Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 4.7.8

4.7.8

my information was obtained from various quarters, and is the result of many careful inquiries among the natives, European merchants long settled in the country, ambassadors, consuls, and interpreters. My testimony is, I know, at variance with the account given by most of our travellers. They happened, perhaps, in passing through a town, to see two poor men, the dregs of the people, in the presence of a Kadi, Our countryman may have seen them hurried out of court to receive, either the one or the other, if not both, hard blows on the soles of the feet, unless the parties were immediately dismissed with a 'MayhaU-Baha,' or a few soft words which the magistrate sometimes utters when he finds that no bribe can be expected. No doubt this summary mode of proceeding excited the admiration of our travellers, and they returned to France, exclaiming, 'O, what an excellent and quick administration of justice ! O, the upright Kadis ! Models for the imitation of French magistrates ! ' not considering that if the party really in the wrong had possessed the means of putting a couple of crowns into the hands of the Kadi or his clerks, and of buying with the same sum two false witnesses, he would indisputably have gained his cause, or prolonged it as long as he pleased.