ha. Mustapha was a
good-hearted man: he was always grateful, and if any one did him a good
turn, he never forgot it. The consequence was, that an intimation that a
purse of so many sequins would be laid at his feet if the cause to be
heard was decided in favour of the applicant, invariably interested
Mustapha in the favour of that party; and Mustapha's opinion was always
coincided in by the pacha, because he had (or supposed that he had) half
of the sequins so obtained. True, the proverb says, "you should be just
before you are generous;" but Mustapha's arguments when he first
proposed to the pacha this method of filling the royal treasury, were so
excellent, that we shall hand them down to posterity. "In the first
place," said Mustapha, "it is evident that in all these causes the
plaintiffs and defendants are both rascals. In the second place, it is
impossible to believe a word on either side. In the third place,
exercising the best of your judgment, you are just as likely to go wrong
as right. In the fourth place, if a man happens to be wronged by our
decision, he deserves it as a punishment for his other misdeeds. In the
fifth place, as the only respectability existing in either party
consists in their worldly wealth, by deciding for him who gives most,
you decide for the most respectable man. In the sixth place, it is our
duty to be grateful for good done to us, and in so deciding, we exercise
a virtue strongly inculcated by the Koran. In the seventh place, we
benefit both parties by deciding quickly, as a loss is better than a
lawsuit. And in the eighth and last place, we want money."

On this day a cause was being heard, and, although weighty reasons had
already decided the verdict, still, _pro forma_, the witnesses on both
sides were examined; one of these, upon being asked whether he witnessed
the proceedings, replied, "That he had no doubt, but there was doubt on
the subject, but that he doubted whether the doubts were correct."

"Doubt--no doubt--what is all this? do you laugh at our beards?" said
Mustapha sternly, who always made a show of justice. "Is it the fact or
not?"

"Your highness, I seldom met a fact, as it is called, without having
half a dozen doubts hanging to it," replied the man: "I will not,
therefore, make any assertion without the reservation of a doubt."

"Answer me plainly," replied the vizier, "or the ferashes and bamboo
will be busy with you very shortly. Did you see the money paid?"