"It is as your cousin says, Doast. You have been down with me to
Madras, and you have seen that, except the officers in the army, none
of the Europeans carry arms. It is the same in England. England is a
great island, and as they have many ships of war, no enemy can land
there. There is one king over the whole country, and there are written
laws by which everyone, high and low alike, are governed. So you see,
no one has to carry arms. All disputes are settled by the law, and
there is peace everywhere; for as nothing would be settled by
fighting, and the law would punish any one, however much in the right
he might be, who fought, there is no occasion at all for weapons. It
is a good plan, for you see no one, however rich, can tyrannise over
others; and were the greatest noble to kill the poorest peasant, the
law would hang him, just the same as it would hang a peasant who
killed a lord.
"And now, boys, you had better be off to bed. Your cousin has had a
long day of it, and I have no doubt he will be glad to do so. Tomorrow
we will begin to teach him to ride and to shoot, and I have no doubt
that he will be ready, in return, to teach you a great deal about his
country."
The boys got up.
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