of the main land, When
first visited by the Portuguese, under Albuquerque,
in 1508, it was a place of considerable trade; there
were then 30,000 men on the island, and in the
harbour 100 vessels, sixty of them of large size, and
having 2,500 men on board. The place was eap-
tured by the Portuguese in 1514, and it remained
in their possession for 120 years, during which time
the fortifications were inereascd, noble mansions
built, and the town advanced in wealth and splen-
dour, until it grew to be regarded as the richest spot
in the world. The share of the enstams granted to
the English at Gombroon, soon resulted in the trans-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
tions to attack the subjects of the king of
Spain, the previous provocation and the
urgent solicitation of the Shah was supposed
to justify a further breach of the peace. A
joint assault was made, and the town and
eastle captured in 1622, the Eughsh having
the chief conduet of aflairs, and receiving in
return a proportion of the plunder, aud a
grant of the moicty of the customs at the
port of Gombroon,f which was regularly paid
till about 1680, when the company, being
unable to keep the gulf free from pirates,
the Persian monarch withheld their dues.
Notwithstanding the favourable result of this
enterprise, the four representatives of the
English Kast India Company at Jaceatra, who
bore the title of ‘‘ President and Council,”
blamed the co-operation with the Persiaus
as a rash and ill-advised measure, because
the pepper§ investment had been lost, from
the company’s vessels not arriving at Acheen
as expected; beside which the general interest
had suffered, from the shipping intended for
the Java and Sumatra trade being detained
by the factors at Sumatra.|| Probably
the English members of the Council of De-
fence felt the necessity for the concentration
of their force as a guard against the Dutch ;
but for this the whole was far too little. ‘Phe
expiration of the truce between Spain and
Holland, in 1621, gave the signal for the
fer of the trade to that port; and in the hands cf the
Persians, Ormuz degenerated into a heap of ruins.
{ Gombroon lies nearly opposite to Ormuz, in
27° 10' N. lat., 54°45’ E. long., on the mainland of
Persia, The English were permitted to establish a
factory here in 1613, and the Dutch in 1620, After
the expulsion of the Portuguese from Ormuz, many
Persian merchants removed to Gombroon, whieh
was then strongly fortified, and adorned with fine
structures. When the interests of the E. I. Cy. he-
came concentrated on the continent of India, their
distant factories were neglected. The French scized
Gombroon in 1759: it was reaceupied by the English,
but eventually abandoned from its unhealthiness.
§ The stress laid on pepper and other spices, as
primary articles in the East India trade, ean only be
explained by remembering, that in those days (while
homeopathy was unknown) hoth eordials and viands
were flavoured to a degree which, when the cost of
spices diminished, proved itself a fashion rather than
a want, by falling into comparative disuse.
|| A share of the prize-money taken at Ormnz and
elsewhere was demanded by the king, in right of the
Crown, and by the Duke of Buckingham, as Lord
High Admiral. The company admitted the former,
but denied the latter claim, upon whieh the duke
stopped at Tilbury the seven out-going ships for the
season, 1823-4, and obtained £10,000 as a compro-
wise. ‘The same sum was required by the king, but
there is no direet evidence that he ever received it.
The total prive-money was stated at 240,000 rials,
or £100,000.—(Bruce’s drnals vol. i, p. 212.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
CRUELTIES OF THLE
renewal of undisgnised hostility on the part
of the Dutch towards the settlements of the
Spamsh-Portngnese; and the large arma-
ments their lucrative trade enabled them to
equip, rendered them strong enough to brave
the vengeanee both of their ancient foes and
of their allies the Hnglish. Upon the plea
that there had been a prior agreement with
DUTCH AT
the natives of the Bandas, who had placed |
themselves under the sovereignty of the
States-General, the Dutch governor, Van
Coens, proceeded to the islands of Polaroon,
Rosengin, and Lantore, and took possession
of the factories, treating the few Enghshmen
he found there with the most barbarous
cruelty, and exceuting great numbers of the
natives on pretence of a conspiracy. The
suecessor of Van Coens, Petcr Carpentier,
openly asserted the right of sovereignty over
the countries in which the Dutch trade was
situated, and declared that the English had
only a title by the treaty as subordinate
traders. ‘The Kughsh factory at Bantam
had been removed to Batavia on the faith
of the Dutch performance of their treaty ;
but they soou found their mistake, and de-
sired to return to Bantam, where, by favour
of the king, their old ally, they doubted not
that ten ships of S00 tons might be annually
filled with pepper, provided the Javanese
were allowed to bring it in without obstruc-
tion ;* but to this measure the Dutch would
uot consent, lest the progress of their newly-
erected and neighbouring soverciguty at
Batavia should be thereby impeded. The
English had no force wherewith to oppose
the tyranny of their pretended coadjutars,
* A frequent complaint urged against the Dutch,
in the sfrnals of the FE. I. Cy. is, that they sought
“to bear down the merchants of every other country
by raising the price, so as to render the trade un-
productive to all other nations.”—(Bruce, vol. i., p.
251.) But ifthe Dutch company, by good manage-
ment of their funds, could afford to purchase pepper
from the natives at so high a price as te “ bear
down” all competition, the means employed would
seem perfectly legitimate.
+ Amboyna, to the south of Ceram, is the largest
of the Clove Islands: Fort Victoria, the capital, lies
in 6° 42'S. lat, 128° 11’ KE. long. The Portuguese
discovered this island in 1511, and occupied it in
1561, in consequence of its valuable spices; but
were driven out by the Dutch in 1607, who, as also
the English, formed factories here; and by the
treaty of 1619, hoth nations were to occupy Am-
boyna in common,
t The factories at Siam and Potania were with-
drawn about the same time, also those in Japan,
upon which island the Dutch had been driven during
a storm in 1600: and through the influence subse-
quently acquired by their English pilot, “old Wil-
ham -Adams,”
AMBOYNA—a.p. 1625, 00)
but real foes; and at length tired of remon-
strance, urged the company to use every
exertion to procure from the king the annul-
nent of a treaty, whose ambignity cnabled
the stronger party at will to oppress the
weaker. ‘Vhe connnercial cfforts of the
factors stationed at Amboynat had proved
equally unsatisfactory; they were therefore
ordered by the Kueglish president and conn-
cil to leave the station with their property
and come to Batavia.f It was at this crisis
that those barbarous proceedings were isti-
tuted which rendered the conduct of the
Duteh at Amboyna a synonyme for cruelty.
The local government,
the formation of a plot for its expulsion,
seized ten Javanese about the iniddle of
February, 1628, and by subjeeting them ta
excessive and repeated torture, extorted a
declaration that they had been partics in a
conspiracy which the Inglish agent (Captain
Towerson), with thirteen of his conntrymen
and one Portuguese sailor, had formed to
seize on the castle of Amboyna, and exter-
minate the Duteh. That such a conspiracy
should have been formed against an over-
powering force, by a few trading agents who
had noambitious motives to prompt so daring
an attempt, is highly improbable ;§ but the
savage persccution of the Dutch governor
can hardly be accounted for, except by sup-
posing that he and his associates were hur-
ried on by a desire to revenge a supposed
wrong; or clse, that having resolved to be
rid of their troublesome competitors, they
first brought forward an accusation invented
for the purpose, and then wrung from them,
on the plea of
obtained, in 1609, permission to send two ships |
annually to the port of Firando.
«Adams, on learn- |
ing the establishment of his eountrymen at Bantam |
(which the Dutch strove to conceal from him), sent
a letter to advise their opening intercourse with
Japan, In June, 1613, the Clore, Captain Saris,
with a letter from King James J., and presents ia
charge of a superintendent or factor, arrived. The
king or governor of Firando sent Captain Saris to
Jedo, the capital, where he was well received; a
friendly answer returned to the royal letter, and a |
very liberal charter of privileges granted to the FE. 1.
Cy. The Duteh soon insuinued hostilities as
the factory; plundered the ships, wounded and killed
several of the English, and compelled the rest to flec
for their lives, which would probably have been sacri-
ficed as at Amboyna, but for the interference of the
Japanese, who, for several years after their departure,
guarded the deserted factories from plunder, in con-
stant expectation of their return.
§ There were four strong forts, garrisoned by about
200 Dutchmen, with some > 300 or 400 native troops ;
the English, in all, numbered about twenty men, in-
cluding a surgcon and tailor, who were among the
over the mind of the emperor, had | suilerers.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| English, it was alleged, were living under
D é) D eo] 3
_ alleged conspiracy had procured their safety.
| on the 27th of the same month in whieh
210 EXECUTION OF CAPT. TOWERSON AND ENGLISH FACTORS—1623.
by intolerable anguish, a confession of guilt,
the falsity of which none knew better than
those who extorted it. The motives remain a
mystery—as those of great public erimes often
do; the cause assigned being insufficient to
account for the fiend-like eruelty with which
Captain Towerson and his miserable com-,
panions were by turn subjected (as the na-
tives had previously been) to the agonies
which, by the aid of those two powerful
agents, fire and water, the wicked invention
and pitiless will of man can inflict upon his
fellow.* By the Dutch code, as by the codes
of all the other continental nations of Europe,
evidenee obtained by torture afforded suf-
ficient ground for legal condemnation: the
Dutch sovereignty, established before their
arrivalin the island ; and on these grounds,
the whole of the accused were condemned
to death, and with four exceptions, beheaded
they were first seized—all of them pro-
testing, with their latest breath, their entire
imnocence of the erime with which they were
charged.t Besides the above-named persons |
who were reprieved, four others remained in
Amboyna, whose absenec at the time of the
The survivors were sent for by the English
president aad council to Batavia, so soon as
the terrible end of their companions was
known there, and gladly made their escape,
| leaving their oppressors to seize the factories
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
_cruelties on the wretched Javanese, who
and stores, and to commit all manner of
were shipped off in large numbers, as slaves,
to diflerent islands. The English sufferers
were dispatched to London, where they ar-
rived in August, 1624. Their representations
of the horrible ontrace committed in Am- |
boyna, seconded by the protestations of in-
noecence, written in a Bible and other books
belonging to their unhappy countrymen,
were sedulously circulated, and the efleet
heightened by the exhibition of a picture, in
which the victims were represented upon the |
rack, writhing in agony. The press teemed
with publications, enlarging upon the same
subject ; and the tide of popular feeling rose
so high, that in default of ability to reach
the true criminals, it had well nigh found
* These proceedings are narrated at length in
Vall’s Cruelties of the Dutch in the East Indies,
8ve., London, 1712: they were continued during
several days, including a Sunday, and are too hor-
rible for quotation: it must, therefore, suffice to say,
that cach victim was placed on the rack, and com-
pelled to inhale water at every attempt to draw,
vent on the heads of the unoffending Dutch
residents in London, who urgently ap-
_pealed to the Privy Couneil for protection,
and complained of the conduct of the East
India directors, whose proceedings, though
probably not uninfluenced by views of mis-
ealled policy, would yet be very excusable,
when viewed on the ground of indignation
at the unjust and cruel sufferings inflicted
on their servants.
A commission of inquiry was instituted
by the king; application made to the Dutch |
government for signal reparation; and an
order issued for intercepting and detaining
the Dutel East India fleets, till an aceom-
modation should be arranged. The evasive
answer of the States was evidently framed
with a view of gaining time to let the fierce
but short-lived tumult of popular rage pass
away, before coming to any definite arrange-
ment. ‘The only concession offered, deemed
worth accepting, was permission for the
Enghish to retire from the Dutch settlements
without paying any duties; and even this
was accompanied by an unqualified assamp-
tion of the sovereign and exelusive rights of
the Dutch over the Moluccas, Bandas, and
Amboyna,—the very point so long contested.
King James mamfested considerable
energy on this occasion; but his foreign
and domestic policy had aequired a repnta-
tion for weakness and vacillation, which
probably militated against the suecess of
the measures instituted in the last few
months of his reign, which terminated in
Mareh, 1625. Ils ill-fated son suceeeded
to aregal inheritanee heavily burdened with
debt, war, and faction; which required, at
Jeast humanly speaking, the governance of
one gifted with a powerful and unprejudiced
intellect, and judgment wherewith to guide
the helm of state—by that best rudder, the
power of distinguishing the ery of faetion
from the desire of a nation. Had Charles I.
been thus endowed, even a turbulent par-
liament could not have driven him to
alienate the affections of his subjects by the
expedients (irregular loans and ship-money)
to which he had recourse. As it was, the
failing power of the Crown diminished the
hope of redress entertaimed by the company,
and subjected them to danger from the
breath, until his body became inflated and he
swooned, was recovered, and the same horrible pro-
cess repeated. The fire was applied by means of
lighted candles, held to the elbows and other sensi-
tive parts of the body, and relit when extinguished
by the heavy sweat of agony.—(I’p. 18 to 32.)
+ This fact rests on Dutch authority.
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ENGLISH DRIVEN BY DUTCIT FROM SPICE ISLANDS TO INDIA. 211
fecling against monopolies, which was evi- |
deutly gaining ground in the House of Com- |
mons, stimulated by the complaints of the
private traders, or interlopers, who pleaded
the severities exercised against them i the
Indian seas. The charter of the company
was the gift of the Crown, from which they
had recently received a new and important
prerogative ; uamely—authority to punish
their subjects abroad by common and
martial law :* nor does the sanetion of par-
lament appear to have been deemed neces-
sarv for the delegation of so important a
trust. But 2 change was rapidly taking
place; and the company, alarmed for the
continuanee of their monopoly, paid homage
to the rising sun, hy presenting a memorial ,
to the Commons, in whieh they represented
the national importance of a traflie employ- |
ing shipping of 10,000 tons burden, and
2,500 men; and urged that the Dutch
should be pressed to make compensation
for past injuries, and discontinue their op-
pressive conduct in monopolising the spice-
trade, which was felt the more sensibly by |
the Lnglish from the difficulty they ex-
perieneed in opening a trade for woven
goods on the coast of Coromandel. The
precise condition of their finanees at this
period is not recorded; but it was certainly
far from being a prosperous one:f nor
could they foresee the issue of the efforts
which their expulsion from the Indian
islands compelled them to direct to the for-
mation of settlements on the great peninsula
itself. In the interim, many difliculties
were to be encountered. The company’s
Persian trade languished under the caprice
and extortions of local magistrates. Their
agents, soon after the catastrophe at Am-
* Captain Hamilton asserts, that before this time
(1624), the servants of the company, having no
power to inflict capital punishment by the Tegal
: mode of hanging, exeept for piracy, had reeourse to
whipping or starvation for the same end. It is very
possible, that in the general license and disorder
attendant on the formation, whether of factorics or
colonies, by men suddenly removed beyond the
pale of conventional propriety, and unguided hy a
deeply-rooted prineiple of duty, that many violent
deeds were eommitted in the profaned name of jus-
tice. Nevertheless, so serious and sweeping a charge
‘as the above, requires some stronger eonfirmation
‘than any addueed by Mr. Hamilton, who did not
enter India until sixty years after the period of
whieh he writes so freely, and who, by his own
admission, has recorded much hearsay information,
through the medium of what he deseribes as “a
weak and treacherous memory.” The date of the,
facts are in some measure a criterion how far they
may be relied on, His deseription of scenes, in whieh |
hoyna, lad quitted Java and retircd to
Lagundy, in the Straits of Sunda. Jn Jess
than a year, the extreme unhealthincss of
the island rendered them anxious to abandon |
it; but of 250 men, 130 were sick, and
they had not a crew sufficient to navigate a |
ship to any of the lnglish factories. In |
this emergency the Dutch assisted them, by |
aiding their return to Batavia; and through
the steady friendship of the Paayran, or
king of Bantam, they obtained the re-estab-
lishment of their factory there, in 1629,
without opposition on the part of the Dutch,
who were then actively employed in de-
fending Batavia against the A/ateram, or
emperor of Java, who unsuecessfully be- |
sieged it with 80,000 men.
Jn 1628-9, the station at Armegann, on
the Coromandel coast (established on a
piece of ground purchased from the Naig,
or local chief, shortly before) was fortified ;
twelve pieces of cannon being momited
round the factory, with a guard of twenty-
three factors and soldiers. ‘The centre of
the company’s trade was the presidency of
Surat, where, however, they had to sustain
the commercial rivalry of the Duteh, whose
larger capital, and, according to Mill,"more
economical management,t enabled them to
ontbid the English, both in purchase and
sale. The Spanish-Portuguese made an
effort to retain their vanishing power; and
in 1680, the viceroy of Goa having reecived
a reinforeement from Enrope of nine ships
and 2,000 soldiers, projected the recovery of
Ormnz, and made unsuceessful overtures to
the Mogul governor of Surat to obtain the
exclusive trade. Te then attacked five
English vessels as they entered the port of
Swally; but after a short, thongh indccisive
he had been an aetor, bear the stamp of truthfulness :
though, so far as the eompany is concerned, they are
often tinetured with prejudiee; for the writer was
himself an “ interloper.”— (Vide New Account of the
Last Indies, or “ Observations and Remarks of Cap-
tain Hamilton, made from tke year 1685 to 1723.”)
+ In 1627, Sir Robert Shirley, hefore mentioned
as Persian ambassador, and one of the two brethers
who so strangely ingratiated themselves with Shah
Abbas, applied to the king and council to order the
E. J. Cy. to pay him £2,000 as compensation for his
exertions and services in proeuring them a trade
with Persia. The direetors denied the alleged ser-
vice, and moreover stated. that having ‘‘ been obliged
to contract so large a deht as £200,000, their para-
mount duty was, in the first instanee, to liquidate +
this debt, that they might raise the price of the
stock, which had sunk so low as eighty per eent.—
(Bruce, vol. i., p. 272.
t Mill's WHistory of British India, edited by Pro-
fessor Ilorace Hayman Wilson, vol. i., p. 64,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
miles
COMMENCEMENT OF TRADE WITH BENGAL
AD. L654.
aetion, followed by several minor skirmishes,
and one great effort to destroy their fleet by
fire, the English gained the victory, and
succeeded in landing their eargocs.
In 16312, a subseription, amounting to
£120,700, was opened for a third joint-
stoek fund. Its results have not been very
aceurately chronieled ;* neither if they had
would they afford matter of snfficient interest
to oeeupy space already so limited, that the
author is frequently compelled to erowd
into a note that which he would otherwise
have gladly woven into the text.
The Duteh were now the paramount
maritime power in India: they annually
| sent from Holland thirty-four to forty-one
| ships, reeeiving in return from twenty-five
to thirty-four rich cargoes ;+ and the oc-
easional squadrons still dispatehed by the
Spanish-Portuguese, opposed their formidable
enemy with even less sueeess than did the
brave sailors who manned the “ ventures”
of English, French, and Danish companies.
The revolution in Portugal, in 1640, hv
whieh, in less than a week, that kingdom
regained its independence, had not its ex-
peeted effect in restoring the national in-
fluence in India. The Dutch continued
their conquering course; and having pre-
viously expelled the Portuguese from the
Spiee Islands, and Formosa in the China
Seas, drove them from Malaeca in 1640,
Japan in 1641, and terminated a long and
* The effect of the company's proceedings had
been for several years a subject of parliamentary
discussion; and some valuable statistics regarding
their early condition have come down to us in the
that from 1600 to 1621 inclusive, 86 ships were sent
to India, of which 36 returned with cargoes, 9 were
lost, 3 worn out in trading from port to port, 11
captured by the Dutch, and 25 accounted for as
engaged in India or on their voyage home. During
this time, the exports had amounted to £613,681 in
bullion, and £319,211 in woollens, lead, iron, tin,
and other wares, making a total of £932,892, or
about £45,000 per annum: the imports realised
£2,004,600, the cost of lading having been
£375,288. Another paper, drawn up by order of
the Commons in 1625, states, that between March,
1620, and March, 1623, 26 ships were equipped, and
furnished with bullion to the amount of £205,710,
and goods worth £58,806; total, £264,516. The
imports during the same time, including raw silk
from China and Persia, and a sum of £80,000 paid
by the Dutch in accordance with the treaty of 1619,
realised £1,255,4:14, or on an average, £313,861 per
annum, and would have been much greater but for
the hostilities with the Dutch. The principal ohjec-
lions urged on public grounds against the company
were, that the exportation of specie impoverished |
the realm, and that the navigation of the southern
seas was destructive both to the mariners.and vessels |
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
severe struggle by expelling them from
Ceylon in 1656. The fortified stations on
the Malabar coast—Cochin, Cananore, Cran-
ganore, Coulan, and others of minor im-
portanee, likewise changed hands; but the
Portuguese, on their side, had wherewith to
balance, at ]-ast in part, the suceess of their
opponents in the East Indies, by their own
aequisitions in South Ameriea (the Brazils) ;
and in 1661, a treaty was formed between
Portugal and [olland, on the basis of the
Uti posseditis—eaeh party agreeing to be
eontent with their reeiproeal losses and
advantages.
The English company, meanwhile, found
it diffien]t to» maintain even a feeble and
interrupted trade; and the more so from
the unfaithful conduet of their own agents
at Surat.§2 In 163-4, permission was granted
by the emperor for trade with the province
,of Bengal, with the restriction that the
Enghsh ships were to resort only to the
port of Piplee, in Orissa; and im the fol-
lowing year, a friendly convention was
entered into with the Portuguese. This
latter arrangement becoming known in Eng-
land, excited hopes of extraordinary profit,
and indneed a number of gentlemen, headed
by Sir Wilham Courten, to form a new
association for trade with India. By the
intervention of Endymion Porter, a gentle-
man of the bed-ehambcr, Charles I. was
prevailed upon to sanction, and even to
employed. In reply to these charges it was urged,
| that the company exported not English, but foreign
coin; and that the quantity had always fallen far
Short of the sum authorised by the charter, and was
form of documents laid before the House. It appears |
expected to decrease yearly: with regard to the in-
jurious results alleged to be produced on the English
marine by the East India trade, the best answer was
its greatly increased inefficiency.—(Monson’s Naval
Tracts in Churchill's Toyages—Bruce and Macpher-
son.) The pro’s and con’s of the question as urged
by the political economists of that day are very
curious. What would have been their surprise, could
they have been forewarned of the wealth England
was to reeeive from India; or been told that the
| country whose currency could, they considered, ill
hear a yearly drain of specie to the amount of
£30,000, would, in 1853, be found capable of ex-
porting £30,000,000,
+ Macpherson’s Commerce with India, p. 49.
}° When will you return to India?” said a Dutch
to a Portuguese officer, who was embarking for
Europe after the surrender of a fortress to his an-
tagonist.—" Then your crimes are greater than
ours,” was the instructive reply. —(Mfemoirs of India,
hy KR. G. Wailace: London, 1824, p. 198.)
§ Instead of attending to the company’s affairs,
the president and council carried on a private trade,
until, quarrelling among themselves, they betrayed
one another, and were obliged to solicit the leniency
of their far-distant employers.—(Bruce, i., 325.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
FIRST ENGUISU SEPYLEMENT FOR ale b iu oY ADRAS—a.p, 1610,
213
accept a share in the proposed adventure,
The preamble to the license, which was
granted for a term of five years, alleges
that the East India Company had neglected
to establish fortified faetories or scats of
trade, to which the king’s subjects could re-
sort with safety; that they has) broken the
conditions on which their charter had been
granted ; and had generally accomplished
nothing for the good of the nation, in pro-
portion to the ‘great privileges they lad
enjoyed, or even to the funds of which they
had disposed. These allegations, were they
true, could not justify the breach of faith now
committed: had the monopoly been clearly
proved injurious to the nation, nothing
iy the stipulated three years’ notice
ras necessary to its legal abrogation. The
Py renionstrated and petitjoncd with-
out success: and one Captain Weddel, who
had been previously cngaged in their ser-
vice, proceeded to the Hast Indics with six
ships, and there occasioned the agents of
his former employers great inconvenience,
both by interfering with their trade, an
by drawing upon them the hostility of the
Natives, who natur ally suspeeted actual col-
lusion, hid beneath the apparent rivalry
of men of the same nation, In 1637-8,
several of Courten’s ships returned with
cargoes, which produced an ample profit to
the association ; and a new license was con-
ceeded, continuing their privileges for five
years, The old company, who had never
ceased complaining and petitioniug against
the Dutch, had now a second souree of
anxiety, to which a third was soon added;
for the king, in Its distress for funds where-
with to carry on the Scottish war, compelled | t
them to make over to him, on eredit, the
whole of the pepper they had in store, and
then disposed of it at a reduced price for ready | 1
money.* Lord Cottington and others be-
* The king bought 607,522 bags of pepper, at
2s. Id, per Ih.= £63,283 11s. Gd: and sold it at
1s, 8d. = £50,626 17s. 1d.—(Bruce, vol. i., p. 371.)
+ The atlairs of the third joint-stock were wound
up in 1640, and the original capital divided, with a
profit, in cleven years, of only thirty-five per cent—
little more than three per cent. per annum. In the
following year, £67,500 were subscribed for a single
yoyage; and in 1645, about £105,000 were raised
for a fourth joint-stock. ‘The attempts made, with
this small sum, were very unfortunate: one ship,
valued at £35,000, was wreeked; and another, with
acargo worth £20,000, was carricd into Bristol by
her commander (Captain Macknel), and delivered
over for the king’s use, during the civil war in whieh
the nation was then invelyed. ‘The company bor-
rowed money both at home and abroad; and, in
1646, their debts, in England, amounted to £122,000.
2
~ F
came surctics oe the ite who, when they
were presscd for its repay nicut, exerted him-
sclf for their relief and the liquidation of
the debt; but his power soon ceased; and
what (if any) portion of their claim the com-
pany cventually recovered, is not known,
tt was while matters were in their worst
state of distress and embarrassment at
home, that the first English stations des-
tined to prove of permanent importance
in India were formed.t The position of
Armegaun had been fonnd ineunvenicnt for
providing the “ picce-goods”+ which con-
stituted the principal item of exportation
from the Coromandel coust ; the permission
of Sree Ranga Raya, the rajah of Chand-
raciri,§ granted in 1610, for the establish-
ment of a settlement at Madras (sixty-six
miles south of Armegaun) was therefore
eagerly embraced, and the ercetion of /ort
St. George immediately commenecd by the
ehicf local agent, Mr, Day. The court,
or executive committee in London, deemed
the enterprise hazardous, and inclined to
its abandonment; but by the advice of the
president and council of Surat, the de-
fenees were continued, though on a very
limited scale. Madras remained subordi-
nate to the distant station of Bantam until
1653; but was then raised to a presideney.
Lest its importanee should be over-rated, it
may be well to add, that the garrison of the
fort at this latter period amounted only to
twenty-six English soldiers, and, in 16545
was ordered to be diminished to a guard of
ten, and the civil establishment to two factors.
The settlement of a trading post at
Hooghly forms another carly and impor-
tant Hnk im the chain of circumstances,
that from slender beginnings, under a policy
of the most irregular and uneertain cha-
racter, has terminated in the formation of
that extraordmary power, called by some
Their effects are stated as follows :—“ Quick stock at
Surat, £83,600; at Bantam, £60,731;
and stores, £31,180; and customs at Couinanne
estimated at £5,000: forming a total of LG alae
—(Milburn’s Oriental Commerce, val. i., p. 27.)
ft The general term applied to the muslins and
wove: goods of India and China.
§ AY descendant of Venkatadri, brother of the
famous Rama Majah, the last sovereign of Beeja-
nuggur (see p. 97.) Jn compliment to the naik, or
local governor, who first invited the English to
change their settlement, the new station was named
after his father, Chenna-patam, and is still so called
by the natives, though Europeans use an abbreviation
of its previous designation—Madras-patam. The
territary granted extended five miles along-shore and
one mile inland. —(Hamilton’s Gazetfecr, and Orme’s
Ihistorical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, p. 229.)
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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in shipping |
——
I
1
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
| imperial camp, in the Decean, in 1656; and that fac-
| tories were established at Balasore and Llooghly, in
214 BOUGHTON OBTAINS TRADING PRIVILEGES FROM TIE MOGUL.
an empire of chanee, but really an empire |
of Providence. Jehanava, the favourite
daughter of Shah Jehan, in retiring one
night from the imperial presenee to her
own apartments, set her dress on fire in
passing one of the lamps whieh lit the
corridor, and fearful of ealling for assis-
tanee while the male guards of the palace
were within hearing, rushed into the harem
all on fire, and was fearfully burned before
the flames could be extinguished. The mast
famous physicians were summoned from dif-
ferent parts of the empire, and the surgeons
of the English East-Indiamen having ob-
tained considerable repute for cures per-
formed on some Mogul nobles, an express
was sent to Surat for one of them. Mr.
| Gabriel Boughton was seleeted for the
‘important office, and having been instrn-
mental in aiding the recovery of the
prineess, was desired by Shah Jehan to
name his reward. With rare disinterested-
ness, Boughton asked exelusively for bene-
fits to the company he served ; and in return
for this and subsequent attendanee on the
household of the emperor and Prince Sbuja,
the governor of Bengal, he obtained a licence
for unlimited trade thronghout the empire,
with freedom from eustom-dues in all places
except Snrat, and permission to erect fac-
tories, which was availed of by their es-
tablishment at several places, especially
Hooghly, from whenee the Portugnese had
been expelled in 1633.* Authorities agree
with regard to the leading faets of the
above cceurrences, with one important ex-
ception—the date, which is variously stated
as 1636,¢ 1640, and 1651-2. Bruee, the
careful annalist of the E. J. Cy., fixes the
latter period for the formation of the
Hooghly faetory, but his notice of Bough-
ton is scanty and unsatisfactory, probably
from the eharaeter of the data ou which it
was founded; for the ‘‘ eautions mereantile
silenee’’§ chserved by the eompany extended
to their records; and while striving to make
the most of their claims upon the country
at large, and to represent at its highest
value the “dead stock” aequired in Tidia,
in the shape of trading heences, forts, fae-
tories, &e., they were naturally by uo means
* They had settled there subsequent to the termi-
nation of Faria y Sousa’s history, in 1640: for an
account of their expulsion by Shah Jehan, see p.131.
+ Maleolm’s Political India, vol. i., p. 18.
j Stewart states that Boughton was sent to the
1640.—(MMistory of Bengal, ). 202.) Tow mentions
anxious to set forth the easy terms on which
some of their most important privileges
had been obtained. During the eonelnding
years of the reign of Charles J., they main-
tained a struggling and fitful eommeree.
In 1647~8, when the king was a prisoner
in the Isle of Wight, and the power of the
parliament supreme, a new subseription was
set on foot, and strenuous endeavours made
to induee members of the legislature to sub-
seribe, in the hope that the English, like
the Dutch eompany, might ensure the pro-
teetion of the state, through the influenee
of its chief counsellors. This projeet seems
to have failed; and in 164950, attempts
to form another joint-stoek were renewed,
and earried out by means of a junetion with
Courten’s association, now designated the
“ Assada Merehants,” in eonsequence of their
having formed a settlement on an island
ealled by that name, near Madagasear.
The establishment of the Commonwealth
changed the direction, but not the character
of the soheitations of the company. They
now appealed to Cromwell and his Council
for redress from the Dutch, and the renewal
of their charter. The first claim met with
immediate attention, and formed a leading
feature in the national grievances urged
against Holland. The famous Navigation
Aet, prohibiting the importation of any
foreign commodities, exeept in English
vessels, or those of the countries wherein
they were produced, though, under the pe-
cular circumstances of the time, absolutely
requisite for the encouragement of the Bri-
tish navy, was felt by the Dutch as a measure
peeuliarly levelled against the carrying trade,
so important to their national prosperity ;
and ambassadors were sent to Cromwell to
solicit its repeal. The war which followed
his refusal, involved the feeble settlements of
the English in India in great danger, and
almost suspended their eoasting-trade; but
the suecess of their countrymen in Europe,
soon delivered them from tlis peril. Crom-
well reduced the Duteh to the neecssity of
accepting peace on terms of his dietation ;
and a treaty was concluded at Westminster,
in ]654, in whieh a elause was inserted for
the appointment of 2 commission, composed
the aceident of the prinecss as occurring in 1615, but
does not name Boughton.—( Lidoostan, vol. iil., p.
190.) It appears that no lirman was issued, but
only a “nishan,” or order from Prince Shuja, with
warrants from the local governors; but, in 1680,
Aurunegzebe confirmed the grant of Shuh Jehan,
§ Bruce’s Aunals of B. 1. Cy. from 1600 to Cnton
of London and English Cos., in 1107-8, 1, 426,
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CROMWELL COMPELS COMPENSATION FROM DUTCII K.1.Cy.-
of four Dutch and four English members,
to examine into and deeide upon thie
claims of their respective nations, and to
award punishment to all survivors conecrned
in the perpetration of the eruclties at Am-
boyua, in 1623.* Tn the event of the com-
missioners being unable to come to a de-
cision, within a specified time, their differ-
ences of opinion were to he submitted to
the arbitration of the Protestant Swiss
cantons,
The clainis of both partics, as might be ex-
pected from the circumstances of the case,
bear evident marks of exaggeration, thongh
to what degree it wold be diflicult to judge.
The English company estimated their da-
mages, as ascertained by a serics of accounts
from 1611 to 1652, at £2,695,999 15s.; the
Dutch, at .€2,919,861 13s. 6d. The award
of the commissioners sct aside the balanee
claimed by the latter, and allotted to the
English the sum of £85,000, and £3,615 to
the heirs or executors of those who had
suffered at Amboyna. DPolaroon was like-
wise to he ceded by the Dutch ; but they
long endeavoured to evade compliance with
this stipulation; and when, after the lapse of
many years, the island was at length sur-
rendered,t the nutmeg plantations, which
had constituted its chicf value, were found
to have been all purposely destroyed.
The English company were not well
pleased with the amount adjudged to them,
and their dissatisfaction was greatly increased
by Cromwell’s proposition to borrow the
£85,000 in question, nutil its distribution
should be arranged. The directors asserted
that the ditferent stocks were £50,000 in
debt, and many of the proprictors in diffi-
cult cireumstanees;t hut that they would
consent to spare £50,000, to be repaid by
instalments in eighteen months, provided
the remaining £35,000 were immediately
assigned them to relicve their more pressing
* It does not appear that this latter part of the
agreement was ever fulfilled.
+ Jn 1665: Damm, an island near Banda, was oeen-
pied by the English in the same year; but they were
driven out by a Dutch foree, on the plea of a prior
right. The war between England and Holland gave
the Dutch an opportunity for regaining Dolaroon;
and by the pacification of Breda in 1667, the British
government tacitly surrendered both Polaroon and
Damm, in consideration of more important objects
gained by that treaty.
tt“ At the same time,” says Mill, “it is matter
of eurious uneertainty who these directors were,
whom they represented, hy what set or sets of pro-
prietors they were ehosen, or to whom they were
responsible.”—(Vol. i., p. 861.) 1
1654.
215
liabilities, and make a dividend to the share-
holders.
The application of the eompany for a
confirmation, under the republic, of the ex-
elusive privileges granted under the mo-
narchy, was not equally suceessful. It is
not necessary to cuter into the question of |
whether the well-grounded aversion enter-
tained by the public towards the monopolies
of soap, wine, leather, salt, &c., bestowed
by the Crown on individuals, extended to
the charters granted for special purposes
to large associated bodies; the fact remains,
that so far from obtaining a confirmation |
of their privileges, the FE. I. Cy., in 1654,
beheld with dismay their virtual abrogation
in the licences granted by Cromwell to sepa-
rate undertakings. ‘The rivalry of diseon-
nected traders was unimportant in compart-
son with that of the so-called Merchant Ad- |
venturers, who were proprictors of the united
stock formed in 1649, and who now took their
chance, in common with other speculators.
By their exertions, four ships were equipped
for the Indian trade, under the management
of a committee. ‘he news of these events
created great excitement in Ilolland; and
instead of rejoicing over the downfall of an |
old rival, the Dutch company appear to have
been filled with consternation, cither fearing
that the example might lead to the destruc-
tion of their monopoly, or else that it would
open the door to more dangerous competi-
tion from the English at large. The experi-
ment of open trade with India was, however,
of too brief continnance to afford conclusive
evidence regarding the permanent cflects
it was calculated to produce on British
commerce ;§ for in 1657, the Protector and |
Council of State decided upon the manage- |
ment of a corporate hody vested with exclu-
sive privileges, as the most cfficacions method
of carrying on the Indian traffic, A new
charter was accorded, and a coalition effected
§ Numerous pamphlets, published during the paper
war which raged towards the Jatter part of the seven-
teenth century, are still extant. On one side, it was
argued, that the ehcapness and abundanee of Indian
produets (espeeially indigo and calico), whieh re-
sulted from the open trade, attesled its beneficial
influence on the nation; but the advocates of the
eompany, in reply, asserted that this was merely a
lemporary excitement, sure to produce a reaction.
With regard to the adventurers themselves, it has
been alleged, that they were eminently successful ;
but Anderson remarks, ‘it is generally said that
even the interlopers, or separate traders, were
losers in the end;’ and he adds, “so dithcult is it
to eome at the real truth where interest is nearly
concerned on both sides.”—(Vol. il, p. 444.)
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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9
216
BOMBAY CEDED BY PORTUGAL TO ENGLAND—a.p. 1661.
between the E. I. Cy. and the Merchant
Adventurers. By their united efforts a sub-
scription was raised, amounting to £786,000,
and arrangements, already too long delayed,
entered into with the owners of the pre-
ceding funds; all the forts, privileges, and
immunities obtained in Tndia and Persia
being made over to the new association, in
full right, for the sum of £20,000, and the
ships or merchandise similarly transferred
at a valuation. Thus the directors had
henceforth a single fund to manage, and a
single interest to pursue ; but, unfortunately
for them, the joint-stock was not as yet a
definite and invariable sum placed beyond
the power of resumption, the shares only
transferable by purchase and sale in the
market. On the contrary, their capital was
variable and fluctnating,—formed by the
sums whieh, on the occasion of each voyage,
the individuals who were free of the com-
pany chose to pay into their hands, receiy-
ing credit for the amount in the company’s
books, and proportional dividends on the
profits of the voyage. Of this stock, £500
entitled a proprictor to a vote in the general
courts; and the shares were transferable
even to such as were not free of the com-
pany, on payment of an admission-fee of
£5. A defective system, and inadequate
resources, together with the hostility of the
Dutch, and the disturbed state of the Deecan
during the long reign of Aurungzebe, com-
bined to render the operations of the com-
pany in India langmd and ineonsiderable.
Yet, during this period of depression, several
events oceurred which had an important
bearing on their after-history : in the words
of Robert Grant, ‘ amidst the storms under
whieh it was bending,—if we may not rather
say from the very cflects of them,—the
British authority silently struck some deep
roots into the eastern continent.’”’*
The death of Cromwell, and the restora-
tion of monarchy under Charles IT., proved
fortunate events to the corporation ; for tlic
Protector, notwithstanding his decision in
their favour, had shown a continued inclina-
* Sketch of the ITistory of the FE. I. Cy., page 20.
t Shortly before his death, Cromwell licensed a
Mr. Roit to export three mortars and 20,000 shells,
to be disposed of to Aurungzche, then engaged in
rebellion against his father. ‘The company directed
the Surat presidency to seize on these articles as
illicit; and the more cffectually to frustrate the
speculation, sent large quantities of ordnance, mor-
tars, shells, &c., desiring the different presidencics to
dispose of them at the best price to either of the four
risal princes who should first apply for them, pre- |
serving meanwhile a strict neutrality.—(Bruce, i., 39.) |
tion to sanction private adventure, at least
in exceptional cases ;+ while the king evinced
no desire to question or infringe their cxelu-
sive claims, but confirmed them in the
fullest manner in April, 166], aid empow-
ered them to make peace or war with any
prince or people not Christians; and to
seize unheensed persons within their limits,
and send them to England. These two
privileges, added to the administration of
Justice, consigned almost the whole powers
of government over “all plantations, forts,
fortifications, factories, or colonies” already
or hereafter to be acquired by the company,
to the diseretion of the directors and their
servants—not for a stated term, but in per-
petuity, with, however, the usual condition
of termination after three years’ notice, if
found injurious to the sovereign or the
pubhe.t Two months after the renewal of
the charter, Charles married the Infanta
Catherine, and received, as a portion of her
dowry, a grant of the island of Bombay
from the crown of Portugal. The Karl of
Marlborough, with 500 troops, commanded
by Sir Abraham Shipman, were dispatched
to India on the kiug’s behalf, to demand
possession of the island and its dependen-
cies (Salsette and Tanna.)$ The Portuguese
governor took advantage of the indefinite
wording of the treaty, and refused to deliver
over any territory beyond Bombay itself;
and even that he delayed to surrender till
further instructions, on the pretext that the
letters or pateut produced did uot accord
with the usages ef Portugal. The troops
were dying day by day, in consequence of
long confinement on board ship, and their
commander requested the president of Surat
(Sir George Oxenden), to make arrange-
ments for their reception, but was refused,
on the ground that such a proceeding
might exeite the anger of the Mogul go-
vernment. In this emergeney, the Karl of
Marlborough returned to England, and Sir
Abraham Shipman proceeded to the little
island of Anjediva, twelve leagues distant
from Goa, where, being cooped np in an
t Aclause in this charter confirmed to the eom-
pany the possession of St. Helena, which they had
taken possession of in 165i, as a convenient station
for the refreshment of homeward-bound vessels, whe
Dutch having previously abandoned it for the Cape
of Good Hope. Jere, as in Bombay, they were em-
powered to frame and execute laws “as near as might
be” conformable to the constitution of England; a
direction not sutliciently observed.
§ He urged that the cession of these isles could
not have been intended, since it would lay the im-
portant station of Basscin open to the English.
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BOMBAY TRANSFERRED FROM THE CROWN TO FE. 1. Cy.—1668. 217
unhealthy position, and distressed for pro-
visions, he atlered to eede the rights of the
English Crown to the representatives of the
company at Surat. The proposition was
rejeeted, for the two-fold reason that it was
rinmathorised, and that the presidency had
not a suflicient force to oceupy and main-
tain the island. At length, after Sir Abra-
ham and the majority of the soldiers had
perished, the snrvivors, about 100 in num-
ber, were suflered to take possession of
Bombay, in Deeember, 1664,* on terms
preseribed by the Portuguese. The govern-
mental expenses being found to exceed the
revenue of the tslind, it was transferred to
the 1. I. Cy. in 1668; “to be held of the
king im free and common socage, as of the
manor of Kast Greenwich, on the payment
of the annual rent of ten pounds in gold,”
and with the place itself was conveyed
authority to exercise all political powers
necessary to its defenee and government.t
Bombay, from its insular position, proved
a yery important acquisition, especially to
the presideney of Surat, from which it was
situated within a sail of 200 miles,—a very
practicable distance considered with respeet
to the extensive range of the Indo-British
establishments. The fortifications were dili-
gently enlarged and strengthened; and in
about six years the ordnanee of the garrison,
* This date is memorable for the first importation
of tea into England by the I. I. Cy., a small quan-
tity being brought as a present for the king. No
public order was given for its purchase until. 1667;
when the agent at Bantam was desired “to send
home by these ships 100 Ibs. weight of the best tey
that you can gectt.”—(Bruce, ii., 211.) This article
became the chief item in the trade with China, to
be deseribed under the head of Lfony-Hong.
+ Vrohably it was intended thereby to recom-
pense the company for the annulment of their claims
to Polaroon and Damm, mentioned in a previous
note; and also far the cession of their possessions on
the coast of Africa (obtained through their junction
with the Assada merchants), to the company formed
by the Duke of York, for the hateful slave-trade.
{The question of the proprictorship of the land
at Bombay is nowhere very definitely stated as re-
gards the native owners. ‘The Jesuits claimed von-
siderable portions, as appertaining to their college
at Bundera, and vainly strove to establish their pre-
tensions hy force.~—(.d nals, li. 214.) Authority was
subsequently given for the purchase of lands in the
vicinity of the fort to the extent of £1,500. A subse-
quent record states that the inhabitants had paid the
King of Portugal one-fourth of the profit of their lands
as a quit-rent, which President Aungicr commuted
for an annual sum of 20,000 xeraphins, reserving to
the company the right of military scrvice.—(iii., 105.)
§ The sobriety and regularity of the German re-
cruits are particularly praised i in the communications
of 1676-7, and a request made, that a proportion
should be annually embarked to supply the frequent
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
which, at the time of the cession, consisted
of twenty-one pieces of cannon, was aup-
mented to 100. Ivery encouragement was
held out, both to Huropean and native
settlers. A remission of customs was pro-
claimed for five years, looms were provided,
houses built, and a systein of administration
framed with especial regard to the opinions
and customs of the motley population, com-
prising English and Germans,§ Ilindoos,
Mohammedans, and Parsees. iit 1675—6,
the revenues were nearly doubled, having
inereased from £6,190 (75,000 xeraphins) to
£12,037 sterling.—(Crant’s Skelch, p. 87.)
Letters-patent were granted by Charles 11.,
in 1676, for the establishment of a mint at
Bombay for the coinage of rnpees and pice, ||
to pass current im all the dependencies of the
company. A system was adopted, about the
same time, for the general regulation of the
service on the principle of seniority ever
after maintained; the gradations of ap-
prentices, writers, factors, merchants, and
senior merchants being then established.
The position of the company at this period
was a yery eritical one: in England, not-
withstanding the decided patronage of the
Crown, their severe treatment of interlopers
prodneed fieree altereations between the two
houses of parliament,?) and their peeuniary
involvements induced them to direct their
vacancies caused by the climate. A militia was
formed, and in 1672-3, on an alarm from the Dutch,
the assistance of 500 Rajpoots was requested.
\| The rupee was then valucd at about three shil-
lings: a pice, at a halfpenny.—(Bruce's Annals.)
gq A memorable instance of this strife occurred in
the case of a merchant, named Skinner, who applied
to government for redress against the E. I. Cy.,
for having seized his ship and ‘merchandise in India,
in 1638. [Lis complaint was referred by the king to
the Privy Council, and thence to the House of Peers,
by whom the dircctors were ordered to answer at
the bar the charge hraught against them. They
refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Peers,
and appealed to the Commons against this infraction
of their chartered privileges. The Lords decreed
judgment, by awarding £5,000 damages to Skinner,
upon which the Commons passed some condemna-
tory resolutions regarding the Upper House, and
seizing the successful petitioner, sent him to the
Tower. The Lords, in reprisal for Skinner's incarce-
ration, ordered Sir Samuel Barnadiston and three
other leading members of the contumacious com-
pany into confinement, and declared their memorial
false and scandalous:
turn, resolved, that whoever should execute the sen-
tence of the Lords in favour of Skinner, would prove
himself a betrayer of the rights and liberties of the
Commons of England. To such a height did these
contentions praceed, that the king prorogued parlia-
ment seven times on this account: and at length, in ,
1670, when, after some intermission, the controversy
again rev ived, he sent for the members of both
1 |
while the Lower Iouse in™
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9)
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18
servants in India to borrew the money
necessary for proeuring investments or car-
goes for Europe, “ without being limited
either in the amount, or the rate of inter-
est.’* In the year 1673-4, the president of
Surat stated that the Indian debts amounted
to £100,000, exelusive of the rapid aceumu-
latiou of them by the payment of high in-
terest; and for the liquidation of these
sums, the only souree as yet available was
the balance of trade. Nor was it always
practicable to raise loans on any terms; for
the native bankers and dealers, called Shroffs
and Banians, who took off the imports of
| European traders in large quantities, and
advauced money when the supply sent
out was iusufficient to provide cargoes for
the expected shipping, were themselves con-
stantly exposed to the arbitrary exactious of
their own government, whieh they strove to
escape by ealling in their eapital, and bury-
ing it till better times enabled them to em-
ploy it with impunity. These difficulties
induced the president and council to urge
| that money should be borrowed in Englaud at
four per cent., rather than takeu up in India
at double the cost, or, as frequently happened,
no funds being available to provide invest-
ments, the ships kept waiting for return
cargocs until the arrival of a fresh supply of
bullion. Territorial revenue began to be
looked to as the remedy for these cvils, and
houses to Whitehall, and by personal persuasion,
induced tiem to erase from their journals all their
votes, resolutions, and other acts relating to the
The company came off victors; for Skin-
| ner, it would appear, never got any portion of the
compensation adjudged to him. —(Anderson, ii., 461.)
* Bruce’s Annals of E. I. Cy., ii, 202. + Idem, 312,
{ The ministers of Louis XIV., Cardinal Richclieu
and the great Colbert, had directed their attention
to the commercial and naval interests of France.
Colbert, especially, laboured in this cause with extra-
ordinary zeal and success. In 1642, a settlement
was made in Madagascar, preparatory to the exten-
sion af French power in the Kastern seas; but the
adventurers, through their wanton cruelty, became
invalved in contests with the brave natives (Mala-
gash), and notwithstanding repeated attempts, were
unable to secure a footing in this rich island. In
1661, Colbert formed an EK. I. Cy. on the model of
that of Molland, with a very privileged charter for
fifty years, and a stock of £625,000, partly raised by
loan. T’our ships were sent to Madagascar: and in
1668 a factory was commenced at Surat, then the
general resort of Muropean nations. Jdut the French
soon looked to political rather than to commercial
prospeets ; and under the direction of an experienced
man, named Caron (who, disgusted with the ill-
treatment received from the Duteh after long aud
valuable service, had quitted their cmploy), sur-
veyed the coasts of India for an eligible site
whercon to lay the foundation of French power. The
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
COLBERT FORMS FRENCH E. I. Cy.—1664.—PONDICHERRY.
political influence courted as a means of
commercial prosperity. There was no esta-
bhshed power under whose protection foreign
traders could place themselves, and to whose
legitimate authority they could offer, in re-
turn, hearty and undivided allegiance. Their
earhest territorial suzerain, the rajah of
Chandragiri, had been overpowered by
Mecr Jumla, the general of the King of
Golconda, about the year 1636, and Moham-
medan rule extended over the territory iu
which Madras was situated. The English
suffered no ineonvenienee from the change ;
but were, on the contrary, especially favoured
by the usurping sovereign, who suffered their
money to pass current, and conferred upon
them several valuable privileges. They eon-
tinued to pay him an aunual quit-rent of
1,200 pagodas, until about 1687-’8, when his
power being considerably weakened by the
aggressions of Aurungzebe, they appear to
have taken advantage of some flimsy pretext
to withhold their tribute. By the Great
Mogul the English were hkewise well
treated; and had he possessed unquestioned
supremaey over the places in whieh their
trade was situated, their poliey would have
been eomparatively plain and easy, and their
difficulties would have consisted almost ex-
clusively in the rivalry of the Portuguese,
Duteh, and Danes, to whieh list the Frenchy
had been reeently added. But the rise of
fine harbour of Trincomalee, in Ceylon, was judi-
ciously selected, and taken possession of by a French
squadron, under La Haye : hostilities ensued hetween
the French and Dutch E. I. Companies; but the
former losing many men by sickness, were soon ex-
pelled, and procceded to the coast of Coromandel,
where they captured St. Thomas, or Meliapoor. The
Dutch co-operated with the King of Golconda, and
the French garrison being reduced to the extremity
of famine, were compelled to surrender. ‘The sur-
vivors, under the guidance of a Mr, Martin, who, like
Caron, had previously been in the service of the
Tutch company, purchased from the King of Beeja-
poor, a village upon the coast called Pondicherry,
with a small adjacent territory, and there formed the
settlement eventually of so much importance, By
his prudent measures the place became rapidly
populous, and being desirous ta put it in a state of
defence during the disturhed state of the country,
he obtained permission for the erection of fortitica-
tinns, notwithstanding the opposition of the ]uatch,
who endeavoured to bribe the King of Beejapoor
to withdraw his protection, and permit them to ex-
pel the new settlers; but the firm reply was, “ The
French have fairly purchased the place; I shall not
be so unjust as to take it from them.”—(Macpher-
son’s Commerce with Indic, p. 260.) The Beejapoor
monarchy was overthrown by Aurungzcbe in 1686,
The Dutch overpowered the French garrison, and
drove them out in 1698 ; then, desiraus to secure their +
conquest, immediatcly improved and strengthened the
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INGLISH DEFEND SURAT AGAINST SEVAJEIE—1664 anv 1670.
the Mahrattas, under Sevajec—a native power
inder a native leader—greatly changed the
state of affairs. At first, the neglish were
disposed to follow the example of their im-
perial patron, and treat the new leader as a
mere imarander—a captain of banditti—
whose attempts at friendly communication
were to be evaded, without however, unne-
cessarily provoking a foc whose anger and
~extended his hand to the English deynttics, | ecedings,
_ place was restored to its rightful owners by the treaty
alhanee were both to he avoided.
When Sevajee advanced against Surat
in 1664, the terror of his name had already
taken such deep root, that the governor
shut himself up in the eastle, and the in-
habitants fled from the city. The Dutch’
and Knglish remained in their factorics ; and
the latter, calling in the ships’ crews to their,
aid, by courage and determination suceceded
in preserving their own property, and that
of their immediate neighbours, from pillage.
Aurungzcbe rewarded this service by a
firmann, conceding one per eent. out of Ins
three per cent, custom duties, and a total
exemption from all transit charges. In
1670, the place was again approached by
Sevajee. The French, who had established
a factory there, preserved it by paying a
contribution :* the Dutch station being
without the town, was not attacked: the
Enghsh, having transported the greater part
of their goods on board ship to Swally,
prepared to guard the remainder at all
hazards. The factory was assailed, but sue-
cessfully defended by the English, though
several lives were lost, as well as some)
property in detached warchouses. The
Mahrattas then threatened to set the factory |
on fire; but Sevajec was unwilling to pro-
219
ecived from the Mahrattas at Surat and |
elsewhere. ‘This stipulation was conceded
in 1674, and a treaty formed, by which
10,000 pagodas were promiscd to the
agerieved party, and the long-maintained
night deemed inherent in the sovercign over
all wrecks on the shores of his territory, re-
linguished in favour of Mnelish vessels. The
enthronement of Sevajce took place at this
time, and the envoy beheld with amazement |
a portion of the magnificent ceremonial, |
with its costly and characteristic feature,— |
the weighing of the person of the new
sovereign agaist gold coin to be distributed
among the Brahmins, as an act of reverence
to their order, accompanied by the per-
formance of many munificent acts of eharity.t
The Mogul government watched with jealous
distrust this growing intercourse, and the
English found great difficulty in maintaining
a neutral position. In 1677-8, the diree-
tors of the Kb. I. Cy., or, as they were then
termed, the Court of Committees, “ recom-
mended temporising cxpedients to their scr-
vants as the rule of their proccedings with
the Mogul, with Sevajec, and with the petty
raja,’ as the means of obtaining com-
phance with the various firmauns and grants
already acquired; and desired them to cn-
deavour, by their conduet, to impress the
natives with an opinion of their commercial |
probity. ‘ At the same time,” says Bruce,
“they gave to President Aungicr and his
council [at Surat] discretionary powers to
employ armed vessels to enforee the obscr-
rance of treatics and grants: in this way
the court shifted from themselves the re-
sponsibility of commencing hostilitics, that
aNd,
eced to extremities, being desirous to indnee | they might be able, in any questions which
them to return as traders to Rajapoor, | might arise between the king and the com-
which they had quitted on account of his} pany, to refer such hostilities to the errors
exactions. A complimentary present offered | of their servants.” This writer is too inti-
to Sevajee, was very gratifying to him. Ie} mately acquainted with the company’s pro-
and too decidedly their champion,
with an assurance that he would do them no | to be aceused of putting an unfair construc-
wrong; and on several subsequent occasions} tion on any of their directions. It was
negotiations were sct on foot, which, how-
ever, the Mnglish endeavoured to evade
bringing to any definite conclusion, by
demanding compensation for the injuries re-
works: but their labour proved ill-bestowed ; for the
of Ryswick, in 1697.—(Raynal's 2. and IT. Indies.)
* Wilson's note on Mill, vol. i., p.99. Grant Duff
says, “the French purchased an ignominious neu-
trality, by permitting the Mabrattas to pass through
their factory to attack an unfortunate Tartar pritce
who was on his return from a pilgrimage to Mceea,
and whose property [ineluding a vast treasure in |
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
evidently necessary that considerable lati-
tude should be given by masters so far re-
moved from the scene of action; but snbse-
quent cvents indicate that plans of terri-
gold, silver, and plate, a gold bed and other rich |
furniture), became part of Sevajee’s boasted spoils
on this oceasion.”"—( Tistory of Mahrattas, i., 247.)
t+ Dr. Fryer mentions that he weighed about
16,000 pagodas, equal to about ten stone. The
utles assumed hy Sevajee were.—the Jicad ornament
of the Cshatriya race, his majesty, the rajah Seva, |
possessor or lord of the royal umbrella,
} Bruee’s sinnals of E. I. Cy., ii., 406-7.
