Letters - Select Letters of Tippoo Sulṭān (Kirkpatrick)

MY LORD:

IT is neither for the ostentatious purpose of gracing the front of my book with an illustrious name, nor, by thus giving it the apparent stamp of your approbation, to promote its favourable reception with the public, that the present work is dedicated to your Lordship. It is equally remote from my intention, either to offer it as a tribute of gratitude for former, or to employ it as a passport to future obligations. The first of these objects would be but feebly answered, and the latter could not, in any degree, be advanced, by such inadequate means. It is a principle of justice, and of justice alone, which has prompted me to address it to your Lordship.

I am far from the vanity or presumption of imagining, that the introduction of your name, on this occasion, can be in the least flattering to your Lordship. No, my Lord; I am only anxious to avoid the manifest impropriety of which I should be guilty, if I were to dedicate to any but your Lordship, a work, which, in truth, owes its existence to you.

This is no compliment, my Lord, but a mere historical fact: for who does not know that it was your Lordship’s political sagacity which penetrated, and your prompt and energetic measures which defeated, the hostile designs of Tippoo Sultan against the British Dominions in India? Who is ignorant, that it was those measures which led to the rapid annihilation of the most formidable power with whom we ever had to cope in that quarter of the globe, and which substituted in its place an order of things, redounding no less to the glory, than conducing to the solid interests, of your country?

To the complete success which, under Divine Providence, crowned the wise and vigorous conduct of your Lordship, in this short but arduous contest, is the public indebted, among other inestimable advantages of the most important and durable nature, for the possession of the archives of Seringapatam. To whom, therefore, can a work, compiled from those archives, be so appropriately addressed, as to him who procured us access to whatever information they contain?

Having thus, I presume, satisfactorily established your Lordship’s public claim to the present humble tribute, it only remains for me to shew, that you possess still another title to it, which though of a private nature, is equally imperative upon me, as the compiler of the following sheets: for if that tribute would have been due to your Lordship from any person whatsoever, who might have casually obtained possession of the documents composing this work, and have anticipated me in the publication of them, how much more is your Lordship entitled to receive such an acknowledgement from one, who is, in fact, indebted for his materials to the official situations in which he had the honor of being employed under your Lordship’s administration in India?

Exeter,
1st February, 1811.

IT is already generally known, that upon the reduction of Seringapatam, in the year 1799, all the public records of the then existing Government of Mysore passed into the possession of the captors. It is also, however, but too certain, that many of these precious documents were accidentally burnt, or otherwise destroyed, in the confusion and disorder which unavoidably ensued upon the assault of the fort: nor is it improbable, that some portion of them has disappeared, in consequence of falling, on the same occasion, into the hands of private persons, ignorant of the value, and indifferent to the preservation of their prize. But whatever loss may have arisen from the last mentioned cause, it is, nevertheless, owing to the active care, and intelligent research, of an individual, that several of the most important of the Mysore papers, now remaining, have been rescued from oblivion; and, among the rest, the very Register of public Letters, from which the correspondence, contained in the present volume, has been extracted. The gentleman here alluded to is Lieutenant-Colonel Ogg, of the East-India Company’s Madras Establishment,^* to whose kindness the Translator is indebted for the chief part of the interesting materials relative to Tippoo Sultan, of which he is in possession.

Of the state papers discovered at Seringapatam, immediately after the capture of that place, many have been already communicated to the Public, through official and other channels.^* Those, in particular, which served to develope the more recent intrigues of Tippoo Sultan with the enemies of Great-Britain, were published, soon after his overthrow, by authority of the Supreme Government of India, and subsequently in this country. A report of the general nature of these documents was drawn up, at an early period, in pursuance of directions from Marquis Wellesley, by the present writer, who had been employed to examine them, and who suggested, at the time, the expediency of having the whole translated, preparatory to a proper selection being made from them, for the information of the public.^† The great pressure of business in the Persian Department, prevented, however, the adoption of this recommendation, when first submitted to the Governor General; and the same cause has probably continued to operate, to the disappointment of the expectation which may be presumed to have been excited on the occasion. By none can this disappointment be more severely felt or regretted, than by the compiler of these sheets, who is too well acquainted with the eminent talents of the gentleman^‡ then at the head of the Persian Office in Bengal, not to appreciate duly the heavy loss sustained by the literary world at large, but more especially by such as are fond of enquiries into the Modern History of India, in consequence of his having been precluded, by his official avocations, from undertaking the task alluded to.

But it may still, perhaps, be permitted us to hope, that this object has not been absolutely relinquished; and that some portion, at least, of the extensive and valuable documents, enumerated in the report just referred to, may at no distant period, be submitted to the public eye, which, in the mean while, may possibly view with indulgence, the present specimen of the less copious, but equally curious and interesting materials, discovered subsequently to the date of that report. Of those materials, (or, rather, such of them as have reached the Translator’s hands) the following sheets constitute only a part. The remaining letters of Tippoo Sultan, to say nothing of other documents in the writer’s possession, would, after due selection, furnish abundant matter for another volume: but enough, probably, is here done, for the immediate gratification of the public curiosity. It must rest on the reception given to the present work, and on the state of the Translator’s health, whether he shall hereafter attempt a continuation of it. However this may be, as the other materials, alluded to, have no necessary dependence, either upon those employed in the ensuing pages, or upon one another, no inconvenience can result to the reader or purchaser from their separate publication.

The Translator will probably have reason to regret, that he has allowed so long a period to intervene, between the publication of the present volume and his acquisition of the materials which principally compose it. It would, no doubt, have excited a stronger interest than it can now be hoped to do, if it had appeared, while the public curiosity, with regard to whatever related to Tippoo Sultan, was still eager, and while the memory of the events connected with his name was yet recent. But various circumstances, with which it is unnecessary to trouble the Reader, combined to prevent the Translator, till within the last twelvemonth, from undertaking to arrange the documents in his possession for the press. He will only mention one; which is, that during the whole of the intermediate time, he was constantly in expectation that the work in his contemplation (for he confesses to have always had it in view) would be anticipated from some other quarter. Notwithstanding, however, the unfavourable effect, but too likely to be produced by the delay which has occurred, the Translator is willing to flatter himself, that, even at this late period, the attempt to illustrate a character, so conspicuous in modern days as that of Tippoo Sultan, and to throw light on transactions, so closely connected, as those of his reign are, with the history of the British Empire in India, is in little danger of being deemed entirely destitute, either of interest or utility. In this humble confidence are the following sheets now presented to the Public, whose judgment concerning them will be awaited by the Translator with no inconsiderable anxiety.

THE Register from which the following letters have been taken, and which has been cursorily noticed in the Advertisement, is the fragment, only, of a record, which, if it had reached us in a perfect state, would probably have exhibited copies of all the public or official correspondence of Tippoo Sultan, from the commencement to the close of his reign. Unfortunately, however, the portion of these highly interesting documents which has been preserved, or, at least, hitherto discovered, is not so extensive as could have been wished; the correspondence, in question, not beginning till February 1785, and ending with November 1793. But, even in this period, considerable chasms occur; while, from 1794 to 1799, is an absolute blank. In short, we are, at present, in possession of little more than a third part of the correspondence, which may reasonably be supposed to have taken place within the time spoken of: in which account, however, I do not include such detached letters of the Sultan as have come to us through other channels, and all of which are of a subsequent date to the latest of those recorded in the Register.

But whatever cause we may have to regret the actual deficiency of our present materials, we ought not, perhaps, absolutely to despair of its being yet supplied by the successful diligence of future enquirers. Adverting to the extreme regularity observed by the Sultan in the registry of his official correspondence, little doubt can be entertained of the existence of the now missing part of it, at the time of his death. Supposing it therefore, to have escaped the destruction, which, as was stated in the Advertisement, swept away but too many of the archives of his government, it is still possible, that it may be recovered, out of the private hands into which it has probably fallen. In the mean while, the value of the portion actually preserved, is not, perhaps, essentially diminished, by the loss that appears to have been sustained. Enough remains, if not to elucidate every transaction of the Sultan’s reign, at least to develope his singular character in the most satisfactory manner. The importance of these letters, indeed, does not consist so much in the light which they are calculated to shed on several material occurrences of the period they relate to (though, in this respect, they will certainly be found a useful guide to the future historian of Mysore) as in the vivid illustration which they afford of the genius, talents, and disposition of their extraordinary author, who is here successively and repeatedly delineated, in colors from his own pencil, as the cruel and relentless enemy; the intolerant bigot or furious fanatic; the oppressive and unjust ruler; the harsh and rigid master; the sanguinary tyrant; the perfidious negociator; the frivolous and capricious innovator; the mean and minute economist; the peddling trader; and even the retail shop-keeper. The painter will not be suspected of overcharging the unfavorable traits of the picture, when it is considered that that picture is his own.

In making the present selection from about a thousand letters,^* I have confined myself, almost entirely, to such as either appeared to exhibit the Sultan in some new light; to unfold some of his political, financial, or commercial views; or to elucidate some historical fact. Those which merely related to the details of ordinary business, without eliciting any thing peculiarly characteristic of the writer, have been passed over. I have also judged it unnecessary to insert any part of the Sultan’s correspondence with the several British Governors of India, as most of these documents are already in the possession of the Public.

I will now proceed to give some account of the rules, by which I have, in general, been guided in the course of the present translation.

