[117] The following is the translation of the note from Suraj-u-Dowlah to M. Law: "I send you ten thousand rupees for expenses. Remain quiet at Rajhmahal. When M. Bahadre, &c. come on this side Cuttack, I will then send for you." Parliamentary Reports, vol. iii. p. 221.
[118] The following is a copy of this letter: "Je viens de recevoir une lettre du Nabob, par laquelle il m'ordonne de retourner à Muxadabad. Il vient, dit-il, se joindre à nous, pour tomber sur les Anglais. J'ai reçu aussi une lettre du Sieur Çhangeau, qui me donne d'assez bonnes nouvelles. Je suis surpris, que vous ne m'avez pas écrit; car je ne puis croire que vous soyez tout-à-fait ignorant de ce que se passe. J'envois M. de Sinfray au Nabob, avec lequel il est chargé d'entrer en négociation. Il a ordre de rester à notre loge. Comme il est votre ancien, vous aurez la bonté de le reconnoître pour chef, et de lui obéir en cette qualité. Peut-être irai-je bientôt vous trouver."
[119] 26th April, 1757.
[120] Ive's Voyage, p. 149.
[121] The particulars of this offer are in a letter from Mr. Walsh to Mr. Watts of the 11th April, 1757, written by order of Colonel Clive.
[122] Bukhshee, literally means "Paymaster;" but that office is, in native armies, almost invariably associated with the station of commander-in-chief.
CHAP. V.
The power established by the Mahommedans in India has never varied in its character from their first invasion of that country to the present time. The different qualities of the individuals by whom it has been exercised, have introduced a variety of shades both in the mode and substance of their rule, but the general features have remained the same. The Mahommedan emperors of Delhi, the Subadars of divisions of the empire, and the Nabobs and chiefs of kingdoms and principalities, supplanted and expelled, or extirpated, sovereigns and princes of the Hindu military tribe:—but while they succeeded to the power which these potentates had held, the management of the finance and revenue, and all those minuter arrangements of internal policy, on which the good order of the machine of government must ever depend, remained very nearly in the same hands in which the Mahommedans had found them. The unwarlike but well-educated Hindus of the Brahmin or the mercantile castes continued, as under the martial princes of their own tribe, to manage almost all the concerns of the state. A Hindu, under the denomination of minister, or as Naib (or deputy), continued at the head of the exchequer; and in this office he was connected with the richest bankers and monied Hindus of the country. Princes had private hoards,—but there was no public treasury. Advances were made to individuals and bodies of men by bankers (denominated Seits or Soucars), who were repaid by orders on the revenue, and obtained a double profit on the disbursement and the receipt of money. The proud and thoughtless Mahommedan prince, anxious only for the means necessary for his purposes of pleasure or ambition, was not over-scrupulous as to the terms he granted to the financial agents: and the advantages they gained, combined with their simple and frugal habits[123], enabled them to amass immense wealth. This they well knew how to employ, for purposes both of accumulation, and of establishing political influence; commanding, as they did, the money resources of the country, the prince, his officers, and army, were all in a great degree dependent upon them; and to treat them with extreme severity was certain to incur obloquy, and often defeated its aim, since, by their natural character, they were as patient of suffering as they were tenacious of their gains.