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i) Bae
torial aggrandisement, to be earried ont by
foree of arms, were already entertained.
The governmental expenses of Bombay
(civil and military) were found to be very
heavy; and as a means of meeting them,
taxes were raised and salaries diminished;
that of the deputy-governor, the seeond mn
rank in the serviee, being reduced to £120
| perannum. Great dissatisfaction was ereated
| | by these ehanges, especially by the diminu-
tion of the garrison; soon after which the
| trade of the place was menaced by two
| sterile isles in the neighbourhood (Henery
and Kenery) being taken possession of re-
' | speetively by Sevajee and his opponent, the
Siddee, or Abyssinian leader, who held the
position of admiral of the Mogul fleet.*
The English were obliged to eonclude a
huniliating trree with both parties, and
thus purehase freedom from interruption
to their trade, until the abandonment of
these barren rocks relieved them from alarm
on that score.
The death of Sevajee, in 1680; the ap-
pointment of Mr. (afterwards Sir Jolin)
Child as president of Surat, with a council
of eight members, in 1681; the erection of
an independent ageney in Bengal, in 1682;
and the expulsion, in the same year, of the
English from Bantam,t were rapidly fol-
lowed by other important events. The system
of injudicions retrenchment attempted at
Madras and Surat, and persevered in at
Bombay,{ ended in producing a revolt in
that island. Captain Keigwin, the com-
mander of the garrison, which comprised
150 English soldiers and 200 topasses
(natives), seized the deputy-governor, with
| such of the eounei] as adhered to him, as-
|
sembled the militia and inhabitants, and
bemg by them appointed governor of the
island, issued a proclamation dcelaring the
authority of the eompany to be annulled in
Bombay, and that of the Crown substituted
|
| * Siddee, or Seedce, is a corruption of an Arabic
| term, signifying a lord ; but in the common language
of the Deccan, it came to be applied indiscriminately
to all natives of Africa. The Siddees of Jinjeera
took their name from a small fortified island in the
Conean, where a colony had been formed on a jag-
| | hire, granted, it appears, in the first instance, to an
Abyssinian officer, by the king of Ahmednugeur, on
| | condition of the maintenance of a marine for the
) protection of trade, and the conveyance of pilgrims
to the Red Sea, The hostility ef Sevajee induced
_ the Siddee, or chief, to seek favour with Aurungzehe,
| hy whom he was made admiral of the Mogul fleet,
with an annual salary of four lacs of rupees (£40,000)
for convoying pilgrims to Judda and Mocha, The
) emperor himself sent an annual donation to Mecca
of three lacs.—(Dufl’s Mehrattas, Bruce, and Orme.)
a re ee
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ENGLISH SOLDIERS MUTINY AT BOMBAY—a.p. 1683-’4.
in its plaee, President Child had no force
wherewith to compel the submission of the
insurgents; and his attempts at negotiation
were decidedly rejected, on the plea that
the measures which had Jed to the rebellion,
had originated solely in the sclfish policy of
himself and his brother, Sir Josiah Child,
the chairman of the Court of Committees.
The king was appealed to by both parties ;
and in November, 1684, the island was de-
livered up by Keigwin to Sir Thomas Gran-
tham, as the representative of the Crown, on
condition of a free pardon for himself and all
concerned. ‘To prevent the reeurrence of a
similar disturbanee, the seat of government
was removed from Surat to Bombay ; and for
the suppression of the interlopers, who were
believed to have been intimately eoncerned
in the late revolt, admiralty jurisdiction was
established in Indian, by virtue of letters-
patent granted by James I1., in 1686. Sir
John Child was appointed eaptain-general
and admiral of the forees of the E. I. Cy.,
hoth by sea and land, in the northern parts
of India, from Cape Comorin to the Gulf of
Persia, and he was likewise entrusted with
supreme authority over all the settlements.
The weapons thus furnished were used with an
unhesitating determination, which has ren-
dered the conduct of the plenary representa-
tive of the powers delegated to the company
a subject of unqualified panegyric, and of
equally exaggerated blame. ‘The truth pro-
bably lies between these extremes. The bro-
thers Child were men of considerable ability,
and deeply interested in the fortunes of the
company, whese affairs devolved chiefly on
their management. ‘They were led, by a
very natural process, to contrast the flourish-
ing state of the Duteh trade with thar own
depressed condition, and to seek for the
eause of the comparative, if not complete
exemption of the rival company from the
unlicensed competition of their countrymen,
+ In 1677, the principal agents at Bantam were
assassinated hy some of the natives, on what ground,
or by what (if any) instigation, does not appear. The
company persevered, nevertheless, in endeavouring
to maintain commercial intercourse; and friendly
embassies, accompanied by presents of tea on the
part of the King of Bantam, and of gunpowder on
the part of the English sovereign, were continually
dispatched, until a civil war, instigated hy the Dutch,
terminated in the deposal of the old king by his son,
who, in obedience to his domincering allies, expelled
the English from their factory in 1652, and never
permitted their re-establishment in his territories.
{ In 1682-'3, the Huropean garrison, reduced to
at least 100 men, “ were daily murmuring at the
price of provisions, which their pay could not afford.”
—(Bruce's Annals of £. I. Cy., i, 489.)
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Kk. I. Cv. COMMENCE ITOSTILITILES
and from the delinquency of then servants.
Whether they examined and compared the
commercial details of the two associations
docs not appear, nor whether they made due
allowanee for the heavy drain occasioned hy
the large subsidies, or, as the anti-monopo- |
lists called them, bribes, furnished to Charles
I}. and James JT., uot, however, for the pri-
yate use of these monarchs, since the monics
in question are said to have heen paid into
the exchequer for the public service.* Be-
this as it may, the remedy for existing evils
constantly pnt forth hy the company during |
the administration of Sir Josiah Child, was
a close imitation of the policy of the sucecss-
ful and unsernpulous Dutch, whose ag- |
gressive conduet towards the natives had its |
counterpart in the sanguinary deeree for ,
the infliction of capital punishment on all
interlopers and deserters. Sir Josiah Child
certainly understood the mind of the Eng-
lish public at the close of the seventeenth
century fur too well to press the adoption of ,
such a law, whatever his own wishes on
the subject might have becn. Ile contented
himself with urging the suppression of pri-
vate trade hy more gentle means, at the
same time advocating the attainment of in-
dependent power in India, by the enlarge-
ment and strennous assertion of the authority
of the company over British subjeets within
the limits of their eharter; and, seeondly,
of retaliative, if not aggressive hostilities
against the Indian princes. The admiuis-
tration of Shaista Khan, as “ Nabob,”’+ or
governor of Bengal, was alleged to have
been vexations and oppressive in the ex-
treme; and amicable negotiations having
failed in procuring redress, it was thought
practicable to obtain better terms by farce
ofarms. Accordingly, the largest military
armamentt ever yet assembled by the eom-
pany, was dispatched to India, with orders
to gain possession of the eity and territory
*Grant’s Sketch of Tistory of E. I. Cy., pp. 105-6.
+ An English corruption of the Arabic word Naib
or the Persian Nawab (meaning deputy), applied to
the impcria] soubahdars or governors.
t Ten armed vesscls, from twelve to seventy guns,
and six companies of infantry, without captains,
whose places were to he supplied by the members of
council, in Bengal. In addition to this force, appli-
cation was made to the king fer an entire campany
of regular infantry, with their officers.
§ Bruee, vol. ii, p. 586. 31 was stated in 1691-2, }
that £100,000 had been spent in fortifying and im-'|
proving Bombay, including the harbour, docks, &c.
| The aldermen were to be justices of the peace,
and to wear thin scarlet gowns, and the burgesses
black silk gowns: a town-clerk and recorder were to |
2G
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
lof Chittagong as a place of future seeurity,
AGAINST AURUNGZEBE—1686, 22)
and thenee retaliate upon the Nabob, and
even upon the Mogul himself, the injuries
and losses whieh had already heen sustained.
Bombay was elevated to the rank of a
regency, after the example of the Dutch at
Batavia and Columbo ; and orders were given
to increase the fortifications, and render the
island “as strong as art and money eould
make it.’§ Madras was formed into a cor-
poration, to consist of a mayor and ten
aldermen (of whom three were to be the
company’s servants and seven natives), with
120 burgesses.|| An offer was made by the
garrison of Fort St. George (Madras), to
aid the King of Goleonda against the
Duteh, with whom he was then at war; and
in return, a firmaun was to be solicited to
coin rupees, together with the grant of St.
Thomas as an English possession. Thus
the company were desirous of attaining po-
litieal influence in all directions; and their
views were sceonded with much energy hy
Sir John Child, who, following the spirit of
the instrnetions cited in a previous page,
resolved to commence hostilities against
Aurungzcbe, as if on his own responsibility ;
so that in the event of an unfavourable issue
to the expedition, an opportunity might be
provided of negotiating for the restoration of
former privileges and trade, upon the same
hasis as they had stood previously to his
apparently unsanetioned procecdings.
By some easualty the whole force did not
arrive in the Ganges at the same time; and
an insignificant quarrel between three Eing-
lish soldiers and the ‘ peons,”’ or native
police of the Nabob, bronght on the contest
in an unexspeeted manner, m October, 1686.
Jlooghly was cannonaded by the fect under
Captain Nicholson, and 500 houses were
burnt, upon whieh the foujdar, or snilitary
governor, made overtures for peace; but
the demands of the English were so exces-
be appointed ; a sword and mace to be carried before
the mayor, anda silver oar before the judge-advo-
catcs—ceremonies which must have been very puzzling
to the native aldermen. Some difficulty occurred in
carrying this project into execution; for although
the inhabitants soon recognised the beneficial effect
of the new measure, the mixed description of persons
considered proper for the court of aldermen could
not be obtained. No Armenian conld be induced to
act; the Jews Icft the place: the Portuguese feared
their countrymen and the Inquisition 100 much to
accept office ; and the Iccal authorities considered it
unsafe to “confide in the Moors or Mussulmen.’—
(Bruce's Annals of the BE. I. Cy. il., 593; 639: tii,
111; 156.) With regard to the Iindoos, no objection
appears to have been raised either by or against them.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
\\
999
eae,
sive, amounting to above sixty-six laes of
rupees, or nearly £700,000, that they could
scarcely have expected comphance. On
the side of Surat considerable advantage
was at first gained by the capture of a nnum-
ber of Moorish vessels, richly freighted ;*
and also in Bengal, through the determined
~couduct of Job Charnock, the company’s
agent, by whom the Nabob’s forces were
repulsed im repeated assaults, the fort of
Tanna stormed, the island of Injellee seized
and fortified, and the town of Balasore par-
tially burned, with forty sail of the Mogul
flect: the factories, however, at Patna and
Cossimbazar were taken and plundered by
the encmy, and the agents placed in irons.
At this period, Muchtar Khan was appointed
governor of Surat, and with him a sort of
provisional convention was entered into,
which was to be the basis of a treaty with
the Mogul. The court im London, over-
_joyed at the prospect of such favourable
terms, voted Sir John Child a present of
1,000 guineas,—a very large sum in propor-
tion to the moderate salaries then appor-
tioned to Anglo-Indian functionaries. +}
The uegotiation fell to the ground. Ac-
cording to the account given in the official
records, Muchtar Khan never intended to
| carry it out, and only affected to entertain
the proposition as a means of gaining time
until the results of the contest of Aurungzehe
with Beejapoor and Golconda, and also with
Sumbajec, should be fully manifest. This
scems contradicted by the fact, that after
these two kingdoms fell into the power of
the Mogul, the English authorities of Madras
solicited and received from the conqucror a
confirmation of the privileges accorded to
| them by the deposed monarch, In fact,
, they followed the example of a neighhour-
ing Nindoo governor, who quietly remarked,
| that “as the world turned round like a
! wheel, he had beaten his drums and fired his
' guns, for the victory of the mighty Aurung-
, zebe over his old master.”’{ Sir John Child
severcly reprimanded the Madras agency for
“their conduct, as implying a doubt of the
| ultimate issuc ef thestrugele of theircountry-
‘anen with the Mogul; but since he had him-
self evinecd pretty clearly a similar fecling,
| by affecting to act on his private authority,
without the knowledge of Jris employers, it
is hurd to censure the Madras agents for
* According to the writers ef that day in the
imerluping interest, the adventage in question was
purchased at the expense of . fle
faith; but this allegation the corny
|
enici.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh ji eLibrary
INGLISH COMPELLED TO SUE FOR PEACE W
ant breach of | a-yeay.
1
taking measures against their otherwise cer-
tain destruction or captivity. The annals
of tlis period are very confused : even Bruce,
more than once, alludes to their defective-
ness; but it appears, that in October, 1688,
Sir Jolin Child, suspecting duplicity on the
part of the Mogul governor, embarked at
Bombay, and appeared off Surat with a fleet
of seven ships, lis intention being to deter
Muchtar Khan from any breach of the pro-
visional agreement, In this same month,
Captain Heath reached Bengal, in command
of a large armed ship, the Defence, attended
by a frigate, and bearing instructions from
the Court of Committees for the active prose-
cution of hostihties. is proceedings are
thus related by Bruce :—“ Captain Heath, on
the 29th of November (contrary to the opi-
nion of the agent and council, and notwith-
standing a perwannah [order] for peace with
the English lad been received by the gover-
nor from the Nabob), attacked and took a bat-
tery of thirty guns, and plundered the town
of Balasore. The English factory, on this
occasion, was burned by the governor; and
the company’s agents, who had been pre-
viously taken prisoners, were carried up the
country, where all subsequent efforts for
their rclease were unavailing.’ Under
these circumstances, it would seem unjust to
accuse the Moguls of breaking the armistice,
since it was not till the 26th of December
that Muchtar Khan scized and imprisoned
May Ylarris and Ma. Gladman, ordered the
company’s goods in Surat to be sold, de-
manded a contribution of five lacks of rupees,
and offered a large reward for the person of
Sir John Child—alive or dead. The island
of Bombay was attacked by the Siddee, the
greatcr part of it occupied by the enemy, and
the governor besieged in the town and castle,
Aurungzcbeissued orders to expel the Euglish
from his dominions. The factory at Masulipa-
tam was seized, as aiso that at Vizagapatam,
where the agent and four factors were slain.
The unequal contest could not, it was
evident, be prolonged without occasionine
the destruction of those by whose ambi-
tion and imprudence it had been provoked.
Solicitations for peace were presented, in
December, 1688, and received with a show
of indifference—rather aflected than real;
for the imperial treasury, drained by con-
stant warfare, conld al bear the sub-
7 Iarris, the successor of Child as president of
Surat and governor of Bombay, had only £800
The regency scheme was abandoned.
{ Orme’s [ftstorteal Lragments of Mogul Lmptre.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ITH MOGUL—1688, 7
TERRITORIAL VIEWS OF I
traction of any souree of income. ‘The
application of the Hnglish for the restora-
tion of commereial privileges, was doubtless
: the more welcome, for being presented under
circumstances which enabled Aurungzche
_ to carry out the policy evidenced in his
dealings with the Portuguese, of reducing:
the pretensions of Muropean maritime pawers
trading to the Indics to a eomplcte depen-
deuce on his authority; thus keeping down
attempts at political influence while desirous
of promoting mercantile intercourse. In
Yebruary, 1689, a new firmaun was issued,
whieh declared that “the Mnglish having
made amost humble and snbinissive petition
that the crimes they have done may be
pardoned ;? and having promised “to restore |
the merchants’ goods they had taken away
to the owners thercol, and walk by the ancient
customs of the port, and behave themselves
for the future no more in such a shameful
_ manner; therefore Ins majesty, according to
his daily favour to all the people of the world,
hath pardoned their faults, and mercifully
forgiven them.” Out of his prinecly conde-
scension, the Great Mogul further agreed
to permit a present of 150,000 rupces to be
placed in the treasury of Surat. The firmaun
concludes with an express stipulation “ that
Mr. Child, who did the disgrace, he turned
out and expelled.’ The translation of this
| document is apparently faulty; but it suffices
to convey an idea of its tone and tenor, and
fully bears out the declaration of Bruce, that
the result of all the projects of the company
to become an independent power in India,
was to reduce tlicir agents to a more abject
position than any in which they had been
placed since the first establishment of an
English factory in India.*
Sir John Child, who had provided in his
own person a seape-goat for the wrath of
the emperor, died at Bombay during the
progress of the negotiation, and the oflice of
president devolved on Mr. Marris, then a!
prisoner at Surat. On payment of the fine
and restoration of goods deereed in the
* Bruee, ii., 639-10; 646—655. The firmaun eon-
tains no reference to the privilege of eoining money,
which had long been a point in dispute.
+ Dispatch from the Court of Commitices in Ann.
Comp., 1689-’90: written. there scems good reason
for believing, by Child.”—(Grant's Sketeh, p. 101.)
¢ In the instruetions for the establishment of this
new settlement, special encouragement is directed
to be given to Armenians, as also in Vizagapatam
and Madras. In the latter place, one quarter of the
town was to be allotted to them, with permission
“to build a church at their own cost,” a duty sadly
neglected by the company. ‘These Armenians were
1 CYNE RIS SIEDY ES 1689.
firmaun, Mr. JTarris and other English pri-
soners were immediately released from their
long confinement in irons; but it was not
until the 22nd of June, 1690, that the Siddee,
by order of Aurungzche, vacated his ditfercut
, posts at Bombay (Mazagon, Mahim, and
| Sion), after abont a twelvemonth’s occupa-
tion. On the same day, the accession of
William: and Mary to the throne of Eng-
land was proclaimed in this island, as it had
| heen at Madras cight months hefore. Igno-
rant of the disasters attending their ambi-
tious projects, the court, in the instructions
j addressed to their servants in 1689, declure
—“ The inerease of our revenue is the suh-
ject of our care, as much as our trade: ’tis
that must maintain our foree when twenty
accidents may interrupt our trade; ’tis that
must make us a uation in India; without
that we are but as a great mamber of inter-
lopers, united only by his Majesty’s royal
charter, fit only to trade where nobody of
power thinks it their interest to prevent us ;
and upon this account it is, that the wise |
Dutch, in all their general advices which we |
have seen, write ten paragraphs concerning |
their government, their eivil and military
revenue, for one paragraph they write con-
cerning trade.’+ Being chiefly concerned
in monopolising the spice-islands, the Dutch
appear to have followed their policy of terri-
torial aggrandisement far less strenuonsly
on the continent of India than at Ceylon,
Java, and throughout the Kastern Archi-
pelago, at Formosa (China), at the Cape
of Good Hope, at New York, Guyana, aud
other widely-spread localities.
The disastrous issue of the recent expedi-
tion, compelled the English to adopt a more
deferential manner towards the native pow-
ers, but made no ehange in their ultimate
intentions. Shortly after the conclusion of
peace, the town andharbourot Tegnapataim,
on the Coromandel coast, a little to the sonth
of the French settlement of Pondicherry,
was obtained by purchase from Rajah Ram,
a Christian sect formed during the power of the
suceessors of Constantine. When the countries they
| inhabited were over-run by the Mohammedan arms,
they were forcibly transplanted by Shah Abbas, and
other belligerent monarehs, into Persia, and dis-
persed aniong the surrounding countries, where they
| earned a livelihood as merchants and brokers. Some
of them made their way into India, and obtained a
ebaraeter for suecessfial trading, which rendered the
company desirous to employ them in vending English
woollens, and procuring fine muslins and other goods.
The project seems to have failed, the Armenians being
pre-cngaged in the scrviee of the Levant eompany.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
policy, warfare, and the increase of our |
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
224 ENGLISH SETTLEMENT & FORT
the Mahratta sovereign, and the sanction of
the Mogul authorities of the Carnatic ob-
_ tained for its occupation. It was strength-
ened by a wall and bulwarks, and named
Fort St, David.*
About the same time a more important
acquisition was made in Bengal. During
the late hostilities, the agent and council at
Ifooghly, fearing to continue in so exposed a
position, removed to Chuttanuttee, a village
about twenty-four miles lower down the
river, where they hoped to remain in security
under the protection of their ships. The
Nabob ordered them to return to Hooghly,
and forbade their building, with cither stone
or brick, at Cluttanuttee; but, on the paci-
fication with the court of Delhi, permission
was obtained for the establishment of a
factory there. Repeated attempts were made
to obtain leave to fortify the new position,
and for a grant of jurisdiction over its in-
habitants, as also over those of the adjoining
villages of Calcutta and Govindpoor. Si-
mular applications were made by the Dutch
at Chinsura (about a mile southward of
Hooghly), and by the French at Chanderna-
gore (two miles lower down the river), but
-withont success ; for Anrungzebe never per-
mitted any foreigner to erect a single bastion
on Mogul territory, though he tolerated the
continuance (at Madras for instance) of such
European fortresses as his conquests over
Mohammedan or Hindoo princes drew within
the borders of the empire. At length, one
of those intestine divisions which have so
often placed India at the feet of strangers,
procured for the agencies vefore-named the
privilege long vainly solicited. Soobah
_ Sing, a petty Hindoo chief, being dissatisfied
‘with Rajah Kishen Rama, of Burdwan (who
must have been either tributary to, or in the
service of, Aurungzebe), united with Rehim
Khan, an Afghan, then considered the head
of that clan remaining in Orissa, in an
attempt to overturn the government, in
1695-6. The three European settlements
hired a number of native soldiery to guard
their property: the Dutch and French pro-
fessed themselves staunch allies of the
* The precise period of the introduction of the
Dutch into Bengal is not recorded; but the Freneh
established themselves about 1676, and the Danes in
the same year at Scrampore.—(Stewart’s Dengal,
p. B16.)
+ Tanna, ten miles west of Calcutta, on the opposite
side of the river, was defended by an English trigate,
sent at the request of the foujdar of Hooghly to
support the fort against the rebels. Calcutta, ac-
cording to Stewart (properly called Calicotta), takes
ESTABLISHED AT CALCUTTA—1696, |
Mogul: the English endeavoured to pre-
serve a semblance of neutrality, but united
in requesting permission to fortify their fac-
tories against the attacks of the insurrec-
tionists. The Nabob directed them, in general
terms, to defend themselves, and they, taking
for granted what was not absolutely for-
bidden, laboured day and night in raising |
walls with bastions round their stations. A
pitched battle between the insurgents and
Kishen Rama, terminated in the defeat
and death of the latter, and the capture
of his family. His beautiful daughter was
among the prisoners: Soobah Sing strove
to dishonour her; but the attempt cost
him his life; for the hapless girl, aware
of his intention, had concealed a sharp
knife in the folds of her dress; and when
he strove to seize her, she inflicted npon
him a mortal wound, and then, with mis-
taken heroism, stabbed herself to the heart.
By tlis catastrophe, the rebel army fell
under the sole control of the Afghan chief,
who became master of Hooghly, Moor-
shedabad, and Rajmahal: the Dutch and
Euglish factories, at the latter place, were
pillaged of considerable property. Clutta-
nuttec and the fort of Tannat were unsuc-
cessfully attacked. But the general progress
of the rebels was almost unchecked; and in
December, 1696, their force comprised
12,000 cavalry and 380,000 infantry: the
revenue of the country in tlieir possession
was estimated at sixty lacs of rupees per
annum; and Rehim Shah assumed the style
and dignity of a prince. ‘The remissness of
the Nabob being deemed the chicf canse of
the rapid spread of the insurrection, Prince
Azim (second son of Prince Mauzim){ was
sent at the head of the Mogul army for its sup-
pression, and was at the same time appointed
to the government of the three provinces of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. The death of
Rehim Shah in battle, in 1698, and the
submission of the Afghans, was followed by
a gencral amnesty. The Europeans were
suffered to continue their fortifications ; and
in 1698, the English, by the payment of a
considerable sum of money, obtained per-
its name from a temple dedicated to Caly, the ,
Ifindoo goddess of Time. ‘The territory purchased
from the zemindars in 1698, extended about three
miles along the Jfvoghly (or Bhagaruttec), and one
mile inland.
t It was a part of the policy of the wily Aurung-
zebe, to bring forward his grandsons and place them
in positions of honour and emolument; so that ee
might be disposed, in any emergency, to side with
him rather than with their own fathers.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
rs
i. 1. Cy. CONFOUND PRIVATE TRADI WITH PIRACY—a.p. 1692.
mission to purchase Chuttanuttee and the
adjoining villages, with authority to exercise
justiciary power over the inhabitants. The
designation of Calcutta came to be applied
to the whole, and the name of Fort Wilham
was given to the defences in honour of the
Knelish monarch.
Notwithstanding these cheerig indica-
tions of progress in Bengal, the gencral
condition of the E. I. Cy. at this period
was one of extreme political and financial
depression; their dilliculties from private
trade and piracy being aggravated by the
national hostility of the French, and the
doniestie rivalry,of a new association. ‘The
death of Sir John Child made no change in
the policy pursued by his brother in England:
at his instigation, the Court of Committces
continued to wield, to the fullest extent, the
somewhat questionable authority conveyed
by their charters, which, although intended
to confer the privilege of exclusive trade, left
loopholes sufficient to encourage unauthorised
ventures on the part of speculators melined
to balance ultimate risk, against the present
safety and prospect of gain aflorded by the
want of any powcr on the part of the com-
pany to scize vessels at the outsct or on the
voyage, however evident the intention of
the cquipment. The consequence was, that
although the court might occasionally bring
offenders before the King’s Bench, and did,
at one time (1685-6), threaten to prosecute
as many as forty-seven of the principal in-
terlopers, yet the brunt of the battle fell to
the share of their servants in India; and
they, if the evidence of Captain [amilton*
may be trusted, shrank from the responsi-
* According to this writer, Mr. Vaux, the governor
of Bombay, who had obtained that position by favour
of Sir Josiah Child, in answering a communication
on the subject of interlopers, took occasion, while
thanking his patron for past benefits, to assert his
resolution to abide by the laws of his country. Sir
Josiah, in reply, “wrote roundly to Mr. Vaux, that
he expected his orders to be his rules, and not the
laws of England, which were a heap of nonsense
compiled by a few ignorant country gentlemen, who
hardly knew how to make laws for the good govern-
ment of their own families, much less for the regu-
lating of companies and foreign commerce. I am
the more particular,” adds Iamilton, ‘on this ac-
count, because I saw and copied both those Ictters in
anno, 1696, while Mr. Vaux and I were prisoners at
Surat, on account of Captain Evory’s [Avery] rob-
bing the Mogul’s great ship, the Gunseeay” (Guj
Suwace]—ast Indies, i.,233.) Considering the pre-
ponderance of country gentlemen in parliament at
this periad, the satire is not without point; and [amil-
ton’s essertion regarding the letter is so elear and posi-
tive, that it can hardly be set aside without unwarrant-
able disparagement to the character of an intelligent
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
99°
wred
bility of carrying out the stringent orders
forwarded on this head, declaring that the
laws of nglaud were contrary to the mea-
sures proposed. Apart from the testimony
of any unfavourable witness, there are indi-
cations, in the sclected Annals of the E. I.
Cy., of a tendency to confound private and
unlicensed trade with piracy, which pro-
bably conduced to the increase of the latter
disgraceful crime, while it aggravated the
hostility of the interlopers, who must have
possessed considerable influence if they were,
as described in an official despatch, ‘ mal-
contents, quondam committce-men, and
adventurers, who have sold their stocks at
high rates, and want to buy in again at
low.”{ The change in the government of
England paved the way for discussions re-
garding the validity of rights proceeding
from a grant of the Crown simply, or rights
procecding from a grant fonnded on an act
of the legislature. The strong desire of the
nation for extended commerce with India
was manifested in the cagerness with which
one large class of persons reeonimended an
open trade; while another united for the
formation of a new joint-stock association.
Petitions and remoustranees were on all
sides presented both to parliament and the
king ; and while parhament passed repeated
resolutions in favour of the new company,
the king as often granted charters to the
old. The Ictters-patent of 1693 confirmed
the monopoly of the latter, but only for a
period of twenty-one ycars; terminated the
“permission trade,” by prohibiting the
grant of licences to private ships; deerecd
the annual exportation of British manu-
though prejudiced writer. Such vague statements
as the following may be reasonably viewed with more
suspicion :—“ The power of executing pirates is so
strangely sketched, that if any private trader is in-
jured by the tricks of a governor, and can find no
redress, if the injured person is so bold as to talk of
lex talionis, he is infallibly declared a pirate.”"—p. 362.
+ An illustration of this tendency may be found
in the records of 1691-2. “The court continued to
act towards their opponents (the interlopers) in the
samie manner as they had done in the latter years
of the two preceding reigns, and granted commis-
sions to all their captains proceeding this season to
India, to seize the interlopers of every description,
and bring them to trial before the admiralty court
of Bombay, explaining that as they attributed all
the differences between the company and the Indian
powers to the intcrlopers, if they continued their
depredations on the subjects of the Mogul or King
of Persia, they were to be tried for their lives as
pirates, and sentence of death passed, but execution
stayed till the king's pleasure shonld be known.”--
(-lnnals of B. I. Cy., vol. iii-, p. 103.)
t Tem, po V2.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
226 BRIBERY PRACTISED BYE. I. Cy.—DUKE OF LEEDS IMPEACHED, 1695. |
factures, to the value of £100,000; and
direeted the dividends to be paid, for the
In defiance
future, exelusively in money.
of this eharter, a yote of the Ilouse of Com-
mons deelared it to be “the right of all
Englishmen to trade to the East Indies or
any part of the world, unless prohibited by
aet of parliament.”* This state of strife
and confusion reaehed its climax in 1695,
direct bribery had been pursued towards
men in power, The Lower House, though
some of its leading members were deeply
impheated, eame forward actively in the
matter, and ordered the books of the com-
pany to be examined, from whenee it ap-
peared, that previous to the Revolution the
annual expeuditure in “ sceret serviees” had
searcely ever exceeded £1,200; but that
since that epoch it had gradually inereased,
and in the year 1693, whilst Sir Thomas
Cooke was governor, had amounted to up-
wards of £80,000. Many persons of eminence
were involved in these nefarious transae-
tions with the most unprincipled schemers ;
the eouneil, vehemently defended the com-
pany, and was himself impeaehed by the
Commons, on the charge of having received
a bribe of £5,000; but the prineipal wit-
ness against him was sent out of the way;
and it was not till nine days’ after it had
been demanded by the Lords, that a pro-
elamation was issued to stop the fugitive.
The inquiry, at first urged ou with all the
violenee of party-spirit, soon languished ;
the rank and influence of a large number of
the persons direetly or indirectly eoneerned,
opposed an insurmountable barricr to its
prosceution, and by the prorogation of par-
liament, though nominally only suspended, it
was aetually abandoned, Sir Thomas Cooke
had been committed to the Tower for re-
* Bruce’s Annals of £. I. Cy,, iii., p. 142.
+ Anderson’s Origin of Commerce, ii., 608. Tys-
sen, the deputy-governor, and other persons shared
the imprisonment of the governor, and probably also
received proportionate gratuities. Among them was
| the notorious Sir Basil Jirebrass, or Firebrace, who
| had been recently bought off from the interloping
interest, and who played a leading part in 1701 in the
arrangements for the union of the wo Js. I. Com-
panies, and demanded in return a per centage equal
in value to £30,000, on a portion of the joint stock.
{The French Hast India trade appears to have
heen from the first a losing concern, Notwithstanding
the pecuniary and political support of the government,
Colbert’s company (according to the Abbé Raynal),
had often to subseribe for the payment of losses,
while their Muropean rivals were dividing thirty per
when it became known that a system of
the Duke of Leeds, then lord president of
fusing to disclose the names of the indi-
viduals who had received bribes: his tempo-
rary confinement was compensated by a
present of £12,000, bestowed upon him by
the Court of Committees “ some years after
the bustle was over.”
The result of these proceedings was greatly
to degrade the eompany; nor could it be
otherwise, while any sense of honesty existed
in the pubhe mind. Yet the weight of blame
rests unquestionably less heavily on those
who offered the bribes than on the sworn
guardians of the national interests, who, by
aecepting them, showed themselves tainted
by that unholy eovetousuess whieh, under
a despotism, is the ehief souree of the per-
version of justiee ; and, among a free people,
must tend to destroy the very basis of all
sound principle and impartial legislation.
were unwarrantable, being made at a time
suffieed to meet the necessary and legitimate
expenditure called for by the occupation
of new settlements, and the heavy losses
entailed by the hostility of the Freuch, after
the deelaration of war against that people
by England and Holland, in 1689. For
the next eight years sharp confliets occurred
between the fleets of the rival nations, which
Ryswiek, 1697. In a eommercial point of
view, the Freneh inflicted more injury upon
themselves by their lavish and ill-directed
expenditure, than upon their old-established
opponents;{ but the improvement im the
condition of their marine, through the ex-
ertions of the ministers of Lows XIV.,
rendered their enmity peculiarly disastrous
to the mereantile shipping of their foes.
During the war, no less than 4,200 British
merchant-vessels were captured, ineluding
many East-Indiamen, which were intercepted
counts being examined hy commissioners appointed
by the king, it appeared that their sales, in twenty
years, amounted to no more than 9,100,000 livres,
and that three-quarters of their capital-stock were
totally lost. Assistance from the state again propped
up the association, and a slight gleam of prosperily
followed; for in the years 1687 and 1691, two divi-
dends, each of fifteen per cent., were for the first
time paid from profits. The war with England and
Holland was not beneficial in its genera} results; for
although the Irench Cy. made extensive captures,
their very success helped to encourage the swarms
of privateers, which covered the seas and carried into
the ports of France a great number of English and
Dutch prizes with rich cargoes, to be sold at any
price they would fetch. This proceeding caused a
| glut in the market, and obliged the company to sell
cent. on mercantile ventures; and in 1684, their ac- | their goods at unremunerative prices, or not ut all.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Jn a pecuniary sense, these disbursements |
when the funds of the assoeiation barely ©
were happily terminated by the treaty of
EUROPUANS GUARANTEE AURUNGZEBL AGAINST PIRACY—i698. 22
both on the Indian seas and on the middle
passage; and, off the coast of Galway,in 1695,
wl the four homeward-bound vessels of the
company were taken by a French flect.*
In India, the wrath of the emperor had
been excited by the frequent piracics com-
mitted on the shipping of Mognl merchants,+
and espeeially by the plunder of lis own
vessel the Guj-Sueaee, while engaged in
conveying pilgrims to Mecca, in 1695,
Aurungzebe himself could not detest these
sacrilegious sca-robbers more heartily than
did the whole body of Muropean traders ;
bnt they being at war with one another,
conld make uo united effort for the sup-
pression of the common foc. ‘The tide of
popular feeling among the Mohammedans
rose against the Mnglish agencies at Surat
and Swally with so much violence, that the
Mogul governor placed the factors and
others, to the number of sixty-three persons,
in ivons—not from any voluntary harshness
on his part, but as a necessary measure
to preserve their hves anid the tumult.
Large rewards were held out, both by the
government of Mngland and by the E. 1.
Cy., for the apprehension of the leading
offenders. A sum of £1,000 was offcred
for the person of Captain Avery; but he
escaped, having procecded to the Bahamas,
where his ship was sold and the crew dis-
* Although the merchantmen of the KE. 1. Cy.,
at this period, proved unable to cope with French
ships-of-the-lne, and were even captured by the
desperate hardihood of privateering adventure, they
were, nevertheless, by no means ill-provided with the
appliances of war. To encourage the building of ships
of above 550 tons burden, and capahle of defence
against the pirates of Algiers, then termed the “Turk-
ish Rovers,” it was enacted by parliament, soon after
the restoration of Charles IT., that fora certain num-
her of years, whoever should build ships with three
decks, or with two decks and a-half, and a forecastle,
with a space of five feet between each deck, and
mounted with at least thirty cannon, shoold for the first
two voyages receive one-tenth part of all the customs
that were payable on their exportand import lading.
—(Milburn’s Oriental Commerce, i. Tntroduction,
xxxv.) A Vindication of the E. ID Cy., generally
attributed to Sir Josiah Child, and published in
1677, states that they employed from thirty to thirty-
live ships of from 300 to G00 tons burden, earrying
from forty to seventy guns, which must of course
have been very light.—(Macpherson’s Commerce
with India, 183.) In an official statement of their
aflairs, published in i689, the company assert, that in
seven years they had built sixteen ships of from 900 Lo
1,300 tons, and had in India or on the homeward
voyage eleven of their own, and four * permision
| ships” (i. ¢., licensed by them) with cargoes worth
above £360,000, besides a Heet comprising four-
teen of their own and six permission ships bound
for India, China, &c., with cargoes worth £670,000.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
| persed ; several of them werc, however,
}seized and exeented. The Unglish found
means of extricating theinselves from their
difficulties, and prevailed npon Anrangzcbe
to confide to them the task of convoying pil-
grim vessels to Mocha,t{ ata charge of 10,000
rupees for a large, and 30,000 for a sinall
vessel. The good understanding thus re-
stored was soon destroyed by the daring
piracies committed by a Captain Kidd and
others olf Surat.§ The emperor could no
longer he appeased with assurances that
such and such culprits had becn exceuted in |
different British colonics, or hung in chains
at Tilbury; and he declared, that since all
other means had failed to check these dis-
graceful proceedings, he would put an cnd
to European commerce with his subjects,
unless the English, French, and Dutch
would consent to sign a bond, engaging to
make good any fnture depredations com-
mitted by pirates on the Indian Scas—an
arrangement to which the European agents
were most reluctantly compelled to assent.
The list of difficulties which environed
the KB. 1. Cy., at this period, is still incom-
plete. While weighed down by pecuniary
involvements, and unable, for years together,
to pay a dividend, the project for a new
Scottish company was again brought for-
ward, and a very advantageous charter
t One of the negotiations between Anrungzebe
and the English factors, regarding piratical scizures,
is recorded hy Khafi Khan, an author frequently
quoted in the previous section on the Mohammedan
portion of Indian history. Ife makes no mention of
the war which had previously taken place; but says,
that in the year 1693, a ship bound to Mceea, carrying
cighty guns and furnished with 400 muskets, was
attacked by an English vessel of small size. A gun
haying burst in the Mogul ship, the enemy boarded,
and “although the Christians have no courage at
the sword, yet by bad management the vessel was
taken.” Khafi Khan was sent by the viceroy of
Guzerat to demand redress at Bombay. He de-
seribes his reception as being conducted with great
dignity and good order, and with a considerable dis-
play of military power. He negotiated with elderly
gentlemen in rich clothes; and although they some-
times laughed more heartily than became so grave
an occasion, yet he seems to have been favourably
impressed with their sense aad intelligence. The
English alleged that the king’s ships had been
pel aegis by pirates, for whom they were not answer-
able, and explained their coining money in the name
of their own sovereign (which was another complaint
against them), by stating ihat they had to purchase
investinents at plaees where the money of the em-
peror woul:l not pass. No definite result appears to
have attended this interview.— (lilphinstone, ii., 556.)
{ Mocha and Judda are the seaports of Mecca.
§ Captain Kidd and several of his associates, being
eventually captured. were executed at Tilbury Fort.
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ee a ae ars
|
2S)
HOSTILITY OF RIVAL ENGLISH KE. I. COMPANTES—1699.
‘authority to trade to the Hast as well as
West Indies, Afriea, and Ameriea. This
enterprise—which issued in the formation of
the ill-fated Darien settlemenut—was soon
| sueeeeded by another more directly hostile
to the E. J. Cy., and which was, in fact, a
_ complete triumph on the part of the inter-
loping interest. On the termination of the
Freneh war, the government of England
looked around eagerly for means to liqui-
date the heavy expenses thereby ineurred.
|The E.1. Cy. offered a loan of £700,000, at
| four per cent. interest, provided their charter
| shonld be confirmed, and the monopoly of
| the Indian trade seeured to them hy aet of
| parliament. ‘Their opponents tried a similar
“expedient, with more success, by proposing
| to raise a2 sum of £2,000,000 sterling, at
|eight per cent., on condition of being
| invested with exelusive privileges, and un-
| fettered hy any obligation to trade on a
| joint-stock, exeept as they themselves might
afterwards desire. After mueh discussion, a
| bill was passed by the legislature, by whieh
} it was enaeted that a loan of £2,000,000
should be raised, by subseription, for the
| service of government. Natives and_ fo-
reigners, bodies politie and eorporate, were
alike at hberty to contribute their quota
towards the total sum, which was to bear an
interest of cight per eent. per annum. In
return for this aeeommodation, letters-patent
were issued, ineorporating an association,
ealled the General Society trading to the
East Indies.* The members were autho-
rised to adventure severally, to the amonnt of
their subseriptions: or, if they so desired,
might be formed into a joint-stock com-
pany. ‘This new monopoly was to last until
1711; after that time, it was to terminate
whenever the government ehose, upon three
years’ uotiee, the orginal capital of two
million having been first refunded to the
subseribers. ‘The old company were treated
very summarily; the proviso of three years’
noticey was, in their ease, just so far regarded
as to ensure them leave to trade with India
| * Mill, i, 141. Bruee says, the old association
were obliged to assume the name of the London
company, in contradistinction to the new corporation,
which bore the more popular because national name
of the Jinglish company (iii. 250); but these terms,
used only for a few ycars, would but confuse the
reader if interwoven in the text.
+ Bruee, iii, 257, The old eompany deelaredl
their rivals “invaders of their rights, and authorised
interlopers only.” The new association were yet
more violent in their inveetives; and “the charge of
piraey,” says Mill, “ beeame a general calumny with
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
granted to these adventurers, in 1698, with | till 1701. With regard to both assoeiations,
it was deereed that the private fortunes of
the adventurers should be responsible for
the liquidation of habilities ineurred in
their publie eapacity ; and if further divi-
dends were made by the old company before
the payment of their debts, the members who
aeeepted them were to he held responsible
for the sums thus unduly received.
This imeasure, like all others based on
injustice, pradueed mueh evil and little
good to any party. The conduet of the
government, in expecting a trading body to
trafhie largely and profitably, after the ab-
straction of its entire capital, under the
name of a loan, was in itself as glaring an
absurdity as to have opened the veins of a
man in full health, and then, after leaving
him just blood cnough to prolong a feeble
existence, to expeet from his emaciated frame
vigorous and healthy aetion. As for the old
eompany, they determined to persevere under
all cireumstances. ‘Che trade was too long-
established, and too valuable, to be re-
linguished easily; and they wrote out to
their servants in India, that they had re-
solved to bear up against ill-fortune with “a
true Roman courage.” Taking advantage
of the elause whieh permitted corporations
to hold stoek in the new company, they
resolved to trade separately and in their
own name, after their three years of ehar- |
tered privileges should have expired, and de-
voted the sum of £315,000 to this purpose ;
at the same time avowing their belief “that
a civil battle was to be fought” between
them and their adversaries ; for that “two
. 1. Companies in England could no more
subsist without destroying cach other, than
two kings at the same time regnant in the
same kingdom ;” adding, that “being
veterans, if their servants abroad would do
their duty, they did not douht of the vie-
tory: that if the world laughed at the
pains the two companies took to ruin each
other, they could not help it, as they were
on good ground, and had a eharter.”
The world—at least the Indian portion of it
which all] the different parties in India endeavoured
to hblacken their competitors” (i, 136.) Sir Nicholas
Waite openly denounced the London company to the
Mogul as “thieves and eonfederates with pirates”
(Bruee, iii. 337); and even applied to the governor
of Surat to have their servants put in irons for an
insult whieh, he asserted, had been offered to the
ambassador of the King of England. Unfortunately, |
a great deal of personal ill-fecling existed hetweer.
the representatives of the two societies, to which
much of the impolitie harshness of their measures
must be attributed.
=
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AURUNGZEBE PERPLEXED BY RIVAL ENGLISH COMPANIES—1I761.
did not laugh, but was simply amazed by |
the hostilities of two powerful trading hodies,
each professing to act under the dircet patron. |
age of their mutual sovereign. Anrungzche
listened ineredulonsly to the representations |
of Sir William Norris, who was dispatched |
to the Mogul court at the cost of the new
company, but in the character of royal
ambassador. Norris ts accused of having
eondueted himself with unjustifiable yio-
lence towards the rival officials; and the
same complaint is urged still more strongly
against Sir Nicholas Waite, who had formerly
acted as agent to the old company, but had
been dismissed their employ. ‘The new cor-
poration in this, as in several other cases,
were glad to avail themselves of the local
knowledge possessed by the discarded ser-
yants of their opponents; and Waite was
appointed their representative at Surat, with
the title of president ; to which that of con-
sul was superadded by the king, as also
to the chicf of the three projected pre-
sidencies at Llooghly in Bengal, Masulipatam
on the Coromandel coast, and in the island
of Borneo, Nach party maligned the other
to the Mogul government, and lavished
large sums of money for the purpose of
gaining exclusive privileges. Prinee Azim,
the governor of Bengal, received prescuts
from both sides—16,000 rupees from the
old company, and 14,000 from the new ;*
but withont understanding their ground
of differenee. The emperor, equally puzzled
by these proceedings, wrote privately to
Scyed Sedula, ‘an holy pricst at Surat,’
desiring lim to search out which of the two
parties was really authorised by the Eng-
lish nation. The reply of the Seyed is not
* Stewart's Tlistory of Bengal, 3-12.
+ Bruce’s drneals of the L. I. Cy, iii., 466.
} Bernier, while serving Danechmund Khan in the
capacity of physician, heard from the lips of this
nobleman the particulars of a singular interview
whieh he had just returned from witnessing between
Aurungzebe and his former tutor. The latter had
enjoyed for many years a jaghire, bestowed upon
him by Shah Jehan. Upon the tiumph of the
schemes of his ambitious pupil, the old man pre-
sented himself as a candidate for office. Aurungzehe,
wearicd by his importunity, dismissed him, declaring
that he owed him no gratitude for his ill-directe
labours and erroneous instruetion. ‘You taught
me,” he exclaimed, “that the whole of Frangistan
(Europe) was no more than some ineonsiderable
island, of which the most powerful monarch was for-
merly the King of Portugal, then the King of Iol-
land, and afterwards the King of England. In re-
gard to the other sovercigns of Frangistan (such as
the King of France, and the King of Andalusia), you
told me they resembled our petty rajahs; and that
the potentates of Hindoostan celipsed the glory of all
w It
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
99g
fotos
recorded; prohably it was indefinite and
umimportant: but had the same question
been addressed to a Enropean versed in the
politics of the day, the answer inight have
involved a revelation of quite a new order
of things to the mind of the despotic but
philosophical monarch.t What a text full
of strange doctrines would have been con-
tained in the fact plainly stated, that both
companies represented the will of different
sections of a free thongh monarchieal
nation ;—that, indeed, “the whole of this
contest was only one division of the great
battle that agitated the state between tlic
tories and the whigs, of whom the former
favoured the old company, and the latter
the new.Ӥ
The ficree contention and excessive com-
petition of the rival associations, proved
almost equally injurious to both. The new
company, upon the first depression of their
stock in the market, had manifested an in-
clination to unite with the old body; but
thie latter held off, hoping to drive the enemy
out of the ficld; and they succeeded in obtain-
ing an act of parliament eontinuing tlicm as
a distinct corporation. The struggle, how-
ever, cost them dearly; and thir stock, in
these times of fluctuation and anxicty, varicd
in value between 300 and 37 per cent.||
The market was overladen, there being at
one time as many as sixty ships abroad in
India and returning. Great quantities of
Tndian-wrought silks, stuffs, and calicocs
were imported, and from their low price,
worn by all classes. The silk-weavers of
London became extremely tumultuous ; and
in 1697, attempted to seize the treasure at
the ast India-house.47 Order was restored
other kings.” A profound and comprehensive know-
ledge of the history of mankind; familiarity with the
origin of stales, their progress and decline; the
events, accidents, or errors, owing to which such
great changes and mighty revolutions have been
effected ;—these were subjects which Aurungzebe pro-
nounced to he of more importanee to a prince than
the possession “of great skill in grammar, and such
knowledge as belongs to a doctor of the law,” or
even proficiency in the difficult Arabic language,
which no one could hope to attain without “ten or
twelve years of close application.” This mighty
prince is certainly not the first who has lamented
the waste of the precious hours of youth “in the
dry, unprofitable, and never-ending task of learning
words :” yet. considering the importance attached by
Mussulmans to the power of reading the Koran in
the original tongue, it seems sirange that so zea-
lous a believer should have expressed himself thus
forcibly on that point.—(Brock’s Bernier, ii., 165-6-'7.)
€ Grant's Sketch of History of 2. I, Cy., 119.
|| Anderson's Origin of Commerce, ii., p. 43.
§, Idem, 633.
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p=
| aso
UNION OF RIVAL ENGLISH E. I. COMPANIES—17
for the time; but the discontents were with laid aside all separate views, and
renewed hy the augmented imports of the.
years 1688-9; and the loud complaints
from Spitalfields, Norwich, Canterbury, Co-
yentry, &c., of the detrimental effect on the
nation, occasioned by the nnmerons mann-
' facturers thrown out of employ, and likewise
of the largely increased exportation of sil-
ver,* succeeded in procuring the enactment
of a law prohibiting the nse in England or
sale, except for re-exportation, of silks
wrought, or calicoes printed in Persia,
China, or the East Indies, cither for apparel
or furniture, under a penalty of £200, after
Michaelmas, 1701; and a duty of fifteen
per cent. was soon afterwards imposed upon
munslins. These regulations materially re-
duced the value of the Eastern trade; and
probably helped to accelerate the union of the
two associations,—a measure strenuously
urged by King William, but not carried out
till after the accession of Anne. An in-
denture tripartite was entered into by the
queen and the rival companies in 1702, by
which it was agreed that a full and com-
plete nnion should take place at the termi-
nation of the ensuing seven years, the in-
termediate tme to be occupied in winding
up the separate concerns of each party.
The coalition took place before the lapse of
the stated interval, being hastened by the
alarm occasioned by the demand of goyern-
ment for the subscription of a new loan of
£1,200,000, without interest. The com-
panies, knowing from the experience of the
past, the danger of the present crisis, dreaded
_ the formation of a fresh body of adven-
turers, or renewed discussions on the sub-
ject of open trade with India. They forth-
* From 1698 to 1708 inclusive, the silver ex-
ported from England to the East Indies amounted to
£3,171,405; the gold to £128,229: total, £3,299,634,
or, on an average, £549,989 per ann. The East
India goods re-exported from England from 1698
to 1702 inelusive, were estimated at the value of
£2.558,934, or, on an average, £507,787 per ann.—
(Maepherson's Commerce, i., Introduction, p. xii.)
7 To equalise the shares of the two companies, it
was agreed that the old, or London company, should
purchase at par as much of the eapital of the new
or English company lent to government, as, added
to the £315,000 which they had already subscribed,
should equalise their respective portions. ‘The dead
stock of the London eompany was estimated at
£330,000; that of the English company at £70,000:
therefore, the latter paid the former £180,000 to
place the sharcs of this part of the eommon estate
on the same basis. ‘The assets or effeets of the Lon-
don company, in India, fell short of their debts; and
Lord Godolphin deereed that they should pay by
instalments to the United company the sum of |
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
agreed to furnish jointly the amount re-
quired. Their differences were submitted
to the arbitration of Sidney, Earl of Go-
dolphin, then lord high treasurer of England;
and an act was passed, in 1708, consti-
tuting them one corporate hody, under
the name of the United Company of Mer-
chanis trading to the East Indies, with
continuance only until the year 1726, and
then “to cease and determine, on three
=
08.
)
years’ notice and repayment by government |
of their capital stock of £3,200,000.”+
While this matter was in progress of
arrangement, the long-expected death of the | |
aged emperor took place, and was imme- | |
diately followed by the fierce war of suc-
cession, with equal anxiety anticipated by
the native and European inhabitants of
Hindoostan. When the news reached Surat,
the English president (Sir John Gayer),
anxious to transmit the intelligence to the
company, yet fearful of plainly stating cir-
cumstances which, in a pohtical crisis, might
either by their truth or falsehood expose |
the promulgator to danger, took a middle
course, by stating in an allegory easy to be
understood, “that the sun of this hemis-
phere had set, and that the star of the
second magnitude being under his meridian,
had taken his place; but that it was feared |
the star of the first magnitude, though
under a remoter meridian, would struggle
to exalt itself.’ t
The victory of Prince Manzim (the star
of the first magnitude) over his brothers,
Azim and Kaumbnksh, and his elevation to
the throne, have been already related (see
p- 154); as also the rapid decay of the once
£96,615: the English company, having their balance —
on the right side of the account, were to reccive
from the same fund the sum of £66,005. The debts
of both companies in Britain were ordained to be
discharged hefore Mareh, 1709; and as those of the
London body amounted to nearly £400,000, the
directors were empowered 10 call upon their pro-
prietors, by three several instalments, for the means
of liquidation, The £1,200,000 now advanced to
government, without interest, being added to the
previous sum of £2,000,000, constituted a loan of
£53,200,000, yielding interest at the rate of five per
eent. on the whole.—(Bruee, ii., 6835—639; 667—
679.) To assist them in raising the required loan, the
company were empowered to borrow, on bonds, to
the extent of £1,500,000 on their common scal, over
and above what they were legally authorised to do
before, and also to make calls of money from their
proprietors.—(Charters of i. T. Cy., pp. 2143 —367 ;_ |
Anderson, iii., 29.)—The company continued to bear
the title now assumed until the year 1833,
t Bruee’s Annals of E. I. Cy,, iii., 616.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
mighty fabrie of Mogul -power, which had
made pereeptible progress even hefore the
death of Aurungzebe.
Before proceeding to deseribe the growth
of Mnglish ascendaney, it may be need-
ful, for the sake of readers not conversant
with the sources from which the narrative of
European intercourse with India has been
derived, to notice the gricvous dearth of
native history, which has Jargely contributed
to render many ponderous tomes published
on Anglo-Indian affairs, almost as mn-
readable as a Blue-Book, ov the ledger of a
commercial firm.
Bruce is professedly compiled from the
reeords of the HW. 1, Cy.; but as he has very
judiciously thought fit to give an able, though
brief sketch of the general state of European
politics in successive reigns, it would have
been no less pertinent to the subject to
haye selected from the voluminous despatehes
of the Indian presidencics, various interest-
ing illustrations of the condition and eharac-
ter both of the Hindoo and Mohammedan
population. Such knowledge is useful even
ina purely commercial point of view; and
there is the greater cause for surprise that
it should have been negleeted by this writer,
beeause in almost the only instance in which
he deviates from his general rule by relatiug
an affray with the Ilindoos, oceasioned by
an act of wanton agegrcssion on the part of
the erews of two of the company’s vessels,
he introduces it as “one of those untoward
* These vessels had gone from Surat to Carwar to
bring off the pepper, &e. The crew of one of them
stole a eow and killed it, thus offending beth the
vights and prejudices of the Hindoos; being re-
sisted, they fired at and killed two native children of
rank, The factory was in danger of destruction,
and the agents of imprisonment; but proceedings
were suspended by reason of the impending battle
between the Mahratta rajah Sumbajee, and Aurung-
zebe. Bruce adds, that the Malabar trade reeeived
a severe eheck; which would be the natural result of
such an aggression, as the produce was ehicfly
procured through native merchants.—(ii., 545.)
+ -dnnals, iii., 658-9. Hamilton asserts, that a ter-
rible catastrophe oeeurred at Batceals about the year
1670, in consequence of a hull-dag belonging to the
English factory having killed a cow consecrated to
a pagoda or temple. The enraged priests, believing
the injury to have been intentional, raised a mob
and killed the whole of the English (eighteen in
number) while engaged in a hunting party.—(i. 280.) |
‘The same writer deserihes the neighbouring king-
dom of Canara as being generally governed by a
female sovereign; and he adds, “the subjects of this
country observe the laws so well, that rebbery or
murder are hardly heard of among them; and a
stranger may pass through the ¢ountry without
being asked where he is going, or what business he
has.” —(Vew fecount of Bast Lidies, i. 279.)
