153 



commenced under Sevajee, during the reign of Aurungzebe, very 

 few traces of his excellent regulations exist; we can only lament 

 over their ruins. 



I shall not attempt a detail of the cruel oppressions and mean 

 advantages of the Mahratta pundits and governors, now dispersed 

 throughout Guzerat, and occupying these magnificent remains of 

 Mogul splendour. Their severe exactions have already rendered the 

 district of Ahmedabad, once so flourishing and delightful, al- 

 most a desert; and thousands of industrious subjects are annually 

 leaving it, to seek protection under milder governments. 



I wish to write impartially, and not to paint despotism in 

 a favourable light: to be hated by an Englishman, it needs but to 

 be seen. Its frightful picture, drawn by the penetrating Mon- 

 tesquieu, must be confirmed by a slight observer of Asiatic 

 tyranny. That admirable writer asserts, that " Feaii is the prin- 

 ciple of all despotic governments; we are not to look for mag- 

 nanimity among a timid spiritless people, where the prince 

 cannot impart a greatness which he does not himself possess; 

 for with him there is no such thing as glory. It is in mo- 

 narchies we behold the subjects encircling the throne, and cheered 

 by the irradiancy of the sovereign ; there it is, that each person 

 filling as it were a larger space, is capable of exercising those 

 virtues which adorn the soul, not with independence, but with true 

 dignity and greatness." 



This is one of the distinctions in the Spirit of Laws between 

 a limited monarchical, and a despotic government. Yet, in the 

 present constitution of things, it must reluctantly be admitted 



VOL. III. x 



