It is not easy to imagine anything more
disgusting and repulsive than these priests. They wander about all
the streets, preaching and doing whatever they fancy; they are,
however, far less respected than the martyrs.
One of the gentlemen whose acquaintance I made in Benares, was so
obliging as to communicate to me some information as to the relation
of the peasants to the government. The peasant has no landed
property. All the land belongs either to the English government,
the East India Company, or the native princes. It is let out
altogether; the principal tenants divide it into small lots, and
sublet these to the peasants. The fate of the latter depends
entirely upon the disposition of the principal tenant. He
determines the amount of rent, and frequently demands the money at a
time when the crops are not harvested, and the peasant cannot pay;
the poor people are then obliged to sell the unripe crops for half
their worth, and their landlord generally contrives to buy it
himself in the name of another person. The unfortunate peasant
frequently has scarcely a sufficiency left to keep life in himself
and his family.
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