How could it be otherwise where the land was the
property of Government, where capital was never concentrated or safe,
when the only aristocracy was that of office, while the Emperor was
the sole recognized heir of all his public officers?
The only thing that he could not inherit were his tombs, his temples,
his bridges, his canals, his caravanserais. I was acquainted with the
history of most of the great men whose tombs and temples I visited
along the road; but I asked in vain for a sight of the palaces they
occupied in their day of pride and power. They all had, no doubt,
good houses agreeably situated, like that of the Begam Samru, in the
midst of well-watered gardens and shrubberies, delightful in their
season; but they cared less about them--they knew that the Emperor
was heir to every member of the great body to which they belonged,
the _aristocracy of office_; and might transfer all their wealth to
his treasury, and all their palaces to their successors, the moment
the breath should be out of their bodies.[3] If their sons got
office, it would neither be in the same grades nor in the same places
as those of their fathers.
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