NOTHING is clearer in itself, or better understood by men of intelligence and penetration, than that the gradation of climates is such, that every tract of land has properties of its own, which have been denied to others. In other words, that in consequence of some hidden causes, in a certain tract of land, the diversity of the soil produces immancably a diversity in the genius of the inhabitants, and that this diversity is so self-evident, that the man of perspicuity needs no discourse or argu­ment to be convinced of it; and indeed, were all soils and lands of one and the same nature, that astonishing difference in the colour of the inhabitants, and in the fruits, metals, waters, plants, and animals, so conspicuous everywhere, would not be constant and permanent in every tract of land. Amongst so many climes and so many lands, India looks the strangest country on the face of the earth. Whether we cast our eyes on the actions and practices of the inhabitants, or consider the institutions and maxims by which they are restrained and ruled, nothing in the world bears so evident marks of strangeness and nothing under Heaven is so completely dissimilar from what we see in other countries. This is so far true, that unless the Sovereign turn his inclinations towards a management adapted to the climate and country, no steady Government can be expected; nor is it possible that the ease and prosperity of the inhabitants, or the peace and tranquillity of the country should take place. Now as this climate, in consequence of its being under the influence of Saturn, is dominated by that planet, hence most of its inhabitants are feeble in action, and slow in comprehension; and withal, prove so very feeble in the frame of their bodies, that they have been constantly subdued by foreign conquerors, and vanquished by foreign armies. But, however, so tenacious were at all times the vanquished of their own tenets and customs, that the victors soon found themselves under a necessity of assimilating with them; and so soon as these mighty conquerors had acquired a firm footing in these countries, and the violence and extortions inseparable from a state of warfare, slaughter, and confusion, came to be over, their very first thought was always to quiet the minds of the inhabi­tants, and to afford them relief, by always becoming their pro­tectors in whatever concerned their lives, fortunes, honors, and families. They used to call up all the abilities of the land to their sides, would give them weight and consequence, and prepose Vezirs and Omrahs of the country to the management of their own affairs. In consequence of such a conduct, each individual, high or low, finding an easy access to the Princes, and to their Ministers*, used to meet with opportunities of shewing what business he was particularly fit for; so that those Princes, who were naturally endowed with penetration, and had their minds exercised in the art of conjecure, soon found out the capacity and fitness of every one, and soon preposed him to a business adequate to his talents and abilities; whilst themselves, standing above them all as so many overseers, attended to the regulation of affairs, to the tranquillity and ease of the country and its inhabitants, and to the promoting of men of penetration and knowledge; which last never failed, after a proper trial of their abilities and virtuous dispositions, to be advanced to offices of trust and dignity. Hence those Princes lived amongst their people, and amongst their nobles, as kind and condescending parents amongst Indian Princes love their people, as fond parents do their children. their children; nor did they suffer the dust of sorrow to darken the heart of any of the creatures of God, by a show of tenderness to one part of the people, and of rudeness to the other. For they looked upon them all, whether conquerors or conquered, with an equal eye; so that for several ages together, down to the times of Shah-djehan, every thing in Hindostan was quietness, love, and harmony. It is only since the times of Aoreng-zib-Aalem-ghir, his son, a Prince extremely warlike and ambitious, that evils have crept upon the land. But yet these were light matters; for such were the abilities, prowess, and strictness of government under that reign, that the established rules and institutions did not suffer any considerable injury from the wickedness of the turbulent Grandees; nor did the people of God meet with much oppression in the civil wars, during which it never ceased to be protected and cherished. The main evil resulting from his time was this, that to make a diversion in the minds of the people, to the ill renown of ingratitude and hard­ness of heart, which he had acquired by killing his brothers, and keeping his father in prison, he had assembled the Ecclesiastics about his person, and had given them such unbounded sway, that the populace complimented him with the titles of the Faithful Emperor, ever victorious, and the constant Cherisher of Religion. But those hypocrites no sooner saw themselves at the head of affairs, than their avarice and covetousness gave rise to such a train of evils, as shed even now their baleful influence on these countries, continuing to pour ruin and devasta­tion on the posterity of the Faithful: a revolution which has been succinctly mentioned at the end of our first volume, where our narrative gives the history of the latter Emperors of Hindo­stan. Matters grew worse in the reign of Feróh-syúr, who was a nothing without brains. In his time Ratan-chund, Divan to Séyd-abdollah-qhan, then omnipotent under the name of Vezir, got so far possession of his master’s mind, that he governed the whole Empire, and drove from the helm, or disgusted entirely those very Grandees and Ministers that had supported its honor and glory, in the time of Aoreng-zib. Then commenced the custom of leasing out all the branches of the Finance-office, and all the districts and lands of the Imperial demesnes. Then bribing men into compliance became of fashion, and of current use; and sluggish people, addicted to their ease, thinking it a good fortune to get at once so much assured money, made no difficulty to sacrifice the sweat of the people of God, and the toil of the helpless farmer, to