That Same Day I Sent For The Portuguese Jesuit Who Resided At Court, And
Gave Him An Account Of The Engagement Between Our Ships And The Carrack,
Offering To Make Peace Between Our Nation And The Portuguese Upon Equal
Terms.
He promised to acquaint the viceroy of Goa with my offer, and so
departed.
The 15th I received accounts from Masulipatan that Captain
Keeling had taken a Portuguese ship and two barks; one on the coast of
Cochin, laden with tin, and the other freighted from Bengal, both of
which were carried to Bantam. I was also informed that Sir Robert
Shirley had been dismissed with disgrace from Goa, and was on his way
overland to Masulipatan, to procure a passage; but am apt to believe
this intelligence is untrue.
The 16th, being with the prince's secretary about the dispatch of our
affairs, he proposed to me, by his master's orders, to procure him two
gunners from our fleet to serve him in the Deccan war, offering good pay
and good usage. This I undertook to perform, knowing that indifferent
artists might serve there. While at the prince's palace, Abdala Khan
came to visit him, so magnificently attended, that I have not before
seen the like. He was preceded by about twenty drums, and other martial
music, on horseback, who made abundant noise. After them followed fifty
persons bearing white flags, and two hundred well-mounted soldiers, all
richly clothed in cloth of gold, velvet, and rich silks, who all entered
the gate with him in regular array. Next his person were forty
targeteers, in the richest liveries. After making his humble reverence,
he presented a black Arabian horse, splendidly caparisoned, all his
furniture being studded with flowers of enamelled gold, and set with
small precious stones. According to custom, the prince returned a
turban, a vest, and a girdle.
Still persisting in his purpose of personally finishing the war in the
Deccan, he would give no answer to the ambassadors from that country,
but detained them till he should come to the frontiers. Being now about
to depart, he and his party thought themselves not secure if Sultan
Cuserou remained under the safeguard of Anna-Rah, lest, during the
absence of Churrum, the king might be reconciled to Cuserou, by whose
liberty all the hopes and power of their faction would be overthrown, in
which case their ambition and the injuries they had done could hardly
escape punishment. In this view they continued to urge the king to
deliver Sultan Cuserou into the custody of Asaph Khan, as deputy on that
occasion to Churrum, under pretence that this measure would intimidate
Khan-Khannan and the Deccan princes, when they shall learn that Sultan
Churrum is so favoured that the king has delivered his eldest son into
his keeping, giving him as it were present possession of the kingdom,
and the certain prospect of succession. Accordingly, on the 17th of
October, Sultan Cuserou was delivered up as they desired, the soldiers
of Anna-rah were discharged, and those of Asaph Khan placed over him,
assisted by 200 horse belonging to the prince. The sister of Sultan
Cuserou, and several other women in the seraglio, have put themselves in
mourning, refuse to take their food, and openly exclaim against the
dotage and cruelty of the king; declaring, if Cuserou should die, that
an hundred of his kindred would devote themselves to the flames, in
memory of the king's cruely to the worthiest of his sons.
The king endeavoured to sooth them by fair words, protesting that he had
no evil intentions towards his son, whom he promised speedily to deliver
from captivity, and even sent his favourite Nourmahal to endeavour to
appease the enraged and disconsolate ladies; but they refused to admit
her visit, loading her with curses and threatnings. The common people
universally condemn the king's conduct, saying, that he has not only
delivered his son's life, but his own into the keeping of an ambitious
prince and treacherous faction, and that Cuserou cannot perish without
extreme scandal to his father, unless he amply revenge his death, for
which cause the party will dispatch the king first, and his eldest son
afterwards, that through their deaths the ambitious and unnatural
Churrum may mount the throne. Every hour new rumours are spread of the
deliverance of Cuserou, which are speedily contradicted; for he still
remains in the tyger's den, refuses food, and requires that his father
may take away his life, and not leave him to be a sport and prey to his
inveterate enemies. The whole court is filled with rumours and secret
whispers; the nobles are sad, and the people full of turmoil and noise,
without any head, having no one to direct their rage to any specific
object. The issue seems involved in dangers, especially for us, as, in
regard to themselves, it matters not who wins. Although the elder prince
have more right, and is of a more honourable character, he is still a
Mahomedan, and can hardly be a better prince than his father, whose
dispositions are good, yet so facile that he allows all to govern at
their will, which is even worse than if he were a tyrant, for we had
better suffer injuries from one prince than from a host of ministers and
subordinate agents.
The 19th of October Mahomet Reza Beg, the Persian ambassador, made his
entry into the city with a great cavalcade, partly sent out by the king
to meet him. There were at least an hundred elephants, with many
musicians; but no man of quality went out on this occasion beyond the
ordinary official receivers of strangers. His own train consisted of
about fifty horse in splendid dresses of cloth of gold, their bows,
quivers, and targets being richly adorned. Together with these he had
about forty musqueteers, and about 200 ordinary peons and attendants
on his passage. He was conducted to a room within the outer court of the
palace, to rest himself till the evening, at which time I sent my
secretary to the durbar, to give me an account of the ceremonial.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 131 of 243
Words from 132789 to 133814
of 247546