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ERECT Of HUROPEAN INTERCOURSE ON INDIAN CHARACTER, 23] iy
The valuable work of
events which strongly mark the necessity of
attention to the rights, as well as to the
prejudices of the natives.”* Nearly at the
elose of his third and last quarto volume,
he quotes the humiliating observation of
President Pitt (the grandfather of Lord
Chatham), that “when the Europeans first
settled in India, they were mightily admired
by the natives, believing they were as in-
nocent as themselves; but since, by their
example, they are grown yery crafty and
cautious ; and no people better understand
their own interest: so that it was casier to
effeet that in one year which you sha’nt do
now in a century; and the more obliging
your management, the more jealous they
are of you.’ t
This evidence of the effeet of communica-
tion between nominally Christian nations and
a people still unenlightened by the teaching
of the Gospel, is unhappily confirmed by the
common testimony borne by impartial wit-
nesses regarding the state of various native |
populations after their intereourse with Eu-
ropeans. ‘The bigotry of Romish commu-
nities, and the indifference (masked under
the name of toleration) of Protestants, had |
rendered the profession of Christianity in,
the mouth of the former a pretext for crnel
persecution, and in that of the latter little
better than an unmeaning sound; the
shameless immorality of Europeans in gene-
ral, giving cause for the Indiaus to doubt
whether they had really any religion at all.t |
{ The Dutch, from the first commencement of
their intercourse with the East Indies, made strenu-
ons efforts for the conversion of the natives of Java,
Formosa, Ceylon, and the Spice Islands generally,
hy the establishment of missions and schools, and
the translation of the Scriptures; but on the con-
tinent of India their stations were small and tem-
porary, and their spiritual labours partook of the
same character. The good and zealous minister,
Baldieus, visited the Dutch possessions of Tuticorin
and Negapatam on the Coromandel coast, in 1660,
and extended his visitation along the southern coast
of the continent as far as Coulan (Quilon.) He
describes the state of the Parawar, or east of fislier-
men eonverted by Franeis Xavier and other Romish
missionaries, as little else than a peenliar phase of
idolatry, their religion consisting in the mere out-
ward acts of worshipping images, counting beads,
and crossing themselves. ‘The Danes, afterwards so
| justly eclebrated for their earnest and well-directed
labours in the missionary field, made no efforts of
this description until they had been cighty years in
| India—that is, until 1706-7, Before tat time the
| impression they had endeayoured to make upon the
natives by the scrupulous integrity of their commer-
eial dealings, was greatly impaired by their irreligion
and immorality.—(Hlough, iii, 181.) With regard
to the English, the deseription given by Ferishta, at
the commencement of the 17th century, was pro-
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| Masters.
232 FIRST ENGLISH CHURCIT ERECTED IN INDIA, BY MASTERS—1680.
The E. I. Cy. followed the example too
generally shown by the government of Eng-
land throughout the seventeenth century,
excepting, perhaps, during the Protectorate,
They contented themselves with sending
out a few chaplains, not always well selected ;
and made no provision for the establishment
of places of worship, consecrated to the
decent celebration of the observances of
their common faith. The first Enghsh
church in India was erected in 1680, in
Fort St. George, Madras, for the use of
the factory, by the governor, Streynsham
This good and earnest man com-
pleted the buikling “without any aid or
countenance of the company in order
thereto.”’* In fact, the missionary spirit
intimately connected with the carhest colo-
nia] and commercial enterprises of the
nation had been swallowed up (at least for a
time) in the thirst for gain; and this cir-
cumstance is in itself a sufficient reason
‘for the disastrous condition to which the
iE. I. Cy. found themselves reduced. No
body of men, either in a private or public
capacity, ever yet (in popular phraseology)
“anade their ledger their Bible” with im-
punity; and the punishment of an erring
community is usually more perceptible than
that of an individual, for the evident reason
that the one has only a present existence,
while for the other there is a judgment to
come. We are all inclined to pass too
lightly over such facts as these: we do not
care to trace the workings of a superin-
tending Providence, checking by adversity,
or encouraging by prosperity, the every-day
concerns of 2 mercantile company ; never-
theless, the pith of the matter—the trne phi-
losophy of history—is in all cases the same.
The flagrant blunders made by men noted
for shrewdness and intrigue—the total failure
of their most cunningly-devised schemes, bear
daily witucss amongst us of the fallibility of
human judgment :—would that they taught
bably regarded by his countrymen as a correct
account of the protestant creed at its close; so little
effort had been made to set forth, in its truth and
purity, the doctrines of the reformed faith. The
Portuguese Jesnits, who were long in attendance
on the court of Akber, were very likely to have
accused their rivals of participation in the Nestorian
heresy (which they had made the pretext for perse-
euting the Syrian Christians on the Malabar coast);
otherwise it would he diflicult to aceount for some
of the assertions of Ferishta. ‘'Ihe persuasion of
this nation,” he writes, “is different from that of
other Europeans, particularly the Portugnese, with
whom they are in a state of constant warfare. They
axsert that Jesns was a mortal, and the prophet of
ns also the wisdom of implicit rehance on re-
vealed truth, and of constant obedience to its
pure and consistent dictates !
The century did not, however, close
without some promise of better things, at
least on the part of the English government ;
for the letters-patent of 1698 contain a
special proviso, binding the general company
to provide a chaplain on board every ship,
and for every garrison and superior factory,
in each of which a decent and convenient
place was to be set apart for divine service
ouly. These ministers were to learn Portu-
guese, and likewise the native language of
the country where they should reside, “the
better to enable them to instruct the Gentoos
that shall be servants or slaves of the said
company, or of theiragents in the Protestant
religion.”+ These provisions were, it is
evident, intended for the exclusive benefit
of British subjects. The duty of spreading
the Gospel among Indian populations was
one which England was slow to recognise.
Portugal, Spain, and France, Holland and
Denmark, ajl took precedence of her in this
great field; and it was not until after a
long and arduous struggle, that the advo-
cates of missionary exertion in our land
suceceded in obtaining the sanction of go-
yernment for their attempts to place before
the people of India those divinely-reyealed
truths, which must be either entirely disbe-
lieved, or else accepted as the only solid basis
whereon to establish that “ public virtue”
which is as necessary to the true greatness
of a nation, as integrity to the character of
an individual. The progress of Christianity
in India belongs, however, to a distinct
section of this work ; and its history, so far
as England is concerned, is far subsequent
to the present period, of which the chicf
interest hes in the succession of events im-
mediatcly precediug the struggle between
the French and English for political ascen-
dancy in Iindoostan,
God; that there is only one God, and that he is with-
out equal, and has no wife nor child,—according to
the helief of the Portuguese. The English have a
separate king, independent of the King of Portugal,
to whom they owe no allegianee; but, on the con-
trary, these two people put cach other to death
wheresoever they meet. At present, in consequence
of the interference of Jehangecr Padshah, they are
at peace with one another, thongh God only knows
how long they will consent to have fzetories in the
same town, and to live on terms of amity and friend-
ship with one another.”"—(Brigg’s Ferishéa, iv., 541.)
* Wough’s Christianity ox India, ii., 377.
+ Charters, Treaties, and Grants of E. E Cy.
(English and Indian), from 1601 to 1772.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Inpo- Kunovean Serrnemonvs iN tite
Wieurventu Century.—The death of Au-
rungzcbe and the junetion of the two com-
panies, mark the commencement of a new
epoch; before entering npon which it may be
useful to sketeh the position of the various
Muropean nations whose settlements and fae-
tories dotted the coast-lne of the continent
of India, On the western side of the great
peninsula, the Portuguese still retained pos-
_ which their improvement in naval tacties ren
session of the city of Goa; the fortresses of
Daman, Bassecin, and Choul; and of Din
in Guzerat ;* but the prestige of their
power was gone for ever: by land, the
Dutch, the Mogul, the Mahrattas, and their
old foc the zamorin of Calicut, plundered
them without mercy ; and from the scaward
they were harassed by the restless and
vengeful hostility of the Museat Arabs,
until the once haughty invaders were so
completely humbled, that the English presi-
dent and council at Surat, during thir
worst scason of depression, could find no
stronger terms in which to describe their
own degradation, than by declaring that
they hhad become “as despicable as the
Portuguese in India, or the Jews in Spain.’
The possessions of tur Duren were, for
the most part, conquests from the Portuguese.
On the Coromandel coast their chief scttle-
ment was that of Negapatam: in Bengal,
* Gemelli, quoted by Anderson, il, 6££—He
adds, that they had “the islands of Timor, Solor,
and Maeao subject to China; and in Africa, An-
gola, Sena, Sofala, Mozambique, and Mombas—many
in number, but of no great value.”
+ The Arabs expelled the Portuguese from Muscat
about the middle of the 17th eentury, and main-
tained almost incessant warfare against them for the
next fifty years, but did not molest other European
traders tll nearly the expiration of that period. In
1697, the Portuguese joined the King of Persia
against the Arabs, whereupon these latter divided
their fleet into two squadrons; sent one of them
to burn the lortuguese settlement at Mombas,
and employed the other in destroying the faetory
at Mangalore. ‘The Persian monarch offered the
English the same privileges conceded to them at
Gombroon for co-operation in the capture of Ormuz,
if they would now assist him in attacking Muscat.
The company’s troops and shipping were not in a
condition to comply with this request, as they were
otherwise inelined to do, and an evasive answer was
returned, ‘The suspicions of the Arabs were pro-
hably aroused by the negotiation; for they shortly
afterwards commenced hostilities against the English,
inereasingly disastrous; until, in the year 1701-5,
we find the court of the London company expressing
their determination, so soon as the war in Europe
should terminate, “to equip armed vessels to clear
the seas and to root out iat nest of pirates, the
Museat Arabs.”—slunads, iit., 557.
‘{ Bruee’s Annals of £. I. Cy,, iti., 307.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
INDIAN SETTLEMENTS OF THE DUTCID IN 1707. :
dered |
0
130
ra
they had posts or factories at Chinsura,
Hooghly, Cossimbazar, Dacca, Patna, and
other places: in Guzerat, a station at Surat
of considerable importance in a commercial
point of view; and dependent posts at Alme-
dabad,§ Agra,|| and Baroach., Cochin, Cran-
yanore, Conlan (Quilon), and Cananorc, on
the Malabar coast, were clogged with heavy
inilitary expenses, which greatly ontweighed
the profits of the trade connected with
them. As many as a thousand soldiers
were, for some years, maintained here,{
chiclly with the object of overawing the
Hindoo princes, who, though frequently eon-
quered, had never been completely sub-
jugated either by the Portuguese or the
Dutch; but on the contrary, were always
ready to take advantage of any symptom
of weakness on the part of their oppressors,
to put forth an unexpected amount of armed
hostility. The Malabar pepper is considered
the finest in India ; aud the Dutch, although
obliged to pay double the price for which
they eould obtain abundant supplies in
Bantam aud Jambee, made strong cllorts to
monopolise the market, but without effect.
They stigmatised the sale of pepper to other
nations as a contraband trade, and endea-
youred to blockade the ports of Malabar ; but
with so little effect, that they could not even
prevent the natives from maintaining an open
§ Founded in 1620, and abandoned in 1716.
|| Founded in 1618, and abandoned in 1744.
{| A great trade was at this period ecarricd on at —
Surat by Moorish, Armenian, and Arabian mer-
chants, with Persia, Moeha, Acheen, and elsewhere.
The English, Duteh, and Fieneh had establishments
here, under the proteetion of the Mohammedan go-
vernment. Execllent ships, costly but extremely
durable, were built of teak; and one of the resident
merchants (a wealthy and enterprising Moor) is said
to have possessed as many as fifteen or sixteen sail,
of from 100 to 400 tons burthen.— (Account of rade
of India; by Chartes Loekyer: London, 1711.) The
Duteh factory here proved the most advantageous of
any formed by them in India, and continued ex-
tremely lucrative until Bombay usurped the place
of Surat, and the dominaney of the English beeame
established. Admiral Stavorinus writes from ofticia!
documents, that the Duteh company, in the ten
years cnding 1698, gained, upon an average, a
sum of about 446,315 sterling, or about $50 per
cent. upon the finer spices; and on their other
goods a profit of £23,266, although only in the
proportion of about 59 per cent. on the prime
cost. Walentyn, an excellent authority, states the
gain of the Duteh at Surat, on various artieles, as
follows :—Upon cloves, 665; nutmegs, 1.153; mace,
718; copper in bars, 128; ditto in plates, 31; ben-
zoin, 40; gumlae, 34; quicksilver, 27; and vermil-
lion, 19: and he adds, that the clear profit of the
head factory amounted yearly to between six and
seven tons of gold, or from £55,000 to £64,000 ster- |
ling. (Quoted in Stavorinus’ Feyages, ili., 112—314.)
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|
234 POSITION OF DANES, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH IN INDIA—1707.
traffic with the notorious pirate Kidd. The | the immediate prohibition of this branch of
Dutch governor, writing in 1698, remarks
“that it is to be regretted the company
carried so much sail here in the beginning,
that they are now desirous of striking them,
in order to avoid being overset.”* The
Dutch committed the common error of
putting forth pretensions unjust in them-
selves, and maintainable only by force. The
attempt failed, and the means employed
produced disastrous consequences, ‘The re-
| duction of the land establishments, and the
breaking up of the fleet heretofore sta-
tioned on the coast, accompanied by the
avowed determination of no longer obstruct-
ing the navigation, were tokens of weakness
which the native princes were not likely to
view in the ght of voluntary concessions.
In 1701, war broke out with the zamorin,
| or Tamuri rajah, the existing represen-
tative of a dynasty which had for two cen-
turies formed a bulwark to India against
the mroads of European powers in this
direction ; and hostilities were carried on at
the epoch at which we are now arrived.t+
The efforts of tne Danes, based on a
very slender commercial capital, had not
prospered. In 1689, Tranquebar, their only
settlement of importance, was nearly wrested
from them by their territorial sovereign, the
rajah of Tanjore, in consequence of the in-
trigues of the Dutch; and was preserved to
its rightful owners solely by the armed in-
terference of an English detachment sent
to their relief from Madras, after the siege
had lasted six months.
Tne Frencn, as traders, were equally un-
fortunate with the Danes. The home mann-
facturers had become discontented on per-
ceiving the increasing use of gold and
silver brocades, and painted cottons. Like
their fellow-traders in England, they suc-
ceeded in procuring an edict (in 1687) for
* Stavorinus’ Voyages, iit., 238.
+ The Dutch had governments or factories in
Ceylon, in Java (where stood the fine city of Batavia,
called by its owners the Queen of the Eust), in Ma-
jacea, Amboyna, Banda, Ternate, Bantam, Siam,
Maeassar, ‘Tonquin, Japan, Gombroon (in the Per-
sian Gulf), with chicfships at Ispahan and Bussora.
At Arracao, they purehased rice and slaves; and they
had also many temporary stations in different parts
of Asia, which it would bi: needless 10 enumerate.
t Milburn’s Commerce, i., 384.
§ The Presipency or Bompay held command
ver the factories of Surat, Swally, and Baroach, of
Ahmedabad, Agra, and Lucknow (from which three
last. places the faetors had been temporarily with-
drawn): on the Jfalabar coast, they had the forts of
Carwar, Tellicherry (established hy permission of the
}tindoo rajah, about 1695), Anjengo (with the
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
commerce; and it was with considerable
difficulty that the company obtained per-
mission to dispose of their imports on hand,
or expected by the next ships. The sale of —
piece-goods even to foreigners was forbidden,
on the supposition that those of France would
be purchased instead; and a high duty was
laid on raw silk, then imported in consider-
able quantities. Under these discouraging
circumstances the trade languished ; and in
1693, received a fresh blow from the cap-
ture of Pondicherry (the chief French settle-
ment) by the Dutch. New walls were
raised, and the fortifications strengthened
by the victors ; but their labours proved ill-
directed ; for, upon the conclusion of the
peace in 1697, the place was decreed to be
restored to its former owners, with all its
additional defences, on payment of £5,000
to the Dutch government, for the expendi-
ture thus incurred. The French company
received orders from the king to take
measures to prevent the recapture of Pon-
dicherry, and frequent reinforcements were
sent there. The national treasury must
have furnished the funds ; for the finances of
the association were exhausted, and in 1708
they beeame absolutely bankrupt; but
Louis XIV., fearing that the trade to India
might otherwise entirely cease, staid all
prosecutions at law against them for debt,
and granted them permission to lease out
their privileges, upon the best terms they
could, to any private person who should be
able to adventure the necessary capital.
Arrangements were actually formed on this
basis with a M. Croizat, and afterwards
with some merchants of St. Malo.
The possessions of tne Wnonisn are
clearly set forth in the cnumeration of “dead
stock,” made by the two companies at the
time of their union.§ The central points
sanction of the ranee or queen of Attinga, accorded
at the same time, probably in both cases with a
view of procuring the aid of the Kuglish against
the aggressions of the Dutch), and the factory of
Calicut. On the Coromundet coast, the company
had establishments at Jinjee and Orissa; the fac-
tories depending on the Mapkas PREsTDENCY, the
city, and ort St. George, Fort St. David, Cudda-
lore, Porto Novo, Pettipolec, Masulipatam, Mada-
pollam, and Vizagapatam. ‘The factorics dependent
on the Presipency or CaLcurra, or Forr WIL-
LIAM, were—Balasore, Cossimbazar, Dacca, llooghly,
Malda, Rajmahal, and Patna. The above forts and
factories, with their stores and ammunition, together
with the rents and customs arising therefrom,
and the firmauns by right of which they were en-
joved, constituted the ‘dead stock” of the old or
Tanda company on the Indian continent. Some
i :
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|
MADRAS AT TILE
BEGINNING OF THLE EIGIPITEENTIL CENTURY. 235
were then, as now, formed by the three
presidencies of Bombay, Madras, and Cal-
cutta, the last of which was ereated in 1707.
They had at this time no dependence upon
one another; cach was absolute within its own
limits, and responsible only to the company
in England. The presidents were respec-
tively commanders-in-chief of the mili-
tary foree maintained within the limits
of their jurisdiction. The numbers com-
prised in the several garrisons is not stated :
but they were composed partly of recruits
sent ont from England; partly of deserters
' from other European settlements in India ;
, and also (at least at Bombay and Surat) of
‘Topasses—a name applied to the oflspring
of Portuguese and Indian parents, and also
given, though with little reason, to Hindoo
eonyerts to the Romish church. Natives of
purely Indian descent — Rajpoots for in-
stanee—were already, as has been uotiecd,
employed by the company in military ser-
viec, under the name of Sepoys, a corrup-
tion of Sipahi (soldier.) As yet little de-
sire had been shown to discipline them
after the Muropean custom. They used the
musket, but in other respects remained
armed and clothed aeeording to the eountry
usage, with sword and target, turban, cabay
or vest, and long drawers. Officers of their
own people held command over them, but
were eventually superseded by Englishmen.
Fort St. George (Madras), is deseribed
by a contemporary writer as “a port of the
greatest consequence to the E. I. Cy., for its
strength, wealth, and great returns made
yearly in calicoes and muslins.”* The citadel
or inner fort had four large bastions with
curtains, on which were Hrounied fifty-six
guns and a mortar; the western, or main
guard, was kept by aboni thirty soldiers; the
east by a corporal’s guard of six. The Ing-
lish town, or onter fort, was furnished with
“batterics, half-moons, and flankers, at
proper distances, whercon are about 150
of these posts had probably proved sources of ex-
penditure rather, than gain; Masulipatam, Pettipo-
lec, and Madapollam, for instance, are stated hy
Bruce, in 1695-'6, to have involved a dead loss of
above £100,000.—(-innals of FE. I, Cy., iii, 184.)
The London company’s further possessions were—
the island of St. Itelena: in Persia, a factory at
Gombroon, with the yearly rent of about £3,333,
still paid by the Persian monarch (see p. 208) ; and
trading posts at Shiraz and Ispahan. ak ay island
of Sumatra they had the settlements at York Fort,
Bencoolen, Indrapore, Priaman, Sillebar, Bencoolen
with dependent stations ; and also a factory at Ton-
quin. The dead stock of the new, or English com-
pany, for which they were to be allowed £70,000 in
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
guns and three mortars, mounted for de-
fence, besides thirty-two guus morc on the ont-
works, with eight field-picees.”” ‘The garrison
comprised 250 Enropeans, cach paid at the
|
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|
rate of ninety-one fanams, or £1 2s. Od. per |
month; and 200 topasses, at fifty or fifty-
two fanams a-inonth; with some twenty ex-
perienced Muropean gunners, at 100 fanams
a-month. The captains received fourteen,
ensigns ten, serjeants five pagodast monthly ;
and corporals received the same salary
as the artillerymen. The chief gunner of
the inner fort had fourteen, and of the
outer works twelve pagodas. About 200
peons, or native police, were constantly re-
tained; and the Portuguese portion of the
population were obliged to furnish a com-
pany or two of trained bands at their own
charge, on any disturbanee. The Black City
—that is, the native town, situated outside
the fort to the northward—was encom passed
with a thick, high brick wall, and fortified
after the modern fashion. Maqua Town,
where the Mnssulah{ boatmen live, lay to | |
the southward. The sway of the company
extended beyond these linuts; for they
owned scveral villages two or three miles
further in the conntry, sneh as Egmore,
New ‘Town, and Old Garden, which they
rented out to merehants or farmers for 1,100
pagodas per annum. ‘The “singular de-
corum observed by the free merchants, fac-
tors, servants, smd other inhabitants,” is
especially noticed by Lockyer, who adds, |
that the exeellent arrangements of Madras,
together with “ good fortifications, plenty of
guns, and much ammunition, render it 2
bugbear to the Moors, and a sanctuary to
the fortunate people living in it.’’§
By this aecount, it is evident that a
blessing had attended the Christian labours
of Streynsham Masters. Ilis church, as yet
the only building m India conseerated by
Englishmen to divine worship, is described
as a large and stately pile, adorned with |
the united funds, consisted of factories at Surat, inthe | |
Bay of Bengal, at Masulipatam, Madapollam, on the
island of Borneo, and on the island of Pulo Condorc,
(coast of Cochin China), with the stores and ammuni-
tion belonging to each.— } %de the “ Quingue Partite
Indenture,” in charters of £. I. Cy., pp. 316—3s44.
* Account of the Trade of India, by Charles
Lockyer, pp. 3-4; London, 1711.
+ A gold coin varying in value at-different times
from about nine to ten shillings.
{ The planks of the large and flat-bottomed. Mas-
sulah boats are sewn together with twine, which pre-
vents their starting even under the most violent
shocks. Their hire was then eighteen-pence a trip.
§ Account of Zrade, p. 15.
|
}
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NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
—
236 PROTESTANT ECCLESIASTICAL ESTABLISHMENT AT MADRAS.
eurious carved work, with very large win-
dows, and furnished with a fine altar, organ,
and other appurtenances usual to the most
complete edifices of its kind, with the ex-
ception of bells, which lad perhaps been
purposely omitted, on account of their in-
timate connexion with the superstitions of
the Brahminical creed. Two ministers were
attached to the chureh, in which services
were performed twice a-day. On Sunday,
the customary rites were “most strictly
observed,” and ‘eountry Protestants were
examined in the catechism.” oun
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NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
nite relicf of the uahob. While the treaty
was pending, a Rritish squadron with rein-
foreements had heen sent to India, under
Admiral Watson, aud the decided superiority
thus given to the English probably accele-
rated the arrangement of affairs. heir
services were now employed in the sup-
pression of the systematic piracy carried
on hy the Angria family for nearly fifty
years on the Malabar coast. The peishwa,
or ehicf minister of the Mahratta state,
viewed them in the hght of rebellious sub-
jects, and united with the English for their
suppression, Marly in 1755, the fort of
Severndroog, and the island of Bancoot,
were takeu by Commodore Jumes; and in
the following year, Watsou, in co-operation
with Clive (then just returned from England
with ithe appointment of governor of Fort
St. David), captured Gheria, the principal
larbonr and stronghold of the pirates.
The English and Mahrattas both coveted
this position: the tactics of the former
proved successful, Booty to the amount of
£150,000 sterling was obtained, and its dis-
tribution occasioned disputes of a very dis-
ereditable character between the sea and
land services. The partial biographer of
Clive endeavours to set forth his hero on
this, as on other occasions, as genecrons and
disinterested ; but few unprejudiced readers
will be inclined to acquit him of fully
sharing, what Sir John Malcolm himself
describes as “that spirit of plunder, and
that passion for the rapid accumulation of
wealth, which actuated all ranks.””—(i. 135.)
The scenc of Anglo-Indian politics is
about to change; the hostihtics on the
Coromandel coast scrving but as the pre-
Inde to the more important political trans-
actions of which the Calcutta presidency
became the centre.
War or Buncat.— Ali Verdi Khan,
subahdar or viccroy of the provinces of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, diced in 1756,
Though in name a delegate of the Mogul
emperor, he had long been virtually inde-
pendent, and his power recognised as herc-
ditary. In the absence of any nearer relative,
this important goverament devolved on his
grandson, Mirza Mahmood, a prince better
known by his title ot Surajah Dowlah.
Ali Verdi had no sons: his three daughters
marricd their cousins; aud this youth, the
* Siyar ub Mutakherin, i, 646,
+ The son of Mohammed Ali made this remark as
a reason for employing Hindoo officials in preference
to his feilow NEN oee whom, he asserted, were like
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
CHARACTER OF SURAJATL bow LAW—a.n, 1756, rill
offspring of one of these alliances, {rom his
cradle vemarkable for extraordinary beauty,
heeame the object of excessive fondness on
the part of his grandfather. Uurestrained
indulgence took the plaec of earcful train-
ing, and deepened the defects of a fechle iu-
telleet and a capricious disposition. ‘To the
vices incident to the cnervating atmosphere
of a seraglio, he is said to have added a
tendency for socicty of the most degrading
character; and as few of the courticrs chose
to risk the displeasure of their future ford,
with little chanee of any effectual inter-
ferenee on the part of their present ruler,
Surajah Dowlah was suffered to carry ou a
career of which even the annals of castern
despotism afford few cxamples. A Mo-
hammedan writer emphatically declares,
that “le carried defilement wherever he
went,” and became so gencrally detested,
that people, on mecting him by chance,
used to say, “ God save us from him !”’+ The
accession to irresponsible power of a youth
of this character, could not fail to inspire a
gencral fecling of appreliension, The Eng-
lish had special cause for alarm, inasmuelt
as the new ruler entertained strong preju-
dices in their disfavour. Some authorities
state that Ali Verdi Khan, shortly before |
his death, had advised his destined successor
to pnt down the growing military power of
this nation; more probably he had urged
the pursuance of his own gainful and con-
ciliatory policy of exacting, at different
times and occasions, certain contributions
from all European scttlements under his
sway, taking care, at the same time, not to
drive them into a coalition against his
authority, or by any exorbitant demand to
injure his permanent revenues by rendering
their commerce wnremunerative. Policy of
this character was far beyend the compre-
lension of Surajah Dowlah. The plodding
traders of Calcutta were, in his eves, not as
in reality agents and factors of a far dis- |
tant association, but men of cnormous
private wealth, hke the Hindoo soucars or
bankers, whom one of his countrymen de-
clared resembled sponges, which gathered
all that came in their way, but returned all
at the first pressure.t This pressure the |
English were now to receive: a pretext was
easily found. The impending outbreak of
European war would, it was evident, lcad
|
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sieves—* much of what wes poured in, went tarough.” |
--(Maleolm’s Zi%e of Lord Clive, i., 222.) ;
{ The one wife of Ali Verdi han steadily befriended
the English.—(Holwell's Historica! Events, p. 176.)
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NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
a~9
low
SURAJAH DOWLAH BESIEGES CALCUTTA— and whose fidelity was
| evinced by the warnings he repeatedly gave
the English authoritics of the impending
danger, and his entreaties that they would
take up their abode in the Balla Ilissar,
licanmcacied forcibly against the immo-
| yality of the officers, and pointed out the
| * News had arrived at Cabool, in the course of the
| summer, which greatly relieved the apprehensions of
Macnaghten and Burnes, both of whom had a
| tendency to look out for dangers from afar, rather
than guard against those by which they were imme-
| diately surrounded. he raising of the siege of
Herat had only temporarily allayed their fears of
Russian aggression, which were soon aroused by the
dispatch of a powerful foree, under Gencral Peroffski,
ostensibly directed against the man-stealing, slave-
holding principality of Khiva, but it was belicved, in-
tended to act offensively against the Mnglish. What-
ever the truc design may have been, it was frus-
trated by the intense cold and inaccessible character
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ENGLISH IN AFGHANISTAN—1841,.
indignation which it excited among his
countrymen. “TI told the envoy,” writes |
the Shah to Lord Anckland, January, 1842, |
“what was going on, and was not listened |
to. IJ told him that complaints were daily
made to me of Afghan women being taken
to Burnes’ moonshee (Mohun Lal), and of
their drinking wine at his house, and of
women being taken to the chaonce, and of |
my having witnessed it.”{ Kaye states, “ithe
scandal was open, undisguised, notorious.
Redress was not to be obtained. The evil
was not in course of suppression. It went
on till it beeame intolerable; and the in-
jured then began to see that the only
remedy was in their own hands.’’§
That remedy was the death of the leading
offender, and the expulsion of the English
from Afghanistan. Warnings of various
kinds were not wanting; but they passed
unheeded. The weck fixed for the depar-
ture of the envoy arrived, and preparations
were made for his journey, and for the
comfort of his suceessor in offiec, and of
the other functionaries during the coming
winter, which was expected to pass like the
two former ones, in a suecession of pastimes,
including shooting, card-playing, drinking, ||
and various amusements, innocent or other-
wise, according to the tastes and habits of
those concerned. On the evening of the
Ist November, 1841, Burnes formally con-
gratulated Maenaghten on his approach-
ing departure during a period of profound
tranquillity. At that very time a party of
chicfs were assembled close at hand dis-
cussing in full conclave the means of
redressing their national and individual
wrongs. At daybreak on the following
morning, Burnes was aroused by the mes-
sage of a friendly Afghan, informing him of
approaching dauger, and bidding him quit
the city and seck safety in the Balla Hissar |
or the cantonments, The vizier of Shah
Soojah followed on the same errand, but all
in vain; the doomed man sent to ask muili-
of the country, which, together with pestilence,
nearly destroyed the Russian army, and compelled
Peroffski to turn back without reaching Khiva. :
+ Kaye, i., 583. 4 Idem, ii., 8364. § Idem, i., 615. |
|| Dost Mohammed prohibited the sale of a fiery
spirit distilled from the grape. The English restored
the Armenian manufacturers to full employment.
q Jt is asserted, that on the same day, intelligence
so clear and full of a hostile confederacy had heen
given to Burnes, that he exclaimed the time had come |
for the British to leave the country. Burnes was
impulsive, vacillating, ambitious, snd unprincipled,
It is possible that he deceived himself sometimes :
it is certain that he constantly misled Maenaghten.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
|
. six of his assailants before
|
[a
But in vain;
MASSACRE OF TILE BROTILERS BU
tary support, and niche in remaining in
his own abode, which adjoined that of Cap-
tain Jolson, paymaster of the Shah’s
forees, ‘This officer was absent in canton-
ments, but the treasury was under the care
of the usual scpoy guard, and they were
ready and even desirous to fire on the in-
surgents, Burnes refused to give the neccs-
sary orders, in the hope of reeciving speedy
succour; meanwhile the crowd of stragglers
grew into an infuriated mob, and his at-
tempted harangue from the balcony was
silenced by loud clamours and reproaches,
Two offiecrs had slept that night in the
house of Sir Alexander: one of them, Licu-
tenant Broadfoot, prepared to scll his life
dearly, and it is asserted, slew no less than
a ball struck
lim to the ground a corpse; the other,
Licutenant Charles Burnes, remained beside
his brother while the latter offered redress
of grievances, and a heavy rausom to the
populace as the price of their joint lives.
the outraged Afghans loved
vengeance better than gold; and after setting
fire to the stables, a party of them burst
into the garden, where they were fired upon
by the sepoys under Lieutenant Burnes.
Sir Alexander disguised himself in native
attire, and strove to escape, hut was recog-
nised, or rather betrayed by the Cash-
merian who had indueed him to make the
attempt. A fearful shout arose from the
party in the garden on discovering his pre-
sence—‘ This is Seeunder (Alexander)
Burnes!” and in a few moments both
brothers were cut to picees by Afghan
knives. ‘The scpoys in charge of the trea-
sury fought desperately, and surrendered
their charge only with their lives. Mas-
sacre followed pillage; every man, woman,
znd child (lindoo and Afghan) found in the
two English dwellings perished :* finally,
the buildings were fired; and all this with
6,000 British troops within half-an-hour’s
march of the city. The only cnergetic
attempt made to check the insurrectionary
movement emanated from the Shah, and
was performed by onc of his sons; but it
proved unsuccessful, and the British autho-
rities displayed an apathy quite inexplicable,
even supposing the outbreak to have been
directly occasioned by the ill conduct of its
ehief victim. General Elphinstone, the
commander-in-chicf, was an officer of high
character, and of brave and kindly bearing;
* Moonshee Mohun Lal, who did “the dirty work of
the British diplomatists,” made his escape.—(Kaye.)
hal
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
RNES AND LiINUT. BROADFOOT,
but inercasing oe infirmities preeed
heavily on him; and before the catastrophe
he had applied for his recall from Afghan-
istan, where, indeed, he onght never to have
been sent. Between him and Macnaghten
no sympathy existed: they could not under-
stand cach other, and never acted in con-
cert. The one was despondent and procras-
tinating, the other hopeful and energetic,
but too much given to diplomacy. ‘The
consequence of this tendency was the adop-
tion of various compromising measures when
the occasion loudly called for the most
active and straightforward policy. Post
after post was captured from the British in
the immediate vicinity of Cabool, and it
soon became evident that the out-stations
were in extreme peril; for the insurrection,
from heing local, speedily became general.
The “frightful extent” of the cantonments
(erected before Elphinstone’s arrival), the
loss of a fort four hundred yards distant,
in which the commissariat storcs had been
most improvidently placed, together with the
deficiency of artillery, so disheartened and
unnerved the general, that he suffered day
after day to pass withont any decisive cffort
to gain possession of the city, and began to
urge ou Macnaghten the propricty of
making terms with the enemy. ‘The king
remained shut up in the Balla Hissar, “like
grain betwcen two millstones.” Ile was a
man of advanced age and weak purpose, and
the hostility of his subjects being avowedly
directed against the Feringhces, he strove
to keep his crown upon his head, and hig
head upon his shoulders, by a trimming
policy, which rendered him an object of
distrust to both parties, and cost him cven-
tually life as well as honour. Avance had
grown on him, and he beheld with extreme
annoyance the sums of money lavished by
the British envoy in the futile attempt to
buy off the more influcutial of the confede-
rate chiefs. The nrgent solicitations of
Elphinstone, the growing diffienlty of ob-
taining supplies for the troops, the nnsatis-
factory results of daily petty hostilities, and
the non-arrival of the reinforeements of men
and money solicited by Macnaghten from
Mindoostan, at length induced him to offer
to evacuate Afghanistan on honourable
terms. ‘The tone adopted by the chicfs was
so arrogant and oficusive, that the confer-
ence came to an abrupt termination; both
parties being resolved to resume hostilities
sooncr than abate their respective preten-
sions. During the interview a strange
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ie
=
secne took place outside the eantonments.
Thinking that a treaty of peace was being
coneluded by their leaders, the British and
Afghan soldiery gave vent to their joy in
mutual congratulations. The Europeans
lent over the low walls (misnamed defences),
conversing familiarly with their late foes,
and even went out unarmed among them,
and thankfully aecepted presents of vege-
tables. The result of the meeting between
the envoy and the chiefs was the renewal of
' strife, and the men whose hands had been
so lately joined in friendly greetings, were
again called on to shed eaeh other’s blood
for the honour of their respective countries.
The English troops showed so little inclina-
tion for the work, that Maenaghtan angrily
designated them a ‘“paek of despieable
cowards,” and was soon compelled to reopen
his negotiations with the enemy. Affairs
were in this precarious condition when
Akber Khan returned to Cabool, after more
than two years of exile and suffering. His
reappearance caused no additional anxiety
to the beleagured English; on the contrary,
the fact that the ladies of the family
of the young Barukzye were, with his
father, prisoners in Hindoostan, inspired a
hope that he might be made the means of
procuring favourable terms from the hostile
leaders who, on their part, weleomed the
return of the favourite son of the Dost with
extreme delight. Akber (styled by Roebuck
the “Wallace of Cabool’’) was, beyond
doubt, a favourable specimen of an Afghan
chief, strikingly handsome in face and
figure, full of life and energy, joyous in
peace, fearless in war, freedom-loving, deeply
attached to his father and his country, sus-
ceptible of generous impulses, but unedu-
cated and destitute of self-control. For
some time he took no leading part against
the English, and neither aided nor opposed
the dominant party in formally sctting aside
the authority of Shah Soojah, and proelaim-
ing as king in his stead the Nawab Moham-
med Zemaun Khan, a cousin of the late
Cabool chief. The selection was fortunate
for the English, the Nawab being a humane
and hononrable man, well inclined to grant
them acceptable terms of evacuation ; and his
turbulent and quarrelsome adherents were,
after miueli discussion, induced to sign a
treaty, the stipulations of which, mutual dis-
trust prevented from being fulfilled by either
party. The English consented to sur-
render the fortresses they still retained in
Afghanistan, and their cannon, on con-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ea: eos
dition of receiving a supply of heasts of -
burden from the enemy, to facilitate their
march. Shah Soojah was to be allowed to
return with them or to remain in Cabool,
with the miserable stipend of a lac of rnpees
per annnm; and one moment he resolved
on aecompanying the retreating army, while
the next he declared it his intention to
remain where he was, and wait a new turn
of events. In either mood, he deelaimed,
with reason, against the folly of his allies
in divesting themselves of the means of
defenee, asking indignantly whether any
people in the world ever before gave their
enemies the means of killing them? ‘The
officers in charge of Candahar and Jellala-
bad (Nott and Sale) took the same view of
the case; and, arguing that the order of sur-
render must have been foreibly extorted
from General Elphinstone, positively re-
fused to abandon their positions. ‘The treaty
was thus placed in abeyance, and the troops
in cantonment lived on from day to day,
frittering away their resources, and growing
hourly more desponding ; while Macnaghten,
Elphinstone, and the sccond in command,
Brigadier Shelton, passed the precious
hours in angry discussion. The ill-health
of the general, increased by a painful wound
caused by a musket-ball, obliged him to
delegate many duties to Shelton, an officer
of great personal eourage, but overbearing
and prejudiced, with the especial defect of
being unable to sympathise with the suffer-
ings, or appreciate the noble devotion of the
mueh-tried native troops. Vhe civilian is said
to have been the truest soldier in the camp;
but he had no confidence in his colleagues,
and his own powers of mind and body were
fast sinking beneath the load of anxiety
which had so suddenly banished the delusion
(sedulously cherished by the unhappy Burnes
to the last day of his life) of the tranquil
submission of Afghanistan to a foreign
yoke. Never had day-dreamer a more tervi-
ble awakening. Incensed by the refiisal of
the holders of inferior posts to obey his
orders, and by the non-fulfilment of the
promises made by the Barukzye ehiefs of
carriage cattle, Maenaghten, chafed almost
to madness, was ready to follow any igais
fatuus that should present a hope of eseape
for himself and the 16,000 men whose lives
trembled in the balanee. Although osten-
sibly bound by treaty with the Barukzyes,
he was ready to side with Doorani or
Populzye, Khilji or Kuzzilbash, or, in a
word, to join any native faetion able to
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440 ENGLISH FORCE BELEAGUERED IN CABOOL CANTONMENTS—1841, |
ee
MURDER OF SIR W. MACNAGHTVEN AND CAPTAIN TREVOR—1811. 411
afford eordial co-operation. In this mood
he lent a willing car to a communieation
made to him on the evening of 22nd Dec.,
1841. The proposal was that Akber and
the Khiljies should unite with the British
for the seizure of the person of Ameen-
oollah Khan, a leading Barukzye eluef, and
a party to the late agreement, whose head,
for a certain sum of money, would be laid
at the feet of the envoy. Flappily for his
own honour and that of his country, Mae-
naghten rejeeted the proposition so far as
the life of the chief was econecrned,* but
was prepared to aid in his capture without
the preliminary measure of declaring the
treaty void. The envoy gave a written
promise for the evacuation of Afghanistan in
the eoming spring; Shahi Soojah was to be
left behind, with Akber for his vizier; and
the representative of the British govern-
ment further guaranteed to reward the ser-
viees of Akber by an annuity of £40,000
a-year, and a bonus of uo less than £300,000.
Ou the following morning Maenaghten sent
for the officers of his staff (Capts. Lawrence,
Trevor, and Mackenzie), and, in an excited
but determined tone, bade them aecompany
him to a conference with Akber: lastly,
he informed the general of lis intentions,
desiving that two regiments might be got
ready for service, and, ta some extent, ex-
plaining the matter in hand. Elphinstone
asked what part Nawab Zemaun Khan, and
other leading Barukzyes, were cxpected to
take? “ None,” was the reply; “ they are
not in the plot.” The old general was sern-
pulously honest, and the word grated on his|
ear. But Macnaghten would listen to
neither remonstranee nor entreaty. Impa-
tiently turning aside from the feeble but
chivalrous veteran, he exelaimcd—“I under-
stand these things better than you;” and rode
off to the fatal interview,—not, however,
_ without some misgiving as to its result; for
he declared to lis companions, that come
what would, a thousand deaths were prefer-
able to the life he had of late been leading.
‘The meeting commenced in apparent cour-
tesy; Maenaghten offered Akber a noble
Arab horse, which the young chief aeeepted
with thanks, at the same time acknowledg-
* The same right principle had not been inva-
riably adhered to during the Afghan war, and the
ehiefs had good grounds for suspecting that blood-
money had been offered for their lives. John
Conolly (one of three brothers who followed the for-
tunes of their uncle, Sir W. Macnaghten, and like
him, never lived to return to India), addressed from
tne Baila Ilissar repeated injunctions to Mohun Lal,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ing the gift of a pair of double-barrelled
pistols, sent on the previous day, which
he wore at his girdle. The whole party,
English and Afghans, dismonnted, and
scated themselves on cloths spread on some
snow-clad hillocks, near the Cabool river,
and about 600 yards from the eantonments.
Maenaghten stretehed himself at full length
on the bank; Trevor and Mackenzie seated
themselves beside him; but Lawrenee knelt
on one knee, ready for action. There was
abundant eause for suspicion: the presence
of a brother of Ameen-oollah, the exeited
and eager manner of the Afghans, and the
uumbers gathering round the English, drew
from Lawrenee and Maekenzic a remark
that such intrusion was not consistent with
a private conference. “ They are all in the
seerct,” said Akber; and, as he spoke, the
envoy and his companions were violently
seized from behind. Resistance was hope-
less: their slender escort of sixteen men
galloped back to cantonments to avoid
being slain, save one who perished nobly in
attempting to join his masters; the tliree
attachés were made prisoners; but Mae-
naghten eommeneed a desperate struggle
with Akber Khan, and a ery being raised
that the troops were marching to the reseue,
the young Barukzye, in extreme excitement,
drew a pistol from his girdle, and shot the
donor throngh the body. A party of fanati-
eal Ghazees eame up, flung themselves on
the fallen envoy, and haeked him to picees
with their knives. Trevor slipped from the
horse of the chief who was bearing him away
eaptive, and shared the fate of his leader;
and the other two officers were saved with
difficulty by Akber Khan, who, remorseful
for his late aet, “drew his sword and laid
about him right manfully”’+ for the defenee
of the prisoners against the infuriated erowd.
While the mangled remains of the victims
were being paraded through the streets and
great bazaar of the city, the military
leaders remained in their nsual apathetic
state; nor was it until the morrow that
authentic information was reecived of the
catastrophe. Major Eldred Pottinger, on
whom the office of politieal agent devolved,
entreated the authorities assembled in
to offer from ten to fifteen thousand rupees for the
heads of certain leading chiefs; and, in lhe eases of
Abdonilah Khan and Meer Musjedec, the rewards
were actually claimed hut not accorded; nor do the
offers of Conolly appear to have heen made with the
concurrence or even cognizance of Macnaghten, much
less with that of Elphinstone.—(Kaye, ii. 57-104.)
+ Capt. Mackenzie's words.—(Lt. Eyre’s Journal.)
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442 FATAL RETREAT OF ENGLISH TROOPS FROM CABOOL—JAN., 1841.
council, either to take refuge in the Balla
Hissar, or endeavonr to forcc a way to Jel-
lalabad, and there remain until the arrival
of reinforcements from India, tidings of
which arrived within two days of the mas-
sacre. But lis arguments were not re-
garded, and new terms were concluded, by
which the representatives of the Indian
government engaged to abandon all their
forts, surrender their guns, evacuate
and on the 16th of September, the |
The next day Sir Richmond |
joyfully pursued their route, till, on the 20th, |
Sir Robert |
Sale, eame galloping on to embrace his wife —
The various Afghan ehiefs, whose .
blood-feuds and factious dissension had pre- |
vented any combined action, now earnestly —
vant, still remain to attest the patience in adversity of |
Stoddart, in a moment
making a profession of helief in the false prophet; |
emaciated |
PROCEEDINGS OF TILE “ARMY OF RETRIBUTION” —1842.
and bore testimony to the good treatment
they had received from the nabob, Zemaun
Shah, The “ guests” of Alcber Khan told the
same tale; and Colonel Palmer and Mohun
Lal* were almost the only complainants ;—
the one having fallen into the hands of the
instigator of the murder of Shah Soojah, the
unworthy son of Nawab Zemaun Khan; the
| other having provoked personal vengeance
hy repeated offers of blood-money for the
heads of the leading Barukzyes. ‘The prin-
_ cipal Cabool leaders proposed that a younger
| invaders, but tm vain.
son of the late king’s, named Shahpoor (the
son of a Populaye lady of high rank), should
be placed on the throne; and to this the
British authorities consented. The object
of the proposers was not accomplished; they
hoped to turn away the vengeanec of the
The military leaders
pronounced that the destruction of the
fortresses of Ghuznee, Jellalabad, Candahar,
Khelat-i-Khilji,t Al-Musjid, and imany
others of inferior note,—the saerifice of
thousands of villagers armed and unarmed,
the wanton destruction of the beautiful fruit-
trees (which an Afghan loves as a Katffir
does cattle, or an Arab his steed), with
other atrocities almost inseparable from the
mareh of an “army of retribution,” were all
too trifling to convey a fitting impression of
the wrath of the British nation at the defeat,
disgrace, and ruin which had attended its
abortive attempt at the military occupation
of Afghanistan. It is idle to talk of the
savage ferocity{ of the Khiljies, as dis-
played in the horrible January massacre,
siuec that very massacre had been wantonly
provoked. ‘The English originally entered
those fatal passes as foes; they marehed on,
* Moonshee Mohun Lal was educated at the
Nelhi eollege, where the experiment of imparting
seeular education, without any religious leaven, was
heing tried by the British government. The same
system is now in foree throughout India. Mohun
| J.al was one of its first-fruits, and his eleverly-written
work on Cabool is well worthy of the attention of
all interested in tracing the eflects of purely seeular
instruetion. Shahamet Ali (author of the Sikhs and
alfghans), the fellow-student of Mohun Lal, was a
diflerent charaeter, and not a Hindoo, but a Mo-
hammedan. His new acquirements were not, there-
fore, likely to have the effeet of producing the same
flippaney and seepticism which was almost sure to
he oveasioned by proving to sueh men as Mohun
Lal, that moder Brahminism was the offspring of
superstition and ignorance, without ineculealing a
hnowledge of those doctrines which Christians hold
lo be the unerring rule of life, the only wisdom.
* Kaye. il, 699, Khelat-i-Khilji, or “the Khilji
Fort,” situated between Candahar and Ghuznee,
4A7
in the pride of conquerors, to rivet a rejected
yoke on the neck of a free, though most
turbulent nation: their discipline and union
were at first irresistible ; yet subsequently,
strife and incapaeity delivered them over into
the hands of their self-made enemics. ‘They
had (to use an Orientalism) gone out to
hunt deer, and roused tigers. What wonder
that the incensed people, heated with recent ,
wrougs, should crush with merciless grasp
the foe in his hour of weakness, nnder |
whose iron heel they had been trampled on —
so recently. It was a base and cruel thing
to slay the retreating legions; but have
civilised nations—France and England, for
instanee—never done worse things in Africa
or the Indies, and vindicated them on the
plea of state necessity? The defeated in-
vaders fell with weapons in their hands:
they fought to the last—at a heavy disad-
vantage, it is trne; but still they did fight ;
and the physical obstacles which facilitated
their overthrow, surely could not make thie |
difference between the combatants greater
than that whieh has enabled nations ac-
quainted with the use of cannon to reduce
to slavery or deprive of their land less-in-
formed people.
The Knglish refused to surrender, and |
paid by death the penalty of defeat, which
would, in all probability, have beeu inflicted
by them in a similar case. The captives
and hostages were, generally, remarkably
well used ; even the little children who fell
into the power of the Khiljies were volun-
tarily restored to their parents. §
Yet now the military authorities, not con-
tent with the misery wrought and suffered in
Afghanistan, || gravely deliberated on the most
eral Willshire in November, 1839, and in the de-
fence of which the Belooehee chief, Mehrab Khan,
with hundreds of his vassals, perished. Several
women were slain to prevent their falling into the
hands of the enemy: others fled on foot with their
infants.
t The author of one of the numerous Narratives
of the war, relates an anecdote of an Afghan boy of
six years old, being found by an English soldier
striving to deeapitate the corpse of a eolour-sergeant
who had fallen some time before when Pollock
fought his way through the Khyber Pass. The
soldier eame behind the child, “coolly took him up
on his bayonet, and threw him over the cliff.”
Lieut. Greenwood narrates this incident in “the
war of retribution” as evidenee of .4yyhan fero-
eity.—(176.)
§ The daughter of Captain Anderson, and the son ,
of Captain Boyd, fell into the hands of the Afghans
in the Boothauk Dass.
|| Lord Brougham sternly denounced the destrue-
; must not be eonfounded with the famous Khelat-i- | tion of the “hundred gardens” of Cabogi, by “ our
Nuseer near the Bolan Vass, taken by Major-gen- | ineendiary generals.”
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ee
4
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
448
eflicient mode of perpetuating in the minds
of the Cabool chiefs the memory of deeds
which all parties might have been glad to
bury in oblivion. The peaceable inhabitants
of the city had been induced to return and
resume their occupations; and when they
beheld the son of Shah Soojah on the
throne, and the English in daily intercourse
with the leading chiefs, and making avowed
preparations for final departure, they might
well think that the worst was over. But it
was yet to come. General Pollock con-
sidered the death of the envoy still un-
avenged, and resolved on the total destruc-
tion of the Great Bazaar and the Mosque.
These orders were executed, but with dif_-
culty, owing to the massiveness of these
| magnificent buildings, which it was found
impossible to destroy in any reasonable
time without the use of gunpowder. As
might have been expected, the victorious
soldiery and licentious camp followers did
not content themselves with fulfilling their
destructive commission, but rushed into the
streets of the city, applied the firebrand
to the houses, and pillaged the shops; so
that above four or five thousand people (in-
cluding many Hindoos who had been enticed
into the town by express promises of protec-
_ tion) were reduced to utter ruin. The ex-
, cesses committed during the last three days
of British supremacy in Cabool, were far
more disgraceful to the character of Eng-
land, as a Christian nation, than the expnl-
sion and extermination of the ill-fated troops
to her military reputation.
Popular feeling, both in India and in
England, was strongly expressed against
the needless injury done to the Afghans by
the razing of the Great Bazaar, and espe-
| | cially against the extensive destruction of
| trees, by order of the commander-in-chief,
by deeply ringing the bark, and leaving
them to perish. Lord Ellenborough ap-
pears to have regretted these outrages; but
this and all other drawbacks were for the
time forgotten in the grand display with
which he prepared to welcome the return-
ing army. ‘The homeward march com-
menced on the 12th of October, and proved
singularly peaceful and uneventful. The
old blind king, Zemaun Shah, with his
nephew Futteh Jung, and the chief part of
the family of the late Shah Soojah, accom-
* Kaye, ii, 669. Among other authorities ex-
_ | emined, in writing the above sketeh of the Afghan
war, may be named Eyre’s Cubool, Wavelock’s Nar-
| radive, Dennie’s Campaigns, Outram’s Rough Notes,
DESTRUCTION OF CABOOL BAZAAR AND MOSQUE—1842.
j panied the troops. The gates of Somnauth
were not forgotten; and the governor-gen- |
eral gave vent to his delight at their at-
tainment in a proclamation, in which he
declared the insult of 800 years to be at
length avenged, and desired his “ brothers
and friends,” the princes and chiefs of
Sirhind, Rajwarra, Malwa, and Guzerat, to
convey the “glorious trophy of successful
war” with all honour through their respec-
tive territories, to the restored idolatrous
temple of Somnauth.
For this strange “song of triumph,” as
the Duke of Wellington styled the effusion,
Lord Eijlenborough may perhaps be excused,
in remembrance of the honest and manly
recantation of error which he published on
behalf of the Indian government on the 1st
of Octoher, 1842, when directing the com-
plete evacuation of Afghanistan,—this an-
nouncement being made from Simla pre-
cisely four years after the famous warlike
manifesto of Lord Auckland. The whole
of the Afghan captives were released. Dost
Mohammed returned to Cabool to take
possession of the throne vacated by the
flight of Shahpoor immediately after the
departure of the British force; Akber joy-
fully welcomed home his father and family ;
the Persians again besieged Herat; and all
things returned to much the same position
they occupied before thousands of lives (in-
cluding that of the forsaken Shah) and about
fifteen million of money had been wasted, in
an abortive attempt at unauthorised inter-
ference. The only change effected was, that
instead of respect and admiration, the Af-
ghans (generally, though perhaps not justly,
considered an nnforgiving race) learned to |
entertain towards their powerful neighbours
emotions of fear and aversion, excited by
the galling memories inseparably connected
with the march of a desolating army,
whose traces were left everywhere, “from
Candahar to Cabool, from Cabool to
Peshawur.”’*
The annexation of Sinde—the next event
in Anglo-Indian history—has becn termed
by its chief promoter “the tail of the Afghan
storm.” Such is the light in which Sir
Charles Napier avowedly desires to place it;
and his brother, General William Napier, in
his account of the Conquest of Sinde, plainly
declarcs the open encroachment on the in-
Hough’s British at Cabool, Fane’s Five Years in
India, Osborne's Court of Runjeet Sing, Taylor's
Scenes, Nash’s Afyhanistun, Barr’s Cabool, Burnes’
Cabool, Allen’s Diary, Yhornton’s India.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ORIGIN AND POSITION OF THE AMEERS OF SINDE—1771 to 1838. 449
depeudence of the Ameers, made by order of
fuord Auekland, to have been a measure of
‘which “it is impossible to mistake or to
deny the injustice.’ Major (now Col.) Out-
ram, the politieal Resident at Hyderabad, to
some extent defends the proecedings which,
though occasionally under protest, he was
instrumental in carrying throngh; and
brings forward a considerable body of evi-
deuce to prove that Sir Charles Napier,
when vested with complete military and
diplomatic authority in Sinde, while de-
nouucing the unauthorised aggression com-
mitted by Lord Auckland, used the despotic
power vested in him by Lord Elleuborough
to sap the resources of the Ameers, and then
drive them to desperation ; the results being
their ruin, the annexation to British India
of a fertile and valuable boundary province,
and the gain to the invading army of
prize-money to an cnormous extent—the
share of Sir C, Napier (an cighth) amount-
ing, it is asserted, to £70,000. Taken
together, the admissions and accusations
respectively made and preferred by the two
leading authorities, can seareely fail to
leave on the mind of the unprejudiced
reader a conviction that the Ameers were
very illused men, especially the eldest and
most influential of them, the vencrable Meer
Roostum. They were usurpers; but their
usurpation was of above sixty years’ standing:
aud the declaration of Lord Ellenborough
is not equally correct, that what they had
won by the sword they had lost by the
sword; inasmuch as their earliest and most
important concessions were obtained amid
a sickening declamation about friendship,
justice, and Joye of peace ;’” which dcelama-
tiou was continued up to the moment wheu
Meer Roostum, bending under the weight of
eighty-five years, and his aged wife (the
mother of his eldest son) were driven forth
into the desert, not by English bayonets,
but by English diplomacy.
Such at least is the acconnt given by
Napier of the opcuing uegotiations with
Sinde, and by Outram of their abrupt ter-
mination. ‘To enter into the various points
of dispute would be manifestly incompatible
with the brief sketch of the leading features
attending our occupation of the country,
alone consistent with the objects and limits
of the preseut work: even that sketch, to
economise space, must be given in small type.
