Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/37

Rh THE relations of all the travellers into Indostan abound with examples of the vices of these princes. It has been observed, that all the Mahomedans established in India acquire, in the third generation, the indolence and pusillanimity of the original inhabitants, and at the same time a cruelty of character to which the Indians are at present happily strangers. Hence we are almost induced to give assent to the opinion, that the prohibition of shedding blood of any kind, inculcated by the Indian religion, was a political institution, wisely calculated to change into gentler manners the sanguinary disposition, which is said to have characterised all the inhabitants of Indostan before the religion of Brama was introduced amongst them. Rh