My principal object, in this work, being to present as striking a likeness of Tippoo, as the nature of my materials, and the extent of my ability to employ them advantageously, would admit, I thought it essential to this end, to render his sentiments, on all occasions, as closely as the different idioms of the two languages would allow, without involving the sense in difficulty or obscurity. In short, what I wished, but cannot hope to have attained, is, that the reader, losing sight entirely of the translator, should fancy himself in presence of the Sultan, listening to the latter, while dictating to one or other of the different secretaries by whom he was usually attended.

Proceeding on this principle, I have, for the most part, adhered more strictly to the phraseology or diction of my original, than is usually deemed necessary, or expedient, in translations from a foreign language; and I am ready to admit, that my unwillingness to relinquish the slightest turn of expression, appearing particularly to denote the feeling which suggested it, may have sometimes led me too far. Still, however, my translation is not absolutely a verbal one; since I have not scrupled to exercise a certain license, as often as either our language could not be easily bent to the form of the Persian, or ambiguity was likely to result from the attempt. There are, indeed, two points, in which I acknowledge to have uniformly deviated from the strict letter of the original, and on which it may not be improper, in this place, to submit a few observations to the notice of the Reader.

One of the points alluded to consists in my making the writer of these letters almost constantly use the first person plural, when speaking of himself; but though it is true, that the precise words, corresponding to we, our, and us, are not employed by the Sultan, yet are the latter entirely agreeable to the genius of the language, in which nothing is more common than the substitution of the plural for the singular pronouns, unless it be that of the third for both the first and second.^* In these letters, however, the pronoun of the first person, whether singular or plural, scarcely ever occurs,^† the words Hûzoor (Presence), and Sircar (state or government), being every where used instead of them. As, therefore, the perpetual recurrence of such terms would have had a very awkward appearance in English, if it would not, also, have sometimes embarrassed the sense, I did not hesitate at converting them generally into pronouns. It may be further urged, in justification of the liberty I have taken, that while, on the one hand, the style of majesty, thus assigned to the Sultan, is in perfect conformity with the usage of the East, it is also the best suited to the mandatory nature of the chief part of the letters, and to the actual rank of the writer. In a few instances, where the persons addressed are of a different description from the generality of his correspondents, I have judged it right to make the Sultan descend (as, indeed, he more or less does himself in the original) to the customary style of equality.

The second point, in which I have ventured to depart pretty constantly from the manuscript, respects the tense, as the preceding one does the person. Instead of the perfect, or preterpluperfect tense, in which the letters of his correspondents are always spoken of by the Sultan, I have adopted, as more agreeable to the idiom of our language, the use of the present and compound preterite: thus, for it was written (by you), or you wrote, I have put, you write. In the same manner I have rendered passed under view, by, has passed under (our) view;^* and so in other similar cases.

With the exceptions which have been stated, and scarcely with any other, my general rule has been, to retain, as nearly as possible, every word and thought, that seemed to mark, in any prominent degree, the peculiar cast of the writer’s mind.

Tippoo Sultan, indeed, rarely took up his pen, without its laying open some recess or other of his various and irregular mind. He seldom issues an order, that does not bespeak, either the general tone of his nature, or the particular impulse of the moment. He seems to have felt no hesitation in avowing, in the course of the letters which follow, the most flagitious sentiments; and this may be accounted for on one or other, or on both, of these principles. The letters being, in the first place, addressed, with few exceptions, to persons in absolute dependence on him, he consequently would be wholly free from that sort of reserve, which arises from the fear of incurring the censure or reproach of the world. He knew his will to be a law, the propriety of which, as it might concern others, would never be canvassed or doubted by any of his slaves. In the next place, he probably measured the sentiments in question, by a different standard from that with which we estimate them. Thus, the various murders and acts of treachery, which we see him directing to be carried into execution, were not criminal, but, on the contrary, just, and even meritorious, in his eyes. They might, and most likely did, in a great degree, proceed from a disposition naturally cruel and sanguinary: but, perhaps, an intolerant religious zeal and bigotry were not less active motives to them. The Koran taught him, that it was not necessary to keep faith with infidels, or the enemies of the true religion, in which class it was not difficult for him to persuade himself that it was right to include all who opposed, or refused to co-operate in, his views, for the extension of that religion; or, in other words, for his own aggrandisement. Hence it was, that our Musulman allies and subjects were scarcely less obnoxious to his hatred and vengeance than ourselves. With regard to the secret murder of his English prisoners, his dreadful slaughter of the Koorgs and Nairs, and his forcible conversion of so many thousands of the two latter tribes to the Mahommedan faith, he most probably thought such enormities no less warranted, both by the example and precepts of the founder of his religion, than the infraction of oaths and engagements in transactions with unbelievers.

It may be thought, that admitting the propriety of a close adherence, in general, to the original of a work of the peculiar nature of the present, still there was no necessity for retaining, so scrupulously as I may seem to have done, its numerous pleonasms and tautologies, both in matter and expression. With respect, however, to the former of these defects, (namely, the perpetual reiteration of the same opinion or direction) I confess I did not deem it right to retrench superfluities, which did not appear as such to their author; who, though he undoubtedly too often wearies us with a repetition of the same thing, might, nevertheless, in so doing, have had it in view to stimulate the diligence and zeal of his servants: and where the fault may not seem to have proceeded from this cause, it at least marks an earnest solicitude of mind, for the accomplishment of the objects so incessantly impressed on the attention of the persons addressed. These observations will be found, perhaps, more especially applicable to the letters written to Kumrûddeen Khân, to Bûrhânûddeen, and to the diplomatic agents at Poonah.

With regard to the mere verbal tautologies, I am ready to admit that they might have been considerably abridged, without any injury to the general sense of the original, and certainly with advantage to the style. As, however, they appeared to me, in many instances, strongly characteristic of the genius and temper of the writer, I have, on such occasions, thought it right to preserve them in the translation, though somewhat at the expence of good taste and brevity. On the other hand, where the perpetual recurrence of an unmeaning form of speech would have become grating to the ear, or tiresome to the eye, I have not scrupled to vary it occasionally. I shall be found to have exercised this liberty most frequently in the introductory part of these letters, where, instead of “your humble address has passed under view, and the circumstances set forth therein are manifest, or duly comprehended, &c.” with which, or similar words, they usually begin, I have generally contented myself with a simple notification of the receipt of the letter referred to. Now and then, only, for the sake of variety, I have retained the circuitous phraseology of the original. On the whole, however, I have no where, for the mere sake of improving the general style of the translation, or of infusing more spirit into any particular passage or expression, deviated intentionally from my manuscript, of which my endeavour has been to give as faithful a version as was compatible with a due regard to perspicuity. If I have not always succeeded in this object, I am willing that the failure should, for the most part, be attributed to my incompetency. At the same time, I owe it to myself to observe, and trust my readers will believe, that it has sometimes proceeded entirely from the obscurity of the original, occasioned either by the carelessness of my author, or by the errors of transcribers.

Notwithstanding the few redundancies of style which have been noticed as pervading the following letters, their general characteristic is certainly brevity, which, perhaps, might proceed, in some degree, from a notion of the writer, that the laconic manner was the one best suited to the authoritative nature of his dispatches, as well as to the relative situation of the persons to whom they were chiefly addressed. It was certainly, too, well adapted, if not absolutely necessary, to the purpose of one who had his pen for ever in his hand, and who himself (whether from inclination, or from an universal distrust of all whom he employed, or from a passion to be thought, not only the principal, but the sole originator, of every thing) directed, either by writing or orally, the most minute details of his government. Such a one could not have had leisure to compose long letters, had they been necessary; which, however, would rarely be the case. But be this as it might, the Sultan does not appear to have possessed a sufficient stretch of thought upon any subject (even those that he most delighted in or affected) to enable him to discuss it, either with logical force or precision. A consecutive train of argument was a thing of which he no where seems to have had an idea: yet some of the occasions, on which he wrote or dictated, certainly afforded ample scope for the display of the reasoning faculty. His writings, however, furnish as little proof of his having possessed this faculty, as his actions in general did. Even in his own Memoirs, which he did not begin to compose till he was past forty, we meet with nothing indicating capacity of any kind. He did not even write with facility. This is clearly shewn, by various memorandums in his hand-writing, which, though very short, and on subjects of no difficulty, abound in erasures and corrections. One, in particular, relating to the question, whether Major Doveton should be allowed to accompany the hostage princes, on their return from Madras? is nearly unintelligible, in consequence of the interlineations which disfigure, and the general confusion of ideas and dates which pervades it. As this curious document, besides serving to establish the truth of the position just advanced, is, in some other respects, extremely interesting, the Persian reader may not be displeased to see a fac simile of it, which has been engraved for this work, and forms Appendix A.

Although the authenticity of these letters will hardly be disputed, even by the most sceptical, yet the reader may hesitate to believe, that, with the exception, perhaps, of those addressed to the Emperor of Hindostan (the late Shah Allum), and a few others of the more elaborate or finished kind, if any of them may be so considered, they were either dictated by the Sultan, or actually proceeded from his pen. Nor, indeed, does this notion admit, at present, of any direct or positive proof. Its probability only can be contended for; and that, I think, sufficiently deducible from the internal evidence afforded by these documents themselves. Their laconic and abrupt style, their commanding and peremptory tone, and the asperity of language which distinguishes so many of them, all abundantly indicate their origin. No Mûnshy, or secretary, in short, can be reasonably supposed to have drafted such letters; while, as to the labour attending the composition or dictation of so many dispatches, as sometimes appear under the same date, it will scarcely be thought to constitute any objection to the present hypothesis, in the case of one so addicted to writing, and so indefatigable in business, as the Sultan was.