In the beginning of the 18th century, the Kal-
loras, military fanatics from Persia, became domi-
nant in Sinde, and though compelled to pay tribute
tq the Daurani conquerar of Afghanistan, retained
their position as mee until about 1771, when a
conflict arose between them and the chiefs of the
Belooehee tribe of Talponrs, who lad come from
the hills to settle in the fertile plains. After some
years’ fighting the Talpaors became undisputed mas-
ters of Sinde. Their head, Meer Futteh Ali, as-
signed portions of the conquered territory ta two
of his relations, and thus gave rise to the separate
states af Khyrpaor and Mcerpoor, ‘he remaining |
part of Sinde, including the capital Hyderahad, he
ruled until his death, in amicable conjunction with
his three brothers. ‘fhe ‘Valpoars, like their pre-
decessors the Kalloras, evidently dreaded the en-
croaching spirit of the powerful Feringhecs, and
quietly but firmly opposed their early attempts at
commercial intercourse. At length, in 1832, the
pertinacious resolve of the English to open up the
navigation of the Indus, prevailed over their prudent
reserve, and a new treaty was formed through the
intervention of Colonel (now Sir Henry) Pottinger,
hy the fifth article of which the contracting parties
solemnly pledged themselves “never to look with |
the eye of covetousness an the possessions of each
other.” The very words betrayed the apprehensions
of the Ameers; and that these were shared by their |
subjects is proved by the exclaination recorded by
Burnes, as uttered in the previous year by the wit-
nesses of his approach— Alas! Sinde is zone since
the English have seen our river!” ;
The prediction was soon verified. In 1836, the
ambitious designs of Runjeet Sing gave the Anglo-
Indian government an opportunity of interference,
which was availed of by the proffer of British media-
tion, At this time the original Talpoor rulers were
all dead, and their sons reigned in their stead. Noor
Mohammed wore the puggree or turban of supe-
riority, and was the acknowledged rais or chief at
Hyderabad; Sheer Mohammed at Meerpoor, and
Meer Roostum at Khyrpoor,in Upper Sinde. Meer
Koostum was eighty years of age, and was assisted
in the government by his numerous brothers. He |
was, however, still possessed of mueh energy; and so |
far from fearing the hostility of Runjeet Sing, or
desiring the dangerous aid of the English, he ex-
claimed confidently—“ We have vanquished the
Seik, and we will do so again.” It was, however,
quite another thing to compete with the united
forces of Runjeet Sing and the English; and the
intimate connexion so unnecessarily formed between
these powers in ]838, proved pretty clearly that the
choice lay between mediation or open hostility.
The Ameers chose the former, and consented to the
permanent residence at I!yderabad of a British poli-
ucal agent, with an armed escort. Two months after
the conclusion of this arrangement, the ‘tripartite
Treaty was signed at Lahore, and involved a new
question as to the route to be taken for the invasion
of Afghanistan. Runjeet Sing, stimulated by his
distrustful durbar or court, would not suffer his
sworn allies to march through the Punjab. Advan-
tage was thercfore taken of the weakness of the
Ameers to compel them to sanction the passage of
the British troops; and the island-fortress of Bukkur
was obtained from Meer Roostum, to be held “ dur-
ing the continuance of the war.” These concessions
paved the way for fresh exactions, and the Ameers
were next required to contribute towards the ex-
penses of the expedition. The demand was first urged
on the plea of arrears of tribute claimed by Shah
Soojah as their suzerain, but this was refuted by
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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SINDE—POTTINGER, OUTRAM, AND NAPIER—1889 ro 1842
the production of a formal release made by the Shah |
of all claims upon Sinde or Shikarpoor. The next
pretext for oppression was, that the Ameers had
tendered professions of submission to Persia, the
evidence being a ducument of doubtful authenticity,
ostensibly addressed by Noor Mohammed to the
Persian monarch, and which, when freed from Ori-
ental hyperbole, contained little more than expres-
sions of unbounded respect for the Shah of Persia
as the head of the Sheiah sect of Mohammedans.
It was so improbable that the Ameers would comply
with the present demands, except under the sternest
compulsion, that preparations were made to punish
their refusal by the storming of Hyderabad, and the
army of the Indus turned ont of its way for the
express purpose, and menaced Sinde at four different
points. Sir John Keane designated the antici-
pated siege of the capital, ‘a pretty piece of practice
for the army ;” and the officers generally indulged in
sanguine expectations of pillage and prize-money.
The Ameers were divided in opinion; and one of
them proposed that they should defend themselves
to the last, and then slay their wives and children,
and perish sword in hand—the terrible resolve car-
ried ont not many months later by Mehrab Khan,
of Khelat-i-Nuseer. More temperate counsels pre-
yailed. Meer Roostum confessed that in surrender-
ing Bukkur he had given the heart of his eountry
into the bands of the foe; and the Ameers, with
utter ruin staring them in the face, consented to the
hard terms imposed by the treaty signed in February,
1839, which bound them to receive a subsidiary
force, and contribute three lacs (afterwards inereased
to three and a-half) for its support, to abolish all
tolls cn the Indus, and provide store-room at Kur-
rachee for military supplies. In return, the Anglo-
Indian government promised not to meddle with the
internal affairs of the Ameers, or listen to the com-
plaints of thetr subjects (a very ominous proviso.)
These concessions, together with a contribution of
£200,000, half of whieh was paid immediately, did
not satisfy Lerd Auckland. Kurrachee had been
taken possession of during the war; and he now in-
sisted on its permanent retention, despite the promises
made by his representatives.
The Ameers had no alternative but to submit:
yet, says General Napicr, “the graee with which
they resigned themsclyes to their wrongs, did not
save them from the cruet mockery of heing asked by
Colonel (Sir 11.) Pottinger, ‘if they had the slightest
cause to question the British faith during the last six
months ?’ and the further mortification of being told,
‘that henceforth they must consider Sinde to be as
it was in reality a portion of Ilindoostan, in whieh
the British were paramount, and entitled to act as
they considered hest and fittest for the general good
of the whole empire.’ ”
Colenel Pottinger, ereated a baronet, continued
Resident in Sinde until the beginning of 1840. ITe
was sueeeeded by Major Outram, who, by the death
ef his coadjutor, Mr. Ross Bell, became political
agent for the whole of Sinde and Beloochistan.
Major Outram found the Ameers in precisely the
state of fecling which might have been expected ;—
deeply irritated against the Inglish, disposed to
rejoice at any misfortune whieh might overtake
them, and ready to rise up and assert their indepen-
dence if the opportunity offered ; but constantly let
and hindered by the fear of consequences, and by the
divided counsels arising from separate interests.
With anxious care the Mesident watehed their feel-
co
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ingsand opinions—warning one, counselling another,
reasoning with a third; and in the perilous moment
when General England fell back on Quetta, after a,
vain attempt to suceour Nott at Candahar, Outram
strained every nerve to prevent the rulers of Sinde
from making common cause with their Beioochee
countrymen against the invading army. “ yen
their negative hostility,” he writes, “evinced by
withholding supplies, would have placed us in a
position which it is fearful even to contemplate.” The
recollection of past wrongs did not, however, prevent
the majority of the Ameers from actively befriending
the troops in their hour of need; but some of them
were suspected of being eoncerned in hostile in-
trigues; and though Meer Roostum behaved with
accustomed ecandour, his minister, Futteh Moham-
med Ghoree became implicated in certain suspicious
proceedings. ‘Towards the conclusion of the Afghan
war, Major Outram proposed to Lord Ellenhorough
(the sueeessor of Lord Auckland) a revision of the
existing treaties, which were very vaguely worded,
urging that precautions should be taken against the
possible machinations of such of the Ameers as had
betrayed hostile intentions during the late crisis,
and advised that Shikarpoor and its dependencies.
with Sukkur and the adjacent fortress of Bukkur,
should be demanded in complete cession, in return
for the relinquishment ef the yearly tribute of
£350,000, and of arrears due of considerable amount.
Lord Ellenborough was not content with this
arrangement: he desired to reward the good service
done to the forees in the late war by a neighbouring
prince, the Khan of Bhawalpoor,* by the restoration
of certain territories eaptured from him some thirty
years before by the Ameers, who were consid-
ered to have rendered themselves ‘most amenable
to punishment.” ‘lo this Major Outram assented ;
hut when his lordship proeeeded to write denuncia-
tory letters to the Ameers, threatening them with
punishment for past offences, should any such be
clearly proved, the Resident withheld these eommu-
nications, believing that their delivery would gravely
imperil the safcty of the troops still seattered in
isolated positions in dreary Afghanistan. The gov-
ernor-general admitted the discretion of this proce-
dure; hut he had taken up, with the energy of a strong
though often prejudiced mind, the popular notion
of the day against political agents ; and the prudence
displayed by Colonel Outram did not exempt him
from the sweeping measures enaeted for the super-
cession of politieal by purely military functionaries.
Sir Charles Napier had just arrived in India, and
to him was entrusted the task of gaining the consent
of the Ameers 1o concessions amounting to their vir-
tual deposition.t The sudden reeall of the Resident,
and the arrival of a military leader, at the head of a
powerful force, alarmed the Amcers, and they strove
to depreeate the impending storm by every means in
their power. The testimonies of many British offieers
and surgeons are brought forward by Major Outram,
to confirm his own evidence with regard to the
charaeters of the unfortunate ehiefs of Sinde, whom
he describes as decidedly favourable specimens of
Mohammedan princes, ruling after a very patriarchal
fashion,—mereiful, aeeessible to complainants, sinzu-
larly temperate, abstaining not only from drinking
and smoking, but likewise rigidly eschewing the
accursed drug, opinm, even as a medicine.{ ‘The
* Tide Shaliomet Ali’s /listory uf Bahawalpoor,
+ Thornton’s Jadia, vi., 123,
+ Outram’s Commentarr, 029,
Dr, Burnes’ Sinde,
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=
FLIGHT OF MEER ROOSTUM—BATTLE OF MEANEE—FEB., 1813.
mere fact of so many chiefs living and hearing sway
in the domestic fashion described by Pottinger,
lsurnes, and Outram, was a strong argument in their
favour; yet Sir Charles Napier unhappily lent a
eredulous ear to the mischievous rumours which
a longer residence in India would have tanght him
to sift narrowly, or reject wholly: and his entire
conduct was in accordance with his undisguised
opinion, that the Anicers were “thorough ruflians”
and “ villains,” drunken, debauched, capable of tratri-
cide, “any one of them,” and determined to assassinate
him and “Cabool” the troops. Accustomed to the
eourtesy of British olticials (one of whom had stood
unshod in their presence, some ten years before, to
crave permission to open the navigation of the Indus),
they were now startled by the tone of contemptuous
distrust with which they were treated by the dark-
visaged little old man, who, despite his unquestioned
courage in the ficld of battle, avowedly sutfered per-
sonal fear of trenehery to prevent his according a
friendly hearing to the “henign and grey-headed
monarch who had conferred the most substantial
benefits on the English nation.”
Major Outram states that Sir Charles Napicr
scrupled not to add exactions to the treaties not
desired by Lord Kllenborough: and further, that he
incited the most ambitious and able of the Khyr-
poor brothers (Ali Morad), to intrigue against their
vencrated rais or chief, Meer Roostum, who, perceiv-
ing the offensive and threatening attitude assumed by
the British forces, asked the advice of the general
what to do to preserve pence, and offered to take
up his residence in the camp. Sir Charles Napier
aigised, or rather commanded him to join his
brother. The aged rais complied, and the result
was his heing first, as Sir Charles said, “ bullicd”
into resigning the puggree to Ali Morad, and then
induced, by artfully-implanted fears of Inglish
treachery, to seek refuge with his family in the wil-
derness. This step was treatcd as an act of hostility,
and immediate preparations were made for what was
yauntingly termed “the conquest,” but which was
expected to be little more than the occupation of
Sinde. ‘The customary form of a declaration of war
was passed over; and it being suspected that the
fugitives had taken refuge in Emaunghur, Sir Charles
marched, with 400 men mounted on camels, against
that fortress in January, 1843. Emaunghur_ be-
longed to a younger brather of Roostum—Moham-
med of Khyrpoor, one of the reigning Amecrs, whohad
never “been even accused of a single hostile or un-
friendly act,”* but who had the unfortunate reputation
of possessing treasure to the amount of from £200,000
to £360,000, stored up in Emaunghur.t No such
prize awaited the general; he found the fort without
a living inhabitant, but well supplied with grain, of
which the troops took possession, razed the walls,
and marched back again.
At this crisis, Major Outram returned to Sinde, at
the especial request of hoth Lord Ellenborough and
Sir Charles Napier, to aid as commissioncr in settling
the pending arrangements. Having vainly entreated
the general not to persist in driving the whole of the
Ameers of Upper Sinde to open war, by compelling
them to take part with Meer Roostum and his fugi-
tive adherents, Major Outram centred his last |
eflorts for peace in striving to persuade the Amecrs
* Outram's Commentary, 39. + First Sinde B. B., 469.
{ Outram deemed himself “bound to vindicate his
Napier's) conduct in my communications with his vie-
tims.’'—( Commentary, 325.) § Idem, 439,
C
&
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
not yet compromised by any manifestation of distrust,
to throw themselves at the fect of the English, by
sinning the required treaty. The task is best de-
scribed in the words of the negotiator :—“{ was
called upon to obtain their assent to demands agaiost
which I had solemnly protested as a positive rab-
hery: and I had to warn them against resistance 10
our requisitions, as a measure that would bring down
upon them utter and merited destraction; while] firmly
believed that every life lost, in consequence of our ag-
gressions, would be chargeable on us as a murder.” t
The arguments of Major Outram succeeded in
procuring the siguature of the chiefs of Lower Sinde ;
but the prohibition he had received against any
promise of protection for Meer Roostum, however
clearly his innocence might be proved, excited un-
controllable indignation on the part of the Meloochee
feudatory chiefs; and but for the efforts of the Ameers,
the commissioner and his party would have been
massacred on their return to the Resideney, Major
Outram was warned to quit Hyderabad. ‘the vakvels
or ambassadors dispatchcd to the Lritish eamp to
offer entire submission, failed to procure even a hear-
ing; and they sent word to their masters—“ The
general is bent on war—so get ready.” In fact,
Napier had been so long preparing to mect a con-
spiracy on the part of the Ameers, that he seems to
have been determined either to make or find one, if
only to illustrate his favourite denunciation of—
“Woe attcnd those who conspire against the power-
ful arms of the company : behold the fate of ‘Tippoo
Sultan and the peishwa, and the Emperor of China!”
Therefore he continued his march ; and the terrified
Ameers, on learning their last and deepest humilia-
tions had heen endured in vain, gave the rein to
the long-restrained fury of their followers,—just fifty-
three days after the commencement of hostilities by
General Napier. On the 15th of February, a horde
of armed Beloochees attacked the residence of the
sritish eommissioncr. After a few hours’ resistance,
Major Outram and his escort evacuated the place,
and retreated in marching order to meet the ad-
yaneing army, which continued its progress to a
village called Mcanee (six miles from Hyderabad),
which he reached on the 17th. Ilere the Amecrs had
taken up their position, with a force stated by Sir
C, Napier at 25,862 Leloochees, hastily assembled
and ill-disciplined; but than whom, he says, “ braver
barbarians never gave themselves to slaughter.”
And very terrible the slanghter was; for, if General
W. Napier may be trusted, the Ameers “ were broken
like potsherds,” and 6,000 men “went down before the
bayonets of his (brother's) gallant soldiers, wallowing
in blood.” The English lost 264 killed and wounded.
Immediately after the battle, Meer Roostum and
two others of the Khyrpoor family, with three of the
Ameers of Hyderabad, influenced by the representa-
tions of Major Outram, abandoned all intention of -
defending Hyderabad, and delivered themselves up as
prisoners; and on 20th of Feb., Napier entered the
capital as a conqueror. Although there had been
no declaration of war, and no sign of defence,—not
a shot fired from the walls,—the prize-agcnts imme-
diately set about the plunder of the city, in a manner
happily unparalleled in the records of Anglo-Indian
campaigns. ‘The ladies of the imprisoned Ameers
were exposed to the insulting scarch of one of the
most abandoned of their own sex, the concubine of
an officer on duty in Sinde. Everything belonging
to them, even to the cuts on which they slept, were
seized and sold by public auction;§ and several of
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452
these unfortunates, driven to desperation, fled from the
city barefoot, overwhelmed with shame and terror.
On the 24th of March, the army marched from
Hyderabad against Sheer Mohammed, Ameer of
Meerpoor,with whom a pitched battle took place near
that city, in which the British were victorious, but
lost 267 men in killed and wounded. Meerpoor was
occupied without resistance, and the desert fortress
of Amercot (the birthplace of Akber, conquered by
the Ameers from the Rajpoots) surrendered at the
first snmmons. The brothers Shah Mohammed and
Sheer Mohammed were defeated in the month of
June, by detachments respectively commanded by
captains Roberts and Jacob ; and the success of these
officers in preventing the junction of the brothers,
and defeating them, materially conduced to the tn-
umphant conclusion of the campaign ; for had their
forces been able to unite and retire to the desert,
and there wait their opportunity, heat, pestilence, and
inundation (in a land intersected by canals), would
have been fearful auxiliaries to the warfare of preda-
tory bands, against an army already reduced to 2,000
effective men, who could only move in the night,
and were falling so fast beneath climatorial intiu-
ences, that before the intelligence of Captain Jacoh’s
victory, orders had been issued for the return of
all the Enropeans to head-quarters.
The Ameers were sent as prisoners to Hindoo-
stan, and stipends were eventually granted for their
support, amounting in the aggregate to £46,614.
Ali Morad was rewarded for his share in sending his
aged brother to die in exile, by an addition of terri-
tory, which was soon afterwards taken away from
him, on a charge of forgery urged against him, and it
was thouglit clearly proved, by a vengeful minister.
The rest of the province was annexed to British
India; and divided into three collectorates—Shikar-
poor, Hyderahad and Kurrachee. There is some
consolation in being able to close this painful episode,
by stating that the latest accounts represent the
country as improving in salubrity, the inhabitants
(considerably above a million in number) as tran-
quil and industrious, canals as being reopened,
waste land redeemed, new villages springing up, and
even the very mild form of slavery which prevailed
under the Ameers, as wholly abolished. This is well;
for since we are incontestably usurpers in Sinde, it
is the more needful we be not oppressors also.*
The sword had scarcely been sheathed in
Sinde before it was again drawn in warfare
against the Mahratta principality formed
by Mahadajee Sindia. The successor of
Dowlut Rao, and the adopted son of Baiza
Bye, died childless in 1843. His nearest
relative, a boy of eight years of age, was
proclaimed Maharajah, with the sanction
of the British government; and the regency
was nominally entrusted to the widow of
the late prince, a wayward and passionate,
hut clever and sensitive girl of twelve years
of age. Great disorders arose in the state;
and the turbulence of the mass of 40,000
soldiers, concentrated at Gwalior, rendered
them an object of anxiety to the governer-
general. The doetrine openly ineuleated by
* Vide Napicr’s Sinde ; and Outram’s Commentary.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
; . ‘a
ANNEXATION OF SINDE, 1843—GWALIOR CAPTURED—1844.
Lord Wellesley—of the rights and obliga-
tions of the British government, as the
paramount power in India—was urged by
Lord Elltenborough as the basis of lis pro-
posed movements with regard to Gwalior.
An army was assembled at the close of |
1843; and while one division, comprising
about eight or nine thousand men, marched
from Bundeleund, and crossed the Sinde
river at Chandpoor, the main body, about
14,000 strong, under the commaud of Sir
Ilugh Gough, accompanied by the governor-
general, crossed the Chumbul near the
town of Dholpoor, and on the 26th of De-
cember encamped at Hingona, twenty-three
miles north-west of the fort of Gwalior.
Marching thence on the 29th, the British
foree came in front of a Mahratta host,
about 18,000 in number, encamped fifteen
miles from Gwalior, near the villages of
Maharajpoor and Chonda. The details of
the ensuing engagement are unsatisfactorily
recorded. That the British came unex-
pectedly on the enemy, is proved by the fact
that Lord Ellenborough (not a military |
man, as he sorrowfully said) was on the
field, and also the ladies of the family of
the commander-in-ehief. ‘The conflict was
desperate, and the English suffered severe loss
from the numerous and well-served artillery
of the foe; but they prevailed, as usual, |
by sheer hard fighting, marching up under
a murderons fire to the mouths of the
caunon, bayoneting the gunners, aud
driviug all before them.
their matchlocks, the Mahrattas fell back
Flinging away |
on Maharajpoor, where they held their —
ground, sword in hand, until General
Valiant, at the head of a cavalry brigade,
charged the village in the rear, and dis-
persed the foe with much slaughter. The
survivors retreated to Gwalior, leaving
on the field fifty-six pieces of artillery, and
all their ammunition waggons. ‘The total
loss of British troops was 106 killed and
684 wounded. On the same day, Major-
general Grey encountered 12,000 Mahrattas
at Puniar, twelve miles south-west of Gwa-
lior, captured all their artillery, and slew a
large number of them, his own loss being
twenty-five killed and 189 wounded. The
victorions forees met beneath the walls of
the ancient stronghold, which, on the 4th
of Jannary, 1844, was taken possession of
by the contingent foree commanded by
British officers. At the base of the temple
stood the Lashkar, or stationary camp,
where about 5,000 Mahrattas, being amply
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supplied with artillery, held out until the
ofler of liquidation of arrears, and three
mnonths’ additional pay, induced them to
surrender their arms and ammunition, and
disperse quictly.
The native durbar attempted no further
Opposition to the views of the goveruor-
| general, and a treaty was concluded on the
15th Jan., 1844, by which the Maharance
was handsomely pensioned, but excluded
from the government; aud the administra-
tion vested in a council of regency, under
the control of the British Resident, during
the minority of the Maharajah. The fortress
of Gwalior was ceded in perpetuity, and the
sum of twenty-six lacs, or an equivalent in
land, was demanded by Lord Ellenborough,
in payment of long-standing claims; the
subsidiary foree was inereased, and the maxi-
mum of the native army fixed at 9,000 men,
of whom not more than one-third were to
be infantry. The good conduct of the
young rajah led to his being permitted to
assuine the reins of power before the expira-
tion of the stated interval, and at its close,
in 1853, he was formally seated on the
musnnd, and confirmed in the anthority he
had previously exercised on sufferance.*
The hostilities carried on with China,
however important in themselves, have no
place in the already overcrowded history of
India; but it would be injnst to Lord
Ellenborough, to omit noticing his vigorous
and successful exertions for the dispatch of
troops and stores to the seat of war. The
reasons for his recall by the I. I. Direetory
in July, [844, were not made publie; and
it wonld be superfluous to speculate upon
them in a work the object of which is to
state facts, not opinions.
| farpince ApwMinistnation: 1844 To
1848.—Lord Ellenborough’s sneeessor, Sir
Henry Hardinge, employed the brief interval
of tranquillity enjoyed by the Anglo-Indian
governinent in promoting public works, in
* Churut Sing founded the fortunes of his family
. by establishing a sirdaree or governorship, which his
son, Maha Sing, consolidated by the capture of the
fort and town of Ramnuggur, from a strong Mo-
hammedan tribe called Chettas. Maha Sing died in
1780, leaving one son, a child then four years old,
the afterwards famous Runjeet Sing. The mother
and mother-in-law of the young chief ruled in his
name until the year 1793, when Runjeet became
impatient of control, und sanctioned, or (according
to Major Smyth) himself committed the murder of
_ his mother, on the plea of her shameless immorality—
a procedure in whieh he closely imitated the conduct
of his father, likewise a matricide. The conquest of
Lahore, in 1798, from some Seik chiefs by whom
it was conjointly governed, was the first step of the
oN
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
LORD ELLENBOROUGIT SUPERSEDED BY SIR WW. ITARDINGE—I8-b6, 453
improving the discipline of the army,
ameliorating the condition of the native
troops, and endeavouring to produce a
more friendly spirit between the military
aud eivil services.
The progress of much-needed reforms
was soon arrested hy the outbreak of war
on the north-western frontier, which was
met by the governor-gencral in a firm and
decisive spirit. Upon the death of the old
Lion of the Punjab—the mighty robhber-
chief who had raiscd himself from the
leadership of a small Jat tribe to the rank
of Maharajah of the Sciks,—the kingdom he
had founded was shaken to its base by a
scrics of durbar intrigues and midnight
assassinations, cxeccding in atrocity the
worst crimes committed at the worst periods
of Ilindoo or Mohammedan history. Kur-
ruck Sing, the sucecssor, and, it was gen-
erally believed, the only son of the deeeased
ruler, was deprived, first of reason and then
of life, by the hateful machinations of the
minister Rajah Dehra Sing and his _prolili-
gate and abandoned son Heera (the pam-
pered minion of Runjeet), the leading
members of a powerful family, generally
known as the Lords of Jnmmoo, a princi-
pality conquered from the Rajpoots.+ The
incremation of Kurrnck Sing was scarccly
ended, when some loose bricks fell on the
head of his son No Nehal Sing, who was
placed in a litter and carried off by the
arch plotter Dehra, before the extent of the
injury could be asecrtained by the bystand-
ers, and kept from tle presence of his family
until the crime had becn completed, and the
young rajah was a corpse. Murder followed
murder: men and women, the guilty and
the imnocent, the vizicr in the council-
chamber, the general at the head of the
army, the lady at her toilette, the babe in
its cradle, were by turns the victims of un-
scrupulous ambition, covetousness of wealth,
lust, cowardice, or vengcanee. Dehra and
ladder by which Runjeet mounted to power. Moul-
tan and Peshawur were captured in 1818; Cashmere
in the following year; and Runjcet’s career of plun-
der and subjugation ceased not until a wall of im-
penetrable mountains closed its extension northward,
ina manner scarcely tess decisive than the check to
his progress southward and eastward, previously given
by the English, when their prudent interference com-
pelled him to tind in the Sutleja barrier asimpassable as
the Himalayas themselves.—(Prinsep's Seiks; Smyth's
Reigning Family of Lahore; Shahamet Ali's Setks and
al fyhans; Higel’s Travels in Cashmereand the Punjab.)
t ‘Fhe almost independent power which Runjeet
Sing suffered the Lords of Jummoo-and other favour-
ite chiefs to assume, was one of the causes of the fierce
civil war for which his death gave the signal.
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454 WAR IN THE PUNJAB—BATTLE OF MOODKEE—DECEMBER, 1845.
Heera Sing fell, cach at a different crisis,
while holding the office of vizier. Sheer
Sing, the son of one of Runjeet’s wives,
obtained for a time the throne; but was
murdered in 1843, after which a state of
wide-spread anarchy prevailed throughout
_ the Punjab, the chief remaining semblance
of authority being vested in the person of
Ranee Chunda, a concubine of the late
Runjeet Sing, and the mother of a boy
named Duleep Sing, who, though notori-
ously not the son of the Maharajah, had
| been in some sort treated by him as such.
Dehra Sing, wanting a puppet, had drawn
this child from obscurity; and his mother,
under the title of regent, became the head
of a faction, the opposers of which took
their stand by declaiming truly against the
spurious origin of Duleep Sing, and the
shameless immorality of Ranee Chunda; and
untruly, with regard to her alleged efforts to
intrigue with the English against the inde-
pendence of the Seik nation. Now, in fact,
the only point upon which the various Seik
parties had ever shown any degree of una-
nimity, was that of enmity to the British;
and much evidence has gradually been
brought to light of the actual treachery, as
well as passive breach of treaty committed
by them during the Afghan war. The in-
temperate language of Sir Charles Napier
in Sinde, and his undisguised anticipation
of war in the Punjab, had been published,
doubtless with exaggeration, throughout that
kingdom; and the general feeling of the
Seiks was anxiety to assume an offensive
position, and meet, if not anticipate, the
expected invasion. ‘The French officers in
the Seik service (Ventura and M. Court),
appear to have borne little part in the past
commotions; but their exertions, together
with those of Allard and the Neapolitan
Avitabile, on whom Runjeet conferred the
government of Pesbawur, had been sedu-
lously and successfully employed in casting
cannon, organising artillery, and disciplining
troops after the European fashion.
The preparations made at Lahore for the
passage of the Sutle} by a Seik army, could
not long be concealed from the governor-
general, who, with all practicable expedition
and secrecy, concentrated 32,000 men and
sixty-cight guns in and about Ferozepoor,
Loodiana, and Umballa. Towards the middle
of December, the Seiks crossed their boun-
dary, bringing with them large quantitics of
licavy artillery; and one body of 25,000
regulars and cighty-cight guns, took up a
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
position near the village of Ferozshah;
whilst another force of 23,000 men and
sixty-seven guns, encamped opposite Feroze-
poor. Both divisions commenced throwing
up earthworks around their camps, and pre-
paring for a vigorous contest.
The governor-general had hastened to
the frontier to superintend the necessary
preparations at the various cantonments.
On learning the passage of the Sutle}] by
the Seiks, in direct contravention of exist-
ing treaties, he issued a declaration of war,
and, in conjunction with the commander-
i-chief, Sir Hugh Gough, advanced with
the main column from Bussean (the military |
depot) towards Ferozepoor. On reaching the
village of Moodkee (18th December, 1845),
tidings were received of a hostile encampment
some three milesoff, comprising a large
body of troops, chiefly cavalry, supported by
twenty-two guns. It was mid-day, and the
English were weary with marching ; never-
theless they started forward, after a brief
interval for refreshment. The Seik artil-
lery being advantageously posted behind
some low jungle, fired briskly upon the
advancing columns, but could not hinder
the approach of the British horse artillery
and light field batteries, which opened on
them with steady precision, and caused a
degree of confusion in their ranks, soon
utterly broken by a sweeping charge of
cavalry, closely followed by a continuous
discharge from the muskets of the infantry.
The Seiks were driven off by the bayonet
whenever they attempted to make a stand,
and fied leaving seventeen guns and large
numbers of their dead comrades on the
field. ‘The slaughter would have been
greater but for the weariness of the victors
and the gathering darkness. he British
returned to their camp at midnight, with
the loss of 216 killed and 648 wounded, out
of a force of 1,200 rank and file. Among
the slain was Sir Robert Sale, who fell with
his left thigh shattered by grapeshot. The
victory was followed up by an attaek on the
intrenched camp of the enemy at Feroz-
shah. The Seiks were estimated at 35,000
rank and file, and cighty-eight guns; while
the British numbered less than 18,000 men,
and sixty-five guns. The disparity was sen-
sibly felt, for the Sciks had proved them-
sclves far more formidable opponents than
had been expected; and their artillery
(thanks to the labours of Ventura, Allard,
Avitabile, and Court, and to the policy
of encouraging foreign adventurers to enter
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SEIK WAR—BATTLES OF FEROZS
the service of native princes, and prohibit-
| ing {neglishmen from a similar proeeeding)
excelled ours in calibre as much as in number,
was in admirable order, and thoroughly well
served, The British advaneed from Mood-
| kee, and reached the hostile encampment
ahout eleven o'clock on the 21st of December.
The engagement commenced with an attack
by the artillery on the Scik lines, whieh ex-
tended nearly a mile in length and half a
mile in breadth. An order was given to
the infantry to seize the enemy’s guns; and
the terrible task was effected with so much
snecess, that the battle seemed almost gained,
when the sndden fall of night obliged the
combatants to eccase fighting, beeause they
could no longer distinguish friend from foe.
The main body of the British forees was
withdrawn a few hundred yards, and while
, resting under arms, some of the Seik guns
which had not been taken possession of, were
brought to bear on the reeumbent troops.
The governor-general mounted his horse
and led the gallant 80th, with a portion of
the Ist Bengal Europeans, against the hos-
tile guns, carried them at a charge, caused
them to be spiked, and returned to his pre-
vious station. The remainder of the night
was one of extreme anxiety to the British
commanders: their loss had been most se-
vere; and the reserve foree, under Sir Ilarry
Sinith, had been compelled to retire ; wile
reinforeements were believed to be on their
way to join the Seiks. The “ mettle” of the
troops and of their dauntless leaders was
never more conspicuons: at daybreak they
' renewed the attack with entire success,
secured the whole of the seventy-six guns
opposed to them, and cleared the eutire
length of the hostile works; the enemy
falling back on the reserve, which arrived
just in time to prevent their total destruc-
tion. Thus strengthened, the vanquished
Seiks were enabled to recross the Sutlej
withont molestation. The English found
full and melancholy occupation in burying
their dead and nursing the wounded.
Nearly 700 perished on the field; and of above
1,700 placed in hospital at Ferozepoor, 600
died or were disabled from further service.
The great loss thus sustained, and the
want of a battering train, prevented the
conquerors from marching on Lahore, and
bringing the war to a summary conclusion.
Many weeks elapsed before the arnval of
reinforcements enabled Sir lIugh Gough
again to take the field; and in the in.
terval, the Sciks threw a bridge of boats
fTAH, ALIWAL, AND SOBRAON, 455
across the Sutlej, and eneaimped at Sobraon,
on the left bank of the river, where, under
the direction of two European cnginecrs,
they constructed an almost impregnable éce-
du-pont, Another body crossed the river
and took post at the village of Aliwal, near
Loodiana, Sir Harry Smith was dispatched
from Ferozepoor to relieve Loodiana, which
having effected, he marched against Aliwal
with a force of about 10,000 men, and ad-
vaneed to the attack on the 28th Jan., 1816,
with his entire line. .
¥ The Bombay division, consisting of four battalions of sepoys, 11.M's. S6th regiment, eight companies of the 65th,
with a tronp of Bombay cavalry, and 600 irregular horse, had now joined Lord Lake's force before Bhurtpoor.
__* Sir David Ochtcrlony had a force of near 20,000 men, including three European regiments. He divided this force
into four brigades, with two of which he marched to Muckwanpoor.
30 |
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
«In Col. Blacker’s Memoir, p. 18, Ilolear's farce is estimated at 20,000 horse and 8,000 foot.
>» The numbers here giveu have reference to the strength of the cavalry.
been a detachment of horse artillery.
ln
|
462 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PRINCIPAL BATTLES AND SIEGES
Strength of British Army.
Usual Name of Under Enemy against prope oe: ae i |
Date. Battle or whose Ad- whom . % = e zi a
Place. ministration. Fought. peu lee ie fee 8 Total.
ies = | ee
| Guns. S é a é ‘e
26th and 27th | Seetabuldee; near | Marquis Hast-} Mahrattas . — }/-|]-| - — _ 1,400
Nov., 1817. Nagpoor—p.418.| ings.
| 21st Dee., 1817 | Mahidpoor, p.420 | Ditto Ditto . es ee — = — 11,805
Ist Jan., 1818 | Corygaum, De- | Ditto Arabs in pay of 2;—]—-—] -— _ = 740
fence of—p. 418. Peishwa.
20th Feb., 1818 | Ashtee Combat— | Ditto Peishwa — };-—-|— — 419
p. £19.
27th Feb.,1818 | Talneir, Storm of | Ditto Arahs c =| = = =
17th April,1S18] Soonee Battle . .| Ditto Mahrattas . — |-—-{t—-| - — — 513°
20th May, 1818 | Chanda Assault . | Ditto Ditto. es _ — | 6,500-
18th to 29th | Malliganm taken } Ditto Arabs in Nativeem-| — {| —- |—j] — — — 2,630
May, 1818. by Storm. ploy.
Sth to 10th} Satunwarree Fort; | Ditto Mahrattas — |—|-| — _ — 550°
June, 1818. unsnecessful at-
taek.
31st Jan., 1819 | Nowah; Hydera- | Ditto Arab Garrison ee eae = =
bad.
9th April, 1819 | Asseerghur taken | Ditto . Sindia’s Command-| — | —}|—]| — — | — |20,000°
by Storm—p.420, ant, Jeswunt Rao
Laar.
10th June,1824 | Kemendine, p.424 | Lord Amherst | Burmese 100 —-}f— _ = _
30th Get., 1824 | Martaban—p. 424 | Ditto : Ditto. 2... 2 oJ — FH} Hd Ke — _— 2198
18th Jan., 1826 Pet EO Ditto Rajah of Bhurtpoor — |—|—)}] — — — | 25,000
ing—p. 427.
19th Jan.,1826 | Melloone Storm- | Ditto Burniese = |i | ai — = = =
ing—p. 427.
23rd July,1839 | Ghnznee Capture | Lord Auck- | Afghans | ee = — 4,863
—p. 136. land.
13th Nov., 1839} Kelat ; in Beloo- | Ditto Ditto. — |j—}|—-| -— — — 1,261
chistan.
7th April, 1842 | Jellalabad Defence | Lord Ellen- | Ditto . — |—j;—]| — = — 1,360
borough.
13th Sep., 1842 | Tezeen Battle Ditto Ditto . — f—}J-j — _— = =
17th Feb., 1843 | Meanee ; Sinde— | Ditto Leloocheus — j-—J]-|] — —_— _ 2,600
p. 4d1.
24th Mar., 1843 eas Sinde | Ditto Ditto . ,; — |—J—] — = _ =
—p. 462.
29th Dec., 1843 | Puniar g. (Guests Ditto Mahrattas (Sindia} | — };—j—|] — - — | 2,000
—p. 462. i
29th Dee., 1843 | Maharajpoor — p. | Ditto Ditto. 40;—|]—} — — — | 14,000
452.
18th Dee., 1845 | Moodkee;leftbank) Lord = Har- | Seiks, under Rajah | — 3,800 | — §,5,00 12,350
of Sutlej—p. 45+. dinge. Lall Sing.
QUst and 22nd] Ferozshah; onthe! Ditto . |*Seiks 65 5,674} — 12,058 Ney
Dee., 1845. Sutlej—p. 454.
28th Jan.,1846| Aliwal; on the] Ditto . . Seiks, under Run- 24,),—)};—|] — — — } 10,000
Sutlej. joor Sing.
10th Feb., 1846 | Sobraon; on the | Ditto Seiks 9 );—}—}] — — = 6228
Sutlej.
2nd Jan., 1849 |} Mooltan, Siege of . | Lord Dal- | Seiks, under Mool-| 150) — | 16,000 17,000 32,000
housie. raj. i
18th Jan., 1849 | Chillianwalla ; in | Ditto Sciks w/—|]—| — oad — | 22,000
the Punjah.
21st Feb., 1849 | Gujerat; in the | Ditto Ditto . 9 )}—jy—-j; — _ — | 25,000
Punjab,
14th Apr., 1852] Rangoon ..... Ditto Burmese. - Ilo — — —_
Bept.,.1802 . .||| Prem. we secas Ditto Ditto. Fs ee ce a — — =
Mee. S52 lnchitmememsaemene Ditto Ditto. lf — |—J—| — = — = |
addition to this, there appears to have
¢ The force consisted of 1,000 native cavalry, a troop of horse artillery, 1 company of Muropean foot artillery,
3,000 native infantry, 2,000 irregular horse, with three 18-pounders, four brass 12’s, six howitzers, and twelve
6-pounders.
4 Native garrison.
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BY TI ENGLISH IN INDIA, FROM THE YEAR 75) vo 1852. 463
Knemy, British Army Killed and Wounded z
——— Enemy. PS
; : Willed. me Byoeoied, an z Nance
q m. ti 2 x ‘ * aa : ; >) Dritish
& E g Total. mec nss g pg ae ge & 3 | 2 Fl Commander.
i 3 Oth 5 = |Total Ott Total.) 3 ||
& | & i) ej| = 2 | 2 |=
ecrs. a “a certs 4 | A = |
12,000] 8,000} 20,000) 4 12/0 Wall rie ma | 241 | si) — i peeuenant - evloncl
. Scot.
a || <= — " Wt Wa | 35 566 ol ,0/00 63} E.-gen. SirT. Flisbop.
== || = = = y 62 I 3 113 16) — | — | — | Captain Staunton
— | gol = God) = | = || — 19; 1} — — _ 2010 — | Sir Lionel Smith |
=|) = — 300} 2 5) — ) 1/3 1s 25}0 — | L.-gen.Sir T. Hislop.
ae |e = = ee a ee —| — — Ou 1,6/00 5' Colonel Adams.
=|) — |} 2,000) 1 1/2 WwW] 4 5 55 2U10 == || Nien,
ys = Bou") 5 29 ‘ if 163 i — | — | Lieutenant - colonel
| MacDowcll. |
=|) = = 250] 1 1/0 Wh ol it 76) — — | — | Major Lamb. ,
—|— = 600} — |—}) — 2 || (G V7} 180 40/0 — | Major Pitman.
Si = 1,850) 1 416 47 | 9 207 266 43 93 |119) Brigadier - general
Dovecton.
a = il 5 = fol] = — |—| — — _— 15,0 — | Sir A. Campbell.
= || — = 3,500} — |—| — gd || 4 13 Wy o— — | — | Colonel Godwin.
ae |= — = — | 61) 42 103 | —| 283] 183 | 466 4,0/00 — | Lord Combermere
=|. — — |10,000) — }|—| — G) 3 17 20 — | — | SirArehibald Camp-
bell.
=) = 3,000; — |—| — 7wy—}] — — 70 | 514] — | — | Sir John Keane.
— = } 2,000) 1 3)1 32) 8 99 107 | 400 | — | — } Major-general Will-
shire.
=| — | eon) = ee = = = = = = — | — | Sir Robert Sale.
—|| = — |16,000; — |—]} — oi on Wale 135 _ — |— | General Pollnek.
i} — — | 38,000; 6 60 66 | 13 201 ali 5,000 — | Sir Charles Napier
kill, &) wond
=| = = — 2/;—| — — | 10 255 _ _ — | — | Ditto. \
|
—-|— — |{12,000) — |—|] — 35} — |} — —- 182 | — — 24] Major-general Grey
106) — — |18,000;) — |—| — 13 }—] — _ 684 30/00 56 | Lord Gough.
2) — — | 12,000) 16 20:0 216 | 48 609 657 | — | — |} —| Ditto
| — |35,000) 48 {8 206 | 694 | 1,1/03 618 [1,721 |] — — | 88) Ditto.
—j;-— — |19,000: — |—| — 6), —}] — _ 413) — — | O68; Sir 11. Smith. :
=| = — |34,000); — }|}—; — 320} —} — — [2,063 | — — | —| Lord Gough.
—-!|— _ _ —{|-| - — || = — _ — | —| General Whish.
= || =< = 60,000 26 731 7a7 | 66 1,146 1512] 4,0 00 12} Lord Gough.
59} — — |[60,000) 6 87 We ae 65,8 682} — — | 57) Ditto.
es — = | = |=] = = = = — | —' General Godwin.
=|) = = == || = = |= = — = = =
| * This was the number of men of whieh the storming party was composed.
‘ The British foree present at the conelusion of the siege, consisted of—horse artillery, one troop and a-half; native
eavalry, eight squadrons; foot artillery, five companies; Muropean infantry, two battalions and a-half; native infantry.
eleven and a-half battalions ; irregular horse, 5,000; sappers and miners, thirteen companies; and probably exeeeded, in
the ageregate, the amount stated in the Table.
e The strength of the storming party.
vee ahove Table was prepared by order of the Court of Dircetors, at the request of the Author. The particalars
whieh should appear in the columns left blank, cannot be furnished with perfeet accuracy.) |
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CHAPTER II.
TOPOGRAPHY—MOUNTAINS AND PASSES—RIVERS—PLATEAUX—PROVINCES AND
CHIEF TOWNS—CLIMATE AND DISEASES—GEOLOGY—SOIL—MINERALOGY.
Asta, — the largest and most diversified
quarter of the globe, has for its central
southern extremity a region of unsurpassed
grauceur, comprising lofty mountains, large
rivers, extensive plateaux, and wide-spread
valleys, such as are not to be found within a
like area in any other seetion of the earth.
This magnificent territory, known under the
general designation of India,* is in the form
of an irregular pentagon, with an extreme
extent, from north to south and from east
to west, of 1,800 miles ; a superficial area of
1,500,000 square miles; and a well-defined
boundary of 9,000 English miles.
The geographical position of India possesses
several advantages. Ou the north, it is sepa-
rated from China, Tibet, and Independent
Tartary, for a distance of 1,800 miles, by the
Himalayan ehain and prolongations termed
the Hlindoo-Koosh, whose altitude varies
from 16,000 to 27,000 feet (three to five
miles), through whieh there is only one pass
aecessible to wheeled carriages (Bamian.)
This gigantic wall has at its base an equally
extended buttress, the sub-Eimalaya and
Sewalik hills, with, in one part, an inter-
vening irregular plateau (Tibet) of 90 to 150
miles wide; on the /Vesf, the Hindoo-Koosh
is connected by the low Khyber ranges with
the lofty Sufied-Koh, and its conjoint the
Suliman mountains, whieh rise 10,000 feet,
hke a mural front, above the Indus valley,
| and have a southerly course of 400 miles;
the Suliman are connected by a transverse
chain with the Bolan mountains, which pro-
eeed nearly due south for 250 miles, and be-
come blended with the Keertar, Jutteel, and
Lukkee hills; the latter terminating in the
promontory of Cape Monze, a few tiles
to the north-west of the Indus month.
This western boundary of 900 miles, snp-
ports the table-lands which constitute a large
part of Afghanistan and Belooehistan: to
these there are four principal ascents—thie
Khyber, Gomul, Bolan, and Gundava passes,
readily defensible against the strategetic
* See p. 13 for origin of word: old geographers
designate the country as India wzthin (S.W. of), and
beyond (S.E. of) the Ganges.
{ The reader is requested to bear in mind through-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
movements of any formidable enemy. On
the Kas?, an irregular series of mountains, |
hills, and highlands, extend from the source
of the Brahmapootra, along the wild and un-
explored regions of Naga, Munneepoor, and
Tipperah, through Chittagong and Arracan
to Cape Negrais (the extremity of the You-
madoung range), at the mouth of the Ira-
waddy river; to the southward and east-
ward of Pegu and Martaban, the Tenasserim
ridge commences about one hundred miles | |
distant from the eoast, and prolongs the
boundary to the Straits of Malacca, along
the narrow strip of British territory which
fronts the Bay of Bengal.
this eastern frontier is 1,500 miles, and it
forms an effectual barrier against aggression _
from the Burmese, Siamese, or Malays, with
whose states it is conterminous. On the
South, the shores of the above-described ter-
ritory are washed by the Bay of Bengal, the |
Straits of Malacea, the Indian Ocean, and
the Arabian Sea, for 4,500 miles. The
natural frontiers of this extensive region |
may be thus summarily noted :—north,
along the Himalaya, 1,800; west, along
Afghanistan, &c., 900; east, along Burmah,
Siam, &e., 1,800: total by land, 4,500; by
sea, 4,500 = 9,000 English miles.
No pen-and-ink description can convey —
an adequate idea of India as a whole; the
miud may comprehend separate features,
but must fail to realise at one view a
eomplete portraiture, especially if devoid of
unity of configuration: in several countries
a mountain ridge and a main conduit form
an outline, around which the chief topogra-
phical peeuliarities may be grouped; but the
region before us eontains several lines of
great length and elevation, with diverse axis
of perturbation, and declinations to three of
the cardinal points, causing numerous rivers,
flowing S.W. (Indus); S.E. (Ganges); S.
(Brahmapootra and Irawaddy); W. (Ner-
budda, Taptee, and Loonee) ; 1. (Godavery, »
Kistnah, Cauvery, and Mahanuddy) ; and in
out this work, that round numbers are used to convey
a general idea, easy to be remembered; they must
be viewed as approximative, and not arithmetically
precise. Indian statistics are still very imperfect.
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The length of -
GRANDEUR, BEAUTY, AND VARIETY OF INDIAN SCENERY. 463
other direetions according to the course of
the mountain-ranges and the dip of the
land towards the oeean, by which the river
system is ercated and defined,
Irrespective of the circumseribing harriers,
and of the bones and arterics (hills and
streams) which constitute the skeleton of
Hindoostan, three features, distinctively dchi-
neated, deserve brief notice. ‘The snowy
ranges on the north give origin to two
noble rivers, which, as they issue from
the lesser Himalaya, are scparated by a
shghtly elevated water-shed, and roll through
widely diverging plains—the one in a south-
easterly direetion to the Bay of Bengal,
_ the other south-westerly to the Arabian
sea; cach swollen by numerous conflucnts
which, altogether, drain or irrigate an arca
equal to about half the superficies of India
Proper, The Gangetie plain is 1,000, that
of the Indus (including the Punjab), 800
miles in length; the average breadth of
| either, 300 miles; the greater part of both
"not 500 fect above the sca; the height no-
where exeecding 1,000 fcet. Intermediate,
and bifureating the valleys of the main
arteries, there is an irregular platean, extend-
ing from north to south for 1,000, with a
breadth varying from 300 to 500 miles, and
a height ranging from 1,500 to 3,000 feet
above the sea-level. Midway between Cape
Comorin and Cashmere, this table-land is
bisected from west to east, for 600 miles, by
the narrow Nerbudda valley: the northern
section, of an oblong shape, comprising
Malwa, East Rajpootana, and Bundeleund,
has for its south-castern and north-western
buttresses the Vindhya and Arravulli ranges,
and a declination towards the Jumna and
Dooab on the north-east, and to the Guzerat
plain on the sonth-west: the southern sec-
tion, constituting what is crroncously* termed
the Peninsula, contains the Deccan, Mysoor,
Berar, and adjoining districts ; forms a right-
angled triangle,t supported on the north by
the Sautpoora mountains, and on cither side
by the Western and Eastern Ghauts and
their prolongations; the declination is from
the westward to the castward, as shown by
the courses of the Godavery and Kistnah,
These promincnt physical characteristics
* There is no partial insulation—no isthmus.
+ The northern and western sides are ahout 900
miles in length; the eastern 1,100.
$A full description of the geography of India
| would require a yolume to itself; but the tabular
|
views here given, and now for the first time pre-
pared, will, with the aid of the maps, enable the reader
to trace out the topography of the country.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
may be thus recapitulated. Ist. The extensive
mountain circumvallation, east to west, from
the Irawaddy to the Indus, 2nd. The two
grcat and nearly level plains of the Ganges
and Indns, 3rd. The immense undulating
plateau, of 1,000 miles long, in a straight
line from the Jumna to the Cauvery. ‘To
these may be added a low coast-line of 4,500
miles, skirted on cither side of the Bay of
Bengal, and on the Malabar shore of the
tndian Occan, by receding Ghauts and other |
lofty ranges, backed by inland ridges of
hills, and mountains traversing the land in
diverse directions, such as the Vindhya,
Sautpoora, and Arravulli. These salient fea-
tures comprise many varieties of scencry ;
but for the most part wide-spread landscapes
extend on the ecast,—teeming with animal
and vegetable life ; sandy wastes on the west,
where the wild ass obtains scanty provender ;
on the north, an arctic region, whose snowy
solitudes are relicved from perpetual stillness
hy voleanic fires bursting from ice-capt peaks;
on the south, luxuriant valleys, verdant with
perpetual summer; a rocky coast at Katty-
war, swampy sunderbunds at Bengal, jungly
ravines in Berar, and fertile plains in Tan-
jore;—Aere Nature in sternest aspect,—there
in lovelicst form,—everywhere some dis-
tinctive beanty or peculiar grandeur: while
throughont the whole ure seattered numer-
ous citics aud fortresses on river-bank or
ocean-shore, adorned with Hindoo and Mos-
lem architecture, cave temples of wondrous
workmanship, idolatrous slirines, and Mo-
hammedan mausoleums, wrought witb untir-
ing industry and singular artistic skill; cyelo-
pean walls, tanks, and ruius of extraordinary
extent, and of unknown origin and date ;
but whose rare beauty even the ruthless
destroyer, Time, has not wholly obliterated,
These and many other peculiarities contri-
bute to render India a land of romantic in-
terest, which it is quite beyond the assigned
limits of this work to depict: all within its
scopet being a brief exposition of the various
mountain-ranges and passes, the platcaux,
the river system, coast-line, islands, &c., with
an cnumeration of the principal cities and
towns, which are more numerous and popu-
lous than those of continental Europe.§
§ Autumnal tourists, in search of health, pleasure,
or excitement, and weary of the beaten paths of the
Seine and Rhine, might readily perform, in six
months (September to March), the overland route
to and from India,—examine the leading features of
this ancient and far-famed land, judge for themselves
of its gorgeous beauty, and form some idea of the man-
ners and customs of its vast and varied population.
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466 EXTENT, POSITION, AND ELEVATION OF MOUNTAINS—INDIA.
|
|
|
Fores pung
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470 EXTENT, POSITION, AND ELEVATION OF MOUNTAINS—INDIA.
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
79
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TABLE-LANDS OF BRITISH INDIA—EXATENT AND I]
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eee pace : 6,400 926,930 | Ganjam ie Oy | ga F 1765
View apatam . 7,650 1,244,272 | Vizagapatam. ep hl 83 21 S
Heise cdee 6.0350 1,012,086 Rajamundry . i 8} 50 a
anee: | 520,866 | Masulipatam . 16 10 | 81 12 1759
Masulipatam . 5,000 5 Hl Oy
Gnutoor Seo 4,960 569,968 Guntoer 16 20 80 30 I Aisis)
Bellar Mate a: 131056 | 1,2295599 | Bellary | 15 9 | 76 69 1800
Culdane eae 12970 | 1851921 | Cuddapah . 1t 23 | 78 52 .
North Arcot 6,800 | 1,485,873 | Chittoor 13 12 | 79 9 1751
South Arcot 7,610 1,006,005 Cuddalore . 1] 42 79 «650 2
Ching] utand Madras 3,050 | 1,283,462 | Madras . 13 6 | 80 21 | 1765
Silent 8200 | 1,195,367 | Salem 11 39 | 78 14 1792
Coimhatore : 8.280 1,153,862 | Coimbatore mW i 1799
Trichinopol 3,000 | 709,196 | Trichinopoly . 10 48 | 78 46 | 1801
NEuiere e : 3900 1,676,068 Tanjore 10 48 “ee i 1799
udue. 10.700 | 1,756.791 | Madura 9 65 | 78 10 1801
Tinnivelly 5,700 1,269,216 | Tinniveliy. 8 44 77 44 1801 i
Rebar 60c0 | 1,414909 | Calicut . 1) 15 | 75 650 1792
Canara 7.720 1,056,333 Mangalore Tey st 74 54 1799
Nellore . 7,930 935,690 | Nellore 27 | s0 2 1801
Kurnool. 3,248 eee Kurnool 15 50 78 (6 1838
1) se 9 om ne
Coorg 1,420 { in 1836 } Merkara , 12 27 75 48 1834
met hi = 5,477 #15,819 | Tannah . . ISMST 2 63 1818
oe St 3964 665,288 | Rutnagheriah ily © | oe 20 if
Bombay Island "18 666,119 | Bombay 18 67 | 72 62 | 1661
Diente rel ee 3,837 754.985 | Dharwar 15 28 | 75 4 1818
Toots 5,298 666,006 | Poona ns Gl | ey we es
Kandetsh 9311 778,112 | Malligaum an BB || 9e gh os
Sarat 1,629 492,681 | Surat ee 3 1 489 | 7 51 1759
eeeh 1,319 290,981 | Broach. . . , 21 #2 is 2 1803
oF 995,585 Ahmednuggur . 5
Aran ia 675115 Sholipore a 17 40 | 76 0 1818
Belgaum 5,405 1,025,882 Belgaum . 5 60 74° 56 1817
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—
Provinees, Districts, &e.
Kuira .
Ahmedabud and Nassik .
Sattara . .
Henan Province —
Deogur above the Ghants
» below the Ghauts
Wein-Gunga .
Choteesaurh
Chandarpoor :
NERBUDDA Districts :-—
Saugor .
Jubbulpaor
Hoosungabad .
Seuni
Dumeh .
Nuraingpoor
Baitoal
AGRA PRES., on NW. Prov.
Benares . i ee
Ghazeepore
Azimghur
Goruck poor
Jaunpoor
Allahabad .
i Banda
Futtchpore
Cawnpore .
Eunwah . ‘
Furruckabad .°.
Shajehanpoor .
Allyghur
Bareilly. .
Moradabad.
Agra .
Delhi j :
Saharunpoor .
Paniput
llissar,
Rohtuk .
Goorgaon . a
Mozullernuggur. . ,
Meerut . * 6
Boolundshuhur .
Bijnme .
Budaon .
Muttra
Mynpoory .
Tlumeerpoor ,
Mirzapoor .
Jaloun .
Ajmere . on =
Majewarra . ww
Cis SUTLES :—
Umballah .
Loodianah
Kythul and Ladwa.
Ferozepore
Seik States
| Pongan:—
Jhelum .
Lahore .
Leia. .
Mooltan
Jullunder .
Peshawur .
Kangra. é
ScinpE Province: —
Kurrachee
Shikarpoor
llydrabad .
UntRa-Gancetic Districts :~—
Arracan G
Assam, Lower
Assam, Upper
Goal para Q
Cossya Fills .
Cachar
Tenasscrim, Mergui, Ye, &e.
