rich and poor: the respectable "middle class" has scarcely any influential existence in this republic.
The financial difficulties of the government have frequently been most urgent; and it is a long period since the state exchequer was in a flourishing or satisfactory state. So heavily have these embarrassments weighed upon the presidents and legislature of the country, that even the most upright and vigorous ruler has possessed comparatively little power for good; and there is at present but slight probability of increased prosperity.
It has been seen in the course of the foregoing chapters, that the number of mendicants and robbers in the republic is very great, and that their solicitations are most obtrusive and audacious; that the annual statistics of crime and imprisonment are alarming, considering the somewhat scanty population; that there are no poor-houses or asylums for the reception of the destitute and incapable poor; and that the laws are frequently of little avail for the protection of life and property, or for the prevention of smuggling on the sea-coasts.
The condition of Indian labourers, both at