To return from this digression, to the account I proposed giving of the plan of the following translation. The notes which I have annexed to it are of two kinds: those merely explanatory of a single word, or phrase, or referring to other letters, or relating to dates, appear at the bottom of the page. When, on the other hand, a particular letter or passage has suggested to me any reflections, to which I wished to draw the reader’s attention, I have, instead of encumbering the page with them, placed them under the title of “OBSERVATIONS,” at the end of the letter giving rise to them. Upon this commentary, if I may so call those observations, I have taken occasion to engraft, besides other original matter, a considerable portion of a highly interesting manuscript, purporting to be a Memoir of Tippoo Sultan, written by himself. This curious document was among the numerous papers discovered by Colonel Ogg. The copy with which that gentleman favored me was entitled Tareekhe Khodâdâdy, i. e. the Khodâdâdy Annals, or History of the Khodâdâd Sircar. The work was, from the beginning, in an imperfect state; the narrative being brought down to no later a period than the termination of the Mahrattah war, or the month of February 1787. My copy, however, has been rendered still more incomplete, by an unfortunate accident, which occasioned the destruction of several leaves of it. The original Memoir evidently formed, as far as it went, the ground-work of the more diffuse and elaborate history of Zynûl Aabideen Shoostry, mentioned by Colonel Wilks, and called by its author, in allusion to his master’s name, “the “Sultan of History.” I am not enabled to say, whether the copy of the fragment found by Colonel Ogg was in the actual hand-writing of the Sultan: but, however this may be, I venture to think, that no just doubt can be entertained of its genuineness. It was discovered in the palace of the Sultan, and along with other documents of unquestioned authenticity. The style and matter of it, moreover, abundantly support its claim to credit. It is written throughout in the first person; and while it states some facts which could be known only to the Sultan, it every where breathes the same over-weening spirit, which so strongly distinguishes almost every production of his pen. The Persian scholar, however, who may wish to judge on this point for himself, will have it in his power to do so, by inspecting the manuscript in question; which, together with the original of the following letters, will be deposited in the East-India Company’s Library.^*

Such technical terms (and especially the names of offices and employments) as I could not render into English, with perfect reliance on the fidelity of my interpretation, I have retained in the original, and subjoined, by the way of notes, the best explanation of them in my power to give I may add here, that whenever I have been in any doubt, with respect to the sense of a particular word or phrase, I have usually noticed it, offering, at the same time, the interpretation that seemed to me to be nearest the truth, and not unfrequently putting the original Persian at the bottom of the page. Where the meaning, on the other hand, owing to some error in the manuscript, or to my insufficiency, has appeared utterly inexplicable, I have thought it best to pass over the unintelligible part altogether, but never without announcing the omission.

This seems the proper place for apprizing the reader, that the words enclosed in hooks, or crotchets, are not strictly warranted by the original, but have been supplied, in order to complete the sense, and prevent the obscurity which their omission would have been liable to produce: for, however diffuse or exuberant the usual style of Persian composition may be, that language abounds in phrases and modes of expression, which, owing to their concise structure, leave much to be understood, and which can be rendered intelligible in English, only by such means as I have occasionally adopted.

I could have wished it had been in my power to have elucidated the geography of the present work, in a more satisfactory manner than has been done. In fact, I have been enabled to afford the reader little or no additional information on this subject, in aid of what is to be obtained from the latest maps of Mysore, of which I consider the one, given in Colonel Wilks’s valuable History of that state, as the best. What has increased my difficulty, on this occasion, is, that the names of many places, occurring in the Persian manuscript, are written so indistinctly, that I could only guess at them; which, however, I have never done, without noticing the circumstance. Besides this, there are several forts and towns mentioned in the following pages, which would be sought for in vain in any map or gazetteer, hitherto published; because, in the rage for innovation, which never ceased to actuate the Sultan, he was led, among other reforms of a similar nature, to change their ancient and still generally prevalent names. Thus, to Chittledoorg he gave the name of Furrûkh-yâb Hisâr; to Gooty, that of Fyze-Hisâr, &c. Some of these innovations are officially announced, in the course of the present work. It appears somewhat singular, that in his childish eagerness to give new denominations to every thing, he should have suffered Seringapatam and Bangalore to retain their old names; especially as the former appellation, having been derived from an idol, might, on that account, be supposed to have been particularly offensive to a bigotted Musulman. It is not, therefore, improbable, that some superstitious notion may have restrained him in these instances, and saved those ancient cities from the transformation experienced by so many others.

On the subject of the oriental orthography of the present work, it is the more necessary to submit a few remarks to the reader’s consideration, as these letters abound so greatly in proper names, and other Persian or Hindivi words. Such a diversity of opinion and practice prevails in this respect, that it would not be possible to adopt any scheme entirely acceptable to all. That which I have, for the most part, endeavoured to follow, is the one introduced at the College of Fort William, on the first establishment of that admirable institution, which appears to me better adapted than any other, to convey to the English reader an accurate notion of the pronunciation of the Persian language, as spoken in India. I have not, however, rigidly adhered to the scheme in question, having, for instance, rarely followed it, in opposition to any very prevalent or general practice, however incorrect the latter might be. Thus I have always, in compliance with the common usage, written Mahommed, instead of Muhummed; Mysore, instead of Mysoor; Bangalore, instead of Bungloor; Seringapatam, instead of Sri-rung-putn, &c. On the same principle, I have preferred Tippoo Sultan to the more correct spelling of Tipoo Sûltaun or Sûltân; though I observe that the latter mode of writing the word Sultan has been adopted by Major Stewart and others. Still, however, as the short, or quick sound, of the last of the two syllables composing it, is almost in universal use, I have thought it right to preserve the spelling which best expresses that sound.^*

Before I conclude these introductory remarks it may be proper to state, that my chief trouble, in the present work, has arisen from the difficulty I have had in adjusting the Kalendar introduced by the Sultan. On this subject I have found it necessary to enter into a distinct discussion, which, accordingly, immediately follows the Preface. It may here suffice to say, that though I am, by no means, confident of having completely succeeded in my endeavors on this occasion, I nevertheless trust, that none of my dates will be found materially wrong. I also deem it requisite to observe, that notwithstanding the pains which I have taken to arrange these letters in the regular order of time, I am apprehensive that some of them will be found out of their proper place. The reason of this is, that with a view to dispatch, the original was distributed, for copying, among several transcribers; and that, on the completion of the work, the different portions of the copy, instead of being carefully disposed, according to their respective dates, were bound up promiscuously together. Owing to this inadvertency, I constantly found, when I came to examine them in a collected form, that two letters which, agreeably to their dates, should have stood together, were separated, perhaps, by a hundred pages: consequently, before I could proceed satisfactorily with my translation, I was obliged to reduce this chaos to some order; and if I have not been entirely successful in the attempt, the indulgent reader will make due allowance for the difficulty and irksomeness of my task.

Besides the extensive obligations which I have declared myself to be under to the liberal kindness of Colonel Ogg, it is incumbent upon me to acknowledge, on the present occasion, the great assistance I have derived, in several instances, from another source. I here allude to various valuable communications with which I have, at different times, been favoured, by my very able friend, Lieutenant Colonel Colin M‘Kenzie, of the Madras Engineers; to whose indefatigable and laudable researches, respecting the History and Antiquities of the South of India, such just and honorable testimony has been borne by Colonel Wilks, in the valuable work which that accomplished writer has lately presented to the public.

The list of those, however, to whom I owe the humble tribute of my thanks on the present occasion is not yet closed. I am proud to add to it the name of Dr. Wilkins, the learned and ingenious Librarian of the East India Company, to whose friendly assistance and advice, at the outset of my undertaking in particular, I consider myself to be much indebted. I am also eager to acknowledge my obligations to Charles Stewart, Esq. the learned Professor of Arabic, Persian, and Hindostâny, at the East-India Company’s College at Hertford; and to Sir Charles Warre Malet, Bart., who filled with distinguished reputation, during a period of ten years, the important station of Resident at the Court of Poonah. The nature of the communications with which I have been favored by the two latter gentlemen, will appear more fully in the sequel.

But to none of my literary friends do I feel more deeply indebted, for aid afforded me in the conduct of the present work, than to John Shakespear, Esq. of the Honorable East-India Company’s Military Institution at Croydon, in Surry; for if that able Orientalist had not most kindly undertaken to superintend it in its progress through the press, I must, of necessity, on account of my unavoidable absence from town, have postponed its publication to an indefinite period, if I had not even been induced, by the difficulties arising from this circumstance, to relinquish my design altogether. I would fain, therefore, enlarge, in this place, on the advantages which my book has derived, from the indefatigable care bestowed upon its revision; but I am restrained from indulging my inclination, in this respect, by knowing that I shall best consult the satisfaction of the gentleman in question, by abstaining, on the present occasion, from any more particular acknowledgement of my obligations to him.

