Laws and judges there certainly are in the country, and, as
everywhere else, the laws are good and the magistrates just; but it
is another question whether the poor ever receive justice. The
districts are so extensive, that the peasant cannot undertake a
journey of seventy or eighty miles; and even when he lives near, he
cannot always reach the presence of the magistrate. The business of
the latter is so great, that he cannot himself attend to the
details, and generally he is the only European in office, the
remaining officials consisting of Hindoos and Mahomedans, whose
character--a lamentable fact--is always worse the more they come in
contact with Europeans. If, therefore, the peasant comes to the
court without bringing a present, he is generally turned away, his
petition or complaint is not accepted or listened to; and how is he
to bring a present after being deprived of everything by the
landlord? The peasant knows this, and therefore seldom makes a
complaint.
An Englishman (unfortunately I have forgotten his name) who
travelled in India for scientific purposes, proves that the peasants
have now to suffer more than formerly under their native princes.
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