230                    LETTER TO COLBERT

his patron, who will exact whatever terms he pleases as
the price of his protection.

The Great Mogol cannot select for his service, princes,
noblemen and gentlemen of opulent and ancient families;
nor the sons of his citizens, merchants and manufacturers;
men of education, possessing a high sense of propriety,
affectionately attached to their Sovereign, ready to sup¬
port, by acts of valour, the reputation of their family, and,
as the occasion may arise, able and willing to maintain
themselves, either at court or in the army, by means of
their own patrimony; animated by the hope of better
times, and satisfied with the approbation and smile of their
Sovereign. Instead of men of this description, he is sur¬
rounded by slaves, ignorant and brutal; by parasites raised
from the dregs of society; strangers to loyalty and
patriotism; full of insufferable pride, and destitute of
courage, of honour, and of decency.

The country is ruined by the necessity of defraying the
enormous charges required to maintain the splendour of
a numerous court, and to pay a large army maintained for
the purpose of keeping the people in subjection. No
adequate idea can be conveyed of the sufferings of that
people. The cudgel and the whip compel them to in¬
cessant labour for the benefit of others; and driven to
despair by every kind of cruel treatment, their revolt or
their flight is only prevented by the presence of a military
force.

The misery of this ill-fated country is increased by the
practice which prevails too much at all times, but especially
on the breaking out of an important war, of selling the
different governments for immense sums in hard cash.
Hence it naturally becomes the principal object of the
individual thus appointed Governor, to obtain repayment
of the purchase-money, which he borrowed as he could at
a ruinous rate of interest. Indeed whether the govern¬
ment of a province has or has not been bought, the
Governor, as well as the timariot and the farmer of the