To the names of the persons already announced, as having contributed, by their communications, to whatever value the present work may be thought to possess, I am bound to add those of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Munro and Lieutenant Colonel Mariott, both of the Madras establishment. I must, at the same time, lament, that circumstances should not have admitted of my profiting by their extensive information, in the degree which an earlier application to them might have enabled me to do.

BEFORE I could proceed in the translation of the following letters, it was necessary that I should acquire some insight into the construction of the Kalendar instituted by Tippoo Sultan, and always employed by him, excepting in his correspondence with persons not subjected to his authority, when he condescended to use the common Mahommedan reckoning. Till I could attain this knowledge, it would neither be possible for me to rectify the confusion in the arrangement of the manuscript, occasioned by the accident noticed in the Preface, nor to convert the Sultan’s dates into the corresponding English dates. Of the necessity of the first of these operations, or the classing of the letters in the order of time, there could be no doubt, since this was absolutely necessary to the right understanding of many of them; while the utility of others, in an historical view, depended, in some measure, on the degree of accuracy with which the dates of the original might be reduced to our chronology.

When, however, I came to examine the means I possessed for this purpose, I found that they were much more scanty than I had supposed them to be: nor have I been so fortunate as to supply the deficiency, by such enquiries as it has been in my power to make in this country. No doubt, the requisite information might have been obtained from India; but the fact is, that it was not until very lately that I discovered the want of any. As it is, I trust that I have, at least, made such an approximation to the truth (if I have not actually arrived at it), as will sufficiently answer the main ends in view.

I have no means of ascertaining with precision, at what period of his reign Tippoo Sultan introduced his first innovation in the Kalendar; but there is good reason to believe, that it was about a year after his accession to the Musnud. The earliest document in my possession, dated according to his new Kalendar, is an edict, or regulation, of the 15th Jaafury of the year Uzl (or thirty-eighth of the cycle hereafter explained), corresponding, as I reckon, to the 10th of June 1784: but another, issued about six months anterior to this, or in January 1784, shows that the reformed Kalendar was not in use at the latter period, since the edict in question bears no other date than the Mahommedan one of Zilhijjeh, A.H. 1197.⁽¹⁾ From these data it may be inferred, that the new Kalendar was established some time between January and June 1784.

There is no doubt, that this Kalendar was founded on the reckoning in common use in Mysore, which was that of the Malabar cycle of sixty years. To the years composing this cycle, the Sultan gave new names; as he did to the months of the year. But though he took the Hindoo computation for his ground-work, he would not appear to have adhered strictly to it, since disagreements between the two reckonings sometimes occur. Thus the 14th Tûlooey (or 9th month of Tippoo Sultan’s year), which was the Sultan’s birth-day, did not coincide with the 14th, but with the 17th of Mârgaiser or Ughun (9th month of the Hindoo year). The cause of this discrepancy may probably be traced in the following division of the year, according to the Sultan’s first regulation of it.

Though the foregoing names are not absolutely unmeaning, yet they would not appear to have had any appropriate signification attached to them; with the exception of the first, called by one of the names of Mahommed, and of the eighth, or Hydery, which might possibly have been so denominated in honor of the Sultan’s father, as Tûlooey might likewise have been, in allusion to its being the month in which the Sultan himself arose, or was born. Whether Behâry had any reference to the spring, in which season it always occurred, is uncertain. Of the whole of these months it is, however, to be observed, that the initial letter of each denotes its place in the Kalendar, according to the well-known notation called or Ubjud, which assigns a certain numerical power to every letter in the alphabet.⁽²⁾ There being no single letter to express either 11, or 12, the two first letters of Eezidy and Byâzy, added together, denote the place of each, respectively, in the order of months, viz. 1 + 10 = 11. 2 + 10 = 12.

I cannot state positively, whether or not these months invariably consisted of the same number of days; but, as far as the documents in my possession enable me to judge, it would not appear that any fluctuation took place in this respect. It is here, however, proper to notice, that in the Appendix to Colonel Beatson’s book, a memorandum of the Sultan’s appears (respecting the battle of Suddasir), according to which the month of Râzy would seem to have consisted of thirty, whereas my table assigns to it only twenty-nine days. I have not the means, at present, of consulting the original document; but it occurs to me as being possible, that the Sultan may have written Sulkh, or, “the last day,” and that the translator may have supposed the thirtieth to be meant. If this should not be the case, it will not be easy to reconcile the disagreement in question.

The names given to the years of the cycle were formed also on the principle of the Ubjud notation, with the exception of the two first years, which were denominated Ahd (one or unity), and Ahmed (Mahommed), in honor of God and the Prophet; and implying that the latter was the second, as the Almighty was the first object of veneration. The rest of the names, though like those of the months, not entirely destitute of meaning, had no specific import. They merely denoted the order of each year in the cycle, which was found by adding together the numerical powers of the several letters composing the name, the amount being the number of the year. Thus Uzl (the name of the year with which the following correspondence commences) is equivalent to 38 (1+7+30), and denotes that the year, so called, is the thirty-eighth of the cycle (corresponding to A.D. 1784-5.)

But this arrangement was, after some time, superseded by another; the Sultan having, as there is reason to believe, made a second reform of the Kalendar, in the forty-first year of the cycle (or AD. 1787-8). The latter alteration, however, would not appear to have extended further than to the substitution of new names to the months and years, in the place of those first assigned to them. These new names possessed the same property as the old; namely, that of severally indicating the number of the year, and the order of the month, by virtue of their numerical power. The notation, however, now used was different from the Ubjud, and has been called by some Ubtus (an unmeaning word, formed by a combination of the first four letters of the alphabet⁽³⁾); but is, by the Sultan himself, in one of the letters of the present collection, denominated (if there be no error in the manuscript) Zur, and derived by him, but I do not distinctly understand how, from the Koran. The difference between the two schemes consists in this: in the Ubjud, the numerical powers of the letters depend on the order of the latter in the arbitrary verse already referred to; whereas, in the Ubtus, or Zur, they depend on the order of the letters of the alphabet: as

If, as there is reason to think, and as I shall presently endeavour to show, the new era invented by the Sultan, and which he sometimes called the era of Mahommed, and sometimes the Mowloody, or era of the birth (i. e. of Mahommed), was introduced at the same time with the change in the names of the years and months, just described; his motive for the latter innovation was not, perhaps, entirely capricious, but may be safely referred, in some measure, to his zeal for the glory of his religion. As the new epoch was, no doubt, designed to do honor to the Prophet, whom he seems to have thought degraded by the designation given to that in common use,⁽⁴⁾ so, probably, were the new names of the years and months, which, instead of being formed upon a vulgar or profane practice, were now constituted upon a principle, sanctified, as it would seem, by the word of the law. Be this, however, as it may, there are good grounds for believing, that the new era, and the second regulation respecting the names of the years and months, took place together, and that the use of both commenced with the forty-first year of the Malabar cycle.

It happens unfortunately, that one of the chasms in the following correspondence occurs at that very period; there not being a single letter of the forty-first year in the collection, nor any document whatever, of that date, among the papers in my possession. But though we are, by this means, deprived of any direct or positive proof on the subject, yet there are not wanting circumstances that afford, what will probably be deemed a sufficient presumption in favor of the opinion I have offered.

1st. In a letter to his diplomatic agents at Dehli, dated in Hydery (or eighth month) of the fortieth year (Dullo), the Sultan enumerated the names of the years and months, according to the second or new arrangement, which he had then probably determined on, but which he certainly did not carry into effect during the remainder of the fortieth year, as abundantly appears from existing documents. The letter here referred to is manifestly imperfect; otherwise we might have learnt from it, why the arrangement in question was announced so long before the period of its actual adoption. Possibly the great distance of Dehli may have suggested the expediency of an anticipated communication.

2d. It is established by a variety of documents, that both the new nomenclature and the new era were in use in the forty-second year of the cycle, which was accordingly called Sârâ; whereas, under the preceding arrangement, it would have been named Kubk.

3d. It is improbable, that the Jultan, after announcing the new nomenclature, so early as Hydery of the fortieth year, should have delayed the introduction of it till the forty-second year, or Jârâ: it is, therefore, most likely, that it commenced with the forty-first year, which, in this case, would be called Shâ, while, according to the former rule, it would be Mâ.

4th. In a letter, dated the 29th Eezidy (eleventh month) of Dullo, or the fortieth year, the Sultan directs an enquiry to be instituted among the learned men in different parts of his dominions, for the purpose of ascertaining, with exactness, the respective dates of the birth, mission, and flight of the Prophet. An explanation of the cause of the Higera, or flight, is also required by this letter. This investigation seems to have been preparatory to the establishment of the epoch under consideration.

5th. But the most unequivocal proof of the Mowloody era having been established in the forty-first year, is furnished by a decree, or regulation, of the year Râsikh, or forty-eighth of the cycle (corresponding to the 1209th year of the Higera), to which a seal is affixed, bearing the date 1215.⁽⁵⁾ Now as this date could not be meant for the Higera, it must, of necessity, have been intended to denote the year of Mahommed. The 1215th year of Mahommed co-incided with the forty-first of the cycle: and as we know that the Mowloody era was not in use during the fortieth of the cycle (or Dullo), it necessarily follows, that the seal in question was engraved in the first year of the institution of that epoch.

I will add here the few remaining observations that I have to make on the subject of the Mowloody era, and then return to the consideration of the Kalendar.

