Storia do Mogor 255.2.3

255.2.3

In addition to these tyrannies and ways of robbing people, there are other practices more continuous and more inevitable. There are certain noblemen who have under them people they call guardians of the realm. These persons, in their turn, place subordinate officials in every village as guards. These subaltern officials are like little sovereigns in those places, where they issue their commands in civil as well as in criminal business. If this be not by right, they do it by force. The cultivators and the other persons belonging to the body forming the community entertain them, and pay punctually certain annual contributions. They are under obligation to prevent thefts within the bounds committed to their charge. If there is a theft, they must pay compensation ; but they are themselves the greatest thieves ever heard of, and they take away the best of the things to be found in the houses under their protection. Their assertion is that they are not bound to compensate for what is stolen in the daytime.