ever, in the emperor's proceedings, will not have escaped the reader's observation. He seems to have had no abstract passion for war, nor ever employed much of his time in it. If necessary, he opened a campaign in person; and after giving general instructions to his commanders, in regard to its prosecution, he returned to his seat of government, and devoted himself to civil affairs. But his opponents well knew that, though absent in person, he was yet present in spirit, and in case of any reverse to his troops, that he would join them as rapidly, and fight in person with the same fiery valour he had displayed at Surtál, and from his youth upwards.

When everything he directed for the relief of his people was important and progressive, Akbur's system of the assessment of the land revenue of his kingdom was perhaps the most perfect and most elaborate of his reforms. The measure was devised in conjunction with Rajah Toder Mul, and possibly other ministers; but the clear decision of the emperor himself can be traced throughout. The merit of entire originality may be denied him, for he took up what Shére Shah Soor had partly begun; but the recognition and perfection of so grand a reform, is not much below that of original discovery. The land—that is, every field of every village-was measured by an imperial standard. Fields and part of fields might each contain soils of various qualities, and these were calculated in three classes. The averages of value of produce were then decided upon an average of the prices for nineteen years. Of the product, the Government share was fixed at one-third, which was a greater proportion than that of Shére Shah Soor; but, on the other hand, it was now the only rate or tax levied on the agricultural classes. All minor petty taxes, many of which had been very vexatious, were abolished; extra fees and considerations to officers of Government were removed, and the system of farming out districts to individuals, and contractors for revenue, which had given rise to much abuse and oppression, was entirely discontinued. In its main features, Akbur's system bears a very close resemblance to that of the recent revenue survey and assessment of the Bombay Presidency. The groundwork in the measurement of the land, the record of proprietors and occupants, the classification of soils, and the calculation of the value of produce, is as nearly as possible identical in both, and served the same great national purpose and need-the prosperity and contentment of the people. Under Akbur's settlement, no land tenures were altered, or interfered with, in any way. They were accepted as they were found to exist among the people; and so long as an hereditary occupant paid the Government assessment, either in commuted money payments or produce, as he pleased,

he could not be outbid, or removed from his possession. It is not to be considered that the emperor's system was perfect; its first provisions were found to be too minute, and involved yearly settlements, which were altered to terms of ten years; but it was an immense and liberal concession to the people, and that it formed the foundation of subsequent revenue settlements in India by native powers, and even English administrators, vouches for its excellence, after an experience of three hundred years.

It is impossible to review thoroughly the emperor's various reforms of the army, of justice, of police, and of general State policy-which are contained in the 'Ayeen Akburi,' which Mr. Gladwin's translation has placed at the command of all students of Indian subjects. Taking the code as a whole, it displays an amount of careful consideration and practical ability before unknown in India, combined with a rare benevolence and philanthropy highly characteristic of its author. Although it is impossible that the whole can have emanated from Akbur himself, yet there can be no doubt that it was compiled under his own immediate direction, and that he watched its execution very carefully. A proof of this is afforded by the emperor's letter to the Viceroy of Guzerat, given entire in Mr. Bird's history of that province, and quoted by Mr. Elphinstone. While it specifies the limited punishments he was authorised to award, he is enjoined to be sparing in capital punishment; and, unless in dangerous sedition, to inflict none, until he has sent the proceedings to court, and received the emperor's confirmation-nor was execution to be accompanied with mutilation or other cruelty. Thus, throughout the whole, the evidences of order, and systematic regularity, extend from the highest to the lowest branches of State policy and executive detail of administration.

Akbur's court was perhaps the most magnificent in the world. It was the most gorgeous that even India had ever seen; and when the details of it, as given by Sir T. Roe, Hawkins, Bernier, and the Portuguese priests, which cannot be questioned as to accuracy or truth, are considered, it must be admitted that splendour-whether in jewels and ornaments, in costume and decoration, in cloth of gold and velvet, and the gorgeous manufactures of the country; in camp and hunting equipage, elephants, horses, and general equipment of the nobility and the armycould go no further. Akbur had a revenue of 30,000,000%. sterling a-year, which, without any reckless extravagance, was royally expended; as was proved by the State treasury at his death, which contained only 10,000,000l. sterling, with some bullion. He was never in debt, and the stipends of his civil establishments of all kinds, as well as the pay of his army, were

disbursed with the utmost regularity. The emperor's personal application to business was immense. He took but little sleep; three to four hours a day being sufficient for him. He had used to indulge in wine, though not to excess, in his youth, but he gave it up entirely; and he ate moderately of plain food, abstaining from meat two days in every week. Every day he sat in public, transacting business, and receiving petitions even from the most humble. As Purchas describes him, he was 'affable and majestical, merciful and severe; loved and feared of his own, terrible to his enemies.' In all professions of handicraft he took the greatest interest, especially in cannon founding, the manufacture of arms, and architecture, which, of his reign, is at once grand and beautiful. The town of Futtehpoor Sikry, one of his favourite places of residence, was especially decorated with public buildings, and the palaces and mosques at Agra remain exquisite specimens of his pure taste and costly expenditure.

