Should Government by and by extend the System that obtains in this
single line to the Customs all over India they may greatly augment
their revenue without any injury, and with but little necessary loss
and inconvenience to merchants. The object of all just taxation is to
make the subjects contribute to the public burthen in proportion to
their means, and with as little loss and inconvenience to themselves
as possible. The people who reside west of this line enjoy all their
salt, cotton, and other articles which are taxed on crossing the line
without the payment of any duties, while those to the east of it are
obliged to pay. It is, therefore, not a just line. The advantages
are, first, that it interposes a body of most efficient officers
between the mass of harpies and the heads of the department, who now
virtually superintend the whole System, whereas they used formerly to
do so merely ostensibly. They are at once the _tapis_ of Prince
Husain and the telescope of Prince Ali; they enable the heads of
departments to be everywhere and see everything, whereas before they
were nowhere and saw nothing.
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