Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Mussulman faith, by a public manifestation of the amity and alliance subsisting between his Majesty, and the supreme head of the Mahomedan church, and of the estimation and honour in which the British Government and army of India are held by the Ottoman Porte.

6. The policy of endeavouring to unite our subjects of the Mussulman faith in sentiments of respect for the British Government, and to mitigate their prejudices by every practicable means of conciliation, must be obvious to your Lordship's experience in the affairs of India. Adverting to these considerations, I trust that the course which I have pursued in consequence of the honour conferred on me by the Porte, will meet his Majesty's gracious approbation.

I have the honour to be, &c.

WELLESLEY.

APPENDIX.

A.

Treaty for cementing the friendship and alliance between the Honourable Company and his Excellency the Rajah of Tanjore, and for establishing the Government of Tanjore on a permanent foundation.*

Nov. 26, 1799.

Whereas the stipulations and conditions of the treaty of 1792, concluded between the Honourable Sir Charles Oakeley, Baronet, Governor in Council at Fort St. George, and his Excellency Ameer Sing, late Rajah of Tanjore, have been found inadequate to the intentions of the contracting parties; and whereas his Excellency Maha Rajah Serfojee, Rajah of Tanjore, has, by a certain instrument under his signature, previous to his elevation to the Musnud of his ancestors, engaged to consent to such arrangements as may be deemed expedient for the better management of the country of Tanjore, particularly for the due administration of justice, and also for securing to the Honourable English East India Company, a regular discharge of their existing and future demands on Tanjore; wherefore the present treaty is concluded between his Excellency Serfojee, Rajah of Tanjore, on his own part, and Benjamin Torin, Esq., Resident at Tanjore, on behalf of the Company, being invested with full powers by the Right Honourable the Earl of Mornington Behauder, Governor-General of Bengal, according to the following Articles :

ART. 1. Such parts of all former treaties with the former Rajahs of Tanjore, as are intended to establish the friendship and alliance between the Honourable Company and His Excellency the Rajah of Tanjore, are hereby strengthened and confirmed, and the contracting parties mutually agree that the friends and enemies of either shall be considered to be the friends and enemies of both.

ART. 2. The several provisions heretofore established, for enabling the contracting parties to carry the spirit and intention of the preceding article into execution, having proved defective, and the result of an enquiry instituted by the authority of the Right Honourable the Governor-General in Council, with the previous written consent of his Excellency Maha Rajah Serfojee, for the purpose of ascertaining the actual state and condition of the country of Tanjore, having proved that it is become indispensably necessary to establish a regular and permanent system, for the better administration of the revenue of the said country, it is stipulated and agreed, that all former provisions for securing a partial or temporary interference, on the part of the Honourable Company, in the government, or in the administration of the revenues of the country of Tanjore, shall be entirely annulled, and that in lieu thereof, a permanent system for the collection of the revenue, and for the administration of justice, shall be established in the manner hereafter described.

ART. 3. The Honourable Company shall be at liberty, as soon as possible, to ascertain, determine, and establish rights of property, and to fix a reasonable as* Referred to at pages 120, 130, 154, and 196.

VOL. II.

2 z

sessment upon the several Soubahs, Pergunnahs, and villages of the country of Tanjore, and to secure a fixed and permanent revenue, and the said assessments so ascertained and fixed, shall not be liable to change, but shall be collected according to fixed rent rolls, by such officers as shall be appointed for that purpose.

ART. 4. A court, or courts, shall be established for the due administration of civil and criminal justice, under the sole authority of the English East India Company. The said courts shall be composed of officers to be appointed by the Governor in Council of Fort St. George for the time being, and shall in no instance whatever, be subjected to the controul, authority, or interference of the said Rajah, but shall be conducted according to such ordinances and regulations (framed with a due regard to the existing laws and usages of the country,) as shall from time to time be enacted and published by the said Governor in Council.

ART. 5. The revenues shall be collected according to the rates of assessment to be established by the third article, by the officers to be appointed by the said Governor in Council for that purpose, and the said Rajah shall exercise no controul whatever, nor in any manner interfere in the administration of the said

revenues.

ART. 6. Whereas it is stipulated and agreed by the fifth article of the treaty of 1792, that the payments to be made to the Honourable Company by his Excellency the Rajah, shall amount to five lacks seventy-four thousand two hundred and eighty-five pagodas per annum, under the different denominations of subsidy, Peishcush, public and private debts, it is now stipulated and agreed, that these distinctions shall for ever cease, and that the whole revenue shall be collected and accounted for by the said Company, in the manner hereafter provided, the said Company charging themselves with the payment of that part of the registered private debt which has not already been transferred to their account.

