If this declaration of the Naib had been made only to myself, I
might have doubted my construction of it; but it was repeated by him
to Mr. Anderson, who understood it exactly in the same sense. In the
management of the customs, the conduct of the Naib, or of the
officers under him, was forced also upon my attention. The
exorbitant rates exacted by an arbitrary valuation of the goods, the
practice of exacting duties twice on the same goods, first from the
seller and afterwards from the buyer, and the vexatious disputes and
delays drawn on the merchants by these oppressions, were loudly
complained of; and some instances of this kind were said to exist at
the very time when I was in Benares. Under such circumstances, we
are not to wonder, if the merchants of foreign countries are
discouraged from resorting to Benares, and if the commerce of that
province should annually decay.
"Other evils, or imputed evils, have accidentally come to my
knowledge, which I will not now particularize, as I hope that with
the assistance of the Resident they may be in part corrected: one,
however, I must mention, because it has been verified by my own
observation, and is of that kind which reflects an unmerited
reproach on our general and national character.
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