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justice.

KUSHOON, CUSHOON. A body of military, cor- | NIZAMUT ADAWlut. The court of criminal responding nearest to our term brigade; varying from one to six or eight thousand. LAC. One hundred thousand.

LASCAR. Properly a camp-follower, but applied to native sailors and artillery-men.

NULLA. Streamlet, water-course.

NUZZER. A vow, an offering; a present made to a superior.

LIMBER. A low two-wheeled carriage, on which OMRAH. A lord, a grandee, under the Mogul

the trail of a gun is fixed when travelling: it is released in a moment if wanted to fire, which is called unlimbering: the cattle being yoked to the limber, guns are of course always dragged breech first.

MAAL, MAHL, MEHAL, MHAL. Places, districts, departments. Places, or sources of revenue, particularly of a territorial nature; lands.

MAHA. Great.

MOCURRERY. AS applied to lands, it means lands let on a fixed lease.

MOFUSSIL. Separated, particularized; the subordinate divisions of a district, in contradis

Provincial

tinction to Saddur, or Sudder, which implies the chief seat of government. MOFUSSIL DEWANNY ADAWLUT. court of civil justice. MOLUNGEE. Manufacturer of salt. MOOFTY, MUFTEE. The Mahomedan law-officer who declares the sentence. MONSOON. The rainy season. The periodical winds and rains.

MOOLAVY, MOHLAVEE. A learned and religious man, an interpreter of the Mahomedan law. MOONSHEE. Letter-writer, secretary. Europeans give this title to the native who instructs them in the Persian language. MOSQUE. A Mahomedan temple. MUSNUD. The place of sitting; a seat; a throne, or chair of state.

MUTSEDDY, MUTASEDDEE. Intent upon. Writer, accountant, secretary.

NABOB, NAWAB. Very great deputy, vice-
gerent. The governor of a province under the
Mogul government.
NAIB. A deputy.

NAIB NAZIM. Deputy of the Nazim, or Go

vernor.

NAIG, NAIK. A petty military officer. NAIR. Chief. The Nairs are a peculiar description of Hindus, on the Malabar coast. NAZIM. Composer, arranger, adjuster. The first officer of a province, and minister of the department of criminal justice.

NIZAM. Order, arrangement; an arranger. NIZAM UL MULK. The administrator of the empire.

government.

PAGODA. A temple; also the name of a gold coin, in the south of India, valued at eight shillings.

PALANKEEN. A litter in which gentlemen in India recline, and are carried on the shoulders of four men.

PARIAR. A term used by Europeans in India to denote the outcasts of the Hindu tribes. PATAN. A name applied to the Afghaun tribes. Guide, leader. The PESHWA, PEISHWA. prime minister of the Mahratta government. PEON. A footman, a foot soldier; an inferior officer or servant employed in the business of PERGUNNAH. A small district, consisting of the revenue, police, or judicature. several villages.

PESHCUSH. A present, particularly to government, in consideration of an appointment, or as an acknowledgement for any tenure. Tribute, fine, quit-rent, advance on the stipulated

revenues.

PETTAH. The suburbs of a fortified town.

POLLIGAR, POLYGAR. Head of a village dis

trict. Military chieftain in the Peninsula, similar to hill Zemindar in the northern circars.

POLLAM. A district held by a Polligar.
POTAIL. The head man of a village. The
term corresponds with that of Mocuddim and
Mundul in Bengal.

POTTAH. A lease granted to the cultivators, on the part of government, either written on paper, or engraved with a style on the leaf of the fan palmira tree.

PUNDIT. A learned Brahmen. PURANA, POORAN. Literally ancient: the name given to such Hindu books as treat of creation in general, with the history of their gods, and ancient heroes.

PYKE. A foot messenger. A person employed as a night-watch in a village, and as a runner or messenger on the business of the revenue. RAJAH. King, prince, chieftain, nobleman; a title in ancient times given to chiefs of the second or military Hindu tribe only. RAJEPOOT. Literally, son of a king. The name of a warlike race of Hindus. RANA. A species of rajah.

NIZAMUT. Arrangement, government; the of- RANNY, RANEE. Queen, princess, wife of a ffice of the Nazim, or Nizam.

rajah.

