3 
largely assisted in restoring the latter to power, naturally exercised 
great influence on the acts and will of Akber. The tact, firmness, 
and courage, with which he speedily freed himself from this domin- 
ation, are remarkable. 
Foremost among these men was Beiram Khan Toorkaman, his 
tutor and general; and who, on his accession to the throne, he 
raised to the dignity of Khan Khanan, or lord of lords, as his 
prime minister, and committed to him the general regulation of 
civil and military affairs in detail; but young as he was—and 
indeed from the very first—he never seems to have evaded the 
responsibility or the toil of the authority in chief, to have been 
drawn out of it into the pleasures of youth, or ever to have lost 
confidence in himself. 
At the close of the campaign against Hemoo, the minister and 
general-in-chief of the Patan monarchy, when the former was taken 
prisoner, Beiram Khan pressed Akber to kill the infidel captive 
with his own hand, and so become entitled to the proud title of 
“Ghazy,” or Champion of the Faith. The boy burst into tears, 
but drawing his sword, touched the head of his captive with it, 
when Beiram Khan, observing his emotion and natural reluctance 
to strike, at one blow with his sabre severed the captive’s head 
from his body. 
As time went on, the relations between the young Emperor 
and his able minister became somewhat strained. Akber of late 
had had many great questions to decide, and many new and serious 
responsibilities to assume, which had given strength and decision 
to his character; and he had rewarded independently those who 
had done him good service. Beiram Khan does not always appear 
to have been present on these occasions, and the boy was thus 
thrown upon his own resources. When Beiram Khan heard that 
Akber had rewarded persons without referring them to him, he 
took offence, and withdrew himself for some days. Other events 
tended to hasten the minister’s fall. 
The discipline among the Mongul commanders had been of a 
loose description; for the most part semi-independent chieftains 
themselves, at the head of their clans, they had been used to act 
