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434 met, and all the parts of the body-politic could be held together only by a constant flow of money from outside its own borders, i.e., by a regular succession of raids. As the late Mr. G. K. Gokhale laughingly told me when describing the hardships of the present rigid land assessment in the Bombay Presidency, "You see, the land revenue did not matter much under Maratha rule. In those old days, when the crop failed our people used to sally forth with their horses and spears and bring back enough booty to feed them for the next two or three years. Now they have to starve on their own lands."

Thus, by the character of his State, the Maratha's hands were turned against everybody and everybody's hands were turned against him. It is the Nemesis of a Krieg-staat to move in a vicious circle. It must wage war periodically if it is to get its food; but war, when waged as a normal method of supply, destroys industry and wealth in the invading and invaded countries alike, and ultimately defeats the very end of such wars. Peace is death to a Krieg-staat; but peace is the very life-breath of wealth. The Krieg-staat, therefore, kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. To take an illustration, Shivaji's repeated plunder of Surat scared away trade and wealth from that city, and his second raid (in 1670) brought him much less booty than his first, and a few years later the constant dread of Maratha incursion entirely impoverished Surat and effectually