[10]. [Havāldār, havāladār, the officer in charge of the collection of grain.]
[11]. There are sixteen annas to a rupee.
CHAPTER 9
Foreign Policy of Zālim Singh.
Zalim’s policy was to create, as regarded himself, a kind of balance of power; to overawe one leader by his influence with another, yet, by the maintenance of a good understanding with all, to prevent individual umbrage, while his own strength was at all times sufficient to make the scale preponderate in his favour.
Placed in the very heart of India, Kotah was for years the centre around which revolved the desultory armies, or ambulant governments, ever strangers to repose; and though its wealth could not fail to attract the cupidity of these vagabond powers, yet, by the imposing attitude which he assumed, Zalim Singh maintained, during more than half a century, the respect, the fear, and even the esteem of all; and Kotah alone, throughout this lengthened period, so full of catastrophes, never saw an enemy [548] at her gates. Although an epoch of perpetual change and political convulsion—armies destroyed, States overturned, famine and pestilence often aiding moral causes in desolating the land—yet did the regent, from the age of twenty-five to eighty-two,[[1]] by his sagacity, his energy, his moderation, his prudence, conduct the bark intrusted to his care through all the shoals and dangers which beset her course. It may not excite surprise that he was unwilling to relinquish the helm when the vessel was moored in calm waters; or, when the unskilful owner, forgetting these tempests, and deeming his own science equal to the task, demanded the surrender, that he should hoist the flag of defiance.
There was not a court in Rajwara, not even the predatory governments, which was not in some way influenced by his opinions, and often guided by his councils. At each he had envoys, and when there was a point to gain, there were irresistible arguments in reserve to secure it. The necessities, the vanities, and weaknesses of man he could enlist on his side, and he was alternately, by adoption, the father, uncle, or brother of every person in power during this eventful period, from the prince upon the throne to the brat of a Pindari. He frequently observed that “none knew the shifts he had been put to”; and when entreated not to use expressions of humility, which were alike unsuited to his age and station, and the reverence he compelled, he would reply, “God grant you long life, but it is become a habit.” For the last ten years he not only made his connexion with Amir Khan subservient to avoiding a collision with Holkar, but converted the Khan into the make-weight of his balance of power; “he thanked God the time was past when he had to congratulate even the slave of a Turk on a safe accouchement, and to pay for this happiness.”
Though by nature irascible, impetuous, and proud, he could bend to the extreme of submission. But while he would, by letter or conversation, say to a marauding Pindari or Pathan, “let me petition to your notice,” or “if my clodpole understanding (bhumia buddh) is worth consulting”; or reply to a demand for a contribution, coupled with a threat of inroad, “that the friendly epistle had been received; that he lamented the writer’s distresses, etc. etc.,” with a few thousand more than was demanded, and a present to the messenger, he would excite a feeling which at least obtained a respite; on the other hand, he was always prepared to repel aggression, and if a single action would have decided his quarrel, he would not have hesitated to engage any power in the circle. But he knew even success, in such a case, to be ruin, and the general [549] feature of his external policy was accordingly of a temporizing and very mixed nature. Situated as he was, amidst conflicting elements, he had frequently a double game to play. Thus, in the coalition of 1806-7, against Jodhpur, he had three parties to please, each requesting his aid, which made neutrality almost impossible. He sent envoys to all; and while appearing as the universal mediator, he gave assistance to none.
It would be vain as well as useless to attempt the details of his foreign policy; we shall merely allude to the circumstances which first brought him in contact with the British Government, in A.D. 1803-4, and then proceed to his domestic administration.