A History of the Mahrattas v1.c29.65

v1.c29.65

Much corruption and many reprehensible acts are to be found, especially before the affairs of India had attracted the full attention of the British legislature and nation; but not only is every act and every deliberation, which other governments have generally the power to conceal, recorded in detail at the different presidencies, but the personal animosity of individuals composing the governments has given the most glaring interpretation to mere errors, and has sometimes occasioned gross misrepresentation of facts. On the other hand, many services performed without any great degree of exertion or ability have, in consequence of their results, been extravagantly praised, and given a tone to Indian dispatches which prejudices sober judgment and obscures the honour of toils and of virtues, to which in every department, both civil and military, our countrymen in India have found claims as just as the instruments of any government, ancient or modern.