Be it known to the minds of enlightened researchers, that from the date that the ships of Jālālu-d-dīn Muḥammad Akbar Pādshāh* were captured at the hands of the Portuguese Christians, the sending of ships to the ports of Arabia and Ajam was totally suspended, inasmuch as the Emperor viewed the acceptance of passes from the Portuguese to be derogatory, whilst to send the ships without such passes was attended with danger to the lives of passengers, and with peril to their property. But the Emperor’s Umarā, like Nawāb Abdu-r-Raḥīm Khān Khān-i-Khānān* &c., taking passes from the Portuguese Christians, sent out ships to the ports. And for some time the state of things continued in this wise. When Emperor Nuru-d-dīn Muḥammad Jahāngīr ascended the throne of Dehlī, he permitted the English Christians, who, in their articles of faith, totally differ from the Christian Portuguese and the Christian French, &c., and who thirst for the latter’s blood, and are in hostility with the latter, to settle down in the tract of Surat,* which pertained to the Province of Gujrāt.* This was the first place amongst the Indian sea-ports, where the English Christians settled down. Before this, the English Christians used to bring their trading ships to the ports of India, and after sale of their cargoes used to sail back to their own country. After they settled down at Surat, the trading factories of the English Christians, like those of the Christian Portuguese and the French, &c., gradually sprang up at different centres both in the Dakhin* and in Bengal,* and they paid customs-duties like others. During the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgīr, the English rendered loyal services to the Emperor, and were, therefore, granted an Imperial Farman,* permitting them to erect trading factories in the Imperial dominions generally, and in Bengal especially, and also remitting customs-duties on the ships of the English Company, in consideration of an annual payment by the latter of three thousand rupees, as has already been mentioned in connection with the foundation of Calcutta. From that time, the English acquired much prestige in Bengal.
In the year 1162 A.H., Nawāb Muzaffar Jang, maternal grandson of Nizāmu-l-Mulk Aṣaf Jāh, at the instigation of Ḥusain Dost alias Chānd, who was one of the leading men of Arkat (Arcot), allied himself with the Christian French, and attacked Anwāru-d-dīn Khān Shahāmat Jang Gopāmanī, who was Nāzim of Arkat from the time of Nawāb Nizāmu-l-Mulk Aṣaf Jāh, in order to wrest the province of Arkat. A great battle was fought, and Nawāb Shahāmat Jang, on the battle-field, displaying bravery and heroism, was killed. Nawāb Nizāmu-d-daulah, second son of Nawāb Aṣaf Jāh, who, on the death of his father, had succeeded to the masnad of the Viceroyalty of the Dakhin, on hearing of the hostility of his maternal nephew, with a force of seventy thousand cavalry and one hundred thousand infantry, set out to chastise Muzaffar Jang. Arriving at the port of Būlcharī (Pondichery) on the 26th Rabīu-l-āwāl 1163 A.H., Nizāmu-d-daulah fought a battle, in which he triumphed, whilst Muzaffar Jang was captured. Nizāmu-d-daulah spent the rainy season at Arkat. The Christians of Būlcharī (Pondichery) conspired with Himmat Khān and other Afghān generals of Karnatik, who were servants of Nizāmu-d-daulah, and deceiving them by holding out temptations of lands and treasures, blinded their sense of obligations. Those traitors tied up the waist of mutiny and treachery, and conspiring with the Christians of Būlcharī (Pondichery), on the night of the sixteenth Muharram, 1174 A.H., delivered a night-attack, and killed Nawāb Nizāmu-d-daulah. After the fall of Nawāb Nizāmu-d-daulah, the Afghāns and the Christians (the French) placed Nawāb Muzaffar Jang on the masnad. Muzaffar Jang proceeded to Būlcharī (Pondichery) with a contingent of the Afghāns, and taking a large number of Christian French in his service made them his confidants. In the same year, taking a large force consisting of Afghāns and Christians, he set out for Ḥaidarābad, and crossing the confines of Arkat came to the Afghān tract. From the vicissitude of fortune, hostility broke out between Muzaffar Jang and the Afghāns, and it led to a fight. On the 17th Rabīu-l-āwāl of the aforesaid year, both sides arranged themselves in battle-array. On one side were arrayed Muzaffar Jang and the Christian French, and on the other the Afghāns. Himmat Khān and other Afghan Generals, meeting with their deserts for disloyalty, were killed, whilst Muzaffar Jang from an arrow-shot which pierced the pupil of his eye was also killed. After this, the Christian French entered the service of Amīru-l-Mumālik Salābat Jang, third son of Aṣaf Jāh, received as jāgīrs Sikakūl and Rājbandarī, &c., and acquired so much influence, that their orders became current in the Dakhin. No Musalman ruler had before this taken into employ the Christian French, though from a long