ROY ROYAN. A Hindu title given to the prin- TANK. Pond, reservoir.
cipal officer of the Khalsa, or chief treasurer of TANNAKDAR. A petty police officer.
the exchequer.
RUPEE. The name of a silver coin; rated in the
Company's accounts, the current rupee at
2s.; the Bombay rupee at 2s. 3d.

RYOT. Peasant, subject; tenant of house or land.

SAYER. What moves; variable imposts, distinct
from land rent or revenue; consisting of
customs, tolls, licenses, duties on goods, also
taxes on houses, shops, bazars, &c.
SEPOY. A native soldier.

SERAI. The same as Choultry.
SHASTER. The instrument of government or
instruction; any book of instruction, particu-
larly containing divine ordinances.
SHROFF, SHROF. A banker, or money-changer.
SIRDAR. Chief, captain, head man.
SOUCAR. A merchant, or banker; a money-lender.
SUBAH. A province, such as Bengal. A grand

division of a country, which is again divided into circars, chucklas, pergunnahs, and villages. SUBAHDAR. The holder of the subah, the governor, or viceroy.

SUBAHDARRY. The office and jurisdiction of a subahdar.

SUDDER. The breast; the fore-court of a house; the chief seat of government, contradistinguished from Mofussil, or interior of the country; the presidency.

SUDDER DEWANNY ADAWLUT. The chief civil

court of justice under the Company's government, held at the presidency.

SUDDER NIZAMUT ADAWLUT. The chief criminal court of justice, under the Company's government.

SUDRA, SHUDRA, SOODER. A Hindu of the fourth, or lowest tribe.

SUNNUD. A prop, or support; a patent, charter, or written authority for holding either land or office.

TALOOKDAR. A holder of a talook, which is a small portion of land; a petty land-agent.

TEEP. A note of hand; a promissory note given by a native banker, or money-lender, to Zemindars and others, to enable them to furnish government with security for the payment of their rents. TEHSILDAR. Who has charge of the collections. A native collector of a district acting under a European or Zemindar.

TOPASSES. Native black Christians, the remains of the ancient Portuguese. TOPE. A grove of trees. TUNCAW, TUNKHA. An assignment on the revenue for personal support, or other purposes. TUMBRIL. A carriage for the gun ammunition.

VACKEEL, VAQUEEL. One endowed with au

thority to act for another. Ambassador, agent sent on a special commission, or residing at a court. Native law pleader, under the judicial system of the Company.

VIZIR, VIZIER. Under the Mogul government, the prime minister of the sovereign. VEDAS, VEDS, BEEDS. Science, knowledge. The sacred scriptures of the Hindus. YOGIES, JOGIES. Hindu devotees. YUG, JUG, YOOG. An age; a great period of the Hindus, also a religious ceremony.

ZEMINDAR. From two words signifying, earth, land, and holder or keeper. Land-keeper. An officer who, under the Mahomedan government, was charged with the superintendance of the lands of a district, financially considered; the protection of the cultivators, and the realization of the government's share of its produce, either in money or kind. ZEMINDARRY. The office or jurisdiction of a Zemindar.

ZENANA. The place where the ladies reside. ZILLAH. Side, part, district, division. A local division of a country, having reference to personal jurisdiction.

N. B. The explanations of the above terms are taken, for the most part, from the Glossary attached to the Fifth Report of the Committee of the House of Commons on Indian affairs, appointed in 1810.

HISTORY

OF

BRITISH INDIA.

BOOK I.

(1527-1707)

Commencement of the British Intercourse with India; and the Circumstances of its Progress, till the Establishment of the Company on a durable Basis by the Act of the sixth of Queen Anne.

LITTLE more than two centuries have elapsed since a few British merchants humbly solicited from the princes of India permission to traffic in their territories. The British dominion now embraces nearly the whole of that vast region which extends from Cape Comorin to the mountains of Tibet, and from the mouths of the Brahmapootra to the sources of the Indus.

BOOK I.

work.