As this era was not adopted till after the time to which the letters in the present volume reach, it was not absolutely necessary to my immediate purpose, to have offered any explanation of it: but being upon the subject of the Sultan’s Kalendar, I thought it right to state what I knew, respecting so prominent an article of it. Even in the later documents, wherein it pretty constantly occurs, it is of little or no use in fixing the date of any letter, regulation, or transaction; since it is generally, if not invariably, accompanied by the year of the cycle. The first time that I meet with it is in an edict of the year Sârâ, or forty-second of the cycle (and 1216 of Mahommed). It is continually employed, however, in the Sultan’s Memoir of his own reign, where it is applied even to events which took place many years before its actual introduction. Thus, among other instances, Hyder Ali Khân is said to have died on Saturday, the 3d of Zâkiry “of the year of Mahommed 1209.” But of these Memoirs it is to be observed, that they bear internal evidence of having been composed subsequently to the peace of Seringapatam, in 1792.

The term Mowloody, strictly considered, is certainly not applicable to the era in question; according to which there would appear to have been no more than an interval of thirteen years between the birth and flight of Mahommed. It has been conjectured, that, instead of the birth, this era was, in fact, reckoned from the mission of Mahommed, or the period when he first announced himself as the messenger of God: and this notion receives some countenance, from the tenor of the enquiry spoken of above, which strongly implies a dislike of the term Higera, and an intention to sink the event it alludes to, in a reference to one of a more dignified and memorable kind. But, even in this view of the matter, it is difficult to account for the new era being called Mowloody, rather than Nûboowet; unless it be supposed, that the birth was put as a metonymy for the regeneration of the Prophet, which might be reckoned from the commencement of his mission.

I now resume my account of the Kalendar, which was interrupted by this digression concerning the Mowloody era.

The names of the months, according to the second and latest arrangement, became as follows:

The eleventh and twelfth months are here indicated, as in the former scheme, by the first two letters of their respective names, (râ), being 10+1; and r(u)b, 10+2.

Although I could present the reader with a table, exhibiting the names of every year in the cycle, according to both the schemes which have been described, yet it would answer no useful purpose, that will not be equally accomplished by the following abridgement, including only the years of Tippoo Sultan’s reign.

It is worthy of remark, that the name of the last of these years, or Bârish, signifying rain, was changed by the Sultan, only a short time before his death, to Bâshir;⁽⁷⁾ which meaning joyful, or auspicious, he thought a word of better omen than the other. But it did not prove such to him; for on the last day of Ahmedy (first month) of that very year, he lost his life, and the sovereignty of Mysore passed away from the Khodâdâd Sircar,⁽⁸⁾ to the hands of those, towards whom he ever cherished the most deep and irreconcileable hatred; paralleled, perhaps, only by that borne, in ancient times, by Hannibal against the Romans.

It will be seen, by the table of months inserted at page xxvii, that the Sultan’s year, though considered by him as solar, consisted of no more than three hundred and fifty-four days. In order, therefore, to correct this reckoning, and to approximate it to the true solar time, he occasionally added a thirteenth month to the year. I say, occasionally; because I have not been able to discover (if, as is probable, there existed) any fixed rule for determining either the return of the leap year, or the period of such year, at which the intercalary or supplementary month was to be introduced. It is stated in some of my notes, collected at Seringapatam, that every third year was considered as embolismal, and that the supplementary month was always inserted, according to one account, after the tenth, and, according to another, after the eleventh month. But each of these statements is clearly proved to be wrong by a variety of authentic documents, showing that the thirty-ninth, forty-fourth, forty-seventh, forty-ninth and fifty-second of the cycle were leap years. On what year, between thirty-nine and forty-four, leap year fell is not known, owing to the want of documents for that period: but whether we suppose it to have been the forty-first or forty-second year, it will be equally manifest, that the embolismal year did not uniformly occur every third year. The same thing is shown by the fact of the forty-seventh and forty-ninth years having both been leap years.

It is a known rule, that to make the solar and lunar years accord, seven returns of the intercalary, or supplementary month, are required in the course of nineteen years, Now from the thirty-fifth to the fifty-third year of the cycle (both inclusive) is a period of nineteen years, in the course of which seven leap years occur, (viz. five which are clearly ascertained, and two which have been assumed). But, notwithstanding this apparent conformity, the two reckonings do not co-incide, when, according to this rule, they might be expected to do so. The reason of this disagreement, no doubt, is, that though the months established by Tippoo were ordinarily called lunar, they were not strictly so; six of the twelve months of the year having consisted of thirty, and the other six of twenty-nine days each: the common year, therefore, comprizing three hundred and fifty-four days, was, in fact, neither lunar nor solar.

The documents abundantly prove, that the intercalary, or supplementary month, called by the Sultan Zâid (as zâid Ahmedy; zâid Behâry, &c. according to the month before⁽⁹⁾ which it was inserted) was not added at any fixed or regulated period of the year, but, apparently, according to his fancy: at least I have not met with any clue to the principle (if principle there was) on which it was arranged. All that is certain is, that in the thirty-ninth year the Zâid, or adscititious month, was Ahmedy; in the forty-fourth year, Sumry; in the forty-seventh year, Behâry; in the forty-ninth year, Hydery; and in the fifty-second year, Jaafury: by which unquestionable facts it appears, that in no one instance, in so many years, did it happen to fall either on the tenth or eleventh month.

But although so much uncertainty prevails on this article, yet being apprized, as we are, that the first day of the fifty-third year co-incided with the 6th April 1799, and knowing, also, both the names of the leap-years, and of the supplementary months which occurred between that time and the forty-fourth year, inclusive, we are fortunately enabled to convert the Sultan’s dates, during that period, with sufficient accuracy, into our own. It is after passing, in a retrogade progression, the forty-fourth year, that the principal difficulty commences; since there are, at present, no means of ascertaining in what year, between that and the thirty-ninth, the leap-year occurred, or at what period of such year the intercalary month was added.

In this difficulty I could only arrive at the fortieth and thirty-ninth years (so essential to my immediate purpose, on account of the principal portion of the following letters belonging to those years) by assuming, at a venture, one of the intervening years, between forty-four and thirty-nine, as the leap-year. I therefore fixed upon Sârâ, or the forty-second year, by which means something like system and regularity is made to appear in the recurrence of the embolism; which, by this distribution, would seem to have returned (as far as our materials enable us to judge) alternately, every third and every second year: that is to say, in the thirty-ninth, forty-second, forty-fourth, forty-seventh, forty-ninth, and fifty-second. With regard to the supplementary month of the assumed leap-year, I was obliged to resort to the same expedient; and, accordingly, fixed on the third month, or Tuky. By this means, each of the first six months of the year (though not in regular succession) will appear to have served as the intercalary months, three of them being months of thirty days, and the three others months of twenty-nine days. Hence the leap years, thirty-nine, forty-four, and fifty-two, are made to contain each three hundred and eighty-three days; and the leap years, forty-two, forty-seven, and forty-nine, each three hundred and eighty-four days.⁽¹⁰⁾

Having constructed my table of corresponding dates in the best manner I could, with the imperfect materials in my possession, I was, fortunately, enabled to verify or correct the same, by means of a practice occasionally observed by the Sultan, of giving the day of the week along with the day of the month. An instance of this kind occurs in Letter CCCIV, which led to the discovery of an error I had committed, in converting the 18th of Jaafury of the year Dullo into our reckoning. I had made it agree with the 20th June, which fell on a Tuesday; while the 18th of Jaafury being expressly stated to have been a Wednesday, must, of course, have co-incided with the 21st June 1786. The detection of this mistake necessarily led to an alteration of the whole series of my dates for the two years comprized in the present volume, every one of which it became requisite to advance one day. This correction leaves scarcely any doubt of the perfect accuracy of the dates as now adjusted. The only point in which any mistake can have occurred, is in the number of days assigned to extra Ahmedy of the year Jullo: for though it is known, that regular Ahmedy consisted of twenty-nine days, it is not certain, (however probable) that the extra, or supplementary month, always had the same number of days as the regular month of the like name.

This is all that it has been in my power to do, with a view to the attainment of the accuracy so desirable on the present occasion. I trust I have not fallen into any material error. For the rest, I rely on the indulgence of the reader.

To MIRZA MAHOMMED ALI, Superintendant of the Elephant Stables at NUGR;⁽¹⁾ dated PUTN (or Seringapatam), 2d of BYÂZY, Year UZL. (17th February 1785.)

THE humble address [you] sent [us] has passed under [our] view, and the circumstances submitted [therein] are duly comprehended.⁽²⁾ You write, “that the Mûtusuddies⁽³⁾ attached to you have adopted habits “of ease and of lounging in Nugr, pretending that it is necessary for “them to see and confer with the Taalûkdar⁽⁴⁾ of Nugr; the consequence of which is, that fifteen days are consumed in preparing the “accounts of one,⁽⁵⁾ and that nothing is done excepting at Nugr, “though a Kunry Mûtusuddy⁽⁶⁾ (agreeably to our orders) attends on the “part of Nursia⁽⁷⁾ to assist in the business.”

This [representation] has caused [us] the utmost surprize. Whenever the Mûtusuddies belonging to your department cease to yield you proper obedience, you must give them a severe flogging;⁽⁸⁾ and making them prepare, with the greatest dispatch, the lists and other papers required by our former orders, transmit the same duly to the Presence.⁽⁹⁾

To understand the foregoing letter properly, it is necessary to suppose, what, indeed, is most probable, that the Elephant Mews, or Stables, were situated at some distance from the town of Nugr.

