Vices are such as innate Cunning, of which they have a great deal, suggests to counteract those of their Masters. They are divided into several Casts or Tribes, of which the most noble is that of the _Bramins_, and there are also several Casts of these. Their Religion is _Paganism_, gross and absurd among the Vulgar, but not so amongst the wiser and better Sort. These Characters are not drawn through any Spirit of Prejudice or Partiality, but from Experience and Observation, and the Faults of both do not so much arise from any Want of Parts, or Defect in their natural Talents, as from their respective Conditions, and the barbarous Severity and perpetual Instability of their Governments. The _Mogul_, or, as we commonly call him, the _Great Mogul_, is, according to the Constitution of _Indostan_, if Despotism can with any Propriety be stiled a Constitution, as absolute as a Monarch can be. He is the sole Possessor of Property, the single Fountain of Honour, and the supreme Oracle of Justice. The whole Country belongs to him; all Honours are Personal, are bestowed by his Bounty, and resumed at his Pleasure; his Subjects having no other Laws than the Dictates of his Will. The Omrahs, or Great Lords of his Court, who discharge the high Offices in his Household, exercise the Functions of Ministers of State, or hold superior Commands in his Armies, are all Creatures of his own, and so are the Governors of Provinces, stiled in the Language of the Country _Nabobs_, who have again lesser Governments, to which they appoint, called _Phousdaries_. Thus things actually stood under the long Reign of _Aurengzebe_, and under the short one of his Son; but since the Days of his unfortunate Grandson, _Mohammed Shah_, who was dethroned, and restored by _Thamas Kouli Khan_, the _Moguls_ are no more than Shadows of what they were; and their Prerogatives become rather Sounds than Substance. Those Emirs or Nabobs, who govern great Provinces, are stiled Subahs, which imports the same as Lord-Lieutenants or Vice-Roys. These Vice-Roys have ever held their Provinces of the Mogul, by rendering him a yearly Tribute, and furnishing their Contingent of Troops, when demanded for his Service; each of them exacting the like Services from their subordinate Governments; in both the Nabobs and Phousdars were supreme, and executed a kind of Sovereign Authority, subject only to those from whom it was delegated, and by whom it might be again taken away when they thought fit. But now they affect a kind of Independence, send their Tribute to Court when they esteem it convenient, and that is but seldom: and devolve their Employments on their Heirs, who having immediate Possession of the Means, find no great Difficulty in getting themselves confirmed, by making proper Presents at _Delly_. If the Mogul attempts to depose any of them, the Person to whom he gives the Commission must raise an Army, and force a Passage to the Government bestowed upon him with his Sword.