CHAPTER VI. risings,-Mahratta and Rajpoot. The history of the reign will be told hereafter. Bernier's description of istration. Meantime it may be as well to glance at the Moghul admin working of the Moghul administration. Fortunately Bernier has brought out its main features. He resided many years at Delhi. He travelled through Hindustan and the Dekhan from Kashmír to Golkonda. In 1663 he drew up a report upon the Moghul empire for the information of the French minister Colbert. The working of the Moghul administration may therefore be described almost in the words of Bernier : Jaghír and Tyranny and cruelty. "All the lands of the empire are the property of the sovereign. They are divided into Jaghír lands and Khalisa lands. The Jaghírs are allotments of lands and villages in lieu of pay, and for the maintenance of troops. Every Jaghírdar pays a fixed sum yearly to the sovereign out of the surplus income. The Khalisa lands are the royal domains. They are rarely if ever given in Jaghír. They are let out to Farmers, who pay a yearly rent to the sovereign, and exact what they can out of the cultivators. "The Jaghírdars and Farmers exercise supreme power in their respective districts. Their authority over the peasantry is almost absolute; it is nearly as absolute over artisans and traders in towns and villages. They are cruel and oppressive to the last degree. The injured peasant, artisan, or trader has no appeal. There are no great lords, no parliaments, no judges of high courts, as there are in No mention is made of the Mufti during the reigns of Jehangir, or Shah Jehan; they probably had no existence during that period, or were of little weight in the administration. Even the existence of the Kází is rarely mentioned. In the early part of the reign of Aurungzeb, there was a Mufti and a Kází in every town. See Tavernier's Travels in the Indies, chap. 10. France, to restrain the wickedness of the oppressors. CHAPTER VI. There are Kázís, or magistrates, but they have not enough power to redress the wrongs of these unhappy people. This abuse of authority is not felt in the same degree near Delhi and Agra, nor in the neighbourhood of large towns and seaports; in those places it is not so easy to conceal acts of gross injustice from the knowledge of the court. people. "The people are reduced to a debasing state of Slavery of the slavery. It obstructs trade; it pauperizes the manners and mode of life. If a man makes money he dares not spend it lest he should provoke the cupidity of some tyrant. He does not live in greater comfort; he dares not assume an air of independence; he only studies to appear poor. His dress, his lodging, his furniture, and even his daily food, are all as mean as ever. Meantime he buries his gold at a great depth under-ground. Mussulmans bury their money as well as Hindús. A few individuals, who are protected by the sovereign, or by a powerful Amír, are alone able to enjoy the comforts and luxuries of life. the sovereign. "It is utterly impossible for the Padishah, how- Helplessness of ever well disposed, to control the tyranny which prevails in the provinces. It often deprives peasants and artisans of the necessaries of life; it leaves them to die of misery and exhaustion. The people have either no children at all, or have them only to starve. The cultivators are driven from their homes to seek for better treatment in some neighbouring state. Some follow the army; they prefer becoming servants to common horsemen, to remaining in their native villages and cultivating the land. "The ground is seldom tilled except by compul CHAPTER VI. Sion. There is no one to repair the ditches and Misery of culti canals. The houses are dilapidated; few persons vators. Misery of artisans. Slavish aristo cracy. Dead weight of the court and army. will build new ones or repair those which are "Artisans are treated with the same oppression. They are kept at work by sheer necessity or the cudgel. It is enough for them if they can satisfy the cravings of hunger and clothe themselves in the coarsest garments. Any money gained goes to the merchant; the merchant in his turn has to hide it from the rapacity of the governor. The sovereign of India cannot select loyal men for his service. He cannot employ princes, noblemen, or gentlemen of opulent and ancient families. He cannot employ the sons of citizens, merchants, and manufacturers; men of education, ready to support the reputation of their family, and satisfied with the approbation of their sovereign. Instead of men of this description, the Great Moghul is surrounded by slaves, ignorant and brutal; by parasites raised from the dregs of society; strangers to loyalty and patriotism; full of insufferable pride; destitute of courage, honour, and decency.68 "The country is ruined to maintain the splendour of a numerous court and to pay a large army. Meantime the sufferings of the people are beyond conception. They are compelled by whips and 68 Bernier states in his Travels that many of the Amírs were originally slaves; they had nothing to fit them for command except their fair complexions. canes to labour incessantly for the benefit of others. CHAPTER VI. They are driven to despair by cruel treatment of every kind. They are only prevented from revolting or flying away by the presence of a military force. governments. "The misery of these ill-fated people is swelled Sale of by the practice of selling different governments for immense sums in hard cash. The purchaser borrows the money at enormous rates of interest; he has to squeeze the principal and interest as well as his own profit out of the people. He has to make valuable presents every year to a vizier, a eunuch, a lady of the harem, and to any other person whose influence at court he considers indispensable. The governor must also enforce the payment of the regular tribute to the Padishah. Originally he may have been a wretched slave, involved in debt, and without the smallest patrimony; he yet becomes a great and opulent lord. provinces. "Thus ruin and desolation overspread the land. Tyranny in the The provisional governors are so many petty tyrants possessing a boundless authority. There is no one to whom the oppressed subject may appeal; he cannot hope for redress, however great may be his injuries, however often they may be repeated. It is true that the Padishah sends Wakiahnavís, or news-writers, to every province; their business is to report every event that takes place; but there is generally a disgraceful collusion between these officers and the governor, so that their presence seldom restrains the tyranny which is exercised over the unhappy people. 66 Despotic governments are not without some Asiatic justice. advantages. They have few lawyers, few suits, and CHAPTER VI. speedy justice. Asiatic rule. Protracted law-suits are a great evil; sovereigns are bound to find a remedy; the most efficacious remedy would be to destroy the right of private property. The necessity for legal proceedings would cease at once; magistrates, lawyers, and counsellors would become useless. But the remedy would be worse than the disease. Instead of magistrates whom a sovereign could trust, we should have rulers such as I have described. Some travellers have borne different testimony from mine. They have seen two poor men, the dregs of the people, brought before a Kází. They have seen one or both punished at once or dismissed at once. They have been enchanted at the sight. They have returned to France, exclaiming,-'What excellent justice! What speedy justice! The upright Kázís of Hindustan are models for the magistrates of France!' They forget that had the real offender a few rupees to give the Kází, and a few more to buy two false witnesses, he would have gained his cause, or might have protracted it as long as he pleased.”. Such is the testimony of Bernier as regards Asiatic rule; such is the evidence of all Asiatic history worthy of the name. |