osed to the
people at one of the gates of the palace; then he commanded the son to
pluck off the mustachios of his father, to cut off his nose and ears, to
put out his eyes, and then cut off his head. The king then told the son
to go and take possession of the government of his father, saying, _See
that you govern better than this deceased dog, or thy doom shall be a
death more exquisitely tormenting_."

My Lords, you are struck with horror, I am struck with horror, at this
punishment. I do not relate it to approve of such a barbarous act, but
to prove to your Lordships, that, whatever power the princes of that
country have, they are jealous of it to such a degree, that, if any of
their governors should levy a tax, even the most insignificant, and for
the best purposes, he meets with a cruel punishment. I do not justify
the punishment; but the severity of it shows how little of their power
the princes of that country mean to delegate to their servants, the
whole of which the gentleman at your bar says was delegated to him.

There is another case, a very strong one, and that is the case of
presents, which I understand is a custom admitted throughout Asia in all
their governments. It was of a person who was raised to a high office;
no business was suffered to come before him without a previous present.
"One morning, the king being at this time on a hunting party, the
_nazar_ came to the tent of the king, but was denied entrance by the
_meter_, or master of the wardrobe. About the same time the king came
forth, and, seeing the nazar, commanded his officers to take off the
bonnet from the head of that dog that took gifts from his people, and
that he should sit three days bareheaded in the heat of the sun, and as
many nights in the air. Afterwards he caused him to be chained about the
neck and arms, and condemned him to perpetual imprisonment, with a
_mamoudy_ a day for his maintenance; but he died for grief within eight
days after he was put in prison."

Do I mean, by reading this to your Lordships, to express or intimate an
approbation either of the cruelty of the punishment or of the coarse
barbarism of the language? Neither one nor the other. I produce it to
your Lordships to prove to you, from this dreadful example, the horror
which that government felt, when any person subject to it assumed to
himself a privilege to receive presents. The cruelty and severity
exercised by these princes is not levelled at the poor unfo