Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/28

22 Caundorah, although he meant the embassy well, advised them to act as if they had no other reliance than on the Vizir; and the emperor, with the same caution, professed indeed a general approbation of the petition, but directed the several articles to be discussed by the different officers of the state, to the cognizance of which they were deemed to belong. This subjected the whole petition to the judgment of the Vizir; who, not without candour, disputed all the material articles, and readily allowed those of less consequence: a second petition was therefore presented to the emperor, in consequence of which some more points were given up by the Vizir; and then a third; which, being received with the same favour as the other two, induced him to give up the rest of his objections. But, to the great disappointment of the embassadors, the mandates were issued, not under the Mogul's but under the seal of the Vizir; which, although carrying great authority in the provinces near the capital, was likely to be little respected by the distant viceroys, to whom these mandates were addressed. To increase their difficulties, the Armenian Serhaud, having been checked by his colleagues in some irregular proceedings, perplexed all their operations; and, as they thought, betrayed their councils. Nevertheless Messrs. Stephenson and Surman with great steadiness and spirit returned the mandates, and determined to wait until they should obtain patents under the seal of the Mogul.

These procrastinations had already led the embassy to the month of April of 1716, when the emperor took the field, and marched towards Lahore against the Sykes, a nation of Indians lately reared to power, and bearing mortal enmity to the Mahomedans. The embassadors followed the camp. The campaign was tedious, though successful, and, amongst other events, produced a quarrel between the troops "of the Vizir and Caundorah, which rendered their dissension utterly irreconcileable. Their jealousies, after the return of the army to Delhi, continued to protract the admission of the claim made by the embassadors; who, having wasted fourteen months without the least progress, began to despair of success, when