Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/191

ILL -STARRED PLANS OF A DREAMER 155 conceived lie considered to be good, but in promulgating and enforcing his schemes he lost his hold upon the territories he possessed, disgusted his people, and emptied his treasury. Embarrassment followed embar- rassment, and confusion became worse confounded. The ill feeling among his subjects gave rise to out- breaks and revolts, and the rules for enforcing the royal schemes became daily more oppressive to them. More and more the people became disaffected, and more and more the mind of the king was set against them, so that the number of those brought to punishment was constantly on the increase. The tribute of most of the distant countries and districts was lost, many of the soldiers and servants were scattered and left in distant lands, and deficiencies appeared in the treas- ury. The mind of the Sultan lost its true equilibrium, and in the extreme weakness and harshness of his temper he gave himself up to severity. Gujarat and Deogir (Devagiri) were the only distant possessions that remained, while in the old territories dependent upon Delhi, the capital, there sprang up disaffection and rebellion. By the will of fate many different projects occurred to the mind of the Sultan, which appeared to him mod- erate and suitable and were enforced for several years, but the people could not endure them. These schemes effected the ruin of the Sultan's empire and the decay of the people. Every one of them that was enforced wrought some wrong and mischief, and the minds of all men, high and low, were alienated from their ruler,