tures who gnaw the very bowels of their country."*

In the time of the Mussulmans, Firmans, or patents of appointment, were given to the principal public officers of the state, with instructions for the execution of their public duties, from which much may be collected as to the nature of those duties, as well as the effects they produced. Of the officers immediately about the Imperial person and court, it is unnecessary to speak. They were much the same as those that are to be found in all arbitrary monarchies-some for useful purposes others for parade, caprice, or show. For the same reason, it is unnecessary to describe the constitution of the armies of Hindostan. Enough has been said of their proceedings, under their respective rulers and commanders, in preceding pages. It is of more importance here to notice those whose duties brought them into constant and direct contact with the people at large, throughout the various provinces of the empire; many of whom, with the same, or analogous, duties, have been continued in the administration of the British government.

The empire being divided into Soubahs or provinces, the chief governor or viceroy was variously denominated Soubahdar, Se

pahsillar, Nazim, and Nawab. According to the Ayeen Akbery, this officer was "his

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majesty's vicegerent. The troops and sub'jects of the Soubah are under his orders;

and the prosperity thereof depends upon "his impartial distribution of justice." The power of this officer was unlimited within the province. Life and death were in his hands. He was moreover answerable for the regular transmission of the revenues of his Soubah to the Khalsa, or exchequer. But having, as we have already seen, always in view the realization of private or personal wealth to establish, when opportunity occurred, his own independence whilst the object of his royal master was, for the same reason, to keep him poor; jealousy, distrust, and deception were thus raised into fixed habits on both sides; particularly as no means existed for settling differences between the parties, except, as in Turkey, by the dagger, decapitation, or recurrence to the power of the sword.*

The emperor, therefore, required from his viceroy all that could be procured in the

Mr. Orme says of these Viceregents, that "their con"tumacy in resisting their sovereign, and battling among "themselves, was continually productive of such scenes of bloodshed, and of such deplorable devastation, as no other "nation in the universe is subject to."-Orme, on the Government and People of Hind. p. 399.

shape of revenue; whilst, after the transmission of a stipulated sum to the imperial exchequer, the Soubahdar had irresistible motives for draining from the subordinate officers, and these, again, for extorting from the Ryots of the province, all that was possible for their own private benefit. Hence it is easy to perceive how the wealth of the country, as it was annually created, found its way to certain depôts, whence it never again issued but to supply the wasteful extravagance of luxurious despots, or for purposes of violence, treachery, and blood, or as prize to the strongest arm. Its producers were stimulated to annual reproduction by the irresistible necessity of providing for their own (however scanty) subsistence; so that the surplus of every succeeding year followed that of its precursor, to be buried in the coffers of its merciless spoilers.

Under the orders of the Soubahdar, or Viceroy, was a Foujdar or officer entrusted with the charge of several pergunnahs, or districts, of the province. His duty included that of a police magistrate. He took cognizance of criminal matters within his jurisdiction; and sometimes was employed as receivergeneral of the revenues; for all which he had troops under his orders, with corps of native militia called Fouj Sibbendy. His instructions refer chiefly to the necessity of looking

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after disobedient Zemindars, and of reclaiming them, if possible, by fair means; if not, of inflicting proper punishment, which, of course, was left to his own discretion. When he had possessed himself of the strong hold of the rebels, he was required to "act with fidelity in the division of the plunder, a fifth part of which he shall send to the royal exchequer; and if, after making the division, there be any remainder, that shall "also be the property of the state." The nature of those powers is a sufficient warrant that they never would be leniently exercised; and, when combined with the influence of his immediate superior in the province, that the duty also would never be honestly performed.

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There were Courts, called Courts of Justice, in the provinces, in which a Meer Adul, and a Cazy presided. The Cazy was appointed to try causes, the Meer Adul to pass sentence, and order punishment. The chief Civil Judge of the province was called Dewan; he was also chief minister of the revenue department. He received his office from the Emperor, but was always the slave of the Soubahdar. Mr. Orme says that he united in his person the offices of Prime Minister, Chancellor and Secretary of State, and that from his decisions there was no appeal.

We have already seen that in these tri

bunals, justice was but a mockery of the term ; and Courts only used as instruments of exaction in the shape of legal fees, or in the shameless sale to the highest bidder of judicial decisions, against which relief was altogether hopeless.

The internal police of large towns and cities was entrusted to an officer denominated Cutwal, with a suitable establishment under him. The business of the Cutwal, under pretence always of order and peace, involved the superintendence of as complete a system of espionage, and of secret prying into the affairs of individuals, as is to be found among the most finished contrivances of this sort in the Western world. Dividing the city into quarters, he appointed a superintendant to each, by whom he was furnished with a regular journal of the occurrences of the quarter. In each quarter he had his spies; and, over these, other spies unknown to the former. Strangers and travellers were strictly watched, and places allotted for their residence. Among other duties, the Cutwal was required to attend carefully to the income and expences of every man.

Out of each class of artificers, he selected one to be at their head, and appointed another their broker for buying and selling; and regulated the business of the class by the reports of these officers. He was made responsible for stolen goods, unless he