And yet we were only sixteen miles from the capital, and on one of the main roads of the province.

He was, too, a man of fair intelligence and, though we conversed in Kanarese, he told me that he knew some English, which proved that he was a man of a certain degree of education.

On my return to my estates I found that, though the natives had heard of the Assembly (probably because the native representative lived within a few miles of my house), no one seemed to take any interest in its proceedings, and I do not remember having been asked a single question with reference to it.

The explanation, of course, of this state of things is that the people are perfectly contented, and satisfied with the steady progress they see going on around them.

There is therefore no demand[14] for representative institutions, or the acquisition of power by the people, for while they see abundant signs of progress, there is no oppression, and therefore there are no real grievances.