Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.7.1

4.7.1

Those three countries, Turkey, Persia, and Hindoustan, have no idea of the principle of meum and tuum, relatively to land or other real possessions ; and having lost that respect for the right of property, which is the basis of all that is good and useful in the world, necessarily resemble each other in essential points : they fall into the same pernicious errors, and must, sooner or later, experience the natural consequences of those errors — tyranny, ruin, and misery. How happy and thankful should we feel, My Lord, that in our quarter of the globe, Kings are not the sole proprietors of the soil ! Were they so, we should seek in vain for countries well cultivated and populous, for well-built and opulent cities, for a polite, contented, and flourishing people. If this exclusive and baneful right prevailed, far different would be the real riches of the sovereigns of Europe, and the loyalty and fidelity with which they are served. They would soon reign over solitudes and deserts, over mendicants and barbarians. Actuated by a blind and wicked ambition to be more absolute than is warranted by the laws of God and of nature, the Kings of Asia grasp at everything, until at length they lose everything ; or, if they do not always find themselves without pecuniary resources, they are invariably disappointed in the expectation of acquiring the riches which they covet.