Pegu Province
BomMBAY et Ctinued.
POPULATION
l British Territories in C:
; | 4,000
Arena in
Square
Miles,
1,869
9.931
10,222
76,432
1,857
6,287
1.916
1,459
2,128
501
990
16,000
6,120
30,000
15,104
8,948
12)857
3,506
729
29,168
25,C00
BY
v
PROVINCES
apulation.
680,631
995,585
1,005,771
[
ae
305,594
442,771
242,611
297,070
363,584
254,486
= 93,441
841757
1,596,324
1,653,251
3,087 874
1,142,749
1,379,788
743,872
679,77
1,174,956
610,965
1,064,607
986,096
1,134,569
1.875,268
1,138,461
1,001,961
435,744
£01,325
360,085
330,452
377,013
662,486
yy 2861
ils 1 35,072
TU8,342
695,521
1,019,161
862,909
$32,714
548,604
1,104,315
176,297
224,891
37,715
67,134
120,893
164,805
16,890
249,686
1,116,035
9,470,817
1,500.000
500, 000
569,722
abaut
$50,000
185,550
250,401
551,811
melee
710,000
260,000
460,000
10,935
60,000
115,431
$50,000
ap
Sew DES URICIS:
mtinental India—Area, Chivf Towns, and Position.
Position of Town.
Principal Town,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
Lat N. | Long. 1s.
' eo 4 Om
Kaira. 22 43 72 310
Ahmedahad 23° «OO 72 3
Sattara . 17 40 ii 3
Chindwara 2c 78 68
Nugpore 21 #10 79 10
Bundnra 2 (oa
Ryepore | 61 40
Chandah 19 of 79 23
Suvgor . 2304 78 49
dulbuipoor 23° 10 so 1
Tloo-ungabad 22 44 7 43
Seuni : 22 79 40
Dumoh ; 23 49 79 3
Nursingpoor . a 0 es
Laitool . 21 60 TT 88
Bonares 25 17 834
Ghazcepore 25 32 83 39
Azimghur 26 «0 83 14
Goruckpoor , 26 42 83 24
Jounpoor . 25 41 82 45
Allahabad ol peo ee 81 45
Banda’: . « « «|| 20 27 60 23
Vnttehpore “a 87 $0 54
Cawppore . 5 ea) 400 25
Ktawah ; 26 46 79 #4
Furruckabad . 27° 24 1) 40
Shajchaupoor ia 79 «88
Allyghur . 27 als 738 «8
Bareilly 28 23 79° 29
Moradubad ‘ 28 6 Too 0.
INGEN cp oe oo 270) 8 5
Dethi 2s. 38 de
Saharunpoor . 29 «68 an 2
Paniput 29 23 it 2
Lliesar 20S 75 50
Rohtuk. WS 5d 76 38
Goorgaon . oS tee iT 3
Mozuffcrnugeur 23°28 Ti 45
PUCOIUEs sa 28 59 TT 46
Borrun. 28 24 77 8&6
Bijuore . 20 22 78 11
FBG og 1. a Bey Amey att
Muttra. 2 women ost 77 45
My ppoory . 27 34 of 4
llumeerpoor . 25 5S 80 14
Mirzapoor . . .| 25 6 82 33
Jaloun . 26 9 74 24
Ajmicre Us 949) T4 43
Nyanugga. 26 6 74 28
Umballah . 30 24 76 49
Loodianah 380 55 75 64
Kythul . 29 49 7G 28
Ferozepore 30 45 75 65
Patialah 30 20 76 25
Jhelum 32 56 73° 47
Lahore . 31 36 74°21
Leia. . ew « | 80 167 7] 64
BMeoltan . . . «| 80 12 71 +30
Jallunder . 31) 8) 75 31
Peshawur -| 34 71 ai 28
Is 6 a 6 al] G2 & 76 18
Kurrachee . . . {| 24 66 67 3
Shikarpoor . . .] 28 I 68 39
Tlydrabad . 5 2a 2 69 29
Akyab . 20 10 92 b+
Gowhatty eS 91 45
Seebpore . 27) (O80 91 40
Goalpara . 2668 90 40
Chirrn Ponjee 265 14 9 45
Silehar . Gu 24 49 Li
Mergui . 2. ef WOW oy 42
Prome . a vot; 40 96 17
Date of
Actuisi-
tien,
1803
1818
1613
18354
i
“1
re cn
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502 DENSITY OF POPULATION IN
DIFFERENT PARTS OF INDIA.
A more recent return (28th July, 1855)
from the East India House, gives the popu-
lation of India thus :—
British States.— Bengal, &ce., 59,966,284;
|N. W. Provinces, 30,872,766; Madras,
, 22,301,697 ; Bombay, 11,109,067; Eastern
| settlements, 202,510: total, 124,452,354.
Native States.—Bengal, 38,259,862 ; Ma-
dras, 4,752,975; Bombay, 4,460,370: total,
| 47,473,207.
Toreign States. — French
171,217; Portugnese ditto,
Grand total, 172,096,778.*
The varying degree of density of popula-
tion to area forbids reliance being placed
on any mere “estimates,” or “ approxima-
tions to actual amount.” Thus in Bengal,
Behar, and Cuttack, the number of mouths
to each square mile is stated to be—in Jes-
sore, 359; Moorshedabad, 394; Bhagul-
| poor, 318; Patna, 506; Cuttack, 220;
| Dacea, 193; Chittagong, 324: average of
all, 8324.4 These are high ratios; but the
soil is fertile, and the inhabitants very nu-
merous along the banks of rivers. In As-
sam, on the N.E. frontier of Bengal, and
along the rich valley of the Bralimapootra,
settlements,
not known.
| the density is placed at only 32 to the square
| mile; in Arracan, at 21; Tenasserim pro-
vinces, at 4; on the S.W. frontier (Chota
Nagpoor, &c.), at 85; in the Saugor and Ner-
budda territorics, at 109; in the non-regu-
lation provinces, Kumaon, Ajmeer, &c., at 44.
The census of the Madras Presidency (see
Appendix) shows, on an area of 138,279 sq.
m., a population of 22,281,527, or 161 per-
sons to each sq.m. In some districts the
inhabitants are much more thinly scattered :
for instance, at Kurnool, 84; at Bellary,
| O4; at Masulipatam, 104; the highest is the
rich district of Tanjore, with 430 to each
* The sum of 124,452,354 is a higher figure than
the Anglo-Indian subjects af the British erown have
hitherto heen rated, and is probably the result of a
more accurate numbering of the people: thus, until
a census now (July, 1855) in progress was made of
the Punjab, the population was, as usual, under-es-
timated. According to the Lahore Chronicle of 30th
at May, 1855, the returns then received show for
Lahore, 3,458,322; Jhelum, 1,762,488; Cis-Sut-
lej, 2,818,969: which are higher figures than
those given from the Parliamentary Papers, at
revious page. The enumerations made up to May
ast, for the Punjab, gave 10,765,478; and it was
supposed that the grand total, when campleted,
would be about eleven million and a-half, or nearly
four million more than the official document pre-
viously given for the Punjab and Cis-Sutlej states.
In my first work on India, twenty years ago, |
assumed the population under ritish jurisdiction
to be about one hundred million, which some con-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
than the British N. W. Provinces, which,
according to the return of 1852-’8, shows
the following results :t{—
|
Districts. Square M. | Population. a i
Agra. . 9,298 | 4,373,156 465
Allahabad 11,971 4,526,607 378
Benares 19,737 9,437,270 478
Delhi 8,633 2,195,180 254
Meerut 9,985 4,522,165 453
Rohileund 12,428 5,217,507 419
Total . 72,052 | 30,271,885 420
By the two full ceususes of Madras and
the N. W. Provinces, we gain at last a fair
estimate of the small number of Moham-
medans, as compared with the Hindoos,
in India: the Madras census of 1850-1,
shows, on a total of 21,581,572, that the
adult Hindoos numbered 13,2-16,509; Mo-
hammedan adults and others, 1,185,654:
the children—Hindoos, 6,655,216; Moham-
medans and others, 594,193: total census
(exclusive of Madras city and suburbs, con-
taining 700,000)—
Class. Males. Females. Total.
Hindoos 10,194,098 | 9,707,627 | 19,901,725
Eee } 852,978 826,869 | 1,679,847
Total . 11,047,076 | 10,534,496 | 21,581,572.
‘The proportion of Moslems to Hindoos in
Southern India, is as one to ten.
The N. W. Provinces return, in 1852—3,
shows—
Class. Males. Females, Total.
Hindoos i 13,803,645 11,920,464 25,724,109
parece: } 9,376,801 | 2,170,880 | 4,547,771
‘ 16,180,536 14,091 344 80,271,880
Total .
sidered an exaggeration; the above augmentation
of twenty-four million is accounted for by the ad. |
dition of new states, such as the Punjab. I have
little doubt that an accurate census will show a
larger aggregate than 124,000,000.
+1 obtained in India. in 1830, “a census,” or
rather estimate of these districts, showing an aggre-
gate of area in sq. m., 153,792; villages, 154,268 ;
houses, 7,781,240; mouths, 39,957,561: or ahaut
one village to cach sq. m. of 640 acres, five houses to
each village, five and a-half persons to each house,
and 259 mouths to each sq.m. (See my first 7/és-
tory of the British Colonies, vol. i., Asia; 2nd edi-
tion, p. 166: published in 1835.)
{ As regards the censuses of Madras and the
N.W. Provinees, I have seen no details given of the
means adopted to ensure an accurate enumeration in
asingle day; they must, [ think, be considered as
“near approximations” to truth: they appear to be
the best yet obtained.
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sq. m. Madras has a much less density
Delhi, Agra, and the adjacent provinces,
have for several centuries been the strong-
holds of the Moslems; yet even here their |
numbers (including “other” denominations |
not Ilindoos) is only four million to twenty- |
five million. In 1830, I estimated the total
Mohammedan popolation of India at fifteen
million, and reeent investigations justify
this estimate.
A census of Agra and its suburbs (ex-
eluding inmates of bungalows round about
the city, and the domesties attached thereto,
about 3,000 in number, and also the inhabi-
tants of bazaars and villages in military
eantonments) was made in 1841-15, after
seven months’ careful cxamination: the re-
sult showed a population of 103,572, with
an exeess of 8,245 Hlindoos over Moham-
medans, in this a former seat of Moslem
rule; the grand total of houses was 15,327.
A census, in 1829, of Moorshedabad city
and district, the head-quarters of the former
Mohammedan ruler of Bengal, showed—
[indoos, 555,310; Mussulmen, 412,816
= 968,126: proportion of sexes—//indoo,
‘ainales, 286,148; females, 269,162: Mussul-
men, males, 216,878; females, 196,344:
nomber of houses, Hindoo, 123,495; Mus-
sulmen, 84,734, Allahabad city census in
1831-’2, gave—of Hindoos, 44,116; Mussul-
men, 20,669. Allahabad distriet— Hindoos,
554,206; Mussulmen, 161,209; in the city,
the Ilindoos were in the proportion of two
to one; in the distriet, of more than three
to one.
The population of Caleutta has been a
matter of wide estimate, and is in proof of
the past neglect of statistical inquiries: in
July, 1780, the inhabitants of the Anglo-
Indian metropolis were guessed at 400,000 ;
at the commencement of the present ecntury,
about one million; in 1815, at half a mil-
lion; in 1837, au imperfect census gave a
quarter of a million (229,714) ; and in 1850,
a more complete census showed nearly half
a million (413,182), comprising only those
residing within the City Proper, hounded by
the Mahratta ditch, or limits of the supreme
court: the dense population of the suburbs,
probably exceeding half a million, are not
stated; nor, I believe, the floating mass of
* Principal languages: English, French, Portuguese,
Spanish, Italian, German, Russ, Polish, Turkish,
Greek, Dutch, Danish, Swede, Norwegian, Finn = 15.
+ This tongue was formed as a medium of collo-
quial intercourse in 1555, by the Emperor Akber,
out of Jdindee, the primitive language of the Hin-
doos, and Arabic and Persian, which were used by
, | the Mohammedan conquerors: the character adopted
|
PROPORTION OF MOSLEMS TO HINDOOS—TWENTY LANGUAGES. 503
people who pass into and out of Calentta
daily ; viz, 72,125, of whom 10,936 cross
the river diurnally in ferries.
Resume of Censuses. 1890.
1857.
Males. Females.
Europeans ee, 6,233 6.479
Eurasians (mixed blood) 4,615 4,746
Armenians 892 636
Chinese Oe cs, os S47 362
Asiatics and low castes | 15.342 | 21,096
llindoos : 271,835 137.651
Mohammedans . . | 110,918 58,744
Total . 413,152 220,714
It is usual to speak of India as if it were
inhabited by a single race: such is not the
ease; the people are more varied in lan-
guage, appearance, and manners, than those
of Europe.* About twenty langnages are
extensively spoken; viz., (1.) /Hindoostanee,
in pretty general use, partienlarly in the
N.W. Provinees, and usually by Mussulment
throughont India; (2.) Bengallee, in the
lower partsof the Gangetie and Brahma-
pootra plains; (3.) Punjabee or Seik, in the
upper portion of the Indies; (4.) Siudhee, in
Cis-Sutle} states and Sinde; (5.) Jamal,
around Madras and down to the coast of
Cape Comorin; (6.) Canarese or Karnata, in
Mysoor and Coorg; (7.) Ma/yalim, in Tra-
yaneore and Cochin; (8.) Zeloogoo or
Telinga, at Wydrabad (Deeean), and east-
ward to coast of Bengal Bay; (9.) Oorya, in
Orissa ; (10.) Cole and Gond, in Berar;
(11.) MeAratta, in Maharashtra; (12.) Hindee,
in Rajpootana and Malwa; (13.) Guze-
ratiee, in Guzerat; (14.) Cufehee, in Cuteh ;
(15.) Cashmerian, in Cashmere; (16.) Ne-
paulese, in Nepaul; (17.) Bhote, in Bootan ;
(18.) Assamese, Up. Assam; (19.) Burmese, in
Arracan and Pegu; (20.) Brahooi, ov Beloo-
chee, in Belooechistan ; Persian and Arabie
sparingly, and numerous dialects in different
localities.
In Bengal and Orissa the majority of the
people do not eat meat, and the abstinence
is ascribed to a religious precept forbidding
the destruction of life : but almost every Hin-
doo eats fish ; several consume kid flesh (es-
pecially when sacrificed and offered to idols),
is sometimes the Deva Nagri (Sanscrit), but more
generally the Arabic alphabet, Although the great
majority of the people of India are usually termed
Hindoos as regards creed, there is as slight a bond of
union among them on that account as there is
among the professing Christians in Europe, and as
much diversity in reference to practices supposed to
be connected with their religious faith
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
504 ANTAGONISMS OF THE
and also birds. Numerons Brahmins and
Rajpoots of the highest eastes, in N. and
W. India, partake of goat, deer, and wild
boar; while they abhor the domestic sheep
and swine: others who use the jungle cock,
(similar to our game-cock), would deem the
touch of barn-door poultry pollution, Some
classes feed on deseriptions of provender
which are rejeeted by others: at Bikaneer,
all the Hindoos profess an abhorrence of
fish; at Knmaon, they will mastieate the
short-taled sheep of the hills, but not the
long-tailed one of the plains; people will
buy baked bread, but would lose easte if
they touched boiled rice cooked by these
very bakers: an earthen pot is polluted past
redemption if touched by an inferior caste ;
a metal one suffers no such deterioration :
some tribes allow a man to smoke throngh
his hands from the bowl] (chéllwm) which
contains the tobacco, but would not suffer
the same person to touch that part of the
hookah which contains the water. Other
instances of diversity might be multiplied.
ven the religious holidays of Bengal are
different from those observed iu the N. W.
Provinces. The barbarous ceremonies of
Juggernant, and the abominations of the
| Churrnk Poojah (where men snbmit them-
sclves to be swung in the air, with hooks
fastened through their loins), are un-
known in N. and W. India. In some parts,
female infanticide is or was wont to be
almost universal ; in others it is held in just
abhorrence: in some districts, polygamy
prevails ; in others polyandria—one woman
being married to all the brothers of a
family, in order to retain property among
them ;—here the marriage of a danghter
is a great cxpense,—there a source of
profit, as the husband buys his bride, and
has the right to sell her, and even to
mortgage her for a definite time as security
for a debt.
Independent of the division of the Hin-
doos into eastes—Brahmins, Cashtriya, Vai-
syas, and Soodras,——and the subdivision of so-
ciety into numerous hereditary classes, there
are other diversities, arising probably from
origin of race, and the peculiarities engen-
* A comparatively small portion of the Hindoo
population live on rice; the majority eat wheat and
other grain, as also various species of pulse.
+ In Calentta, where a variety of races, or, as they
may more properly be termed nations, are eollected,
the peculiarities of each are readily ascertainable,
and their antagonisms quickly manifested. Among
twenty persons in my service at one time in Ken-
gal, there were (excepting four Balasore palanquin-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
POPULATION OF INDIA.
dered during a long course of time by
climate and food: thus the brave Rajpoot
and the bold Mahratta are decided antago-
nists; but both view, with something of
eontempt, the peaceful, subtle, rice-feeding*
Bengallee, whose cleanly, simple habits are
outraged by the gross- -feeding, dirty Mughs
of Arracan, who object not to a dish of
stewed rats or snakes, or even to a slice of a
putrefying elephant. The Coromandel men
have features and modes of thought distinet
from those of the Malabar coast; while
inhabitants of the Kattywar peninsula differ
essentially from both. The dwellers on the
cool and dry hills and plateaux, present a
marked contrast to those who reside in the
hot and humid plains and valleys; and the
aborigines, such as the Gunds of Berar,
present no similarity whatever to the fine
mould and beautifully-chiselled head and
face, arched nose, and olive hue, of the
pure Hindoo, or to the large-boned, massive
frame, and manly cast of the hard-featured,
genuine Moslem.
The variety of races in India are so
decided, that an experienced officer will at
onee say whether a soldier belongs to the
respective departmeuts of the army of
Bengal, of Madras, or Bombay; and further,
wliether a Iindoo is from Rajpootana, from
Oude, from the Deccan, from the coast, or
elsewhere.t
With regard to the Mohammedans, irre-
spective of their local aversions, they are
divided into two sects—Soonee and Shiea,—
who abhor each other as cordially as the
members of the Latin and Greek cliureh do,
or as the Romanists and Orangemen of Ire-
land, and are equally ready to fight and slay
on a theological point of dispute. ‘Then,
besides these two leading divisions of the
population, there are several million per-
sons under the denominations of Jains or
Buddhists, who consuine no animal food or
fermented beverage; Seiks, who eat the
flesh of the cow, and drink ardent spirits;
Parsces or Guchers (erroneously termed
“ fire-worshippers’’), Latin, Protestant, Nes-
torians, or Syriac and Armenian Christians,
-——Jews,{ and a mixed race sprung from the
bearers, a tribe bearing a high repute for honesty),
not two of the same race ; consequently mueh mutual
distrust, frequent quarrels, bickering, and fighting.
{ Sprnarnar adverts, in 1775—’78, to the colony of
Jews at Cochin, who, he says, “although most of
them are nearly as black as the native Malabars,
they yet retain, both men and women, those cha-
racteristic features which distinguished this singulay
people from all other nations of the earth.”
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
re ees
ABORIGINAL RACES OF INDIA—CIIARACTER AND TIABITS.
marital union of a= some of one erecd,
some of another: added to these are the
Furasians, born of Enropean fathers and
Indian mothers; a rapidly inereasing class,
probably Destined, at some future day, to
exercise an import tant influence in the Mast.
Before passing from the subject of the
numbers and variety of the people, F would
wish to draw public attention to a large and
most interesting section of them, to whom
seferenee has been made previously, as the
aborigines of India. They are scattered
over every part of the country, generally in
the hilly districts; and although speaking
dilferent dialeets,* and of varying appear-
ance, manners, and customs, they are con-
sidered by General Briggs and Mr. Hodgson
(who have studied their peculiarities) as
having their origin from a common stock.
Of their number throughout India we know
nothing; they must amonnt to several
million human beings, whose character is
thus sumined up :—“ Fhe man of the ancicnt
race scorns an untruth, and seldom denies
the commission even of a crime that he may
have perpetrated, though it lead to death :
he is true to his promise; hospitable and
faithful to his guest, devoted to his supe-
riors, and always ready to sacrifice his own
life in the service of his chief; he is reckless
of danger, and knows no fear? ‘+ It may be
added, that he considers himself justified in
levying “black mail” on all from whom he
ean obtain it, on the ground that he has
been deprived of his possession of the soil
by the more eivilised race who have usurped
the territory. ‘Fhe aborigines are distin-
guished from the ITindoos by several marked
( Voyages to East Indies, vol. iii., p. 226.) They had
then “a very heautiful and authentic copy of the
Pentateuch,” hut know not when or where they
derived it. Their own statement is, that they are of
the posterity of the ten tribes carried away into
captivity by Shalmaneser, and who, after being
liberated from their Assyrian bonds, came hither,
where they have from time immemarial constituted
asmall but isolated community, and enjoyed for a
series of ages valuable privileges, including the
exercise of their religion without restraint. Their
houses, in a separate town, are built of stone, plas-
tered white on the outside, and they have three
synagogues; most of them are cmployed in trade,
and some are very wealthy. How these Jews be-
came black is not known; but aecording to Stavo-
rinus, when they purchase a slave he is immediately
circumcised, manumitted, and received into the com-
munity asa fellow Israelite. By intermarriages with
such converts, the colour, in process of time, may
have become perfeetly dark, while the peeutiar
physiognomy was perpetuated in the race of mixed
blood, as I have noticed is generally the case with
the descendants, by male fathers, of the English,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
509
enstoms: they have no odie: eat beer and
all sorts of animal food; drink, on every
possible oceasion, intoxicating beverages
(no ceremony, civil or religions, is deemed
complete without such drink); have no
aversion to the shedding of blood ; atone for
the sins of the dead by the sacrifice of a
victim; widows marry and do not burn ;
they are ignorant of reading or writing, and
usually live by the chase and by pastoral
pursuits, Some tribes take their designa-
tion from the conntry they inhabit: Gonds,
in Gondwana; Koles or Kolis, in Kolywara ;
Mirs or Wars, in arian: Bheels or
Bhils, in Bhilwara and Bhilwan; Benjees,
in Bengal, &c. Other tribes, such as the
Todawurs of the Neilgherries, have designa-
tions of which the origin is aan n.
‘he men are nearly naked; the women
wear a cloth wrapper round the waist,
earried over the left shoulder and under the
night arm; they live mostly in conical
thatched hovels, apart from the dwellings of
the Hindoos, by whom they are treated as
outeasts, and have no yaluables but asses
and dogs. As watehmen and _ thief-takers
they are of great nse, from their fidelity,
sacred regard tor truth, and the skill éringed
in following a foot- intele: : they are entrusted
with the care of private property to a large
amount, and convey the public revenue to
the chief towns of districts—a duty which
they perform with scrupulous eare and
punctuality.
An unseen deity is worshipped; prayers
are offered to avert famine and disease, and
for preservation from wild beasts and
venomous reptiles: to propitiate the favour
French, Spanish, and Portuguese. There is a colony
of white Jews at Mattacherry, or the Jews’ toten, a
suburb of Cochin ; they regard the black Jews as an
inferior caste : ie former. say that they came 10
Cranganore after the destruction of the second
temple, and that they have a plate of brass in their
possessinn since the vear a.b. 490, which records the
grant of land and privileges Fancaled to them by
the king of that part of India: a copy of it is now
in the public library at Cambridge. By discord and
meddling in the disputes of the nativ es, the Cranga-
nore Jews hrought destruction on frnedeen at the
hands of an Indian king, who destroyed their strong-
holds, palaces, and houses, slew many, and carried
others into eaptivity. The Jews have a never-ceas-
ing communication with their hrethren throughout
the Fast. For fuller details of these white and ‘black
Israelites, sce Hongh’s History of Christianity in
India, val. i, 46-4.
* They seem to be connected with the Tamul and
other languages of Southern India, and have no
affinity with the Sanserit.
+ Lectures on the Abor iginal Race of India; by
Lt.-General Briggs: 1852, p. 13.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
506
or appease the anger of the object of adora-
tion, living sacrifices (in some cases human
beings) are deemed essential ; and the blood
of the victim is retained in small vessels by
| the yotaries. AI social and religious cere-
| monies are accompanied by feasting, drink-
ing, and dancing; the latter performed,
sometimes, by several hundred women (their
| hair highly ornamented with flowers) grouped
the ground.
and sinewy; rather low in stature; face
| large or flat, and wide; eyes black and
| piercing ; nosc-bridge depressed, nostrils
expanded, mouth protruding, lips large,
little or no beard: altogether presenting a
marked contrast to the Apollo-like form of
| the genuine Hindoo.*
Several benevolent governmental servants
have uudertaken the civilisation of different
tribes, and by kindness and tact effected
considerahle improvement in their habits
and condition. When disciplined, they
make brave and obedient soldiers, are proud
of the consideration of their European
officers, to whom they become ardently
attached, and are ready to follow them
abroad, on board ship, or wherever they go.
The aborigines of the Carnatic formed the
leading scpoys of Clive and Coote; and at
the great battle of Plassy they helped to
lay the foundation of the Anglo-Indian
empire.t The Bengies, who are found in
all parts of the Gangetic plain, when serving
in the Mohammedan armies, claimed as
indigenes the honour of leading storming
parties. In the defence of Jellalabad, under
the gallant Sir R. Sale, the Pariahs (out
castes, or low castes, as the aborigines arc
termed) evinced the most indomitable
courage and perseverance, as they have
done at Ava, or wherever employed in the
pioncer and engineer corps. ‘These hitherto
neglected races may be tnrned to beneficial
uses. The tribe termed tamoosees, or
foresters, bccame the active and indefatigable
infantry, who enabled Sevajee to conquer
from the Moguls the numerous hill forts
which formed the basis of the Mahratta
| dominion, The keels have long been
celebrated in Western India annals, and
* Some of the gipsy trihe of the aborigines whom
I saw in the Deccan, were like their Kuropean
brethren of the same class, and the women equally
handsome: in the form of their encampment—asscs,
; arts, and dogs—the tribe might have been con-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
in concentric circles, each laying hold with |
one hand on her neighbour’s cineture or |
waist, and beating time with the heels on |
In figure they are well made |
VALUABLE QUALITIES OF THE ABORIGINES OF INDIA.
their deeds recorded by Malcolm, Tod, &e.:
as a local militia, they rendered good service
in Candeish. The Sowthals of Bhagulpoor,
reclaimed by the noble-minded civilian
Cleveland, have now one of the finest regi-
ments of the British army, recruited from
their once despised class, The Afairs of
Mewar are selected to gnard the palace
and treasury of the Rajpoot rajah, and
form the only escort attendant on the
princesses when they go abroad. Hyder
Ali had such confidence in the Bedars of
Canara, that a body of 200 spearmen ran
beside him, whether on horseback or in his
palanquin, and guarded his tent at might.
SLavery in Inpia.—During the early
Hindoo sway, the aborigines were, as far
as practicable, reduced to servitude; those
who could not find refuge in the hills
and jungles, were made adseripti glebe,
and transferred as predial slaves with
the land. Under Moslem rule, this un-
happy class was augmented by another
set of victims of man’s rapacity. Per-
sons unable to pay the government taxes
were sold into servitude; others who were
reduced to extreme poverty voluntarily
surrendered themselves as bondsmen, either
for fe or for a term of years, to obtain the
means of existence: in many cases the
children of the poor were bought by the
wealthy for servants or for sensual purposes.
Ennuchs and others employed in the harems
and as attendants, were imported from Africa
and other places. Hence slavery, domestic
and predial, now exists in almost every part
of India. Our government, even during
the administration of Warren Tlastings,
were aware of the fact; but it was deemed
politic not to interfere, for the same rea-
sons that induced the long toleration of
widow-burning and infanticide.
In 1830, I applied to Mr. Wilberforce on
the subject, and urged the anti-slavery so-
ciety to investigate the matter; but he con-
sidered it then most advisable to give all his
attention to the West Indies. Evidence
adduced before the Kast India parhiameutary
committee, in 1882, disclosed a dreadful
state of human suffering among East Indian
slaves, which was confirmed by subsequent
investigations, when it was ascertained that
the Anglo-Indian government were large
sidered a recent migration from Devonshire. Some
gipsies, whose location I visited in China, presented
similar characteristics.
+ My authority for these statements is Lt.-general
Briggs.
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_ Se
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
SLAVERY IN BRITISH INDIA—PROGRESS OF ABOLITION. 507
slaveholders in right of lands held in aetual
possession. Parliament, in 1831-735, began
to diseuss the matter, and several eminent
eivil servants of the K. 1. Cy. exerted them-
| selves to elucidate the evils of this nefarious
system. In Deeember, 1838, I laid before
the Marquis Wellesley a plan for the
gradual but effeetual abolition of slavery in
India: it was highly approved by his lord-
ship, who urged the adoption thereof on the
Indian authorities. Some part of the plan*
was adopted: the government relinquished
their right to slaves on eseheated hinds ;
reports were ealled for from the eolleetors
aud other publie officers; and, on the 7th of
April, 1813, an aet (No. 5) was passed by
the President of India in eouneil, which
declared as follows :—
“TJ, That no publie officer shall, in execution of
any deeree or Bae of court, or for the enforeement
of any demand of rent or revenue, sell or eanse to be
sold any person, or the right to the compulsory
labour or services of any person, on the ground that
such person is in a state of slavery.
a tl. That no rights arising out of an alleged
property in the person and services of another as a
slave shall be enforced by any civil or criminal court
or magistrate within the territories of the E. 1. Cy.
“TIL That no person who may have acquired
property by his own industry, or by the exereise of
any art, ealling, or profession, or by inheritance,
assignment, gift, or bequest, shall be dispossessed of
sueh property, or prevented from taking possession
thereof, on the ground that such person, or that the
person from whom the property may have been de-
rived, was a slave.
«JV, That any act which would be a penal offenee
if done to a free man, shall be equally an offence if
done to any person ou the pretext of his being in a
condition of slavery.”
Mueh, however, still remains to be done,
nntil slavery be as effectually extinguished
in the Las? as it has happily and beneficially
been in the JF est India possessions of the
British erown. There is no difficulty among
the Hindoo population, as slavery is not a
* My chief recommendations were—(I.) A com-
mittee of inquiry. (2.) A registry in each eolleetorate
of male and female slaves, agrestic and domestic.
(3.) Distriet magistrates to report on the laws and
customs in foree. (4.) All children born after a
certain date to be declared free. (5.) Slaves to
have the same proteetion of the law as freemen;
their evidence equally receivahle in a court of jus-
tice. (6.) Ill-treatment to be followed hy manumis-
sion. (7.) Masters no power to punish. (8.) Wife
and children not to be separated. (9.) Slaves on
government lands to be at once freed. (10.) No
voluntary sale of individuals or of their children to
be lawful. (11.) Transfers of slaves only in their
respective districts. (12.) Slaves to he entitled to
aequire and possess property, and to purehase manu-
mission : magistrate to arbitrate in cases of disputed
price. (13.) Magistrate to attend to the condition
question of caste; and with regard to Mo-
hammedan laws, a Christian government
cannot be expected to reeognise that which
is repugnant to the first prineiples of hu-
manity. We know nothing eertain of the
number of slaves in Tlindoostan ; the esti-
mates nade are but gness-work: in Malabar,t
Canara, Coorg, Tinnevelly, and other parts
of Southern India, the estimates are from a
half to one million; for Bengal, or the
N.W. Provinees, we have no estimates. In
fact, we know not whether there be one or
ten million slaves under the British govern-
ment in Asia.
The foregoing illustrations sufficiently
indieate that there is no homogenity of
population in India, no bond ef union,—no
feeling of patriotism, arising from similarity
of origin, language, ereed, or caste,—no
eommon sentiment, founded on historie or
traditional assoeiations: there is therefore
more seenrity for the preservation of British
authority; but there is greater diffienlty in
ameliorating the soeial condition of the
miass of the people, which was deteriorated
under Moslem tyranny, and is. still, as
compared to some past period, at a low
ebb.
The diseussion of this theme is beyond
my appointed limits, and I ean only offer
a few passing observations. The Hindoos
speak of having experieneed three ages,—
1. Gold and silver; 2. Copper aud brass;
3. Earth and wood,—whieh form the eom-
ponent parts of their domestie utensils;
but when these ages commenced and ended,
there are no means of aseertaiming.{ Ere
Tyre became a place for fishermen to dry
their nets, the Hindoo-Phaenician eom-
meree had an Asiatie renown: the spices
of India were songht in the time of Solo-
mon; the gossamer muslins of Dacea, the
and eomplaints of slaves, to pass summary judgment,
and to report his proceedings annually to govern-
ment, who were to send out queries, and eall for
reports on the nature and extent of slavery in each
distriet, from the officers entrusted with supervision-
ment.
+ Mr. Peggs and others estimate the number of |
slaves, in Malabar alone, at 147,000; in Canara,
Coorg, Wynaad, Cochin, and Travancore, at 254,000;
in Tinnevelly, 324.000; Trichinopoly, 10,000; Arcot,
20,000; Assam, 11,300; Surat, 3,000. Aceording to
Buehanan, the number must be very large in Behar
and in Bengal: and all authorities describe their con-
dition as truly miserable ;—stunted, squalid, and
treated with far less care than the beasts of the
field.
{ The third age is still extant, as illustrated by
the earthen water and cooking pots—chatly.
Jeet |
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ze PROSPERITY AND SPLENDOUR OF INDIA IN PAST AGES.
beautiful shawls of Cashmere, and the bro-
-eaded silks of Delhi, adorned the proudest
beauties at the courts of the Cesars, when
the barbarians of Britain were painted
savages. Embosscd and filigree metals,—
elaborate carvings in ivory, ebony, and san-
dalwood ; brilliant dyed chintzes ; diamonds,
uniquely set pearls, and precious stones;
embroidered velvets and carpets; highly
wrought steel; excellent porcelain, and
perfect naval architecture,—were for ages
the admiration of civilised mankind: and
hefore London was known in history,
India was the richest trading mart of the
earth. Ruined cities, such as Gour, the
| ancient capital of Bengal, which covered an
area of seventeen miles,—Beejapoor, with its
million of inhabited houses; AZandoo, with
/a wall twenty-eight miles in circuit; Raj-
mahal, the dwelling-place of an hundred
kings; Palebothra and Canonj,—indicated a
large urban class, who required to be fed
by a proportionately numerous agrestic
population. Hundreds of cave temples,*
eqnal in interior-size and architectural
beauty to the noblest cathedrals of Europe,
attest. the depth of religious feeling among
the worshippers; wlile gorgeous ceremonials
and scnsnous luxuries indicate the highest
| stage of Pagan refinement: but all afford a
melancholy contrast to the poverty which
now pervades the mass of the people, and
to the dull intellectuality and idolatrous
routine that at present extends over social
life.+
An extensive study of Indian records
leads to the conclusion that the decay of
Hindoostan dates from the period of Mo-
hammedan inecnrsions and conquests. Af-
ghan, Tartar, Patan, Mogul, Persian, Arab,
* Such as those of Karli, Ellora, Elephanta, &e.
Dr. Buist, of Bombay, in his eloquent advocacy of
the claims of India, says—* These have been hewn out
in the absence of gunpowder, and, fashioned without
natural adjunct or addition of masonry into their
present form, covered with rich and elaborate struc-
tures by the hand of man, ‘The caves are grouped
together so as to furnish places of worship, halls of
instruction, and domiciles for the professors and their
pupils, exactly on the plan of the universities which
eame into existence in Europe taco thousand yeurs
after those of India were forgotten; indicating an
amount. of civilisation and demand for knowledge
in the East twenty-four centuries ago.”—(Notes on
India: London, 1853, p. 10.) ‘The number of tem-
ples in India is as yet imperfectly ascertained. Mount
| Aboo, 5,000 feet high, is eovered and surmounted
by these singular structures.
+ See Dr. Buist’s Notes on India,
{ The desolating effect of Moslem sway over the
fairest portion cf Jiastern Knrope for nearly 400
| years, notwithstandiog the influences of surrounding
{owe 5s —— EE
——
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
|and other Moslem adventurers, here found
the richest spoil and the most fertile field:
swarming like locusts, and equally rave-
nous, successive hordes crossed the frontiers,
slew all who opposed, and, by their tyranny
and sensuality, pauperised and demoralised
all whom they subjected to their sway.
ldence entire regions became desolate, and
famines frequent in the inhabited parts.
One of these afflictions, prolonged from
1640 to 1655, was felt throughout India,
but principally in Bengal and in the Decean ;
another occurred in 1661, when Aurungzebe
was endeavouring to collect fifty per cent. of
the produce of the land: other famines, re-
sulting from poverty and exactions (not, as
is alleged, from wnnpropitious seasons),
accurred at different times, followed as
usual by sicknesses, and swept off millions
of the inhabitants.
Then the fierce and long-continued strng-
gles of the Rajpoot, Mahratta, and other
Hindoo races in refusing to bow their
necks to Islamite yoke; the frequent rebel-
lions in distant provinces necessitating the
maintenance of large armies for the support
of imperial power at Delhi; the internecine
contests between several Mogul viceroys for
the extension of dominion; and thie desola-
tions of the Carnatic and of Sonthern India
by those Moslem scourges Hyder Ah and
his son Tippoo, must each and all, together
with other collateral circumstances whieh
cannot here be examined, have contributed
to the rapid decay and impoverishment of
the people of India, in a manner not dis-
similar to the destruction and demoralisa-
tion of the Greeks, and the desolation of
the fair regions of Asia Minor hy the Turks. t
That the Moguls have left traces behind
civilisation, and with an active, intelligent, impres-
sive character in the millions of Greeks subject to
its sway, proves the incapability of Mohammedanism
for that progressive improvement in society which
pre-eminently marks Christianity as the true religion
adapted for man. The Turks for three centuries
lived among, yet apart, from the Greeks; during
hetween the dominant and subject races; and, in
matters of dispute, all law ar justice was set aside,
as the word or oath of a Christian was not recognised
in their legal tribunals. The taxes levied were enor-
maus; in the local country, where resistance ta fiscal
oppression was impossible, four-fifths of his praduce
was exacted from the agriculturist, independent of
minor plinderings, of “ presents,” forced tribute to
cach new pasha or praviocial governor, and of end-
less extartions by his satellites, which was required
from all who had accumulated any wealth. As in
India during the Mogul sway, so in Greece: there
was no security for life, honaur, and property; the
virtue of woman, the labour of the peasant, the skill
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
their intolerant rule, there was no social intercourse |
EFFECTS OF MOSLEM RULE IN ASIA AND IN EUROPE, 599
them of some great works is undoubtedly
truc, but they were the work of Hindoa
artificers, and such as conquerors exact from
slaves ;—palaecs and fortresses, mosques and
matsoleums, canals and tanks—the latter
indispensable for the production of territorial
revenue, which would fail without irrigation
of the land: bnt the Mohammedans took
as little root in India as the Romans did in
Britain; and their power crumbled to pieces
of the artisan, were all at the mercy of sensual,
Varharous, and crucl tyrants, from the sulran at
Constantinople to the janissary in the smallest
village; the whip and the bastinado, the sword and
the rope, were the prime instruments of ‘Turkish
rule. As financiers and penmen, the Greeks, like
the Ilindoos, were entrusted sometimes with high
oflices, which the Mohammedans were ineapable of
executing. ‘The Ilindoos, especially the Mahrattas,
made several attempts to destroy Moslem sway, but
there was no effectual combination. The Grecks
were sueeessful by their union in 1821, After scven
years of sceret organisation, they commeneed their
efforts for independence. Instead of heing met by
any concessians, Gregory, the patriarch of their
chureh,—althongh he had, at the bidding of the
sultan, excammunicated and anathematised the
strugglers for Hberty, and released the DPhilizot
(members of the Secret Society) from their oath,—
was seized on Easter eve, dragged ignominiously
through the streets of Constantinople, and then
strangled at the dour of the chureh in which he
reeently ofliciated; the body was left hanging three
days to be pelted at and made the jest of the popu-
lace, then east into the Bosphorus, Three suffragan
archhishops were hanged by a black executioner at
different parts of the city, and many hundreds of
the elergy were massacred by the populace. Then
began a series of atraeities which onght to have
eaused the entire expulsion of the barbarians from
Europe. Throughout every part of the wide-spread
Turkish dominions there was an indiscriminate
slaughter of the Christians; savage brigands from
Anatolia and Kurdistan were brought across the
Josphorus, under a firman ealling an all true Mo-
hammedans for defence: a few wealthy Greek mier-
ehants, fearing what was eoming, fled to Odessa, but
for the mass of their countrymen there was no
refuge or hope of escape; hauses were broken open,
and the inmates torn from their hiding-places and
earried to slaughter; every Christian seen in the
streets was instantly slain as if he were a mad dog;
“the European ships in the harhonur, and the houses
of the foreign consuls were thronged by the un-
happy Christians, but their asylum was disregarded ;
and the deeks of British and French merchant ves-
sels were deluged with the blood of those whom their
captains had vainly endeavoured to protect. In a
few days 10,000 Christians perished in that one city ;
the remnant of the Greek population there was seat-
tered to the faur winds of heaven; they wandered
as beggars through the streets of Odessa, or starved
in the ditehes of the Byzantine suburbs.”—(See
London Zimes, 5th October, 1853.) In Adrianople
and Smyrna the streets were smeared with blood;
and from the Danube to the Nile, wherever the
Moslem held sway, the life of a Christian was not
worth one hour’s purchase. Within the short space
a
oU
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
of its own accord, leaving the sceptre which |
Baber, Akber, and Aurungzcbe had wielded
by military foree, to be serambled for by the |
strongest arm. We found the people of |
Bengal and of the Carnatie impoverished
and oppressed; the oppression has been
removed, but the poverty is as yct only
slightly mitigated. On this topie I hope
to offer, at the conelnding section (if spaec
permit), some points for consideration.
of a few weeks, in the year 1821, itis estimated that
40,000 Christians were slain; and during six years’
struggle for life and liberty, at least 100,000 perished.
Perhaps of all the massaeres, the fiendish charaeter
of the followers of the false prophet is best exem-
plified by that whieh took place in the beautiful and
fertile island of Scio, of whieh an acconnt is given
in the columns of the anal Fegieter, 1822-3.
Suffiee it tao say, that a population which at the
beginning of the year numbered 120,000, was in the
month of July reduced to 900, and even these were
in danger of perishing from the pestilence which
ensued on the fearful slaughter of their countrymen.
HTow many such scenes may have been acted in
Ifindoostan there were none to record. During the
debates in parliament, pending the war between
Russia and England, fearful illustraticns were pro-
duced of the eruelty, appression, exaction, and re-
morseless spirit whieh characterise the Mohammedans
even at the present day. The consequences of Turkish
rule, and the candition of a Christian village after an
Osmanli invasion, are thus stated by Mr. Layard :—
“Their ehureh was in ruins; around were the
charred remains of the burnt eottages, and the
neglected arehards overgrown with weeds. A body
of Turkish troops had lately visited the village, and
had destroyed the little that had heen restored since
the Turkish invasion. The same taxes had been
eollected three times—and even four times over.
The relations of those who had run away to eseape
from these exaetions had been compelled to pay tor
the fugitives. he ehief had been thrown, with his
arms tied behind his back, on a heap of burning
straw, and compelled to disclose where a little
money that had been saved by the villagers had
been buried.” —(Ztmes, 14th March, 1851.) On
the 4th July, 1853, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe
wrote to his government that he was necessitated of
late, and indeed for some years back, to bring to the
knowledge of the Porte atrocious acts of cruelty,
rapine, and murder, for which no effectual redress
was provided. Doubtless there are many high-
minded, trustworthy, and amiable men among the
disciples of the Crescent. Asiatie travellers can
recard numerous instances of good offices reeeived
from Moslems—whether designated as Turks, Arabs,
Persians, or Hindoos. Under the Anglo-Indian gov-
ernment, there are thousands of Mohammedans as
“true to their salt,” as brave and kindly in their
nature, as those of any other form of religion: but
for civil government, the ereed of the Koran is
utterly unfit; indeed, Mohammed never designed it
for aught but military power and despotic sway, which
naturally corrupts the minds of those who long use
these means to preserve their dominion,—to keep
men marally and politically in bondage,—instead of
fitting them in this world, by freedom and the exer-
cise of their faculties, for an eternity of happiness.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
|
—————
510
PHYSICAL ASPECT OF DISTRICTS AND PROVINCES.
Locality and Physicat Aspect of Districts, Provinces,
and States of India.
PonsaB, or region of the ‘five rivers ;’? adjoining
Afghanistan on the E.,—A plain, sloping from N.E.
to $.W.; north part, near Himalayas, hilly and moun-
tainous. Pasturage and grazing-grounds.
Cis-Sot.es Terrrroay,—Between Sutlej and Jumna, and
a strip of land hetween the Ghara river and Rajpootana.
Bhawulpoor and Sirhind, a plain; hill-slates on Hima-
laya ridges, mountainous and richly wooded.
| CasHMERE,—Western Iimalaya. Cashmere Proper, a
fertile valley, enclosed by mountains. Elevation of
bottom, 5,500 to 6,000 ft.: lofty snow-clad ranges,
N.W. to 8.E., constitute the general configuration.
Bussanir,—Wonderful maze of some of the highest
mountains in the world; general rise from 8. to N.
| GurnwaL,—Ranges of enormous height, with several
| valleys; the whole drained by the Ganges. Slope from
N. and N.E.
SinprE,—Lower course and delta of Indus;
Beloochistan mountains and Great Desert. Low and
flat. Some short ridges of bills in the W- part; to-
wards the E. a desert. Mouths of Indus contioually
changing.
Curcu,—S.E. of Siode. Two parallel hilly ranges nearly
intersect province.
Western Rasjpoorana,—Between Sinde and Bhawulpoor
and Arravulli range. Mostly a plain, interspersed with
sand-hills: rocky ridges extend in various directions.
EasTeRN Raspootana,—Between Arravulli mountains
and Malwa. Near the Arravullia table-land, declining to
N.E.: continuons parallel hilly raoges extend N.E. to
the vicinity of Delhi.
Guzerar,—S, of Cutch and Rajpootana. Very rugged,
especially in Kattywar; hills connected with Vindhya,
and part of W. Ghauts.
Maxwa (Central India),—Between Guzerat and Bundel-
cund. + * soo;EquieD */T
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NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
BRITISIHL TERRITORIES UNDER TILs
Area,
Districts. Square | Topulation.
Miles.
BENGAL.
Jessore—
Jessore . 3,012 381,741 |
24 Pergunnahs 1,186 286,000 |
Burdwan poy 1,854,152 |
Htoogly . 0 2,089 1,520,810
Nuddea ‘ A 22 298,736
Bancoorah : L176 150,000
Barasct . : : 6 1421 522,000
14,855 5,315,172
| Bhaugulpore—
Bhaugulpore . 3 : 5,806 2,000,000
| Dinajpore 2. } s20 | 1,200,000 |
Monghyr. 5 -| 2,558 $00,000
Poorncah =. 5,878 | 1,600,000. ||
Tirhoot . 3 ¢ 7A02 2,100,000 |)
Malduh. é a 1,000 431,000 ||
one 26,164 8,131,000
ultuck—
, Cuttack with Poorce :—
Cuttack . . 3,061 ;
roar 1768 4,829 1,000,060
Balasore : 1,876 566,395
Midnapore and Hidgellce 0,029 666,328
Koordah 936 571,160
12,664, | 9,793,883
Moorshedabud—
Moorshedabad 1,556 1,015,000
Bagoorah 2,160 900,000 |)
Rungpore 4,180 2,559,000
Rajshahye 2,081 671,000
Pubna 2,606 600,000
Beerbhoom 4,730 1,040,876
17,466 6,815,576
Dacca—
Daecea . “ 4 cl 1,960 600,000
Furreedpore, Dacea tag 2,052 855,000
lalpore .
Mymensing 4.712 1,487,000
Sythet, including Ovaten Sd 380,000
Bakergunge, including } bee ee
Meecan “Shabazpore. ne 3,794 133,800
20,912 | 4,059,800
Patna—
Shahabad Sel 1,600,000
Patna . 5 1,828 1,200,000
Behar 5,694 | 2,500,000
Sarun, with Champaran 2,560 1,700,000
13,803 | — 7,000,000
Chittagong—
Chittagong 6 b | 2,550 1,000,000
ee and ‘ | 4,850 806,950
ulloah | 600,000
| 7,410 | 2,406,950
Saugor and Nerbudda— | |
Jaloun and the Pergun- |} a5: eS
nahs ceded by These t need Ware
Saugor . é : : 1,857 300,59 [
Jubbulpore 5 : 4 6,237 | 442,771
HMoshungabad 1,916 | 242,641
3x
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
|
|
| Total, Bengal. 8
NORTIL WEST. PROV.
| Delhi—
Paueeput
Districts.
Sconce .
Dumoh .
Nursingpore . .
Buitool .
British Nintatenacratt
Cis- Sutlej—
Umballah .
Loodianah, inelud. Wudni
Kythul and Ladwa
lerozepore
‘Territory lately belong-
ing to Seik chiefs.
North-East Frontier (As-
sam)—
Cossya Mills .
Cachar
Camroop, Lower 2,758
Nowgong, do. 1100 |
Durrung, do. —. 2,000
Joorhat (Seeb-
poor) Upper . 2,965
Lucikmpoor, do. 2,
Sudiya, including
Mutruck 5, (iets
Goalpara
Arracan
Tenasserim, ', avoy, "Neus
Pegu .
South-West Prontier—
Sumbulpore .
Ramgurh or Hazarcebah
Voliir-¥ Chota Nagpore
dugga land Palamow
Singbhoom
!
$
J
i achete
Maunbhoom { Derhecn|
The Punjaub, inclusive of
the Julundur Doab and
Koolo territery—
Lahore
Jhelum |
Mooltan
Leia . :
Peshawur . |
Huzara and Kohat J
The Sunderbunds—
Mouths of Ganges.
H
|
|
|
t
|
Arca,
Square
Mile,
4,698
$,524
oy)
3,168
2 ouel
4,792)
BENGAL PRESIDENCY,
soos
SAAT
30,059
517
Population.
67,134
120,898
161,805
16,590
20
369,
219,686
10,925
60,000
300,000
70,000
80,000
200,009
30,000
30,000
780,935
400,000
Rall goles
115,431
returns.
§00,000
372,216
482,900
200,000
figere 10)
2,627,456
4,100,953
unknown.
47,955,320
a {
NamdhariElibrary@gmail. com
Districts.
Hurreeanah .
Delhi : é
Rhotuck 3 :
Goorgaon F
Meerut—
Saharunpoor . 5
Mozuffernuggur
Meerut . 5
Boolundshu hur ,
Allygurh : 5
Rohileund—
Bijnour . ,
Moradabad .
Budaon.
Bareilly and Pillibhcet
Shajehanpore 3 :
Agra—
Muttra . 6
Agra. 9
Farruckabad . S
Mynpoorie
¥Etawah .
Allahabad—
Cawnpore. :
Futtehpore
Humecrpore and Calpee
Banda . 2 : 3
Allahabad 3 |
Benares—
Goruckpore . 0 3
Azimghur
Jounpore . : :
Mirzapore . : 3
Benares . - ;
Ghazepore
The Butty Territory, in-
cluding Wuttoo.
Persunnah of Kote Kasim
Jaunsar and Bawur .
Deyrah Dhoon . : :
Kumaon (including a
Walle 6 :
Ajmeer
British Nimaur .
Total, N. W. Provinees
The foregoing districts are under the sole control of the British government ;
eceding tables exhibit the locality, area, population, revenue, subsidy or tribute paid
by, id military resources of, each of the protected and subsidiary native states; several
of these, however— Mysore, for instanee—are entirely under our government, although |
Area,
Square
Miles.
3,300
602
1,340
1,942
8,463
2,165
1,617
2,332
1,856
2129
10,118
1,904
DOT
2,368
2,937
2,483
12,659
1,607
1,860
1,909
2,009
1,674
9,059
2,337
1,583
2,940
2,878
2,801
11,839 |
7,346
9,520
1,552
5,035
994
2,187
19,834
3,017
70
579
673
6,962
2029
269
13,599
Population.
226,086
306,550 |
294,119
460,326
1,669,501
547,358
537,594
860,736
699,393
739,356
3,384,432
620,546
997,362
$25,712
1,143,657
$12,588
4,399,865
701,688
$28,220
639,809
481,224
3,505,740
993,031
511,132
452,091
552,526
710,263
3,219,043
| 2,376,583
1,313,950
798,503
831,388
741426
1,059,287
21, 0oK
119,274
13,767
24,684
32,083
166,755
224,891
ee eae
600,181
$54,799 |
Districts.
MADIMAS.,
(Rajahmundry . 5
| Masulipatam .
| Nellore
Chingleput
Madras, included in Cae
\ gleput.
Arcot, South Division, in-
cluding Cuddalore.
Arcot, North Division, in-
cluding eae
Jeyabknay |G 96
Cuddapah . 2 3
Salata including Vomun-
door and Mullapandy.
Coimbatore 3 :
Trichinopoly .
Tanjore, including Najore
Tinnivelly . : 3
Malabar ev
Canara.
|Gangam .
| Vizagapatam
Kurnool
Total, Madra:
BOMBAY,
Surat
Broach . 3 5
Ahmedabad. -
Kaira : 5 2
Kandeish .
Tannah
Poonah
Abmednuggur, “including
Nassiek Sub-colicctor-
| ate.
Shoiapore .
Belgaum .
Dharwar
Rutnagherry
Bomhay Isiand, including
Colaba Island.
! Sattara
Colaba
(Shikapore
« Hydrabad
Sinde
Kurracliee
| Guntoor, ineluding Palnaud
Madura, including Dindigul
Total, Bombay .
1
|
6,000 | 1,012,036
5,000 520,860
4,960 570,089
7,930 935,690
2.993 583,462
\ Zl 720,000
} 7,600 | 1,006,005
\] 5,790 1,485,873
“| 13,056 | 1,229,599
| 1970! 1,451,921
I 8.900 | 1,195 Sia
.| 8,280] 1,153,862
3,243 709,196
e! 3,900] 1,676,086
9,535 | 1,756,791
| 5,700 | 1,269,216
| 6.060 | 1,414,909
| 7,720 | 1,056,333
118,987 | 19,847,305
al 6,100 | 926,930
| 7,650 | 1,254,272
+) 2643 273,190
| 135,580 | 29,301,697
. 1,629 492,684
| 1,319 290,084
4,356 630,223
1,869 580,631
9311 | neue
34771 813,849
5,298 | 666,006
| 9,931 | 995,585
[i
4,991 Gioulle
| 5,405 | 1,093,892
3.837 754,385
a va 665,258
81 18 {| 566,119
[| 10,200! Agnes
318 58,791
6,120 350,101
-| 30,000 | 551,811
2 | ee 185,550
120,065 | 11,109,967
| 33,110,764
=a. |
85,571 | 23,800,519 || Total, Madras aud Bombay | 255,740
Area,
Square
Miles,
518 NORTH WEST PROVINCES—MADRAS, BOMBAY, AND SINDE.
the administr ation is carried on in the name of the legitimate sovereign.
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thie sue-
TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES. 519
Native States, not under direct Rule, but within the limits of Political Supremacy.
Aren, Daal
Name, Locality. insquare eee
miles. i
BENGAL,
Allce Mahua or Rajpoor Ali! Cent. In. (Malwa) 708 60,984
Ainjliemgye © +s Do. ee 581 | 57,2382
‘ ae N.W. Prov. (adja- ; fi
Bahiadoorgarn A eeliitie pe ea
Nerar (vide Nagpoor).
Bhawlpore : - | Cis-Sutlej .| 20,0083 | 606,000
Bhopal! © «| Cent. In, (Talwa) G76 | 668,656
: Ceat. In. (adjacent ot
Bhurtpore . { teeity af Agra) 1,978 | 600,000
Boria (vide Jahooa).
