ng my right hand good-naturedly on
his left shoulder, 'that which takes from a country without previously
spreading nourishment to sustain it is a dredging machine, and will
sooner or later dry up its resources. It takes out, but forgets to put
in, thinking only of the present, while the future invites an
enlightened policy to nurture and bring out its richer resources.' But
with these small misdemeanors we would not directly charge Uncle John,
who is at times as honorable as he is dogged; but he, fathered as he
is with the responsibility, is seriously to blame for this neglect.
Viewing these things in their proper light, John and Jonathan,
stimulated by the same virtuous inclinations, and weighing well their
distinctive prowess, should be careful not to offend by petty means:
how much better to encourage friendly relations, than wound a
sensitive but worthy national pride! Promising to criminate after this
fashion so much in vogue no more, we left the desolate Scinde,
continued our way across an immense waste, where might have risen up
one of the mightiest and most fertile empires. An enlightened policy
only was wanted. The people were ignorant of their power and
resources: John had conquered, and viewed it well to keep them so. His
East India dredge did not dissent to this verdict. My friend John
thought the acquisition well approved. But the people, he said, were
worthless; they added superstition to ignorance and fierceness, and
obstinately opposed the bettering their condition. 'Without attempting
to burden your credulity, Jonathan,' interpolated John, 'the truth is,
we well understood the nature of this people, and having failed to
conciliate them in one way betook ourselves to another, and in our
characteristic style chastised them into submission.' John spoke with
great seriousness, never for a moment lessening his air of dignity.
Indeed, it embodied and acknowledged serious mode of docilizing a
people: how much real attachment between the conqueror and conquered
must follow this system we leave the reader to contemplate. The
honorable Mr. John, notwithstanding, had a very circuitous way of
confessing the fact of having taken into his family, by this arbitrary
system of wedlock, no end of people; still he accused Jonathan of
using his soft-sawder for the same purpose.

"Journeying a few days through a country rich of soil and rivers
turned to no account, we reached a dominion called the Punjaub, which
John said