The fifth cause consists in the difference betwixt the manner in which the English in office appear in public, and give audience to suitors, and that in which it has been at all times customary to hold a Durbar in this country.
Our illustrious Sovereigns of Hindostan, those Princes so studious of justice and equity, had it in custom to divide their time for different purposes, and had made a rule of that distribution, on which they never encroached by any other occupation; but in that division, two kinds of businesses held always the first rank. The first was the examination and decision of affairs relative to revenue and Government; the second the rights of individuals, and the rules of distributive justice to the people of The Indian Princes, extremely accessible. God. For each of these purposes they had set apart two days in the week, at which time they appeared publicly in all their pomp, grandeur and glory. They were surrounded at some distance by their Ministers and officers; and they gave a general audience, where any one might present his petition himself, and speak to them face to face; by which means the Sovereign being informed of the state of the country, and of the behaviour of its rulers, could provide such a remedy as the matter required; and by such means he became acquainted with the wants and complaints of his subjects and dependants. But as those Princes did not live in one and the same place, but made a travelling circuit almost every year, of course they had opportunities of hearing with their own ears, and of seeing with their own eyes, the circumstances of the subject and the necessities of the country. In the same manner they spent two days in the week in rendering justice, and in hearing the cries of the oppressed; nor did they shew any impatience at the screams and reproaches of the crowds that pressed upon them. Matters are far from being so now with the English Gentlemen, as these (and this has been already hinted at in the foregoing sheets) hate appearing in public audiences, and whenever they come to appear at all, it is to betray extreme uneasiness, impatience, and anger, on seeing themselves surrounded by crowds, and on hearing their complaints, and clamours. Hence it follows naturally that they must be in the dark with respect to the real state of the country, and the circumstances of the subject; and hence multitudes of people remain deprived of the Their lenity in putting up with the reproaches and a busive language of disappointed suitors. sight of their rulers, and never see any thing of that benignity and that munificence which might be expected from people that now sit on the throne of Kings, and figure as the representatives of Emperors.