"
These thoughts were often in his mind, and he found no solution of
the difficulty. But as presents and civilities gained him more
familiarity, he found that almost every man who stood high in his
employment hated all the rest and was hated by them, and that their
lives were a continual succession of plots and detections,
stratagems and escapes, faction and treachery. Many of those who
surrounded the Bassa were sent only to watch and report his
conduct: every tongue was muttering censure, and every eye was
searching for a fault.
At last the letters of revocation arrived: the Bassa was carried
in chains to Constantinople, and his name was mentioned no more.
"What are we now to think of the prerogatives of power?" said
Rasselas to his sister: "is it without efficacy to good, or is the
subordinate degree only dangerous, and the supreme safe and
glorious? Is the Sultan the only happy man in his dominions, or is
the Sultan himself subject to the torments of suspicion and the
dread of enemies?"
In a short time the second Bassa was deposed.
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