Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.93.2

v2.c28.s3.t1.93.2

and herds of avaricious Mahrattas and ferocious Pathans have reaped the harvest of their folly. Yet all these faults were to be redeemed in their alliances with a people whose peculiar boast was, that wisdom, justice, and clemency were the corner-stones of their power: seeking nothing from them beyond the means for their defence, and an adherence to the virtues of order. How far the protecting power has redeemed its pledge, in allowing years to pass away without some attempt to remedy the anarchy we have described, the reader is in a condition to judge. If it be said that we have tied up our hands by leaving them free agents in their internal administration, then let no offer of support be given to the head, for the oppression of the vassal and his rights, co-equal with those of the sovereign [161]; and if our mediation cannot be exerted, let us withdraw altogether the checks upon the operation of their own system of government, and leave them free agents in reality. A wiser, more humane, and liberal policy would be, to impose upon ourselves the task of understanding their political condition, and to use our just influence for the restoration of their internal prosperity, and with the peace, present as well as prospective, of an important part of our empire.