"حياة ومراسلات اللواء السير جون مالكوم، قائد فرسان وسام الطُهر، المبعوث السابق إلى بلاد فارس وحاكم بومباي؛ من رسائل ومذكرات غير منشورة. في مجلّدين. المجلد II." [‎٣‎٢‎٦] (٦٥٤/٣٤٣)

CENTRAL INDIA.
for their power, chiefs doubtful of continued independence, and
all who dread further encroachment have their minds tranquillised
by the constant contemplation of an uniform and consistent rule
instead of being disturbed and distracted as they must be by
systems differing in form, if not in substance,, in almost every
province.
" Far from me be it to say that any of the measures adopted or
recommended by the numerous select and able officers now em
ployed in this quarter are, as applied to their local charge, un-
appropriate and unwise; but they vary. This is the evil—for
that which may inspire confidence in one part shakes it in
another. Men in the condition of the inhabitants of these half-
conquered countries listen to every tale and exaggerate every
rumor that excites their fears or their hopes. This makes them,
unless great care is taken, prone to become the dupes of the
designing and turbulent, and nothing, in my opinion, but an alte
ration in the shape as well as the substance of our administration
can prevent that confusion and distraction which will compel us
to further interference, and hasten the destruction of all that yet
remains of native power and rank in the continent of India.
There are, I believe, many who seek to arrive at this goal: I am
not one of them. When we reach it, we have, in my opinion,
touched the pinnacle, and must from that hour descend. This
speculation, however, has no further importance than as it ac
counts for my strong sense of the necessity of there being one
head to the whole of Central India, who has sufficient of general
views and of local power to keep (under the direction of the
Supreme Government) the whole machine right.
" To allow changes to work themselves (which is ever the
safest course), to be content, which such a man, from his pre
sumed experience and established character, may be supposed to
be, with that forbearance which views abuses even, when there is
a tendency to reform, with indulgence, and which exercises a
control that is most efficient when least in view, and which in its
operation makes princes and chiefs regard with reverence and
attachment a power which elevates when it has ample means of
depressing, and which is so constituted that it can only be conci
liated by their good or offended by their bad actions,—these
objects may be attained through the action of one authority, they
cannot through that of a multiplicity of agents."