This letter furnishes a proper occasion for cautioning the reader, who may not be conversant in the history, or acquainted with the genius, or frame, of the native governments of India, against hastily drawing any general conclusions, with respect to the latter point, from the particular practice, or maxims, of Tippoo Sultan. The conduct of this prince was too commonly governed by caprice, and was too often the mere result of individual feelings and character, to afford a just criterion of the generality of Asiatic sovereigns, or Asiatic states. Thus, any one who should be led to infer, from the punishment here directed to be inflicted on the idle clerks of the elephant department, that it is customary in India (as in China and Russia) to flog any but the menial servants of government for neglect of duty, would be greatly mistaken: as he would, also, if he supposed that castration was no uncommon penalty in that country, for corruption, or other misdemeanors in the administration of public affairs, because the Sultan sometimes thought proper to threaten official delinquents with that punishment. The fact is, that all his Hookm-nâmehs, or instructions to the governors of provinces, and others, conclude with a denunciation of the penalties to which they will be liable, in case of disobedience or disregard of the orders contained in them. Sometimes these are generally stated, under the vague, but emphatic, term of “the worst of punishments:” at others, they are specifically named; as crucifixion, in one or two instances, and emasculation, in others. Whether or not the latter menace was ever, in any case, actually executed, I am not able to determine; but there is nothing in the character of Tippoo Sultan to render the affirmative unlikely. Colonel Munro assures me, that it is an absolute fact that on one occasion he ordered all the male population of a particular village, which had given him offence, to be castrated.

What the practice of Hyder Ali was on similar occasions, I have not the means of stating; but there is sufficient reason to suspect, that the example of the father was not much calculated to restrain the severity, or cruelty, of the son. It is certain, indeed, as I learn from Colonel Wilks, that Tippoo himself was once publicly bambooed (or caned) by order of Hyder, in whose good graces he would never appear to have stood very high. This opinion is strongly confirmed, by a most curious original document, which I met with at Seringapatam, in the year 1799, while employed in examining the mass of papers discovered more immediately after the capture of the place. I found it amongst a variety of other papers of the time of Hyder, deposited in a basket or box, where it had probably remained undisturbed and forgotten ever since his death. It is a narrow slip, about twelve inches in length: is entitled, at top, or “an agreement;” beneath which words is the impression, in ink, of a small square seal, resembling, in all respects, the usual signet, or ring-seal, of the Sultan, and bearing, together with the name “Tippoo Sultan,” the date “1184” (Higera).⁽¹⁰⁾ The instrument itself is without date; but it must, of course, have been executed some time between the year 1769 (the period when the seal was engraved) and 1782, in which last year Hyder died. On the back of this paper is a short endorsement of two or three words, in Canarese, which, I am sorry to say, I cannot explain.

I am equally unable to determine, whether this interesting document is in the hand-writing of the Sultan. It certainly bears but little resemblance to the specimens exhibited in a great variety of notes and memorandums, written by him in the latter part of his life. But his hand-writing might well undergo a material change in a period of twenty or thirty years: besides which, I suspect that most of the articles of his writing which happen to be in my possession, were written with a gold or silver pen, which he was much in the practice of using, and of which I obtained two or three at Seringapatam that had belonged to him. This occasioned his later writing (at least what I have seen of it) to have an air of stiffness and crabbedness, of which there is not near so great an appearance in the document under consideration.

But it is not essential to the authenticity of this paper that it should have been written in the Sultan’s own hand. The place in which it was discovered, joined to the seal and internal evidence furnished by its extraordinary tenor, sufficiently establishes its genuineness; but whether the engagement it contains was voluntarily entered into by the Sultan, or exacted by Hyder, does not appear. The latter, however, is not unlikely to have been the case, notwithstanding what the writer himself declares in the eighth article. After this general account of the document in question, I proceed to present the reader with a translation of it; and, for the satisfaction of those conversant in the language of the original, a fac-simile of it is given in article C. of the Appendix.

“1.⁽¹¹⁾ I will not do [any] one thing without the pleasure of your blessed Majesty, Lord of Benefits [or my bountiful Lord]: if I do, let me be punished, in “whatever manner may seem fitting to your auspicious mind.—One article.⁽¹²⁾

“2. If, in the affairs of the Sircar, I should commit theft, or be guilty of “fraud, great or small, let me, as the due punishment thereof, be strangled.⁽¹³⁾ “— One article.

“3. If I be guilty of prevarication, or misrepresentation, or of deceit, the “due punishment thereof is this same strangulation.— One article.

“4. Without the orders of the Presence, I will not receive from any one, “Nuzzers, &c. neither will I take things from any one [meaning perhaps forcibly]: if I do, let my nose be cut off, and let me be driven out from the city. “— One article.

“5. If, excepting on the affairs of the Sircar, I should hold conversation “[probably cabal or intrigue] with any person, or be guilty of deceit, &c., let “me, in punishment thereof, be stretched on a cross.— One article.

“6. Whenever a country shall be committed to my charge by the Sircar, “and an army be placed under my command, I will carry on all business regarding the same, with the advice, and through the medium of such confidential “persons as may be appointed [for the purpose] by the Sircar; and if I transact “such affairs through any other channel than this, let me be strangled.— One “article.

“7. If there should be any occasion for correspondence by writing, or to buy “or give [away] any thing, or any letters should arrive from any place, I will do “nothing [in such matters] without the concurrence and advice of the person “appointed by the Sircar.— One article.

“8. I have written and delivered these few articles of my own free will: “keeping the contents whereof in my heart’s remembrance, I will act in each “article accordingly. If I forget this, and act in any other [or different] manner, “let me be punished, agreeably to the foregoing writing.”

It will not, perhaps, be wondered at, that one, to whom the idea of corporal punishment, even in his own person, would seem, from the preceding instrument, as well as from Colonel Wilks’s report, to have been familiar, before his accession to the Musnud, should, after that event, have applied the practice, with similar disregard to the rank or station of offenders, to those then subjected to his authority.

Before I dismiss this subject it may be proper to notice, that the style of the foregoing document (and especially of the seventh article) is extremely perplexed and indistinct: but, even at a more advanced period of the Sultan’s life, most of the productions of his pen (as was observed on a former occasion) were characterized by the same involved structure of sentences, frequently creating considerable obscurity in the sense.

PROPOSE to the merchants of Muscat, (and get the Imaum⁽¹⁾ to issue orders to the same effect,) to bring hither, on the empty Dingies,⁽²⁾ such horses as they may have for sale; which being sold to us, the owners can carry back the produce in rice.

Several letters in this collection, as well as the present one, are dated at night, a circumstance that does not denote them to be of any urgency or particular importance (as one might be led to suppose), but merely shows the diligent application of the Sultan to business; the word night here implying some time after midnight.⁽³⁾ Its insertion in such a dispatch as the preceding one, certainly carries with it an air of affectation.

Tippoo Sultan was very desirous of establishing a commercial intercourse with Muscat; not, perhaps, without some ulterior view to a political connexion with that petty state. The encouragement which he held out, for this purpose, to the merchants of Muscat, as well as his own particular notions of trade, will appear in the sequel.

YOUR letter of the 19th of Eezudy [5th of February] has been received, and the whole of its contents are comprehended. The fixed or regulated money is ready. Whenever the chiefs of that place [Poonah] demand it, bankers’ bills to the amount shall be forwarded.

Representations of the contumacious conduct of the Zemindâr of Nergûnd were frequently transmitted [by us], in the course of last year, to Noor Mahommed Khân, who, no doubt, communicated the same to all the chiefs there [Poonah]. If a petty Zemindâr, and a subject of our government, like this, may not be punished, how shall our authority be maintained? The justice of this argument was admitted, even by Râo Râsta.⁽¹⁾ Thus the chastisement of this Zemindâr became necessary. If he is brought to reason from thence [i. e. by the Mahrattah chiefs] it will be well; otherwise he will be exterminated.

Let the Gûmâshteh⁽²⁾ of Apâjee Râo receive a monthly stipend of four pagodas.

You must not admit the Brahmens⁽³⁾ to a participation in the conduct of any secret negotiation. You and Noor Mahommed Khân [alone] are jointly to transact [all such affairs].

If the chiefs of that place, forgetting our past favors, should dispatch an army to the assistance of the Zemindâr of Nergûnd, what will it signify? We have, under the divine blessing, sent a strong force to reduce Nergûnd, and are in no fear of its suffering any misfortune from their army.

N.B. A letter, to the same effect as the above, and of the same date, was written to Noor Mahommed Khân (the colleague of Mahommed Ghyâs) with an immaterial addition, respecting some bills of exchange.

Mahommed Ghyâs Khân and Noor Mahommed Khân were, at this time, the diplomatic agents of Tippoo Sultan, at Poonah. The former of them was, probably, at the head of the mission, since many of the letters are addressed singly to him, and in all of them his name stands first. Noor Mahommed Khân, however, would seem to have resided longest at the Mahrattah court, to which, there is reason to believe, he had been originally deputed by Hyder Ali.

The present correspondence commences just at the period when the war of 1785 broke out between the Sultan and the Mahrattahs; the latter of whom were, after some time, joined by Nizâm Ali Khân, who sent a considerable body of troops to act with their army.

