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fulfil the ordinance of the Creator, to increase many 

 fold the earth's produce to reproduce fresh wealth, 

 which all might enjoy, and of which the King 1 , 

 as trustee for the Community or the State, might 

 receive his just share ? It has not. The bulk of 

 this wealth has been squandered in natches, poojas, 

 or festivities in honour of n^thological Gods and 

 Goddesses, marriage and other ceremonies, feeding 

 Brahmins, &c. ; some has been hoarded ; much has 

 been put into gold and silver ornaments, jewels, 

 brocades, shawls ; and considerable sums have been 

 expended in barbaric splendour.* Nay more, the 

 celebration of these wasteful festivals and ceremonies 

 is often the source of grinding oppression on the part 

 of many Zemindars, who invariably make them the 

 occasion of imposing abwabs, or taxes, on their 

 tenants, a practice which, though it has been dis- 

 allowed by law, is universal. 



No contrast could be more striking than that 

 which meets the eye of the traveller from the North 

 West, as he approaches Calcutta the Metropolis of 

 British India ! Bridges broken down, roads in 

 some places washed away, and in others disgracefully 

 out of repair, are everywhere to be seen. A few 

 years back, I counted, for miles along what is called 

 the grand trunk road, heaps of metal which had been 

 deposited for four or five successive seasons, and 

 never laid down. Nor could there be any mistake. 



* The Kajah of Pachete has about 100 elephants, the keep 

 ) \ of which cannot cost him less than ^3000 per annum. 



