Note 12 — Chapter I

MS. Correspondence.—In another letter Malcolm says: “Had I to do with men of sense and moderation I should not fear, but I have to deal with a race that are possessed of neither.” The necessity of adopting in all his negotiations the most flowery language, somewhat puzzled him at first; but in time he fell into the right vein of discourse. On one occasion, wishing to demonstrate the advantages of simplicity of style, he produced a copy of an Indian treaty, when the Meerza, after reading two articles of it, declared that he would “give in his resignation to his sovereign rather than that such a document should be copied into the records of the office over which he presided.”