The ostensible, or more immediate cause of the present rupture, is to be traced, on the one hand, to the right which the Sultan assumed of chastising a contumacious tributary; and, on the other, to the protection which the Mahrattah Government thought, or affected to think, it incumbent on them to extend to this offender; who was, perhaps, a feudatory of the Mahrattah Empire, in like manner with many other Zemindârs and Polygârs, who depend, in various shapes, and at the same time, on different superiors; rendering to one Paishcush, or tribute, and to another military service.⁽⁴⁾

But it was not merely, or perhaps principally, for the purpose of supporting the Zemindâr of Nergûnd, that the Mahrattah Government took up arms against the Sultan. They had claims on him for considerable arrears of tribute, the discharge of which he had hitherto refused or evaded; and it was, probably, less with a view of befriending the obnoxious Zemindâr, than of enforcing these claims, that they appealed to the sword.

It will be seen in the sequel, that though the Sultan succeeded in inflicting a signal chastisement on his rebellious tributary, he was, nevertheless, obliged to pay the Mahrattahs a considerable sum of money; not less, according to some accounts, than forty lacks of rupees.⁽⁵⁾ Whether this was the whole, or only part of the arrears of tribute claimed by them, is unknown to the translator, who has never met with the treaty concluded between the belligerent powers, about the beginning of the year 1787. The Nizâm, during this war, lost Adoni; which, however, was restored to him by the peace.

By the fixed, or regulated sum, spoken of by the Sultan in the present letter, he means the Paishcush, or tribute, which he was bound by former treaties to pay to the Government of Poonah; but which he does not think proper to recognize, or designate, by any term denotive of inferiority, which the word Paishcush certainly is. Those who negociated our first treaty with the court of Hyderabad were less nice, since they agreed to pay an annual Paishcush to the Nizâm: by which concession they virtually, but, no doubt, unconsciously, placed the East-India Company in the situation of a vassal to that chieftain; the term Paishcush, in its restrained sense, and as used in India, signifying tribute; and in no case being applied to presents, excepting to those of a subject to his lord, or from an inferior to a superior. It might be difficult now, and may be deemed needless, to obtain the suppression of this degrading appellation. The usurpers of this, and similar vain distinctions and marks of preeminence,⁽⁶⁾ in proportion as they have lost, in the revolutions of time, the substance, may be more safely indulged in the possession of this shadow of power. There is, happily, no longer any danger of the abuse being extended: this is equally precluded by our increased political consideration throughout India, and by our improved knowledge of its languages and usages. The time is past, when the general ignorance that prevailed, in these respects, among the Company’s servants, placed the interests and the honor of their employers and of the nation, but too much at the mercy of native agents and interpreters.

There is only one more remark suggested by the preceding letter. If the Sultan be allowed credit for sincerity, when he declares himself ready to pay the arrears due by him to the Mahrattahs, immediately on demand, it will necessarily follow, that the question of tribute was not the principal one with that state, any more than with its ally the Nizâm, whom, indeed, it could only remotely concern. Both governments, possibly, thought to oppose some check to the rising power of the Sultan, whose ambitious views had begun to develope themselves, in a manner that might well awaken the jealousy, and excite the fears of his neighbours. In this case, it will be easy to account for the Mahrattahs not being satisfied with the Sultan’s professed readiness to discharge their pecuniary demands (however sincere they might think him in that respect), but insisting on his relinquishing his designs against Nergûnd. On the whole, it seems highly probable, that he would have avoided a war at this time, if he could have done so consistently with the “maintenance of his authority” (as he himself expresses it), or without submitting to the disgrace of being prescribed to by a foreign power. His favorite object, and most ardent desire, was to resume, at the earliest possible moment, hostilities against the English; and though he might think himself equal, without the help of the Mahrattahs and Nizâm, to the successful prosecution of that design, yet he would, at least, wish for the neutrality of those powers during its progress. With a view to the undertaking alluded to, he had already resolved upon reverting to his former alliance with the French; and he cherished the hope of being soon enabled, by the renewal of his connexion with that nation, to give vent to his always ill-concealed hatred of their rivals. To this ever-predominating bias of his mind, and to his eager anticipation of the period, when the successful termination of his negociations with France would put him in a condition to execute his projects against the English, may, perhaps, in a great measure, be ascribed the advantageous peace which he granted to the courts of Poonah and Hyderabad, at the end of a war, in which he certainly gave such proofs of military superiority, as made his enemies very willing to retire from the contest. The reader already knows, that his expectations from France, and his hopes of conciliating his neighbours, proved alike fallacious; and that, in the end, he was compelled, prematurely and single-handed, to commit his fortunes in an unequal struggle with the combined forces of all the powers of the Peninsula.

YOUR letter has been received. You write, “that the European “[formerly] taken prisoner in the Pâyen-ghaut,⁽²⁾ and whose original “allowance of two fanams⁽³⁾ a day had been, in consequence of his “misbehaviour, reduced to one, being skilled in the mortar practice,⁽⁴⁾ “you proposed converting him to the faith, and wished for our orders “on the subject.” It is known (or understood).

Admitting the aforesaid to the honor of Islâmism, you will continue to pay him, as before, two fanams a day. Let him also be employed in firing at the flag.⁽⁵⁾ We have ourselves, however, brought the mortar practice to that degree of perfection, that children, of ten and eleven years of age, are taught to hit the point of a spear.

You may, as you propose, engage a sweeper, at the monthly wages of ten or twelve fanams, and employ him in sweeping out the Rung-mahl,⁽⁶⁾ and the public halls of the Dewâny and Ehshâm.⁽⁷⁾

The European here spoken of was, no doubt, one of those unhappy British soldiers who had the misfortune to fall into the hands of this cruel enemy; and numbers of whom he forcibly detained, in spite of the stipulations of the treaty of Mangalore. It is not quite clear, whether the subject of the present letter was to be compelled to embrace Mahommedanism, or had expressed a readiness to do so. The latter, however, is not so likely as the former; though there is reason to believe, that some few of our wretched countrymen were induced to apostatize, with the view of alleviating the intolerable hardships of their situation.

The reader will be amused by the ostentatious boast made by the Sultan, of the perfection to which he had brought the practice of gunnery: but though there is, probably, some exaggeration in his statement, it cannot be denied, that he had accomplished much in this respect.

The directions, relative to the sweeper, show to what low and minute objects, particularly in matters of economy, the mind of the Sultan was accustomed to stoop. Other instances, of the same kind, will appear in the course of these letters; but a still greater number are omitted.

It may seem rather extraordinary, that a Hindoo (as Râjah Râm Chundur was) should be joined with a Mahommedan, in a commission for converting a Christian to the Mussulman faith: but this proceeding, however strange, will probably be thought much less so, than another of a somewhat similar nature, noticed under Letter CCCXXXIII.

WE have had the pleasure to receive your agreeable letter, informing us that peace has lately been concluded in Europe, between the King of France and the English, in consequence of which the port of Pondicherry has been restored to the French. This information has afforded us much satisfaction. You must let us know [what you learn] respecting the [expected] arrival of ships belonging to you [i. e. your nation], as well as how far Monsieur Suffrein is advanced in his voyage.

I believe this letter contains almost the only instance in which the title of Bâdshâh, or King, is bestowed upon any European sovereign by Tippoo Sultan, who appears, on all other occasions, to have thought as if this designation would be degraded, by being applied to any but a prince professing the Mahommedan faith: he, therefore, generally affected to call, not only the King of England, but his own friend and ally, the King of France, Râjah; intending, by this ingenious contrivance, to intimate (though, of course, not to those so addressed) that he considered them as nothing superior to the petty Hindoo Râjahs of India, and, in fact, as Idolators. What rendered this appellation the more insulting was, that though originally, and strictly, signifying a King, it had now become extremely common, the title being borne, as has been seen, by one Hindoo, at least, in the service of the Sultan himself, and being frequently bestowed on their subjects of that religion, by the different upstart rulers of the dismembered empire of Hindostan.

For a more distinct view of the sentiments entertained by Tippoo Sultan, with respect to Christians in general, the reader is referred to the Preface to Colonel Wilks’s History of Mysore, where they are exhibited in the most undisguised manner, in an extraordinary letter from the Sultan to the late General Macleod. The same letter occurs, with very little variation from Zynûl Aabideen’s copy, in the Sultan’s own Memoirs.

YOUR letter has been received, and its contents are duly understood. You write, “that the Bâzâr price of Kûrg pagodas was thirteen “fanams and three-quarters, but that you had advanced the same one “fanam and four annas, and issued them, at this rate, to the Piâdehs “of the Ehshâm.”⁽²⁾ It is known. You will fix the value of the pagoda at one fanam above the market price, or exchange, and issue it, at that rate, to the servants of the State. There is no necessity for raising the exchange higher than this standard; and, accordingly, this has been heretofore repeatedly signified to you. It surprises us extremely, that you should nevertheless pursue the suggestions of your own fancy.

No prospect of advantage could tempt the Sultan to wink at any contravention of his positive orders. The financial operation, here spoken of, is not an uncommon one in India. The Sultan’s displeasure was not occasioned by the oppression, but by the disobedience, of which the Darogha had been guilty.