To collect, from its numerous and scattered sources, the information necessary to Object of the give clear and accurate ideas of this great empire, and of the transactions through which it has been acquired, is the object of the present undertaking. It is proposed:

I. To describe the circumstances in which the intercourse of this nation with India commenced, and the particulars of its early progress, till the era when it could first be regarded as placed on a firm and durable basis:

II. To exhibit as accurate a view as possible of the people with whom our countrymen had thus begun to transact―of their character, history, manners,

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Book I. religion, arts, literature, and laws; as well as of the physical circumstances of

climate, soil, and production, in which they were placed :

III. To deduce to the present times a history of the British transactions in relation to India; by recording the train of events; by unfolding the constitution of the East India Company, that body, half political, half commercial, through whom the business has been ostensibly carried on; by describing the nature, progress, and effects of their commercial operations; by exhibiting the legislative proceedings, the discussions and speculations, to which our intercourse with India has given birth; by analysing the schemes of government which have been adopted for our Indian dominions; and by an attempt to discover the character and tendency of that species of relation to one another in which Great Britain and the Indies are placed.

The subject forms an entire, and highly interesting, portion of the British History; and it is hardly possible that the matter should have been brought together, for the first time, without being instructive, however unskilfully the task may have been performed. If the success of the author corresponded with his wishes, he would throw light upon a state of society highly curious, and hitherto commonly misunderstood; upon the history of society, which in the compass of his work presents itself in almost all its stages and all its shapes; upon the principles of legislation, in which he has so many important experiments to describe; and upon interests of his country, of which his countrymen have hitherto remained very much in ignorance, while prejudice usurped and abused the prerogatives of understanding.

Portuguese first enjoyed

the trade

CHAP. I.

From the Commencement of the Efforts to begin a Trade with India, till the Change of the Company from a regulated to a joint-stock Company.

THE Portuguese had formed important establishments in India before the
British offered themselves as competitors for the riches of the East.

the

From the time when Vasco de Gama distinguished his nation by discovering passage round the Cape of Good Hope, and first reached the coast of Hindustan, a whole century had elapsed, during which, without a rival, they had Good Hope. enjoyed and abused the advantages of superior knowledge and art, amid a feeble

to India by the Cape of

and half-civilized race. They had explored. the Indian ocean, as far as Japan; CHAP. I. had discovered its islands, rich with some of the most favourite productions of nature; had achieved the most brilliant conquests; and by their commerce poured into Europe, in unexampled profusion, those commodities of the East on which the nations at that time set an extraordinary value.

The circumstances of this splendid fortune had violently attracted the attention of Europe. The commerce of India, even when confined to those narrow limits which a carriage by land had prescribed, was supposed to have elevated feeble states into great ones; and to have constituted an enviable part in the fortune even of the most opulent and powerful; to have contributed largely to support the Grecian monarchies both in Syria and Egypt; to have retarded the downfall of Constantinople; and to have raised the small and obscure republic of Venice to the rank and influence of the most potent kingdoms. The discovery therefore of a new channel for this opulent traffic, and the happy experience of the Portuguese, inflamed the cupidity of all the maritime nations of Europe, and set before them the most tempting prospects.

and nautical spirit of the

An active spirit of commerce had already begun to display itself in England. Commercial The nation had happily obtained its full share of the improvement which had dawned in Europe; and the tranquil and economical reign of Elizabeth had been English. favourable both to the accumulation of capital, and to those projects of private emolument on which the spirit of commerce depends. A brisk trade, and of considerable extent, had been carried on during the greater part of the sixteenth century with the Netherlands, at that time the most improved and commercial part of Europe. The merchants of Bristol had opened a traffic with the Canary Islands; those of Plymouth with the coasts of Guinea and Brazil: the English now fished on the banks of Newfoundland; and explored the sea of Spitzbergen, for the sovereign of the waters: they engrossed, by an exclusive privilege, the commerce of Russia: they took an active part in the trade of the Mediterranean: the company of merchant-adventurers pushed so vigorously the traffic with Germany and the central parts of Europe, as highly to excite the jealousy of the Hanse Towns: and the protestant inhabitants of the Netherlands and France, flying from the persecutions of their own oppressive and bigoted governments, augmented the commercial resources of England by the capital and skill of a large importation of the most ingenious and industrious people in Europe.*

* Anderson's History of Commerce in the reign of Elizabeth, passim. See also Hakluyt's Voyages, ii. 3, 96. Ibid. iii. 690. Guicciardini's Description of the Netherlands. Sir William Temple. Camden, 408.

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