Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 25.5.3

25.5.3

but being a set of men always wise and always in temper, they patiently wait until by his death some unworthy son comes to succeed him; at which time under his name and without opening any dispute with him, or creating any ill renown to themselves, they complete the conquest, and have the art to finish their business in such a sly manner, that no reproach can be made to them. By which means the downfall of the people of those parts, especially of the great and powerful ones, is soon obtained by the hands of one another; and all this is brought about so artfully, that the idiots set up by them, unaware of the above management, do of their own accord and motion work at the ruin of their equals; and meanwhile the English who seem quite passive, as if suffering themselves to be lead, are in fact giving motion to the machine, and turning those sots into so many objects of endless contempt and raillery, both in Hindostan and in Europe. Meanwhile those fools fancying themselves shrewd in business, plume themselves and strut about, until the seeds of mischief planted by them, coming to shoot up, the day of retribution and vengeance comes with them, and they pay and smart in their turn for having squandered away the little money they had scraped together in working themselves into those honours and those stations they so little deserved. They seem to be the centre of a mighty bustle, but in fact do nothing more than ruin still more, a country already ruined;