' They seem to feel a singular attachment for the
birthplace of their great progenitrix, for no place in the world is,
I suppose, more infested by them than Delhi, at present; and there a
dish of rice without a fly would, in the iron, be as rare a thing as
a dish with one in the golden, age.
Muhammadans in India sigh for the restoration of the old Muhammadan
regime, not from any particular attachment to the descendants of
Timur, but with precisely the same feelings that Whigs and Tories
sigh for the return to power of their respective parties in England;
it would give them all the offices in a country where office is
everything. Among them, as among ourselves, every man is disposed to
rate his own abilities highly, and to have a good deal of confidence
in his own good luck; and all think that if the field were once
opened to them by such a change, they should very soon be able to
find good places for themselves and their children in it. Perhaps
there are few communities in the world among whom education is more
generally diffused than among Muhammadans in India. He who holds an
office worth twenty rupees a month commonly gives his sons an
education equal to that of a prime minister.
Pages:
1089
1090
1091
1092
1093
1094
1095
1096
1097
1098
1099
1100
1101
1102
1103
1104
1105
1106
1107
1108
1109
1110
1111
1112
1113