Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 46

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Mahomedan, and to the Pagan all those have con-
tributed more to the consolidation of their power than even
their victories and conquests.
to the
:
There is another circumstance no less remarkable which
account for the stability and power of this Govern-
ment, and that is the sagacity with which it has chosen
persons to fill places of responsibility under it. For up-
rightness of character, education, and ability it would be
hard to find a body of public servants better capable of
filling with zeal and distinction the offices, more or less
important, that are entrusted to them.
During the thirty years spent by me in the various
provinces of India I have had the honour of knowing
a very large number of these public servants, and it gives
may
pleasure to testify here to the many excellent
I have almost invariably found them to
Cast away, as it were, on the shores of this
possess.
foreign land at a time when my own country was a prey
to all the horrors of a disastrous revolution, I never failed
Even
to receive from them the warmest hospitality.
when a desperate war might well have given rise to bitter
prejudice against everything French, I never failed to find
amongst the rulers of India many friends and benefactors.
Would that the fear of offending their modesty did not
forbid my mentioning here in testimony of my regard the
names of many of them equally distinguished for their
high merit and for their commanding position. But even
at the risk of appearing indiscreet I cannot pass over one
I cannot, in the fullness of my gratitude,
of them in silence.
abstain from mentioning publicly how much I owe to the
Honourable Mr. Arthur Henry Cole, the British Resident
This worthy official, whose public and domestic
in Mysore.
virtues, inexhaustible charity, and polished manners are
recognized throughout the whole of the Peninsula, has
found a fitting recognition of his fine character in the love
and respect of the natives subject to his jurisdiction, who
with one voice have hailed him as the father of their country.
All that he has done for the natives of Mysore will be long
remembered by them. As regards myself, nothing can
equal the many acts of kindness which he has heaped upon
me during my stay of twenty years in the province subject
me much
qualities
which