. NW, Prov. (ndja- 6 P
Bullubgurh { pe, Pres lade i 190 | 57,000
Bundlecund— i
» eee a . Ditto 10 1,600
_ owagaon or :
Ree y| Dito. | a0} 1,800
is Nyagaon i Ditto fs ‘ 30 6,000
5 Oorcha or Tehiree Ditto i 2,160 | 192,000
» Puana ° 3 Ditto. 688 67,500
» Paharce or Puharee Oy 5g a $00
e Puhrah : Ditto 10 1,600
» Paldeo Ditto 28 3,000
» Poorwa Ditto 12 1,500
_ Sunipthur . Ditto Ws 28,000
_ Surchlah Ditto 35 4,500
* Tohree Futtepore Ditto. 36 6,000
ri ‘Yaraoa or Turaon Ditto. i ne 2,000
ee ee .| Cent. In. (Malwa) 1,380 13,800
Cashinere (Gholab Sing's . syoo |»
Deniinions) ‘ Punjab. é .| 25,125 | 750,000
Cooch Behar Near rontien, Ben- |} 1,364 | 136,400
Cossya and Garrow Iills—
The Garrows . 2,968
Ram Rye 328
Nustung : . 300
Moriow . 285
Molyong Ditto 110 65,205
Mahram : 162
Osimla é , 350
Kyrim, and other pett,
Chicks . aa a
anny, Military [Nesourcea?
Nevenue. } ‘Tribute, hea =
or other rtil- sales | Lafane
payment.| lery. Cavalry, try.
Rupecs. | Rupees.
33,000 | — 12,000 | = 30 100
100,000 35,000 [| — 100 6OC
130,900 | — | ~ 70 80
1,400,000 ac = 3,197 | 10,018
2,200,000 = 117 442 | 2457
1,700,000 — 200 1,500 } 3,700
160,000 — — 100 350
325,000 7,750 18 200 | 1,200 | |
45,000 as = = 75
_— = 69 167 207
23,000 = 2 25 100
16,500 — 1 10 5U
45,000 = 1 4U 200
100,000 _ _ 50 300
9,000 — _ 11 125
225,000 _ 4 100 1,300
8,000 _ 2 15 125
460,830 9,484 30 300 | 1,000
300,000 — 10 100 1,000
1,009,000 —_ 80 1,000 5,000
15,000 > = 3 280
14,000 — 4 oe 237
55,000 _ 3 50 225
15,000 -— i 19 51
13,000 _— i 8 60
611,980 74,000 40 200 3,000
1,500 — = = = |
12,680 —_ = 14 40
5,000 _ = = --
9,100 = 4 12 100 |
10,500 — _ a 100
701,000 = 100 5o7 | 7,283 |
400,000 10,000 18 250 3,000
800 cond = = 50
8,000 _ — 4 99
21,000 —- _— 10 50
9,500; — — | 5! «al |
450,000 = 45 300; 4,000
45,000 = ss 25 75
36,530 2,650 12 20 251 |
10,000 = 3 5 40
30,000 _ — 25 50
= = 1,200 1,972 | 20,418
132,000 66,000 - 342 108
Notes— Sonie of these states are protected and tributary, others protected but not tributary; several, under sub-
sidiary alliances, are bound to maintain a body of troops in readiaess, when required, to co-operate with the British army;
| a few sonal] states are protected by England, but tributary to larger states. Nepaul is not protected, tributary, or
subsidiary, but the rajah is hound by treaty to abide in certain eases by the decision of the British government, and,
like all the other rulers, prohibited from retaining ia his service subjects of any European or American state.
* In some states the troups are officcred by Kuropesas from the British army; in many there are police corps and
irregular feudal forees—corresponding in some nicasure to our militia.
an organized corps for the coilection of the revenue.
In several instances there is a road police, ard
* Under the treaty of 1818 the Nahob was to furnish a contingent foree of 600 cavalry and 400 infantry; but in
1824 the numoers were reduced to 259 cavalry, 622 infantry, and 48 artillery, and placed under European command.
The contingent is exclusive of the Nahob’s troups, There is alse a feudal force, consisting of 30 artillery, 200 cavairy.
ead 1,000 infantry —[Slatistical Papers relating to India, laid before Parliament, 1$53.]
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520 TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES
j Annual
Arca, Subsidy, Military Resourecs,
Name. Locality. in square ses Revenue, Tribute,
mitts or other | Arti). iB aT Infan-
payment. tery, | BREN try.
BenGaLt—continued |
Cuttack Mehals— Rupees. | Rupees.
» _— — 1,550 = 5,000
» Anutgur : < . acd oa i = G7 1S _ 1,400
= Banky . : . . = = _ 4,162 _ 1,500
» Berumbah : A 5 _ = | — 1,310 — 1,500
« Dhenkanaul. 5 . 6 = — — 4,780 — 7,000
» Hindole . . i ae = ae 516 — 250
» undiapurra 6 : . |e 2,690 346,275 — | 3,948 — 2,000
» Neelgur . “| = = _ 3,617 — 500
» Nursingpore Cuttack, in the = = = 1,364 — 1,500
» Nyaghur. prov. of Orissa. = = 5,179 — 7,000
, Runpoor . er i: — | = _— 1,313 = 1,500
* Talchur ee gee | = ye || = 500
» Tiggreah . 6 8 : — =A oa $26 = | 300
» Autmallik . : fe cee 648 29,160 | _ 450 — 500
mm sete til ‘ a s ell lene 61,965 | = 730 — | 2,000
» Dnuspulla . é - 162 7,290 ! _ 620 -- 500
» Koonjerry all 5 . «| 5,022 | 225990 | — B80 || — 15,000
» Mohurbunge Pe 2,025 91,125 = 1,001 = 8,000
F North-West Provs. - s e
Deojana. : . (mene Delniniien) i 71 6,390 _ — = | 50 150
Dewas Cent. In. (Malwa) 256 25,088 | 400,400 = = 175 509
| Dhar . Do. 1,070 104,860 475,000 — 47 251 798
Dholpore {] indostan Can \ 1,626 | 530,000! 700000| — 40 177 | 1,600
Furrnekabad ee Decay \ —_ _ me — 2 106 | 25t
North-West Provs. =
| Furrucknuggur . (adjacent to Delhi). } 22 4,400 | _ — = _ 25
Gholab Sing's Dominions,
vide Cashmere. |
Gwalior (Scindia’s Pos.)! | Central India. | 33,119 } 3,228,512 | 6,000,000 | 1,800,000 314 6,48 | 2,760
Hill States—
Cis-Sutlej—
Bhagal . { SG, Tn. (Cis- i 100} 40,000 | 50,000 316000) = 3,000
Bujee or Beejee . Ditto. ‘ 70 25,000 30,000 1,440 — 1,000
Bejah . Ditto 6G di 5 3,000 4,000 180 — 200
Bulsun Ditto F z Gt 5,000 6,000 1080! — 500
Bussahir Ditto a all Sy) 180,000 150,000 15,000 = — \ 300
Dhamie Ditto es: 25 3,000 3,500 720 | — 100
Dhoorcatty. Ditto : : i) 200 400 — _— | —_ —
Ghurwal Ditto : | 4,900 100,000 100,000 = — = =
VWindoor or Nalagarh Ditto 0 6 233 20,000 80,000 _ _ as 300
Joobul é a Ditto ; : 330 15,000 14,130 2,520 — _— —
Kothar Ditto 12 4,000 7,000 1,080 _ 400
Koonyhar . Ditto We 2,500 3,500 180 _ — |) 200
Keonthul Ditto 272 26,000 33,500 — _— 2,690
Keomharsin Ditto 56 12,000 10,000 1,440 _ 1,000
Kuhloor ; Ditto 150 82,250 110,000 _ _— — | 400
Mangul : | Ditto 15 1,000 1,000 || — 50
Mvublog . Ditto 50 13,000 10,000 1440 | 509
Manec Majrah . , Ditto 80 16,720 60,000 =— _ — _
Sirmoor or Nahun . Ditto 1,075 62,300 100,000 _ -- = 400
Hill States—
Trans-Sutlej—
Mundi : . . | Jullunder Dooab . 759 113,091 330 000 = — — 500
Sookeit . Ditto. Ft 25,926 80,000 = — = 300
Holear's Pos., (vide Indor e).
Brey ore Gs attemd asta 95,337 10,666,080 |15,500,000 | 3,500,0003 — | 4,521 } 12,369
Indore (Ifelear’ 5 Pos.) .| Cont. Ind.(Malwa)} $318 S15,1G4 | 2217,210 — 642 3,145 | 3,821¢
Notes.—' The revenues of Gwaliar amount to 60 laes of rupees per annum, exclusive of the districts assigned for
the payment of the contingent force (18 lacs of rupees). The cantingent consists of 8,401 men, commanded by British
officers ‘I'he military force of the Maharajah, exclusive of the contingent, is not to exceed 9 600 men.
2 Inaddition to these troops tho Nizam maintains an irregular force, composed af Arahs, Sikhs, Turks, &c., amounting
to 9,811 men, ‘he State is also entitled to the services of 4,749 armed retainers, maintained by the Feudal Chiefs from
revenues assigned hy the Government for their support. The total mititary force of llyderabad comprises five separate
bodies, viz.:—1. British Subsidiary Merce, 10,628. 2. Nizam’s Auxiliary Foree, 8,094. 3. Nizam’s Irregulars, 16,890.
4, Foree of Feudal Chiefs, 4.749. 6. Miscellaneous Force of Arabs, Sikhs, Turks, &e, 9,811. ‘Total, 50,172. Under the
Treaty of 1800, the Nizam's Contingent was to consist of 6,000 infantry ‘and 9,000 cay, alry ; 3 but the Auritary Force,
organized onder British officers, and paid by the Nizam, has been substituted for the Contingent, and consists of $,094
eavalry, infantry, and artillery. The British subsidiary foree amounts to 10,628 artillery, cavalry, and infantry.
> The cost of the Nizam’s Auxiliary Moree.
4 This force is inclusive of the cuntingent of cavalry, which olear is hound to furnish. This prince contributes
11,900 rupevs per annum towards tho maintenance of the Malwa Bheeleorps, and also a further sum in aid of the United
Malwa contingent,
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TABULAR VIEW OF THIS TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES. 521
nua. ye
Aten, ae suinidy, Military Resourecs,
Name Tncality. in square pula | Revenue. | Tribute, © ———
inte Dias orother | Artile }a oy Infun-
i : Cavalry. ‘
payment. | lery. | try.
Benoat—continued. Rupees. | Rupecs,
Jabnon . . - ~~ | Central Indian. 1,318 132,101 141,536 39,000 = 40 125
ineluded} inched "
Borai or Bereo . «| Cent In.( Malwa) { inthatnflin that of 14,000 —_ _ 15 30
Jabooa.} Jalna,
Jucknowda : 3 Ditto . .| Ditte .| Ditto . 10,900 — _— 15 a5
. North-West Pravs, an = 0 Oo
Thujur . 5 { (nijdcenee Deli) i 1,230 110,700 600,000 =— 180 Tae 1,700
Jobut. 2 . «= «} Cent. In. (Malwa) _ _ 10,000 ‘- -_ 1 25
Jowra ; : : : Litto $72 85,186 800,000 = 50 co 710
Jucknowda (vide Jabooa)
Iecornwacei 0. - Nitto . . 200 19,600 75,000 — — 40 140
F Narth-West Provs. _ 9
WAR 5 nn { (atte Delhi) } 200 18,000 _— _ 60 260
Mucherry (vide Alwur, wr-
der Rajpoot States).
Munneepoor 4 { en Uontier } 7,584 75,810 — —_ 452 -- 3,158
Nagpnre or Berar* . » | Decean . a «| 76,482 | 4,650,000 | 4,905,560 $00,000 372 2421 1 Ga
Nepaul é . . _.|Northern India .{ 54,500 | 1,910,000 | 3,200,000 — 1,100 = 8,100?
Nizam cm Hyderabad).
Nursinghur (ede Omut-
warra).
oer uuar Ialwa) ; 00,0 10] so! 150
Rajghur. . . | Cent. Tn. (Malwa : : 200,000 _ 5 5
er. CL| Citta Cleiwe) |} 1,348 {192,108 { 275,000 | — 90| 150] 350
Oudo f @ 3 North-West Provs. 23,738 } 2,970,000 |14,473,380 = 5,304 4,088 | 44,7673
a North-West Provs. a _ “5 9
Patowdee . . (nets Delki dist) } 71! 6660} 60,000} — 75| 280
Rajghur (vide Omutwarra)
Najpnor Ali (vide Allee
Mohan). { |
Baa Sere ‘i | | |
Alwur or Macherry, . ao
including Terra.” } Rajpootana . «| + 3,573 280,000 | 1,300,000 | — _ 4,000 | 11,000
Banswarra . D . Ditto . 6 1,440 111,000 95,000 + 25,000 = 150 225
Bikaneer 2... Ditto. .| 17,676 539,250 650,380 — —_ 1,581 2,100 *
Boondce . é 5 Ditton |) 2 RET 229,100 | 500,000 40,000 150 1.000 5207
Doongerpore . Ditto . .| 1,000 100,000 109,000 —a — 125 2002
Jessulmere 5 5 Ditto 3 >|) 12,252) | 74,400 $4,720 — 30 754 2a2
Jyepore or Jyenagur . Ditto. -} 15,251 | 1,891,124 | 4,583,950°) 400,000 692] 2,096 | 18,377!°
Jhallawur . & é 1) tt OR ee ZOD) 220,000 | 1,500,000 80,000 5001 450 3,010
Joudpore .. : Vitta . «| 35,672 | 1,783,600 | 1,752,520 223,000 — 9,630 | 5,85017
Kerawlee 2. ioviie; RRS 187,800 506,900 -- — 248 516
Kishengurh Fi 5 Ditto 9 5 724 70,952 = = — — | —
Kntah es Nitto . .| 4,339 433,900 | 2,800,000 384,720 601 710 2,140
Odeypore or Mewar . Ditto. «| Ul6l+ | 1,161,400 | 1,250,000 | 200,000 — 1,200 | 4,200!
Notes—! The Rajah is bound hy treaty to furnish 1,000 harse to serve with the British army in time of war, Tis
military force, as hero stated, is exclusive ot a police corps of 2,274 men,
4 In addition to this body of infantry there is an irregular fnrcee of 5,000 men, and a police corps amounting to 2,000
men, An accredited minister from the British Gevernment resides at the court of Nepaul, with an cscort of 94 rank and
file, officered and paid hy the British.
3 The obligation of the British gnvernment, under the treaty of 1795, te maintain a force of 10,000 men in Oude, was ,
superseded by the treaty of 1801. Under the provisions of the latter treaty, the British Government are hound to the
deftenee of the kingdom against all enemies, but exercise their own diserction as to the requisite number of troops. The
strength of the British subsidiary foree amnunts at the present time ta 5,578 men. By the treaty of 1837, the limit on
the number of troops to be maintained hy the king was removed, and his majesty may employ such a military establish-
ment as he may deem necessary for the government of his dominions—power being reserved to the British government
to insist upon reduction in ease of excess, A police corps of 100 horse and 460 foot is also maintained hy the King of
Oude for the pratection nf the British frontiers of Goruckpoor and Shahjehanpoor, bordering on the territory of Oude.
* Irrespective of the revenues of fendal grants and religious endowments.
§ The military force is irrespective of the quotas to be furnished by the Feudal Chiefs, amounting to 1,500 horse,
but inelusive of a mounted police, numbering 530 men,
6 Irrespective of feudal estates and religious endowments.
7 Irrespective of a police force of 2,000 men, and also of an irregular feudal force of 2,500.
® The tribute is not to exceed three-cighths of the annual revenue. The force is exclusive of a police force, amount-
ing to 100 men.
® The revenue, as here stated, is independent of feudal jaghires and charitable endowments, pradueing 4,000,000
more. The amount of tribute payable by Jyepore, under the treaty of 1818, namely, 800,000 rupecs, was reduced, in
1842, to 400,000 rupees.
0 The military foree here stated is exclusive of the troops maintained by the Feudatory Chiefs, amounting to 5,690
men, and exclusive of the garrisons of forts, amounting to 5,267.
Ml There is also a police foree of 1,500 men in Jhallawur.
' This faree is irrespective of the Joudpare legion, which was embodied in 1847, in licu of the Joudpore contingent,
and consists of—artillery, 31; cayalry, 254; infantry, 739; Bhecl companies, 222. Total, 1,246 men, commanded by
British otlieers. There is also a force of 2,000 men maintained by the Fendal Chiefs.
13 Irrespective of the Kotah contingent, which ennsists nf—cavalry, 283; artillery, 66; infantry, 799 Total, 1,148
men, commanded by Bnitish officers. There is also a police foree consisting of 2,000 men.
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Name.
| BencaL—eontinued.
| Rajpoot States—continued.
Pertabgurh & Dowlea
Serohce
| Rampore . : {
Rutlam . r 6
Suugor and Nerbudda Ter-
ritories—
Kothee . . {
Nive cree
Ocheyrah . : :
Rewaand Mookund-
{| pore.
Sohawul : .
Shahgurh . §
Seindia’s Dominions (vide
Gwalior).
Seeta Mow : G 5
Sikh Protected States—
Boorea (Dealgurh)
Chickrowlce (Kulseah)
Furreedkote 4 :
Jheend :
Mulair Kotla
Mundote . .
Nahha <
Puttiala
Rai Kote : .
South-West Frontier of
Reogal—*
Bombra
Bonei .
Tora Samba
Burgun
Gangpoor
Jushpore .
Keriall or Koren, in-
eluding Bhokur.
Korea. :
Nowagur or Bindra
Nowagur.
Odeypore
Tatna.
Phooljee
Rhyghur
Sarunghur . : F
Siem) States in
Kursava ; British dis-
ee: trict of
Serickala ¢ Singhoom.
Sirgonja
Schnpoor
Suetee
Sikkim, :
Vijarra (vide Alwur, Iaj-
poot States).
Tonk, and other Depen-
deneics of Ameer Khan,
yiz.—
1. Chuppra; 2. Nim-
Hera; 3. Perawa;
4. PLampoora; 5.Se-
Tonjee.
Area,
Locality. in square
miles
Rajpootana . 1,457
Ditto 8,024
North-West Proys. 790
(Bareilly). is
Cent. In. (Malwa) 936
Cent. In. (Saugor 100
and Nerbudda).
Be (ttle eet eel OCG)
Ditto 436
Ditto ems Os S24
Ditto 179
Ditto 676
Cent. In. (Malwa) 208
Cis-Sutlej 80
Ditto 63
Ditto 308
Ditto 376
Ditto . 144
Dittomns 780
Ditto. 541
Ditto 4,448
Ditto 6
Orissa . 1,224
Ditto 1,057
Ditto mr ee 622
Ditto : 399
Ditto . .| 2493
Ditto 617
Ditto 1,512
Ditto 220
Ditto 1512
Ditto 2,306
Ditto 1,158
Ditto 890
Ditto 1,421
Ditto 799
Ditto. {
Ditto 6,441
Ditto 1,467
Ditto 268
Northern India 1,670
Central India 1,864
Popula-
tion.
145,700
181,200
820,400
91,728
80,000
100,000
120,000
1,200,000
80,000
30,000
20,354
11,920
9,387
45,893
56,024
91,456
116,220
80.609
662,752
804
55,980
47,565
27.990
17,955
112,185
27,765
68,040
100,000
68,040
133,748
52,110
40,050
63,945
35,955
Ineluded in mec
dist. of Singboom.
316,252
66,015
12,060
61,766
182,672
Revenue.
Rupees,
175,000
74,060
1,000,900
450,000
47,000
64,500
66,320
2,000,000
32,000
90,000
50.000
165,000
45,000
300,000
390,000
400,000 |
5,500
10,000
6.000
4,000
10,000
10,000
10,000
20,000
10,000
5,000
15,000
25,000
6.000
20,000
6,000
4,000
6,000
10,000
50,000
60,000
4,000
820,000
Annual
Suhsidy,
Trihute,
or other
payment,
Rupees,
A0,874)
3-8ths o:
An. Rev.
66,160
aT ah is it
340
200
160
320
500
fincluded
yin | Sir-
Cgooja.
3,095
1,600
400
Notes.— The tribute is received hy the British Government, but paid over to Ifolear. : 4
* These troops, as well as the foree maintained by feudatorics, amounting to 906 cavalry and 6,300 infantry, are
| employed also in revenue and police duties, : : Br
* The Sikh States were taken under British protection hy treaty with Runjeet Sing, ruler of the Punjab, dated 25th
| April, 1806. All but those above mentioned have been deprived of independent authority, in consequence of failure in
of 1826.
their allegiance during the war with the Sikhs. : e
* These States are comprised within the territory ceded to the British by the Rajah of Nagpore, under the treaty
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
S22TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.
Military Resources,
Artil-
lery.
I
UOTE GD
Cet
|
1 J
bord aae |
eet
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500
J
]
a el
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TABULAR VIEW OF TILE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.523 |
| Sciny, | a -<
Area, 5 Subsidy, Military Resources.
Name. Loeatity. jin square I pe: Revenue. ‘Tribute, —_—
miles, a or other F H ;
| payment. os Cavalry | Tile | |
' | |
Brenaat—continued, , |
Tonk, &e.—continued., | ee Rtupecs. | Rupees. | | |
ine fastern India, ad- . !
Vipporah * j { jacent to Burmah. } i = = % = = | iat | |
1 eo . } Eastern 1n.(Assam)}| 2,000 30,000 — = = = | = |
MADRAS.
Cochin? . - r . | Coast of Malabar . 1,983 288,176 486,000 2:10,900 = = =
poten ag) the Mull 20-1) Orissa 13011 | 391,230} — 16,000 =
mindars. : : iE y ‘ g : a a
WAMU 60 a 49 .| Sonthern India .] 30,886 | 3,000,000 | 6,931,870 | 2,450,000 ~ _ 2472
Poodoocottah(RajahTon-) | Southern India 1165 61,745 oe
dizaan’s Dominiuns). (Madura), ‘ im = _ =
Travancoro ‘i ' .| Sonthern India 4,722 | 1,011,824 | 4,158,075 796,430 = = =
J)
BOMBAY.
Balasinore. . . .|Guzerat .. 258 19,092 41,5418 10,000] — 8 50
Bansda 5 ee. * Ditto. 325 24,050 47,000 7,800 — — i7
Baroda (Dominions of tho . 0, ’ ‘ 2
sro GUCr } Ditto . .| 4399} 325,686) 6687140) — 63! 59193] 3,054
Cambay . ‘i ae ithe sm 500 37,000 300,000 60,000 = 200 1,500 |
Colapore, including its de-) | Sonthern Mah- e
pendeniies, viz.— i ratta country. i 550,000 = 27 450 1 3,818¢
Bhowda é : = 51.662 | — — 16 468
Inchulkunjco — ais | 75,000 = = 50 1,051
Khogul lt = eee 72,760 = = 23 | ‘rz |
Vishalgur . . = | 128,146 | —_ = i) 164
113 Surinjams, or mi- =
nor dependencies. } J | S| ACO =
Cutch A ; . . | Western India. 6,764 500,536 738,423 200,000 —_ _— — |
Daung Rajahs . é . | Guzerat 5 950 70,300 | _ — _ — ~—
Ditto (collect . :
Dharrampore [pateor Surats.t] 225] 16,650) 91,¢00| 9,000 | — 105
Guzerat (Guicowar’s Do- |
minions), vide Baroda,
Guzcrat Petty States— >
Chowrar® . .: . | Guzerat ; i 225 2,500 9,000 = = 25 —
Pahlunpore r : Ditto : ; 1,850 180,000 298,838 50,000 10 110 429
| Radhunpuro ‘ . Ditto . : 850 45,000 165,000 = 20 255 197
Banbier wt Ditto . .| 120 500 1,206 = = = 22 |
Chareut . ; . Nitto : : 80 2,500 2,524 = — = =
Deodar 5 A F Ditta 5 4 80 2,000 3,650 — _ _— —
Kankrej 5 = Ditta oe a — 12,895 _ _ - —
Merwara. “ - Ditto : .jinelndedinThurraud 4,280 — = 6 1
Santulpoor . os Ditto 2. wf = — 11,346 — — | _— _
Socgaum . A : Ditta : 64 4,500 5,404 — —_ — _—
Therwarra, és Ditto 5 : 45 800 2,363 — — = —
ime . o of WHR 5 oi) = = 6460} -— — a | 8
Thurraud , a F Ditto 5 4 600 23,000 11,335 _ — 20 18
Warrye 3 : a Ditto 3 2 299 20,000 16,770 _— _ _— —
icv I Dito i) Sct) 10.000 7300 — | — | wb 8
Notes—! This district is hilly, much covered with jungle, and very thinly inhabited,
2 1n Cochin, in consequence of the misrule of the Rajah, the affairs of the State have been conducted, sinee 1839, by
a native minister, in communication with the British resident. :
2 This force includes a contingent of 3,000 cavalry, which acts with the British subsidiary force, but is supported at
the Gnicowar's expense, and paid and equipped agreeably to the suggestions of the British Goverament. ‘Phere is alse
aunther body of troops (the Guzerat Irregular Horse), consisting of 706 men, paid hy the Gnicowar, but commanded by
British aflicers, and stationed in the British distriet of Ahmedabad. In nddition to the forcguing there is a police force,
consisting of 4,000 men. ‘The military force in Guzerat is thus composed of—Ist. British subsidiary, 4,000 infantry ;
2 regiments of cavalry,and ] company of artillery. 2nd. Guicowar's Regular Troops, 6,059. 3rd. Guicuwar’s Contingent,
3,000 cavalry. 4th, Guzerat Irregular Horse, 756. Sth. Police Corps, 4,000.
‘ The Colapore force here specified consists of native troops, uncontrolled as to discipline; they sre assembled under
the orders of the political superintendent whenever required. There is, liawever, an efficient force (the Colapore Lacai
Corps), commanded by British officers, and consisting of—cavalry, 303; infantry, 604; total, 907. The military force ot
the tour Feudal Chiefs is shown under “ Military Resources.” ‘They are bound to furnish a contingent for their toudal
superior, consisting of—cavalry, 246; infantry, 480; total, S26. UVesides the above there is a regular police corps cf 674
men, and a body termed extra fighting-men, available for police dutics, amvunting to 3,113 men,
> Quotas of horse and foot are furnished hy chiefs in the petty States of Guzerat to their feudal superiars, whict
have aot been ineluded in the military resonrees of cach State. They amount, in the aggregate to 1,496 horse un
16,954 fout.
© ‘The petty State of Chowrar is divided among a number of chieftains.
. 1
he]
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
524 TABULAR VIEW OF THE TRIBUTARY AND PROTECTED STATES.
Annnal
Suhsidy,
Revenue.} Tribute,
or other | Artil-
payment.| lery.
Military Resuurces.
Area,
Name, Locality. in square
miles.
Popula-
tion,
Infan-
Cavalry. iy
Bompay—continued. Rupees. | Rupees,
Guzerat Petty States—con- 3
tinued.
Hursoul (vide Peint). Guzerat .} 19,850 | 1,468,900 | 4,501,723 | 1,047,396 102 3,888 8,122
Kattywar! Petty Chiefs .| Scinde -| 5,000 105,000 - | — | 5
Khyrpore . F r |
Myhee Canunta* is dis- 7
tributed into Six Dis-
tricts—Ist. Nance Mar-
war —coniprisiug Edur,
Ahmeduuggur, Moras-
sa. llursole, Byer, lin-
tove, Daunta, Malpoor,
Pole, Pall, Posuna,
Gndwarra, Wallasun,
and Hurrole. 2nd. Beh-
wur—comprising Gore- i
warra, Kunassum, Mo-
hunpoor, Surdooe, Roo- [|
pal, Boroodra, Wurra- ||
gacn, and Dhudulea. ||
3rd. Sabur Cuunta—
composed of Cooly pus- | Guzerat .| 8,400 150,000 600,000% 138,400 — 991 6304
sessions on the eastern : |
bank of the Sabur Mut- |
tee, with the Rajpoot |,
districts of Wursora, |
Maunsa, and TPeetha-
pore, on the western
hank of that river, 4th.
Kuttosun, — composed
exclusively uf Coaly
possessions. Sth. By-
ul, or Baweesce—com-
prising Wasna and Sa-
dra. Oth. Watruck--
comprising Amleyara,
Mandwah, Khural, Bar
Mooarah, & Satoomba. J
Peint and Iursocl {| eee oe 750| 5,500} 99,794 3,360} — = 100
57,051 | 32,000| — 43| 168
Rewa Caunta, comprising :
Ist. Barrecea or Deog-
hur Burreea.
2ud, Loonawarra . :
Guzerat ° j 870 64,350
Notes —' The provinec of Kattywar is divided among a considerable number of llindoo chiefs. Sume of them are
under the direct authority of the British Government; the remainder, though sabject to the Guicowar, have also been
placed under the contrvl and management of the British Government, which collects the tribute and accounts for it tu
the Gnicuwar. The fullowiung Table exhibits the division of the province into talooks, or districts, with the number uf
chicts, the amount of rc\cuue and tribute, and the military resources of cach :— :
Rae Sebundy Fore
Fee uM Poree.
TALOOKAS, hein Revenue. Tribate. | Remainder. ee
é : Artil- Infan-
| Talooka. | Tay Cavalry. iy
Rupees. Rupees. Rupees. |
Soruth ‘ 6 5 6 3 628,000 99,959 525,011 30 903 | .1,930
liallar é . ‘ 26 973,100 322,461 650,639 25) See 02
Muchookauta . : : ue 151,900 66,358 84,642 20 102 175
Babriawar ' . : 9 en 80,200 8,127 22,073 _ 40 65
Ond Sarna . 5 bp 23 32,923 10,307 22,616 - 2 5
Jhaluwar . - P ‘ 51 831,900 238,143 593,757 7 472 717
Gohelwar , . > : 27 725,300 146,192 578,808 = NG) 1,720
Katteewar . ‘ 5 s 47 855,800 PALAU} 734,687 20. 450 895
Yurda. e é b 1 200,000 34,136 165,564 _ 100 400
Okamundel, &c.. 0 0 4 73,500 — 73,500 — 47 513
Total . . .| 216 | 4,802,733 | 1,047,396 | 3,191,327 | 102 | 3,885 | 8,122
* The province of the Myhee Cannta is divided among several petty ehiefs, tributary to the Gaicowar. The whole
previgce has been placed under the control and management of the British Government, which collects the Gaicuwar’s
dues, and pnys over the amount tu that prince.
3 Revenue af Ndur und Ahmednuggur, 231,000 rupees; of the remaining states, 266,000. Total revenac of Myhea
Caunta, 600,009 rupecs. ,
* Ye force maintained by the other chicfs of tho Myhce Caunta is stated to consist of about 6.000 mca
Ditto 500 | 37,000 40,000 19,200} — 50 100
|
4
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MILVPARY RESOURCES OF INDIA—BRITISIF AND ALLIED. 525
Name. Locality. in square Revenue, | Tribute,
|
Annual nn
iene | Beil: ! Subsidy, | ming Itcsuurcen.
F tion ;
miles. a or other | Artil- ata lufan-
payment. | lery. SSPE Ore
Hlomwayv—continued, 5 | Rupees, renee
Rewu Cauntu—continued.
drd. Mownsseo Chiefs, !
alle Guzerat Seen o7gis| — | — | —
the Myhoe.
etter (Chet | pinto 2 3. |} 1050 78866 | 74,000} 10600) — rs
Sth. Majpeepla . .| Ditto . . | 1,650| 122,100] 203,966] 60000} — 98 286
6th. Spauth . a «Af KD = : : 125 31,450 20,000 7,000 = 40 100
Sattara Jaghires—
1. Akulkote . .| Suttara, =. |) Tho arca and _po- = 122 193
hms 5 og © || pulation of these = 20 908
3. Juth . : . o || as ; States cannot he bd 10 202
1. Ounde > 5 || US Ss given separutely x a = 26 255
& Phultun. ; | LT r 4 trom the princi- = 15 175
Wyhce 5 : minDittor ; Fi pality of Sattara = = =
Sawunt Warree - .| South Concan. 800 120,000 | 200,000 — = _ 611
Sinde (vide Khyrpore).
Southern Mahratta Jng-
hires—
Ilablee . b 8 } 10,024 = l4 79
Jhumkundco . 270,246 — 102 735
Koonwar * 4 ; 167,392 — 43 682
The two chicfs of Meeruj 275,313 _ 87 1,053
ote. cp ceutiiern Mate} ) g700 | 40700} 94615 [4 el,720| — 35} 420
Nurgooud ip ELD COLES: ; 51,609 ; = 103 643
Sanglee . 468,044 _ 675 3,900
Sayanore I 29,670 — 25 431
Shedbal . alll 123,599 = 68 212
Sucheen . : a .| Guzerat 300 22,200 89,000 = — — 18
J
|
i
ABSTRACT—
Native States.
Nengul F Fi ; = 607,949 [44,255,517 (81,151,786 | 7,995,471 | 12,593 | 54,671 | 287,309
Madras, 5 0 ‘ — 61,802 | 4,752,975 | 1,158,075 796,430 — _— 2,472
Bombay — 57,375 | 4,393,400 |18,670,820 | 1,862,990 369 | 13,632 | 27,872
| 717,126 |53,401,892 |106,980,681}10,654,S91 | 12,962 | 68,303 | 317,653 !
Ditto (southern
Wusrayee (Bheel Chicfs) boundary of Raj- 450 33,300 _ _
peepla.
Note.—It will be secn from the rbove that the military resources of the native princes of India comprise a force of
398,918 men, Where no distinction has been made in the official records betweeo the cavalry and infantry of a native
state, the whole armed force has been included in this statement . der the head of infantry. In reference to this enor-
mous foree it is proper to observe, that considerable portions ef the regular troops of native States are described in the
ufficiul returns as fitted rather for police purposes than as available for regular military duties. Where the military force
of n native prince is not under the command of European officers, it rarely happens het there exists any regular system
of payment; and, under such circumstances, a uative army is invariably found to be badly orgnunised and inefficient. The
figures ahove given do not include cither the police corps or the quotas of troops which the military chicfs are bound to
furnish to their feudal superior. 1 Including officers attached to native regiments.
Abstract of Population, Area of British and other European States,and Army of British Government in India, exclusive
of H.M, Buropean Cavalrp and Infantry, comprising 30,000 men.
ANSTRACT OF PorULaTION. ARMY OF BritisH GoVERNMEN?P IN INDIA.
——— es Population. | ae Company's Troops.
British States— Sq. Miles. Description. pean eee
Bengal o » =» «6 oo »| S85 || dresagno | Natives. | Total.
North-Western Provinees . : : 85,571 23,800,549 an || ae S——
Madras . « « «. «| 185,680 | 22,301,697 || Engincers. : 321 | 2948 2,569
Bombay es a es - «| 120,065 | 11,109,067 || Artillery . .| 7,436 9,004 16,440
Kastern Straits Settlcments ‘ : 1,575 202,540 || Cavalry . : 469 30,851 34,984
— ————_| Infantry . | 9648 | 193,942 | 229,106
668,513 | 105,169,633 || Medical. «| 1,11 652 1,763
Foreign States— Warrant Officers 243 = 243
French (Pondicherry, Mahe, &e.) : 188 171,217 || Veterans , ‘ 700 3,424 £104
Portuguese (Goa, Din, Demaun.) 5 800 | not known.
Total iirwrmr 988 71217 | Total 19,998 | 240,121 230529
The Contingent Troops of the Native States commanded by British officers, and available, under treaties, to the
British Government, amount to ahout 32,000 men, viz.:—Hyderabad (Nizam's) Auxiliary Force, §,094; Gwalior (Sein-
dia's) Contingent, $401; Kotah Contingent, 1,148; Mysore Horse, 4,000; Guzerat (Guicowar’s) Contingent, 3,796 ;
Bhopal Contingent, 829; Malwa United Contingent, 1,617; Malwa Bhecl Corps, 648; Joudpore Legion, 1,216; Meywar
Bheel Corps, 1,054; Colapore Local llorse, 907; Sawunt Warree Local Corps, G11. Total, 32,311. Holkar and tho
Rajah of Nagpore arc bound by treaty to furnish contingents, che former of 3,000, and the latter of 1,000 horse.
| 3 Y
ee == — =
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ceded districts in Guzerat, in 1805;
526 OFFICIAL STATEMENT RESPECTING SUBSIDIARY SYSTEM—1852.
Therelation between the Anglo-Indian gov-
ernment and native states, is thus described :
“ The states with which subsidiary alliances have
been contracted are ten in number :— Cochin: Cutch ;
Guzerat (territory of the Guicowar); Gwalior (pos-
sessions of Scindia); Hyderabad (territory of the
Nizam); Indore (territory of Holcar); Mysore;
Nagpore, or Berar ; Oude; Travancore. In some of
these states, enumerated in the above list, the charge
for the maintenance of the subsidiary force has been
commuted by various cessions of territory at the
undermentioned dates, viz.:—Guzeraé (Guicowar),
and Ahme-
dabad farm, &c. in 1817: Gwalior* (Scindia),
Upper Dooab, Delhi territory, &e., 1803: Hy-
derabad, (Nizam), Nortbern cirears, 1766; Gun-
tnor, 1788; districts acquired from Tippoo, 1800;
Indore (Wolcar), Candeish and other districts, 1818 ;
Oude, Benares, 1775; Goruckpore, Lower Dooab,
Bareilly, &c., 1801. The Rajah of Nagpore, or Be-
rar, in addition to the cession of territory on. the
Nerbudda and parts adjacent, pays to the British
government an annual subsidy of £80,000. The
| four remaining subsidiary states pay annual subsidy,
|
as under:—Cochin, £24,000; Cutch, £20,000; My-
sore, £245,000; Travancore, £79,643. The British
government has reserved to itself the right, in the
event of misrule, of assuming the management of
the country in the states of Cochin,} Mysore,f Nag-
pore,§ Oude,§ Travancore.|| The other subsidiary
states—Cuteh, Guzerat, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Indore,
are not subject to control in their internal adminis-
tration; yet so oppressive in some instances have
been the rule of the chiefs, and, in others, so lawless
the habits of the people, that the interference of the
British government has been oceasionally rendered
absolutely necessary, in some of the above subsidiary,
as well as in several of the protected states. Indeed,
a clear necessity must be held to confer the right of
such interference in all cases, as the prevalence of
anarchy and misrule in any district must be fraught
with danger to all around it; while its long continu-
ance would lead to the dissolution of the state itself
where it prevailed, and, consequently, interference
would become cssential to the effective exercise of
that protection which the British government has
engaged to afford. Besides.the native states having
subsidiary treaties, there are about two hundred {
others which acknowledge the supremacy of the Bri-
tish government, and which, by treaty or other en-
gagement, are entitled to its protection. The rulers
of these states are of various creeds, as shown in the
* «* By the treaty of 1817, funds were set apart for the
payment of a contingent tn be furnished by Scindia, and
commanded by British officers. Tbese provisions were
madified by treaty in April, 1820, and by a new arrange-
ment in 1836. By the treaty of Gwalior, concluded in
1844, certain districts were assigned to tbe British govern-
ment for the maintenance of an inereased force, ta be
commanded by British officers, and stationed within Sein-
dia’s territories.”’
+ ‘In Cochin, in consequence of the mismanagement of
the rajnh, the affairs of the state have heen conducted,
since 1839, by a native minister in communication with
the British resident.”
t ‘In respect to Mysore, the administration was assumed
by the British government in 1854, in consequence of the
misrule of the rajah, The claim of the rajah to be rein-
stated was deemed inadmissible in 1847, on the ground af
his incompetency to govern.”
§ “ Oude and Nagpare remain under the government of
their respective rulers.”
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
following list:—Mussulman; Hindoo, or orthodox
Brahmins ; Mahratta, Boondela, Rajpoot, Jaut,
Sikh—all professing Hindocism, with some mndifi-
cations; Bheel. In same of the petty states ineluded
in the above enumeration, the chiefs are not abso-
lutely independent, even as to matters of ordinary
internal administration. In several states on the
south-west frontier of Bengal (Sirgooja, and other
districts), civil justice is administered by the chiefs,
subject. to an appeal to the British agent, while in
criminal matters their jurisdiction is still more strictiy
limited.** Somewhat similar is the position of the
southern Mahratta jaghiredars, who are required to
refer all serious criminal matters for British adjudi-
cation. In two of the protected states, Colapore and
Sawunt Warree,t+ the administration has been as-
sumed by the British government, and carried on in
the names of the native rulers, who are in the posi-
tion of stipendiaries. In respect to Colapore, the re-
transfer of the government to the minor chief is
made dependent upon the opinion which may be
entertained by the British government of his cha-
racter, disposition, and capacity to govern. In Sa-
wunt Warree, the heir apparent, having forfeited his
tights, the country, upon the death of the present
chief, will be at the disposal of the paramount autho-
rity. In some other states, as those in Kattywar, the
Myhee and Rewa Cauntas, and others which are
tributary to the Guicowar, or ruler of Guzerat,
arrangements have been made, under whieh the
Guicowar abstains from all interference, and the
British government undertakes the management of
the country, guaranteeing the Guicowar’s tribute.
In carrying out such arrangements, the British gov-
ernment has conferred important benefits upon the
country by abolishing infanticide, suttee, slave-deai-
ing, and the maranding system, termed bharwut-
tee,tf as well as by the introduction of a criminal
court for the trial of the more serious offences,
through the agency of the British resident; the
native chiefs of the several states within the jurisdic-
tion of the court acting as assessors. From 1829,
when the practice of suttee was abolished through-
out the British dominions, the British government
have lahoured to procure its abolition in the native
states of India, and to a great extent succeeded.
This success has been attained without either aetual
or threatened coercion, resort to such means having
been deemed indiscreet ; but by vigilant watchfulness
for appropriate opportunities and perseverance in
well-timed suggestions, the desired object has been
effected in almost every native state where the rite
was practised.”—(Thornton’s Official Report, 1853.)
|| ‘(in 1805, the entire management of the state of Tra-
vaneore was assumed by the British; but in the year
1813, the minor rajah, upon attaining his sixteenth year,
was admitted to the full enjoyment of his rights.”’
q ‘‘ This number does not inelude the petty rajahs in the
Cossya and Garrow Hills, those of the Cuttack Mehals,
or the chiefs in the province of Kattywar. The addition of
these would more than double the number given in the text.”’
** « The power of passing sentence not involving the loss
of life is exercised by them; but where the punishment is
severe, it is under the eontro} of the British agent, while
sentence of death ean only be passed by him in cases
regularly brought before his tribunal; and cach infliction
of punishment must be included in a monthly report to
the government.”
+t ‘These two states were long convulsed hy internal
disorders, whieh at length burst into a general rebellion.”
+} ' Resort to indiscriminate plunder, with a view to ex-
tort the favourable settlement of a dispute with a feudal
superior.”
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CHAPTER IV.
RELIGION—CHRISTIAN MISSIONS—EDUCATION—TILE PRESS—AND CRIME.
Inpia exemplifies the truth of the asser-
tiou,* that religion is inseparable from the
nature of mau: the savage and the sage
alike frame some system of theologieal be-
lief,—some mode of communicating with
tlhe Deity,—some link of spiritual connexion
between the created and the Creator;¢ but
every attcupt to invest humanity with the
attributes of Divinity has ended in the
deification of stocks and stones,t—in the
concoction of monstrous frauds, and in the
practice of the grossest sensuality, which
corrupt alike the souls and the bedies of
the worshippers,
In Ilindoostan the prineiple of a universal religion
is illustrated in every conceivable form, from abstraet
Monotheism to complex Pantheism,—fram the wor-
ship of the sun, as the representative of celestial
power, to the rudely-carved image whieh a Brahmin
* See Preface to second edition of my dzalysts of
the Bible with reference to the Soeial Duty of Man.
+ From the highest to the lowest link in the chain
which conneets in oue genus every variety of the
human race, all believe in a spiritual power that is
superior ta man,—in an invisihle world, and in a
resurreetion after death : this is manifested hy dread
of an unseen good or evil deity,—by a persuasion of
the existence of fairies or ghosts,—by the sepulture
of the hody,—and hy placing in the grave things
deemed necessary in auother stage of existence.
J The Rev. William Arthur, in his admirable work,
«4 Mission to Mysoor, refers to the arguments he was
in the habit of having with Brahmins, and says—
“They frequently took strong ground in favour of
idolatry, urging that the human mind is so unstable,
that it eannat he fixed on any spiritual objeet with-
out same appeal to the senses; that, therefore, to
worship by mere mental effort, without external aid,
is impossible ; but that, by placing an image before
the eye, they can fix the mind on it, and say, ‘ Zhou
art God,’ and by this means farm 2 conception, aud
then worship.” It was probably this idea that un-
happily induced the early Christian ehurch to admit
images, pictures, and representations of holy men,
inte places of public worship; though it is not so
easy to account for the introduetion of Maryolatry.
The necessity of engaging the usually wandering
mind by some visual] object is, I believe, the plea
used by Romanists aud Greeks for the frequent
elevation of the crucifix; and it is quite possible
that many pious persons deem its presence essential) :
the danger is nat in the crucifix, or the figure of the
Redeemer thereon, but in the representation degene-
rating into formalism. On the other hand, it is 10
he feared that many professing protestants have few
ideas of vital Christianity, and consider its solemn
duties fulfilled hy an hebdomadal publie worship.
§ Thus acknowledged in one of the Mindoo prayers :—
**We bow to Him whose glory is the perpetual theme of
every speech ;—Him first, Him last,—the Snpreme Lord of
the houndless world ;—who is primeval Light, who is
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
is supposed to endue with sentient existence,—from
the sacrificial offering of fruit and flowers, to the im-
molation of human victims: here, also, we sce this
natural feeling taken advantage of by artful men to
construct Brahminical and Buddhistieal rituals, which,
embracing every stage of life, and involving monoto-
nous routine, completely subjugate the mass to a
dominant priesthood, who claim peculiar sanetity,
and use their assumed prerogatives for the retention
of the mass of their fellow-beings in a state of moral
degradation and of intellectual darkness.
Yet, amidst this corruption and blindness, some
rays of truth are still acknowledyed—such aa a
supreme First Cause,§ with his triune attributes of
omnipotence, omniseience, omnipresence ;|| creatiun,
preservation, destruction; the immortality of the
soul, individual responsibility, atonement for sin,
resurrection to judgment, heaven and hell; and a
belief in unseen beings pervading space, and seeking
to obtain a directing influeuee over probationary
ereatures for good or for evil. But these cardinal
points are mingled with pernicious doetrines, supersti-
without lis like,—indivisible and infinite,—the origin of
all existing things, movable or stationary.’’
\| The Hindoo expression means alt-perrastve,
{| The Mlindoos believe the Deity to be in everything,
and they typify Ilim in accordance with their imaginations,
Brahm or Brthm is supposed to have had three iucarna-
tions, viz., Brahma, the Creator; Vishnu, the Preserver ;
Siva, the Destroyer ;—who have become incarnate at dif-
ferent times and in various forms, for many objects. To
these are added innumerable inferior gods, presiding over
earth, air, aad water, and whatever may he therein,
Temples and shrines are erected to a multitude of deities,
to whom homage or worship is tendered, and tribute or
offerings made. The Pagan deities, in every country aod
in all ages, have more or less an affinity to each other;
they refer, generally, to the powers of nature, and to the
wants or civilising appliances of man; but they all merge
into, or centre in, one Supreme Being: thus there was an
intimate relation between the Greck and Ludian mythology.
The Brahminical and the Magian faith had many points
of union: the sun was the ostensible representation
of Divine power; the fire-altar of both may be traced @
that of the Hebrews; and the idolatry of the calf, cow, or
bull, have all a common origin. Terishta states eat,
during the ern of Roostum, when Soorya, a Ihindou,
reigned over llindoostan, « Brahmin persuaded the king
‘to set up idols; and trom that period the ilindeos be-
came idolaters, before which they, like the Persians, wor- |
shipped the sun and stars.”’—(Vol. j., p. G3.) The
Mythrae religion at one time existed in all the countries
between the Bosphorus and the Indus; vestiges are still
seen at Persepolis, xt Bamian, and in various parts of
India. In all Pagan systems there is a vagueness with
reference to the Deity; for it is only through the Saviour
that God can be known. With regard to the soul, it is
thus negatively described by the author of the great Hin-
doo work, entitled sMakaéarat :—‘' Some regard the soul
as a wonder; others hear of it with astonishment; but no
one knoweth it: the weapon divideth it not, the fire
burneth it not, the water corrupteth it not, the wind
dryeth it not awny ; for it is indivisible, inconsumable, in-
corruptible: it is cternal, universal, permanent, immov-
able; it is invisible, ineonceivable, and unalterable.”
The shastras, or ‘sacred’? books, contain also many
remarkable and even sublime passages ; but their character
ee eee eee eee Se
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
528 HINDOO RELIGION, ITS CRUEL RITES AND SUPERSTITIONS.
tions observances, cruel rites, and carnal indulgences;
hence the pure, merciful, and loving* character of
God is unknown, the innately sinful nature of man
imperfectly understood, the positive necessity of a
Redeemer unappreciated, and the urgent want of a
Sanctifier unfelt.
It is not therefore surprising, that in the yearn-
ings of the spirit for a higher, holier enjoyment than
this world can afford, that sincere devotees in India,
as in other countries and in every age, devoid of the
light of Christianity, deem suicide a virtue ;} torture
of the body a substitute for penance of the soul sf
ablution sufficient for purification ; solitude the only
mode of avoiding temptation; offerings to idols an
atonement for sin; pilgrimages to saintly shrines a
is well summed up by the Rev. William Arthur, who has
attentively studied the subject. This Christian writer says
—‘ Taking those books as a whole, no works of our most
shameless authors are so unblashing or so deleterious :
the Sama Veda treats drunkenness as a celestial pastime ;
all the gods are represented as playing at will with truth,
honour, chastity, natural aflection, and every virtue, ruu-
ning for sport into the vilest excesses, avd consecrating by
their example all hateful deeds. Falsehood, if with a
pious motive, has a direct sanctioa. Menu declares that
‘a giver of false evidence from a pious motive, even
though he know the trath, shall not lose a seat in heaven:
such evidence men call divine speech.” Vishau has often
preserved the gods by the most wickcd impostures. Lies
flow familiarly from divine lips, and thus lose all dis-
repute in mortal eyes. The amours of the gods are so de-
, tailed as to corrupt all who read and admire them; while
they argue, on the part of the writers, a horrible familiarity
with every variety of debauch. In the lofty poetry of the
sacred books are musicaliy sung expressions of a coarse-
ness that would be spurned from the vilest ballad. Part
of the retinue of every temple consists of priestesses, who
are the only educated women in the country, and whose
profession it is to corrupt the public morals. In some of
the temples, excesses are at certain times openly com-
| mitted which would be concealed even in our lowest dens
of vice.”’—(Arthur’s Mission to Mysoor, p.489. London:
Hamilton, Paternoster-row.) Such is the system; and
this is but a faint shadowing of its fearful wickedness,
agaiust which Christianity has to contend. Simple
aboriginal tribes have an indefinite notion of an Almighty
snperintending providence. Thus the Todawar of the
Neilgherries, on first seeing the sun daily, or a lamp, uses
the following prayer, with his face turned to the sky :—
“Oh! thou the Creator of this and of all worlds—the
| greatest of the great, who art with us as well in these
mountaias as in the wilderuess,—who keepest the wreaths
that adorn our heads from fading, and who guardest the
foot from the thora—Ged among a hundred—may we be
prosperous.’ They believe that the soul, after death, goes
to the Om-nor (large country), about which they have
seareely an idea; they sacrifice iving animals, and burn
them oa a rude altar: the dead are buried in a dark,
secluded valley. A blood sacrifice is deemed essential by
all these tribes, to proeure remission frem sin. The
relative antiquity of Brahminism and Buddhism,—their
comnioa origina and separation,—their points of unity or
dissonanee,—aod the various other forms of religiou in
India, are subjects beyoud my limits in this work.
* The only love that I can find recognised in reference
to the Deity, is similar to that acknowledged by the
Grecks: hence Sir William Jones thus apostrophises the
Hindoo Cameo or Kama Deva (Cupid) :-—
‘ Where’cr thy scat, whate’er thy name,
Farth, sea, and sky, thy reign proclaim :
Wreathy smiles and rosy treasures,
Are thy purest, sweetest pleasures ;
All antinals to thee their tribute bring,
Aad hail thee universal hing 1’
I] quote from memory this beautiful version of Tndian
stanzas.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
means of obtaining peace or rest; the maintenance
of perpetual fire the highest privilege ; contemplation
of God the nearest approximation to communion;
and human sacrifice a propitiation of Divine wrath.§
With such creeds and such worship, perpetuated
for centuries, the votaries, both priests and laymen,
must necessarily be sunk to a depth of degradation
from whence no mere human efforts can elevate
them, and which the untiring perseverance of Chris-
tianism, with the guidance of the Spirit, can only
hope to meliorate in the existing generation.
Among the numerous creeds which pervade India,
the most prominent are Hindooism, or worshippers of
Brahm ;|| Buddhists, devoted to Buddh;{] Parsees,
disciples of Zoroaster ;** Moslems,t+ followers of
t+ See section on crime for the number of suicides com-
mitted annually at Madras.
{ The self-inflicted torture which Hindoo fanatics
undergo, with a view to the remission of sia, and to obtain
the favour of their deity, is revolting; but it indicates
strong feelings on the subject. Among them may be
meutjoned :—stauding for years on the legs, which become
swollen aud putrefying masses of corruption; keepiag an
arm erect until the museles of the humerzs are attenuated
and the joint anchylosed (fixed in the socket); lying
on a hed of spikes until the smooth skia is converted
into a series of indurated nodules; turning the head
over the shoulders, and gazing at the sky, so that, when
fixed ia that pasture, the twist of the gullet prevents
aught but liqnids passiag into the stomach; crawling like
reptiles, or rolling as a hedgehog along the earth for years ;
swinging before a slow fire, or hanging with the head
dowawards, suspended over fierce flames; pierciag the
tongue with spits; inserting an iron rod in the eye-socket,
from which a lamp is huag; burying up to the neck in
the ground; clenching the fist until the nails grow through
the back of the hand; fasting for forty or the greatest
practicable number of days; gazing at the sua with four
fires aronnd, unti] blindness ensues. These are some of
the practices of the Yogis or Sanyases, and other devotees,
§ The Ganges is considered sacred by the orthodox
Hindoos, and its waters everywhere, from their source iu
the Himalaya to their exit ia the Bay of Bengal, are
regarded with peculiar sanctity. It is supposed that, at
the moment of dissolution, a person placed therein will
have alt his transgressioas obliterated. Should a Hindoo
be far distant, the Brahmins enjoin that he should think
intensely of the Ganges at the hour of death, and he will
not fail of his reward. To die within sight of the stream
is pronounced to be holy ; to die besmeared with its mud,
and partly immersed ia the river, holier still; even to be
drowned in it by aecident, is supposed to secure eternal
happiness. Until the close of the 18th century, the Brali-
mins, taking advantage of this snperstitious idea, per-
suaded tens of thousands of Hindoos to assemble in Jan-
uary annually on the island of Gunga Saugor, at the sea
mouth of the Ganges, to perform obsequies for the good of
their deceased ancestors, and to induce many huadred
children to be cast living into the torrent by their parents,
as a means of atonement for the siu of their souls. Lord
Wellesley abolished this wickedness.—(Baplist Mission,
vol. i., p. 111.) Among some abonginal trihes, a child is
not unirequently slain when the agricultural seasoa is
commencing, and the fields sprinkled with the bload af
the innocent, to propitiate the earth god, in the expecta-
tion of procuring thercby aa abundant harvest.
|| For a description of Hindooism, sec Maurice’s Indian
Aatiquitics, in 7 vols. 8va; Ward's Mythology of the
Hindoos, 4 vols. 4to; Moor's iZindoo Pantheon; Cole-
man’s Mythology of the Ifindoos; Vans Kenncdy’s Re-
searches ; yarious volumes of the Asiatic Society; the
Asiatic Journal of London; and the Journal Asiatique of
Paris.
4 Vor Buddhism, see the works of Upham and Mardy.
** See the Zendavesta, or code of Zoroaster.
+4 See Sale’s Noran; and Taylor’s Mohammedanism,
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
BARLY STATE OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA. 520
Kolea, heels, Sonthnta, Puhareca, and other abarti-
ginal tribes, distinet from all the preeeding; Jews
(white and black), Syriae, Armeninn, and Latin
Christians; representatives of the ehurehcs of Eng-
Jand, Weamark, und Germany; Scotch VPresbyte-
rian, Baptist, Wesleyan, Congregational, and North
Amerienn missions.t ach persunsion or sect would
require one ot more volumes for elucidation: all
that is practienble, is a very brief deseription of the
rise and progress of protestant missions in IIin-
doostan.
