“What,” said the Rajah, with some asperity, “should you, a mere soldier, know about State affairs?  Do you suppose that all the members of any family can be equal?  Must there not be a head to all families to keep the rest in order?  Nothing goes on well in families or governments where all are equal, and there is no head to guide; and the head must have the means to guide the rest.”—­“True,” said the belted attendant, “all can’t be equal in the rule of States; but in questions of private right, between individuals and subjects, the case is different; and the ruler should give to every one his due, and prevent the strong from robbing the weak.  I have five fingers in my hand:  they serve me, and I treat them all alike.  I do not let one destroy or molest the other.”  “I tell you,” said the Rajah, with increasing asperity, “that there must be heads of families as well as heads of States, or all would be confusion; and Lonee Sing is right in all that he has done.  Don’t you see what a state his district is in, now that he has taken the management of the whole upon himself?  I dare say all the waste that we see around us has arisen from the want of such heads of families.”—­“You know,” said the man, “that this waste has been caused by the oppression of the King’s officers, and their disorderly and useless troops, and the strong striving to deprive the weak of their rights.”

“You know nothing about these matters,” said the Rajah, still more angrily.  “The wise and strong are everywhere striving to subdue the weak and ignorant, in order that they may manage what they hold better than they can.  Don’t you see how the British Government are going on, taking country after country year after year, in order to manage them better than they were managed under others? and don’t you see how these countries thrive under their strong and just Government?  Do you think that God would permit them to go on as they do unless he thought that it was for the good of the people who come under their rule?” Turning to me, the Rajah continued:  “When I was one day riding over the country with Colonel Low, the then Resident, as I now ride with you, sir, he said, with a sigh, ’In this country of Oude what darkness prevails!  No one seems to respect the right of another; and every one appears to be grasping at the possessions of his neighbour, without any fear of God or the King’—­’True, sir,’ said I; ’but do you not see that it is the necessary order of things, and must be ordained by Providence?  Is not your Government going on taking country after country, and benefiting all it takes?  And will not Providence prosper their undertakings as long as they do so?  The moment they come to a stand, all will be confusion.  Sovereigns cannot stand still, sir; the moment their bellies are full (their ambition ceases), they and the countries they govern retrograde.  No sovereign in India, sir, that has any regard for himself or his country, can with safety sit down and say that his belly is full (that he has no further ambition of conquest):  he must go on to the last.’"*