THE SLAVE GIRL OF AGRA
This was an attack on the Emperor himself, and Badaoni was getting heated in the controversy. But the great Akbar allowed the utmost latitude to his learned men when they came to hold disputations before him, and he calmly replied to the historian when Abul Fazel wisely held his tongue.
"Monarchs may arise, Badaoni, from my Royal House who will some day substitute force for conciliation, but they will not hold together these dominions long. The soldiers of the Empire are brave, its cavalry is swift, its forts are impregnable, its guns are formidable. But seest thou yon poor wood-cutter who is carrying his bundle of faggots at this early hour to sell it in the Agra bazaar for a few copper coins? Trust me, friend, he in his loin-cloth and tattered garments represents a force which is more irresistible than the forces of the Empire. It is by his good will that we build the Empire; it is by his approval that we rule, it is by his discontent that we fall. I have not thy learning, friend, nor do I know much of past Empires which have risen and fallen, but believe an old man who has dealt with men and nations—no Empire endures on earth where the monarch does not rule with the consent of the people, spoken or unspoken. My rule, I humbly trust, has the approbation of the people from Kabul to Bengal, and if any of my sons or grandsons seeks to alienate their affections and support, I give him fifty years to wreck this great Empire, and I have made a liberal allowance."
190
