518 livelihood; and what belongs to an employer? On the other hand it is owing to unscrupulous foreigners, who fawn on the rich and despise the poor, and destroy the relations of things, that the contracts which were made with us have come to be regarded as waste paper, and our lives as so much rubbish. Our food and lodging and wages are doled out to us in the most meagre manner, we are weakened through want of food and our employers refuse us all compassion. They continually harass us with their provoking acts; and enforce them with blows and vituperation, they fasten a cangue on our necks, and drive us to work; or compel us to dig and plough, when suffering with hunger and cold. If the masters treat us harshly, the rulers are worse. When we cry out from grief we are not met with reproaches and entreaties, that we are ever the victims of violence, that ends in death, the grief that leads people to take away with themselves. They forget that kindness and hearing can see how the Sovereign's teachings, which strengthen the heart in the midst of an otherwise unendurable suffering. There are few kind masters and equitable officers, who are willing to interest themselves