nformation which you must have
had of the movements and positions of the rebels and their followers,
who were laying the country waste? In no part of India have the
farmers and cultivators been more favoured in light assessments and
protection to life and property; but there are some men who never can
be satisfied; give them what you will, they will always be craving
after more."--"True, sir," said Umrao Sing, looking me steadily in
the face, and with the greatest possible gravity, "there are some
people who never can be satisfied, give them what you will. Give them
the whole of Hindoostan, and they will go off to Kabul to take more!"

There was a pause, during which all looked very grave, for they
thought that the old man had exceeded the bounds of the privilege he
had long enjoyed of expressing his thoughts freely to European
gentlemen; and Umrao Sing continued: "The fact is, sir, that after
you had, by good government, made us all happy and prosperous, and
proud to display the wealth we had acquired on our persons, and in
our houses and villages, you withdrew all your troops from among us,
and left us a prey to the wild barons of the hills and jungles on our
borders, whose families had risen to wealth, distinction, and large
landed possessions under former misrule and disorder, and who are
always longing for the return of such disorders, that they may have
some chance of recovering the consequence and influence which they
have lost under a settled and strong Government: they saw that your
troops had been taken off for distant conquests, and heard of nothing
but defeats and disasters, and readily persuaded themselves that your
rule was at an end; for what could men, born and bred in the jungles,
know of your resources to retrieve such disasters?

"After the Mahratta war, in 1817, you prohibited the people of your
newly-acquired districts from carrying arms, not dreaming that the
only persons who would obey or regard your order were the peaceful
landholders and peasantry of the plains, who were satisfied with your
Government, and anxious for its duration, but exposed to the envy and
hatred of the Gond and Lodhee chiefs, who occupied the hills and
jungles on their borders.

"When they came down upon us, you had no means left to protect us;
and having no longer any arms or any experience of the use of them,
after a quarter of a century of peace, we were unable to defend our
villages, our houses, or our families; if we