the rapacity of lease-takers, tax-gatherers, and conractors. It is from those times that must be dated the sinking of rents, the decrease of husbandry, the distress of the people, and their detestation of their Rulers. These evils went on increasing from day to day, till at last the office of Cazy or Judge, and than of Sadr or of Great Almoner, with many other Magistratures, came to be put up publicly to sale; so that the people skilled in law, and in matters of distributive justice, entirely disappeared from the land; nor was anything else thought of, but how to bring money to hand by any means whatever. This, and this alone, became the utmost ambition of all ranks, and especially of the hypocrites amongst the men that meddled with law. It was in such an enfeebled state of the Empire, that there arose a new sort of men, worse than the former, who, so far from setting up for patterns of piety and virtue, or pretending to shew the right way to others, squandered away the lives and properties of the poor with so much barefacedness, that other men, on beholding their conduct, became bolder and bolder, and practised the worst and ugliest actions, without fear or remorse; so far are they from thinking it a shame or an infamy to imitate and follow such examples. From those men sprung an infinity of evil-doers, who plague the Indian world, and grind the face of the wretched inhabitants. Those men having in process of time assembled in bodies, there arose an age of senseless, slothful Princes, and of Grandees, ignorant and meddling. Then it was that the Sun of Justice and Equity, that had already been verging from the meridian, inclined downwards, degree by degree, and at last entirely set in the Occident of ignorance, imprudence, violence, and civil wars. It is in consequence of these excesses, that evils are arisen to such a height, as render a remedy impossible. It is in consequence of such wretched administrations, that every part of Hindia has gone to ruin, and every one of its discouraged inhabitants have broken their thearts. Life itself is become disgustful to most. So that, on comparing the present times with the past, one is apt to think that the world is overspread with blindness, and that the earth is totally over­whelmed with an everlasting darkness.

Amidst the strange events which these revolutions have brought about, the introduction of European foreigners, in the heart of the land, is an important one. The wise men of Europe have been casting their eyes upon the conquest of India, and have contrived to achieve great part of that conquest, having already acquired an absolute dominion in several tracts. But such is the complete difference, and the total dissimilarity ??etwixt the manners of their own country, and the customs and usages of Hindostan, that all the endeavours of their chief Rulers, and all the resorts they have put in motion, have answered no purpose at all; nor has the face of regulation in the country, and of ease On the con­trary, the English hate the natives of India, and disdain their company. to the inhabitants, made its appearance as yet. But, over and above those considerations, it may be said with great truth, that such is the aversion which the English openly shew for the com­pany of the natives, and such the disdain which they betray for them, that no love, and no coalition (two articles, which, by the bye, are the principle of all union and attachment, and the source of all regulation and settlement) can take root between the conquerors and the conquered; and as we see that the very reverse is actually taking place, so we may rest assured, that the distresses of the people, and the depopulation and desertion of the land, will go hand in hand, until they are come to their height, and the desolation is become complete and general. Such a state of things may be deduced from several causes, which I hope to be able gradually to unfold. And the first is, that these new Rulers are quite alien to this country, both in customs and manners; and quite strangers to the methods of raising tribute, as well as to the maxims of estimating the revenues, or of com­prehending the ways of tax-gathering; because in their country a Landlord or Zemindar paying Royal rent from year to year to The author assigns the fail of rents, and the decrease of population and revenue, to twelve causes, which he explains at length. The first is, that the English have at all times, and still are, strangers and aliens. the public treasury, is a being that has no existence. Taxes and imposts upon husbandry and land, Soobadaries, Fodjdaries, Qhalissas, and Djaghirs are not customary in that country. As much as I can trust to the information I have obtained from intelligent persons amongst them, it appears that they take some­thing, by way of duty, from coaches, and from windows of houses, from plate and other vessels of gold and silver, and from merchandise; and that they differ widely from the customs of this country, in the mode of giving salaries to the servants of Government, and to those that are at the head of affairs; as well as in punishing misdemeanours and trespasses. Insomuch that there are some trespasses that are finable in this country, and are not there; some more that are reputed slight here, and are accounted very high there, and some that are the very reverse. On the other hand, there are some other matters that are unnoticed here, and passed by, and are not so there; some practices, which are become there of custom and obligation, and which here have never been heard of, or seen; as for instance, counting the inhabitants of every town and city, and examining how much they may have earned, and how much spent; how many are dead, and how many are their children, and how many their old men. In one word, it may be said in general, and indeed in almost every institution and custom, that there is a wide difference betwixt the two nations and Govern­ments; and that it is of such a nature as cannot be remedied at all. Nor does it seem possible to bring the people of this country into such customs and usages; whereas the English being accustomed to them in their own country, want to intro­duce them here likewise, and think such an introduction easy, and of small moment.