ENCLOSED is a letter which has been received from Othmân Khân, &c. reporting their arrival at Bussorah, and subsequent departure from thence for the presence of the King.⁽¹⁾ You will learn [further] from its perusal. The Governor of Bussorah has likewise written an answer to our letter to him, saying that he had sent forward the aforesaid Khân and the others [i. e. his colleagues] to the Court of the King.

Such being the case, that eminent person⁽²⁾ must use the utmost expedition, agreeably to our former orders, in docking the ship Fukhurûlmûbâruk, and giving it such repairs as may be required.

The embassy, here alluded to, was that which the Sultan dispatched to Constantinople, some time in the year 1784. At the head of it was Mahommed Othmân Khân, who had formerly filled the station of Hyder Ali Khân’s Vakeel at Madras, and was afterwards associated with Mahommed Durwaish Khân, and the other ambassadors, sent in the year 1787, by sea, to France. What was the object of his mission to Constantinople, I am not able to state, having met with no documents regarding it. On the return, or recall, of Othmân Khân, Ghûlâm Ali Khân, together with Shah Noorûllah, was dispatched ostensibly to supply his place; but, in fact, with instructions to proceed from Constantinople to France. This design, however, was subsequently relinquished by the Sultan, who substituted, in its stead, the more direct mission by sea, noticed above.⁽³⁾

IN consequence of the chiefs of that place [Poonah] forgetting their obligations to us, we have come to the positive determination of taking possession of the territory situated on the banks of the Kishna.⁽¹⁾ It is therefore written, that if your negociation proceeds according to our heart’s desire, it is well: if not, you and Noor Mahommed Khân, taking leave of Râo Râsta, must repair to the Presence.

The 14th of Ahmedy⁽²⁾ is fixed on for our marching; in case, therefore, of ungraciousness⁽³⁾ [on their part], you will proceed with all haste to our Presence.

You write, that Peer Mahommed Mûnshy (who, when he accompanied the Mahrattah minister in the field received sixty rupees) being now reduced to forty rupees a month, and having the incumbrance of a large family, finds his salary inadequate to their support. It is known. If the aforesaid should intend to accompany you to the Presence, let him be paid sixty rupees a month; but, otherwise, forty rupees is sufficient.⁽⁴⁾

The Sultan’s instructions to his envoys at Poonah will be found to be marked throughout with considerable indecision. In speaking of the Mahrattah Government, he assumes, in general, a very lofty and menacing tone; it is, notwithstanding, pretty evident, that he is not averse to reconciliation. He frequently betrays the irritation of his mind, and, in these moods, issues the most peremptory orders to his agents to quit Poonah. They, nevertheless, remain at their post, where they appear to have continued till the month of May of the following year (1786), or during the greatest part of the war. The reason of this fluctuation in the conduct of the Sultan, would, no doubt, be more intelligible than it is, if we were in possession of the dispatches of the envoys, as well as those of their master. It is true, that the substance, and perhaps the entire contents of many of the former, is (agreeably to the common practice in the epistolary correspondence of India) recited in the answers to them; but still it is reasonable to suppose, that many particulars are unnoticed in these brief capitulations, or summaries, the knowledge of which would materially elucidate the transactions in question.

The Râstas are a family of considerable eminence and weight in the Mahrattah empire, being nearly allied to the Paishwa. They have, generally, been distinguished for their favourable disposition towards the Mysore ruler, in consequence of which, it was usual for most negociations between the latter and the government of Poonah to be conducted through them.

The obligations of the Mahrattah state to Hyder Ali Khân and his successor, are often alluded to in the course of the following letters. They are more particularly stated in his letter to the King of France;⁽⁵⁾ and he thus expresses himself, on the subject, in his Memoirs.

“Previously to the resolution of making war against the Nazarenes (i. e. before “the commencement of hostilities against the English by Hyder Ali Khân) the “Mahrattahs being reduced to great straits, and defeated by the English, had “[actually] filled their houses with straw, and prepared to burn the city of Poonah. “In this situation they dispatched four of their principal and confidential people “to our late father, with letters, accompanied by oaths and deceitful engagements, “soliciting the grant of a fort within our dominions, wherein they might lodge “their chief (more worthless, in truth, than a horse keeper).⁽⁶⁾ Accordingly these “trusty persons (who, in fact, were not to be trusted) arriving in the presence of “our deceased father (whose place is in Paradise) represented, that being broken “down [or discomfited] by the English, they were on the point of abandoning their “country, within eight coss of [the capital of] which the Nazarenes were arrived: “that, in these circumstances, they could look for help to no one but his Highness; that their master was a child, the preservation of whose life, honor, “country, and wealth, by the Ussud Ilhye⁽⁷⁾ state, would confer an obligation, “which would continue to be acknowledged, as long as any of the Mâdho Râos “existed; and, finally, imploring his Highness to consider their chief in the light “of a son. These representations were seconded, on the part of Nizâm Ali “Khân,⁽⁸⁾ whose country had also been threatened by the English, and whom “the Mahrattahs had prevailed on, by promises and engagements, to espouse “their cause, and to interest himself in their favour (with our late father); in “consequence of which he, accordingly (through the Mahrattah Vakeels), made “certain proposals, ratified on the Koran, to his Highness, our father. Hereupon “our father (who reposes in Paradise) agreed to their propositions, and resolved “on war with the English, notwithstanding the opposition made to the measure “by the chiefs of the state, who represented that the war would prove arduous “and tedious; that there was no necessity for his drawing the misfortunes of “another’s house upon himself; that these two impure ones (namely Mâdho Râo “and Nizâm Ali) were both of spurious origin, and neither their words nor actions “entitled to the least credit or faith. Our illustrious father replied, ‘that it was “a traditionary saying of the Prophet:—“Verily only by deeds, and not by “thoughts, [shall ye judge].” We lay them under this obligation: if they “have any evil designs in their hearts, the Almighty will requite them with evil:’ “and, so saying, he prepared for war.

“It was further stipulated by the treaty concluded [on this occasion] between “these two bastards and the Hydery state, that no peace should be entered into “with the English, except with the knowledge of all three. Accordingly, while “Sadlier was still on his way, we wrote to the chiefs who accompanied him, “desiring that his progress might be retarded, by amusements and entertainments “at every stage. In the interim, we wrote ten or twelve letters to Mâdho Râo, “the chief of the Mahrattahs, stating, that though he had, upwards of a year “ago, and during the life-time of our illustrious father (who reposes in Paradise) “secretly, and without our knowledge, concluded a separate peace with the English, yet he had not, to that moment, made any communication on the subject “to us. ‘It is well [we proceeded]: our pleasure is yours. The confidential “agents of the English are on the way from their own country to our Presence, “to solicit peace: if such be your pleasure, signify your demands to us by “letter, that we may treat for you at the same time that we treat for ourselves. “If, on the other hand, you should have actually concluded a separate peace “without our knowledge, let us be informed thereof, in order that we may set “about a peace for the Hydery Sircar.’ To no one of our letters was any answer “sent: neither did they write a word to their own Vakeel, residing with us, “though he was a kinsman of theirs [i. e. of the Paishwas].⁽⁹⁾

“In this manner did we, for six months, contrive to put off the arrival “of the English ambassador; at the end of which we wrote to the Mahrattah “Vakeel at our court to this effect: ‘We have, by different means, managed “to detain the English ambassador six months on the road; in which period “we have written about fifteen letters, on the subject of peace, to your “master. You, also, have repeatedly written; but to neither has any answer been “given. Now that the English ambassador is at hand, what would you advise “to be done? Let us know your opinion.’ To this the Mahrattah Vakeel, who “was among the nearest of [the] relatives [of the Paishwa], replied by letter: “‘that his master was an infant; that his ministers, &c. were whoresons,⁽¹⁰⁾ on “whose words and actions no reliance was to be placed; and that six months “had already passed, in expectation [of hearing from thence]. ‘How much “longer [continued he] are you to wait? Conclude your peace with the “English; and, dismissing me, let me proceed to those good-for-nothing “fellows,⁽¹¹⁾ in order that I may be enabled to deal with them personally, either “by reproaches or a sound bastinade;⁽¹²⁾ and, by this means, bring forward “some person, who shall prevent, for the future, the recurrence of such “shameful conduct.’”

“After this, we protracted the negociations for peace with the English for two “months longer, during which time we again wrote [to Poonah], but without any “better success than before: whereupon we proceeded to conclude the treaty with “the English, &c.”

Such, according to his own account, were the grounds of Tippoo Sultan’s complaints against the Mahrattah Government, at the period of the treaty of Mangalore, and it would not appear that any attempts were subsequently made, either by the court of Poonah, or by that of Hyderabad, to appease him. At this rate, it would be difficult to acquit these courts, and especially the former, of the charge of bad faith towards their ally: but we must not, too hastily, give credit to the Sultan’s statement of facts. Some of these are manifestly exaggerated, and others may be misrepresented: but however this may be, it is pretty clear, that the Sultan really thought himself the aggrieved party; and this being the case, it is not, perhaps, so much to be wondered at, that he should have taken up the question concerning the Zemindâr of Nergûnd in the manner he did, as that he should have so long repressed the resentment he appears to have felt at the conduct of his late allies.

I abstain from many other reflections, naturally suggested by the curious extract just given from the Sultan’s own Memoirs; both because a fitter opportunity than the present may hereafter offer for them, and because it is time to proceed with the correspondence.