period they used to frequent the ports of the Dakhin. It was Muzaffar Jang who taking the Christian French into his service, introduced them into the Moslem dominions. When the Christian French acquired so much influence, the Christian English, who thirsted for the blood of the French, also cherished ambition to meddle with the Imperial dominions, acquired possession of some tracts in the Dakhin, brought the fort of Sūrat into their own possession, and established fortified factories in Bengal. In that the French slaying Nawāb Anwāru-d-dīn Khān Gopamanĭ, the Ṣūbahdār of Arkat, and nominally installing another person at its head, had become dominant in the Dakhin, Nawāb Muḥammad Ālī Khān, son of Nawāb Anwāru-d-dīn Khan, entered into an alliance with the English Chiefs. The latter advancing to the assistance of Nawāb Muḥammad Alī Khān spared no measure to help him, and exerted themselves strenuously to exterminate the French. In 1174 A.H., the English besieged the fort of Būlcharī (Pondichery), and wresting it from the hands of the French rased it, whilst Sikakūl, Rājbandarī, and other Jāgīrs were unexpectedly abandoned by the French. Nawāb Muḥammad Ali Khān, with the support of the English, succeeded his father on the throne of the Viceroyalty of Arkat (Arcot), under the surname of Wālājāh Amiru-l-Hind Muḥammad Ali Khān Manṣūr Jang, subordinated himself to the English Chiefs, and passed his life in ease and pleasure. Now the province of Arkat (Arcot), like Bengal, is under the domination of the English Chiefs.
And as has been related before, when Nawab Sirāju-d-daulah, Nāzim of Bengal, owing to his inexperience, flung the stone into the hornet’s nest, he suffered of necessity the sting. And Nawāb Jāfar Ali Khān, treating the English as his confidants and colleagues in the Nizāmat of Bengal, suffered them to acquire control over administrative affairs. Inasmuch as complete disintegration had overtaken the Moslem Empire of Delhi, in every Ṣūbah the Provincial Governors acquiring authority grew into semi-independent Feudatories. Now, since a period of thirty years, the Provinces of Bengal, Bihār, and Orissa have come into the possession and authority of the English Chiefs. An English Chief, styled the Governor-General, coming from England, resides in Calcutta, and selecting Deputies for the collection of the revenue and for administration of civil and criminal justice, and for trading business, sends them out to every place. And establishing the Khāliṣah Kachirī* (the Court of Crown-lands) in Calcutta, the English Governor settles on his own behalf the assessment of the revenue of each Ẓila (District). And the Deputies and the Ẓiladārs (District Officers) collecting revenues, remit them to Calcutta.
In the year 1178 A.H., when the English became victorious* over Nawāb Vazīru-l-Mulk Shujāu-d-daulah, Nāzim of the Ṣūbah of Audh and Ilahābād (Allahabad), a treaty was entered into, and the English left to the Nawab Vazīr his country. From that time, they have acquired influence over that Ṣūbah also, and seizing the district of Banāras have separated it from that Ṣūbah. And their soldiers quartering themselves in the dominions of the Nawab-Vazīr, as the latter’s servants, exercise influence over all affairs. Heaven knows what would be the eventual upshot of this state of things.
Similarly, in the Dakhin, the English have got in the fort of Madras an old factory and a large army. They have also acquired possession of the Province of Arkat. They hold, as jāgīrs under Nizām Alī Khān, the towns of Ganjām, Barampur, Ichapūr, Sikakūl, Ishāqpatan, the fort of Qasim kotah, Rājbandar, Ilor (Ellore), Machlibandar (Masullipatam), Bājwārah, and the fort of Kondbali, &c., and the Zamīndārs of those places appearing before them pay in revenue. And whenever Nizām Alī Khān needs auxiliaries, they furnish him with strong contingents, and outwardly do not disobey his orders.
But the English Christians* are embellished with the ornaments of wisdom and tact, and adorned with the garments of considerateness and courtesy. They are matchless in the firmness of their resolutions, in the perfectness of their alertness, in the organisation of battles, and in the arrangement of feasts. They are also unrivalled in their laws for the administration of justice, for the safety of their subjects, for extermination of tyranny, and for protection of the weak. Their adherence to their promises is so great that even if they risk their lives, they do not deviate from their words, nor do they admit liars to their society. They are liberal, faithful, forbearing, and honourable. They have not learnt the letters of deceit, nor have they read the book of crookedness. And notwithstanding their difference in creed, they do not interfere with the faith, laws, and religion of Musalmans.
All wranglings between Christianity and Islam, after all, lead to the same place:
The dream (of empire) is one and the same, only its interpretations vary.