"The Tartars are known amongst themselves to be of honest and simple manners; and if at times fierce and cruel, they cease to be so when they cease to be enemies of war.The conquest of Indostan was made by them with little difficulty, and has since been maintained with less: a distinction of religions (that of Mahomed, and that of the Gentoos) has ensued, whilst the conqueror may without control vaunt his own, and insult that of the subject; the subject, by being more numerous has only become more despicable, from this proof of not daring to exert his strength. Almost the whole wealth of this vast territory is divided amongst the Moors, the effect of their tenaciousness in keeping all offices of the government amongst themselves. The principle of the government has nevertheless reduced all these mighty lords to be as much the slaves to some powers, as others are slaves to theirs. A licentiousness and luxury peculiar to this enervating climate, have spread their corruption, and instead of meeting with obstacles from laws or opinions, is cherished as the supreme good to the utmost excesses.All these will surely be deemed causes sufficient to have changed, in the present Moors of Indostan, the spirit which their ancestors brought with them into it: and from hence many and dreadful vices are now naturalized amongst them.A domineering insolence towards all who are in subjection to them, ungovernable willfulness, inhumanity, cruelty, murders and assassinations, deliberated with the same calmness and subtlety as the rest of their politics, an insensibility to remorse for these crimes, which are scarcely considered otherwise than as necessary accidents in the course of life, sensual excesses which revolt against nature, unbounded thirst of power, and an expaciousness of wealth equal to the extravagance of his propensities and vices – this is the character of an Indian Moor, who is of consequence sufficient to have any character at all."
Robert Orme was a British historian of India. Son of a British East India Company physician and surgeon, he entered the service of the Company in Bengal in 1743. He was regarded as an authority on India.
"A few petty Rajahs were lured by better appointments to conversion, but the people clung to their pagodas; some preachers were put to death, which increased the spirit of martyrdom...The religious vexation continued. Labour left the field and industry the loom; until the decrease of the revenues drew representations from the governors of the provinces; which induced Aurengzebe to substitute a capitation tax, as the balance of the account between the two religions."
"The Moors of Indostan may be divided into two kinds of people, differing in every respect, excepting in the profession of the same religion. Under the first are reckoned the descendants of the conquerors; Tartars continually naturalizing themselves in Indostan, through the encouragement which their martial spirit is sure to receive; Arabians and Persians who have quitted their own, to seek their fortunes in this country. The second rank of Moors comprehends all the descendants of converted Gentoos – a miserable race, as none but the most miserable of the Gentoo casts are capable of changing their religion."
"We find...amongst the Moors, the ceremonies of outward manners carried to a more refined pitch than in any other part of the world, excepting China. These manners are become a fundamental of their education, as without them a man would, instead of making his fortune, be liable to lose his head.An uncivil thing is never said amongst equals: the most extravagant adulation, both of gesture and words, is lavished upon the superior. The grandee is seated in his Durbar, where all who approach to pay their respects are ranged according to their respective degrees of station or favour. All is attention to his countenance: if he asks a question, it is answered with the turn that will please him: if he asserts, all applaud the truth: does he contradict, all tremble: a multitude of domesticks appear in waiting, as silent and immovable as statues. This is the ceremonial of paying court. I speak not of the Durbar as the tribunal of justice: there injuries must cry aloud, or will not be heard."
"The mechanic or artificer will work only to the measure of his necessities. He dreads to be distinguished. If he becomes too noted for having acquired a little more money than others of his craft, that will be taken from him. If conspicuous for the excellence of his skill, he is seized upon by some person in authority, and obliged to work for him night and day, on much harder terms than his usual labour acquired when at liberty. Hence all emulation is destroyed; and all the luxury of an Asiatick empire has not been able to counteract by its propensity to magnificence and splendour, the dispiriting effects of that fear which reigns throughout, and without which a despotick power would reign no more."