ART. 7. In lieu of the said stipulations in the fifth article of the treaty of 1792, it is hereby stipulated and agreed, that his Excellency the Rajah shall in all cases receive annually one lack of Star Pagodas, which shall be considered to be the first charge payable from the net revenues of Tanjore. In addition to the said sum of one lack of Star Pagodas, his Excellency shall receive a proportion of one fifth, to be calculated on the remainder of the net revenue, after deducting all charges of collection of whatever description, and the charge specified in the following Article.

ART. 8. It is stipulated and agreed that the sum of twenty-five thousand Star Pagodas shall in all cases be appropriated to the support of the late Rajah Ameer Sing, and shall be considered as a charge on the revenue, to be deducted previous to the calculation of the proportion of one-fifth above mentioned. The residue of the revenues, after the foregoing deductions, shall be at the disposal of the said Company.

ART. 9. It is stipulated and agreed, that the Rajah shall be treated on all occasions, in his own territories, as well as in those of the Company, with all the attention, respect, and honour, which is due to a friend and ally of the British nation.

Art. 10. Whereas his Excellency the Rajah has had occasion to complain of inconvenience to his Excellency and his servants, from the present mode of garrisoning his Excellency's hereditary fort of Tanjore by a part of the Honourable Company's troops, it is stipulated and agreed, with a view to the accommodation and satisfaction of his Excellency, that the said fort of Tanjore shall be evacuated by the Company's troops entirely, and that his Excellency shall be at full liberty to garrison the said fort in such manner as to him shall seem fit. Provided always, that in the event of an invasion of the territories of the Company, or of their allies, or in the event of any failure in the due performance of the engagements contracted by his Excellency the Rajah, the said Company shall again have power to occupy the said fort as a military post for the protection and mutual interests of the contracting parties; the said Company binding themselves to evacuate the said fort as soon as the reasons for re-occupying it shall no longer exist.

Art. 11. His Excellency the Rajah stipulates and agrees, that the said fort shall in no case whatever become an asylum for public offenders, or for persons desirous of escaping from the jurisdiction of the courts of civil or criminal justice, or from

the authority of the revenue officers, or of any other branch of the authority of the Honourable Company; and His Excellency the Rajah further agrees to deliver up all such persons without delay, on application from such officer or officers as the Governor in Council of Fort St. George shall appoint for the purpose.

ART. 12. In complaints brought before any of the courts of justice, in which it shall appear, either by the application of the Rajah, or the representation of the defendant, at or before the time of giving in his or her answer, or by the petition of the complainant, that both parties are relations, or servants, or dependants of his Excellency, or inhabitants usually resident within the fort of Tanjore, it is stipulated and agreed, that such parties shall, in the first instance, be referred for justice to the Rajah, or to any person he may appoint to dispense it; any complaint against the Rajah's relations, immediate servants, or others, residing in the fort of Tanjore, by persons of a different description, shall in the first instance be made to the Company's representative at Tanjore, who shall prefer it to his Excellency; the Rajah hereby engages to order an immediate investigation to be made in his court of justice, or in case the parties should desire it, to order the dispute to be referred to a proper arbitration; His Excellency engaging to bring it to a direct issue, and to carry the sentence or award, if unfavourable to his relation or servant, into immediate execution.

ART. 13. In order that his Excellency the Rajah may have full satisfaction in respect to the revenues of the territory hereby subjected to the management of the Company, his Excellency shall be at liberty to inspect the accounts of the head Cutcherry, or collector's treasury, from time to time, or to station a Vakeel, or accountant, at his own expense, for the purpose of taking and transmitting to his Excellency, copies of any, or of all the accounts which shall be recorded in the head Cutcherry, or treasury of the collector.

ART. 14. Whereas a certain annual Peishcush, amounting to two thousand Chukrums, is payable by the Danish Government of Tranquebar, for lands held of the Rajah of Tanjore, in the vicinity of that place, it is stipulated and agreed, that the said Peishcush shall continue to be received by his Excellency the Rajah, without any deduction from His Excellency's proportion of the revenue, as herein before stipulated.