Christianity prevailed to some extent in India
from an enrly date; but we have no certain know-
ledge of its intreduetion under the denomination of
Syriac, or nny other chureh.t
The Portuguese, soon after their arrival, attempted
the conversion of the Hlindoos, with whom they
were brought in eontact, to the Romish form of
Christianity, hy jesuitism and the inquisition; and
necessarily failed, as they did in China and in Japan.
The Dutch, engrossed with commerce, made little or
no attempt to extend the Calvinistic creed; the
French were equally indifferent; but the King of
* This reformer, at the heginning of the 16th century,
attempted to construct in the Punjab a pure and peaceful
system of religion out of the best elements of IHindooism
and Mohaminedanism : his followers (the Seiks) became
devastating conquerors ; and infanticide nnd other abomi-
nable crimes still fearfully prevail among this warlike race.
} See Hough's valuable Zlistory of Christianity in India,
4 vols. 8vo, 1839; Cox’s Ifistory of Baptist Missions,
2 yols.; Pearson’s Lives of Dr. Claudius Buchanan
(2 vols.) and of Schwartz, 2 vols. 8vo; Arthur's graphie
Mission to the Mysoor, 1 vol.; Duff on India Missions ;
Tioole’s Missions ta South of India; Pegg’s Orissa,
1 vol. ; Afemoir af W. Carey; Life of Judson ; and other
interesting missionary works.
t Thomas llerbert, author of Some Veares Travels into
divers parts of Asia and Afrique (publisbed in London in
1638, and who began his voyaging in 1626), speaks of there
being Christians in many places ; and refers especially to
several maritime towns in Malabar. lle says—'* The
Christians in these parts differ in some things from us, and
fram the Papacie yet retaine many principles of the ortho-
dox and catholic doctrine: their churches are low, and
but poorly furnished ; their vassalage will reach no further,
whether from their subjection, or that (so the temples of
their bodies hee replenisht with vertue) the excellency of
buildings conferre nat holinesse } know not : neat they are,
sweetly kept ; matted, without seats, and instead of images
have some seleet and usefull texts of holy writ obviously
writ or painted. They assemble and haste to church cach
Lord's day with’ great alacrity: at their entering they
shut their eyes, and contemplate the holiness of the place,
the exercise they} come.about, and their own unworthi-
nesse: as they kueele they look towards the altar or table
near which the bishop or priest is seated, whom they
sajute with a low and humble reverence, who returns his
blessing by the uplifting of his hands and eyes: at a set
houre they begin prayers, above two houres seldom con-
tinuing : first they have a short generall confession, which
they follow the pricst in, and assent in an unanim amen:
then follows an exposition af some part or text of holy
Scripture, during which their attention, dejected lookes,
and silence, is admirable; they sing an hymne,” &e.
lierbert then proceeds to nbserve that they have the Old
and New Testaments ; they baptize commonly at the fortieth
day, if the parents do not sooner desire it; they observe
two days’ strict preparation for the holy communion.
eating no flesh, and haying no revelry; in the church
they confess their sins and demerits with great reluctance :
after the arrival of the Portuguese they shaved their beads.
The clergy marry but once, tbe laity twice ; no diyorce,
save for adultery. Lent begins in spring, is strictly ob-
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
Denmark, in the spirit of Taatheranism, encouraged, io
1706, the ‘Tranquebar missionaries in their merito-
rious efforts to preach the gospel of Christ ta the
natives in the vernaeular tongue; and for more than
acentury many devoted men, including Zicgenbalg,
Schwnrtz, Gericke, Sehultze, and others, lahoured
patiently in the south of India for the extension of
the Divine mission of truth and peace; but Jailed, by
permitting the intermingling of heathen enstoms
with the purity of life which admits of no such
toleration. The British church§ and government
for many years made no response to appeala on
behalf of Chasuaaite The latter was not merely
negative or apathetic; it hecame positive and active,
in resistance to the landing of miasionnries in the
territories under its control; and when, at the close
of the 18th century, the Danish and other conti-
nental churches had almost retired in despair from
the field, and the Laptists (under the leadership of
Carey and Thomas) sought to oceupy some of the
abandoned ground, they aod their able coadjutors,
Marshman and Ward, were compelled to seek an
asylum at the Danish settlement of Serampore, on
the banks of the Ilooghly, 15 m. above Calcutta.||
served for forty days; they ‘‘ affect justice, peace, truth,
humility, obedience,” &e. When dead, the bodies are
placed in the grave looking west towards Jerusalem, and
they ‘‘believe no purgatory.’’ St. Thomas is their ac-
knowledged tutelar saint and patron.—(Lib. iii., on East
Indian Christians, p. 304-’5.)
§ The E. 1. Cy's. charter of 1698 directed ministers of
religion to be placed in each ‘‘ garrison and superior fac-
tory,’ and a '‘ decent and convenient place to be set apart
for divine service only :’’ the ministers were to learn the
Portuguese and the native languages, ‘tthe better to
enable them to instruct the Gentoos that shall be the
servants or slaves of the said company, or of their agents, in
the protestant religion.’’ By the eharter of 1698, the
company were required to employ a chaplain on board of
every ship of 500 tons’ burthen. This regulation was
evaded by hiring vessels, nominally rated at 499 tons, but
which were in reality, by building measurement, 600 to
650 tons.—(Milburn, i., p. Ivi.}) Some clergymen of the
Church of England were sent out to India from time to
time; but witb a few exceptions (whose honoured deeds
are recorded by Waugh in his Jdisfory of Christianity
in India), such men as Dr. Claudius Buchanan, Dr. Kerr,
David Brown, Corrie, and Henry Martyn, had not many
imitators: they ‘‘ performed duty ’’ on the sabbath ; looked
after money and other matters during the week ; and, at
the termination of their routine official life, returned to
Europe with fortunes ranging from £20,000 to £50,000
each. Kiernander, the Danish missionary, mentions, in
1793, three of these misnumed ministers of the gospel
(Blanshard, Owen, and Johnston), then about to return to
England with fortunes of 500,000, 350,600, and 200,600
rupees each; which (Mlr. Kaye observes) sbows, accord.
ing to their period of service, ‘‘an annual average
saving of £2,500.’ —(Llist. of Adin. of E. I. Cy., p. 630.)
|| During its early career the E. 1. Cy. paid some at-
tention to religion, and a church was built at Madras;
but as commerce and politics soon absorbed all attention,
the ministrations of religion were forgotten, and not in-
aptly typified by the fate of the chureh erected at Calcutta
by pious merchants and seamen, who were freemasons,
about the year 1716, when the E. 1. Cy. allowed the
young merchants £50 a-year *‘ for their pains in reading
prayers and a sermon on a Sunday.”’ In October, 1737,
a destructive hurricane, accompanied by a violeat earth-
quake, swept over Bengal, and among damages, it is re-
corded that ‘tthe high and magnificent steeple of the
English church sunk into the ground without breaking.’’
—(Genileman’s Magazine, 1738.) Christianity certainly
about this time sank ont of sight in India, without being
broken or destroyed, and it is now rising ioto pre-
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
The Marquis Wellesley gave encouragement to
devout missionaries of every Christian persuasion ;*
but during the administrations of Lord Minto and
of the Marquis of Hastings, there was direct oppo-
sition to the ministers of the Cross, who were
obliged to proceed from England to the United
States, and sai] in an American vessel to their desti-
nation. Some were prohibited landing on British
ground, others were obliged to re-embark ; ships were
refused a port entrance if they had a missionary on
board, as they were deemed more dangerous than the
plague or the invasion of a French army: and the
governor of Serampore, when desired by the Calcutta
authorities to expel Drs. Carey, Marshman, and
others, nobly replied—they might compel bim to
pull down the flag of the Danish king, but he would
not refuse a refuge and a home to those whose sole
object was the temporal and spiritual welfare of their
fellow-beings. Despite the most powerful official dis-
countenance, the missionary cause ultimately tri-
umphed. The Church of England became an effective
auxiliary. Caleutta, in ISI4, was made the see of a
| bishop, under Dr. Middleton; and his amiable suc-
eminence by the aid of that very E.J. Cy. wha, a cen-
tury ago, were so indifferent, and half a century since, so
hostile ta its introduction or disenssion in Hindoastan.
In 1805, the Rev. Dr. Claudius Buchanan, gavernment
chaplain at Calcutta, issned a Memoir on the Expe-
diency of an Ecclesiastical Establishment for British
Jadia, both as a means af perpetuating the Christian Re-
ligion amany our awn Countrymen, and as a foundation
for the ultimate Civilisation of the Natives. ‘Vhe me-
moir was dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury ;
and the appendix comprised a variety of instructive mat-
ter on the superstitions of the Hindoos. The work was
in fact a forcible appeal to the Christians of Britain for
the evangelisation of India, and was exceedingly well re-
| ceived hy the bishops of London (Porteons), Llandaff
(Watson), Durham, Exeter, St. David's, and other emi-
nent divines. In India the memoir caused great excite-
ment among that portion of the government who ‘‘ viewed
| with sensitive alarm, for the security of onr empire in the
East, the circulation of the Word of God.’’—(Hongh, iv.,
179.) Contrasts were drawn between Hindooism and
Christianity, to the prejudice of the latter, by Enro-.
peans who still professed that faith; and in November,
1807, Dr. Buchavan memorialised the governor-general
(Lord Minto), on the change of policy from that which
the Marquis Wellesley had pursued. Among the points
complained of were—First, withdrawing the patronage of
government from the translation of the Scriptures into
the Oriental languages; secondly, attempting to suppress
the translations ; ¢Airdly, suppressing the encomium of the
Court of Directors of the FE. 1. Cy. on the character and
proceedings of the venerable missionary Schwartz; and
Jourthly, restraining the Protestant missionaries in Bengal
from the exercise of their functions, and establishing an
rmprimalur for theological works. Sermons which Dr.
Buchanan had delivered on the Christian prophecies, he
was desired by the chief secretary to transmit to govern-
ment for its inspection, which he properly declined to do.
In 1813 several missionaries frora different societics were
ordered to quit India withont delay; one in particular
(Mr. Johns), was told if he did not take his passage ia-
mediately, he would be forcibly carried on board ship.
Two members of the Amcrican board of missions, on
arriving at Bombay, were ordered away by Sir If. Nepean,
and directed to proceed to England; they left in a coust-
ing vesrel, kianded at Cochin on their way ta Ceylon, and
were sent back to Bombay as prisoners. Sir E. Nepean
was a religious nan, and ultimately obtained permission for
the missionaries to remain.
* The opposition of the home authorities to the college
of Fort William, which was founded by the Marquis
Wellesley, bad refwence chiefly to the religious design of
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
530GOVERNMENT PERSECUTION OF THE MISSIONARIES—1800—’09.
cessor (Heber) removed many prejudices, and paved
the way fora general recognition of the necessity and
duty of affording to the people of India the means of
becoming acquainted with ihe precepts of Chris-
tianity. The thin edge of the wedge being thns
fairly inserted in the stronghold of idolatry, the
force of truth drove it home: point by point, step by
step, the government were fairly beaten from posi-
tions which became untenable. It was tardily ad-
mitted that some missionaries were good men, and
did not intend or desire to overthrow the dominion
of England in the East; next it was soon acknow-
ledged that they had a direct and immediate interest
in upholding the authorities, as the most effectual
security for the prosecution of their pious labours.
Soon after the government ceased to dismiss civil and
military servants because they had become Chris-
tians; then came the public avowal, that all the
Europeans in India had not left their religion at the
Cape of Good Hope, on their passage from England,
to be resumed on their return; but that they still re-
tained a spark of the living faith, and ought no
longer to be ashamed to celebrate its rites.| When
the noble founder, Dr. Claudius Buchanan pointed out
that it was a mistake to consider the sole object was merely
to “instruct the company’s writers.’’ Lord Wellesley’s
jdea, as Dr. Buchanan correctly states, was ‘ to enlighten
the Oriental world, to give science, religion, and pure
morals to Asia, and to confirm init the British power and
dominion.” The Doctor adds—* Had the college of Fort
William been cherished at home with the same ardour
with which it was opposed, it might, in the period of ten
years, have produced translations of the Scriptures into
all the languages from the horders of the Caspian ta the
Sea of Japan.’’—(Pearson’s Life of Dr. C. Buchanan,
Moy Bais)
+ The Rev. M. Thomason, father of the late excellent
lieutenant-gavernor of the N. W. Provinces, was dismissed
from the governor-general’s (Earl Moira) camp, in June,
1814, because he remonstrated against ‘‘ the desecration
of the sabbath, and other improprieties of conduct.’?’—
(ough, iv., 383.) At Madras, a collector (civil servant
of high standing) was removed from the service for dis-
tributing tracts on Christianity among the natives. In
Bombay, the state of Christianity at the commencement
of the present century was indeed very low; immorality
was general, Governor Duncan. a kind and henevolent
man, rarely attended divine service; and the late lamented
Sir Charles Forbes told me, that though educated in the
sabbatical strictness of the Scotch kirk, the effect af evil
example on youth carried him with the stream, and that
Sunday was the weekly meetiag of the ‘ Bobbery hunt?’
(a chase on horseback of jackals or pariah dogs), and its
concomitant, drinking and other excesses. Henry Martyn,
when visiting Bombay in 1811, on his way to Shiraz,
speaking of the Europeans, says—‘‘] am here amongst
men who are indeed aliens to the cammonwealth of
Israel, and without God in the world. I hear many of
those amongst whom I live bring idle objections against
religion such as I have answered a hundred times.’ At
the cantonments and revenue stations, marriages and bap-
tisms were usually performed by military and civil ser-
vants. Many English officers never saw a church or
mivister of the gospel for years. Jarmest representations
for the erection of even small chapels were disregarded by
the government, and the young cadets soon sank into
drinking, debauchery, and vice. In 1807 not a Bible was
to be found in the shops at Madras—it was not a saleahle
article; religions books were at a similar discount: the
first purchasable Bible arrived in 1809. The observation
of thonglitful old natives, tor many ycars, on the English
was—‘‘ Christian Man—Devil Man.’* If Charles Grant, |
who laboured so carnestly and effectively half a century
for the introduction of Christian principles into India,
were now uiive, he would perceive that the above reproach.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ABOLITION OF WIDOW-BURNIN
G—SCRIVTURES CIRCULATED,
vt
50
this vantage-ground was gained, other triumphs
necessarily follawed.* ‘The Scriptures, which the
British and Foreign Bible Society, and also the
Baptists, had heen engaged in translating and print.
distributed. ‘ ‘Taleration” was
ing, were now gbetly
no longer conceded only ta Iindooism and other
idolatries ; it was extended to Christianity: and the
principle was urged boldly, that the state should re-
nounee all interference in the shameful orgies of
Juggnrnaut and other Pagan abominations ;—that
the car of this idel and its obscene priests should
cease to be annually decorated with scarlet cloth and
tinsel, specially provided by the K. I. Cy.; and that
the troops, Inglish and Mohammedan, should no
longer have their feelings outraged by being com-
pelled to do honour to disgusting rites which were a
mockery to the true and living God.+
The demoniac practice of suttee (widow-burning),
was formidably assaulted by the missionaries and
other good men. ‘Yo sanction the crime of suicide
was admitted to be repugnant to the character of a
to his countrymen was removed, and there would be found
many en-operators in the cvangelising work,
* Up to 1851 the operations of the society, as regards
India, were :—Sanserit gospels and acts, 8,200; llin-
doostanee Testament (Roman), 31,000; Urdu Persian por-
tions of Old Testament, Urdn Persian gospels and acts,
82,000. Northern and Centrat India.—Bengallee portions
ot Old Testament, Bengallee and English St. Matthew and
St. Jolin, Bengallee Testament (Roman), Bengallee, with
English Testament (Roman), 130,842; Uriya Bible,
16,000; Hinduwee Old Testament, 4,000; Harrottee
Testament, 1,000; Bikaneera Testament, 1,000; Moul-
tan Testament, 1,000; Punjahce Testament, 7,000; Cash-
merian Testament, 1,000; Nepaulese Testament, 1,000;
Sindhee St. Matthew, 500. Southern India—Telinga
Testament, 33,000 ; Canarese Bible, 10,000; Tamul Bible,
105,000; Malayalim New Testament, Malayalim Old Tes-
tament, 32,065; Tulu Testament, 400; Kunkuna Testa-
ment, 2,000; Mahratta Testament, 30,000; Guzerattee
Testament, 20,100; Cutchee St. Matthew, 500.
+ In August, 1836, the Bishop of Madras, the clergy
of every denomination, several civil and military servants,
merchants, &e., addressed a memorial to the governor
of Madras, the summary of which prayed, that in accor-
dance with the instructions laid down by the Court of
Directors, 28th Febrnary, 1833, guaranteeing toleration,
but aflording no encouragement to Mohammedan or hea-
then rites—‘‘ That it be not hereafter required nf any
Christian servant of the state, civil or military, of any
grade, to make an offering, or to be present at, ar to
take part in, any idolatrous or Mohammedan act af wor-
ship or religious festival. That the firing of salutes, the
employment of military hands, and nf the government
troops in honour of idolutrous or Mohammedan proces-
sians or ceremonies, and all similar observances which in-
tringe upon likherty of conscience, and directly ‘ promote
the growth and popularity of the debasing superstitions of
the country,’ be discontinued. That such parts af Regu-
lation V11. of 1817, as identify the government with Mo-
hammedanista and heathcnism, be reseinded, and every
class of persons left, as the honourable Court of Directors
have enjoined, entirely to themselves, to follow their reli-
gious duties according to the dictates of their consciences.”
The governor (Sir Frederick Adam) administered to the
bishop and to the memorialists a sharp rebuke, saving,
he did not concur in their sentiments, which he viewed
with ‘ the deepest pain and cancern,'’ as they manifested
the ‘zeal of over-heated minds,’’ and that the “ cammn-
nication”’ (worded jn a gnarded and Christian spirit) ‘ was
fraught with danger to the peace nf the conntry, and de-
structive of the harmony which should prevail amongst
all elasses of the cammumity.’’—(Parl. Papers—Commons,
No. 357; Ist June, 1837; p.5.) The ik. I. Cy. and her
Majesty’s government thought differently: the prayer of
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
professing Christian government, which had already
forcibly suppressed infanticide ; and notwithstanding
many forebodings of danger, and considerable oppn-
sition by the enemies of missionaries, self-murder
was, on Dec. 4, 1829, during the administration of |
Lord William Bentinck, suppressed throughout Pri-
tish India, by a prohibitory edict of the supreme
government; under which all persons aiding and |
abetting settee were liable to the penalty inflicted tor
culpahle homicide. ‘There was not the slightest op-
position to this ordinance throughout India.§ Widow- |
burning, however, still continues in several provinces |
which are not under onr immediate government,
Many other advantages accrued from the course of
Christian polity now fairly begun ;—the government
ceased to hold slaves, and passed a decree mitigating
some of the evils of the system ; churches were erected
at the principal civil and military stntions; and
chaplains were appointed for the celebration of
public worship at European stations] In 1834,
bishoprics were founded at Madras and Bombay.
the memorialists was ultimately granted; and the peace of
India and the harmony of its people was never for a
moment disturbed. But previous to the final concession,
Lientenant-general Sir T, Maitland resigned the commana
of the Madras army rather than be a participator in offering
honours to idols by sending the troops to assist at the
Hindoo celebrations. Colonel Jacob, an old artillery
officer, stated before the House of Commons’ committee,
4th Augnst, 1853, when referring to the attendance of
British troops at idolatrous ceremonies—‘' 1 was myself
in that position at Baroda, on the occasion of the Dns-
serah festival, when we were waiting for six hours in the
sun at the beck and bidding of the Brahmins, who an-
nounced the fortunate hour, as they apprehended, for the
Gnicowar to go and sacrifice a fowl to the Dnsserah. The |
whole of the force was under arms, and the British resi- |
dent attended on the same elephant with the prince. Upon
the Brahmins cutting off the head of the fowl, the signal
was given, and 1 had to fire a salute.’”’ ‘This Christian
ofticer adds—‘* Within nur own presidency, under the
British flag, there can be no sort of exense whatever for |
forcing British officers to take part in an heathen or
idolatrous procession or worship, such as the cocoa-nut
offerings, annually at Surat, by the governor’s agent.
At Madras, when [I was there some years ago, the govern-
ment sanction was directly given to idolatraus practices
by presenting offerings of broadcloth to the Brahmins, for
them to pray to the idol deity to save the Carnatic froin
inyasion.’’—(Parl. Papers—Commons ; 6th August, 1843;
p. 151.)
+ The Brahmins, who had originated suffee to prevent
their widnws remarrying, declared it was 4 religious rite, |
and on this ground several English functionaries objected
to its forcible suppression; but the doctrine laid down by |
Menu, the great llindao lawgiver, does not snstain the |
assertion. The teats referring to the subject ran thns :—
‘CA faithful wife, who wishes to attain in heaven the man-
sion of her husband, must do nothing unkind to him be
he living or dead. Let her emaciate her body by living
voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and traits; but let her
not, when her hnsband is deceased, even pronounce the
name of another man. Jet her continue until death for-
giving all injuries, performing harsh duties, avoiding every
sensual pleasure, and cheerfully practising the incompar-
able rules of virtue whicb have been followed by snch
women as have been devoted to one only hnsband.”’
§ I was happily enabled to be of some use in preparing
the public mind for this great event by writing articles on
the subject, and addressing them, when translated into dif-
ferent languages, to the Iindoo population.
|| Until recently the spirit under which the Anglo-Indian
government was adininistered, was the pratecuon and en-
conrngement of Brahminism and Mohammedanism, and
the disavowal of any connection with Christianity. Thus, as
— =a |
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Gradually the state, so far as is alleged to be com-
patible with pledged faith, ceased to interfere in the
temporal concerns of idolatrous shrines; the for-
_feiture of property by Hindoos who had become
converts to Christianity, was no longer recognised as
the law; uative Christians became eqnally eligible
with their fellow-citizens to public offices. Finally,
several of the highest functionaries have openly
avowed, that the best means for effecting an improve-
ment in even the physical condition of the people, is
by the diffusion of Christianity; and that the main-
TRIUMPH CF CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES IN INDIA.
stay for the seenrity of British dominion in india, is
the inenlcation and practice of its divine precepts.
Such are the glorions results of nearly half a cen-
tury* spent in peaceful but unceasing efforts on
behalf of truth; and J now proceed to show the
means in operation for continuing the great work |
which has been so signally blessed in its conrse.
The following data show the state of the Church of |
England establishment,t and that of the principal .
oe missions in India, at the present pe-
riod :—
Tabulur View of the Church Missionary Society's Operations—1855,
Ordaiacd
}
ee dai Lay Teachers, &c. & a | Scholars. 0,
BI Mission- ay g 3 es ——e e
=| aries. (2 . 3 = iNatives. a S I 3 | ‘3
33 |- = et lee leet Ge
Puadeaveunone oe | 2 ole ae lee 2/6 | | 28 ag |
a ee td ls lt . a : Fo 2
rincipal Stations, é : Z Seles y £53 S| Tota. Fel eg ei Lo Male.| ote, | Total.) 8
£2| S zleur se sle¢ ae i | 2 We =
5 | 3 /2e|5 s/e2lgalee a ye | O 1a 2
a AS ola Pls a oO ie
is) El Sic
Bompay & W.Inpra! = |
Bomhay ... ./— | 9 2 Lay 16 22 64 12 22 | 1,854} 236 | 1,590 | —
Nasik... ..]/—] 3/—/—[/— 2) — 2 By 78 7 re) Wi 16} 193 | —
J ae Malli- 1) | 7] 9/2) iJ—} 1] 41 46) i921 a7 eee
Sinde mission . —| 37 1) 1J—J|J—-|— 1 5 l4 4 2 34) — 34] —
CatcuTTa& N.Inpia| ¢
Caleutta »-f—}] 4})/—] 1 il 13} 26; = 41 45 716) 181 16} 1,220) 59 ;1,279 | —
Burdwan district —}| 2);)—|— 1 3} 21 25 eal 206) 51 2 586| 50] 636 | —
Krishaghurh dist. | — | 9} — |] 38] — 31} 93) 129 138 | 5,069) 465 62 | 3,508] 508 | 4,066 | —
Bhagulpoor . —!1)/—]— 1 3) 8 id 16 105) 29 4 160} 150) 310 | —
Benaces —} 6;/—]) 1] 1 5] 31] 38 43 Soli 3 589) — 589 | —
Jaunpoor —{}| 1l}—j] il— 2S 2 23 22 9 5 467, 32] 499 | —
Gorruckpoor —| 3f/-—|}—-|]—- 5] 14; 19 22 217| = 30 3 100; 117 | 217 | —
Jubbulpoor . —f{—}—y 1I—J— 1 2 2; — — 1} — 6 6) —
Agra Sa a es) eo Se a) || es) | cos | —
Meerut —| 3]/— lj 6) 7 i4 V7 247 oo 7 226 17 | 243 | —
Himalaya —| 2;/—);-—-]— 2) Sp AL 138 PAW all ii Wy 15 | 126 | —
Punjab mission . —| 3); t}—jJ— 3 3 6 10 50} 20 u 45 7 52 | —
Peshawur —| 27;—] 1J—]}—!l— 1 3) — _— = _ _ — |—
Mapras & 8. Inpra |
Madras... . #) 2) 3] 2) 3 Ee OS, 34 606) 199 12 279} 297 | 676 | —
Tinnevelly dist. .} 853) 14 | 7 7 | 4 | 187) 378) 576 | 597 | 27,920) 3,565 | 327 | 5,131] 3,020 | 8,151 1
Travancore distriet | 25] 9 2+ 2/—{ 36) 93) 133 144 | 6,007} 1,242 83 | 1,802] 442 | 2,244 ]
Teluga mission. . zs} 1{—| 2 1 | ail 31 131 14 fi) 76) 143 | 219 | —
a =e \ SS ee ee |
UWE 5 cll 2 4 73748 | 25 | 18 | 312 783| 1,188 | 1,235 | 41,373) 6,231 589 | 16,632] 5,182 |2,1814| 2
t No returns.
stated by the Rev. J. Lechman, in his evidence before par-
liament (8th August, 1853), ‘‘ the government have main-
' tained for thirty years an institution for the instraction of
its Mohammedan suhjects in their ereed, but has not
maintained any college or school for the exelusive instruc-
tion of its Christian subjects.’”’
* The Rev. W. Mullens thus sums up the progress of
missions during the present century :—* Within a few
years stations were established in Calcutta, Madras, and
Bombay, and began to push ontward into all the pre-
sidencies of Hindoostan. The beginnings were slow but
sure. One society, then another—one missionary and
then another, landed on the eoast, and took up their
posts on the great battle-field of idolatry, The London
Missionary Society sent missionaries to Chinsurah, to
Travancore, to Madras, Vizagapatnam, Bellary, and to
Snrat. The American board, after some opposition
from the government, occupied Bombay. The Church
Missionary Society entered first on the old missions at
Madras, Tranquebar, and Palameottah; but soon began
an altogether new field among the Syrian Christians in
Weet Travancore. They planted a station at Agra, far
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
in the north-west, snd maintained the agency which »
Corrie had employed at Chunar. It was a
small sum for such an object: yet it remained unem-
ployed for ten years ; and then the accumulated funds
were appropriated to the Hindoo college at Cal-
cutta, which was placed under the superintendence
of government, and to such other Oriental seminaries
as a Committee of Public Instruction (appointed in
1823) might recommend.
The Court of Directors early foresaw the inefficiency
of mere Oriental literature as a means of improving
the people.
the Court warned the local governments thus :—
“In teaching mere Hindoo or Mohammedan learn-
ing, you bind yourselves to teach a great deal of
what is frivolous, not a little of what is purely mis-
chievous, and a small remainder indeed in which
utility is in any way concerned.” Bishop Heber also
justly remarked—* The Mussulman literature very
nearly resembles what the literature of Europe was
before the time of Copernicus, Galileo, and Bacon.
The Mussulmans take their logic from Aristotle, fil-
tered through many successive translations and com-
In a despatch to India, written in 1821,
mentaries; and their metaphysical system is pro-
Both Mohammedans
and Ilindoos have the same natural philosophy, whieh
is also that of Aristotle in zoology and botany, and
Ptolemy in astronomy, for which the Ilindoos have
forsaken their more ancient notions of the seven seas
and the six earths.” The Court of Directors had to
contend against the prejudices of distinguished Eng-
lishmen, who clung pertinaciously to the idea of
educating the people in the Oriental tongues, Thus,
in a despatch of September 29th, 1880, the Court
says—“ We think it highly advisable to enable and
encourage a large number of natives to acquire a
thorough knowledge of English, being convinced
that the high tone and better spirit of Jiuropean
literature can produce their full effect only on those
who become familiar with them in the original lan-
accurate observer the late Rammohun Ray, said— It
can only load the minds of youth with grammatical nice-
ties and metaphysical distinctions of no practical use;
the pupils will aeqnire what was known 2,000 ycars ago,
with the addition of vain and empty subtleties.’’ In faet,
its pupils became deists and atheists.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
IMPROVED SYSTEM OF EDUCATION FOR INDIA—1851~’55. 537
guage. While, too, we agree that, the higher branches
of scienee may he more advantageously atudied in
the languages of Murope, than in translations into
the Oriental tongues, it is also ta be considered, that
the fittest persons for translating English scientifie
books, or Jor putting their substanee into a shape
adapted to Asiatic students, are natives who have
nuuaigd profoundly in the original works.’—(Des-
patch, September 29th, 1830.)
These sound views were not immediately adopted
by the Indian government, who absurdly perse-
vered for several years attempting to instruct the
eve who attended the public seminaries hy trans-
ating English literature into Sanserit and Arabic—
the one not spoken, and the other a foreign language
in India. Mefore a Hindoa eould study the best
masters in English, he must waste precious time in
becoming an Oriental scholar: in effect, it would be
paralleled if boys in the national schools of Britain
were required to learn Latin and Greek, and then
study English literature from translations into these
Missionary Schools in Continental India,
Male.
Stations. Vernacular Day-
Suiaraky. Boarding-Schools.| English Schools. | Day-Schools. |Boarding-Schools.
Schools.| Boys. |Schools.| Boys, |Schools.| Boys. | Schools.; Girls. | Schools.! Girls.
Bengal, Orissa, and Assam 197 6,369 21 761 22 6,054 26 690 28 836 |
N. W. Provinces 59 8,078 10 209 16 1,207 8 213 tt 208 |
Madras Presidency 852 61,366 32 754 as 4,156 222 6929 4) 1,101
Bombay Presidency . 65 3,818 4 64 ] 984 28 1,087 6 129
Total 1,099 | 74,661) 67 | 1,788 | 91 | 12401| 284 | 8919! 86 | 2278
1
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In the parliamentary discussions relative to India,
in 1852-8, the subjeet of educating the people by a
general system, was fully recognised as one of the
most important duties of government; and accord-
ingly, in July, 1854, an admirable despatch was for-
warded to Bengal by the home authorities.t Jn
this doeument the Court of Directors declare that
“no subjeet has a stronger elaim to attention than
edueation ;” and that it is ‘one of our most sacred
duties, ta be the means, as far as in us lies, of con-
ferring upon the natives of India those vast moral
and material biessings which flow from the general
diffusion of useful knowledge, and which India may,
under Providence, derive from her connexion with
England. For although British influenee has al-
ready, in many remarkable instanees, been applied
with great energy and sueeess to uproot demoralising
practices, and even crimes of a deeper dye, whieh for
ages had prevailed among the natives of India, the
good results of those efforts must, in order to be per-
manent, possess the further sanction of a general
sympathy in the native mind, whieh the advance of
education alone can secure. We have, moreover,
always looked upon the encouragement of eduea-
tion as peculiarly important, because ealeulated ‘ not
only to produce a higher degree of intellectual fit-
ness, but to raise the moral character of those who
partake of its advantages, and so to supply you
with servants to whose probity you may with in-
creased confidence commit oflices of trust’ in India,
* In September, 1845, I attended an annual examina-
tion of the Poona schools, and was agreeably surprised
by the intelligence and proficiency of the pupils.
languages. The pedantry and inutility of auch a
system was at length exposed; and, with broader
views of statesmanship, there eame a recognition of
the necessity uf making English the classical and
predominant language.
On the 7th of March, 1835, the government
abandoned the Oriental scheme of edueation, and
the comprehensive and adaptative tongue of the
ruling power was gradually substituted by attaching
English elasses to the Hindoo and Mohammedan
eolleges which had becn established in different
eities; to these were added acholarships, with sti-
pends attainable after a satisfactory examination,
and terminable at a ccntral college to which the
school was subordinate. In October, 1844, gov-
ernment passed a_ resolution, promising prefer-
ence of selection for public employment to stu-
dents of distinguished ability. Model schools have
been adopted in several districts; suitable books
prepared; an organised system of inspection main-
tained ;* and Christian instruction thus extended :—
Female.
where the well-being of the people is so intimately
connected with the truthfulness and ability of offi-
eers of every grade in all departments of the state.
Nor, while the character of England ts deeply con-
cerned in the suceess of our efforts for the pro-
motion of education, are her material interests alto-
gether unaffected by the advance of European know-
ledge in India: this knowledge will teach the natives
of India the marvellous results of the employment of |
labour and capital, rouse them to emulate us in the |
development of the vast resources of their country,
guide them in their efforts, and gradually, but cer- |
tainly, confer upon them all the advantages which
accompany the healthy increase of wealth and com-
merce; and, at the same time, secure to us a larger |
and more certain supply of many artieles neeessary
for our manufactures and extensively consumed by
all classes of our population, as well as an almost
inexhaustible demand for the produce of British
labour.”
These cre noble sentiments, worthy of England,
and of inealeulable benefit to India. Witb this pre-
amble, the Court of Directors proceed to state the
main object thus :—“ We emphatically declare that
the education which we desire to see extended in
India is that which has for its object the diffusion of
the improved arts, science, philosophy, and literature
of Europe; in short, of European knowledge.”
Peeuniary aid is to be given to vernacular and
Anglo-vernacular schools. The study of law, medi-
f It is understood that the preliminary draft of this
valuable State Paper was drawn up by Sir Charles Wood,
then president of the India Board.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
5388 GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS—EXTENSION OF EDUCATION—1855.
cine,* and civil engineering to be encouraged; and] and can only gradually be employed: at present it
all the higher branches of sound education. The | amounts to about £150,000 a-year, which, it is to be
expenditure for these great designs will be large, | hoped, will ere long be largely augmented.t |
Number of Government Educational Institutions, of Teachers and of Pupils therein, with the total Expense
thereof, and the Number and Value of Scholarships in each Presidency, tn the Year 185253.
Institu-
Presideney. Nature of Institution. Arana
Teachers| Pupils. }Expense.———7j——_
Number.| Value.
e
| English and native tuition . . a 8 109 336 9,116 | 51,000 152 3,137
B 1 Vernacular tuitions) ee 36 36 1,904 1,192 _ —
One! Grants in aid to charitable and other
Ne eae eeears — _ — 6,306 = =
scholastic institutions . & 6 < ste uu a aan
= oe . English and native tuition . . . . . 7 125 835 Ole 2 :
N W, Provinces . Wace Lk eNO cee Conc 8 —_ _— 5,437 —_ —
Naa English and native tuition. . . . 3 al 448 3,789) — _
BOTS esse Varniculer i fe 2 a © 2 Sees a — rae 766 _ _
English and native tuition . . . . . 5 64 2,492 o &
Bombny oie: Versacilar 1h) ocr eecomlio baztss joe.
Total English and native tuition . 134 546 13,891 — 520 | 11,831
OM oni\oimie 6 5 oo « oll oe ms || We | = | =
(Capel Ws 4 6 6 a 6 6 rere. 413 472 28,179 | 100,210 520 | 11,831
Note.—The above return is founded on the information reecived for the year 1852-’53 ; but as the state of educa-
tion in India is at present one of transition, it is probable that eonsiderable alteration hastaken place. By the despatch to
the government of India, dated the 19th July (Na. 49 of 1854), a plan for the general extension of education was laid
down, and when the instructions therein contained shall begin to be earried out, the ehanges made will he of a wide and
sweeping eharacter. For the reasons already assigned it is impossible to afford any precise information on the subject of
Vernacular Schools. It is known, however, that these schools are inereasing in number and improving in character. In
October, 1S49, sanetion was given by the home authoritics for the establishment of one government vernacular school in cach
of eight tchsildarries, or revenne divisions of the North-West Provinces, to afford a model to the native village school-
masters. The experiment proved highly suecessful ; the number of village indigenous sehools, within the eight tehsildar-
ries, having increased in three years, from 2,014 to 3,469; and that of the scholars therein, from 17,169 to 36,884. The
plan has now been cxtended to the whole of the North-Western Provinees, and also to portions of Bengal and the Pun-
jab. The expense of the measure is estimated at £60,000 per annum,
Under the present system there is an educational | the chancellor, vice-chancellor, and fellows of each;
department at each presidency, with an official of | periodical examinations to he held in the different
talent, largely remunerated, at its head; qualified | branches of art and science, and degrees conferred,
district inspectors report periodically on the colleges | unconnected with religious belief, on qualified per-
and schools supported and managed by government, | sons who may be educated at the university college,
and statistical returns are to be annually sent, with j or at affiliated institutions conducted by all denomi-
the reports, to England. Universities are to be | nations, whether Christians, Hindoos, Mohammedans,
established, under charter, in different parts of | Parsees, Seiks, Buddhists, Jains, or any other reli-
India, and to he managed by senates, consisting of | gious persuasion, if found to aflord the requisite
* In 1829, I laid before Lord Wm. Bentinck, then | independent of the British government, and all frequented
governor-general, a plan for establishing a medica] and | by the people with an eagerness not always manifested in
surgical college at Calcutta, and pointed out the great | our older provinces. The nine are stationed at Indore,
benefits which would aecrue from sueh an institution. 1] Qojein, Rutlan, Manpoor, Dhar, Dewas, Sillanah, and
also offered to deliver gratuitously a conrse of lectures on | Bhopawur, the central station baving two. From these
anatomy, for which there was an abundance of ‘‘sub- | establishments no less than 20,223 new patients have re-
jects,”” the Ganges being the place of sepulture for many | eeived medical relief, of whom about a third, or 6,465,
million Hindoes whose bodies daily floated in thousands | were women and children. The number of females, in
past Caleutta. Lord Wm. Bentinck warmly commended | itself a sixth of the whole, deserves especial remark. No
uly proposition; but subsequently informed me that he | less than 2,468 surgical operations were performed; a
found such a decided opposition to it in the council that | number whieh appears enormous, unless very slight cases
it would be hopeless to get the sanction of those who | are included, When it is remembered that a few years
feared every jnnovation, and deemed that the Hindoos | since this vast amount of human suffering must have
would never attend a dissecting-raom. In a few years | been unrelicved, or relieved only by the superstitious
after my plan was effectively carried aut by others, and it | quackery of the Vedic doctors, the good which has been
has produced the inost beneficial results. Hindoos even | accomplished by Mr, Hamilton, and the energetie resi-
come to England to study and quality themselves for the | dency surgeon, will be readily appreciated. The whole
position of surgeon in the service of gavernment. I knew | expenses of these establishments amaunt to 16,032 rupees ;
of no branch of science so urgently necded for the people | and the receipts, chiefly from native chiefs and princes,
of India as that of medicine and chirurgery; and it is to | have been a little above that sum. There appears to be
be hoped that publie hospitals and lecturers will be estab- | no probability of any falling off; and in spite of their
lished in the large cities for the benefit of the native | hereditary apathy, the neighbouring chicfs appear to be
population. The Friend of India thus alludes to the | desirous of imitating a system which, under their own
good done by the establishment of medical institutions in | eyes, praduces so excellent an effect.”
Malwa :—‘‘ In 1847, throughout the great provinces over + The reurganisation of village schonls would bring
which the authority of the resident at Indore extends, | instruction home ta the mass of the penple: they might
there was not, we believe, one single dispensary. There | be made industrial institutions, aad combine agriculture
Seholarships. |
are now nine, all supported by funds derived from sources | with rustic mechanics, |
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
NEWSPAPER PRESS, MNGHLISIL
course of study, and subjeet to the inspection, pe-
riodicully, of government Inspectors.
A people who have heen subjeet, for several cen-
turies, to a rigid politieal despotism, and sunk for
ages in a grass system of idolatry, whieh, while it
involved n slavish subjection to a dominant caste,
encouraged the development and exercise of every
sensunl passion, must necessarily have both intellec-
tual and moral faculties darkened to a degree almost
surpassing belief. If it be a hopeless task ta re-
generate a human being, of whose originally small
glimmering of soul searcely a seintilla is left, and
whose frame, diseased by debanehery, is returning to
its original mire, how much more diflicult must it
he to raise a hundred million frora the inert state in
which the mass now vegetate through existence!
(far easier is the task of elevating the New-Zea-
Jander or Kaflir; nay, the efforts making for the
eivilising of Bheels, Gonds, Mairs, Sonthals, and
other aborigines in India, may be attended with
earlier suecess than ean be expeeted from the [in-
doo, whose mind is still under the dominion of a
Gooroo, or Brahmin. It is cnly, therefore, by great
and long-sustnined exertions on the part of govern-
ment, aided hy all its servants, that the literary,
moral, and industrial edueation of the people of
India ean be aceamplished.*
THE Press.—The rise and progress in India of
this potent engine of civilisation requires to be
brielly noted. During the administration of Warren
Hastings, the first English newspaper was established
at Culeutta: it was styled IHrelcey's Gazette, and is
deseribed as a low, seurrilous, immoral publieation;
it soon died a natural death. In 183+, the Govern-
ment Gazette was the only publication extant. With
the inerease of Anglo-Indian residents the number
of newspapers augmented, and their character im-
proved. In 1820 there were three weekly journals
and one monthly periodieal in Caleutta. In 1830,
the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and annual
periodicals issuing from the Bengal press was thirty-
three. In 1834 the numbers stood thus:—Datly,
political newspapers, four; commercial advertisers,
four. Tri-weekly, political, two; eommereial, one.
Weekly, political, four; commercial, four. JLonthly,
* Government do not scem to have as yet given any
attention to the highly important subject of female eduea-
tion. The charaeter of the men of any country may be
readily inferred by the intellectual progress and moral
teaching of the women. The barbarous system of the
Mohammedans is to keep the fair sex as-mere sensual
toys or household drudges: this cruel policy has, in some
places, been adopted by the Hindoos from their Moslem
conquerors; but it belongs not to their social ethies, as
Menu enjoins reverence and respect; and there have been
several distinguished female sovereigns and personages ia
Hindoostan. Last dividend, 8 per cent. © Last dividend, 9 per cent
4 Last dividend, 10 per cent. ° Corporation date of charter, J0th of August, 1851, S At 27th Sept., 1855.
s Bills of exchange and promissory notes not hearing interest. 4 A lending bank; and from its accounts in June, 1855, I
can derive no definite view of its assets and liabilities. Branches.—Agra, Madras, Lahore, Canton, and London,
t Brnnches.—Bombay, Simla, Mussouri, Agra; and they draw on Delhi and Cawnpeor.
& Agents in Londan, Calcutta, Canton, and Shanghae, ' Agents in London, Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras.
m Branches.—London, Calcutta, Colombo, Kandy, Canton, and Shanghae. Last dividend, 8 per cent.
» Drafts and bills in circulation,
=
ComMEACIAL TARIFF OF I[No1A.—The chief provisions of the tariff of 1855 may be thus stated:—Britith imporis—Cotton and
silk piece gaods and manufactures, woollens, marine stores, metals, porter, beer, ale, cider, and similar fermented liquors, and all
manufactured articles not named, 5; foreign imports of above, 10—per cent. Cotton thread, twist, and yarn, British, 34: foreign, 7—
percent. Bullion and ecnin, grain, coal, ice, horses and other animals, free. Books, British, free; foreiun, 3 percent, Coffee, 7} per
cent. Alum, camphor, cassia, cloves, coral, nutmeg and mace, pepper, vetimillion, and tea, 10 per cent. Spirits (London proof), 1 rupee
8 annas per imperial galion; wine and liqueur, 1 rupee per imperial gallon. here are a few export dutics: viz., indigo, 3 rupees per
maund (about 821bs.); lac, 4 per cent.; silk wound, 3 annas; silk, raw filature, 33 rupees per scer; sugar and rum to foreign ports,
3 per cent.; tobnece, 4 annas per maund. ‘hese duties refer to Bengal: there is little ditference at Bombay and Madras, except inthe |
export dues, With regard to salt, the duty on import into Bengal, is 2 rupees 8 annas per maund of 80 tolas; at Madras, 12 annas per |
maund; at Bombay, frec; salt exported from Bombay to Madras, pays } anna per maund; salt exported to Malabar, Cochin, and
Travancore, 1] anna per maund; and it may he exported free to foreign or British ports not in Indiaor Ceylon. Salt exported to Bengal
pays excise duty, hut receives credit for amount in adjustment of local duty, The shipper exporting salt to Madras has to give security |
for payment of full duty failing to produce certificate from place of import. All port-to-port trade thraughout British India, except in |
the articles of salt and opium, was rendered free by Act 6 of 1845, and Act 50 of 1854.
Coins, Wetonts, ann Measuags.—Bengal Coins.—2 double = 4 single pysa; 12 pie small = 1 anna; 16 annas= 1 rupee; 16
rupees =1 gold mohur. When accnunts are kept in sicca rupees, they use the imaginary pie of twelve to an anna. Small shells, called
cowries, are nlso made use of for paying coolies, &c., which are reckoned as follows: viz.,4 cowries =] gunda; 20 gundas =1 pun; 5
puns=1 anna, ‘These rates vary from time to time. Gold and Silver Weights—4 punkhos or quarter grain =| gram or dhan: 4 |
dhans = 1 nutty: 6 3-Sths rutty = 1 anna; 8 rutty = 2 massa; 100 rutty, or 12] massa or 16 anna = 1 tola or sicea rupees; 1061 rutty,
or 13, 28, 152 massa, or 17 annas =1 gold mohur. A gold mohur weighs 722 and nine-tenths troy weight, containing 187,651 fine goid
and 17,051 alloy. A sicca rmpee weighs 7, 11 and two-thirds ditto, centaining 175,928 fine silver and 15,993 alloy, Cloth Mecsure.—
Scorbe = 1 angnalw; 8 angualre = 1 gheriah; $ gherries = | haut, or cubit, 18 inches; 2 haut = guz or yard. i
MEMONANDUM SOWING THE STATE ANO Paosrects oF RAttLWaYs IN INDIA uP To Juny, 1857.—3,648 miles of railway
have been sanctioned, and are in course of construction, viz.t—By the East Indian Railway Company, from Calcutta to Delhi, with
branches from Burdwan to Rancegunge, and from Mirzapare to Jubbulpore, 1,490 miles. By the Madras Company. from Madras to |
|
the Western Coast at Beypore, 430 miles; and——From Mairas, rid Cuddapah and Bellary. to meet a line from Bombay at or near the
tiver Krishtna, 310 miles: By the Great Indian Peninsula Company, from Rombay to Callian 33 miles, with extensions.——North
Fast to Jubbulpore, to meet the iine from Mirzapore, with a branch to Oomrawuttee and Nagpoor, 31S miles; and South East, cid
Poonah and Sholapore, to the Krishtna River, to meet the line from Madras, 357 miles. By the Sinde Company, from Kurrachee to |
|
0 point on the Indus, at or near to Kotree, 120 miles; and——By the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Company, from Surat to
Baroda and Ahmedabad, 160 miles.
4D
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
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Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
|
|
~~ sii Satguru Jagjit Singh J
CHAPTER VIII.
THE LAND-TENURES OF BRITISH INDIA—ZEMINDAR, RYOTWAR, ANI VILLAGE
SETTLEMENTS.
_ Ay important feature in the condition of |
‘ exposition of the leading facts of the case,
_ more important than ever, because the in-
| the elements of subsistence and other useful
British India still requires elucidation,
before entering on the details of the fearful
strife which, commencing in the form of a.
partial and purely military mutiny, speedily |
assumed a more general and formidable cha-
racter.
The tenure of land in India is a subject
intimately connected with that of annexa-
tion, and of the question regarding the
mode in which onr subjcets in Oude and
other provinces, have heen, aud are to be,
dealt with. The defects and inequalities of
the existing land-tenures have long been
viewed by the author as caleulated to pre-
vent the English government from taking
deep root in the affection and confidence of
their native subjects; so much so, that, i
the spring of 1857, he framed a_ brief
intending to publish it in the form of a
pamphiet. While the proof-shects were
passing through the press, the tidings of
the first ontbreak of the mutiny reached
England, and each mail brought intelligence
more alarming than its predecessor.
It was no time to diseuss proprietary
nights and landed tenures when fire and
the sword were raging throughout India,
and the pubheation of the pamphlet was
abandoned ; but now that the first terrible
excitement is over, these questions become |
quiry into them is essential to the unrayel-
ling of the reasons of the partial disaficction
of the people, and to the establishment of
a policy better calculated to sccure their
allegiance for the future.
There is no branch of politieal economy
more descrving of attention than the relation
in which man stands to the soil from whenee
products are derived. Hitherto the scicnce,
whose clementary rules Adam Smith but
partially defined, has been considered chiefly
applicable to commerec; but trade, or the
barter of commodities, is secondary in im-
portance to produetion ; and the laws which
regulate the application of labour and}
capital to land, constitute the most effective
basis of social organisation, and form a
i eLibrary
faithful index to the sources of wealth and
physical condition of a nation. These re-
marks have peculiar refereuce to British
India, where the wellbeing of about onc
hundred and filty milhou people, depends
in great measure on the territorial laws |
under which they are governed.
This subject has been a fertile theme for
diseussion during the last half century,
though avowedly less with regard to the eon-
dition of the vast Indian population under
the supreme control of the sovercign of
Ingland, than by reason of its influence on
the large amount required by the state,
viz., about £17,000,000 per annum, out of
a gross revenuc of £30,000,000.
Many theories have been propounded,
and some experiments tricd, for the amc-
lioration of a system confessedly defcetive, |
and even oppressive in operation; but in
general, the first principles of justice and
common sense have been neglected, or so
overlaid with words, aud encumbered with
contradictory and pernicious conditions,
that no permanent benefit has accrued
therefrom. Hundreds of volumes of theories
and speculations have been printed under
the titles of “ Landed Tenures” and “ Reve-
nue Systems ;” while honest energy and
| precious time have been frittered away in
profitless discussions, or in futile endea-
vours to bring impraeticable or injurious
projects into beneficial operation.
Unfortunately, English statesmen, per-
plexed with controversies on the relative
merits or demerits of the so-called Zemin-
dar, Ryotwar, and Village revenue sct-
tlements, and coufused with Oriental no-
menclature, seem tempted to abandon in
despair, as a problem too difficult for them
to solve, the adjudication of a question
simple in principle, and unembarrassed by
detnils—How may a government tax be
levied on land with the Icast detriment to
the proprietor or cultivatcr? And the ad-
ministrative authorities, fearful of a dimi-
nution of annual income, and often urgently
| pressed for more revenue, have been un-
willing to consider the matter on broad prin-
ciples, dreading to jcopardise their power
of arbitrarily assessing the tillers of the
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
568
soil—a power which has been exercised in
accordance with the temporary exigencies of
the governors, rather than with the means
of the governed. It is true that the volu-
minous despatches of the Court of Directors
have teemed with injunctions to their ser-
vants in India to be moderate in assess-
ment, to avoid oppressing the people, and
to encourage agriculture ;* but all such
orders, however well intended, were little
better than nugatory, so long as the pecu-
niary requirements or demands of the state
were unconditional and unsettled; and
must remain so, at least to any satisfactory
extent, until the fee-simple of the land be
vested in a proprictary class, and the annual
taxation levied bear a just and uniform
proportion to the cost of cultivation, the
necessities of the cultivator, and the nieans
of laying by yearly a clear though small
profit, to accumulate as capital in the hands
of the landowners. Until this be done,
we shall have, as at present, a nation of
| peasants, not a prosperous commuuity of
various grades and occupations.
The allegation that revenue derived from
land is not a tax, scarcely needs refutation.
No state can stand with its subjects in the
relation of landlord and tenants, either in
sympathy, in pecuniary matters, or in
general copartnery of interest. Whatever
share the government takes of the gross or
net produce, be it little or much, is an
abstraction from capital, and a tax on the
industry and skill of the farmer, The gov-
ernment might as well assume the rights
of a house-lord, as those of a dand-lord, and
levy a tax on habitations. In the case of
India, it is manifestly impossible for a few
European functionaries to snperintend the
operations of several thousand small—
minutely small—farmers; or prevent the
systematic tyranny and injustice of subor-
dinate (native) offieials—evils which the
British government have the strongest
possible interest to eradicate as one of the
worst legacies of Moslem misrule.
Tn Asia, as in Europe, land, at an early
period, constituted the main source of
public revenue; the amount of taxation
varied in different countries, according to
the number and wealth of the population,
* Er gr., Letter of 13th August, 1851, which oc-
cupies fifty printed folio pages.
TOT AS, Cre
{ See Hssay on Money, by John Taylor, F'sq.,
2nd ed., p. 12.
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
AMOUNT OF LAND-TAX IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
and their power of resisting oppression; |
but, generally speaking, the proportion of
the gross or net produce claimed by the
state, did not exceed the Egyptian fifth de-
vised by Joseph. We read in Genesis,
that, in anticipation of famine, Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, at the snggestion of the
inspired Hebrew, stored in granaries one-
fifth of the total produce; and before the
seven years of dearth passed, the cultiva-
tors parted with everything—cattle, silver,
and land—for food. Pharaoh gave back —
the land on condition of the cultivators
paying one-fifth of the prodnee in per-
petuity. The Romans, on their oceupation
of Egypt, found this tax still existing; and
it remains, probably, to the present day.
The land-tax varied in different countries.
Among the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and
ancient Persians, it was one-tenth; in
Sicily, the Romans levied one-tenth, and
Cicero indignantly protested against the
“infamons Verres” taking more. Accord-
ing to Livy,t Spain was taxed at one-twen-
tieth. The Greek authorities, previous to
the time of Solon, took a sixth of the yield |
from the owner of the soil.
Tn England, the land-tax, calculated on a
very moderate valuation of estates by the |
government of William IIL. (a.v. 1692),
ranged from 1s. to 4s. in the pound sterling.
France had its “rent fonciére”’ fixed at
one-fifth of the net produee, and this was
generally complained of as too high; Tws-
cany, one-fifth of the net rent; Venetian
territories, one-tenth the rent; Jfilaaese,
£8 18s. per cent. on valuation, or ls. 9d.
in the pound; Parma, 9d. per acre ; Bologna,
2d. per acre; Persia {government share),
one-tenth; Bokhara, one-fourth;
one-tenth, but assessed so moderately as
not to exceed one-thirticth of the ordinary
prodnee; Java, one-fifth; Birmah, one-
tenth; Cochin China, one-sixth. In Ceylon,
during the twelfth century, on arable lands,
one-tenth; high grounds, free.
China, —
Whoever were the first colonizers of
India, they probably settled in village com-
munities, and introduced, for the further-—
ance of those measures of general utility
and protection which are the primary ob-
jects of all legitimate government, munici-
pal taxation on the chief commodity they
possessed—land.
Scanty as are the records of ancient
India, which even the indefatigable re-
searches of modern scholars have disen-
tombed, they are decisive on the point of
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| the actual proprictorship of the kind being
vested in the people; though it was nomi-
nally attributed, in public documents, cither
to the immediate superior of the addressing
partics, or to their king ; who, whatever the
extent of his territory, or nature of his
power, appears to have been equally styled,
in the magniloquence of Eastern hyperbole,
Lord of the Marth, Sea, and Sky.
The most ancient, and least controverted,
nuthority on this matter, is found in the
famous Institutes of Menu. Oriciutalists have
ascribed to this code at least as carly a
date as the uinth eentury before Christ
(880 z.c.), and they regard it as affording
atrue and graphic picture of the state of
society at that period, before the torture of
witnesses or criminals was sanctioned by
law, or widow-buruing and infanticide erept
into custom, with other horrible and de-
filing practices of modern Brahminism.*
The Jnstitutes sct forth, as a simple
matter of fact, that cultivated land is “the
property of him who euts away the wood,
or who first clears and tills it.” The state
is declared entitled to demand a twelfth, an
eighth, or a sixth part “of grain from the
land, according to the difference of the
soil, and the labour neeessary to cultivate |
it.” ‘Tlns refers to times of peace; but “a
military king, who takes even a fourth part
of the crops of his realm at a period of
urgent necessity, as of war or invasion, and
protects his people, commits no sin, Serv-
ing-men, artisaus, and mechanics, mnst
assist by their labour (twelve days per
annim), but at no time pay taxes.” One
of the ancicnt commentators (for there were
several) declares, that “the king who takes
raore is infamous in this world, and con-
signed to Nareka (the infernal regions) in
the next.” And it appears to have been
pretty generally the ease, that Tlindoo
sovereigas received from their subjects,
during peace, one-sixth, and during war
one-fourth, of the produce of their fields.
Some took much less than this. For
instance, in the mountainous region of
Coorg (an ancient Tlindoo principality,
which, until very recently, retained its in-
dependence), the tax demanded by the
native government was only a tenth.t But
under all Hindoo governments, individual
* See ante, p. 14. + Wilks, vol. i,
t Wilks’ South of India, vol. i., p. 111.
§ Ibid., vol. i., p. 196.
\| Astatie Researehes, vol. i., p. 123,
q See ante, pp. 81 and 179.
jos Wegse
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
PROPRIETORSHIP OF LAND IN INDIA—u.c. 880.
569
| proprictors of land uppear to have uniformly
possessed a “dominion so far absolute as
to exclude all claims, execpting those of
the community who protected it ;’¢ the in-
fallible criterion being, that it was saleable,
mortgugcuble, and in every respect a trans-
ferable commodity, where the laws of
hereditary tenure were not concerned.
The law seems to have been regarded as
incontestable, that “he who has the tribntc
from the land, has no property in thie
land ;” nor could the state or sovereign, iu
any ease, be the heir to the landed pro-
perty of its subjects. Personal effects
might fall to, or be seized by the king ;
but according to the Hindoo law, land
could “only escheat to the towuship,”’$
execpting in the little state of ‘Tanjore.
Mortgages, decds of sale, and free grants
for religious and charitable purposes, as
well as to private persons, exist, of varions
dates, in many Indian languages. Once of
the oldest and most curious of these title-
deeds, engraved on copper, bearing date
B.c. 23, is minutely described and traus-
lated by Dr. Wilkins, in the opening
voluine of the Asiatic Researches.||
The Greck accounts of the invasion of
the Punjab by Alexander the Great (n.c.
333), tend to prove the people of Western
India to have then possessed an acknow-
ledged proprietary right in the soil; in
common phraseology, the land belonged to
the people—the tax to the king.
When the Mohammedans invaded, and
gradually subjected, the majority of the
states which previously existed in India,
they were ostensibly guided in their deal-
ings with the subjugated people by the rnle
of the Koran, which holds forth, in such
cases, conversion, with the dismal alterna-
tives of death or confiscation of property.
But the Moslem rule was spread over the
greater part of India more by intrigue, and
constant interference in the quarrels of the
native princes, than by any concerted and
systematic scheme of conquest; and, with
| the exeeption of a few great battles (espe-
| cially those on the plains of Paniput, in
Northern India§), their usurpations were
very gradual, and were rather the contests
of a powerful sovereign against petty neigh-
bouring princes, whose territories he de-
‘sired to absorb, than the deadly struggle of
erecd and race, of Mohammedan against
| Uindoo. Wad utter confiscation of pro-
perty, and total annihilation of all terri-
torial rights, been the habitual, or even
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
570
TAXATION UNDER HINDOO AND MOSLEM RULERS.
the frequent practiec of Mohammedan sove-
reigns, it is evident that the Hindoo chiefs
who swelled their ranks, and the Hindoo
financiers who invariably levied their reve-
nues, and were entrusted with the manage-
| ment of their treasuries, would have of
necessity acted a different, aud according to
Enropean notions, a more patriotic part.
General Briggs, who has bestowed much
study on the snbject, declares that no
Mohammedan prince claimed the ownership
of the soil. It must, however, be admitted,
that the despotism exercised, neutralised
the territorial rights of proprietors, and was
a souree of cruel oppression.
Thus AHa-u-Deen, who reigned at Deli
from 1294 to 1315 a.p., spread misery and
desolation among his subjects, both Mus-
sulman and Hindoo, by his insane and
ferocious avarice. We are told that, a.p.
1300, he “ ordered a tax of half the real
annual preduce of the lands, to be raised
over all the empire, and to be regularly
transmitted to the exchequer.” “ The far-
mers were confined to a certain proportion
of land, and to an appointed number of
servants and oxen to cultivate the same.
No grazier was permitted to have above a
certain number of eows, sheep, and goats,
and a tax was paid out of them to the gov-
ernment. He seized upon the wealth, and
confiseated the estates, of Mussulmans and
Hindoos, without distinction, and by this |
means accumulated an immense treasure.’”’*
On the establishment of the famous
dynasty of the Great Moguls by Baber in
1526, some attention was paid to a regular
territorial assessment ; but it was not till the
reign of Akber, the grandson of Baber, and
son of the fugitive and long-exiled monareh,
Humayun, that effective measures were
adopted for the systematic assessment of
the revenues, and especially for the com-|
wutation of produce into money; a very
delieate and difficult measure in a country
like India, which, throughout its vast ex-
tent, is remarkable for the extraordinary
variations in the quantity and in the value
of its annual produce.
Akber, who reigned from 1556 to 1605
(cotemporary with Jilizabeth of England),
has been held np as the model of Indian
* Ferishta’s Z/indoostan, translated by Dow, vol. i.,
pp. 291-2, + Rickards, vol. i., p. 316.
t Gladwin’s Translation of the Ayeen Akbery,
vol. i., 245—278,
§ Rickards, vol. i., p. 15.
| Stewart's Bengal, pp. 166—176.
—_—_
| render,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh ji eLibrary 7
finaneiers, chiefly on the strength of the
records of his measures and opinions con-
tained in the Ayeen Akbery, the famous
work of his gifted and confidential minister,
the ill-fated Abul Fazil. The tone of the
writer is too much that of indiscriminate
panegyric for the facts related by him not to
be open to suspicion; but even on his evi-
dence, the revenue system adopted by Akber,
though full of intricacies and impracticable
classifications, is, as Rieckardst and others
have clearly shown, founded on computa-
tions based on the produce of thie soil.
Evidence that the ordinary assessment of
Hindoo sovereigns did not exceed one-sixth
of the produce, is given in the Ayeen Akbery
itselft Among other instances to this
effect may be cited that of the kmg of
Cashmere, one of whose earliest acts of
power (A.p, 1326) was the confirmation of
the ancient Jand-tax, which amounted to
17 per cent., or about one-sixth of the total
produce. Akber appears to have exacted
first a fifth, and afterwards a third of the
produce of his territories; or, if commuted
into money, a fourth of the net income.
The attempts to enforce these latter de-
mands are said to have “endangered the
stability of the imperial throne.Ӥ One of
Akber’s most active instruments, Mozuffer
Khan, then governor of Bengal and Bahar,
was besieged by the oppressed landowners
in the fort of Tondah, compelled to sur-
and then put to death. Rajah
Yodar Mul (the famous Tlindoo financier,
whose mode of collecting the revenne in the |
silver eoin ealled Tunkha, gave its name to
the “Tunkha system’) was appointed to
succeed Rajah Khan; but he failed in sub-
duing the imsurrection, and was super-
seded. ||
Aurungzebe (A.p. 1658 ta 1707), the
most powerful, and, until blinded by ambi-
tion and bigotry, the most astute of the
Great Moguls, was successful im his carcer
of aggrandisement up to the period when
his subjects beeame worn-out and well-nigh
ruined by the excessive taxation needed to
meet the exigencies of the immense armies
occupied during a long series of years— ©
under the simultaneous command of the
emperor himself, his sons, and at length his
grandsons—in Central and Southern India.
It was probably as mneh to supply a failing
treasury, as from a more fanatical motive,
that Aurungzebe imposed the hated Jezia, or
capitation-tax, on infidels, which so heavily
weighed down the whole Hindoo popula-
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
TYRANNICAL ASSES Sn BY HYDER ALI IN MYSOOR.
ld
oe
tion; but let the cause have heen Te it
wonld, his unjust and oppressive exactions
strengthened the arms of those deadly foes
whom the despised Ilindoo, “the Mountain
Rat” Sivajee, had formed into a nation,
despite the efforts of the mighty man of
war, who eventually, in extreme old age,
but still in possession of marvellous physical
and mental power, was well-nigh hunted to
death by the Mahrattas.*
After his decease the huge empire fell
rapidly to rnins; and, throughout its pro-
vinees, Mogul and Mahratta delegates vied
in exacting tribute from the wretched eul-
tivators, somctimes on their master’s ac-
count, sometimes on their own. It would,
of course, he folly to look for precedents in
a state of society in which no general rule
prevailed beyond—
“The simple plan ;
That they shall take who have the power,
And they shall keep who can.”
Comparatively happy were those districts
in which some chief or governor contrived
to maintain his own real or assumed rights,
and protected his people against all oppres-
sion but his own. It was at this time that
so many of the nominal servants of the
weak and short-lived Mogul emperors con-
trived gradually to make themselves inde-
pendent sovereigns, playing, however, fast
and loose with their nominal master, for
fear of the Mahrattas, and further kept in
check by frequent strife with their neigh-
bours and their subjects.
The English Mast India Company now
began to assume the position of a territorial
power, ‘The service rendered by a pa-
triotic medical officer, named Hamilton, to
the emperor Ferokshcer, in 1716,+ secured
the much-coveted imperial firmaun, or war-
rant, to become landowners in Bengal, by the
purchase of thirty-eight villages from private
proprietors.{ This purchase in fee-simple
formed the nncleus of the Calcutta pre-
sidency.
The only considerable state which, con-
temporancously with the Mast India Com-
pany, could boast any continuance of a
strong ov even settled government, was the
ancient Hindoo kingdom of Mysoor, over
which the Mohammedan adventurer, Hy der
Ali, by mingled force and fraud, obtained
undisputed sovereignty. Onc of his carly
acts of power is said to have becn to decree
* See ante, p. 153. t Idem, p. 240.
] Stewart's Bengal, p. 399.
§ Wilks’ South of India, vol. i, pp. 155 —218,
the appropriation a hia profits of the land in
the following proportions Mere D4;
proprictor, ity government, 310,
According to Colonel Wilks, Ilyder ex-
acted a full third of the whole ‘produce,
instead of the ancient rate of asscssment,
which had not execeded a sixth: and the
same authority states, that the usurper’s
entire system of “ govcriment was a scrics
of experiments how much he could extort
from the farmer withont diminishing culti-
yation.Ӥ In the records of his administra-
tion, abundant facts for warning may he
found; hut few, indeed, worthy tlhe imitation
of Christian rulers, excepting his energetic —
and discriminating measures for the cxecu-
tion of public works, especially for the pur-
poses of traflic and the irrigation of the land.
We are imperfectly informed as to the
period when, or the extent to which, the
Mohammedans broke down the ancient
Hindoo Village system of petty municipali-
tics, under whose regulations the revenue,
assessed on separate communities, was de-
livered over to the state through the inter-
vention of a headman chosen by the vil-
lagers, the government officers not being
brought in contact with the cultivators,
In many places, officers, called by the vague
and gencral name of zemindars, were ap-
pointed by the Moguls; and these ‘“ mid-
dlemen” cither farmed the revenues some-
what after the old French system, or re-
ceived grants of territory, on condition of
making certain payments in the form of
peishcush, oy tribute, or of rendering stipu-
lated services to the state. When the
zemindars or talookdars—as they were
ealled in Bengal and Bahar ; or polygars, as
they were termed in Southern India—were
introduced, the Village system underwent
considerable change by reason of a superior
proprictorship beg sect up by the govern-
ment officers, who exacted the claims, and
exercised the rights, of feudal barons; and
the ryots, or cultivators, paid cach their pro-
portion of the produce, or its money cqniva-
lent, direct to the zemindars or poly gars ;
but the system was too deeply rooted in the
hearts of the people to be entirely eradi-
cated. It still exists, more or less per-
fectly, over Jarge districts; and its pecu-
har features are in the main invariable,
though the names and even duties of
the functionaries employed differ accord-
img to language and local cirenmstances.
Each village forms a distinct society, and
its affairs constitute the chicf concern of
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com-
‘ or feudal chief, as in Oude and N. W. India)
by all in relative proportions, each man is
572
THE ANCIENT VILLAGE SYSTEM OF INDIA.
the individuals residing within its hmits.|nizance, as his presence and evidence are
As the revenue is furnished to the state (or, |
it may be, to a zemindar, or to a talookdar
interested in the industry and prosperity
of his neighbour. By an equal apportion- |
ment, taxation falls fairly on the whole; by
a division of duties, general advantage 1s)
obtained: instead of all going to market,
one man is deputed to proceed thither, and
the rest to attend to the crops or other
_special duty: the little corporation ap-
_ points its mayor or chief (Potai?); there is
also the registrar (Putwarree), the clerk
and accountant, and surveyor (Bullaee); |
the policeman (Chowkeedar), the minister
(Pursaee), and the schoolmaster of the
parish ; the carpenter, blacksmith, barber,
washerman, &c.; the tracer (Puggee), hun-
ter or wild beast destroyer (Byadhee) ;—
and each receives a stipulated portion of the ;
produce; some of which is set aside to
maintain the hospitalities of the village.
The Potail is the medium between the
officers of government and the villagers:
he collects their dues, enforees payment by
_ such means as are sanctioned by usage ; in
| some instances rents the whole of his vil-
lage from government. Whether this be
the case or not, the Potail, besides a tract
of rent-free }and—varying from 10 to 200
beegahs (a beegah is about one-third of an
acre), according to the size and population
of the village—receives certain established
fees, and also dues, generally in kind, such
as from two to eight seers (a seer is about
21b.), from each beegah, of grain cultiva-
tion, and a share of the sugar and other
produce. The Potails generally maintain a
respectable position; though not exempt
from much oceasional bickering, jealousy,
charges of favouritism, and corruption, such
as are common to all small communities.
The Putwarree, or village registrar, does
not always hold his office by hereditary
right: he is sometimes elected ; sometimes
a government servant ; but enjoys rent-free
jand and dues under the Potail, who recom-
mends to the office when it is vacant by
death or from malversation: there are,
however, many instances of »ery old heredi-
tary tenures.
The Bullaee, Bullawa, or Dher, onght to
kuow every inhabitant of the village and
his possessions; the landmarks, bounda-
rics, tanks, and the traditions respecting
them, are expected to be within his cog-
~ Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
essential in all landed disputes. When
travellers pass, he is their guide to the pre-
cincts of the village, and is responsible for
their safety and for that of merchandise in
its transit: in this and other matters he is
the representative of the Potail, for whom he
acts as spy, messenger, and newsmonger.
The Pursaee, or priest, is also the village
astrologer, and, with the aid of some old
books, professes to announce good or bad
seasons, fixes the hour for putting the seed
corn info the ground, and is consulted on
divers oecult matters. IIe is, however,
generally poor, and not held in much
esteem, and is supported by a few beegahs
of rent-free and, aud by petty fecs for offi- |
ciating at marriages, births, naming of chil-
dren, and funerals.
The Chowkeedar watches over the lives
and property of the villagers ; and in some
places, as in Guzerat, is assisted by a detec-
tive police, named Puggces (pug meaning
foot), who trace the flight of thieves or
murderers from one village to another, by
their. respective footprints, with extraordi-
nary sagacity. The Byadhee, or hunter,
fills an hereditary offiee for the destruction
of wild beasts, in villages surrounded by
uncultivated tracts, where tigers, elephants, |
and other animals abonnd.
Sir John Maleolm observes, that in most |
parts of Central India the Potail held what
was deemed an hereditary office, with a de-
fined quantity of land in the village rent-
free: he says, these men, in many cases,
can support their claim to the rights and
lands they enjoy, for eight, nine, or ten
generations.* Grant Duff furnishes much
forcible evidence to the same effect, cspe-
cially with regard to the Mahrattas. “The
greatest Muahratta commanders, or their
principal Brahmin agents, were eager to
possess their native village; but although
vested with the control, they were proud to
acknowledge themselves of the family of the
Patel [Potail], or Koolkurnce; and if
heirs to a Miras field,+ they would sooner
have lost wealth and rank than been dis-
possessed of such waéun or inheritance.
Yet, on obtaining the absolute sovereignty, |
they never assumed an authority in the |
interior village concerns beyond the rights
and privileges acquired by birth or pur-
* Central India, vol. ii., p. 14.
+ Denoting a ficld held by hereditary or proprie-
tary tenure, as distinct from that of an Oopree, or
mere tenant at will.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
| management remains unaltered.
_ tail is still the collector, magistrate, and
home of their youth.
| villages, bearing
|
chase, according to the invariable rules of
the country.”*
Sir Thomas Munro, in a report dated
15th of May, 1806, says— Every village is
a little republic with the Potail at the head
of it, and Indta a mass of sneh republics.
| The inhabitants, during war, look chiefly to
their own Potail. They give themselves no
| trouble about the breaking up and division
of kingdoms; while the village remains
entire, they care not to what power it is
trausferred. Wherever it goes, the internal
The Po-
head farmer.”
Lord Metcalfe observes—“ Village com-
munities are little repubhies, having every-
thing they want within themselves, and
almost independent of any foreign rela-
tions. They seem to last where nothing
else lasts. Dynasty after dynasty tumbles
down, revolution sneeceds revolution, Hin-
doo, Patan, Mogul, Mahratta, Sikh, Eng-
lish, all are masters in turn; but the vil-
lage communities remain the same. This
union of village communities, each one
forming a separate state in itself, has, I
conceive, contributed more than any other
to the preservation of the people of India
throughont all the revolutions and ehanges
which they have suffered, and is in a high
degree condueive to their happiness, and to
the enjoyment of a great portion of freedom
and independence.”
The ratale solum principle is very strong
among the Hindoos, and they resemble, in
this respect, their alleged Seythie or Celtic
ancestors. During the ravages of the Pin-
| darrees, numcrous villages in the Nerbudda
districts had been laid waste, and were
tenantless for more than thirty years; but
| the Potails, and other hereditary village
officers, though scattered, and residing
many hundred miles from their native
homes, maintained a constant communica-
tion with each other, strengthened their
links of attachment by intermarriage, and
kept alive the hope of restoration to the
When tranquillity
was restored, they flocked to the rnined
sometimes the infant
Potails (second or third im descent from
the expelled) at their head, amid songs and
rejoicings; the roofless houses were soon
reocenpied by the former proprietors, or
their heirs; cach field was taken possession
of without dispute by the rightful owner;
* History of the Muhrattas, vol. i., p. 461.
dk
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
VILLAGE REPUBLICS ORK MUNICIPALITIES IN INDIA.
ny
575
and, in a few days, everything was settled
as if the internal relations of the community
had never been disturbed.+
Rightly to understand the full bearings
of the question, the circumstances must be
understood which Jed to the formation of
what is vaguely termed the
Zemtnpan System «nN Benean ano
Bauan.—When the E. I, Company suc-
ceeded the usurping servants of the Great
Mogul in the possession of these provinces,
the Village system had ceased to exist; the
land was parcelled out among Moslem tax-
gatherers, who plundered the people, hin-
dered tillage, and annihilated the proprictary
rights of small cultivators: these, in many
eases, fled from the oppressors, who foreed
them to cultivate, not for themselves, but
for the state. The very extent of the evil
deterred the representatives of the Com-
pany from grappling with it; and they all
temporised and theorised until the appoint-
ment of a governor-general, whose inde-
pendence of position and character enabled
him to form sounder opinions regarding
the great interests committed to his charge,
and gave him conrage to act upon them.
Lord Cornwallis did not, as Warren Hast-
ings said his predecessors had done, regard
the highest seat in the conncil-chamber as
“a nest to hatch fortunes in,” Neither
did he consider the exaction of the largest
possible immediate revenue as an advantage
to be procured at any cost. He saw a
erisis was at hand, and that some decided
measure was needed to avert if: ruin
seemed approaching from many quarters ;
there was uo ecapital—no fixity of tenure ;
the annual and capricious assessments
involved endless detail and general con-
fusion, with the invariable consequence
—wrong, injustice, aud plunder to the pea-
santry.
Hopeless of disentangling so complex a
subject, the governor-general eut the Gor-
dian knot by resolving on the elevation of a
landed proprietary to an independent posi-
tion. He was told that no persons of this
class remained: he answered that it was
necessary, then, to create them. The
materials which he chose for the formation
of territorial gentry, consisted of the official
functionaries, whether Mohammedan or Hin-
doo, employed under the Mogul government,
in connection with the land revenues. In
Bengal these officials were termed zemindars;
but, as has been stated, they existed under
+ Malcolm's Central India, vol. ti., p. 21.
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
ee rr
574
other names in varions parts of India. Their
elevation to the rank of proprietors, as an
intermediate class between the government
and the actual cultivators, was certainly
not based on any inherent claim, for
centuries of Molammedan exactions had
nearly obliterated all individual title to
property in the soil: but the measure was
one of sonnd policy, and has contributed
to the stability of British dominion by
benefiting a large portion of the popula-
tion of India.* In accordance with the
views of the governor-general, the lands of
Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, were divided
into estates of various dimensions, and
vested hereditarily in the zemindars; the
produce was divided into fifths; and it was
estimated that, after deducting the expenses
of cultivation, two-fifths would be left to the
cultivator, and the remainder would consti-
‘tute the rent of the estate: of this, ten-
elevenths were taken as tax by government,
' aud one-eleventh went to the zemindar.
| Mr. Rickards says, that if the rent were GO
per cent. of the produee, the share of the
zemindar would be 54 per cent.t
The assessment was ordered, by the Court
of Directors, to be equal to the average
collection of a certain period ; it was fixed at
this rate for ten years, and then declared
to be permanent,{ the government pledging
itself never to exact any higher land-tax
| from the territories thus settled: but no
remissions were to be made; in bad or
good seasons, the same amount of tax was
to be paid—one year must balance another ;
and government was freed from all peen-
niary liability for public works available for
irrigation, maintaining the banks of rivers,
&e. It was therefore an excellent bargain
for the state. Sueh a project could not
| have succeeded if waste or uncultivated
| reyenue on
Jands lhad not been attached to each estate,
on which no future tax was to be levied,
and unless the proprictors had been left
perfectly free to grow any description of
produce, without having to pay an enhaneed
every sere redeemed from
waste, as was tle ense under the Mogul rule.
Moreover, the collection of the reveune
was much simplified and facilitated for the
government: if the zemindar failed in his
ycarly obligations, the European collector
received power to proceed against him for
* Malcolm, writing in 1802, expatiates on the
happy operation of Lord Corawallis’s system of re-
venue and judicature on the condition of the people,
and on its tendency “to fix upon the firmest basis
the British government in India, by seeuring the at-
- Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
ZEMINDAR SYSTEM ESTABLISHED IN BENGAL—1792-’3.
the recovery of lris stipulated tax, by sum- |
mary process; and in default of payment,
not only was the estate lable to confisca-
tion and sale hy the government, but the
zemindar was subjeet to imprisonment, and
forfeiture of any property he might possess.
On the other hand, the zemindar conld
only proceed against lis tenants or ryots
(to whom he might sub-let the land) by
a regnlar, expensive, and tedious process,
in the zillah or loeal court, presided
over by aun Enropean judge, in the dis-
trict wherein the estate was situated.
1794, the law against the zemindar was
modified hy the abolition of the power of —
imprisonment, but the government assumed
the right to confiscate and sell the estate
immediately, if the tax were not paid each
month.
The country was then only partially
recovering from centuries of desolating rule
In|
and repeated famines: it had been drained |
of specic by Moslem conquerors, Mahratta |
plunderers, and European tax-gatherers ; the
price of grain was low, the interest of money
exorbitant ; and there was little or no foreign
demand for agricultural produce: added
to this, the waste lands attached to each
zemindarree or estate, were so ill-defined,
that litigation soon commeneed, and added
to the expense of the proprietors. Many ze-
mindars found themselves unable to comply
with the stringent terms under which they —
became landlords, and the Gazetfe abounded
with notices for the sale of confiscated es-
tates, Several ancient families were ruined;
and in about fifteen years, few of the original
zemindars, with whom the permanent set-
tlement had been made, retained their
properties; which were sold and resold to
native merchants and others, who brought
capital into produetive employment.
the misfortunes of the original proprietors
But ,
cannot be charged on the plan itself, the |
result of which is shown im the experience
of halfa century, No famines have occurred ;
other sources of revenue have been ercated;
Jand has become a saleable commodity
worth ten years’ purchase, which it is not
in any other part of India; and an influ-
ential class are bound, by the tic of self-
interest, to support the British government,
which gnarantees them tranquil possession
of their paternal acres.
tachment of their subjects."—Kaye’s Life of Sir John
Maleolm, i., 176.
{ Vifth Report, pp. 13—29.
} See “Bengal Government Regulations ;" Nos.
2—-14, and 44, of 1793.
" NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
tion of the Ryotwar system at Madras: he
The countries under the permanent settle-
ment in the Bengal presidency, comprise
an area of 149,782 square miles, and include
the whole of Bengal, Bahar, Benares,* aud
Orissa (Cuttack excepted), with a population
of about 40,000,000. The annual revenue
from this fived land-tax is about £3,500,000,
or about 21 penee per head.
The system now in forec under the
Madras presidency, known by the name of
tun RyorTwan Tenure, makes each petty
holder responsible to government for the
payment ol the tax levied on the produee of
his ficld or plot of land; there is no common
or joint responsibility, as in the Village plan,
and no Jandlord or government middleman,
as under the Moslem rule. When the Hast
India Company first became intcrested in
the affairs of the Carnatie, the Ryotwar
system was in general operation, under
zeniindars or polygars, and continued so
until 1769, when boards or couneils were
established by the East India Company,
and the lands placed under the supervision
of stipendiaries employed for the manage-
ment of the revenue, In 1789, the receipts
of the zemindars with whom a fixed scttle-
ment was made were estimated, and they
were required to pay one-third of their
rental to government; the country was
divided into sections called moottahs, and the
tenures sold by publie anetion. In 1799, |
Lord Mornington (afterwards Marquis Wel-
lesley), desired to introduce the permanent
settlement which liad been adopted in
Bengal; but the project of Colonel Read,
which required the ryot to rent land direct
| from government under a fluctuating and |
arbitrary assessment, aud which practically
discouraged the cultivation of waste lands,
found favour with the home anthorities ; aud
out of twenty collectorates under the pre-
sidency of Madras, seventeen are managed
under this disastrous and despotic system. t
Colonel (afterwards Sir Thomas) Munro
was entrusted, in 1805-67, with the forma-
laid down the monstrous principle that half
* This province was “permanently settled” by
Mr. Jonathan Dunean (subsequently governor of
Bombay), under instructions from the Marquis
Cornwallis, in 1795,
+ A parliamentary return, in 1827, estimates the
land-tax in Bengal at 22, Madras, 52, and Bombay, 60
penee per head annually. A recent statement makes
the land-tax of Bengal (permanent settlement) on
ninety-seyen million acres, about 5 annas = 72 pence
per acre; assuming a cultivated area of thirty-two |
| million acres—21 pence per acre: the total assess-
|
~~ Sri Satguru
RYOTWAR TENURE IN MADRAS.
the produce, or at least 45 per cent., was to
be the government share: this he arbitrarily
eonverted into money; but on what data
has never been ascertained, wor ig it ex-
plained in any of his reports. Up to 1852,
as declared by the Afedras Nalive Associa-
tion, no fixed system of commutation on
various kinds of land has been adopted:
different modes are practised, not only in
different districts, but even in sub-divisions
of the same district,
The assessment was soon found to be
exorbitant : in Dindegul and in other places,
the demand of government was discovered
to be beyond the resourees of the people;
added to which, a great fall in the price of
grain necessitated the ryot to part with 70 per
eent. of lis prodnee, to pay the money-tax
required hy government. Under Munro’s
plan, the nmbrageous mango-tree was taxed,
as well as the land beneath it: the poor
farmers in many places, unable to pay the
double tax, cut down these useful trees;
their absence caused drought, and famines
ensued, by which thousands of human beings
perished.
In 1808, the evils of the field Ryotwar
system became so unbearable, that the
Madras authorities tned the partial intro-
dnetion of the Village system, first for a
trienmial, and subsequently for a decennial
period. The average collection from the
lands haying been computed, they were
rented ont to contractors, and the highest
bidders aceepted. On this plan, all duties,
or responsibilities as alleged landlords or |
sovereign proprictors of the soil, were aban- |
doned; the sole idea was the obtainment of
a given sum of moncy for three years, heed-
less of the condition of the cultivators, who |
were farmed out with Jess consideration
than would attend the letting of a gang of
negro slaves to a contractor. It was soon
ascertained that such a project could not
succeed ; and then the villages were assessed
ata fixed sum for ten years, the waste as
well as the arable land being given over to
each community, and a distinct settlement
ment at Madras for the entire area—culturable, cul-
tivated, and barren—is 10 pence; but on the land
actually cultivated, it is 12 pence.
fA correct survey (which is an indispensable
preliminary to the just and successful operation of
the Ryotwar settlement) has not been made of
the cultivated lands: the measurements are of the
rudest description; and a separate valuation of the
fields of every petty farmer is manifestly impos-
sible.—(Petition froni Madras Native Association,
1852.)
|
t
Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com —
| 576 RUINOUS EFFECTS OF THE RYOTWAR SYSTEM.
made with each collective body of ryots, or
| with the heads of a village.
In 1818, the home authorities determined
to send ont Sir T. Munro as governor, to
re-enforce the Ryotwar plan, under some
modifications, snch as a reduction of assess-
ment, varying from 12 to 25 per cent.,
where found most exorbitant, with remissions
of taxation on failure of crops.—Several
parts of the plan were undoubtedly marked
by benevolence, and read well on paper;
but in general, they were either imprac-
_ ticable, or depended so much on individnal
jndgment and energy, as to afford little
prospect of extensive utility. As a whole,
the system proved very expensive to the
state; full of intrieate and harassing details
for collectors, it abounded in motives for
falsehood on the part of the ryots, and in
opportunities for chicanery and malversation
by the native subordinates; while it ne-
cessarily proved a complete barrier to the
growth of an independent landed proprie-
tary. The latter was, indeed, a main feature
in Munro’s project: he openly asserted that
the best seenrity for our prolonged and quiet
rule, was to keep the enltivators in the con-
dition of vassals or serfs to government :*
and he speaks of short Jeases as necessary
to prevent the growth of a spirit of inde-
pendence, which would be dangerons to
British authority, The practical working
of the Ryotwarree is too truly conveyed
in the following hypothesis, suggested by
Mr. Fullarton, a member of the Madras
government :—“ Imagine the whole landed
interest—that is, all the landlords of Great
Britain, and even the capital farmers, at
onee swept away from off the face of the
earth; imagine a rent fixed on every field
in the kingdom, seldom under, generally
above, its means of payment; imagine the
land so rented, lotted out to the villagers
according to the numbcr of their cattle and
ploughs, to the extent of forty or fifty acres
cach. Imagine the revenue rated as above,
leviable through the ageney of one hundred
thousand revenue officers, collected or re-
mitted at their diseretion, according to
their idea of the oecnpant’s means of paying,
whether from the produce of his land or his
separate property; and, in order to encou-
rage every man to act as a spy on his neigh-
bour, and report is means of paying, that
lie may eventually save himself from extra
demand, imagine all the cultivators of a
village liable at ajl times to a separate de-
* Gleig’s Life of Munro, vol. ii., p. 158.
mand, in order to make up for the failure
of one or more individuals of the parish,
Imagine collectors to every county actiug
under the orders of a board, on the avowed
principle of destroying all temptation to
labour, by a general equalisation of assess-
meut; seizing and sending back runaways
to cach other ;—and lastly, imagine the col-
lector the sole magistrate, or justicc of the
peace of the county, through the medinm
and instrumentality of whom alone, any
criminal complaint of personal grievance
suffered by the subject can reach the supe-
rior courts. Imagine, at the same time,
every subordinate officer, employed in the
collection of the land revenne, to be a police
officer, vested with the power to fine, confine,
put in the stocks, and flog any inhabitant
within his range, on any charge, without
oath of the accuser, or sworn recorded evi-
dence in the case.”
The annual exaction by government of
the last shilling from the small cultivators,
is similar in effect to taking the honey
every night out of a hive; when a rainy |
day arrives, the bees make no food, and
they perish: thus has it been under the
Ryotwar system at Madras, where not one-
fifth of the land fit for tillage is under cul-
tivation. During the last half century,
several million people have perished from
famine and its concomitant, pestilence :
thus was it in Ireland when the potato crop
failed, and so must it be wherever the
population are reduced to the lowest scale
of diet compatible with the prolongation of
existence, and devoid of resources where-
with to supply a temporary exigency.
The collection of the land-tax from some
thousands of miserably poor peasauts, living
from hand to month, has Jed to another |
enormous evil, by engendering a systematic
plan of cruelty on the part of the native
officials. The European collector is cx- |
pected to realise annually a certain amount
for the government, otherwise he will be
deemed negligent, and stand little chance
of favour or promotion: on the other haud,
if he can serew out of the ryots a larger
sum than his predecessor—the means un-
scrutinised—his name stands high at Ma-
dras. He tells his native subordinates that
so many rupees must be obtained, and
leaves them to manage how: the éehsildar,
knowing that torture is a part of the
Moslem system, and that it was recognised
under the Mogul rule, not only for com-
pelling suspected persous to criminate them-
Sti Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
TORTURES
IMPLOYED IN THI COLLECTION OF THE REVENUE.
D77
selves or others, mt also to. enforce the |
| payment of the money claimed as due to
the state (the non-payment of which is
deemed a crime of great magnitude), and
| finding torture the easiest and most effee-
tual mode of procuring the money required
by his immediate superior (the European
collector), he resorts to its use in every
form; the most usual at Madras being—
(1), tying the neck and feet together,
placing a heavy stone on the back, and
compelling the suflerer to remain in a
stooping position, exposed to a tropical
sun, until he satishes the demands of the
tehsildar; or falls—it may be, dics—from
exhaustion: (2), fastening in a cocoa-nut
shell, over the navel, the pool-/ay insect, or
worms, which cause exquisite torture: (3),
twisting women’s breasts: (4), putting chil-
lies and other hot peppers into the eyes,
and into the most sensitive parts of both
sexes: (5), thorns driven under the nails;
(6), surrounding the person with red ants,
whose sting is maddening: (7), tying coir
ropes to the muscles of the thighs and
arms, and then pouring water on the ropes
to produce gradual and extreme tension :
(8), application of the Aiftie—two sticks
(like a lemon-squeezer), between which the
fingers are jammed and squashed: (9),
flogging: (10), standing upon one leg in
mud or in water, with a large log of wood
on the head, under a burning sun. Such
are some of the distressing revelations of
the Madras Torture Commission in 1854.
The European collectors, generally, allege
their ignorance that torture was used for
the collection of the revenue, although they
acknowledge its application for police pur-
poses. But admitting the truth of the de-
nial, they are then placed on the other
horn of the dilemma—that is, gross igno-
ranee of the condition of the people com-
mitted to their charge: otherwise, they
must have discovered the means adopted to
squeeze ten rupecs out of a man who had
ouly five.
The Torture commissioners, in 185-4, re-
mark, that the infliction of physical pain, in
connection with the collection of the reve-
nue, is quite unknown in Malabar and
Canara; and the reason assigned corrobo-
| rates the above remarks, which were written
| previous to a knowledge of the following
| significant fact :—In those districts “the
land-tax is generally light, the people are
flonrishing ; the asscssinent easily, and
even cheerfully paid—the struggle more
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
often bone, who shall be allowed, than re
shall be made, to pay the gov ernment dies ;
land has acquired a saleable value, andl
allotmeuts of waste are eagerly contended
fom
If anything could open the eyes of those
who uphold the Ryotwar system at Madras,
these torture revelations ought to do so.
The late Mr. Sullivan, member of council
at Madras, declared to the author, that
when he saw the cartloads of silver leaving
his enteherry (treasury) for Madras, and
remembered the poverty of the people from
whom it was colleeted, he shuddered at the
thought of their prospeet during the en-
suing year, as the demands of the govern-
ment were inexorable, and a certain amount
of money must be forthcoming.
The mere lowering of the assessment or
tax, though not an effectual remedy, is a
great boon. Mr. John Bruce Norton, of
the Madras bar, in his valuable letter to
the Right Hon. Robert Lowe, on the state
of Madras, referring to the heaviness of the
assessment in his presidency, says, that the
land belonging to the Freneh at Pondi-
cherry, is assessed at four pagodas; while
English land, ‘of precisely the same
quality,” pays 73 pagodas: and “in Feb-
ruary, 1852, the wise French government
reduced its land-tax 33 per cent., as well as
abolished all its petits droits.” It is not,
therefore, surprising that the land is there
all oceupied, while millions of acres lie
waste in the English territories at Madras.
Mr. Norton has fully exposed the evils of
the Ryotwarree, and shown, independently
of the duration of the tenure (whether an-
nual, leaschold, or permanent), how heavily
it presses on an agricultural people. He
says, that in Bengal, where the land is ex-
ceedingly rich, the tax averages one shilling
per acre on the whole enltivated areca; in
the North-West Provinees, the average on
22,310,824 aeres of cultivated land, paying
assessment direct to government, is about
2s. 5d.; in the Decean it varies from less
than 1s., at Poonah, to ls. 9d. for the
famous black cotton soil at Darwar; the
very highest beiug let at less than 3s. per
acre. In contrast, Madras, on 14,000,000
acres, wet and dry cultivation, shows an
average of 5s. per acre; 2,500,000 acres,
10s. peraere. The results are thus summed
up:—“ A people impoverished and de-
graded; irrigation neglected; land un-
saleable ; good land thrown out of enltiya-
tion from its enormous assessment ;
mil- |
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com |
| ye 7
| 578 BRITISH GOVERNMENT NO PROPRIETARY RIGHT IN THE SOIL.
lions of acres lying waste; the revenne not
| improving.’’*
| Theoretically, the home authorities con-
curred with the sound policy laid down by
| the Marquis Wellesley :—“ It can never be
desirable that the government itself should
| | act as the proprietor of land, and shonld
collect the rents from the immediate culti-
yators of the soil.” In a despatch to Ben-
| gal, dated January 6, 1815, the Court of
Directors say—‘ We do not wish to revive
the doctrine of the sovereign of India being
proprietor of the soil, either de facto or de
jure.’ Practically, this doctrine was re-
vived, and is still enforced, except under
| | the permanent settlement of Bengal. The
| granting of leases in the North-West Pro-
| | vinees, is an assumption of proprietorship ;
| the assessment of land in Madras from
| | year to year—in other words, the decreeing
|| the amount of rent or tax to be paid—is
| the prerogative of the landlord; and, with
| regard to Bombay, Mr. A. Mackay has
| shown that “the fee-simple has no exis-
| tence: there arc, in fact, no fees-simple ex-
| cept the monster and all-devouring one of
the government, and the faint reflections of
it whieh are found in the hands of owners
of alienated lands: bunt no eultivator has,
in reality, any permanent indefeasible
tenure of the soil.”’+
The Anglo-Indian government loses by
, the Ryotwar system. For twenty-four
years—viz., from 1820 to 1843 inclusive,
| during which it has been im general opera-
tion throughout a large part of the Madras
| territories—no increasc of revenue has ac-
erued to the state under the Ryotwar
system; and, it may be inferred, no ex-
|| tended cultivation or improvement taken
| place in the condition of the country.
| The Ryotwarree is an expensive system
| in various ways—in the charges of collec-
tion, in the very large stafl of officials
| required to supervise minute details and
| | hold once another in eheek, and in the
| heavy disbursements for irrigation, keeping
in repair tanks, &c.; whercof no small
proportion goes to the enrichment of public
scrvants, instead of being used in fostering
agriculture. The charges for irrigation
and tank repairs, from 1805-6 to 1843-4,
are stated at 24,300,000 rupecs.
Sir G. R. Clerk, the late expericnced
governor of Bomhay, and present perma-
nent scerctary of the Board of Control,
* Letter, &c., pp. 100—101.
f Report on Western India, 1853, p. 87,
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
in his evidence before parliament (5th
April, 1853), speaks forcibly of the Ryot-
a famine, or disease among the people or
their eattle, there is nobody to support
them, or to prop up a falling village: they ~ |
have no inducement to amass capital; in
{
t
i |
\
warree :—‘ Of many systems, it is the
most objectionable; * * * it certainly does
not work well either for the government or
the natives; they are as we found them,
still paupers; there is nothing between
them and the government; they have no |
head landholders over them to acquire
capital; in ease of any sndden visitation, |
such as damage to a village by a hail-storm,
fact they cannot; it is not to be obtained |
upon these small pieces of ground: they
live from hand to mouth.”
Nortu-West Provinces. — Over the |
large extent of India comprised uuder this
designation, and including Agra, Delhi, and |
other valuable territorial divisions, there is |
happily no Ryotwar settlement. During
the latter period of Mogul rule, the Dooab, ©
or region lying between the Ganges and
Jumna, as well as other tracts, were greatly
impoverished; the Village system was al-
most anmbhilated by bands of predatory
horsemen who dashed at everything; and
not mauy years ago, lions prowled up to
the very gates of Delhi. ‘The peace secured
by British rule has caused a reclamation of
waste lands; and the construction of the
noble Ganges eanal, for irrigating the
Dooab, has materially aided in the exten- |
sion of cultivation.
In part of these provinces, where the
assessment was onerous and uncertain,
especially in the Delhi district, there have
been severe famines, as those of 183-4 and
1838. )
On the 22nd of September, 1841, the
author of this work moved, in the Court
of Proprictors, at the Mast India Jlouse, ° |
a series of resolutiuns: viz—1. That the
3ritish government is neither de facto nor
de jure the proprietor of the soil of British
Tudia. 2. That periodical assessments on
the produce of the land, at the sole will of
the government, defeat the proprietary |
rights of the oeeupiers and enltivators of
the soil, and, by preventing the hereditary
possession and transmission of landed pro-
perty, diminish its value, deteriorate the
revenue of the state, impoverish the people,
and render the government of India un-
stable aud insecure. 3. ‘That the ocenpiers
and cultivators of the soil of British India |
ponte: peters eS
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
LONG
are cutitled to obtain from the British gov-
crument a lixed assessment aid a guarantec |
of hereditary ocenpancy, unmolested by
arbitrary demands and periodical claims,
either by annnal or more extended leases.”
In reply to the arguments urged in sup-
port of these resolutions, the mover was
asked to suspend any further discussion,
and the government would grant Icases of
thirty years’ duration; and it was inquired,
if this measure would satisfy his views
on the subject? Te rephed, that long
leases were a great improvement on annual
assessments; but nothing would be so good
as granting the fee-simple to the people.
Government then adopted the long leases ;
and to this important step in the meght
direction, Mngland owes the preserya-
tion of many of her sons and daughters in
the North-West Previnces. A writer in
the Zimes of the 23rd of July, 1857, re-
ferring to the flight fron: the massaere at
Della to Meernt, of several officers and
their families, says—‘‘ They were, however,
neither wnurdered nor, as it would appear,
personally maltreated, although there was
ample opportunity for both during their
wanderings, especially after they had been
robbed of their arms. With the exception of
the Goojurs, who are hereditary marauders,
the zemindars have hehaved well to us,
| which is a great cnconragement to good
government ; for there cannot be a doubt
that it is mainly owing to the thirty years’
settlement, which has sccured them against
the unlimited exactions of the old revenue
system.” The plan adopted is thus described
in the “Directions for Revenue Officers,”
_ issned by the late Lient.-governor Thomason.
Wirst. All the inhabited part of the
conntry is divided into portions with fixed
boundaries, called mechals or estates; on
each mehal a sum is assessed for the term
of twenty or thirty vears, culeulated so as
to leave a fair surplus profit over and above
the net produce of the land; and for the
punctual payment of that snm the land is
held to he perpetually hypotheeated to the
government.
“ Secondly. It is determined who are the
person or persons entitled to receive this
surplus profit. The right thus determined
is declared to be heritable and transferable,
and the persons entitled to it are cousiderec|
the proprietors of the land, from whom the
engagements for the annual payment of the
sum assessed by the government on the
mehal are taken.
LEASES GRANTED JN TIE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES. 579
| “Thirdly. All the proprictors of 2 chal
are, scverally and jointly, responsible in
their persons and property for the payment
of the sum assessed by the government on
the mehal. When there ure more propric-
tors than one, it is determined according to
what rule they shall share the profits, or
make good the losses on the estate. If
the proprietors are nnincrous, engagements
are only taken from a fow of the body,
who, on their own parts, and as repre-
sentatives of the rest, undertake to manage
the mehal, and to pay the stm assessed
npon it.
“The rate of assessment was in the first
instance limited to two-thirds of the net
produce of each mehal or estate; but, on
the revision whieh is about to take place on
the expiration of the thirty years which
formed the first term of settlement, it has
been determined to restrict the demand of
the state to one-half of the average net
assets,’7*
A “permanent settlement” was promised
to these provinces at the commencement of
the present century; the land-tax was
serewed up to the highest piteh, in order
that it might then be “fixed for ever;”
but good faith was broken with the people
by “orders from home,’ and the promise
has never heen redeemed.
A parliamentary paper (No. 181), issued
in return to an order ol the House of
Commons, dated 26th March, 1858, gives
some insight into the results produced by
our “revenue system” in the North-West
Provinees; ineluding, among others, the
districts of Bareilly, Shahjehanpoor, Fur-
ruckabad, Seharanpore, &e. 1t is acknow-
ledged in the otheial “ Narrative of the Pro-
ecedings of the Government,” dated Agra,
18th Jnly, 1842, that “the assessment of
a fair and moderate revenue on the land
might be so combined with an aseertain-
ment of private rights, and the constitution
of the village communities, that such records
might be framed, such principles fixed, and
such sanitary proeesses put in action, as
would eorreet the evils whieh had caten like
a canker into the very vitals of landed pro-
perty and agricultural prosperity.” In sub-
sequent passages of the same document, the
violation of proprietary rights is thus ad-
mitted :—
“The proceedings in the resumption department,
his Honour} observed, had in these, as in the J.ower
* Parl. Papers, No. 112; 22nd June, 1857.
t+ The Lieut.-governor of the N.W. Provinces.
~— Sti Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji-eLibrary — NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com—
580 PROPRIETARY RIGHTS VIOLATED IN THE N, W. PROVINCES. |
Provinces, been marked at the outset by a hard and
harsh dealing with individual rights, gradually but
reluctantly yielding to the tempering influence of
the orders which, from time to time, have issued
| from superior authorities, especially the Honourable
Court. The settlement officer swept up without
inquiry every patch of unregistered rent-free land,
| even those under ten beegahs, exempted by a sub-
_ five-sixths of the tenures had been resumed.
sequent order, and which did not come out before
In one
district, that of Furruckabad, the obligations of a
treaty and the direct orders of government were but
lightly dealt with; and in all, a total disregard was
evinced for the acts even of such men as Warren
Hastings and Lord Lake. * * *
“The rajah of Mynpoory, whose predecessor had
received the highest acknowledgments from the
British government for his unshaken loyalty, when
the district was overrun by Holkar’s army in the
year 1804, was, without a reference to government,
under construction put on the right of a talookdar,
deprived entirely, he and his successors in perpetuity,
of all power of interference in 116 of 158 villages
included in his talooka, which had descended to him
in regular succession, before the introduction of the
British rule. * * *
“In Alighur, Teekum Sing, the rajah of Moor-
saun, had his talooka curtailed by the severance of
138 of the 216 villages which it contained. The
village proprietors, with whom the settlement was
made to the exclusion of the rajah, proved in many
instances unequal to meet the obligation they had
incurned:sc) ane
“His Honour, in his remarks on the policy of thus
roughly handling these tenures, whence all that
remains of an aristocracy in the and derives its
support, observed, that there is a striking inconsis-
tency in the imposition of eighteen per cent. on
villages severed from a talooka as a compensation to
the talookdai. If that personage has not a title,
such as it is found impossible entirely to reject, why
saddle the land with this cess on his account; and if
he has a title, ought it not to rest with some more
impartial authority to set it aside, than a zealous
settlement officer, hent upon the realisation of
schemes to which those very talookas are a serious
obstacle ?
“The demarcation of the component portions of
every village, and the recording of the several rights
comprised therein, is what is technically called the
‘khusreh’ survey. It is a necessary preliminary to a
settlement that had better, perhaps, been kept
separate from the scientific survey. The khusrehs
done in connection with that operation have many
of them been found inaccurate, and have had to be
entirely revised by the settlement olficers.
“To keep up a record of the circumstances of
every field, there must be a constant interference of
the executive in the affairs of every village, or, it
may be said, of every villager, which would be
irksome to any people, and will praye intolerable to
the natives of India. Already has it been found
hecessary in many quarters to get rid of the ald
putwarrecs, and employ in their stead more efficient
accountants; but even with these, an almost un-
attainable vigilance will be required to prevent the
progressive illapse of errer and confusion.
“In conclusion, the Licutenant-governar observes,
that it is a fearful experiment, that of trying to
govern without the aid of any intermediate agency
of indigenous growth, yet it is what the measures
now in progress have a direct tendency to bring
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
about. In a short time all may stand on a new
basis; the village watchman and the village ac-
countant may be persons in the direct service of that
government, of which the village proprietor may
appear but the nominee, while every trace of su-
perior existing rank will disappear under the three-
fold ageney of the parcelling of talooks, the resump-
tion laws, and that late act, regarding sales, by
which the government has placed a restriction on
the exercise of its own prerogative of mercy.
“Far ahead, as in movements like the present,
the real objects often are of the avowed, there are
yet many who candidly admit the fall of what may
still be called the aristocracy and gentry of the
country, to be a not improbable consequence of the
system now pursuing, but who look forward with
confidence to the regeneration that is to spring from
this decay.
“Such spéculations may be safely indulged in by
individuals, but it is not for a government thus to
seek to escape from the practical duty of endea-_
vouring, in giving content to the people at large, to
avoid giving disgust to particular classes, or of pre-
venting property from being dealt with in disregard
of the remark of a profound politician, ‘that a man
will sooner forgive the death of his father than the
loss of his inheritance.’
“Itis in this respect that the settlement appears
most open to exception: assuming the absolute
correctness of its own principles, and acting upon
these with a speed that ill accorded with its ju-
dicial character, it too often refused to pause to
weigh the various merits of any claim that pre-
sented an obstacle to the high-pressure pace of its
progress.
“It was impossible that those employed should
not have their minds somewhat tinged by the colour
of the work they were engaged in; and it may uot
be a mistaken belief tbat a disposition to look upon
men (natives) as mere units of the mass about which
alone it is becoming to feel any interest, has of late
grown very prevalent among the junior portion
of the civil service.
“Conducted upon somewhat arbitrary principles,
the settlement has not encouraged much indepen-
dence of mind among its agents; and the uniformity ”
that pervades al) the reports which his Honour as yet
has perused, is very remarkable in the productions of
a service whose most prominent characteristic used —
to be a free and fearless expression of opinion on
the part even of its youngest members.”
It is not surprising, that the provinces
where this system was pursued, are the
chief seats of the present revolt.
In Centra Inpia, under the Mahratta
government, leases were granted for long
periods, some extending to even seventy
years, which, says Maleolm, “gave the
renter an interest in the improvement of
the country beyond what he can have un-
der a short lease. The respect for some
renters has been so great, that large dis-
triets have been, throughout the most
troubled periods, rented to their families.”
It was the usage of the just Princess of
Indore, Ahalya Bye, to grant long leases ;
and many districts, “to this system: owe —
‘NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
i
their prosperity.”* In confirmation of its
value, it may be remarked that, in the
regions thus situated, the inhahitants were
exempted from famine, except, as in
1803-4, when the desolating incursions of
myriads ef armed horsemen trod down all
cultivation, and prevented the tillage of the
soil.
Bompay.—There is no “ permanent set-
tlement”—in fact, uo defined revenue
system, in the territories under the adminis-
tration of this presidency: in some places
there is a settlement, with villages; in
others, with individual chicfs; or there is a
Ryotwar modification; but no proprietary
right has been conceded; the fee-simple in
the land does not exist. The result is im-
perfect cultivation, extensive wastes, much
poverty, and comparatively small exportable
produce. Some years since, when discuss-
ing the subject in the Court of Proprictors,
the author found that the assessment in
Guzerat was equal to 7s. 6d. a beegah=
22s. 8d. per acre. Since then the govern-
ment have found it necessary to reduce the
amount.
Punsas.—Under Seik administration,
the government assessment of the land
varicd from two-fifths to one-third of the
gross produce; the exaction was less in the
distant and imperfectly conquered terri-
torics: in the peculiarly rich lands round
Peshawnr, the “ government share never
excecdaed one-third, and usually averaged
one-fourth or one-fifth, and fell even lower
—down to one-eighth of the crop,”’+ paid
in kiud. In 1847 the revenue was thins
collected :—From kirdars (answering, pro-
bably, to the word zemindars), 2,549,873
rupees ; from heads of villages, 1,823,556 ;
by division and appraisement of crop,
among coparcenary communities, 8,9-14,658
= 13,318,087 rupees. In addition, there
were various other imposts—extra cesses,
capitation-taxes, village artisans’ fines, graz-
ing taxes, and custom duties innumerable.
Since we beeame possessed of the country,
the land revenue has been reduced in
amount, but collected in money. Owing
to a great fall in prices, too high an assess-
ment, and want of fixity of tenure, there
has been considerable distress among the
cultivators ; and the report on the state of
the Punjab, up to 1850, is the least
favourable section of that important and
generally satisfactory document.
* Malcolm’s Polttical India, vol. ii., p. 41.
+ Official Report on the Punjab, 1550-'51, p. 56.
4 ¥
Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji eLibrary
GOVERNMENT ASSESSMENT OF THE PUNJAB.
581
We could not take a more effective step |
for the security of British power at these
gates of India, than by announcing to the
people that the land is theirs in perpetuity,
subject to a reasonable tax. If this were
done, the Sciks and Scindians would guard
warily against the approach of Russia or
any other power that might attempt to
molest the rnlers who guaranteed them in
the secure possession of their homesteads ;
and with a brave and hardy population,
enjoying for the first time the advantage of
just and merciful rulc, England might bid
defiance to all external aggression vid the
Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, Herat, or Cen-
tral Asia; secured by a better bulwark
than even the sandy wastes and barely
traversable mountains which skirt our |
northern and western frontiers.
The exact pecuniary burthen imposed by
the land-tax of India cannot be defined:
the pressure on the cultivator depends on
various circumstances—such as perpetuity
or uncertainty of tenure; quantity of waste
land available to the farmer; richness or
poorness of soil; density and prosperity of
population, or the reverse; proximity or
remoteness from remunerative markets ;
good or bad roads, or water carriage ;
means of irrigation; and, above all, the
quantity of mouey in circulation (of which
there is a lamentable deficiency), which
maternally influences the range of high or
low prices for produce. A parliamentary
return, in 1827, shows the following re-
sults :—
Bengal. Madras. Bombay.
. 244 ay 76
23 17 19
60
22 52
Pop. per sq. mile—number
Land-tax per sq. mile—pence .
Ditto per head annually—pence
Accurate conclusions cannot be drawn
from this statement. Viewed according to
area, it appears that Bengal, under a pro-
prictary system, pays more to the state, per
square mile, than Madras or Bombay under
a fluctuating and uncertain tenure. Pros-
perity, by causing an augmentation of
population, spreads the assessment over a
larger mass, aud lightens the burthen.
But although Bombay and Madras nomi-
nally contribute twice and three times as
much per head as Bengal, yet the frequent
recurrence of famines, the constant neces-
sity for remissions, and the expenses which
a landlord who grants no leases is bound in
justice to bear, reduces the amount, and
renders the regular payment of the lesscr
sum—cheaply collected, and withont draw-
NamdhariElibrary@gmail.com
582
LAND SHOULD BE GRANTED IN FEE-SIMPLE.
backs—a much more reliable revenue to
government.*
An injurious land revenue system has so
completely impoverished the presidencies of
Madras and Bombay, that neither of these
large territorial possessions—the one com-
prising an area of 188,000 square miles,
with 28,000,000 inhabitants; and the other
73,000 miles, with 12,000,000 inhabitants
—furnish an income adequate to their an-
nnal expenditure: the deficiency is pro-
vided from the financial surplus of Bengal,
where a just land-tax has been in operation
since 1790,
In the fertile districts under the adminis-
tration of Madrast and Bombay, there is
great, and, it is to be feared, increasing im-
poverishment. There are but two classes of
society—the few are money-lenders; the
many, poor and borrowing agricuiturists.
The great hulk of the people live from hand
to mouth, and have their numbers almost
periodically thiuned by famine and pesti-
lence.