Such a man may have had private vices, yet they do not appear; and had any existed as prominent points in his character, they must, more or less, have influenced his public conduct. Faults, indeed, he humbly acknowledged to all. Of other Indian monarchs, the native historians of their times have not been sparing in comment or record when vices, meanness, or cruelty appeared; and there is no reason to suppose that Akbur would have escaped had there been necessity for animadversion. His public and private character display a vivid sense of true honour, rare perhaps in royal life. He had no deceits, no falsehood, no shifts, no intrigues. He could find, he once said, 'but one road to the attainment of his purposes, and that was the straight one,after all the easiest and best.' In his private friendships, who more sincere and constant? The men he raised to that honour were of the people, and so far inferior in rank to himself; yet he was true and faithful to all, lamenting their deaths with a passionate grief which could hardly be pacified or consoled. Enough, however, of the great emperor. There is no character of the period with whom he can be compared, nor indeed with any other who, like himself, created an empire and ruled over it. At his death, the population of his empire can hardly have been less than 150,000,000, and may have been more; and there is no instance in the world's history, of such a kingdom having been won, not only with so small an amount of human suffering, but with so positive a relief from oppression; and the more his acts, his policy, and his disposition, in all their generosity and humanity, are studied and understood, the stronger will be the conviction that Akbur stands alone. Of his personal appearance there are few very particular accounts. His manly vigour of body was a

fit accompaniment for so large a mind; and of his feats in riding great distances, of walking sometimes forty miles a day, of slaying wild animals, and of his valour in battle, there are many interesting details in his Memoirs. The Jesuits record that he was white like a European; but his son Selim's picture may be nearer the truth, when he describes him as tall of stature, of a ruddy brown complexion, his eyes full and dark, and his eyebrows meeting; while his great breadth of chest, and long sinewy arms, gave him the strength of a lion.

CHAPTER XII.

OF THE PROGRESS OF THE PORTUGUESE IN INDIA, 1527 TO 1612 (continued from Chapter XXIII., Book III.).

ENCOURAGED by the success of his fleet, the King of Guzerat, in 1527, sent it again against the Portuguese, who were at their naval station of Choule; but on this occasion the Portuguese were entirely victorious, and of eighty-three Guzerat vessels, seventythree were either sunk or driven on shore and burned; and the Portuguese followed up their success by an advance by land under Hector di Silviera, in which Tannah, Salsette, and other towns were made tributary. On this occasion, and subsequently, the Portuguese co-operated with the troops of Ahmednugger. In 1530, Antonio di Silviera sacked the rich city of Surat, and burned Damaun; but their greatest expedition was directed against Diu, in 1531. Four hundred vessels of all sizes were assembled in the present harbour of Bombay, under the command of Nuño da Cuerpa, governor-general in India; and conveyed 22,000 men, of whom no less than 3,600 were Europeans. On February 7, the island of Beyt, in the Gulf of Cutch, a strongly fortified position, was carried by assault, with heavy loss to the enemy in men, and sixty pieces of cannon; but the brave Hector di Silviera fell in the attack. The expedition then proceeded to Diu, but was eventually repulsed with heavy loss by its defender, Moostafa Khan, a Turk, and the Portuguese returned to Goa, burning and destroying several towns by the way. But they had by no means given up the idea of possessing Diu. They were joined by the Prince Chánd of Guzerat, who promised them extensive privileges for their assistance; and, ostensibly on his behalf, nearly the whole of the Northern Kónkan, including Bombay, was annexed. When the prince's rebellion failed, the governor-general made overtures to the Emperor Hoomayoon,

who had invaded Guzerat; but this policy was abandoned for an alliance with Bahadur Shah, the King of Guzerat, who, in his extremity, ceded to them Bassein, and the long-coveted Diu. Bahadur Shah took Portuguese into his pay, and in his contests with Hoomayoon was latterly assisted by a corps of 450 Europeans. On a subsequent visit to the Portuguese at Diu, he was killed, as is elsewhere related. In 1537, after the representations and petitions for assistance of Bahadur Shah had reached Constantinople, the sooltan determined upon an expedition against Diu, and seventysix vessels were fitted out at Suez, carrying 7,000 men. This fleet arrived off Diu in September, at a time when the garrison had been reduced to 600 men, and was straitened for provisions. The Egyptian fleet was supported by a Guzerat land army of 20,000 men. The commander of Diu, Antonio di Silviera, made a noble defence in a close siege of eight months' duration, during which the garrison suffered the extremities of hunger—a crow shot on the dead bodies was a luxury for the sick, and nauseous vermin were used as food. The Portuguese ladies took a noble part in the defence, and the details, as given by Faria y Souza, exhibit the highest qualities of heroism. The siege was raised by a fleet under the command of the viceroy, John de Castro, carrying 1,000 pieces of cannon and 5,000 men. Of the fleet, 93 vessels safely reached Diu, and their progress up the coast had been marked by horrible outrages on the inhabitants of many of the large towns; not only were they pillaged and burned, but men, women and children massacred without distinction, while several thousands of the people were sold into slavery. When the relief arrived, the garrison sallied out and routed the besiegers; and on his return to Goa, the viceroy made a triumphal entry, the particulars of which excited astonishment, even in Portugal.

In 1543, Garcia de Noronha being viceroy, the Prince Abdoolla, or Mulloo Khan, of Beejapoor, took refuge at Goa. Assud Khan, the minister, according to the Portuguese historian, offered the whole of the Konkan to him, if the prince should be given up; but the offer was refused. On the death of Assud Khan, it is recorded that they agreed to the demand of Ibrahim Adil Shah, for the delivery of his brother, on condition of receiving the whole of Assud Khan's wealth, and acknowledge to have received ten millions of ducats; but the prince was not surrendered. In 1545, Diu was attacked unsuccessfully by Mahmood Shah of Guzerat, and the siege was renewed in 1548; but the place was relieved by Dom John de Castro, who obtained a great victory, both by sea and land. The King of Beejapoor also renewed his negotiations for the surrender of his brother, which was again refused; and in 1554 the Portuguese assisted him with a force of 3,000 European