ART. 15. And whereas it is necessary to the convenience and comfort of his Excellency the Rajah, that certain supplies of rice, gram, and other grain, should be supplied for the use of his Excellency, the Company bind themselves to furnish the said supplies, as often as the Rajah shall find it necessary to apply for this purpose, his Excellency binding himself to pay for the said grain, with the charge of transportation, at the rate of the current prices for the time being.

This Treaty, consisting of fifteen Articles, being settled this day, the 25th of October, 1799, corresponding to the 12th of Alpeshy, in the year Sedhartey, by Benjamin Torin, Esq., on the part of, and in the name of, the Right Honourable Richard, Earl of Mornington, Governor General aforesaid, and by his Excellency Maha Rajah Serfojee Rajah, on his own part, the said Benjamin Torin, Esq. has delivered to his Excellency Maha Rajah Serfojee Rajah, one copy of the same, signed and sealed by himself; and his Excellency Maha Rajah Serfojee Rajah has delivered to Benjamin Torin, Esq. another copy of the same, sealed and signed by himself. And Benjamin Torin, Esq. engages that the said Treaty shall be ratified by the Right Honourable the Governor General, under his seal and signature, within forty-five days from the date hereof.

BENJAMIN TORIN, Resident.

Ratified by the Right Honourable the Governor General in Council, at Fort William, on the 26th day of November, A.D. 1799.

APPENDIX B.

Articles of Agreement between the Honourable East India Company and their successors and the Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen Khan, &c. &c. and his heirs and successors, for the better Administration of the Government of the City of Surat and its dependencies.

Whereas the honourable English East India Company have been subjected to a heavy expense for the protection of the city of Surat, and whereas the existing system of internal government in the said city has been found inadequate to the protection of the persons and property of the inhabitants; and whereas the Right Honourable the Earl of Mornington, Governor-General of the British Possessions in India, and the Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen, &c. are mutually desirous of providing more effectually for the external defence of the city of Surat, and for the security, ease, and happiness of the inhabitants, the following articles of agreement are concluded on behalf of the honourable English India Company and their successors, by the honourable Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay, vested with full powers for that purpose by the said Governor-General on the one part, and by the Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen, and his heirs and successors, on the other part.

ART. 1. The friendship subsisting between the honourable English Company and the Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen Khan, &c. &c. &c. is hereby strengthened and confirmed, and the friends and the enemies of one shall be considered to be the friends and enemies of the other.

ART. 2. The Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen agrees, that the management and collection of the revenues of the city of Surat, and of the territories, places, and other dependencies thereof, the administration of civil and criminal justice, and, generally, the whole civil and military government of the said city and its dependencies, shall be vested, for ever, entirely and exclusively in the honcurable English Company. ART. 3. It is agreed, that the Nabob shall be treated, on all occasions, with the same respect and distinction as his predecessors.

ART. 4. The English Company agree to pay to the Nabob Nasur-ud-Deen and his heirs, out of the revenues of Surat and its dependencies, in four equal quarterly payments, one lack of rupees annually, which shall be considered to be the first charge payable from the said revenues. The Company also engage to pay to the said Nabob and his heirs, in addition to the above-mentioned lac of rupees, a proportion of one-fifth part of the annual revenues now arising, or which may hereafter arise, from the said city, and its dependencies, after deducting the said lac of rupees, the sum payable to the Mahrattas and the charges of collection. The residue of the revenues, after the foregoing deductions, shall be at the disposal of the said Company.

ART. 5. In order that the Nabob may, at all times, have full satisfaction, in respect to the revenues of Surat and its dependencies, he the said Nabob shall be at liberty to inspect all the accounts thereof, from time to time, or to station a Vakeel, or accountant, at his own expense, in all or any of the offices of collection, for the purpose of taking and transmitting to his Excellency copies of all or any of the accounts of the said revenues

ART. 6. Courts shall be established for the due administration of civil and criminal justice; which courts, agreeably to the stipulations in the second article, shall be under the sole authority of the English East India Company. The said Court shall be composed of officers to be appointed by the Governor in council of Bombay for the time being, and shall be conducted according to such ordinances and regulations (framed with a due regard to the existing laws and usages of the country) as shall, from time to time, be published by the said Governor in council. ART. 7. In complaints brought before the courts of justice, in which it shall appear, either by the application of the Nabob, or the representation of the defendant, at or before the time of giving in his or her answer, or by the petition of the complainant, that both parties are relations or servants of the Nabob, it is agreed, that such parties shall, in the first instance, be referred for justice to the Nabob, or to any person he may appoint to dispense it. Any complaint against the relations or immediate servants of the Nabob by persons of a different description,

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »