Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 37.4.5

37.4.5

Alla-ood-Deen after the late occurrences, becoming apprehensive of conspiracies against his person, summoned his nobles, and commanded them to give their opinion, without reserve, what should be done to avert these evils. At the same time, he called on them to state what they considered were the real causes of these disorders. They replied, that there were many sources out of which revolutions, dangerous and fatal in their consequences, might proceed. Among others, they hinted at the King's total inattention to business, and the consequent absence of all redress to his subjects. The excessive use of wine appeared to them also a source of many disorders, for when men form themselves into societies for the purpose of drinking, they unbosom their secret thoughts to each other, and are frequently excited to undertake desperate projects. The close connections formed among the nobles of the court they deemed also of danger to the State. Their numerous intermarriages and the patronage in the hands of a few, gave them a degree of power, which enabled them, by coalition, to create revolutions whenever so disposed. The last and not the least cause, they thought, arose from the unequal division of property: they considered that the wealth of a rich empire, if confined to a few persons, only rendered them, as governors of provinces, more like independent princes than subjects of the state.