Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.6.4

4.6.4

Nor can the commerce of a country so governed be conducted with the activity and success that we witness in Europe; few are the men who will voluntarily endure labour and anxiety, and incur danger, for another person's benefit, — for a governor who may appropriate to his own use the profit of any speculation. Let that profit be ever so great, the man by whom it has been made must still wear the garb of indigence, and fare no better, in regard to eating and drinking, than his poorer neighbours. In cases, indeed, where the merchant is protected by a military man of rank, he may be induced to embark in commercial enterprises ; but still he must be the slave of his patron, who will exact whatever terms he pleases as the price of his protection.