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of a national exchequer خزانه being absolutely
bankrupt, unlined with even a silver coin.
The finances of the state, therefore, demanded
the first and the most vigilant care of the
King. Though every measure of injustice
and extortion, which could bring the last
خزینه farthing of his subjects into the coffers of
the state, had been adopted by the Bacha,
yet upon his explusion from the Arg, the
public treasury was totally exhausted, so much
so that King Mohammad Nadir Shah had
no means to defray even the current expenses
of the Government. It was literally the case
of a monarch ruling at Kabul without
possessing so much as even the price of a
meal for himself. Even under these dis-
tressed and difficult circumstances he had
بلند همتی the magnanimity to remit all the oppress-
ive rates and taxes which had told so
heavily upon the poor classes and also
پس مانده to cancel the arrears due from people and
forego the unjust claims of the treasury,
declaring in a royal decree that he was
better satisfied to govern and administer a
poor country with justice and equity than
to acquire riches by means of tyranny and
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Roughly two thirds of characters agree with a modern printed edition of the same text. Much of the disagreement is editorial, not misreading. Treat the transcription as a finding aid and read the page image before quoting. How this was measured.